Official Website Has Moved!

The official website of the 1st International Blastocystis Symposium has moved to

www.blastomeeting2015.com - please check it out and bookmark.

Thanks.

Poster

This is the poster announcing the 1st International Blastocystis Symposium.

Go here to download your copy.

Please note that the official website for the meeting will be up and running very soon and it will be available from www.blastocystismeeting2015.com - please bookmark it already.

Also, please note the pre-symposium workshop on the 27th of May; more information to follow.

Thanks.

Committees

It is a great pleasure to be able to announce the committees of the 1st International Blastocystis Symposium.

LOCAL ORGANISING COMMITTEE

Funda Doğruman-Al

MD, Specialist in Clinical Microbiology, Associate Professor

Department of Medical Microbiology

Medical Faculty of Gazi University

Ankara, Turkey

İbrahim Doğan

MD, Professor, Specialist in Gastroenterology

Division of Gastroenterology and Department of Internal Disease,

Medical Faculty of Gazi University

Ankara, Turkey

Özgür Kurt

MD, Ph.D., Associate Professor

Acibadem University

Faculty of Medicine

Department of Medical Microbiology

Kerem Aydinlar Campus

Icerenkoy Mah. Kayisdagi Cad. No: 32

Istanbul, Turkey

Zahide Şimşek

MD, Specialist Gastroenterology

Division of Gastroenterology and Department of Internal Disease,

Diskapi Yildirim Beyazit Education and Research Hospital

Ankara, Turkey

Mehmet Tanyüksel

MD, Ph.D., Professor

Division of Medical Parasitology and Department of Microbiology and Clinical Microbiology

Gülhane Military Medical Academy

Ankara,Turkey

C Rune Stensvold

PhD, Senior Scientist

Laboratory of Parasitology

Department of Microbiology and Infection Control

Statens Serum Institut

Copenhagen, Denmark

SCIENTIFIC PROGRAMME ADVISORY COMMITTEE

C Graham Clark
PhD, Reader
Department of Pathogen Molecular Biology
Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
London, UK

Kevin S W Tan
PhD, Associate Professor
Department of Microbiology
Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine
Singapore

Funda Doğruman-Al

MD, Specialist in Clinical Microbiology, Associate Professor

Department of Medical Microbiology

Medical Faculty of Gazi University

Ankara, Turkey

İbrahim Doğan

MD, Specialist Gastroenterology

Division of Gastroenterology and Department of Internal Disease,

Medical Faculty of Gazi University

Ankara, Turkey

C Rune Stensvold

PhD, Senior Scientist

Laboratory of Parasitology

Department of Microbiology and Infection Control

Statens Serum Institut

Copenhagen, Denmark

We will be back soon with more information; please subscribe to updates.

Thanks.

Join Us! The 1st International Blastocystis Symposium

The 1st International Blastocystis Symposium will be held in Ankara, May 28-29 in 2015 under the auspices of Gazi University, Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey.

The main organisers are Dr. Funda Dogruman-Al, Gazi University, and Dr. Christen Rune Stensvold, Statens Serum Institut, Denmark. We kindly invite you to join us!

Gazi Medical Faculty and Hospital

The past few years have seen a substantial surge in Blastocystis research in many areas, and so the main foci of this symposium will be:

• Diagnosis and molecular characterisation
• Epidemiology
• Evolutionary biology and advances in genomics
• Intestinal ecology
• Clinical significance including potential relationship to irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)

The symposium will also serve as an initial forum to address and discuss critical questions including: 

• What is the evidence of Blastocystis pathogenicity?
• If Blastocystis may be pathogenic, what then are the factors involved? Which mechanisms could potentially be involved in the development of disease?
• Could specific host factors be responsible for the development of symptomatic Blastocystis infections, and if so, how can these be identified?
• How can Blastocystis infections be controlled?
• Is there any correlation between the human intestinal microbiota and Blastocystis carriage?
• How can novel technology and multi-disciplinary approaches assist in answering fundamental questions concerning the clinical significance of Blastocystis?

We have received very positive responses so far from quite a few of the leading scientists in Blastocystis research expressing their interest in the symposium, and obviously our goal is to be able to raise significant and relevant funding to cover at least some of the expenses related to the meeting.

We hope that the symposium will attract not only experts on Blastocystis, but also biologists and medical doctors in the fields of clinical microbiology, infectious diseases, gastroenterology, evolutionary biology, and microbial ecology. Certainly, those who have expressed interest so far cover a wide spectrum of these research areas.

Please subscribe to news and updates on the symposium, and also please also share on your favourite social media.