COST Training Schools aim at widening, broadening and sharing knowledge relevant to the Action’s objectives through the delivery of intensive training on a new and emerging subject. They can offer familiarisation with unique equipment or expertise that are typically to the benefit of ESR, although not exclusively. They are not intended to provide general training or education.

2016 Training School on Veterinary diagnostics

The next Training School on Veterinary diagnostics will beheld at the Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium, 12-14 September 2016

More information

 

2015 Training School (Working Group 2), DIAGNOSTICS

30/11/2015-03/12/2015

Centro Nacional de Microbiología, Instituto de Salud Carlos III Majadahonda, Madrid, Spain

Taeniosis and cysticercosis (T/C) are zoonotic diseases caused by Taenia saginata and Taenia solium. The adult tapeworms are parasites of the human intestine, and show a wide geographical distribution. Taenia asiatica, another tapeworm species, was described primarily in Southeast Asia. The larval stages of these cestodes (metacestodes or cysticerci) cause cysticercosis; T. saginata causes bovine cysticercosis, T. asiatica larvae develop in the pig viscera and T. solium is able to produce cysticercosis in both pig and man. When the parasite larva invades the central nervous system (CNS), the condition is called neurocysticercosis (NCC), one of the most frequent parasitic infections of the human CNS. T/C shows significant economic impacts on the health and meat (pork and beef) sectors within and outside the EU.

Laboratory diagnosis of T/C is one of the main objectives of Working Group 2 (WG2); many efforts within CYSTINET are being conducted to circumvent the present problems of disease detection with conventional techniques (microscopy, commercial serological kits) by the use of innovative tools (DNA amplification and recombinant antigens), as well as new approaches aiming to reduce the high cost and avoid the need for expensive laboratory equipment. To support these activities, a training school is organized at the Centro Nacional de Microbiología, Majadahonda-Madrid, Spain, in order to increase the capacity in diagnosis research/techniques in all member states. This specific training will focus on the review of different diagnosis methods used in T/C detection, with lectures about the main techniques employed (microscopy, molecular and immuno-diagnosis), discussions about the advantages and disadvantages of each diagnostic approach, and laboratory training.

 

Host institution:

Centro Nacional de Microbiología, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, 28220 Majadahonda, Madrid, Spain, http://www.isciii.es/

 

Preliminary program:

	Day 1	Day 2	Day 3	Day 4
09.00-09.30	Welcome; Introduction to T/C Diagnosis in a Laboratory	Bioinformatics, Databanks, Molecular characterization by WGS	Immuno diagnosis, Lecture and hands-on training	Immuno diagnosis, hands-on training
9.30-10.30	Microscopy Diagnosis, Lecture
	Coffee break
11.00-13.30	Microscopy, hands-on training	Molecular Diagnosis, Lecture and hands-on training	Immuno diagnosis, hands-on training	General Discussion, Closing remarks
	Lunch
14.30-16.00	Molecular Diagnosis, Lecture and hands-on training	Molecular Diagnosis, hands-on training	Immuno diagnosis, hands-on training
16.00	Coffee break
16.30-17.30	Molecular Diagnosis, hands-on training	Molecular Diagnosis, hands-on training	Immuno diagnosis, hands-on training
17.30-	Discussion	Discussion	Discussion
18.00

 

Practical information:

Instructors

David Carmena:

He is a researcher based at the Parasitology Service of the Spanish National Center for Microbiology since May 2013. He is a recipient of a Miguel Servet Fellowship of the Health Institute Carlos III. David’s research focuses on zoonotic diseases caused by protozoan (Cryptosporidium and Giardia) and helminth (Echinococcus) species, with a particular interest in those aspects related to the diagnosis, epidemiology, transmission dynamics, and evaluation of the socio-economic consequences caused by these pathogens, both from the human and veterinary perspective. David received his Ph.D. in Parasitology from the University of the Basque Country (Spain) in 2001. He completed his first postdoc at the Department of Biological Sciences, Imperial College London, UK (2002-04) before joining the Medical Research Council Clinical Sciences Centre, Imperial College London, UK first as a Research Assistant (2005-2007) and later as a Research Associate (2007-13).

 

Isabel Cuesta:

Bsc in biochemistry and molecular biologist and obtained her PhD in 2004 and MsC in bioinformatics in 2006. She has specialized in microbiology and infectious diseases. Since 2011, is a researcher at the National Center of Microbiology, heading the Bioinformatics Unit. The aim of the Unit is to support ISCIII researchers with their computational analysis needs, focusing his activity in the massive sequencing data analysis.

