2026 ORAL AND POSTERS AWARDS

•  ORAL PRESENTATIONS

• POSTER PRESENTATIONS

Presentation Format

Your poster number and presentation location are now available in the restricted area. To find them, go to ‘My Abstract’ and click on the calendar icon.

ORAL PRESENTATION

• Your presentation must be in English, including your slides;
• The maximum time for your presentation is 12 minutes, following 3 (three) minutes for questions;
• The presentation file must be delivered to the session room at least 15 minutes before the start of your session. Please use PowerPoint (.ppt or .pptx) or Portable Document Format (.pdf);
• Please arrive in the assigned room at least 15 minutes before the beginning of your session.
• Best Presentation Award: the best oral presentations in each category will receive a prize and a certificate. The decisions made by the evaluators will be final, and certificates will be awarded during the closing ceremony.
• Evaluation Process: The presentations will be evaluated during the presentation by one or more members of the evaluation committee.
• Your abstract was selected for oral presentation and should NOT be displayed as a poster.

TURBO TALKS/FLASHES PRESENTATION

• Your presentation must be in English, including your slides;
• The maximum time for your presentation is 3 (three) minutes, with no time for questions;
• The presentation file must be delivered to the session room at least 15 minutes before the start of your session. Please use PowerPoint (.ppt or .pptx) or Portable Document Format (.pdf);
• Please arrive in the assigned room at least 15 minutes before the beginning of your session.
• Although your abstract was selected for a Turbo Talk and you should also display your poster in the designated time and place!

POSTERS PRESENTATION

• Author Details: The poster must prominently display the title, names of the authors, and their affiliations.
• Title Requirement: The title of the poster must be identical to the title of the accepted abstract.
• Language: All text on the poster must be in English.
• Poster Dimensions: The maximum dimensions of the poster should be 0.90m (width) x 1.20m (height) and should include a string for hanging.
• Content Structure: Your poster should contain at least the following sections: Objectives, Methodology, Results and Conclusions.
• Presentation Requirement: Presenting your poster is mandatory, and the presentation must be conducted in English.
• Best Poster Award: the best posters in each category will receive a prize and a certificate. The decisions made by the evaluators will be final, and certificates will be awarded during the closing ceremony.
• Evaluation Process: The poster panels will be visited by one or more members of the evaluation committee during the poster sessions for questioning.
• TOXO18 is not responsible for posters forgotten or lost;

Abstract Submission

The payment of the registration fee entitles the submission of 1 (one) abstract to be presented by the registered author. Co-authors of the abstract who wish to participate in the congress must also register and pay the registration fee, but they do not need to re-send the abstract.

All accepted abstracts will be published in the Abstracts Book online.

> Guidelines for abstract preparation

The abstract must be submitted through the online from: https://www.icc.fiocruz.br/toxo18/, by clicking on REGISTRATION/ABSTRACT SUBMISSION. Completion of abstract submission requires 5 steps:

A. Access to the system:

Inform the email and password previously chosen in the registration form and select “Abstract”.

B. Rule

Read the rules and click on CONTINUE.

C. Abstracts

Click on:

CONTINUE to submit a new abstract;

CHANGE to edit your abstract;

EDIT AUTHOR to include, to edit or exclude;

D. Authors

Insert authors in the respective fields in the same order as they appear in the abstract.

Click on ADD ANOTHER AUTHOR until you have completed the authors of your abstract. If the author is already registered in our database, start typing in the name in “Author’s name” and the system will bring up options. The order of authorship can be changed as soon as new authors are registered, by selecting the “Author Position” field.

– The full name and e-mail of each author will be asked.

– Number the Authors’ display order;

– Main author equals first author;

– Indicate the presenter;

– Fill in the Lab name, Institution name (abbreviation), city, state and country fields for each author.

– The first author that will appear will be the name of the person submitting the abstract.

– Remember to insert all the authors!

F. Abstract Submission

– Enter the title;

– Title size is limited to 300 characters with space.

– Select your preference to the presentation: Poster or Oral

– After the evaluation, the Scientific Committee will define which type of presentation will be.

