Better understanding of host-intracellular pathogen interactions in living cells is vital to effectively develop diagnosis, preventive and treatment approaches against critical global infectious diseases caused by intracellular pathogens. Important global diseases caused by intracellular bacteria include brucellosis, listeriosis, chlamydia, salmonellosis and tuberculosis. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), tuberculosis alone is responsible for around 10 million new cases and 1.4 million deaths worldwide each year. Drug resistance now occurs in around 0.5 million cases of tuberculosis each year and this reduces the rate of successful treatment from 85% to 57%. Tuberculosis imposes an immense burden of human suffering, specifically for poor and vulnerable people living in low- and middle-income countries. Thus, WHO has identified the importance of “Intensified Research and Innovation” as one of the three critical pillars for a global action framework for the end of the tuberculosis epidemic. For these reasons, tuberculosis will be the primary infectious disease focus of this workshop.
Intracellular replication of pathogens requires uptake of nutrients from the host cell, but little is known about the identify of host nutrients consumed by intracellular pathogens and their uptake mechanisms. Moreover, treatment of intracellular bacterial infections relies on the use of antibiotics, but the success of such treatment is dependent on effective concentrations of the antibiotic reaching the bacteria within host cells, often within favourable intracellular niches. However, little is known about the physical processes of antibiotics transport such as diffusion across cell membranes together with biologically regulated processes such as endocytosis. A key element of this workshop, therefore, will be to explore methodologies from physics and biology to study underpinning physical processes associated with the spatiotemporal dynamics of antibiotic transport. Additionally, fundamental challenges in physics on how to model antibiotic transport inside cells and across cellular membranes of both host and pathogen cells will be explored.
The following key questions will be addressed in the workshop.
- How to understand the transport of small molecules (i.e., antibiotics) inside a living cell?
- How to characterise heterogeneity in host-intracellular pathogen interactions?
- Define unmet challenges in understanding and monitoring host-intracellular pathogen interactions such as control of pathogen uptake, nutrient exchange between host and pathogen, intracellular trafficking, phagosome escape, cell death, antigen presentation and cell-to-cell spread of bacteria.
- What are the most appropriate physical methods to address the questions above and where do physical methods need further development for their study?
The workshop also features a showcase exhibition of new BioArt works by internationally renowned British artist Anna Dumitriu stemming from her artist residency at the University of Surrey and explores cutting edge scientific research being undertaken at the University, including quantum biology, carbon capture, vaccine research and tuberculosis. Dumitriu creates her artworks hands-on in the lab as well as the studio and uses the tools and techniques of science to create intricate artworks that reveal and explore strange histories and emerging futures. The residency is funded through an Institute of Advanced Studies Fellowship awarded to Professor Mark Chambers of the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences.
CONFIRMED SPEAKERS
Melanie Bailey, Professor in Forensic Analysis and EPSRC Fellow, Department of Chemistry, University of Surrey, UK
Richard Sear, Reader, Soft matter group leader, Department of Physics, University of Surrey, UK
Suzie Hingley-Wilson, Lecturer in Bacteriology, Department of Microbial Sciences, University of Surrey, UK
Paul French, Professor of Physics, Department of Physics, Imperial College London, UK
Sumeet Mahajan, Professor of Molecular Biophotonics & Imaging, Head of Chemical Biology, University of Southampton, UK
Jost Enninga, Group Leader, Department of Cell Biology & Infection, Laboratory of Dynamics of Host-Pathogen Interactions, Institute Pasteur, France
Digby Warner, Professor in the Division of Medical Microbiology, Department of Pathology, University of Cape Town, South Africa
Gerald Larrouy-Maumus, Senior Lecturer, Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, UK
Hesper Rego, Assistant Professor of Microbial Pathogenesis, School of Medicine, Yale University, USA
Katharina Nöh, Head of Team Modeling of Biochemical Networks and Cells, Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Germany
Andy West, Scientific Director Ultrastructural & Cellular Bioimaging In Vitro/In Vivo Translation at GSK Medicines Research Centre
Anna Dumitriu, IAS Fellow/Artist in Residence, University of Surrey, UK
ORGANISING COMMITTEE
Dr Youngchan Kim, School of Biosciences and Medicine
Professor Melanie Bailey, Department of Chemistry
Dr Dany Beste | University of Surrey, School of Biosciences and Medicine
Professor Mark Chambers, School of Biosciences and Medicine
Dr Suzie Hingley-Wilson, School of Biosciences and Medicine
Dr Jim Huggett, School of Biosciences and Medicine
Professor Johnjoe McFadden, School of Biosciences and Medicine
Dr Richard Sear, Department of Physics
Professor Graham Stewart, School of Biosciences and Medicine
Dr Emma Wise, School of Biosciences and Medicine
SPONSOR
