The 1st International Electronic Conference on Antibiotics
The 1st International Electronic Conference on Antibiotics
The Equal Power of Antibiotics And Antimicrobial Resistance
Part of the International Electronic Conference on Antibiotics series
Antimicrobial Resistance Mechanisms, Antimicrobial-Resistant Pathogens, Intrinsic Microbial Factors Contributing to Resistance, Antiviral Therapies
Dear Scientists, Researchers, and Authors,
We are delighted to announce that the ECA 2021 has been closed successfully. We would like to take this opportunity to express our appreciation to all the participants for their contributions and, to all the chairs and committee members for their excellent work.
Finally, we would like to remind you that all participants are welcome to submit an extended full paper to the Special Issue for ECA 2021 in the journal Antibiotics, with a 30% discount on the Article Processing Charges.
Event Awards
Best Paper Award (500CHF) - Winner Announcement
We are pleased to announce the winners of the Best Presentation Award for ECA 2021. The winners have been assessed by the Conference Committee. Each of them will receive 500 CHF.
The winner is as follow:
Best Poster Award (500CHF)-Winner Announcement
We are pleased to announce the winners of the Best Presentation Award for ECA 2021. The winner will receive 500 CHF. The winner is as follow:
Auranofin derivatives as potent bactericidal antimicrobials against cystic fibrosis pathogen Burkholderia cenocepacia
Congratulations to the winners for their excellent works!
The Awards
Number of Awards Available: 2
ECA 2021 offers two awards to our participants at the conference: Best Paper Award (500) and Best Poster Award (500CHF). The winner will be assessed by the Conference Committee.ECA 2021 Special Issue
Special Issue "The Equal Power of Antibiotics and Antimicrobial Resistance: The Continuing Development of New Knowledge"
Selected Papers from the 1st International Electronic Conference on Antibiotics—The Equal Power of Antibiotics And Antimicrobial Resistance (ECA2021)
Edited by Prof. Dr. John E. Gustafson (Oklahoma State University, USA)
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2021.
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The 1st International Electronic Conference on Antibiotics (ECA 2021) will be held from 8 to 17 May 2021, as a result of the great interest from the community in this Conference Series. The e-conference will be hosted on sciforum.net, an online platform developed by MDPI for scholarly exchange and collaboration.
Many scientists, industry leaders, and government officials are in open discussion about a “postantibiotic era”, at a time when all participants need to remain enthusiastic about new discoveries and maintain funding for the research required to tackle antibiotic resistance. There are few branches of science similar to antibiotic and antibiotic-resistance research, since these efforts require drawing from the strengths of a myriad of scientific disciplines to overcome one of the greatest threats facing humanity.
This premier virtual event, sponsored and supported by MPDI and the journal Antibiotics, hopes to inform and engage participants on a wide variety of subjects associated with antimicrobials, such as:
- Advances in research on new and current antibiotics and related bioactive medicinal agents;
- Antibiotic administration, drug–drug interactions, and pharmacodynamics;
- Biochemical and genetics studies on micro-organisms for improved antibiotics;
- Uses of antibiotics, including on animals and in agriculture;
- Clinical trials;
- New methods for assaying and evaluating antibiotics;
- The production and characterization of antibiotics;
- Classes of antibiotics;
- Antibiotic resistance and misuse;
- Natural antibiotics;
- Epidemiology of antimicrobial use;
- Antimicrobial stewardship;
- Qualitative and quantitative research exploring the determinants of antimicrobial use and resistance;
- Prescribing sciences;
- Antiviral therapeutics;
- Vaccines.
This Special Issue welcomes selected papers from the ECA 2021 that promote and advance the exciting and rapidly changing field.
Submitted contributions will be subjected to peer review and, upon acceptance, will be published with the aim of rapidly and widely disseminating research results, developments, and applications.
It should be noted that submitted manuscripts should have at least 50% additional, new, and unpublished material as compared to the ECA 2021 published paper.
We look forward to receiving your contributions.
Prof. Dr. John E. Gustafson
Guest Editor
ECA Live Online Sessions Information
ECA Live Online Sessions Recordings
Live Session 1 - 11 May 2021
Live Session 2 - 12 May 2021
Live Session 3 - 13 May 2021
Live Session 4 - 14 May 2021
List of accepted submissions (90)
Sessions
B. Antimicrobial Discovery, Development, Stewardship and Susceptibility Testing
C. The Epidemiology and Prevention of Infections Caused by Antimicrobial-Resistant Pathogens: Future Threats
D. Antiviral Therapies: Impact in the New Era of the COVID-19 Pandemic
E. Antimicrobial Peptides
F. Poster
Welcome from the Chair
“Antibiotic” is a term that has traditionally been used to describe drugs that target diseases caused by bacterial pathogens. Antibiotics are also referred to as “magic bullets” and” miracle drugs,” since they can diffuse throughout the body and help inhibit the growth of or kill a bacterial pathogen without significantly affecting the metabolism of the infected patient.
The introduction of antibiotics, antivirals, antiparasitics, antiseptics, and disinfectants, as well as an understanding of how to apply these powerful drugs and biocides, has changed the course of humanity. It is almost impossible to count the number of lives that have been extended by these drugs or to fully understand the impact these drugs have had on modern medicine, food and agriculture production, and the environment. However, as indicated by the late Professor Stuart B Levy’s book title, “How miracle drugs are destroying the miracle”, a reckoning is now upon us. Because of the continued process of evolution and natural selection, microbes are gaining the edge on human ingenuity and our collective ability to produce new antimicrobials and, more appropriately, to utilize the antimicrobials within our access. Besides becoming resistant to antibiotics given systemically to patients to cure serious bacterial infections, bacterial pathogens can also demonstrate reduced susceptibility or tolerance to antiseptics or disinfectants. During the “new normal” and continued onslaught of the COVID pandemic, will the broader and more frequent use of antiseptics and disinfectants select for bacterial pathogen populations that demonstrate reduced susceptibility to these biocides?
At this point in history, some have suggested that we have exhausted our ability to use existing microbes to produce new classes of antibiotics, while some have developed culturomics methods to disprove this idea. Synthetic biologists have also harnessed and manipulated antibiotic biosynthetic pathways in a push to develop novel drugs. Chemists continue to modify existing antibiotics and develop new types of synthetic antimicrobials with antibacterial activities and are pining to demonstrate low toxicity followed by clinical trials. Researchers are also investigating excipient non-antibiotic drugs for antimicrobial activity and are developing compounds that act in synergy with existing antibiotics. There is also great interest in re-exploring phage-based therapies for bacterial infections, re-examining the application of metal ions in infection prevention protocols, and exploring traditional medicine approaches to identify novel antimicrobials.
