Sunday 22 June
14.00-15.00
Registration
15:00-15.45
Industry sponsored Symposium
Chairs: Bernd Merkl, Troels Lillebaek
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15:00 Inna Friesen, Borstel, Germany
Redefining the diagnosis of drug-resistant TB: Clinical validation of FluoroType® MTBDR VER2.0 and first results of tNGS workflow integration.
15.45-16.15
Coffee Break​​​
16.15-16.45
Selected flash talks (5 min)
Chairs:
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16:45-19.00
Opening session
Chairs: Troels Lillebaek, Miguel Viveiros, Raquel Duarte
16:45
Welcome words, ESM and congress Presidents
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Opening Keynote
17:00 Raquel Duarte, INSA National Institute of Health and ICBAS University of Porto
GL01 Challenges in Tuberculosis Management Today
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17:45
Gertrud Meissner Award presented by S. Niemann​​​
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18:10
GL02 Gardner Middlebrook Award
19.00-21.30
Networking drinks and light dinner snacks at the INSTITUTE OF HYGIENE AND TROPICAL MEDICINE
Monday 23 June
08:00-08:30
Registration
08:30-10:00
Session 1: Molecular Biology and Mycobacterial Evolution
The evolutionary history and phylogeny of mycobacteria, along with genomics for tracking transmission, resistance, and the evolution of drug resistance mechanisms provide comprehensive insights into their biology and adaptation.
Chairs: Christophe Sola, João Perdigão
08:30 Roland Brosch, Institut Pasteur, Paris
GL03 The Evolutionary History and Phylogeny of Mycobacteria
09:00 Dmytro Butov, Kharkiv National Medical University, Kharkiv, Ukraine
OR01 Molecular Epidemiology of Tuberculosis in Ukraine: A Nationwide Whole-Genome Sequencing Study (2020–2023)
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09:15 Arash Ghodousi, Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, Milan
OR02 CRISPR and phage footprints reveal an aquatic ancestry for the tuberculosis pathogen
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09:30 Faramarz Valafar, San Diego State University
OR03 Interred mechanisms of resistance and host immune evasion revealed through network-connectivity analysis of M. tuberculosis complex graph pangenome
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09:45 Nour Gharbi, EPHE, PSL University, Paris
OR04 Genome-wide association analysis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis lineage 2 reveals key factors for its enhanced epidemic success
10:00-10:30
Coffee Break
10:30-12:00
Session 2: One Health Perspective on the Epidemiology, Environment, Lifestyle and Risk Factors for Mycobacteria Infection and Disease
The impact of aging, chronic diseases, co-infections, climate change, water quality, and microbiota on M. tuberculosis and non-tuberculous mycobacterial infections, as well as zoonotic tuberculosis in the One Health Era, highlights the need for an integrated approach addressing human, animal, and environmental health to prevent mycobacterial infection and transmission
Chairs: Nuno Empadinhas, Leen Rigouts
10:30 Jean-François Guégan, UMR MIVEGEC, Montpellier, France
GL04 Canonical fact versus hypothesis testing to decipher transmission of non-tuberculous and tuberculous mycobacteria
11:00 Camille Allam, Centre National de Référence des Mycobactéries et de la Résistance aux Antituberculeux (CNR MyrMA)
OR05 Standardised protocol for the detection and quantification of nontuberculous mycobacteria in tap water and its application in investigating the source of clinical infections
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11:15 Margo Diricks, Research Center Borstel
OR06 Indoor water systems as reservoirs for clinically relevant non-tuberculous mycobacteria in Germany
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11:30 Anita Michel, University of Pretoria
OR07 TB through a One Health lens: Challenges in a rural South African setting
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11:45 Xenia Emilie Iversen, Statens Serum Institute, Copenhagen
OR08 Nontuberculous Mycobacteria in Denmark: Seven Decades of Clinical Occurrence
12:00-12:45
Poster pitches - Session 1
Chair: Leen Rigouts
1 minute per poster (29 posters)
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12:45-13:30
Lunch
13:30-14:45
Poster Session 1
All posters with uneven numbers (P001, P003 etc)
14:45-16:15
Session 3: Host-Pathogen interactions in TB
Advances in understanding the immune response to M. tuberculosis infection, including lineage-specific drivers of differential immune response and virulence, have highlighted biomarkers of protection and susceptibility as well as potential host-directed therapies.
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Chairs: Iñaki Comas, Margarida Saraiva
14:45 Mireia Coscolla, University of Valencia
GL05 Evolutionary insights in host-pathogen compatibility of M. tuberculosisecotypes.
