Wrap-up of 3rd International Blastocystis Conference

The 3rd International Blastocystis Conference took place Wednesday-Friday last week.

Organising committee:

• Anastasios (Tasos) Tsaousis 
• Eleni Gentekaki
• Chr. Rune Stensvold
• Funda Dogruman-Al

 Scientific committee:

• Kevin S W Tan
• Özgür Kurt
• Eleni Gentekaki 
• Chr. Rune Stensvold
• Funda Dogruman-Al
• Anastasios (Tasos) Tsaousis
  

 Sponsors included 

• Microbiology Society
• Biology - MDPI
• PCR Biosystems
  

The conference was facilitated by Top Kinisis

The conference in numbers:

•  3-day conference
• 73 attendees
• 29 countries represented
• 66 abstracts
• 38 oral presentations
• 28 poster presentations
• 265 tweets using #Blastocystis21 as hashtag
• 3 awards
  

Awards:

Blastocystis Quiz Award: Mark van der Giezen (@MitoRem)

Poster Award: Adriana Marcela Higuera Gelvez (Draft genomes of Blastocystis isolates from human samples in Bogotá, Colombia)

Oral Presentation:

• Winner: Jamie Newton (Investigating the metabolic fluctuations of the human gut during Blastocystis infection)
  
• 1st runner-up: Lei Deng (Experimental colonization with Blastocystis ST4 is associated with protective immune response and modulation of gut microbiome in a DSS-induced colitis mouse model)
  
• 2nd runner-up: Zuzana Lhotska and Vincent Billy (back-to-back presentations: Blastocystis colonization alters host immune response and gut microbiome, part a and b, respectively)
  

A special issue 'Putting Blastocystis on the Spot: Examining the Biology, Ecology and Epidemiology of a controversial gut microbe' has been launched in Frontiers. This Research Topic is linked to the conference. You can go here for more information.

The 4th International Blastocystis Conference is planned to take place in Chania, Crete, Greece in 2024.

Last, but not least a couple of screen capture impressions from the conference:

I will be back shortly with more updates from the conference.

R

The 3rd Blastocystis Conference will be AWESOME!

 Hi everyone,

We're currently going through the abstracts submitted for the upcoming Blastocystis conference, which will be held exclusively online.

The scientific quality of the abstracts is very high, and participants in this year's conference are in for a veritable treat! 

Expect important and potentially game-changing updates on host-pathogen interactions, cell biology and evolution, epidemiology, intestinal ecology, diagnosis and molecular characterisation.

Use this opportunity to obtain answers to all of your Blastocystis questions.

We are very much overwhelmed about the interest for this event and the support.

💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥

Special Issue in Microorganisms "Evolution and Genetic Diversity of Gut Protozoan Parasites"

Hi everyone,

Please consider the new Special Issue (SI) in Microorganisms (section on Parasitology) 'Evolution and Genetic Diversity of Gut Protozoan Parasites' if you wish to publish data on these topics and you're looking for target journals. We use the term 'protozoan' broadly so that it also comprises Blastocystis.

This SI will be co-edited by Anastasios Tsaousis (yes, our next Blastocystis conference organiser!) and myself.

We welcome articles (original articles and reviews) that significantly contribute data on the genetic diversity and evolution of gut protozoan parasites. We are particularly interested in articles that use or introduce novel technologies and/or approaches to investigate these matters. We are also interested in research investigating the host specificity and geographical distribution of these parasites. Research dealing with how the extent of genetic diversity reflects host adaptation will receive special priority. Moreover, we specifically call for research that deals with gut parasites in a gut microbiome context.

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 October 2021. 

Please go here for more information.

Thanks for your consideration.

3rd International Blastocystis Conference - abstract submission open!

Hi Everyone, and a very Happy New Year!

Please note that abstract submission and registration for the 3rd International Blastocystis Conference (virtual, 2nd to 4th of June) is now OPEN! Click here to register and share your Blastocystis research!

We have registration fees as low as € 15 for early birds!

For Twitter users, please also follow @Blastocystis21 for updates.

Our website is now live along with the abstract submission for the next #Blastocystis Conference! Spread the word! 145 days to go ...
@Blastocystis #protists #abstractsubmission #Blastocystis21 https://t.co/T3mX9bv4Jf

— Blastocystis 2021 (@Blastocystis21) January 7, 2021

ECCMID 2020

I look very much forward to the annual European Congress in Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, which this year will take place in April in Paris.

Apart from catching up with colleagues, a few of whom I've known for about 15 years, one of the things that I really look forward to is a session that I'll be co-chairing with Prof Laurence Delhaes with the title

The gut microbiome: not only bacteria, but also parasites and fungi!

It's a 2-hour symposium including these talks and presenters:

Does a healthy gut microbiome include parasites and yeast?

Dr. Pauline Scanlan

 

Within population diversification and evolution in the host

Dr. Daniel Lopez

 

The unexplored diversity of the gut microbiome: how can we profile yeasts and protozoa from metagenomics?

Prof. Nicola Segata

 

The microbiota of parasites

Dr. Cinzia Cantacessi

The symposium is co-organised by ESGS - ESCMID Study Group for Staphylococci and Staphylococcal Diseases, ESGPHM - ESCMID Study Group for Public Health Microbiology, ESGNI - ESCMID Study Group for Nosocomial Infections

For more information, please go here.