While mechanisms of antibiotic resistance vary in their mechanics and genetic underpinnings, all mechanisms of resistance essentially disallow the antimicrobial from reaching their specific target or targets. Surprisingly to some, the genes that encode antibiotic resistance were present in nature before antibiotics were even introduced to clinical practice, some arising within the antibiotic-producing organisms themselves. The ability of antibiotics to select for bacterial mutants has revealed the degree to which mutations in bacterial genomes can alter essential functions and still lead to resistance expression. Over the past 80 years, scientists from around the world have identified almost every mutation and gene that contributes to antibiotic resistance in bacteria. Today, antimicrobial-resistant pathogens and antimicrobial resistance genes can be identified not only in hospitals and the community, but also in waste treatment plants, rivers and streams, soils, agricultural areas, and throughout human and animal populations. The recent identification of a multiple antibiotic-resistant strain of bacteria from the International Space Station accentuates the picture of how far antimicrobial resistance has spread. Today, around the world, infections caused by multiply antibiotic-resistant pathogens such as the ESKAPE pathogens, known for their propensity to acquire antimicrobial resistance mechanisms, have become the new normal. Astonishingly, researchers have adopted terms such as “extremely drug-resistant” to describe Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains resistant to all first- and second-line antimycobacterial drugs. The spread and evolution of genes encoding for extended- spectrum b-lactamases and carbapenemases represents a good illustration of how single genes can disseminate and create new pathogen threats. The evolution of antimicrobial resistance continues, and our full understanding of the changing epidemiology of infections caused by antimicrobial-resistant pathogens remains critical. We also need to continue to develop pathogen-specific infection control protocols to reduce the spread of these antimicrobial-resistant organisms and utilize methods that improve the stewardship of these incredible miracle drugs.
Researchers continue to identify “new targets” for antimicrobial development and small molecules that inhibit the activity of these targets. Some of these targets in bacteria encode intrinsic gene products that play a “scaffolding” role that allows antibiotic resistance genes to function (e.g., stress response genes, multidrug efflux pumps); others represent novel metabolic pathways (e.g., outer membrane biosynthesis) found only in bacteria and not present in their eukaryotic hosts. Not long ago, microbiologists realized that bacteria are not simple single-celled organisms, but instead are capable of thriving in multicellular-surface-dwelling communities referred to as “biofilms,” and biofilm-enmeshed bacteria are now known for their ability to resist antimicrobials. Research on biofilms is entwined with the elucidation of the intricate process of bacterial communication through two-component regulatory systems, areas rich with antibiotic targets. Researchers have also begun to analyze gene products involved in creating intricate biofilm architecture as novel targets for the development of antibiotics. Today, the literature on molecules that can reduce the ability of bacterial pathogens to produce virulence factors is growing. It is likely that the exciting and controversial research on bacterial persistence and the toxin–antitoxin systems that support this phenomenon will provide us with a myriad of new undeveloped targets. Why can’t new antibiotics be developed that resist the ability of bacteria to become resistant to the selecting antibiotic? Basic research on antibiotic resistance is ongoing, and scientists around the world have produced new libraries of small molecules with the hope of being able to challenge each new antibiotic-resistant bacterial pathogen threat as it emerges. A large number of research groups around the world continue investigations on novel approaches to develop vaccines against M. turberculosis and other antibiotic-resistant pathogens; however, some suggest that success in these research avenues might require another major breakthrough in the biological sciences. The historical success of vaccines in preventing infectious disease continues to lay the foundation for and support these research efforts.
Many scientists, industry leaders, and government officials are in open discussion about a “post-antibiotic era”, at a time when all participants need to remain enthusiastic about new discoveries and maintain funding for research required to fight the forever plague of antibiotic resistance. There are few branches of science similar to antibiotic and antibiotic resistance research, since these efforts require drawing from the strengths of a myriad of scientific disciplines to overcome one of the greatest threats facing humanity.
This premier virtual event sponsored and supported by MPDI and the journal “Antibiotics” hopes to inform and engage participants on a wide variety of subjects associated with antimicrobials, such as:
- advances in research on new and current antibiotics and related bioactive medicinal agents
- antibiotic administration, drug-drug interactions, and pharmacodynamics
- biochemical and genetics studies on microorganisms for improved antibiotics
- uses of antibiotics, including on animals and in agriculture
- clinical trials
- new methods for assaying and evaluating antibiotics
- production and characterization of antibiotics
- classes of antibiotics
- antibiotic resistance and misuse
- natural antibiotics
- epidemiology of antimicrobial use
- antimicrobial stewardship
- qualitative and quantitative research exploring the determinants of antimicrobial use and resistance
- prescribing sciences
- antiviral therapeutics
- vaccines
This free virtual “new normal” event encourages all researchers working on antimicrobial research to register for the meeting and submit an abstract. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are interested in having a number of presentations from researchers working on antiviral agents and vaccines. We are also particularly interested in encouraging young investigators and researchers, postdocs and graduate students, and underrepresented minorities to register and submit an abstract for a presentation during this virtual event. Following this event, all presenters will be able to prepare and submit a full research article to Antibiotics for publication at a greatly reduced price.
On behalf of the entire virtual event Committee, the Antibiotics Chief Editor, the Antibiotics Journal Editorial Board, the Publisher, and Staff, we all look forward to your participation in this event!
Best wishes from Stillwater Oklahoma
Prof. Dr. John E. Gustafson
Professor and Department Head
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Conference Secretariat
Ms. Monica He
Ms. Hellen Wang
MDPI Branch Office, Beijing
E-mail: eca2021@mdpi.com
Conference Chairs
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 246C Noble Research Center, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK 74078-3035, USA
Website
Dr. John E. Gustafson is an expert on antimicrobial resistance who presently serves as Professor and Department Head of the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Department at Oklahoma State University (75% administration, 25% research position). Over the past eight years he has been tasked with improving the Department’s educational programs and aligning future research programs with the strategic objectives of the Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources. Dr. Gustafson previously held positions at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces New Mexico where he served 10 years on the faculty and 4 years in administrative positions; first as the Director of the NMSU graduate program in Molecular Biology, then as the Associate Department Head of Biology, and finally as the Biology Department Head. He also served two years on the faculty of the Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine. Since beginning his 24-year academic career at the School of Biomedical Sciences at Curtin University of Technology in Perth Western Australia, Dr. Gustafson has been successful at securing millions of dollars in grant funding to support his research on antimicrobial resistance in bacterial pathogens and recently in science education. His research efforts have been disseminated to a wider scientific audience in numerous publications, presentations and invited lectures. Dr. Gustafson has also trained 80 undergraduates in a biological safety level 2 laboratory, and has graduated 10 Masters and 11 Ph.D students as well. In his role as Co-PI of a successful OSU-HHMI undergraduate research grant, Dr. Gustafson has co-created research-embedded undergraduate courses and programs designed to support persistence and completion of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology majors.
