The Scientific Program Committee for the 2010 International Microbicides Conference (M2010) invites papers of high quality in the areas of HIV prevention research.  Abstract submissions are peer-reviewed for scientific content, logical presentation, timeliness, and current interest of the topic to the scientific community.

Deadline for Abstract Submission

Authors should submit abstracts no later than 6:00 p.m. (eastern time) on January 22, 2010.

General Guidelines

All submitted abstracts should report new information not previously published or presented at a national or international scientific meeting. Please note that abstracts previously presented at other meetings will not be considered unless there is a substantial update of data.

Abstracts should contain the following four components (please bold the four section headings noted below within the text of your abstract submission).

Background:  A concise statement of the issue under investigation or a hypothesis

Methods:  The experimental methods used (including the statistical analyses employed)

Results:  Specific findings (promises such as "to be completed" or "to be presented" are not acceptable)

Conclusions:  A summary of findings that are supported by your results (statistical analyses used to support the conclusions, where appropriate, should  be included; concluding statements such as "the results will be discussed" are not acceptable)

Please do not include grant acknowledgements, literature references, or copyright or trademark symbols.

Multiple abstracts reporting results from the same study and overlapping abstracts from the same group of investigators are strongly discouraged.  Multiple abstracts considered to be the result of excessive splitting data will be evaluated and scored accordingly.  To accommodate additional submissions, the Scientific Program Committee may request that such multiple submissions be combined and that a revised abstract be provided.

Abstracts are considered official communications to the conference. Individuals submitting abstracts that are accepted agree to attend the meeting and present their abstract as scheduled (as an oral abstract or poster as determined by the Scientific Program Committee).  Once an abstract has been accepted and scheduled, it cannot be withdrawn.  Failure to present the scheduled abstract without prior notification of extenuating circumstances to the M2010 conference organizers may result in forfeiture of attendance at future International Microbicides Conferences.

Required Abstract Format

Subject Category: For scoring and scheduling purposes, abstracts will be divided into the categories listed below.  Please read through the entire list (A-Z) before identifying the subject category, as selection of the wrong area may delay review of the abstract.  To ensure the submission is read by the appropriate review team, the Scientific Program Committee may reassign an abstract to an alternate category.

A. Biology of HIV transmission

B. Biomarkers and surrogates

C. Epidemiology of transmission

D. Animal models

E. Preclinical discovery and evaluation

F. Novel delivery systems and formulations

G. Pharmacology and toxicology

H. Product acceptance and adherence

I. HIV drug resistance

J. Phase O-IV studies

K. Innovative trial designs

L. Regulatory challenges

M. Ethical issues and standards of care

N. Social and environmental factors impacting HIV prevention

O. Sexually transmitted infections

P. Pregnancy and contraception

Q. Circumcision

R. Barrier methods

S. Rectal microbicides

T. Behavioral research and interventions

U. Vaccines

V. Implementing prevention strategies

W. Mathematical modeling and simulations

X. Economics and cost effectiveness

Y. Community and advocacy

Z. Pre and post exposure prophylaxis

Titles: Use a concise title that indicates the content of the abstract. Capitalize the first letter of each word except prepositions, articles, and species names.  Specific names of microorganisms should be italicized.

Authors: Authors' names should be typed in upper-and lowercase letters (please do not use all capital letters). Use first name and last name.  The author presenting the paper must be designated.  Do not include academic degrees or titles. Please note that there is a limit of 10 authors per abstract.

Affiliations: Each author should be listed by institution, city, state (US based authors only), and country.  Do not include department, division, laboratory, etc.

Abstract Body: Abstracts are limited to 2,500 characters (including spaces).

Please read the Abstract Example and Abstract Template before creating your own submission.

Guidelines for Submission

Abstracts must be submitted via the online submission form.  You must be logged into your M2010 Web site account to submit an abstract.  If you need to create an account, please select the "CREATE ACCOUNT" link at the top right of this page.  If you would like to login to your existing account, please input your login information in the boxes at the top right of this page.

If you previously created an account, but forgot your user ID and / or password, please select the link "REQUEST NEW PASSWORD" at the top right of this page.

