ICOPA 2022

21-26 August 2022
Copenhagen, Denmark & online

ICOPA is the congress of the World Federation of Parasitologists (WFP). This global event brings together over 2000 delegates working within parasitology and related fields, from around the world every four years.

ICOPA 2022 will cover the numerous aspects of parasitology, including the battles against devastating diseases caused by some parasites as well as the variety of beneficial effects of hosting parasites and embracing the intriguing evolutionary arms race between parasites and their host that shape both.

The theme of the15th ICOPA “Living with Parasites” covers parasitology sensu lato, will highlight the need for sustainable control strategies as well as the challenges and effects of eradication and brings parasitology closer to everyday life. 

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Monday 22 August 2022

PA02-04 - Symposium: Morbidity and spill over impact associated with Schistosoma infections: an updated appraisal Topic: 2.2 Schistosomiasis – 12:00 – 13:30 UK

GSA RESEARCH WG SUPPORTED SYMPOSIUM – HIGHLIGHT

Targets for elimination as a public health problem fail to differentiate schistosomiasis morbidity prevalence in school-age children (ID 1887) Schistosomiasis induces plasma B cell death in the bone marrow and accelerates the decline over time of host vaccine responses (ID 1888) Self-sampling molecular approaches for screening female genital schistosomiasis and cervical cancer (ID 1889) Morbidities associated with hybrid infections in children along south Lake Malawi (ID 1890)

PA03-05 - Snail biology/epidemiology Topic: 2.2 Schistosomiasis - 14:00-15:30 UK

Schistosomiasis in Lake Malawi: Snails, schistosomes and unravelling their settings (ID 437) Epigenetic and metabolic changes in hemocytes appear as a conserved feature of innate immune memory in the Schistosomiasis vector snail Biomphalaria glabrata (ID 360) Behavioural and proteomic comparison of B. glabrata excretory-secretory proteins at different time-points of Schistosoma mansoni infection (ID 282) Thermal tolerance limits, thermal optima and local adaptation capacity of the snail Bulinus truncatus, intermediate host of Schistosoma spp. (ID 534) Schistosoma and Bulinus in the Lake Victoria Basin in Kenya: why the basics of identification and schistosome-snail compatibility matter (ID 633) Learning the chemical language of larval trematodes: the in vitro secretome of an echinostome species dominant to Schistosoma mansoni (ID 938) Exploration of hemocyte population heterogeneity in Biomphalaria glabrata snail using single cell RNA sequencing technology (ID 1301)

ELABU: Environmental Loop-mediated Isothermal Amplification (LAMP) for Bulinus truncatus field detection (ID 926) Towards a better understanding of the snail-trematode-microbiome interactions driving schistosome transmission in Senegal (ID 326)

PA04-05 - Parasite biology Topic: 2.2 Schistosomiasis –15:45-17:15 UK

Insights in the role of the pairing-dependently and ovary-preferentially expressed thyroid hormone receptor (THRβ) of Schistosoma mansoni (ID 693) CRISPR interference for Sequence-Specific Regulation of Fibroblast Growth Factor Receptor A in Schistosoma mansoni (ID 1000) Calpain inhibitor suppresses both extracellular vesicle-mediated secretion of miRNAs and egg production from paired adults of Schistosoma japonicum (ID 1019) Targeting a transient receptor potential ion channel to treat diseases caused by parasitic flatworms (ID 1429) Does Schistosome Genetic Variation Impact Host Immunopathology? (ID 430) Schistolysins, two β-pore forming toxins from Schistosoma mansoni: biological role and biotechnological potential (ID 1197) Functional characterization of an anti-inflammatory metalloprotease during Schistosoma mansoni cercaria penetration (ID 1330)

PA04-07 - Symposium - One Health and schistosomiasis in a changing world –15:45-17:15 UK

