The fifth network meeting of the National Doctoral Programme in Infections and Antibiotics (NDPIA) was held in Aronsborg (Bålsta) 14-15 October, 2019. For this meeting, NDPIA joined forces with the National Infection Biology network (NIB) and Swedish Society for Microbiology (SE-SFM) to co-organize a National Infection Biology Meeting. The long-term goal is for these networks to continue organizing joint NIB-meetings biannually. The meeting had more than 110 participants. This co-organized meeting provided an opportunity for Swedish researchers working within infection biology to network and to find collaborators with common interest.

The keynote speakers included:

• Raphael Valdivia (Chlamydia, Duke University, USA),
• Jost Enninga (micropinosomes Salmonella, Institute Pasteur, France),
• Joan Geoghegan (S. aureus and atopic dermatitis, Trinity College, Ireland),
• Eva Gluenz (Leishmania, University of Oxford, UK),
• Susanne Häussler (Pseudomonas aeruginosa transcriptional profiling, Rigshospitalet, Denmark),
• Helle Krogh Johansen (P. aeruginosa adaptation, Rigshospitalet, Denmark),
• Mikael Sellin (Salmonella invasion, Uppsala, Sweden), and
• Boris Striepen (Cryptosporidium, University of Pennsylvania, USA).

Along with the invited speakers, 22 short oral presentations on a wide-variety of topics in infection biology were selected. The posters (61) were presented via poster walks, which included a short presentation of the main findings of the work followed by a short question period. The poster walks were done in groups and lots of lively conversations were heard in the poster areas.

A “Meet the Speakers” event was scheduled after the lunches. Small groups of students met with speakers of their choice to discuss scientific topics or experiences. This provided a wonderful opportunity for students to meet face-to-face with outstanding researchers to discuss infection biology.

The abstract book for the meeting can be found following this link.

Many thanks go to the organizing committee:

Oliver Billker, Umea University, MIMS
Eva-Maria Diehl, Umea University, MIMS/NDPIA
Ake Forsberg Umea University, NDPIA
Fredrik Kahn, Lund University, NDPIA
Keira Melican, Karolinska Institutet, SFM
Barbara Sixt, Umea University, MIMS
Staffan Svard, Uppsala University, SFM

The next co-organized NIB meeting is tentatively scheduled to be held in the Fall of 2021.
See you there!