Content can not be uploaded nor sent as an e-mail attachment; however, you can cut and paste text into the online form.  In addition, you may use the Rich Text Editor to format your information.

Please carefully review the abstract prior to its submission. You have the option to save your abstract in draft form if you anticipate the need to make changes (other than changing subject category) prior to final submission. Note that if an abstract has been entered in draft form but not submitted as final prior to the 6:00 p.m. (eastern time) deadline on January 22, 2010, it is not technically submitted and therefore will not be reviewed. Please do not enter multiple submissions of the same abstract with incremental changes.

Step-by-step instructions are incorporated into the online abstract submission form; however, if you require assistance, or have any questions or concerns about the abstract program or submission process, please contact us. Please send an e-mail to the conference organizers by clicking here or utilizing this e-mail address: M2010info@microbicides2010.org.

Guidelines for Abstracts Describing Clinical Trials

All abstracts reporting data from clinical trials of human subjects should contain:

1. statement indicating the study design, such as "prospective, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled . . ."
    
2. A description of the subject population, including numbers enrolled and the experimental methods used.
    
3. A statement indicating whether or not the results are preliminary or final and whether or not the study is ongoing or completed.
    
4. A concise description of the statistical analyses employed.
    
5. Specific findings or results, including results of statistical analysis used to support the conclusions.
    
6. Specific conclusions based on the results described.
    

Abstracts reporting data from unplanned interim analyses of ongoing or incomplete studies are not acceptable.  Strong preference will be given to studies that are prospective, randomized, and controlled, and that include an intent-to-treat analysis, where appropriate.  Adequately powered negative studies will be considered.

The presenting author should have access to all of the raw data and be able to lead the discussion of the data, should have participated in the analysis, and should be able to answer substantive questions about the study.

Guidelines for Abstract Describing New Compounds

Abstracts submitted dealing with the isolation, purification, structure-activity relationships, mechanism of action, in vitro activity and toxicity, or PK/PD in animals must include data (e.g. structure, virologic activity, cytotoxicity, AUC, Cmax, Cmin, CL, T1/2, Emax, EC50, etc.) sufficient to allow for a meaningful understanding of the work and scientific exchange.  In particular, it is expected that the chemical structure of any new (i.e., previously unpublished) compound will be made available at the time of presentation. 

Late Breaker Abstracts

Abstracts that contain new data not available at the original abstract deadline may be submitted for consideration for presentation during oral abstract sessions.  Only abstracts containing novel, cutting-edge information will be considered.  Because of the limited number of slots and the nature of late breakers, very few submissions will be accepted for presentation. 

Late Breaker abstracts must be submitted via the online submission form.  This option will only be available between December 16, 2009, and April 15, 2010. The deadline for late breaker abstract submission is 6:00 p.m. (eastern time) on April 15, 2010.

If you would like to submit an abstract, and have already created an account for website access to forms, please select the link for the "ADD ABSTRACT" from the menu on the left.

If you would like to submit and abstract and have NOT created an account for website access to forms, please select the link to CREATE AN ACCOUNT / LOGIN.

Notification and Correspondence

Upon submission of your abstract via the online form, you will receive an acknowledgement within approximately 2 hours at the e-mail address you provide. If your abstract is submitted as final, your co-authors will also receive an acknowledgement.  Please retain this information for your records as verification of receipt. If you do not receive an acknowledgement within approximately 2 hours after submission of your abstract, please contact us. Please send an e-mail to the conference organizers by clicking here or utilizing this e-mail address: M2010info@microbicides2010.org.

Abstract dispositions will be e-mailed to the primary author listed on the abstract on or about February 15, 2010.  It is the responsibility of the primary author to inform co-authors about an abstract's disposition.

Published Articles

Accepted abstracts will be published in the Program and Abstracts of the 2010 International Microbicides Conference and distributed to registrants.  In addition, all abstracts will be posted on the M2010 conference Web site.

Copyright and Grant Permissions

By submitting an abstract, authors and co-authors must certify (via electronic signature) that the abstract is original work and any copyrights and grant permissions must be transferred to organizers of the 2010 International Microbicides Conference.  Permission must also be granted to publish the abstract in all printed, online, or electronic materials produced in association with the 2010 International Microbicides Conference.