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 Aspenäs Herrgård in Lerum, Gothenburg. 

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  

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!” 

-Anonymous participant  

To see the full course program, please visit:  Microbiota and Health 2022 | NDPIA

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

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  

To see the full course program, please visit:  The mosquito-borne pathogens and their vectors course is finally happening! | NDPIA

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.  

“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.”

-Anonymous participant 

To see the full course program, please visit:  Antibiotics and Antibiotic Resistance course 2022 | NDPIA

Many thanks to the organizing committee: 

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.”

-Anonymous participant

To see the full course program, please visit:  Infection and Cancer 2021 | NDPIA

Group photo of the organizers and participants.

During the first week of December 2020, NDPIA offered its first online course on Microbiota and Health. The course introduced the field of microbiomes with a focus on how microbiota affect the health of a host.

Twenty international experts in the microbiome field, including Willem de Vos (University of Helsinki, Wageningen University), Nathalie Delzenne (Université Catholique de Louvain), and Erica and Justin Sonnenburg (Stanford University School of Medicine), presented lectures and held discussions on methods used to study microbiomes. Areas that were covered included microbiota associated with hosts, such as humans, farm-animals, and plants, effects of diet and age on the microbiota, interactions of the microbiota with the immune system and drugs, and trends on modifying the microbiota.

Part of Jürgen Harder’s lecture on microbiota and skin health.

Part of Nathalie Delzenne’s lecture on prebiotics and probiotics.

Part of Phillip Pope’s lecture on microbiota of farmed animals.

Part of Robert Brummer’s lecture on microbiota gut-brain axis.

In addition to these lectures, course participants presented and discussed their research with colleagues during live online poster sessions and free time online was also provided for informal discussions.

Collection of student posters created with aMuze’s iPosterSessions.

Collection of student poster presentations.

The course was successful in part due to it being online and travel was not needed. As a result, we could engage participants from Sweden, Germany, Norway, and Denmark to build scientific networks with each other as well as outstanding national and international researchers in the field.

To see the full course programme, please visit: ndpia.se/events/microbiota-and-health/

Workspace of the course organizers located at Umeå University. Pictured: Debra Milton, Björn Schröder, and Hanna Eriksson.