Conference Committee
School of Chemistry and Molecular Bioscience, University of Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia
Prof. Dr. Nick Dixon holds a PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Queensland (1978). He was a Research Fellow with Prof Alan Sargeson (Research School of Chemistry, ANU) before being awarded C.J. Martin and Fulbright Fellowships to study with Nobel laureate Prof Arthur Kornberg at Stanford University, U.S.A. He returned to the John Curtin School of Medical Research at ANU as a Queen Elizabeth II Fellow in 1983, and was appointed as Fellow in Biological Chemistry at the Research School of Chemistry, ANU in 1986. He was subsequently promoted to Senior Fellow and Professor, before leaving ANU in 2006 to take up his present position as Professor of Biological Chemistry at the University of Wollongong. He was awarded an Australian Research Council Australian Professorial Fellowship in 2008, and established UOW’s Centre for Medical and Molecular Bioscience in 2010. He is currently an academic leader of Molecular Horizons, a new facility for molecular visualization to be opened in 2019.
Dr. Anthony W. Coleman studied at Huddersfield New College and qualified by a competitive examination for admission to the University of Oxford. He was affiliated to Jesus College from 1972-76 obtaining an Honours degree in Chemistry. During his Part 2, (essentially a one year Masters Research Degree) he undertook studies on Photoelectron Spectroscopy of metal-metal bonded molecules. From 1976-79 he carried out research to obtain a doctorate of the University of Sussex in the synthesis and properties of asymmetric N-heterocycle carbine metal complexes. His postdoctoral career debuted at the University of Rennes studying iron and ruthenium clusters, following this he moved to the University of Victoria to carry out research on the activation of alkyl halides by Iridium pyrazole complexes. In 1982 he moved to the University of Alabama working on coal liquefaction and liquid clathrates, here in 1983 he initiated the work of Prof. Jerry L. Atwood on calixarenes, cumulating with the Organic Clay structure of the para-sulphonate-calix[4]arene salts. In 1987 he moved to Univ Paris as a CNRS fellow, here there was a deliberate shift to work on cyclodextrins, so as to demonstrate scientific independence. The main developments were in how symmetry defined the interactions between cyclodextrins and water and secondly the synthesis of amphiphilic cyclodextrins. Receiving a competitive mobility grant from the CNRS he moved in 1994 to the IBCP at the University of Lyon 1. Having demonstrated his abilities in Supramolecular Chemistry Dr. Coleman returned to the calixarenes and in particular the biological properties of such molecules. Given the highly toxic nature of the precursors, it is startling to find there is a total lack of toxicity for these systems even in vivo. The results have been summarised in several reviews including the seminal 2006 Chemical Communications article, see references, which is noted as a heavily cited article by SCI. During this period the use of amphiphilic derivatives in cosmetics was patented and exploited by BASF Cosmetics during 10 yea
biomechanics; silver nanoparticle antibiotic action; metal ions in epigenetics; bioactive supramolecular systems; 3D printing and biofilms
Dr Hiroshi Hamamoto studied at Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Kyushu University (1994-1998) and Grad. Sch. Of Pharm. Sci., Kyushu University (1998-2000). He belonged to Lab. of Microbiology and studied on disinfectant resistant strains of Staphylococcus aureus. He moved to Grad. Sch. of Pharm. Sci., the University of Tokyo for his doctoral studies (2000-2002), where he established a system for evaluating the quantitative therapeutic effects of silkworm-based antibiotics. After graduation, he worked as an assistant professor at the University of Tokyo, where he conducted research on the analysis of pharmacokinetics in silkworm (2003-2005). From 2005 to 2008, He successfully identified a novel antibiotic, Lysocin E, through the discovery of antibiotics using a silkworm infection model at the Genome Pharmaceuticals Institute. He then returned to the University of Tokyo as an assistant professor and analyzed the mechanism of lysocin E (2008-2016). At present, as an associate professor at the Teikyo University Institute of Medical Mycology, he is engaged in the developing research on lysocin E and the search for new antibacterial and antifungal compounds.
Department of Analytical Chemistry, Nutrition and Bromatology, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Santiago de Compostela, 27002-Lugo, Spain
Carlos Manuel Franco Abuín (C.M. Franco) (Spain, February 1965) took a degree in Veterinary at the Faculty of Veterinary in Lugo (Spain) in 1989. He also took his PhD in Nutrition and Bromatology at the University of Santiago in 1994. He worked as Inspector of Slaughterhouses between 1995-1997. He carried out his main post-doctoral stages at the Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Paris XI France where he focused his research in several fluorescence methods for the detection of mycotoxins and other compounds in food. Likewise he completed his Postdoctoral Stages at the Department of Animal Health of the University Complutense of Madrid focusing the research in antimicrobial resistance. Carlos Franco reached the category of Lecturer of University (2002). Since 2005 he worked in Antimicrobial resistance of various bacteria isolated from Biological foods as well as the research of the presence of antimicrobial determinants from foods. Currently, Carlos Franco focused his research in transcriptomics regarding the effect of several antimicrobial compounds as well as the effect on biofilm formation. Carlos Franco also gives classes of Food Control/Food Safety in Veterinary and Human Nutrition degrees and is Full Professor and Head of the Department of Analytical Chemistry, Nutrition and Bromatology. He is Quality Director of LHICA, laboratory of the University of Santiago de Compostela, currently accredited by ENAC and is member of the Scientific Committee of the Spanish Food Safety Agency.
Dr. Marta Pérez Lloret obtained her MCs in Chemistry in 2014 at the University of Zaragoza, Spain. From 2014 to 2017 she was a PhD student in Chemical Sciences at University of Catania, Italy, in the frame of the European Project Marie Curie Network for Initial Training – ITN Cyclon-Hit funded by the Seventh EU Framework Program. Titled “Photoactivable Multimodal Antimicrobial Nanoconstructs”, her thesis focused on the design and fabrication of innovative nanocarriers presenting antibacterial activity under light stimulation. Unconventional therapeutics such as heat, reactive oxygen and nitrogen species have been used for this aim since they do not suffer multidrug resistance problems in contrast to “conventional” drugs. In 2018 she was engaged in a project of the Synthesis and Solid State Pharmaceutical Centre under the supervision of Dr. Erxleben at NUI Galway, where she obtained experience in the field of pharmaceutical solid state applied in improving the efficiency of pharmaceutical drugs. She recently started a Marie Curie postdoctoral fellowship also in NUIG with her previous supervisor. This three years project will focus in the preparation of nanohydrogels to enhance gold-based drugs anticancer activity.
