2012 International Conference on Anaerobic Parasites (ICAP)

描述（由申请人提供）：20世纪下半叶的科学和医学进步彻底改变了管理或治疗以前死亡率高得多的疾病的能力。然而，许多寄生虫病仍然困扰着发展中国家，旨在了解这些进化上多样化的单细胞真核生物的研究落后于对模式生物的研究。为了延长全世界数百万人的寿命和提高生活质量，必须更加关注寄生虫感染的生物学和致病特性。本申请为国际厌氧寄生虫会议（ICAP V）寻求支持。本次会议将重点讨论3种相关的人类厌氧寄生虫，溶组织内阿米巴、肠贾第鞭毛虫和阴道毛滴虫，它们分布在世界各地，在美国提出了公共卫生问题。这些单细胞寄生虫是居住在腔内的细胞外病原体，具有共同的生化和亚细胞特性，每个病原体都利用它们寄生在人类宿主身上。本次会议的主要目标是促进科学数据交流，激发对最近研究的热烈讨论，以及研究这些相关寄生虫的研究人员所面临的当前技术挑战。ICAP第五届会议的具体目标是：(a)通过将对这些寄生虫有共同兴趣的研究人员聚集在一起，促进信息共享，支持研究进展；(b)支持该领域优秀的初级研究人员，多样性和国际交流与合作；(c)促进研究同一寄生虫和相关生物的研究人员之间的学院互动，公开讨论和分享方法。会议将分为15次会议；讲座将由特邀教师分9次进行，每次30分钟左右。两场会议将专门由博士生、博士后和终身教职员工进行15分钟的演讲，这些演讲将从组委会提交的摘要中选出。此外，还将有2个海报环节供学生和博士后展示他们的研究成果。会议还安排了两场研讨会，专门讨论厌氧寄生虫基因操作的现状，以及当前基因组分析的最新进展和拟议的新基因组计划。还将组织分组会议，对与会者先前建议的共同主题和感兴趣的问题进行非正式讨论，或在会议进行中出现的问题。在1997年、2001年、2004年和2008年举行的前4次ICAP会议是唯一一次将科学家聚集在一起研究这3种主要的人类感染性厌氧寄生虫的会议。没有其他会议能让我们的社区有机会正式和非正式地讨论许多共同关心的研究主题和技术问题，这些问题需要得到高度重视，以加快对这些人类病原体的研究进展。

Description (as provided by the applicant): Scientific and medical advances in the latter half of the 20th century have revolutionized the ability to manage or cure diseases that previously had far greater fatality rates. Nevertheless many parasitic diseases still plague developing countries and research directed at understanding these evolutionarily diverse, unicellular eukaryotes has lagged behind that of model organisms. A greater focus towards understanding the biology and pathogenic properties of parasitic infections is necessary to extend lifespan and improve the quality of life for millions of people worldwide. This application seeks support for th International Conference on Anaerobic Parasites V (ICAP V). This meeting will focus on 3 related anaerobic human parasites, Entamoeba histolytica, Giardia intestinalis, and Trichomonas vaginalis with worldwide distribution, presenting public health problems in the USA. These unicellular parasites are lumen-dwelling, extracellular pathogens with common biochemical and subcellular properties that each exploits to parasitize its human host. The major objective of this meeting is to promote scientific data exchange and stimulate vigorous discussion of recent research, as well as current technical challenges common to researchers studying these related parasites. The specific goals of ICAP V are to (a) promote information sharing and support the advancement of research by bringing together researchers with common interests in these parasites, (b) support outstanding junior investigators in the field, diversity and international communication and collaboration and (c) to promote collegial interactions, open discussion and sharing of methodologies among researchers working on the same parasite and those working on related organisms. The meeting will be divided into 15 sessions; talks of ~30 minutes each will be given by invited faculty in nine sessions. Two sessions will be devoted to 15 minute talks given by PhD students, postdocs and pre-tenured faculty to be selected from submitted abstracts by the organizing committee. There will also be 2 poster sessions for students and postdocs to present their work. Two workshops, devoted to round table discussions of the current status of genetic manipulation of anaerobic parasites and updates on current genome analyses and proposed new genome projects, are also scheduled. Breakout sessions for informal discussion of common topics and problems of interest, previously suggested by participants or ones that arise as the meeting proceeds will also be organized. The previous 4 ICAP meetings, held in 1997, 2001, 2004 and 2008, have been the only meetings to bring together scientists studying these 3 major human-infective anaerobic parasites. No other meeting offers our community the opportunity to discuss, both formally and informally, the many research topics and technical issues of common interest that need critical attention to accelerate the progress of research on these human pathogens. Public Health Relevance: This conference brings together scientists from 13 countries to discuss recent basic science research and technology development for the most 3 prevalent and medically important human-infective, anaerobic parasites, Entamoeba histolytica, Giardia intestinalis and Trichomonas vaginalis. Research topics to be discussed include pathogenesis, signal transduction and development, gene expression and genome analyses, biology of mitochondrial-like organelles, cell biology, host-pathogen interactions and parasite subcellular organelles adapted for pathogenesis. The conference will lead to a better understanding of the biology and pathogenesis of these human parasitic infections by stimulating information exchange and increasing interactions and collaborations among researchers with common interests and goals.