– Select the category:

1. Biochemistry and Metabolism

2. Biology of the Lytic cycle

3. Host Pathogen Interaction

4. Clinical and Congenital Toxoplasmosis

5. Epidemiology and Environmental Toxoplasmosis

6. Stage Conversion

7. Breakthroughs in Cryptosporidium research

– Insert funding agency;

– Enter the abstract and use the toolbar to format words or to insert special characters.

– The abstract text must be written in English and is limited to 2,000 (two Thousand) characters with space;

– All abstracts must include objectives, results and conclusions, not necessarily separated in sections;

– Insert three keywords;

Confirm the data of your abstract and click on SAVE.

Abstract evaluation

Abstracts will be evaluated by the Scientific Committee and selected for either poster or oral presentation. The best abstracts will also be evaluated by pre-selected members of the community during the meeting for the quality of the work and its presentation, ability of the presenter to respond to the queries and to contextualize their work, and may be eligible for prize awards for each Theme.

Abstracts will be analyzed considering the following criteria:

Subject alignment with focus of the meeting;
The scientific content of the abstract;
Originality and relevance of results.

Abstracts will not be accepted:
In languages other than English;
If they lack consistency, showcasing vague aims, results or conclusion;
If they correspond to literature reviews;
If they are unclear, or describe research that is not relevant and/or original to the field.

Notification of approval or rejection will be published in the restricted online area under “My abstracts”.

Presentation of the Poster

– The poster must contain all authors name and affiliation;

– The title of the poster must be the same as the accepted abstract;

– The poster must be written and presented in English;

– Size: 0.90m x 1.20m (width x height) with string for hanging;

– They should include: introduction, objectives, methodology, results and conclusions.

The presentation of the poster is MANDATORY.

The panels will be visited by one or more pre-selected members of the community for prize awards. These members may or may not identify themselves.

The criteria evaluated will be: quality of work and presentation, ability of the presenter to respond to queries and contextualize their work.

Oral Presentation

– The presentation and slides must be in English;

– The corresponding author of the abstract selected for oral presentation will be notified by email.

Abstracts Book in PDF – Download

Program in PDF – Download

PROGRAM

June 14th, 2026

2:00 pm – 5:00 pm — Registration and hotel check-in

5:00 – 5:15 pm — Welcome remarks

5:15 – 5:30 pm — Sustainable Informatics Tools for Genomic-scale Data Exploration, Analysis, Integration, Discovery and Dissemination.
David Roos, USA

Session I: Clinical and Congenital Toxoplasmosis A

5:30 – 7:00 pm | Chairs: Gustavo Arrizabalaga and Maria E. Francia

• 5:30–5:45 — (4992, D02) High-Throughput Screening of Advanced Repurposing Library to Identify Active Compounds Against Toxoplasma gondii Bradyzoites. Taher Uddin, USA
• 5:45–6:00 — (4953, D03) Evaluation of Western Blot Densitometry for Diagnosing Congenital Toxoplasmosis in the First Month of Life. Sebastian Serna Rivera, Colombia
• 6:00–6:15 — (5047, D04) Serological response to MAG1 and serotype signature predict reactivation risk and clinical severity after allogeneic HSCT. Tijana Štajner, Serbia
• 6:15–6:30 — (4968, D05) Novel pyridine, benzimidazole and benzoxazole scaffolds exhibit anti-Toxoplasma gondii activity in human maternal-fetal interface models. Julia Corrêa, Brazil
• 6:30–6:45 — (5072, D06) Ex vivo response of human lymphocytes in congenital toxoplasmosis to a vaccine candidate for toxoplasmosis. Maria Antonia Restrepo, Colombia

7:00 pm — Welcome reception

June 15th, 2026

Session II: Host-Pathogen Interaction A

8:30 – 10:00 am | Chairs: Andrea Ávila & Elena Jimenez-Ruiz

• 8:30–8:45 — (4900, D07) The intraconoid interactome links ICMT anchoring to rhoptry secretion in Toxoplasma gondii. Albert Tell I Puig, Switzerland
• 8:45–9:00 — (4907, D08) The differential role of Gasdermin-D in murine microglia and astrocytes in response to Toxoplasma gondii. Amanda Verdicchio Caniato, Brazil
• 9:00–9:15 — (4912, D09) 3D LUHMES neurospheres: a novel model to study neurotoxoplasmosis. Vanessa Rossini Severo, USA
• 9:15–9:30 — (4932, D10) Galectin-3 modulates trophoblast susceptibility to Toxoplasma gondii infection through ROS, ICAM-1, MIF and ERK1/2 signaling. Luana Carvalho Luz, Brazil
• 9:30–9:45 — (4938, D11) Toxoplasma infection induces host phosphoantigens that are sensed by the BTN3A1 receptor to drive early human innate IFN? via V?9V?2 T cells and NK cells. Jeroen Saeij, USA