Schistosomiasis elimination accelerated by One Health approach (ID 1763) Schistosoma infections in non-human animal hosts (ID 1762) Schistotomiasis reservoir hosts in Western Africa (ID 1759) Schistosomiasis intervention and One Health approach in Malawi (ID 1761) Schistosomiasis and One Health approach in Asia (ID 1760) Role of water bufflo in the transmission of schistosomiasis japonica in the Yangtze River valley (ID 1764) Elimination of schistosomiasis mekongi by WASH model (ID 1765) Animal infections with Schistosoma japonicum in the Philippines (ID 1766) One Health approach reducing or interrupting the transmission of Schistosoma japonicum in Poyang Lake (ID 1767) One Health approach to promote national schistosomiasis control programme in Zimbabwe (ID 2068) One Health approaches in Schistosomiasis Control: China and Beyond (ID 2069)

Tuesday 23 August 2022

PA06-04 - Symposium - Genomic insights into schistosome biology and control Topic: 2.2 Schistosomiasis – 12:15 – 13:45 UK

Progress in schistosome genomics and genetics: Application of new resources to address current challenges in schistosomiasis control (ID 1891) Field applicable methods for surveying drug resistance in schistosome populations (ID 1892) Schisto”mics” point to roles of GPCRs and neuropeptides in the male-female interaction of Schistosoma mansoni (ID 1893) Population genomic analyses of endemic Schistosoma mansoni reveals extensive transmission and recent hybridization (ID 1894)

PA08-07 - One Health with a social sciences twist – 16:00 – 17:30 UK

The impact of Schistosoma mansoni on health-related quality of life among individuals living in endemic areas in Uganda (ID 1446) Environmental parasites and their relationship with poverty in the Southern United States of America. (ID 1047) Human social conditions predict the risk of exposure to zoonotic parasites in companion animals in East and Southeast Asia (ID 1029) Environmental prevalence, distribution and risk factors associated with canine soil-transmitted helminths in urban parks across Australia (ID 588) Dirofilaria immitis in dogs, cats and humans in Gran Canaria (Spain), 1994-2020: changing distribution patterns in a hyperendemic island (ID 877) Dynamics of helminth infections in epidemic and epizootic systems of Bangladesh (ID 52) Geostatistical analysis of active cysticercosis: Results of a large-scale study in 60 villages in Burkina Faso (ID 1316) Spatial distribution and ecology of soil parasites and Schistosoma haematobium infection in Eggua, Nigeria (ID 1057) Transmission of malaria in an endemic area of Chihuahua, Mexico (2019-2021)- recollections from the field (ID 547) Factors affecting sparganosis infection in medium-sized carnivores in Poland (ID 1151) Ribosomal and mitochondrial genetic markers for molecular diagnosis of Ascarididae, Onchocercidae and Ancylostomatidae worms: how useful are they? (ID 1225)

Rtapas: an R package to track co-evolution of hosts and parasites (ID 897)

Wednesday 24 August 2022

PA09-05 - Symposium - Functional Genomics of parasitic flatworms Topic: 2.5 Other studies related to parasites of humans – 09:45 – 11:15 UK

Programmed gene editing and homology directed repair in schistosomes and related flukes (ID 1833) Is there any molecular basis of cercarial emergence rhythm in schistosomes? (ID 1832) Integrating biological and chemical tools for anti-schistosomal drug discovery (ID 1834) Functional genomics to understand the establishment of sexual dimorphism in schistosomes (ID 1835)

PA09-06 – Immunology Topic: 2.2 Schistosomiasis – 09:45 - 11:15 UK

Mapping the immune response in schistosomiasis – insights from controlled human infection models. (ID 366) Identification and evaluation of glycan targets for development of accurate schistosomiasis serology (ID 354) Short and long-term impacts of praziquantel treatment on protective human immune responses to Schistsosoma mansoni infection (ID 1313) Resolving the contributions of exposure and immunity on the epidemiology of schistosomiasis (ID 1416)

PA11-06 - Symposium - Geospatial tools for parasitology and spatial epidemiology – 14:15 – 15:45 UK

Spatial sampling designs for schistosomiasis control (ID 1971) A Web-GIS to follow the impact of control activities of soil-transmitted helminths in endemic countries (ID 1973) Prevalence and mapping of parasites in wild Danish cervids (ID 1974) Status of the distribution and prevalence of Fasciola species and their vertebrate and snail intermediate hosts in East and Southern Africa (ID 1975) GIS initiative on Mapping of Fasciola spp and their intermediate hosts in South Africa (ID 1976)

