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12 JUNE 2008

27 APRIL 2008

Organisers

Jose Vazquez-Boland (University of Edinburgh, UK), John Prescott (University of Guelph, Canada), Wim Meijer (University College Dublin, Ireland) and Des Leadon (Irish Equine Centre) helped by a local organising committee.

Overview of the workshop

The workshop is intended as a forum to discuss current topical aspects of R. equi infection, summarize the key achievements of the pre-genomic era of R. equi research, and discuss future developments based on the genome sequence of the organism, made recently available to the international scientific community thanks to the efforts of the IREC platform. Having the first R. equi genome sequence will certainly make a difference to control of this infection in animals and in humans.

The event will commence in the evening of Sunday the 13th of July 2008 with an `warm-up` get together. On Monday 14th and Tuesday 15th sessions will tentatively run from 8:30 am to 5:30 pm (with interspersed coffee breaks/poster sessions and of course a lunch recess!). On Wednesday 16th the wrap-up will be around noon.

There will be an inaugural lecture given by Dr. Shinji Takai (Kitasato University, Japan) and five sessions on i) Organismal Biology, ii) Pathogenesis and Pathology, iii) Immunity and Immunisation, iv) Clinical Aspects, v) Epidemiology and Public Health. Each of the sessions will begin with a 30 min keynote lecture followed by 20 min talks from invited experts and selected delegates. There will be 10 min discussion time after each talk.

Programme

Please use the link to view a tentative programme.

Venue

The workshop will be held at the Pollock Halls, the main halls of residence and conference centre of the University of Edinburgh. The Pollock Halls complex lies within the shadow of Arthur`s seat, Edinburgh`s ancient volcano, close to the city centre, the Royal Mile, the Scottish Parliament and the Holyrood park and Palace. A variety of accommodation possibilities is available.

Pre-registration (deadline passed: April 7, 2008)

If you are interested in participating in the workshop, please complete the downloadable pre-registration form and send it via e-mail to jvbgroup@ed.ac.uk before April 7, 2008. This will ensure that your contact details are entered in our mail list and you will receive updated information.

Pre-registration is mandatory for participation.

Workshop fees

The conference is subsidised by the Dorothy Russell Havemeyer Foundation and we will aim to cover the costs for standard B&B accommodation, meals and refreshments for participants presenting an abstract. However, the funding available is limited and a fee may be required. This will be advised in due course. It will be possible to upgrade to double / deluxe accommodation or book extra days (at the expense of the participants).

Please check the updates that will be regularly posted.

Participants

The workshop is limited to 60 places and participants are expected to present an abstract. The organisation will only cover the expenses of the first (or presenting) author of the accepted contribution. If we receive more than 60 applications, there will be a selection process based on the general interest and scientific quality of the abstract. A number of observers and non-contributing delegates (i.e. not presenting an abstract) will be admitted but will need to pay a delegate fee, B&B accommodation and social events.

Abstracts (deadline passed: April 21, 2008)

If you are interested in presenting a contribution to the workshop, please send as soon as possible an Abstract to the relevant Session Moderators, as shown below:

Session 1 - Rhodococcus equi biology

Wim Meijer (wim.meijer@ucd.ie)

Jose Vazquez-Boland (v.boland@ed.ac.uk)

Session 2 - Pathogenesis and pathology

Mary Hondalus (hondalus@vet.uga.edu)

John Prescott (prescott@uoguelph.ca)

Session 3 - Immunity and immunization

Steve Hines (shines@vetmed.wsu.edu)

David Horohov (dwhoro2@email.uky.edu)

Session 4 - Clinical aspects

Des Leadon (dleadon@equine-centre.ie)

Steeve Giguere (GiguereS@vetmed.ufl.edu)

Session 5 - Epidemiology and public health

Gary Muscatello (g.muscatello@usyd.edu.au)

Noah Cohen (ncohen@cvm.tamu.edu)

We will try to fit the programme to be oral presentations, but if it is too packed then we will have a poster session(s). We want a program that has sufficient time for interaction of scientists, eg around a poster, rather than be just packed with talks.

Please follow this link for guidelines for preparation of preliminary abstracts for consideration by the session moderators.

Formal registration (deadline passed: April 30, 2008)

Once all the pre-registrations are received and the preliminary abstracts are assessed, we will invite the selected participants to register on-line. Details about the conference, accommodation, fees, detailed programme etc. will be regularly issued / updated through this website. Updates will appear listed at the top of this page below the picture. 

Brief history of the Havemeyer R. equi workshops

This is the 4th International Workshop on Rhodococcus equi supported by the generosity of the Dorothy Russell Havemeyer Foundation:

The first Workshop was held in Guelph, Ontario, Canada in 1986, organized by John Prescott and Julie Yager. Highlights of that Workshop included taxonomic presentation by Mike Goodfellow which convinced everyone to drop the name Corynebacterium equi, and presentations by Corinne Sweeney and by Chris Hillidge that confirmed the clinical efficacy of treatment of foals using erythromycin and rifampin combinations. This Workshop managed to attract most of the relatively few people working on R. equi.

The second Workshop was held ten years later also in Guelph and focused on the immunological aspects that predispose foals to develop R. equi infection. This 1996 Workshop was organized by John Prescott, Julie Yager, Mark Holmes and Shinji Takai. By this time the virulence plasmid had been discovered in Shinji Takai`s and in John Prescott`s laboratories, VapA had to some extent been characterized and shown to be important in immunity, and Steve Hines`s group had done its ground-breaking work on the importance of type 1 and type 2 immune responses in determining the outcome of a rhodococcal infection.

A mini-Workshop was organized at very short notice in Guelph in 2000 on the occasion of the sequencing of the virulence plasmids from two foal isolates, ATCC 33701 and strain 103. This Workshop was attended by delegates from Steve Hines, Wim Meijer, Jesus Navas, John Prescott, Shinji Takai and Jose Vazquez-Boland`s groups. This was the meeting at which the `R. equi community` decided to try to pursue obtaining funding to sequence the genome.

The last (3rd) Workshop was held in Washington State University in Pullman, Washington, in 2002, and was organized beautifully by Steve Hines, Mary Hondalus, Steeve Giguere, Wim Meijer, and Iain Sutcliffe.

The organizers are grateful to the Dorothy Russell Havemeyer Foundation, and particularly its Chief Executive Officer and President, Mr. Gene Pranzo, for their continued support. This Workshop series has critically helped, and we hope will continue helping, scientists interact to improve the quality of science that we are doing.

Additional information

For information about Scotland, Edinburgh and the University of Edinburgh, please click on the links.

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