Lawrence Banks is Director-General of the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB), an international scientific research organization that promotes sustainable development through advanced research and education with Headquarters in Trieste, Italy. He served as Scientific Coordinator of the ICGEB from 2016 – June 2019 and has been Group Leader of the Tumour Virology Laboratory at ICGEB Trieste, Italy since 1990. His current research interest focuses on Human Papillomaviruses (HPVs), the causative agents of a number of human tumours, the most important of which is cervical cancer, a major cause of cancer-related death in women worldwide. His laboratory has made ground breaking contributions to our understanding of how HPV enters the cell and subsequently brings about changes resulting in malignancy. He has organised over 15 major international workshops on Human Papillomaviruses, on Leishmania and on DNA Tumor Viruses. To date he counts on 234 publications with h-index 57 Abstract: Infectious agents account for approximately 12% of all human cancer cases. The most prevalent of these are Human Papillomaviruses, which account for around 5% of the total human cancer burden. We shall discuss the current concepts in how these viruses are thought to bring about cancer and review the various options for disease detection and prevention. Therapies remain a major challenge, especially in low resource settings and some insights will be provided into the types of approaches being taken to develop novel forms of therapeutic intervention. Finally a brief presentation of ICGEB will be provided, outlining the different programmes and some of the activities specifically aiming to increase scientific and technological development in low and middle income countries. The colloquium will be livestreamed at: www.ictp.it/livestream Refreshments will be served in the lobby of the Leonardo Building after the talk.