10:00 – 10:30 am — Coffee break

Session III: Biology of the Lytic Cycle A

10:30 am – 12:00 pm | Chairs: Daniel Adesse & Francesca Torelli

• 10:30–10:45 — (4971, D12) AAF1, a new member of an AP2X-5 and A2XI-5 tripartite transcriptional regulation complex. Marc-Jan Gubbels, USA
• 10:45–11:00 — (5016, D13) A dual apical methyltransferase module controls actin-driven motility initiation in apicomplexan parasites. Elena Jimenez-Ruiz, Germany
• 11:00–11:15 — (4911, D55) A Nanoscale Map of the Bipartite Centrosome in Toxoplasma gondii. Sofia Horjales, Uruguay.
• 11:15–11:30 — (5031, D15) Optogenetic Illumination of Cyclic AMP Signaling Network in Toxoplasma gondii. Poosala Ramya Sri, India
• 11:30–11:45 — (5037, D16) Protein targeting to the apicoplast is via an autophagy-derived pathway. Sara Chelaghma, UK

12:00 – 1:30 pm — Lunch break (on your own)

Early Career Researcher (ECR) Panel

12:00 – 1:00 pm — “How to begin the transition from a postdoctoral position to a faculty role?” Q&A session for ECRs aiming to pursue a faculty position.

• Michael Holmes — Assistant Professor at UMKC
• Karen Shapiro — Associate Professor at U.C. Davis
• Christopher Swale — Principal Investigator at University of Grenoble
• Shikha Shikha — Research Fellow (incoming MRC Career Development Fellow – University of Cambridge)
• Mariana Silva — Research Fellow (incoming Young Investigator Fellow – FAPESP – University of São Paulo)

Session IV: Biochemistry & Genetics A

1:30 – 3:00 pm | Chairs: Shikha Shikha & Luísa Berna

• 1:30–1:45 — (4893, D17) Unraveling the organization and maintenance of mitochondrial DNA in Toxoplasma gondii. Gustavo Arrizabalaga, USA
• 1:45–2:00 — (4899, D18) Importance of cytosolic iron-sulfur cluster assembly for protein synthesis in Toxoplasma gondii. Maupin Ambre, France
• 2:00–2:15 — (4910, D19) Defining and targeting apicoplast metabolic functions in Toxoplasma gondii bradyzoites. Estefania Delgado Betancourt, Switzerland
• 2:15–2:30 — (4974, D50) Copper transport and role in metabolism. Clare Harding, UK
• 2:30–2:45 — (4950, D21) Dual CRISPR-Cas9 perturbation screens across TypeI and II Toxoplasma strains in human and murine cells identify a core set of host-transcriptional regulators and a novel strain-specific effector. Franziska Hildebrandt, Portugal

3:00 – 3:30 pm — Coffee break

Session V: Epidemiology and Environmental Toxoplasmosis

3:30 – 4:30 pm | Chairs: Erica Duarte & Matthew Knox

• 3:30–3:45 — (4896, D23) Genomic diversity of non-archetypal Toxoplasma gondii strains circulating in South America. Luisa Berná, Uruguay
• 3:45–4:00 — (4933, D24) From land to sea: Environmental drivers of virulent Toxoplasma gondii in coastal ecosystems. Karen Shapiro, USA
• 4:00–4:15 — (4936, D25) Molecular detection of Toxoplasma gondii in raw or treated water matrices during professional or amateur sports competitions in southern Brazil. Israel Adrian Rios Cerezo, Brazil
• 4:15–4:30 — (5081, D26) Impact from dispersion of Toxoplasma gondii in marine environments: Molecular detection in seabirds in the southern of Brazil. Alinne Petris, Brazil

