This new NDPIA course on fundamentals of basic and applied phage biology was held at Lund University during 23-28 of April 2023.
Bacteriophages are bacterial viruses and the most diverse and abundant of all organisms on Earth. Through their coexistence with bacteria, phages modify bacterial communities by altering bacterial numbers, physiology, diversity, and virulence. This NDPIA course introduced students to the intriguing but complex interactions between phages and bacteria.
We had eleven national and international experts in phage research presenting a comprehensive theoretical overview of fundamental and applied phage biology, covering topics such as phage diversity and classification, phage diversity in environments from the human gut to the ocean, ecological roles of phages, phage-bacteria interactions and anti-phage immunity systems, and development of phage-based treatments of bacterial infections.
“I really appreciated the networking opportunities during this course. It was very nice that lecturers joined the dinners, and the overall social atmosphere led to open and vivid discussions.”
-Anonymous participant
Group photo of the participants and organizers of the Fundamentals of Basic and Applied Phage Biology 2023. Photo: Frederik Henriksen.
The lectures were complemented with hands-on experimental phage techniques. Techniques performed by the students included phage isolation from environmental samples, determination of the phage titre, performing phage infectivity/immunity assays, and isolation of spontaneous mutant phages through selection.
“The combination of covering vast amounts of knowledge both basic, cutting edge and applied, along with conducting real research during lab exercises all meant that the course was insanely productive while also being fun!”
-Anonymous participant
Students preparing for collection of environmental samples around town to be used in the lab exercises. Photo: Gemma AtkinsonStudents were collecting environmental samples at the Botanical Garden to be used in the lab exercises. Photo: Gemma Atkinson.
Students were performing lab work at Lund University to isolate phages and escape mutants. Photo: Vasili Hauryliuk and Rodrigo Ibarra Chaves.
The second NDPIA course on microbiota and health was held during the week of 14-18 of November 2022. Following the first microbiota and health course which was held online in 2020, the NDPIA organization was happy to be able to arrange this course at AspenäsHerrgård in Lerum, Gothenburg.
Group photo of the participants and organizers of Microbiota and Health 2024. The photo was taken by personnel at Aspenäs Herrgård.
Microbiota are diverse microbial communities associated with multicellular organisms. These communities of microbes and their genomes, the microbiome, affect physiological processes of the host. Understanding how microbiota interact with a host is critical to understand the host biology and host susceptibility to infectious and chronic diseases and host responses to drugs.
We had twenty-two national and international lecturers sharing their expertise in the microbiome field, and dedicating time for fruitful discussions with course participants. This course aims to provide a broad knowledge considering different research fields within the microbiome, while also providing details about each topic and their cutting-edge research. Topics covered were microbiota diversity, methods used to study microbiomes, microbiota associated with hosts, such as humans and animals, the role of microbiota in human health and disease, effects of diet and age on the microbiota, interactions of the microbiota with the immune system, mucins and drugs, host-bacterial mutualism and development of symbioses, collaboration and competition in the host microbiome, and present day trends on modifying the microbiota.
“The size and focus of the course were perfect! I particularly liked that a lot of time was allocated for discussions and questions, and plenty of time to discuss with everyone about their posters.”
-Anonymous participant
Lecture on “Introduction to microbiomes”, given by Björn Schröder, group leader at Umeå University. Photo: Hanna Eriksson.Lecture on “Collaboration and competition in host microbiomes”, given by Erik Bakkeren, postdoctoral researcher at University of Oxford, UK. Photo: Hanna Eriksson.
The lectures were combined with poster sessions enabling the participants to present and discuss their own research with fellows and lecturers. In addition, free time was provided for, social activities, informal discussions and to build national and international scientific networks with participants and lecturers.
“Good organization of the course, great talks, great networking opportunities and I have several new ideas to apply into my own project!”
The NDPIA mosquito-borne pathogens and their vectors course was held during 7-10 of June 2022 at Umeå University. The course was conducted in a hybrid format, allowing some of the lecturers and students to participate online.
