Fungal Dx 2024

An interactive postgraduate workshop

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

It is a great honor and pleasure for us to invite you to participate in the Fungal Dx 2024, scheduled to take place December 4-5, 2024, in Bethesda, MD, USA.

This postgraduate workshop is intended for physicians and trainees in infectious disease, critical care, transplantation, haemato-oncology, dermatology, pediatrics, and other clinical specialties dealing with fungal infections, clinical microbiology laboratory directors, CPEP microbiology fellows, clinical/laboratory microbiology/mycology professionals, postdoctoral researchers and scientists from academia or industry who want to improve their knowledge and understanding in the area of Fungal Diagnostics.

The 'Fungal Diagnostics' working group was established in 2022 under the umbrella of ‘International Society for Human and Animal Mycology’ (ISHAM) by a group of Medical Mycologists, Clinical Microbiology Diagnostics Laboratory Directors and Infectious Disease experts to support standardization of fungal diagnostics in different clinical settings. 

We aim to share expertise among all countries around the globe especially those with limited resources to provide a strong framework of existing knowledge on ‘Fungal Diagnostics’, identify essential diagnostics tests and also tackle the diagnostic gaps, by learning from each other. We will collaborate with other ISHAM-working groups, international societies, regulatory agencies and governmental authorities. 

• Amir Seyedmousavi, NIH, Bethesda, USA 
• Malcolm Richardson, U Manchester, UK

• Cornelia Lass-Flörl, Austria 
• Martin Hönigl, Austria
• Arnaldo Colombo, Brazil
• Flavio Queiroz Telles, Brazil 
• Philippe Dufresne, Canada
• Arunaloke Chakrabarti, India
• Mohammad Hedayati, Iran
• Paul Verweij, Netherlands
• Ana Alastruey-Izquierdo, Spain
• Malcolm Richardson, UK
• Riina Richardson, UK 
• Lewis White, UK
• Darius Armstrong-James, UK
• John Perfect, USA 
• John Bennett, USA 
• Kieren Marr, USA 
• Juan Gea-Banacloche, USA 
• Mihalis Lionakis, USA 
• Nathan Wiederhold, USA
• Joe Wheat, USA
• Hari DWIVEDI, USA
• Gary Procop, USA
• Niaz Banaei, USA
•  Tom Chiller , USA
• Shawn Lockhart,  USA
• Amir Seyedmousavi, USA 

Bethesda, MD, USA

 The final program will be available in the mid-January 2024.

Preliminary program

Day 1: December 4, 2024

 08:00-8:30-Registration 

08:30-08:45-Welcome and introductions: Amir Seyedmousavi, USA & Malcolm   Richardson, UK

 08:45-09.00 Case study 1: Why it’s important to know local   epidemiology of fungal infections? John   Bennett, USA

09:00-09:30-Opportunistic fungal disease in normal and abnormal hosts, ICU patients, and children:   underlying risk factors: John Perfect, USA

09:30-10:00-Global burden   of fungal diseases (updates on Latin America, African countries, Europe and Asia): Arnaldo   Colombo, Brazil

10:00-10:30-Fungal   nomenclature (medically important fungi):Amir   Seyedmousavi, USA

 10:30-10:45-WHO fungal priority list and other emerging fungal pathogens: Ana Alastruey, Spain

 10:45-11.00: Comfort   Break

11:00-11:15-Case study 2: Why is it important to collect   specimens properly if fungal diseases are suspected?: Juan Gea-Banacloche, USA

11:15-11:30-Clinical   sampling, Processing and Direct microscopic examination: Arunaloke Chakrabarti, India

11:30-12:00-Cytology and histopathology: Gary Procop, USA

12:00-12:30-Detection of Pneumocystis pneumonia in HIV associated and non-HIV patients: Riina   Richardson, UK

12:30-1:30: Lunch

1:30-2:00-Case study 3: Importance of species level   identification: Shawn Lockhart, USA

2:00-2:30-Diagnostic work up for yeast infections: Malcolm   Richardson

2:30-3:00-Diagnostic work up for mould infections: Cornelia Lass-Flörl, Austria

3:15-3:30-Diagnostic   work up for dimorphic fungal infections: Nathan Wiederhold, USA

3:30-3.45-Comfort  Break

3:45-4:15: Fungal   molecular testing, and how to use next-generation sequencing in clinical laboratory: Lewis   White, UK

 4.15-4:45: Benefits   and Limitations of MALDI-TOF for fungal identification: Darius Armstrong-James, UK

 4:45-5:30-Daily Review, Q@A: Amir Seyedmousavi, USA & Malcolm   Richardson, UK

Preliminary program

Day 2: December 5, 2024

08:30-08:45-Good morning: Amir Seyedmousavi, USA & Malcolm   Richardson, UK

 08:45-09.00-Case study 4: Which antifungal to choose?: T.B.D.

09:00-09:30-Antifungals and their mechanisms of action: currently available and new antifungal drugs: Mihalis Lionakis, USA

09:30-10:00-Antifungal susceptibility testing   (EUCAST versus CLSI): Nathan Wiederhold, USA 

10:00-10:20-Mechanism   of antifungal resistance in yeasts and currently available phenotypic and   genotyping laboratory assays: Maiken Arendrup, Denmark

10:20-10:45-Mechanism   of antifungal resistance in molds and currently available phenotypic and   genotyping laboratory assays: Paul Verweij, Netherlands

10:45-11.00: Comfort   Break

11:00-11:15-Case study 5: Fungal disease laboratory screening and infection prevention: why, when, where, and how?: Tom Chiller, USA

11:15-11:45-Testing   for Candida auris colonization   screening: Philippe Dufresne, Canada

11:45-12:15-Infection prevention for zoonotic   dimorphs and other emerging fungal disease: Flavio Queiroz Telles, Brazil

12:30-1:30-Lunch

1:30-2:00-Case study 6: Fungal biomarkers for presumptive   diagnosis of invasive fungal diseases: Lewis   White, UK

2:00-2:30-Serodiagnosis   of histoplasmosis, blastomycosis and coccidioides infection: Joe Wheat, USA

2:30-3:00-Non-culture-based   diagnosis of Aspergillus vs. Candida: Martin Honigl,   Austria

3:15-3:30: Cryptococcosis antigen detection: Mohammad Hedayati, IRAN

3:30-3.45-Comfort   Break

3.45-4.00-Case study 7: Advances in fungal   diagnostic methods and work in progress: Amir Seyedmousavi, USA & Malcolm Richardson, UK  

4:00-4:20-Multiplex PCR assays: Hari DWIVEDI, France

4:20-4:40-Fungal   cell-free DNA (cfDNA) detection: Niaz Banaei, USA

4:40-5:00-Non-invasive surrogate markers under development: Kieren Marr, USA

 5:00-5:30-Daily Review, Q@A: Amir Seyedmousavi, USA & Malcolm   Richardson, UK

ISHAM-Fungal Dx 2024 will start at 8.00 AM on Wednesday 4 December 2024 and will end on Friday 5 December 2024 at 5.30 PM. 

 The workshop language will be English.  

  Registration will be open in the mid-February 2024.