Institute of NeuroPhysiopathology, UMR 7051, Faculté de Médecine Secteur Nord, 51, Boulevard Pierre Dramard - CS80011, 13344 - Marseille Cedex 15, France
Jean-Marc SABATIER is a Director of research at the French CNRS, with PhD and HDR degrees in Biochemistry and Microbiology. He headed several academic research teams (CNRS, INSERM and University), as well as a combined academic-industry research laboratory devoted to the engineering of therapeutic peptides (ERT62, Marseilles, France). He was also a Director of Research for several French private companies as well as a Canadian public company. He acts as a Consultant for top pharmaceutical and cosmetic companies. Dr. Sabatier works in the field of animal toxins and microbes. He is the Editor-in-Chief of ‘Venoms and Toxins’, ‘Coronaviruses’, and ‘Infectious Disorders - Drug Targets’. He is also Topic Editor-in-Chief for ‘Antibiotics’. He so far contributed to several books in toxinology and virology, and more than 160 scientific articles, 180 communications, and 55 patents in both biology and chemistry. He is a member of 60 Editorial Boards of scientific journals, such as ‘Peptides’, ‘Molecules’, ‘Antibiotics’, and the ‘Journal of Biological chemistry’. He also reviewed articles submitted for publication in 96 international journals and acts as an expert for numerous institutions (ANR, CEA, CNRS, MRC, ISF, BARD, AIRD, IPT, Pasteur Institutes, Ville de Paris, Region Languedoc-Roussillon, Fondation Arthritis, etc.). He won the ‘Citizen of the Year Award’ from the Nouvel Economiste (1994) for his work on antivirals. He is a member of a dozen scientific societies, such as the ‘American Peptide Society’ (charter member), ‘European Peptide Society’, ‘American Society for Microbiology’, ‘Biochemical Society’ and ‘New-York Academy of Sciences’.
Dr. Marc Maresca is currently a researcher at the Aix-Marseille Université. He received his P.h.D in Biochemistry at the Université Paul Cézanne (France, 2003) working on food contaminants named mycotoxins. In 2003, he moved to England to work on enteropathogenic E coli in Brendan Keny’s lab. Then, he moved back to France to continue his work on mycotoxins and their effects on human health. He is currently working at the Aix-Marseille Université and his research aims to identify and develop new molecules – natural, synthetic, or bio-inspired – with antimicrobial properties. He focuses on antimicrobial peptides and their mimics as well as on plant derivatives, as in addition to their antimicrobial effects, they may possess additional activities such as anti-inflammatory and anti-tumorigenic effects.
Dr. Silvia Cardona is a Professor and the Associate Head (Graduate Affairs) in the Department of Microbiology at the University of Manitoba. After obtaining a bachelor's degree in Molecular Biology at the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina, Dr. Cardona moved to Chile for Ph.D. studies in Microbiology and later to Canada, where she was a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Microbiology &Immunology at the University of Western Ontario. In 2006, Dr. Cardona started her independent research with a focus on the discovery of antimicrobial mechanism of action. She is currently using chemogenomic and machine learning approaches toward finding antibiotic molecules against cystic fibrosis pathogens. Her laboratory is funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), Cystic Fibrosis Canada (CFC) and the American Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (CFF).
Call for submissions
The 1st International Electronic Conference on Antibiotics
The 1st International Electronic Conference on Antibiotics—The Equal Power of Antibiotics And Antimicrobial Resistance (ECA2021), chaired by Prof. Dr. John E. Gustafson, will be held on https://eca2021.sciforum.net from 8th–17th May 2021.
This conference aims to provide leading scientists working in the field of antibiotics with a robust common platform through which to share and discuss the latest research and to promote the advancement of this exciting and rapidly changing field. We hope to encourage discovery across the discipline as we cover the following Six broad themes in Sessions A–F, as listed below:
- Antimicrobial Resistance Mechanisms and Intrinsic Microbial Factors Contributing to Resistance;
- Antimicrobial Development, Stewardship and Susceptibility Testing;
- The Epidemiology and Prevention of Infections Caused by Antimicrobial-Resistant Pathogens: Future Threats;
- Antiviral Therapies: Impact in the New Era of the COVID-19 Pandemic;
- Antimicrobial Peptides;
- Poster.
We are pleased to invite the global community of scholars to join ECA2021 to present their latest antibiotics research and development and share novel ideas on the multidisciplinary aspects of the research and development of antibiotics and antimicrobial resistance-related topics. Thanks to the flexibility of our innovative electronic platform, you are welcome to both upload and present your work and to attend the conference completely free of charge. We are also considering creating a Special Issue for selected conference papers in our journal Antibiotics (ISSN 2079-6382, IF 3.893, https://www.mdpi.com/journal/antibiotics). Papers published in this Special Issue, should one be launched, would receive a 30% discount on the article processing charge.
ECA2021 offers you the opportunity to participate in an international scholarly conference without the concerns and expense of traveling—all you need is access to the Internet. During the conference period, you will be able to upload papers, posters, presentations (including videos) and comment on other presentations, as well as engage with fellow scholars in real-time. In this way, the conference offers a novel opportunity to exchange opinions and views within the scholarly community and to discuss the papers and latest research in a discussion forum.
Abstracts (in English) should be submitted by 31st March 2021 online in the section “Conference Calls” (https://eca2021.sciforum.net). After abstracts are accepted, please submit the full Proceedings Paper (Or Poster/Video) by 25th April 2021. The conference itself will be held from 8th–17th May 2021.
We hope that you will be able to join this exciting event which is organized and sponsored by MDPI, a scholarly open access publisher (https://www.mdpi.com/).
Paper Submission Guidelines:
For information about the procedure for the submission, peer-review, revision and acceptance of conference proceedings papers, please refer to the section "Instructions for Authors" at https://eca2021.sciforum.net.
Timeline:
Abstract Submission: 31st March 2021
Notification of Acceptance: 15th April 2021
Proceedings Paper Submission Deadline: 25th April 2021
Conference Date: 8th–17th May 2021
We look forward to receiving your research papers and to welcoming you to the electronic conference.
Instructions for Authors
Submissions should be done by the authors online by registering with https://sciforum.net/, and using the "Start New Submission" function once logged into the system.
