The Sleeping Beast: Tackling Diseases in their Dormant Stages

Persistent or dormant stages present an obstacle in the therapy and elimination of diseases such as malaria, Chagas disease, leishmaniasis, tuberculosis, other bacterial infections, and cancer. Join a diverse mix of specialists and students for a mutual learning event on overcoming the challenges of dormant, 'persister' stages of pathogens. The event will cover:

signaling mechanisms and host-pathogen interaction
treatment options (molecules that kill dormant stages or wake them up)
disease control and elimination programmes

*08:30 On-Site Registration / 08:55 virtual check-in

Moderator: Sebastien Gagneux, Swiss TPH
09:00	Welcome, Anne Aerts, Director, Novartis Foundation
09:10	Setting the Stage, Pascal Mäser, Swiss TPH
09:20	Persister-Like Cells in Parasitic Protozoa: How and Why?, Michael Barrett, University of Glasgow
09:50	Bacterial Drug Tolerance and Persisters, Dirk Bumann, Biozentrum, University of Basel
10:20	Can We Keep Cancer Asleep?, Ana Luísa Correia, Foundation Champalimaud Lisbon (virtual)
10:40	Coffee Break (30 minutes)

Moderator: Pascal Mäser, Swiss TPH
11:10	Antibiotic Lethality Drives Mycobacterial Infection Outcomes, Lucas Boeck, University of Basel
11:25	The Double Face of Persistence in Kinetoplastids, Lara Lopez Escobar, Institute of Tropical Medicine Antwerp
11:40	Know Thy Enemy: Diving into the World of Malaria Hypnozoites, Anne-Marie Zeeman, Biomedical Primate Research Centre, The Netherlands
11:55	The Sleeper Takes It All: Transient and Slowed Down Forms of Trypanosoma cruzi, Francisco Olmo, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and University of Granada
12:10	From Signaling Networks to Tissue Ecosystems: Imaging Cancer Cell Persistence, Olivier Pertz, University of Bern
12:25	Lunch (60 minutes)

Moderator: Francisco Olmo, LSHTM and University of Granada
13:25	Sleeping Beauties: Quiescence in P. falciparum Gametocytes, Leonie Seefeldt, Swiss TPH
13:30	Studying Leishmania Persisters in Macrophages, Malenka Kunz, Swiss TPH
13:35	Persistence in Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Pablo Manfredi, University of Basel Biozentrum
13:40	Investigating the Link between Phenotypic Drug Tolerance and Drug Resistance Amplification in Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Kakha Mchedlishvili, Swiss TPH
13:45	Mycobacterium tuberculosis in Hostile Host Environments: Persistence Through Dormancy?, Sarah Schmidiger, Swiss TPH
13:50	Patient-Specific Characterization of Drug Refractory Metastatic Lesions by Functional Drug Screening and Imaging Mass Cytometry, Charly Jehanno, University Hospital Basel
13:55	Quick Break (10 minutes)

Moderator: Patricia Bravo, Swiss TPH
14:05	Mycobacteria Persisters in Disease Control, Dorothy Yeboah–Manu, Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, University of Ghana
14:35	TBA, tba
15:50	The Probability of Plasmodium vivax Acute Illness Following Primary Infection and Relapse in Papua New Guinea, Amanda Ross, Swiss TPH
15:05	The Health Authorities Perspective on Persisters, Marcus Lacerda, World Health Organization (virtual)
15:25	Coffee Break (35 minutes)

Moderator: Elisabeth Reus, Swiss TPH
16:00	Panel Discussion
	Michael Barrett, University of Glasgow Dirk Bumann, University of Basel Biozentrum Dorothy Yeboah–Manu, Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, Ghana Malgorzata Domagalska, Institute of Tropical Medicine Antwerp Olivier Pertz, University of Bern
16:50	Closing Words, Jürg Utzinger, Director, Swiss TPH
17:00	End of Day