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15:15 Javier Alonso del Real, Instituto de Biomedicina de Valencia - Spanish National Research Council
OR09 Mycobacterium tuberculosis trehalose synthesis pathways as key determinant of tuberculosis disease progression
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15:30 Tobias Dallenga, Research Center Borstel
OR10 Region-Specific Spatial Transcriptomics Reveal Distinct Immunological Functions in Human Tuberculosis Granulomas
15:45 Jana Schoenfeld, Research Center Borstel
OR11 Reprogramming of human macrophages in response to Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) infection
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16:00 Charlotte Genestet, International Center for Infectious Disease Research (CIRI), Lyon,
OR12 Autologous host-pathogen pairing enhances early immune responses and bacterial control in tuberculosis ex vivo granuloma model
16:15-16:45
Coffee Break
16:45-18:15
Session 4: Clinical pathology and diagnostic advances
Diagnostic advances, artificial intelligence and new technologies relevant to clinical pathologists and laboratory professionals.
Chairs: Daniela Maria Cirillo, Rita Macedo
16:45 Daniela Maria Cirillo, San Raffaele Hospital, Milan
GL06 Co-development of new drugs and diagnostics to prevent drug resistance emergence
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17:15 Andrei Gabrielian, NIH, Washington DC
OR13 Unlocking Drug-Resistant TB Insights: Leveraging RAP’s Unique Imaging Repository for AI Validation and Beyond
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17:30 Carsten William Höß, Serum Life Science
OR14 SIILTIBCY: A New Era in TB Diagnosis
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17:45 Noud Hermans, KNCV tuberculosis foundation, The Hague
OR15 Genotypic drug susceptibility testing for new tuberculosis treatment regimens: The challenge of comprehensive and reliable WHO catalogue-based sequencing data interpretation
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18:00 Iñaki Comas, Instituto de Biomedicina de Valencia - Spanish National Research Council
OR16 Complete genomes reveal unprecedented genomic diversity of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex from global to within-host variation
18:30
Transfer to central Lisboa for those booked on the guided tour
20:30
Traditional Dinner @ Museu da Cerveja
Terreiro do Paço, Ala Nascente, nº 62 a 65
1100-148 Lisboa
Tuesday 24 June
08:30-09:00
Registration
09:00-10:00
Session 5: Recent advances in research on Mycobacterial pathogenesis
Experimental infection models, ranging from vertebrates, rodents, and non-human primates to novel in vitro systems such as human granulomas, organoids, and lung-on-a-chip.
Chairs: Mireia Coscolla, Maria Salomé Gomes
09:00 William Branchett, Francis Crick Institute, London​
GL07 Models and Mechanisms of M. tuberculosis Infection Outcome
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09:30 Mariona Cortacans, Institut d'investigació en Ciències de la Salut Germans Trias i Pujol, Badalona
OR17 When Non-Pathogens Kill: Mycolicibacterium manresensis as a Model for Cryptic Virulence in Mycobacteria
09:45 Marta Arch, Institut d'investigació en Ciències de la Salut Germans Trias i Pujol, Badalona
OR18 Investigating the virulence of Mycobacterium abscessus using the Drosophila melanogaster infection model
10:00-10:25
Poster pitches - Session 2
Chair: Daniela Maria Cirillo
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1 minute per poster (16 posters)
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10:25-11:00
Coffee Break
11:00-12:30
Session 6: New generation vaccines for TB and TB diagnostics
Advances in vaccine research, including innovative adjuvants and strategies tailored to different epidemiological profiles driving the development of next-generation tuberculosis vaccines
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Chairs: Matthias Merker, Elsa Anes
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11:00 Helen McShane, University of Oxford
GL08 Progress and challenges in tuberculosis vaccine development.​
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11:30 Patricia Cuenca Lara, CReSA, IRTA, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
OR19 Evaluation of immune responses elicited by respiratory mucosal vaccination strategies against TB in a goat model
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11:45 Kristin Kremer, KNCV Tuberculosis Foundation, The Hague
OR20 Utility of targeted Nanopore sequencing for the detection of drug-resistant tuberculosis in Kyrgyzstan
12:00 Paulo Bettencourt, Faculty of Medicine, Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Rio de Mouro
OR21 Immunopeptidomics for vaccines against tuberculosis
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12:15 Oren Tzfadia, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp
OR22 Determining the genetic drivers of pathogenicity in the genus Mycobacterium
12:30-12:50
Poster pitches - Session 3
Chair:
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1 minute per poster (15 posters)
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12:50-13:45
Lunch
13:45-15:00
Poster Session 2
All posters with an even number (P002, P004, etc)
15:00-15:45
Industry sponsored Symposium
​Chairs: Leen Rigouts
15:00 Viktoria Szel, National Reference Laboratory for Mycobacteriology, Hungary
Implementation plan of the Mycobacterium RealTime Kit Vircell (MRTVircell) Assay for Detecting Mycobacterium Species in National Mycobacterium Reference Lab, Hungary.​
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15:45 - 16:15
Session 7: Therapeutic strategies for NTM and TB
Treatment of NTM focused on evidence for new drugs, including antibiotic and non-antibiotic combinations, alongside discontinuation strategies and treatment adjustments based on clinical response.