Turbo Talks — Poster Session A

4:30 – 4:45 pm

• (4892, A5) MyoL-Dependent Coupling of Preconoidal Rings to Conoid Is Required for Motility in Toxoplasma gondii. Romuald Haase, Switzerland
• (4954, A15) Mechanoadaptation allows dissemination of Toxoplasma gondii infected immune cells. Markus Meißner, Germany
• (4909, A18) Beyond the Infected Cell: Toxoplasma MYR1-Dependent Effectors Remodel Host Immunity In Trans to Promote Parasite Proliferation In Vivo. Diogo Matos da Fonseca, Portugal.
• (4979, A24) The lysine degradation pathway may be implicated in epilepsy caused by Toxoplasma. Jianchun Xiao, USA
• (5015, A38) A novel integral membrane protein that mediates resistance to itraconazole in T. gondii. Phil Holland Alday Jr, USA

Poster Session A

5:00 – 7:00 pm – Geribá Room 

Poster Numbers: A1 to A56

June 16th, 2026

Session VI: Biology of the Lytic Cycle B

8:30 – 10:00 am | Chairs: Mariana Ferreira & Sheila Nardelli

• 8:30–8:45 — (5022, D27) The Intravacuolar Network as a Central Recycling Hub during Toxoplasma gondii Replication. Vitória Adrielly Catschor Dos Santos, Germany
• 8:45–9:00 — (5018, D28) Dissection of the core components of the Toxoplasma Rhoptry Secretion Apparatus reveals a calcium-Dependent Exocytosis Process. Maryse Lebrun, France
• 9:00–9:15 — (5039, D29) A new ApiAP2 transcriptional repressor controls cell cycle dependent G1 expression in Toxoplasma gondii. Mathieu Gissot, France
• 9:15–9:30 — (5050, D30) Identification and characterization of novel factors that govern apicoplast segregation in T. gondii. Andrew Mead, USA
• 9:30–9:45 — (4906, D31) Parasite-specific metabolic adaptations between Toxoplasma gondii and Cryptosporidium parvum. Rachel Humann, Switzerland

10:00 – 10:30 am — Coffee break

Session VII: Stage Conversion

10:30 am – 12:00 pm | Chairs: Michael Holmes & Yuta Tachibana

• 10:30–10:45 — (4916, D32) Honing in cell division and differentiation of pre-sexual and sexual forms of Toxoplasma gondii. Florencia Sena, Uruguay
• 10:45–11:00 — (4943, D33) A kinase-driven chromatin signaling cascade governs developmental fate in Toxoplasma gondii. Martina Shahinas, France
• 11:00–11:15 — (5095, D34) Rhoptry Protein 42: A Novel Marker of Bradyzoite Formation. Nala Kachour, USA
• 11:15–11:30 — (5089, D35) A single-cell atlas of Toxoplasma gondii sexual development in feline intestine identifies new regulators of gametogenesis. Hisham Al Rubaye, USA
• 11:30–11:45 — (5113, D36) Domain Analysis of CST1 Reveals a Disulfide-Linked Scaffold That Maintains Cyst Wall Protein Organization and Rigidity in Toxoplasma gondii. Tadakimi Tomita, USA

12:00 – 1:30 pm — Lunch break (on your own)

Session VIII: Host-Pathogen Interaction B

1:30 – 3:00 pm | Chairs: Renato DaMatta & David Aguillon

• 1:30–1:45 — (4958, D37) Neuromuscular Junction: How’s your motor function? Investigating the relationship between peripheral neuritis and NMJ pathology during T. gondii infection. Caleb Buerger, USA
• 1:45–2:00 — (4985, D38) Toxoplasma gondii Bradyzoites Reprogram Neuronal IFN-? Responses to Suppress MHC I and Sustain Chronic Brain Infection. Renzo Gutierrez-Loli, France
• 2:00–2:15 — (4986, D39) The (un)usual suspects: How rhoptry resident proteins modulate host-parasite interactions. Ana Matias, Portugal
• 2:15–2:30 — (5026, D40) Precision Genetic Mapping with the Collaborative Cross identifies the T cell factor-7 (Tcf7) requirement for protective immunity against highly virulent Toxoplasma gondii strains: Progress update. Juan Camilo, USA
• 2:30–2:45 — (5040, D41) Spatial phenotype CRISPR screen identifies EAF1 as a Toxoplasma modulator of ESCRT subversion. Einar Birnir Olafsson, USA

