KSHV 2026 in Hamburg – Bringing Together the Global Herpesvirus Research Community

From June 28 to July 1, 2026, the international KSHV community gathered in Hamburg for the 28th International Workshop of the Society for Kaposi's Sarcoma Herpesvirus (KSHV) and Related Agents.

For more than 25 years, this workshop has served as a leading forum for scientific exchange among researchers and clinicians from around the world, focusing on the latest advances in the study of oncogenic herpesviruses, which are responsible for approximately 2% of all newly diagnosed cancers worldwide. This year's meeting was organized and hosted by the Leibniz Institute of Virology (LIV), under the leadership of Prof. Adam Grundhoff, at the Centre for Structural Systems Biology (CSSB).

The meeting opened with a clinical and translational workshop, followed by a panel discussion addressing current advances and remaining challenges in the treatment of KSHV-associated diseases. This session was one of the highlights of the program and clearly demonstrated that, after three decades of research, our understanding of KSHV biology has reached a level that is enabling the development of new and more effective therapeutic strategies.

The clinical workshop was followed by a comprehensive scientific program covering a broad range of current research topics. The meeting's agenda comprised eleven scientific sessions featuring over 65 presentations. Researchers shared their unpublished findings on viral pathogenesis, mechanisms of latency and reactivation, gene expression and replication, host responses to infection, epidemiology, as well as recent advances in vaccine development, therapeutic approaches, and clinical and translational research. The program also included presentations on related viruses, including Herpesvirus saimiri (HVS), murine herpesvirus 68 (MHV-68), and rhesus rhadinovirus (RRV).

With 97 participants representing 15 countries across five continents, the workshop provided not only an international platform for presenting cutting-edge research, but also an important opportunity to establish new collaborations and strengthen connections within the virology and broader biomedical research community.