New approaches to get around roundworms
Presentation
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Parasitic roundworms, also termed ascarids, share many biological and pathological features, and so a systematic collaborative approach to the study of these offers great synergistic potential in the development of new options for controlling these infections. This group of parasites are highly prevalent and of great clinical importance in human and animals, e.g. pigs, horses, chickens, dogs and cats. Some, such as Ascaris spp. are zoonotic and it is estimated that > 800 million people are at risk of infection with Ascaris lumbricoides. To promote the advancement of science and foster international multi-disciplinary research collaborations to combat diseases caused by ascarid worms, we propose the development of an international collaboration entitled ‘The Ascarid Research and Training Initiative (ARTI)’.
To facilitate this, we will hold a scientific conference including up to five workshops dedicated to the establishment of focus working groups on specific research themes addressing the state of the art in e.g. immune response, drug action and resistance as well as genomic/transcriptomic analyses of ascarids. ARTI will include researchers working on fundamental as well as applied research issues of ascarid infections in human and animal hosts. Academic, private/industrial and governmental research institutions will be involved. Furthermore, linking the conference with a workshop on ‘Approaches and perspectives of Caenorhabditis elegans as a tool for ascarid research’ will promote technology transfer and interdisciplinary research collaborations betw. parasitologists and those working on the ‘model’ nematode species.
KEY-WORDS
Roundworms, Ascarids, anthelmintic resistance, new antiparasiticide discovery, anthelmintic mode of action, Immune response to helminth infections, Caenorhabditis elegans as a functional tool
CONVENORS
- Prof. Adrian Wolstenholme, LE STUDIUM / Marie Skłodowska-Curie Research Fellow
FROM: University of Georgia, Department of Infectious Diseases - USA
IN RESIDENCE AT: Infectiology and Public Health (ISP) / Centre INRAE Val de Loire, University of Tours - FR - Prof. Georg von Samson-Himmelstjern, Former LE STUDIUM Guest Research Fellow
Free University of Berlin - DE - Dr Cédric Neveu
Infectiology and Public Health (ISP) / Centre INRAE Val de Loire, University of Tours - FR
Confirmed speakers
- Dr Erik Andersen, Northwestern University - USA
- Dr Friederike Ebner, Free University of Berlin - DE
- Dr Peter Geldhof, Gent University - BE
- Prof Lindy Holden-Dye, University of Southampton - UK
- Prof Susanne Hartmann, Free University of Berlin - DE
- Dr Peter Nejsum, Aarhus University - DK
- Dr Jianbin Wang, The University of Tennessee - USA
Oral presentations (Abstracts submission)
Please download the template for oral presentation.
Programme
Monday 29th november 2021 (14:00 - 18:00 ; GMT+1:00 - Paris)
- 14:00 Official Opening by Prof. Adrian Wolstenholme, Dr Cédric Neveu & Dr Aurélien Montagu (Scientific Relations Manager of LE STUDIUM Loire Valley Institute for Advanced Studies)
Session 1: Ascarid physiology & Drug action
- 14:15 Prof Lindy Holden-Dye - Ascaris physiology and pharmacology -what next? and how?
- 14:35 Dr Paul Williams - Calcium imaging of Cry5B action on the intestine of Ascaris suum
- 14:50 Prof. Richard Martin - Calcium imaging in the intestine of Ascaris suum, TRP channels and diethylcarbamazine
- 15:05 Dr Jeba Jesudoss Chelladurai - P-glycoproteins of Toxocara canis: characterization of expression and pharmacological activity
- 15:20 General discussion
- 15:50 Break
Session 2: Host-parasite interactions in ascarids
- 16:20 Prof. Susanne Hartmann - Ascaris – immune response – microbiota triangle
- 16:40 Dr Peter Nejsum - Extracellular vesicles and helminth immunomodulation
- 17:00 Sara Roose - New insights into the use of serology as a diagnostic tool for Ascaris infections in humans
- 17:15 Dr Andrea Springer - Modulation of the porcine intestinal microbiome and metabolome by Ascaris suum infection
- 17:30 Marie-Kristin Raulf - Binding of host C-type lectin receptors to Toxocara spp.-derived ligands – relevance of MGL-1 and MCL in toxocarosis
- 17:45 General discussion
- 18:15 End of the day
Tuesday 30th november 2021 (14:00 - 18:00 ; GMT+1:00 - Paris)
Session 3: Current scope and future perspectives of Caenorhabditis elegans as a tool for ascarid research
- 14:00 Prof Erik Anderson - The current scope and future perspectives of Caenorhabditis elegans as a tool for ascarid research
- 14:20 Prof. Adrian Wolstenholme - C. elegans as a model for ascarid parasites; levamisole receptors
- 14:35 Dr Cédric Neveu - Investigating anthelmintic molecular targets of Ascarids using C. elegans as a model: pros and cons
- 14:50 Prof. Georg von Samson-Himmelstjern - Functional analysis of heterologous expression of Parascaris univalens P-glycoprotein in C. elegans
- 15:05 General discussion
- 15:40 Break
Session 4: Genomic / transcriptomic analyses of ascarids
- 16:00 Dr Jianbin Wang - Genomes and transcriptomes of the parasitic nematode Ascaris
- 16:20 Dr Behdad Tarbiat -Allele frequency shift in the β-tubulin gene of Ascaridia galli in response to repeated exposure to fenbendazole
- 16:35 Dr JB Collins - Lack of canonical beta-tubulin resistance alleles in two benzimidazole-resistant ascarid species
- 16:50 Ben Jones - Disentangling the role of Ascaris β-tubulin isotypes in the emergence of anthelmintic resistance
- 17:05 Frida Martin - Exploring the β-tubulin gene family in a benzimidazole-resistant Parascaris univalens population.
- 17:20 General discussion
- 18:00 End of the day
Wednesday 1st december 2021 (14:00 - 18:30 ; GMT+1:00 - Paris)
Session 5: Vaccines
- 14:00 Dr Friederike Ebner - Current challenges of vaccine development against Ascaris
- 14:20 Dr Peter Geldhof - Natural immunity against Ascaris – What lessons can be learned for vaccine development?
- 14:40 Dr Amit Prasad - Designing a multi-epitope chimeric vaccine candidate against Ascaris lumbricoides from its entire immunogenic epitopes: An immunoinformatics approach
- 14:55 Dr Francisco Evangelista - A bioinformatics approach to the discovery of vaccination targets in Ascaris lumbricoides and Ascaris suum.
- 15:10 General discussion
- 15:45 Break
Session 6: Wrap-up and future plans
- 16:15 Structured by sessions and provided by session chair(s) with wrap-up of session, key objectives, identified research themes and conclusion/next steps
- Opportunity to build working groups for dedicated themes/topics
- Publication
- Next meetings ?
- 18:30 Conclusion
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