Invited Speakers
Prof. Andre Buret is a Professor of Biological Sciences and Associate Vice-President of Research at the University of Calgary. Prof. Buret has over 200 publications, and has been invited to deliver more than 350 presentations worldwide. He holds over 20 issued patents, and contributed to the creation of three biotech spin-off companies. Prof. Buret’s research characterizes microbial-host interactions in viral, bacterial and parasitic models (with an emphasis on Giardia sp.) and seeks to understand how such interactions may affect gastrointestinal and pulmonary physiology, health, inflammation, and chronic disease, in an attempt to develop novel therapeutic strategies. Current emphasis is given to the role of microbiota in chronic gut inflammatory diseases, and immunomodulation by anti-microbials, in cattle, swine, and humans.
Prof Andre Buret
University of Calgary, Canada
Carmen Faso graduated summa cum laude in Biological Sciences from the Third University of Rome in 2003. She obtained her PhD in Natural Sciences at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich and then proceeded with a first postdoctoral position at Michigan State University in the field of plant cell biology. In 2010, Carmen moved back to Switzerland, this time at the University of Zurich, and fell in love with protist parasites and their incredible cell and molecular biology. She pursued her love of everything Giardia and established her own group at the University of Bern in 2019 as a Swiss National Foundation PRIMA Professor. Since then, Carmenhas added leadership of the medical parasitology group and the newly-established Multidisciplinary Center for Infectious Diseases, all at the University of Bern. The main research interests of the Faso group include and are not limited to protein trafficking pathways, nutrient uptake and endocytic organelles, and cell differentiation.
Prof Carmen Faso
University of Bern, Switzerland
Dr Luther Bartelt is Associate Professor of Medicine at the Unviersity of North Carolina, with wide ranging interests in host-microbioate-pathogen interactions, gastrointestinal infections, immunology, nutrition and translational epidemiology.
His recent contributions to Giardia research have contributed significant new understanding of the molecular mechanisms underpinning the chronic effects of giardiasis on childhood physical and cognitive development
Assoc. Prof Luther Bartelt
University of North Carolina, USA
Assoc. Prof. Aparna Lal is Associate Professor of Environmental Epidemiology at the National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health at the Australian National University. Her experience growing up in a country where people’s lives revolved around collecting water has driven a passion to understand inequalities in access to clean water, and the disproportionate burden that children carry in relation to water-borne illnesses, a risk that is likely to be impacted by climate change. Assoc. Prof. Lal envisions a healthy planet that sustains humanity through a nuanced public health response. Here research seeks to support communities and governments to find ways to protect water and health.
Assoc. Prof Aparna Lal
Australian National University, Australia
Aaron Jex is Professor or Parasitology in the Population Health and Immunity Division of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, as well as a co-appointed Professor in the Faculty of Science at the University of Melbourne.
Aaron has broad interests in parasitology, molecular cell biology, genomics, population genetics, systems biology and molecular diagnostics. His work in Giardia and Cryptosporidium focuses on population genetics, molecular mechanisms of infection and drug resistance, new drug development, and most recently, mechanisms of post-transcriptional regulation and their role in parasite transmission.
Prof Aaron Jex
WEHI and University of Melbourne Australia
Dr. M. Guadalupe Ortega Pierres is a Full Professor at the Department of Genetics and Molecular Biology Center for Research and Advanced Studies of the I.P.N. Mexico City Mexico.
She studies basic aspects of host-pathogen interaction. She is interested in identifying parasite molecules, defined as virulent factors which are expressed and secreted during the interaction of G. duodenalis with epithelial cells and their effects on these cells both in vitro using epithelial cell monolayers and in vivo in experimental models for giardiasis. These studies have provided insights to understand the mechanisms of the pathophysiology of giardiasis and indicated the importance of the interaction of G. duodenalis and the intestinal microbiota. These studies have provided a platform to design new strategies for the control and prevention of giardiasis both in humans and in animals.
Prof Guadalupe Ortega-Pierres
CINVESTAV, Mexico
María Carolina is a Principal Investigator for the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET) in Argentina and a Full Professor of Biology of Microorganisms for the Bachelor of Genetics program at IUCBC. She is the Director of the Instituto de Investigaciones Médicas Mercedes y Martín Ferreyra (IMMF-CONICET-UNC) in Córdoba, Argentina. She also co-directs the Microbiology Laboratory at this esteemed institution.
Her research has notably centered on the biology of the intestinal parasite Giardia lamblia, where she has made significant strides in understanding its molecular and cellular mechanisms. Her work has explored critical areas such as drug resistance, antigenic variation, and the role of extracellular vesicles in pathogenesis.
Dr Maria Touz
Director of INIMEC, Argentina
Dr Alex Paredez is Professor of Parasitology at the University of Washington with a focus on the cellular and molecular biology, genetics and genomics of Giardia.
Prof. Paredez research has a particluar emphasis on regulation and function of Giardia’s cytoskeletal system and the importance of novel Giardia GTPases in controlling polarity, membrane traficking and other key functions in Giardia’s unique cytoskeleton.
Prof. Alex Paredez
University of Washington, USA