PA12-05 - Epidemiology/control Topic: 2.2 Schistosomiasis – 16:00 – 17:30 UK

Translating from egg- to antigen-based indicators for Schistosoma mansoni elimination targets: A Bayesian latent class analysis study. (ID 902) Evaluating the efficacy of repeated praziquantel treatment using worm- and egg-based diagnostics in the RePST clinical trial (ID 1214) Differentiating new reproductive schistosomes from surviving adult worms following praziquantel treatment using microsatellites (ID 1445) Precision mapping of schistosomiasis and snails: the way forward to shrink the map and accelerate towards elimination (ID 957) Hybridization between human and livestock schistosomes – rampant or rare? (ID 916) Introducing EpiMM-Schisto: a community-based, prospective cohort for studying gut and liver conditions in the context of chronic intestinal schistosomiasis (ID 1342)

Thursday 25 August 2022

PA13-04 - Symposium - Novel diagnostics for elimination of schistosomiasis Topic: 2.2 Schistosomiasis – 09:45 – 11:15 UK

Introduction to e-Asia project and molecular diagnostics (ID 1923) Point of Care Immunodiagnostics (ID 1924) Circulating cathodic antigen (CCA) schistosomiasis detection assay (ID 1925) Environmental DNA and risk mapping (ID 1926)

CRISPR/Cas13 as a Point-Of-Care diagnostic (ID 1927) Summation and project directions (ID 1928)

PA13-05 - Interventions, surveillance, early detection – 09:45 – 11:15 UK

Using choice modelling to identify popular and affordable alternative interventions for schistosomiasis in Uganda (ID 249) Communal sustainability of Intervention for the control of schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminthiasis in Anambra State, Nigeria (ID 975) Perspectives on the Control of Taenia solium: Monetary and Public Health Benefits after Pig Treatment and Vaccination (ID 1242) Arguments against tsetse eradication programme in North-eastern KwaZulu Natal, South Africa: misconception, misinformation and ethics (ID 371) The square deal model to mitigate dengue vector control (ID 1336) Identifying the first European endemic foci of Angiostrongylus cantonensis in Mallorca (ID 727) The diagnostic work up of an unexpected case of human Bertiella sp. infection in Norway (ID 605)

Friday 26 August 2022

PA15-03 - Symposium - Controlled human infection studies with helminths for the development of vaccines and therapeutics Topic: 2.3 Intestinal parasitic diseases – 08:00 – 09:30

Irradiated hookworm larvae for human vaccination studies (ID 1886) Controlled Intestinal Nematode Infections (ID 1884) Hookworm challenge for autoimmunity and type 2 diabetes (ID 1883) Controlled Schistosoma mansoni infections in humans (ID 1885)

PA15-05 - Symposium - The realities of implementing community-wide mass drug administration for STH and SCH in Ethiopia Topic: 2.5 Other studies related to parasites of humans – 08:00 – 09:30 UK

Following longitudinal cohorts over four rounds of mass-drug administration – changing parasite prevalence with demographics of systematically non-treated populations (ID 1946) The Geshiyaro Project: a study protocol for developing a scalable model of interventions for moving towards the interruption of the transmission of soil-transmitted helminths and schistosome infections in the Wolaita zone of Ethiopia (ID 1950) Reaching the last mile - realities of expanding from national to community-wide mass drug administration (ID 1952) Integrating WASH into an STH & SCH transmission break programme: experiences of the Geshiyaro project (ID 1953) Biometric data capture at mass drug administration – implementing novel biometric data capture in a large-scale project (ID 1965)

PA15-06 - Symposium - Citizen science for vector-borne disease control: challenges and opportunities Topic: 1.5 Other studies related to living with parasites – 08:00 – 09:30 UK

The rise of citizen science, challenges and opportunities and its potential in the Global South (ID 2024) Citizen science for monitoring the spatio-temporal dynamics of malaria vectors in relation to environmental risk factors in Ruhuha, Rwanda (ID 2027) Evaluation of community-based control of tsetse in the Democratic Republic of Congo using Tiny Targets (ID 2030) Citizen scientists as communicators: community-led awareness campaigns for schistosomiasis prevention in Uganda (ID 2033) Quality control of citizen-collected data in bilharzia vector control: lessons from Lake Albert, Uganda (ID 2039)