Peer review of research grant applications in the area of medical research. Eva Maria Fenyö M.D., Ph.D. Professor of virology, first at the Karolinska Institute, and from 1999 at the Medical Faculty of Lund University, Lund, Sweden, now professor emeritus. Main focus of research over the years has been on virus - host cell interactions, first in the field of murine leukemia virus (MuLV) and later in the field of human and simian immunodeficiency viruses (HIV, SIV). Experience from the field of MuLV helped to lay the ground for two general concepts within the HIV/AIDS field. HIV variability has been central to these concepts; one based on HIV biological phenotype, the other on the pattern of neutralisation and emergence of neutralisation resistant virus variants in the infected host. In recent years my research interest was focused on HIV vaccine research. The work has been carried out within the framework of several international networks (EUROPRISE, NGIN, CAVD).

Consultant and coordinator of international activities An important aspect of my activities over the years was teaching and technology transfer to developing countries. Initiated by the World Health Organization (WHO), training workshops were organized to evaluate, standardize and transfer laboratory methods for sample collection, handling and storage, at first place, and use of the samples for HIV isolation, biological and immunological characterization, on the other. To develop Guidelines for Standard HIV Isolation and Characterization Procedures was part of these activities and were published in 1994 (WHO), in 2002 (WHO-UNAIDS) and a third extended edition is under preparation (WHO-UNAIDS Reference Guide for HIV-1 Vaccine Trial Preparedness: Characterization of Virus and Host Immune Responses). The Reference Guide now prepared is in collaboration with GHRC (Global HIV Vaccine Research Cryorepository), which is part of CAVD (Collaboration for AIDS Vaccine Discovery), supported by BMGF (Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation).

WHO Network for HIV Isolation and Characterization, first meeting, Geneva 1989

Back row starting from the left: Guido van der Groen, (unknown), George Shaw, Jim Mullins, Guillermo Muchinik, Rob Daniels. Middle row from left: Saladin Osmanov, José Esparza, Mika Popoviç, Chantapong Wasi, Eva Maria Fenyö, Yiming Shao, Charles Boucher, Jack Homsey. Sitting in first row from left: Alan Schultz, Souleymane M’Boup, Geoffrey Shield, Beatrice Hahn.

Research on tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS in West Africa, Dakar, January 2007

The conference addressed the question: What can we do together to control two of the major infectious diseases?

Organizers: Professor Eva Maria Fenyö, Lund University, Lund, Sweden and Professor Souleyman M’Boup, Université Cheikh Anta DIOP, Dakar, Senegal Sponsored by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency/Department for Research Cooperation (SIDA/SAREC)

From left: Per Bolme, Sida/SAREC, Jan Albert, Karolinska Institute, Peter Aaby, Bandim project, Guinea-Bissau och Copenhagen University, Hans Norrgren, Lund University.

Fredrik Månsson and Marianne Jansson, Lund University.