“Our lineup of 32 featured talks highlights recent advances in understanding the biology, transmission, and treatment strategies for apicomplexan parasites like Cryptosporidium, Toxoplasma, and Plasmodium, focusing on drug candidates, vaccine development, genetic insights, and host-parasite interactions. All talks collectively highlight the importance of targeting parasite survival mechanisms and immune evasion to combat diseases such as cryptosporidiosis, toxoplasmosis, and malaria effectively.”
Our
Speakers
Hover over the speaker’s name to learn more about their research!
Wesley (Wes) C. Van Voorhis, MD, PhD
University of Washington (UW), Seattle, WA, USA
Title: Two Bumped Kinase Inhibitor (BKI) preclinical candidates for the therapy of Cryptosporidiosis and Toxoplasmosis
L. David Sibley, PhD
Washington University in St. Louis, MO, USA
Title: Cryptosporidiosis: microbial interactions in the gut
Mattie Christine Pawlowic, PhD
University of Dundee, United Kingdom
Title: Genetic approaches to studying Cryptosporidium transmission
Didier Betbeder, PhD
President and CSO, Vaxinano, France
Title: A non-adjuvanted nanoparticle for inactivated prophylactic and therapeutic vaccines
administered via the nasal route
Sabrina MARION, PhD
The Pasteur Institute of Lille, University of Lille, France
Title: Metabolic regulation of Toxoplasma gondii infected dendritic cells
Guan Zhu, PhD
Jilin University, China
Title: Cryptosporidium parvum ARM-repeat-only protein CpARO functions at the rhoptry envelope and as a secreted virulence factor
Carol A. Gilchrist, PhD
University of Virginia, VA, USA
Title: Cytophilic Immunoglobulin responses to cryptosporidiosis in Bangladeshi children
Sébastien Besteiro, PhD
University of Montpellier, France
Title: Exploring Iron-Sulfur cluster biosynthesis and transfer in Toxoplasma gondii: insights from the HFC101-ABCE1 interaction and its implications for protein synthesis
Ke Hu, PhD
Arizona State University, AZ, USA
Title: The initiation, development, and evolution of apical-basal polarity of Toxoplasma gondii
Yifan Wang, DVM, PhD
University of Michigan Medical School, MI, USA
Title: Host-specific determinants of Toxoplasma gondii fitness revealed by genome-wide CRISPR screens
Clare Harding, PhD
University of Glasgow, United Kingdom
Title: The importance of copper transport to Toxoplasma gondii
Rajesh Chandramohanadas, PhD
Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India
Title: Malaria’s favorite hideout- The mystery of immature red blood cells
Carlos Gustavo Baptista, PhD
VA-MD College of Veterinary Medicine
Virginia Tech, VA, USA
Title: Linking ubiquitin signaling to transcriptional control: The F-Box L2 role in Toxoplasma
Klemens Engelberg, PhD
Boston College, MA, USA
Title: Beyond the belt: Emerging roles of the Toxoplasma basal complex
Robyn Kent, PhD
University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, OK, USA
Title: Exploring the role of concurrent cell cycles in chronic Toxoplasma infection
Simon Gras, PhD
LMU München, Germany
Title: Balancing renewal and recycling: Endocytic pathway of Toxoplasma gondii plasma membrane
Dennis Kyle, PhD
University of Georgia, GA, USA
Title: Single cell viability of P. falciparum exposed to antimalarial drugs provides insights into evolution of drug resistance
Rita Tewari, PhD
University of Nottingham, United Kingdom
Title: Divide and thrive: Atypical mitosis in Plasmodium
Dave Richard, PhD
Universitaire de Québec-CHUL-Université Laval, Canada
Title: Exploring the roles of phosphoinositides in the biology of the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum
Thomas Lavstsen, PhD
University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Title: Broadly binding-inhibitory antibodies against P. falciparum’s variable virulence proteins
David Serre, PhD
University of Maryland School of Medicine, MA, USA
Title: Beyond protein-coding sequences: the role of non-coding elements in regulating Plasmodium gene expression
Lilach Sheiner, PhD
University of Glasgow, United Kingdom
Title: Perkinsus mitochondrial complexes reveal new mitochondrial biology of myzozoan
Cyrille Botté, PhD
CNRS UMR, Université Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France
Title: Host-parasite metabolic interaction: it’s (almost) all about lipids, a lipid trafficking story
Mathieu Gissot, PhD
The Pasteur Institute of Lille, University of Lille, France
Title: Regulation of cell cycle-dependent expression profiles during the tachyzoite stage of Toxoplasma gondii
Nishith Gupta, PhD
BITS Pilani, Hyderabad, India
Title: Novel mediators of signaling in Toxoplasma gondii
Markus Ganter, PhD
University Hospital Heidelberg, Germany
Title: Plasmodium proliferation: How to establish asynchronous nuclear cycles in a multinucleated cell
Joachim Michael Matz, PhD
Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine, Germany
Title: Redefining the role of the Plasmodium Heme Detoxification Protein: From hemozoin formation to mitochondrial protein synthesis
Rui Zhang, PhD
Washington University in St. Louis, MO, USA
Title: High-resolution cryo-EM structure of the conoid in Toxoplasma gondii
Anat Florentin, PhD
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
Title: A chaperonin system links apicoplast proteostasis and biogenesis
Sudhir Kumar, PhD
Iowa State University of Science and Technology, IA, USA
Title: Regulation of Plasmodium male gametogenesis and nuclear partitioning
Andrés Guillén Samander, PhD
Post-doc – Spielmann’s Lab, Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine, Germany
Title: Study of lipid transfer proteins in the malaria parasite reveals new mechanisms for its survival in Red Blood Cells
Smritikana Dutta, PhD
Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India
Title: A Plasmodium falciparum redox survival mechanism licenses killing by artemisinins