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Chairs: Troels Lillebaek, Raquel Duarte
15:45 Natalie Lorent, KU Leuven
​GL09 Rethinking NTM management: new drugs, new approaches, new hope.
16:15-16:45
Coffee Break
16:45-18:15
Session 8: Therapeutic strategies for NTM and TB Part 2
Chairs: Daniela Maria Cirillo, Raquel Duarte
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16:45 Nicola Lorè, San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan
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17:00 D Moreira Sousa, Pulmonology Department, Local Health Unit Cova da Beira, Covilhã
OR24 International Consensus Framework for Managing Treatment Failure in Nontuberculous Mycobacterial Pulmonary Disease
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17:15 Chloé Jacquet, Inserm U1070 PHAR2, Poitiers
OR25 Fidaxomicin, a potential new drug for combinatorial therapies against Mycobacterium abscessus.
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17:30 Simone Mok, Irish Mycobacteria Reference Laboratory, St. James’s Hospital, Dublin
OR26 Evaluation of NTM-Profiler for identification and drug resistance prediction in nontuberculous mycobacteria from whole genome sequencing data
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17:45 Aarnoud van der Spoel, Dalhousie University, Halifax
OR27 Modelling a genetic condition that protects against tuberculosis
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18:00 Fabio Saliu, San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan
OR28 Preclinical murine models for studying lung infection and antimicrobial treatments of Nontuberculous mycobacteria
18:15
General Assembly
19:30
Social activity: Dinner and party @ Doca do Santo,
Armazém CP – Doca de Santo Amaro
Wednesday 25 June
08.30-09:00
Registration
09.00-11.00
Session 9: Neglected mycobacterial diseases - Continuing challenges for a hopeful future
New hurdles in the fight against neglected mycobacterial diseases such as leprosy and Buruli - resistance, challenges in diagnosis, and the debate between molecular and traditional methods to better identify these often non-cultivable pathogens.
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Chairs: Isabel Couto, Leen Rigouts
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09:00 Leen Rigouts, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp
GL10 Neglected mycobacterial diseases - Continuing challenges for a hopeful future
09:30 Emmanuelle Cambau, APHP-GHU Nord & Université Paris Cité
GL11 Leprosy: back to the future
10:00 Conor Meehan, Nottingham Trent University
OR29 Validating a SNP calling pipeline for Mycobacterium leprae
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10:15 Louisa Warryn, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute
OR30 The diagnostic potential of Mycobacterium ulcerans Mycolactone and the surface protein MUL_3720
10:30 Alisa Aliaga Samanez, MIVEGEC (UMR Université de Montpellier, CNRS, IRD),
OR31 Natural drivers and Human-Induced Pressures shaping the distribution of Mycobacterium ulcerans and Buruli Ulcer
10:45 Tim Stinear, University of Melbourne
OR32 Solving the transmission enigma of Buruli ulcer (Mycobacterium ulcerans infection)
11.00-11:30
Coffee Break
11:30-13.00
Session 10: Systems Biology Approaches to Accelerate Mycobacteriosis Drug Discovery
Emerging areas in the fight against TB and NTM including omics approaches for identifying new host and pathogen drug targets, advancements in drug delivery methods, drug discovery and repurposing pipelines for mycobacteriosis, exploration of non-antibiotic treatments, and innovations in adaptive clinical trial designs.​
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Chairs: Miguel Viveiros, Troels Lillebaek
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11:30 Hannu Myllykallio, Polytechnique; Palaiseau
GL12 From Abyss to Mycobacterial Drug Discovery
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12:00 Pedro Duarte, Research Institute for Medicines, Faculdade de Farmácia, Universidade de Lisboa,
OR33 Implementing large-scale genomics and genomic subtractive strategies to expand the target space in Mycobacterium tuberculosis: a strategy for improving target-based drug discovery
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12:15 Liliana Rodrigues, GHTM, LA-REAL, Instituto de Higiene e Medicina Tropical, IHMT, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa,
OR34 Exploring in silico drug repurposing to develop new therapeutic alternatives for tuberculosis
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12:30 Andrea Muscetti, San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan
OR35 DprE1 inhibitors and bedaquiline combination for TB treatment: in-vitro and in-silico analyses
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12:45 Salomé Gomes, University of Porto
OR36 Improved models for drug development against non-tuberculous mycobacteria
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13:00-13.15
Poster Awards and Closing Ceremony
Chairs: Troels Lillebaek, Leen Rigouts