DDLS Symposium on Data-Driven Environmental Monitoring of Infectious Diseases
October 7, 2024 @ 12:00 – October 8, 2024 @ 15:00 Europe/UPPSALA
The DDLS research area Epidemiology and Biology of Infection invites you to its second in-person symposium. (The event is fully in-person only). The symposium will focus on promoting and enhancing data-driven environmental assessment for infectious diseases (including antibiotic-resistant bacteria) across various settings using diverse approaches.
The symposium will feature both local and international high-profile speakers in the field and will cover topics ranging from sewage surveillance, monitoring of airborne infectious agents, as well as environmental and animal disease monitoring for pathogens, antimicrobial resistance and harmful substances. The symposium will also include more technical aspects of implementations as well as data-driven advancements and challenges.
There will also be a possibility to submit abstracts for short talks!
Please join us for this one-and-a-half-day symposium on 7-8 October 2024, in Navet, SciLifeLab’s meeting place in Uppsala, to meet the research area Fellows, the Expert Group and excellent researchers of the area. Engage in discussions, enjoy refreshments, and network with experts across a range of infectious disease monitoring topics!
Welcome!
Scientific committee
Anna Székely (SLU)
Johan Bengtsson-Palme (Chalmers)
Registration
Deadline for abstract submission: 23 September (Extended deadline)
Deadline to register to attend: 25 September
Program
October 7
12:00 – 13:00 Lunch and mingle
13:00 – 13:10 Welcome words
Oliver Billker, Head of DDLS Epidemiology and Biology of Infection research area
Anna Székely and Johan Bengtsson-Palme, Scientific organizers
13:10 – Session I: Aquatic and wastewater-based assessment of health threats
Chair: Anna Székely
13:10 – 13:50 Keynote lecture 1
Frank Møller Aarestrup, Technical University of Denmark
Title: tba
13:50 – 14:15 Invited short talks
Anna Székely, SLU-SEEC
Title: Challenges and lessons of wastewater-based Covid variant surveillance
Björn Berglund, Uppsala University
Title: Pandemic Preparedness for Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria by Wastewater-based Epidemiology
Sofia Persson, SLU
Title: Pepper Mild Mottle Virus as a human faecal indicator
14:15 – 14:30 Short break
14:30 – 15:10 Keynote lecture 2
Andreas Bergthaler, Medical University of Vienna
Title: In Latrina Veritas
15:10 – 15:35 Coffee break
15:35 – Session II: Air and clinical sampling of pathogens
Chair: tba
15:35 – 16:15 Keynote lecture 3
Malin Alsved, Lund University
Title: Detection of airborne microorganisms in indoor and outdoor aerosol
16:15 – 16:40 Invited short talks
Chaitanya Tellapragada, Karolinska Institute
Title: Resistance to novel antimicrobial agents among clinical isolates of carbapenemase producing Escherichia coli is mainly driven by altered penicillin binding proteins
Vinodh Kandavalli, Uppsala University
Title: Rapid Detection of Antimicrobial Resistance: A Novel 2-Hour Method for Species Identification and Antibiotic Susceptibility in Mixed Infections
Rickard Hammarén, SciLifeLab Data Center
Title: The Swedish Pathogens Portal
16:40 – 16:55 Short break
16:55 – 17:45 Twin keynote lectures
Per Stenberg, Umeå University
Title: Monitoring organisms through air
Antonio Rothfuchs, Karolinska Institutet
Title: tba
17:45 – 18:30 Panel discussion with lecturers of day 1
Topic: tba
18:30 – End-of-day 1
Opportunity to mingle in Bishops Arms (Bäverns gränd 17, Uppsala); food & drinks at own cost
October 8
9:00 – Welcome, day 2
Session III: Environmental surveillance of animal health
Chair: tba
9:00 – 9:40 Keynote lecture 1
Susanna Sternberg Lewerin, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU)
Title: Some challenges in reflecting animal health by environmental sampling
9:40 – 10:05 Invited short talks
Buu Minh Tran, Uppsala University
Title: 12-hour phenotypic drug susceptibility testing for Mycobacterium tuberculosis variant bovis BCG using single-cell imaging and a deep neural network
Johanna Lindahl, Swedish Veterinary Agency
Title: Zoonotic disease risks in live-animal and wet markets
Marcus Wenne, Chalmers
Title: Evaluating Common Approaches for Monitoring Environmental Antimicrobial Resistance
10:05 – 10:20 Short break
10:20 – 10:45 Keynote lecture 2
Johan Bengtsson-Palme, Chalmers, DDLS Fellow
Title: Monitoring of antimicrobial resistance in the environment: Why? Where? How? – Insights from the EMBARK program
10:45 – 11:30 Panel discussion with present DDLS Fellows
Topic: How could data-driven life sciences, AI and the DDLS program in particular contribute towards (environmental) monitoring of infectious diseases?
11:30 – 13:00 Lunch and mingle
13:00 – Session IV: Challenges and advancements in data-driven pathogen and health marker assessment
Chair: Johan Bengtsson-Palme
13:00 – 13:40 Keynote lecture 3
Windi Muziasari, Resistomap
Title: An advanced platform for quantitative monitoring and management of environmental antimicrobial resistance
13:40 – 14:05 Invited short talks
Vishnu Raghuram, Umeå University
Title: Blurry Bacillus Boundaries: Using pangenomics to improve species delineation within Bacillus cereus sensu lato
Samuel Lampa, Karolinska University Hospital
Title: SciCommander – provenance reports for outputs of ad-hoc analyses
Christian Tellgren-Roth, NGI/UGC/SciLifeLab
Title: Sequencing Services at NGI
14:05 – 14:20 Short break
14:20 – 14:50 Keynote lecture 4
Laura Carroll, Umeå University, DDLS Fellow
Title: Data-driven methods for anthrax surveillance
14:50 – 15:10 Reflecting on day 2 with present lecturers and DDLS Fellows
15:10 – 15:15 End-of-day-2, closing words, and departure
Anna Székely and Johan Bengtsson-Palme, Scientific organizers
Members of The Data-driven Epidemiology and biology of infection expert group:
Tom Britton, Stockholm University
Joakim Dillner, Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska Univ. Hospital
Tove Fall, Uppsala University
Birgitta Henriques-Normark, Karolinska Institutet
Erik Kristiansson, Chalmers University of Technology
Patrik Medstrand, Lund University
Staffan Svärd, Uppsala University
Oliver Billker, chair (DDLS SG member)
Google Calendar 