This course aimed at providing an in-depth understanding of pathogen-vector interaction and transmission dynamics of mosquito-borne pathogens, providing better understanding of mosquitoes as vectors of arboviruses and parasites most of which are zoonotic in nature and affect both humans and animals. We had twelve national and international experts covering various aspects of the mosquito vector including ecology, biology, population genetics, competence, capacity and how these factors influence transmission to the susceptible host. The course also covered vector surveillance, identification, diagnostics, prevention and control, as well as application of high-throughput sequencing platforms in virus discovery.
“I got the opportunity to learn a lot about the mosquito vector in both theory and the practical aspect by experienced researchers.”
-Anonymous participant
Group photo of some of the participants at the Mosquito-borne pathogens and their vectors course in 2022. Photo: Kristoffer Ahlm.
In addition to the lectures, this course included a field trip with mosquito trapping, a Swedish mosquito identification workshop, and a computational workshop on informatic workflow after barcoding and comparison of mosquito sequence data. Course participants were also given the opportunity to give a short presentation of themselves and their research activities, to further promote discussions and networking.
“The strength of this course was the high-quality presentations, well organized and efficient field work, communication and the flexibility for networking.”
-Anonymous participant
Collection of photos from the course including: lecture on “Swedish mosquito vectors” given by Anders Lindström, the Swedish National Veterinary Institute (SVA); laboratory practical on the morphological identification of mosquitoes; and field demonstration. Photo: Kristoffer Ahlm.
The antibiotics and antibiotic resistance course in 2022 was held during 4-8 April at Hjortviken Konferens in Mölnlycke, Gothenburg. This course was co-organized by NDPIA and the Norwegian PhD School in Infection Biology and Antimicrobials (IBA).
Antibiotic resistance is a global public health concern that threatens the use of modern medical therapies to fight infectious diseases. The aim of this course was to introduce antibiotic resistance from a microbial perspective and from a clinical – One Health perspective. The fruitful collaboration between NDPIA and IBA made it possible to invite twenty-three national and international lecturers covering wide expertise in this field. The course provided an overview on the modes of action of antibiotics and how microbes resist the effects of antibiotics, on diagnostic methods to detect known and novel resistance genes, on the origins of resistance genes and the biological cost of resistance for the microbe, and on new antibiotic development and alternative therapeutics for infectious disease. In addition, ethics of antibiotic resistance management was also discussed.
Group photo of the participants and organizers of the Antibiotics and Antibiotic Resistance course in 2022. Photo: Hanna Eriksson.
“The opportunity to interact with the top-class lecturers in such a small group was amazing! Very high quality of the talks, I’m impressed!”
-Anonymous participant
Both NDPIA and IBA put a high value on the networking opportunities during their activities and the lectures were thus combined with poster sessions enabling the participants to present and discuss their own research. In addition, time was provided for informal discussions and to build national and international scientific networks between participants and lecturers.
“The enthusiasm of all the participants, both students and speakers, was amazing. All the topics were relevant and important to understand antibiotic resistance. It is a very insightful and complete course, which I believe is the most important strength of it. I also appreciated a lot that international speakers attended the talk, as well as some people from outside academia.”
During the week of 23-27 August 2021, NDPIA offered its first course on infection and cancer which was held online.
Infections due to certain viruses, bacteria, and parasites are strong risk factors for the development of specific cancers. Approximately 20% of cancers worldwide are attributed to infections. Conversely, a subset of pathogens preferentially lyse tumor cells, leading to tumor regression and improved anti-tumor immunity. In addition, the intestinal microbiota influences our response to anti-cancer therapy. This course was a combination of introductory lectures on infection and cancer, an international workshop on principles by which viruses and bacteria subvert the cellular micro-environment to cause cancer, poster presentations, and practical group assignments.
“Small group of participants to ensure participation and discussion and the atmosphere where one felt comfortable for discussion. Also, the fact that the course organisers attended all the sessions and gave us very useful feedback and participated in our discussions as well, it felt very fruitful from a scientific point of view.”
-Anonymous participant
In the group assignment, students were asked to identify one relevant issue that is still poorly characterized within the field of infection and cancer and proposed how to address this problem experimentally. This exercise aimed to stimulate critical thinking and the process of identifying scientific questions, as well as designing hypothesis-driven experiments to address these issues.
“The practical assignment on designing our own research project was really interesting as it made us think outside of our own box and reflect on other research fields.”