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Scholars interested in participating in the conference can submit their abstract (about 200-300 words covering the areas of manuscripts for the proceedings issue) online on this website until 31st March 2021.
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The Conference Committee will pre-evaluate, based on the submitted abstract, whether a contribution from the authors of the abstract will be welcome for The 1st International Electronic Conference on Antibiotics—The Equal Power of Antibiotics And Antimicrobial Resistance. All authors will be notified by 15th April 2021 about the acceptance of their abstract.
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If the abstract is accepted for this conference, the author is asked to submit the conference proceedings manuscript, and/or a PowerPoint, and/or video presentation of his/her paper, until the submission deadline of 25th April 2021.
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The conference proceedings papers and presentations will be available on https://eca2021.sciforum.net for discussion during the time of the conference 8th –17th May 2021 and will be published in Journal Proceedings (You will be informed before your abstract is published, you can decide whether to publish it on Proceedings).
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The Open Access Journal Antibiotics will publish a Special Issue of the conference and accepted papers will be published in the proceedings of the conference itself. After the conference, the Conference Committee will select manuscripts that may be included for publication in the Special Issue of the journal Antibiotics.
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The submission to the journal is independent of the conference proceedings and will follow the usual process of the journal, including peer-review, APC, etc.
Manuscripts for the proceedings issue must have the following organization:
First page:
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Title
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Full author names
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Affiliations (including full postal address) and authors' e-mail addresses
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Abstract (200-250 words)
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Keywords
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Introduction
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Methods
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Results and Discussion
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Conclusions
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(Acknowledgements)
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References
Manuscripts should be prepared in MS Word or any other word processor and should be converted to the PDF format before submission. The publication format will be PDF. The manuscript should count at least 3 pages (incl. figures, tables and references) and should not exceed 6 pages.
Slides---Authors are encouraged to prepare a presentation in PowerPoint or similar software, to be displayed online along with the Manuscript. Slides, if available, will be displayed directly in the website using Sciforum.net's proprietary slides viewer. Slides can be prepared in exactly the same way as for any traditional conference where research results can be presented. Slides should be converted to the PDF format before submission so that our process can easily and automatically convert them for online displaying.
Video---Authors are also encouraged to submit video presentations. If you are interested in submitting a video presentation, please contact the conference organizer at eca2021@mdpi.com to find out more about the procedure. This is a unique way of presenting your paper and discussing it with peers from all over the world. Make a difference and join us for this project!
• The video should be no longer than 10 minutes and be prepared with the following formats: .MOV; .MPEG4; .MP4; .AVI; .WMV; .MPEGPS; .FLV.
• The video should be submitted via eca2021@mdpi.com before 1st April 2021.
Submission: Manuscripts should be submitted online at https://eca2021.sciforum.net by registering and logging in to this website.
Accepted File Formats
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MS Word: Manuscript prepared in MS Word must be converted into a single file before submission. When preparing manuscripts in MS Word, the ECA 2021 Microsoft Word template file (see download below) must be used. Please do not insert any graphics (schemes, figures, etc.) into a movable frame which can superimpose the text and make the layout very difficult.
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LaTeX: Manuscripts prepared in LaTeX must be collated into one ZIP folder (include all source files and images, so that the Conference Secretariat can recompile the submitted PDF). When preparing manuscripts in LaTeX, please use the ECA 2021 LaTeX template files.
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Paper Format: A4 paper format, the printing area is 17.5 cm x 26.2 cm. The margins should be 1.75 cm on each side of the paper (top, bottom, left, and right sides).
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Paper Length: The conference proceedings paper should not be longer than 6 pages. The conference manuscript should be as concise as possible.
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Formatting / Style: The paper style of the Journal Proceedings should be followed. You may download the template file to prepare your paper (see above). The full titles and the cited papers must be given. Reference numbers should be placed in square brackets [ ], and placed before the punctuation; for example [4] or [1-3], and all the references should be listed separately and as the last section at the end of the manuscript.
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Authors List and Affiliation Format: Authors' full first and last names must be given. Abbreviated middle name can be added. For papers written by various contributors a corresponding author must be designated. The PubMed/MEDLINE format is used for affiliations: complete street address information including city, zip code, state/province, country, and email address should be added. All authors who contributed significantly to the manuscript (including writing a section) should be listed on the first page of the manuscript, below the title of the article. Other parties, who provided only minor contributions, should be listed under Acknowledgments only. A minor contribution might be a discussion with the author, reading through the draft of the manuscript, or performing English corrections.
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Figures, Schemes and Tables: Authors are encouraged to prepare figures and schemes in color. Full color graphics will be published free of charge. Figure and schemes must be numbered (Figure 1, Scheme I, Figure 2, Scheme II, etc.) and a explanatory title must be added. Tables should be inserted into the main text, and numbers and titles for all tables supplied. All table columns should have an explanatory heading. Please supply legends for all figures, schemes and tables. The legends should be prepared as a separate paragraph of the main text and placed in the main text before a table, a figure or a scheme.
Keynote Speakers
Department of Biological Engineering
Massachusetts Institute of Technology;
Wyss Institute, Harvard University;
Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge MA, USA
Jim Collins is the Termeer Professor of Medical Engineering & Science and Professor of Biological Engineering at MIT, as well as a Member of the Harvard-MIT Health Sciences & Technology Faculty. He is also a Core Founding Faculty member of the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, and an Institute Member of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. He is one of the founders of the field of synthetic biology, and his research group is currently focused on using synthetic biology to create next-generation diagnostics and therapeutics. Professor Collins' patented technologies have been licensed by over 25 biotech, pharma and medical devices companies, and he has helped to launch a number of companies, including Synlogic and Sherlock Biosciences. He has received numerous awards and honors, including a Rhodes Scholarship and a MacArthur "Genius" Award, and he is an elected member of all three national academies - the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the National Academy of Medicine.
jimjc@mit.edu
The Department of Periodontology, School of Dental Medicine, University of Bern, Switzerland
Dr. Sigrun Eick studied dentistry at the University of Jena, Germany. Thereafter she worked for a few years as a dentist before working in microbiological diagnostics and oral microbiology (research) at the Institute for Medical Microbiology of the University Hospital of Jena. Since 2009, she is the head of the Laboratory of Oral Microbiology belonging to the Department of Periodontology, School of Dental Medicine, University of Bern. Since 2015, she is an associated professor.