3:00 – 3:30 pm — Coffee break

Session IX: Clinical and Congenital Toxoplasmosis B

3:30 – 4:30 pm | Chairs: Juliana Reimão & Luísa Magalhães

• 3:30–3:45 — (5086, D42) Toxoplasma gondii Induces Retinal Microvascular Alterations in Mice Associated with Endothelial Activation, Cytotoxic Cell Influx, Cell Death, and Glial Scarring. Vladimir Pedro Peralva Borges Martins, Brazil
• 3:45–4:00 — (5093, D43) Ocular Recurrences in Colombian Pediatric Patients with Congenital Toxoplasmosis: A Longitudinal Study. Juan David Duarte Arias, Colombia
• 4:00–4:15 — (5097, D44) CRISPR-Cas9 knockout screen identifies genes mediating placental cell resistance to Toxoplasma gondii. Rafaela José Da Silva, USA
• 4:15–4:30 — (5103, D45) Diversity of Toxoplasma strains in French overseas departments, regions, and collectivities. Hélène Yéra, France

Turbo Talks — Poster Session B

4:30 – 4:45 pm

• (4987, B5) Identification of MIC22: A stage-specific switch in egress machinery essential for the Toxoplasma gondii feline stage. Yuta Tachibana, Japan
• (5082, B17) Targeting Tissue Cysts in Chronic Toxoplasma gondii: Mitochondrial Inhibition with 4(1H)-Quinolones. Melissa Ann Sleda, USA
• (4969, B29) Strain-Dependent Reprogramming of Alveolar Macrophages During Acute and Chronic Toxoplasma gondii Infection. Júlia Carvalho Corrêa Ribeiro, Brazil
• (4973, B40) Inside Out: Dissecting Host-Cell Remodeling by PV-Resident Effectors and the Translocon-(In)dependent Roles of MYR1–4. Catarina Maria Da Silva Rosa, Portugal
• (4926, B53) The phospholipase A2 inhibitor ?CdcPLI, isolated from Crotalus durissus collilineatus serum, controls Toxoplasma gondii intracellular proliferation by reducing ERK1/2 activation and ICAM-1 expression in BeWo cells. Sofia Ferreira Carvalho, Brazil

Poster Session B

5:00 – 7:00 pm – Geribá Room 

Poster Numbers: B1 to B55

June 17th, 2026

Session X: Host-Pathogen Interaction C

8:30 – 09:30 am | Chairs: Caleb Buerger & Juan Sánchez-Arcila

• 8:30–8:45 — (5049, D46) Defining the role of IL-36? in the mucosal immune response to Toxoplasma gondii. Jessica Belmares-Ortega, USA
• 8:45–9:00 — (5062, D47) Centrosome-associated assembly and trafficking coordinate spatial activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome in primary human monocytes during T. gondii infection. Melissa Lodoen, USA
• 9:00–9:15 — (5118, D48) Type II strains of Toxoplasma gondii are virulent in all subspecies of Mus musculus. Kirk Jensen, USA
• 9:15–9:30 — (5107, D49) Optogenetic Illumination of PKG-dependent cGMP-Calcium Signaling Axis in Toxoplasma gondii. Nishith Gupta, India

Turbo Talks — Poster Session C

9:30 – 9:45 am

• (4976, C11) VPS13 proteins, a new family of lipid transfer proteins, as key candidates for lipid trafficking and homeostasis in Toxoplasma gondii. Amandine Lourdel, France
• (5065, C18) Dissecting the interactions and function of alveolin subcomplexes in the Toxoplasma inner membrane complex. Samuel Choi, USA
• (4898, C28) Characterization of Ovine Abortion in Uruguay Reveals Extensive Non-Clonal Diversity and Multiple Evolutionary Origins of Toxoplasma gondii. Leandro Tana Hernandez, Uruguay
• (5003, C38) Kãkahi and Conservation: Understanding Toxoplasma land-to-sea transmission using freshwater mussels as bioindicators in New Zealand rivers. Abigail Schoup, New Zealand
• (5059, C46) Targeting DNA damage sensing and checkpoint signaling reveals vulnerabilities in Toxoplasma gondii tachyzoites. Ayelen Alina Aparicio Arias, Argentina

