13th ICC KEYNOTE SPEAKERS:
1. Fiona Tomley Department of Pathobiology and Population Sciences, Royal Veterinary College, London, United Kingdom
Title: Biology of Eimeria parasites: recent insights into host-parasite interaction.
 Fiona is Professor of Experimental Parasitology at the Royal Veterinary College, London. She graduated with a BSc in Microbiology (1977) and PhD in Virology (1980) from the University of Manchester. Fiona’s postdoctoral research at University of Cambridge and the Houghton Poultry Research Station was in avian virology (influenza, infectious bronchitis and fowlpox). For more than ~30 years she has worked mainly on parasites, particularly protozoa (Eimeria species) of chickens which cause the globally important disease coccidiosis. Since 2019 Fiona has also been Director of the GCRF One Health Poultry Hub, an impact-driven programme of interdisciplinary research that aims to quantify and minimise risks to global public health from zoonotic diseases that are linked to rapidly intensifying chicken production including avian influenza, antimicrobial resistance and bacterial food poisoning. Fiona was awarded an honorary doctorate in veterinary medicine from the University of Bern (2017) and made Commander of the most excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) for services to Animal Health (2021). |
2. John R. Barta Department of Pathobiology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Canada
Title: Mitochondrial genomes of coccidia – Tiny, but diverse, organellar genomes that provide useful molecular targets for biology,
diagnostics and molecular phylogenetics.
 John Barta is a professor in the Department of Pathobiology at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada. John and his students are focused on the study of protozoan parasites belonging to the phylum Apicomplexa. These parasites are responsible for causing major diseases in humans such as malaria, toxoplasmosis, and cryptosporidiosis, and are also a significant burden on the livestock and poultry industry due to diseases like coccidiosis, sarcocystosis, and cryptosporidiosis. The long-term goal of John's research program is to understand the complex interactions between these parasites and their hosts at the historical, organismal, and molecular levels. The research is currently focused on several areas, including studying the phylogeny of apicomplexan parasites, investigating the role of organelles in host cell invasion and parasite survival, and exploring the factors responsible for immunological modulation of coccidial infections in both mice and poultry. |
13th ICC INVITED SPEAKERS:
1. Françoise I. Bussière INRAE, Nouzilly, France
Title: Impact of the microbiota on the physiopathology of Eimeria tenella infection
 Françoise I. Bussière started in research with a PhD in Human Nutrition at INRA in France in which her interest was on magnesium and inflammatory cells. At the University of Maryland at Baltimore, MD, Vanderbilt University, TN and then Pasteur Institute in Paris, Françoise studied the host immune response to H. pylori infection that is responsible for a chronic inflammation that can evolve towards gastric cancer or MALT lymphoma. Françoise has been recruited in December 2009 at INRAE in France and is currently interested in coccidiosis with one particular focus on the role the microbiota on the physiopathology of the infection. |
2. Emanuel Heitlinger Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany
Title: What actually is (the) infection intensity of Coccidia? From methods to concepts and the link with host health
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Emanuel Heitlinger is an Assistant Professor jointly appointed by the Leibniz-Institute for Zoo and Wildlife research and the Humboldt University at Berlin, where he specializes in the "Ecology and Evolution of Molecular Parasite-Host Interaction." He obtained his education in Karlsruhe, Germany, where he focused on zoology, genetics, ecology, and parasitology during his studies. Later, he specialized in genomics and transcriptomics of nematodes while completing his PhD in Karlsruhe and Edinburgh, Scotland. He then switched to Apicomplexans, where he worked on the genome of Eimeria falciformis, a parasite of house mice, for a brief PostDoc before taking his current position. His current research program focuses on wild house mice and their parasites, with a particular emphasis on Eimeria spp. Wild house mice are not only the closest relatives of the predominant model organism in biomedical research but are also strongly associated with human agriculture and human-mediated global change. Along with the evolutionary ecology of this system, Emanuel and his team use its accessibility in field and laboratory work to devise and evaluate methods for detecting and quantifying parasite infections. 3. Matthew A. Adeleke Discipline of Genetics, School of Life Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa
Title: Diversity and computational screening of avian coccidia antigens for vaccine development
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Matthew Adeleke is an Associate Professor of Genetics in the School of Life Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban. He holds a PhD in Animal Breeding and Genetics from Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta. Currently in his lab, Matthew leads Eimeria research towards the development of a new generation of anticoccidial vaccine in chickens. Besides, he works on Toxoplasma gondii and Plasmodium parasites. Previously, he carried out applied genetics-led research contributing to the development of improved indigenous chickens for smallholder farmers. He is a C2-rated researcher by the National Research Foundation of South Africa and he is a council member of South African Genetics Society. 4. Rodrigo Megía-Palma Universidad de Alcalá, Madrid, Spain
Title: Coccidians in the blood: from classic to next generation tools to investigate evolutionary implications of infection
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Rodrigo Megía-Palma is Associate Professor of Parasitology in the School of Pharmacy of Universidad de Alcalá (UAH) in Spain. He holds a PhD in evolutionary biology and investigates reptiles as host model species. Currently, he is specialized in host-parasite interactions, from molecular to physiological, and immunological levels. He obtained his education in University Complutense of Madrid and the National Museum of Natural Sciences (CSIC). He collaborates with researchers around the world. He is interested in phylogenetics and ecology of coccidians and effects and response of hosts as well as interactions with other parasites. His research primarily focuses on blood coccidians. Their potential role as biomarkers of climate change and physiological stress on hosts is also emphasized. 5. Xianyong Liu China Agricultural University, Beijing, China
Title: Drug resistance of Eimeria tenella
 Dr. Xianyong Liu is an Associate Professor of Veterinary Parasitology at China Agricultural University, with a PhD in Veterinary Biomedicine from the same institution. He is particularly interested in the genetic and epigenetic control of the endogenous development of Eimeria parasites, Dr. Liu has received several awards such as 2115 "Young Star, Level A" of Talent Development Program of China Agricultural University. He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on veterinary parasitology and immunoparasitology, respectively, and serves as a reviewer for several journals in the field. He is currently the Principal Investigator of a research project investingating molecular mechanism of regulation of schizogony development in Eimeria tenella funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China. |