sigrun.eick@zmk.unibe.ch
Department Pediatrics and Marscio Lung Institute, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hilldisabled, Chapel Hill, USA
Antimicrobial resistance and susceptibility testing in cystic fibrosis lung infections
Marianne S. Muhlebach is a Professor in Pediatric Pulmonology at the University of NC at Chapel Hill. As a clinician, she sees patients with a multitude of lung diseases including asthma, bronchitis, and cystic fibrosis. Her research expertise focuses on early events in CF lung disease and in the microbiology of CF lung disease across all ages. These include studies on the relationship of anaerobic bacteria to clinical outcomes, the lung microbiome in young children with CF, and studies related to methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in CF. These include clinical trials and translational studies investigating adaptation with chronic infection and mechanisms of resistance. She has received funding from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and NIH which include many multi-center national and international collaborative studies.
marianne_muhlebach@med.unc.edu
Singapore Institute of Technology Department of Chemical Engineering, Singapore
Susanna Leong graduated with a B.Eng. (Chemical Engineering) and M.Phil. (Chemical Engineering) from the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST). She obtained her Ph.D. (Chemical Engineering) from Cambridge University. She is currently a faculty in SIT’s Chemical Engineering and Food Technology Cluster and Assistant Provost (Applied Research). Her research interests are in antimicrobial peptides (AMP) engineering and bioprocessing. Her recent research works include engineering synthetic AMPs for enhanced potency and stability, and also developing AMP-based coatings for biomedical applications. She is currently appointed as an Editorial Board Member of Chemical Engineering Science (Elsevier) and Food and Bioproducts Processing (Elsevier) international peer reviewed journals. She has also been appointed as an Editorial Advisory Member of Heliyon (Cell Press). Susanna is both a Chartered and Professional Engineer, conferred by IChemE (UK) and Professional Engineering Board (Singapore), respectively.
susanna.leong@singaporetech.edu.sg
Yves Briers is an Associate Professor and head of the Laboratory of Applied Biotechnology at the department of Biotechnology of Ghent University (Belgium). He obtained his PhD (Bioscience engineering) from KU Leuven (Belgium). With the support of a long-term fellowship from the European Molecular Biology Organization (EBMO) he did postdoctoral research at the ETH Zurich (Switzerland), and he continued his postdoctoral research KU Leuven (Belgium). The research interests of his group focus on the synthetic biology of modular proteins. Particularly in the field of the development of antimicrobials, he uses synthetic biology to design enzyme-based antimicrobials derived from bacteriophage proteins and synthetic phages. He is currently editorial board member of Antibiotics.
yves.briers@ugent.be
Session B: Antimicrobial Development, Stewardship and Susceptibility Testing
César de la Fuente, Ph.D. is a Presidential Assistant Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, where he is leading the Machine Biology Group to integrate synthetic biology, microbiology, and AI. Prof. de la Fuente seeks to expand nature’s repertoire to build novel synthetic molecular tools and devise therapies that nature has not previously discovered. The Machine Biology Group focuses on developing novel technologies to detect, monitor, and treat infectious diseases. More specifically, his lab aims to develop computer-made tools and medicines that will replenish our current antibiotic arsenal and to build novel inexpensive diagnostic technologies for infectious diseases. De la Fuente is an NIH MIRA investigator, a BBRF Young Investigator, and has received recognition and research funding from numerous other groups. Prof. de la Fuente was recognized by MIT Technology Review in 2019 as one of the world’s top innovators for “digitizing evolution to make better antibiotics”. He was selected as the inaugural recipient of the Langer Prize (2019), an ACS Kavli Emerging Leader in Chemistry (2020), the Nemirovsky Prize (2020), AIChE’s 35 Under 35 Award (2020), and received the ACS Infectious Diseases Young Investigator Award (2020). In addition, he was named a Boston Latino 30 Under 30, a 2018 Wunderkind by STAT News, a Top 10 Under 40 of 2019 by GEN, a Top 10 MIT Technology Review Innovator Under 35 (Spain), 30 Rising Leaders in the Life Sciences by In Vivo magazine, and he received the 2019 Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers Young Investigator Award. His scientific discoveries have yielded over 80 peer-reviewed publications, including papers in Nature Communications, PNAS, Nature Communications Biology, and multiple patents.
cfuente@upenn.edu
Barcelona Institute of Global Health (ISGlobal), Spain,
University of Barcelona, Spain
Sara M. Soto, PhD, is an Associate Research Professor at the Barcelona Institute of Global Health (ISGlobal) and Associate Professor at the University of Barcelona, Spain. She is working in the area of Viral and Bacterial Infections, specifically in the subject of antimicrobial resistance, biofilm and new antibiotics. She is member of the ISGlobal Gender Commission directed to ensure equity among scientists. She has been the Coordinator of a H2020 project (Nomorfilm) to find new antibiotics from microalgae. She has directed two Doctoral thesis and three are under development. She has published more than 65 international articles with an impact factor media of 3.765 and received 3824 citations (excluding self- citations) yielding an H-index of 32 (Data obtained from the Web of Knowledge). In addition, she has published eight invited reviews, four book chapters and one Editorial. She is continuously working to enhance the role of women in science through workshops in primary and secondary schools.
sara.soto@isglobal.org
Session C: The Epidemiology and Prevention of Infections Caused by Antimicrobial-Resistant Pathogens: Future Threats
Dr. Teena Chopra is a Professor of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases, at Wayne State University and the Corporate Medical Director of Hospital Epidemiology, Infection Prevention and Antibiotic Stewardship at Detroit Medical Center, Wayne State University. Her research interests include Epidemiology of Health care-associated Infections, Infection Prevention Antibiotic Stewardship and Immunization. Dr. Chopra has published over 80 papers in various journals and book chapters. Additionally, she has independently reviewed over 60 journal articles. Dr. Chopra has a special interest in immunization and studying the epidemiology of infections, including Clostridium difficile and Multi-Drug Resistant Organisms. Dr Chopra has championed the mammoth task of leading the COVID-19 pandemic for Wayne State University and DMC. She is serving on the president’s COVID task force and on the President’s Public health committee. She has appeared on countless media and print interviews including CNN, FOX, NPR and TIME magazine.
tchopra@med.wayne.edu
Dr. Eleftherios Mylonakis, Charles C.J. Carpenter Professor of Infectious Disease at Brown University, is also the Chief of Infectious Diseases at Rhode Island Hospital and the Miriam Hospital and Director of the COBRE Center for Antimicrobial Resistance and Therapeutic Discovery. He is Assistant Dean for Outpatient Investigations and Director of the Center for Outpatient and Longitudinal Medical Research at the Alpert Medical School of Brown University and Professor of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology. He was previously Attending Physician of Infectious Disease at Massachusetts General Hospital and served as an Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Mylonakis studies host and microbial factors of infection and the discovery of antimicrobial agents. His research encompasses both clinical and laboratory studies and the use of mammalian and invertebrate model hosts systems to identify novel antimicrobial compounds and the elucidation of evolutionarily conserved aspects of microbial virulence and the host response. For 10 years, Dr. Mylonakis served as the founding journal of Virulence and he has 8 patents, edited five books, and published almost 400 articles in the peer-reviewed literature.