Poster Session C

10:00 am – 12:00 pm – Geribá Room 

Poster Numbers: C1 to C55

12:15 – 12:30 pm — Group Photo

12:30 – 2:00 pm — Lunch break (on your own)

Session XI: Biochemistry & Genetics B

2:00 – 3:30 pm | Chairs: Andrew Mead & Tiago Mineo

• 2:00–2:15 — (5119, D20) Regulation of mitochondrial RNA-maturation by an RNA-binding domain abundant in Apicomplexa or RAP protein in Toxoplasma gondii. Shikha Shikha, UK
• 2:15–2:30 — (5030, D51) The Emergence of Redundant yet Non-Identical Multi-Circular Mitochondrial Genomes in Tissue Coccidians. Rafeed Rahman Turjya, USA
• 2:30–2:45 — (5034, D52) A novel mito-thioredoxin 1 (Mtrx1) regulates ATP synthase function in Toxoplasma gondii. Mariana Ferreira Silva, UK
• 2:45–3:00 — (5042, D53) Exploring the roles of mRSiC and mRHel1 in post-transcriptional mitochondrial gene expression. Sabrina Tetzlaff, Germany
• 3:00–3:15 — (4918, D54) Proteome-wide crosslinking mass spectrometry reveals novel components of essential complexes in Toxoplasma. Simon Butterworth, USA

3:30 – 7:00 pm — Free time

7:00 pm onwards — Awards and Closing Dinner
Location: Hotel Swimming Pool

Toxo 18 will provide a limited number of travel awards to presenting authors of abstracts accepted into the scientific program. The Travel Award will consist ideally of a round trip and accommodation during the event (in shared rooms at the conference’s venue) for the presenting author.

Travel awards will be granted to requests based on several criteria, including the quality of the abstract, the applicant’s career stage and motivation for participation, country of origin, and other relevant factors. Priority will be given to early career researchers and residents of the Global South (as defined by the The World Academy of Sciences, https://twas.org/developing-countries-south).

For that purpose, the presenting author should:

1. Check the “Travel Award” option during the abstract submission;
2. Provide a short statement (max 1000 characters) of why you wish to attend Toxo18.
3. Submit the abstract within the regular registration period (December 2025 to January 2026).

The results of the Travel Award selection will be communicated to awardees by April 2026.

Disclaimers:

• The number of awards will be limited by the meeting’s budget
• The Travel Award application is part of the abstract submission process. You cannot apply for the Award without submitting an abstract.
• Only applications from presenting authors of abstracts accepted by the Scientific Committee will be considered for the Award.
• It is mandatory that the presenting author is also the abstract submitter for the Travel Award.
• The registration fee must be paid by the abstract submission deadline.

Toxo18 will take place from June 14 to 17, 2026, in Armação dos Búzios, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and will be held at the Atlântico Búzios Hotel.

For participants who wish to stay at the hotel hosting the congress, we have negotiated a limited number of rooms at special rates, subjected to availability.

Please note that hotel rooms with these special rates must be arranged through the Toxo18 organization, not directly with the hotel.

Direct reservations with the hotel can be made at its website: https://www.atlanticobuzios.com.br

Those interested in reserving accommodation under these special conditions must complete and submit the form available at the link:

Click here for accommodation form

After receiving the completed form, we will send the credit card payment link by email.

Payment must be made directly to the event organization, and once confirmed, we will be responsible for making the hotel reservations on your behalf.

The final rooming list will be sent by the organization to the hotel closer to the event for final arrangements. We will keep you informed of all the steps.

If you have any questions or need further information, please do not hesitate to contact us.

email: toxo18brasil@gmail.com

Each registered participant may include one accompanying person in their registration.

The accompanying person will have access to all social events of the congress, with a registration fee of US$ 100.00 (exchange rate: US$ 1.00 = R$ 5.50).

The inclusion of an accompanying person must be made directly on the registration form, at the time of the registration or later.

Inquiries about exceptional inclusions of more than one accompanying person should be sent directly to the Toxo18 organization (toxo18brasil@gmail.com) for analysis, subjected to availability.

We have arranged a transfer service for the meeting in Búzios in order to offer a convenient transportation option for participants.

Participants interested in using the transfer service are kindly requested to complete the form available at the following link here:  Transfer Form
Please note: Transfer bookings close on May, 24.