Abstract
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The science in the field is making outstanding progress. There's a lot of excitement, for example, in the area of prevention sciences. There have been positive results in the vaccine and microbicide fields. This has generated an energy that hasn't been felt in a long time. You can feel it at the HIV focused meetings. The Journal is poised to get the information out as quickly as possible to help maintain this momentum.
In addition to publishing excellent science, we have launched a series of review articles that will be appearing over the next couple months. These reviews discuss advancing and topical areas in HIV research, including how HIV is disrupting the immune system, how restriction factors are blocking HIV replication, strategies to eradicate latent HIV, and HIV assembly. We will continue to publish reviews that keep our readers informed on the latest advances in HIV research.
We are also bringing other critical information to the research community, including a series of meeting reports from NIH organized workshops. The challenges, opportunities, and results debated and discussed at these decision-making events will impact the future of HIV research.
The Sequence Notes remain very popular because we have entered a whole new era in research based on sequencing. Twenty-five years ago, it would take days to get very short stretches of sequence, and several months to get the entire sequence of a virus isolate. Now, with the use of deep sequencing technologies, many tens of thousands of viral sequences can be obtained in a single run. This leap in technology is allowing systems based analysis of viral sequences and how they change in response to immune responses, drug treatment, and potential biological bottlenecks on a scale that I don't think anyone had imagined. And this mountain of information is being used in creative and exciting ways to provide new insights into how HIV infects people and causes disease.
One of the things that the editorial team is most excited about is our recent decision to focus on young scientists and to engage them with the Journal. This is being done on several levels. Last winter we had our first annual Young Investigator Peer Bash in Santa Fe at the 2010 Keystone HIV Pathogenesis meeting. We had a wonderful response there, and in order to keep that momentum going, we're going to be having a second Peer Bash at the 2011 Keystone meeting in Whistler this March, where we are going to bring together young people to interact with each other and have the opportunity to network with senior scientists. We believe that facilitating such interactions is important for the future of HIV research.
Finally, based on the enthusiasm and excitement we had at the Peer Bash last year, we are developing a Young Investigator Editorial Board that will facilitate interactions between promising and dedicated young HIV researchers and give them a full opportunity to participate in the peer-review process at the Journal. We're excited about the fresh viewpoints and the knowledge of these young people, and we think that they're going to become a major asset to the Journal.
We welcome your active engagement in the Journal, and seek your contributions of original articles, Letters to the Editor, meeting reports, opinion pieces, reviews, and even possible cover images.