Time zone: (Eastern Time USA)
Day 1 Tuesday, January 27, 2026
08:00 – 08:10 Welcome and Introduction to APICOMPLEXA 2026
Session I – Divide and Disrupt: Atypical Cell Cycles in Apicomplexan Parasites
Session Chair: Sudhir Kumar, Iowa State University of Science and Technology, IA, USA
08:10 – 08:40 Rita Tewari, University of Nottingham, United Kingdom
Divide and thrive: Atypical mitosis in Plasmodium
08:40 – 09:10 Markus Ganter, University Hospital Heidelberg, Germany
Plasmodium proliferation: How to establish asynchronous nuclear cycles in a multinucleated cell
09:10 – 09:40 Mathieu Gissot, The Pasteur Institute of Lille, University of Lille, France
Regulation of cell cycle-dependent expression profiles during the tachyzoite stage of Toxoplasma gondii
Session II – Organelle Odyssey: Illuminating Signaling and Biogenesis in Parasites
Session Chair: Paul-Christian Burda, University of Giessen, Germany
09:40-10:10 Nishith Gupta, BITS Pilani, Hyderabad, India
Optogenetic illumination of novel signaling in Toxoplasma gondii
10:10-10:40 Lilach Sheiner, University of Glasgow, United Kingdom
Perkinsus mitochondrial complexes reveal new mitochondrial biology of myzozoan
10:40-11:10 Anat Florentin, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
A chaperonin system links apicoplast proteostasis and biogenesis
11:10-11:30 Break
Session III – Gametocyte Biology and Parasite Immunity
Session Chair: Mukul Rawat, University of Dundee, United Kingdom
11:30-12:00 Rajesh Chandramohanadas, Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India
Malaria’s favorite hideout- The mystery of immature red blood cells
12:00-12:30 Carol A Gilchrist, University of Virginia, VA, USA
Cytophilic Immunoglobulin responses to cryptosporidiosis in Bangladeshi children
12:30-13:00 Sudhir Kumar, Iowa State University of Science and Technology, IA, USA
Regulation of Plasmodium male gametogenesis and nuclear partitioning
Session IV – Synthesis and Structures: Protein Machinery in Apicomplexan Parasites
Session Chair: Megan Sloan, University of Glasgow, United Kingdom
13:00-13:30 Joachim Michael Matz, Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine, Germany
Redefining the role of the Plasmodium Heme Detoxification Protein: From hemozoin formation to mitochondrial protein synthesis
13:30-14:00 Sébastien BESTEIRO, University of Montpellier, France
Exploring Iron-Sulfur cluster biosynthesis and transfer in Toxoplasma gondii: insights from the HFC101-ABCE1 interaction and its implications for protein synthesis
14:00-14:30 Yifan Wang, University of Michigan Medical School, MI, USA
Host-specific determinants of Toxoplasma gondii fitness revealed by genome-wide CRISPR screens
14:30-15:00 Rui Zhang, Washington University in St. Louis, MO, USA
High-resolution cryo-EM structure of the conoid in Toxoplasma gondii
15:00-15:20 Break
Session V – Advanced Cell Cycle Dynamics and Structural Polarity
Session Chair: Elena Suvorova, University of South Florida, FL, USA
15:20-15:50 Robyn S Kent, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, OK, USA
Exploring the role of concurrent cell cycles in chronic Toxoplasma infection
15:50-16:20 Klemens Engelberg, Boston College, MA, USA
Beyond the belt: Emerging roles of the Toxoplasma basal complex
16:20-16:50 Ke Hu, Arizona State University, AZ, USA
The initiation, development, and evolution of apical-basal polarity of Toxoplasma gondii
16:50 Day 1 Concluding Remarks
Day 2 Wednesday, January 28, 2026
Session VI – Gut Pathogens to Drug Targets: Resistance and Virulence in Apicomplexa
08:00-08:10 Day 2 Opening Remarks
Session Chair: Wesley C. Van Voorhis, University of Washington, WA, USA
08:10-08:40 Mattie Christine Pawlowic, University of Dundee, United Kingdom
Using genetics to investigate Cryptosporidium transmission
08:40-09:10 L. David Sibley, Washington University in St. Louis, MO, USA
Cryptosporidiosis: microbial interactions in the gut
09:10-09:40 Smritikana Dutta, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India
A Plasmodium falciparum redox survival mechanism licenses killing by artemisinins
09:40-10:10 Dennis Kyle, University of Georgia, GA, USA
Single cell viability of P. falciparum exposed to antimalarial drugs provides insights into evolution of drug resistance
10:10-10:40 Wesley C. Van Voorhis, University of Washington, WA, USA
Two Bumped Kinase Inhibitor (BKI) preclinical candidates for the therapy of Cryptosporidiosis and Toxoplasmosis
10:40 – 11:10 Guan Zhu, Jilin University, Institute of Zoonosis, China
Cryptosporidium parvum ARM-repeat-only protein CpARO functions at the rhoptry envelope and as a secreted virulence factor
11:10-11:30 Break
Session VII – Immune Frontiers: Vaccines, Metabolism, and Antibodies
Session Chair: Chelsea Marie Braun, University of Virginia, VA, USA
11:30 – 12:00 Didier BETBEDER, Vaxinano, France
A non-adjuvanted nanoparticle for inactivated prophylactic and therapeutic vaccines administered via the nasal route
12:00 – 12:30 Sabrina MARION, The Pasteur Institute of Lille, University of Lille, France
Metabolic regulation of Toxoplasma gondii infected dendritic cells
12:30 – 13:00 Thomas Lavstsen, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Broadly binding-inhibitory antibodies against P. falciparum’s variable virulence proteins
13:00-13:10 Break
Session VIII – Metabolic and Membrane Dynamics in Parasites
Session Chair: Dominique Soldati-Favre, University of Geneva, Switzerland
13:10-13:40 Cyrille Botte, Universite Grenoble Alpes, France
Host-parasite metabolic interaction: it’s (almost) all about lipids, a lipid trafficking story
13:40-14:10 Andrés Guillén-Samander, Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine, Germany
Study of lipid transfer proteins in the malaria parasite reveals new mechanisms for its survival in Red Blood Cells
14:10-14:40 Clare Harding, University of Glasgow, United Kingdom
The importance of copper transport to Toxoplasma gondii
14:40-15:10 Simon Gras, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munchen, Germany
Balancing renewal and recycling: Endocytic pathway of Toxoplasma gondii plasma membrane
15:10-15:30 Break
Session IX – Signaling Secrets: Lipids, Non-Coding, and Ubiquitin in Parasites
Session Chair: Marc-Jan Gubbels, Boston College, MA, USA
15:30-16:00 Dave Richard, Universitaire de Québec-CHUL-Université Laval, Canada
Exploring the roles of phosphoinositides in the biology of the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum
16:00-16:30 David Serre, University of Maryland School of Medicine, MA, USA
Beyond protein-coding sequences: the role of non-coding elements in regulating Plasmodium gene expression
16:30-17:00 Carlos Gustavo Baptista, Virginia Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine, Virginia Tech, VA, USA
Linking ubiquitin signaling to transcriptional control: The F-Box L2 role in Toxoplasma