emylonakis@lifespan.org
Session A: Antimicrobial Resistance Mechanisms and Intrinsic Microbial Factors Contributing to Resistance
Shahriar Mobashery received his training from undergraduate to postdoctoral studies at the University of Southern California, the University of Chicago, and the Rockefeller University, respectively. He was a Fellow of the Scienists Without Borders program, Brazil (2014-2016). Mobashery was a recipient of the Astellas USA Foundation Award of the American Chemical Society and of the Emil Kaiser Award of the Protein Society. He, along with Mayland Chang and Trung Nguyen, was a recipient of the BioCrossroads First Place New Venture Award (2018). Mobashery holds the Navari Chair in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Notre Dame.
mobashery@nd.edu
Department of Chemistry, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI), Dublin, Ireland
Marc Devocelle completed his Ph.D. at the University of Lille (France) in the laboratory of Professor André Mortreux (homogeneous catalysis) and under contract with the pharmaceutical company Sanofi. He subsequently joined RCSI (Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland) in 1999 as a postdoctoral researcher under the supervision of Professor Kevin Nolan, to work on the synthesis of novel hydroxamic acids. In 2000, he became manager of the Peptide Synthesis Laboratory at RCSI, a facility involved in collaborations with academic groups across 10 Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in Ireland and 2 SMEs. He has since been appointed as a Lecturer in 2004, a Senior Lecturer in 2008 and an Associate Professor of Chemistry in 2014. His laboratory is funded by Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) and RCSI to develop novel antibiotic candidates based on Antimicrobial Peptides and recently joined the SFI Research Centre ‘Synthesis & Solid State Pharmaceutical Centre’ (SSPC), a hub of Irish research expertise in Pharmaceutical Process Innovation and Advanced Manufacturing, comprising 8 HEIs and 22 industry partners.
mdevocelle@rcsi.ie
McMaster University, Canada
Dr. Eric Brown is a Distinguished University Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences and member of the M.G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research at McMaster University. Brown is a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology and has received a number of other awards including the Canadian Society of Microbiologists Murray Award for career achievement and the Canadian Society for Molecular Biosciences Merck Frosst Prize for new investigators. He currently holds a Killam Research Fellowship from the Canada Council for the Arts and a Canada Research Chair in Microbial Chemical Biology. Brown is a former Chair of his department and was the founding Director of a leading edge educational program at the nexus of science and commerce, the Biomedical Discovery and Commercialization program. He has served on advisory boards for a variety of companies as well as national and international associations, including a term as President of the Canadian Society of Molecular Biosciences. Currently, he is a member of the editorial board of ACS Infectious Diseases, is the Series Editor of the annual Antimicrobial Therapeutics Review of the Annals of the New York Academy of Science, and a member of the Advisory Board of the Joint Programming Initiative on Antimicrobial Research. Brown’s research aims to probe the complex biology that underlies bacterial survival strategies. The goal of these studies is to contribute to fresh directions for new antibacterial therapies.
ebrown@mcmaster.ca
Kim Lewis is a University Distinguished Professor and Director, Antimicrobial Discovery Center at Northeastern University in Boston, a Fellow of the American Society of Microbiology, and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He obtained his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Moscow University in 1980, and has been on the Faculty of MIT, University of Maryland, and Tufts University prior to coming to Northeastern. Dr. Lewis has authored over 100 papers and is an inventor on several patents. His notable findings include the development of general methods to grow previously uncultured bacteria that make up >99% of biodiversity on the planet, the discovery of the culprit of recalcitrant biofilm infections, drug-tolerant persister cells; and several novel antimicrobials. Dr. Lewis has been a permanent member of the Drug Discovery and Drug Resistance NIH Study Section, and Chair of two NIH Study Sections on Drug Discovery. Dr. Lewis has served as a panelist and contributor to reports on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) by National Academies Institute of Medicine, the Pew Charitable Trust, and the European Academies of Science. Dr. Lewis is a member of Faculty 1000, a world-wide panel of experts evaluating research advancements. He is a recipient of the MIT C.E. Reed Faculty Initiative Award, and is a recipient of the NIH Director’s Transformative Award. Apart from his work in Academia, Dr. Lewis has served as a consultant to the Pharmaceutical Industry, The Biotech, and is a co-founder of NovoBiotic Pharmaceuticals, Arietis Pharma, and Holobiome.
k.lewis@northeastern.edu
Helen Zgurskaya, Ph.D., M.S., is a George Lynn Cross professor of chemistry and biochemistry at the University of Oklahoma, where she leads a research program on antibiotic discovery and resistance, multidrug efflux mechanisms, and efflux pump inhibitors. She is a founder of the university’s Center for Antibiotic Resistance and Discovery, an international team composed of 13 research groups spread across five academic campuses and the Oak Ridge and Los Alamos national laboratories. Zgurskaya has written more than 80 papers, several book chapters and is a co-editor of a book. She is also an associate editor of the ACS Infectious Diseases journal and a member of the editorial board of the Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy and Frontiers in Microbiology journals. She received a master’s degree in microbiology from Dnepropetrovsk State University, Ukraine, a doctorate in microbiology from the Russian Academy of Sciences, Russian Federation, and was a postdoctoral researcher at the Stanford University School of Medicine and the University of California, Berkeley.
elenaz@ou.edu
Dr. Djamel Drider received his PhD in Food Science from "Ecole Nationale Supérieure Agronomique de Montpellier, France". Then, he completed his training in Molecular Microbiology at Centro de Investigaciones Biologicas del CSIC (Madrid, Spain) and Mount Sinai School of Medicine of New York University (NYU, USA). He was appointed as Associate Professor at Nantes Atlantic National College of Veterinary Medicine, Food Science and Engineering, and then as full Professor at Lille University. Dr. Drider's interests include food safety, antimicrobials -antibiotics and antivirals, probiotics, and nanomaterials. D. Drider published 133 peer-reviewed papers, coordinated 5 books, holds 5 patents, and exerts as editor for MDPI journals, and as panel chair or expert for national and international institutions.
