Elliot Lefkowitz, Ph.D.For the first time in its history, the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) will hold its annual meeting in Birmingham, Alabama, hosted by Elliot Lefkowitz, Ph.D., professor in the UAB Department of Microbiology. With some events sponsored by the Heersink School of Medicine and the Department of Microbiology, the meeting will take place July 28–30 at UAB’s newly opened Altec Styslinger Genomic Medicine and Data Sciences Building (ALGEN) conference facilities, marking a significant milestone for both the city and the university.

Approximately 25 global experts in virology will gather to review hundreds of proposals for virus classification and naming. These proposals involve grouping newly discovered viruses based on shared properties, assigning them to new or existing species and higher taxonomic ranks, and officially naming them. Once approved by the Executive Committee, the proposals are submitted to the full ICTV membership for final ratification.

A global spotlight on Birmingham

The ICTV has held meetings across Europe, Asia, North America, and Australia since the 1960s. Hosting the committee in Birmingham is a prestigious honor that highlights the city’s growing role in global virology.

“It allows us to highlight the local community of virologists, the research that’s going on here at UAB, and especially the people,” Lefkowitz said.

Beyond the immediate work of reviewing proposals, this year’s meeting will focus on refining the process of generating the taxonomy. It will work on developing “more logical, stepwise procedures to make virus classification easier and more automated,” Lefkowitz explained.

The role and impact of the ICTV

Negative-contrast electron micrograph of vesicular stomatitis Indiana virus particles. The ICTV is the official body responsible for virus classification and nomenclature. It decides what constitutes a species, a genus, a family, an order, etc., and what the names of those taxa are. This standardized framework provides a universal language for virus taxonomy, which is crucial for effective scientific communication, public health, and policy development.

Recent advancements have expanded the taxonomy to include higher-order categories, such as realms, kingdoms, and phyla. The ICTV has also made significant strides in classifying viruses discovered through large-scale metagenomic sequencing, enabling scientists to identify new viruses from diverse environments and trace their evolutionary history. 

“When an outbreak of an infectious disease occurs, the first thing you do to identify the cause is to sequence patient or animal samples and try to identify the virus, bacteria, or other infectious agents that may be responsible. Then, you compare the sequence to a database of all known sequences,” Lefkowitz explained. “If what you find is a virus, then you can make inferences about the potential properties of the new virus based upon the properties of the viruses that are most closely related. The ICTV taxonomy is what you would use to determine these relationships.”

This process can even guide vaccine and antiviral drug development.

“If you know there were vaccines or antiviral drugs developed for related viruses, they can indicate possible approaches that can be used for the development of a new drug or vaccine to combat the new virus you’ve discovered and isolated,” he said. “That is the power of taxonomy. It gives you a reference point from which to better understand something new based upon other similar things.”

A boost for UAB and local science

Hosting the ICTV meeting recognizes UAB’s contributions over many decades to knowledge about virus biology and virus disease. It provides a unique opportunity for researchers and students from Lefkowitz’s lab to interact with leaders in the field.

As Birmingham prepares to welcome the world’s leading virus experts, the city stands to gain visibility, collaboration opportunities, and a deeper connection to the global scientific community.