On 15 November 2024, IOCB Prague hosted the annual Tony Holý Lecture, held in memory of Antonín Holý, whose research led to key life-saving antiviral drugs against HIV. This year’s speaker was Professor Hans-Georg Kräusslich, a leading virologist from Heidelberg University, who shared his expertise with a large audience of scientists and students.
Professor Kräusslich, head of the Virology Department at Heidelberg University, delivered a lecture highlighting recent findings that reshape our understanding of the early phases of HIV-1 replication. The viral cone-shaped capsid, which enters the target cell, is now recognized as the central orchestrator of early replication, driving critical processes including cytoplasmic trafficking, reverse transcription, nuclear and nucleoplasmic import, and evasion of the innate immune response. Kräusslich explored new insights into these complex processes as well as the effects of Lenacapavir, a recently approved capsid-targeting inhibitor.
After the lecture, IOCB Prague director Prof. Jan Konvalinka presented Professor Kräusslich with a newly redesigned Tony Holý Lecture plaque to commemorate the event and the significance of the lecture series, which began in 2015 with a lecture by Dr. John C. Martin, one of Antonín Holý's key collaborators, without whom Holý’s molecules might never have reached patients.