djamel.drider@univ-lille.fr
Miguel A. Moreno is a Professor of the Department of Animal Health at UCM Veterinary Faculty and researcher of VISAVET-UCM. His expertise is on antimicrobial resistance, antimicrobial use and veterinary epidemiology. He has been a member of AWP-EMA for 11 years and of ESVAC-species-EMA for two years. At the national level, he is vice-president of the Committee for Safety of Veterinary Medicines (Spanish Medicines Agency) and has been member of the Technical Committee of the First Spanish National Plan of Fight against Antimicrobial Resistance.
mamoreno@ucm.es
Professor Gerd Wagner holds the Chair of Medicinal Chemistry and Chemical Biology in the School of Pharmacy at Queen’s University Belfast. Major themes of his research are the development of enzyme inhibitors and carbohydrate-based probes for applications in bacterial profiling, glycoengineering, and drug discovery. He has previously held academic positions at King’s College London, where he was a founding member of the new Department of Chemistry, and at the University of East Anglia (UK). A pharmacist by training, he is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, and in 2018 was a visiting professor at the Université d'Orléans (France). He currently serves as Associate Editor of “Antibiotics”.
g.wagner@qub.ac.uk
Weill-Cornell Medical CollegeWeill-Cornell Medical College, USA
Dr. Barbut is a Professor of Neurology & Former Chief of the Neurovascular Division and of the Stroke research Program at Weill-Cornell Medical College. She trained as an internist and subsequently as a neurologist in Great Britain and the USA. She received her Medical Degree from University College, London. She completed her post-graduate training at Imperial College, the Royal Brompton Hospital and the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, Queens’ Square. She is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of the United Kingdom. She completed her neurologic training at Weill-Cornell Medical Center- Cornell University Medical College and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Subsequently she became an Attending Physician at New York Hospital and Professor of Neurology at Cornell University. She holds close to 200 patents, relating to methods for neuroprotection, cerebral hypothermia, the treatment of cerebral ischemia, pain, neuromodulation, Parkinson’s disease and other neurodegenerative disorders and has published close to 80 peer-reviewed articles. She has previously founded and led biotech companies to develop novel treatments in the field of neurology. Her current research interests are focused on the role of aminosterols in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. She co-founded Enterin with Michael Zasloff in 2016, and currently serves as President, CMO, and Board Member.
d.barbut@enterininc.com
Georgetown University, USA
Dr. Zasloff is a Professor of Pediatrics and Genetics at Georgetown University and the former Dean of Research and Translational Science at Georgetown University. Over the past 25 years, Dr. Zasloff’s scientific interests have centered on the innate immune systems of animals. Dr. Zasloff received his M.D.-Ph.D. in the Medical Scientist Training Program at New York University School of Medicine. In the 1980’s, Dr. Zasloff was Chief, Human Genetics Branch, National Institutes of Child Health and Human Development, at the National Institutes of Health. He founded Magainin Pharmaceuticals, Inc. a publicly traded biotechnology company. He joined the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine as the Charles E. H. Upham Professor of Pediatrics and Genetics and assumed the position of Director of the Division of Human Genetics of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. In 1992, Dr. Zasloff left U. Penn and joined Magainin on a full-time basis and served as Chairman of the Board, Executive Vice President and President of the Magainin Research Institute, a basic research division of the Company. In 2002, Dr. Zasloff was named Dean of Research and Translational Science at Georgetown, tasked with the integration of the basic science conducted at Georgetown with the clinical environment of the Medical Center. Since 2004, Dr. Zasloff has been actively engaged in studies of innate immunity as Scientific Director of the MedStar-Georgetown Transplant Institute. His research interests remain focused on the role of antimicrobial peptides and aminosterols in health and disease, and application to the prevention and treatment of disease. He has published over 150 peer-reviewed articles and holds over 60 issued US patents. He co-founded Enterin in 2016 with Denise Barbut and currently serves as CSO and Board Member. He also serves as the lead independent Director on the Board of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, Inc. He has received numerous awards including an honorary Doctor of Science from Georgetown University in 2011.
maz5@georgetown.edu
Clarisse Roblin has recently obtained a PhD degree in Microbiology from Aix-Marseille University. Over the last 6 years she has been working on identifying new antibiotics or alternatives to antibiotics to fight antibiotic resistant bacteria. In particular, during her PhD project, she isolated an antimicrobial peptide produced by a human gut symbiont from gut contents and showed its potent clinical properties. She now keeps working, as a postdoctoral researcher, on demonstrating the interest of this peptide as a drug-lead and on identifying its mechanism of action.
clarisse.roblin@univ-amu.fr
University of Western Brittany, France
After being graduated from the University of South Brittany (France) with a master degree in marine biotechnology in 2017, Helena Cuny worked as an engineer on microalgae polymers involved in biofilm formation. Since 2018, she is a PhD student at the Laboratory of Marine Biotechnology and Chemistry (LBCM), University of Western Brittany (France), in France. Her research work is devoted to unraveling the biosynthesis pathway of alterins, antimicrobial peptides produced by the marine bacteria belonging to Pseudoalteromonas genus.
helena.cuny@univ-brest.fr
Laval University, Canada,
National Museum of Natural History, France
I am currently a PhD student conducting a double diploma between Laval University in Québec, Canada, and the National Museum of Natural History in Paris, France. My project is entitled: The impact of post-translationally modified microcins (McC, MccJ25, MccB17 and MccE492) on the porcine microbiota. We aim to evaluate the potential of microcins as alternatives to conventional antibiotics by studying their anti-microbial activities and their impact on the host.
Soufiane.telhig.1@ulaval.ca
Dr Priyia Pusparajah graduated with a medical degreed from the University of Malaya. She is member of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health and completed her post graduate Pediatric training in KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital, Singapore. Following her passion for research and teaching, she began working with Monash University in 2012. She is a core member of the Microbiome and Bioresources Research Strength and the founder of the Medical Health and Translational Research Group. Her research interests are bioprospecting for substances with therapeutic applications, in particular from mangrove derived microbes as well as plants; and also exploring the neonatal gut microbiome. She is also passionate about medical education especially how to meaningfully integrate the basic and clinical sciences and was awarded Monash Pro-Vice Chancellor Award Commendation for Education Innovation in 2019.
priyia.pusparajah@monash.edu
katharina.fromm@unifr.ch
Conference Secretariat
Conference Organizers
Antibiotics
Antibiotics Editorial Office, MDPI,
St. Alban-Anlage 66, 4052 Basel,
Switzerland
Antibiotics (ISSN 2079-6382; CODEN: ABSNC4) is a peer-reviewed open-access journal on all aspects of antibiotics published monthly online by MDPI.
eca2021@mdpi.com
