Samuel Pessoa Conference
Alejandro Miguel Katzin (ICB-USP, Brazil)
Title: Biosynthesis of isoprenoids in Plasmodium falciparum

Closing Conference
Carlos Renato Machado (UFMG, Brazil)
Title: DNA metabolism in trypanosomatids: why so many differences?

CONFERENCES

1. Frédéric Bringaud (Université de Bordeaux, France)
Title: Glycerol metabolism as a novel regulator of trypanosome development and transmission

2. Mark Field (University of Dundee, UK)
Title: Benzoxaboroles target CPSF3 for degradation through a SUMO-dependent pathway in trypanosomes

3. Maria Belen Cassera (UGA, USA)
Title: From parasite biology to therapy: druggable targets in malaria.

4. Guillermo Alonso (INGEBI-UBA, Argentina)
Title: Gene editing of AMPK reveals non-redundant functions of ?1 and ?2 in Trypanosoma cruzi

5. Rubem Menna Barreto (IOC-FIOCRUZ – Brazil)
Title: Mitochondrial butterfly effect: how changes in the organelle physiology impacts the fitness of trypanosomatids

6. Calvin Tiengwe (Imperial College London, UK)
Title: The sweet side of immune evasion in African trypanosomes

7. Gerald Spaeth (Institut Pasteur – Paris, France)
Title: Genomic merger: How Leishmania hybridization drives parasite evolution and immune escape

8. Ana Beatriz Barletta (NIH/NIAID, USA)
Title: Mosquito midgut response to blood feeding at a single-cell resolution

9. Daniel Youssef Bargieri  (ICB/USP, Brazil)
Title: TRAMP-CSS complex is essential for hepatocyte and erythrocyte infection by Plasmodium zoites

10. Daniel Inaoka (School of Tropical Medicine and Global Health – Nagasaki University, Japan)
Title: Trypanosomal acetate: succinate CoA transferase: from biochemical and structural characterization to a metabolic engineering tool for bioenergetic studies across organisms.

ROUND-TABLES

1. Mechanisms of Genomic Plasticity in Trypanosomatids
Chair: Carolina Elias Sabbaga

1. 1. Lucy Glover (Institut Pasteur, France) – Title: From development to transmission: Understanding the development regulation of trypanosomes in the tsetse fly
   2. Richard McCulloch (University of Glasgow, UK) – Title: Deciphering the machineries that guide initiation and progression of nuclear DNA replication in Trypanosoma brucei
   3. Luiz Tosi (FMRP-USP, Brazil) – Title: The Cost of Flexibility: Mapping Replication Stress Hotspots and their Impact on Leishmania Genomic maintenance
   4. Daniella Bartholomeu (UFMG, Brazil) – Title: Mechanisms of Genomic Plasticity in Trypanosomatids

2. Vectors
Chair: Yara M. Traub-Cseko

1. 1. Maisa da Silva Araujo (Fiocruz-Rondônia, Brazil) – Title: Effect of Anopheles midgut microbiota bacteria on the sexual development of Plasmodium vivax in Anopheles darlingi
   2. Isabela Barbosa Ramos (UFRJ, Brazil) – Title: Vitellogenin Receptor Function Shapes Fertility and Microbial Inheritance in Rhodnius prolixus
   3. Claudia Ríos Velasquez (Fiocruz-AM, Brazil) – Title: Trypanosomatids from the Brazilian Amazon: Invertebrate (dipterans) and vertebrate (didelphimorphs, rodents, anurans, squamates) hosts
   4. Erich Telleria (Charles University, República Tcheca) – Title: Sand fly immunity and gut receptors – implications for Leishmania infection in the vector

3. Diversity, Ecology and Evolution of Protists
Chair:

1. 1. 1. Felipe Machado (NUPELIA-UEM, Brazil) – Title: Exploring the Hidden World of Protozooplankton in a Neotropical Floodplain: Advances, Current Challenges and Future Perspectives
      2. Gabriela Kuppers (MACN-CONICET, Argentina) – Title: A trait-based approach in ciliate functional ecology: toward a standardized framework
      3. Laura Utz (PUC-RS, Brazil) – Title: Diversity of microbial communities in aquatic and terrestrial environments
      4. Luana Morais (UNICAMP, SP, Brazil) – Title: Escaping Ice and Animals: Did Snowball Earth and the Rise of Metazoans Drive Testate Amoebae into Continental Waters?

4. Immunity to Trypanosoma cruzi in the Americas
Chair:

1. Luisa Mourão  Dias Magalhães (UFMG, Brazil) – Title: How Trypanosoma cruzi Diversity Shapes Human Immune Responses
2. Cristina Alonso-Vega (Universidad de Oviedo, Spain)– Title: From Fundamental Research to Public Health: Congenital Chagas in Bolivia
3. Juliana Gomes Estanislau (UFMG, Brazil) – Title: Cellular and Molecular Biomarkers of Cardiac Remodeling: Insights from the Brazilian Scenario of Chagas Cardiomyopathy
4. Eva Acosta Rodriguez (Universidad Nacional de Cordoba, Argentina) – Title: Stage-dependent adaptation of regulatory T cells during Trypanosoma cruzi infection

5. One Health
Chair:

1. Marcia Sperança (UFABC, Brazil) – Title: Detection of silent circulation of parasites to ecoepidemiology investigations in a One Health perspective
2. Liam Morrison (University of Edinburgh, UK) – Title: Insights into trypanosome infection biology from the bovine model
3. Aline Diniz Cabral (FCM/Santa Casa de SP, Brazil) – Title: Zoonotic sarcocystidae: challenges for One Health in protozoology
4. Alec Evans (GalvMed, UK) – Title: The Fly That Shaped a Continent: African Trypanosomosis and the Evolution of One Health Solutions

6. Drivers of Diversity: Kinases, Translation, and the Evolution of Cell Populations
Chair:

1. Zdenek Paris (Institute of Parasitology, Czech Republic) – Title: Translational Tricks and Trypanosome Tactics
2. Tiago Ferreira (NIAID, USA) – Title: Gene expression programs driving Leishmania differentiation and transmission in the sand fly
3. Simone Calderano (Butantan Institute, Brazil) – Title: Cell Cycle Regulation in Trypanosoma cruzi: Conserved Kinases with Parasite-Specific Functions
4. Miguel Chiurillo (University of Cincinnati, USA) – Title: The NEK family in Trypanosoma cruzi: focus on RDK2 in differentiation and host–parasite interaction