María Delmans Flores-Chávez:       

PhD on Microbiology and Parasitology by Universidad Complutense de Madrid. She is graduated in Biochemistry and is a scientist at Leishmaniasis and Chagas Disease Unit of National Center for Microbiology, ISCIII. She participates as a teacher in training courses of the Escuela Nacional de Sanidad and Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Her lines of work focus on the development of diagnostic tools to monitor Chagas disease in terms of serological and molecular detection. As a second line of work, she is involved in the development of molecular tools to be applied to cysticercosis / taeniasis complex diagnosis.

 

Teresa Gárate:

She is Doctor in Pharmacy. Head of Parasitology Department at Centro Nacional de Microbiología, ISCIII. Professional background built on both classical and molecular Parasitology, with emphasis on the control of helminth infections. She has been working in onchocerciasis and other filariae infections, trichinellosis, anisakiasis, taeniosis/cysticercosis and fascioliasis, and participated in the development of diagnostic tools and characterization of protective antigens as new vaccine candidates by recombinant DNA technology.

Maria J. Perteguer:

She is specialized in Medical Clinical Analysis (1995) and Doctor of Pharmacy by the University Complutense of Madrid (1998). She has developed his professional career in the field of Helminthology, area in which she undertook her PhD. During her postdoctoral stage she was trained in immunology (ASAC Pharmaceutical) and molecular biology (CNM-ISCIII). Currently she is Senior Scientific of the Service of Parasitology at the National Microbiology Centre from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III. She has expertise on various parasitic diseases (mainly helminth infections) as part of research projects mostly aimed at diagnosis, control and immunobiology of these diseases.

Jose Miguel Rubio:

José Miguel Rubio (Madrid) has a PhD in Biology from the Autonomous University of Madrid. He has been visiting scientist in different European institutions 1989-1998 (University of Norwich, UK, University “La Sapienza” in Rome, Italy, Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Crete, Greece and University of Wageningen, The Netherlands). Since 1998 he is member of the Carlos III Health Institute (ISCIII), where I was part of the founding group of the National Centre of Tropical Medicine. He is currently Chief Scientist of the Laboratory of Malaria and Other Emerging Parasitic Diseases of the National Center for Microbiology (ISCIII), Scientific Foreign Visitor of Leonidas and Marie Dean Center (FIOCRUZ, Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil), External Consultant of the Department of Parasitology of the University Cairo (Egypt) and of the Medical Research Center (MRC, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) and Spanish Deputy Focal Point for microbiology at the Center for European Diseases Control (ECDC).

Who can apply

The applicant needs to have at least an MSc degree. The applicant should be engaged in a research programme or be employed by or officially affiliated to a public or private institution from a COST Country or Near Neighbours Country (NNC). Other participants of CYSTINET can also apply.

Applications from early stage researchers (ESR: with at least a PhD and up to 8 years of experience after the PhD*) aiming to contribute to the working group 2 country studies will be privileged and gender balance will be taken into consideration.

Financial support

Rules:

• The reimbursement rate per day (meals and accommodation) is EUR 160 maximum
• Up to EUR 1500 maximum may be attributed for the grant
• Own input might be needed

Before the respective training school takes place, each trainee entitled to reimbursement must receive a Grant letter, mentioning the dates and place of the event and the fixed amount of the Grant.

After the Training School, a ‘Payment Request Form’ mentioning the dates and the place of the event, the fixed amount of the Grant, and the banking information of the trainees must be signed by the trainees, in order for the payment to be processed.

 

Trainees eligible for reimbursement are*:

1. Trainees from COST countries
2. Trainees from approved NNC institutions
3. Trainees from approved European RTD Organisations

 

Trainees not eligible for reimbursement are*:

1. Trainees from approved IPC institutions
2. Trainees from approved International Organisations and European Commission
3. Any other trainees not specifically mentioned as being eligible.

• For more details, please consult the COST guidelines (COST_H2020_Vademecum)

How to apply

• Register in e-COST: https://e-services.cost.eu/user/login/
• Prepare the following supporting documents:
• CV
• Motivation letter
• Letter of recommendation from your supervisor/head of unit
• Submit the prepared documents (CV, motivation letter and letter of recommendation) to the following e-mail address:
• Cystinettd1302@itg.be (Tom Koyen)

 Timelines

 

• Launch training school call: 05/10/2015
• Deadline for application submission: 26/10/2015
• Announcement of selected candidates: 30/10/2015

 Additional information

• Additional information about the training school can be found on the CYSTINET website http://www.cystinet.org/the-action/training-schools/
• COST_H2020_Vademecum
• Accommodation: Hostal Maria Isabel: https://www.google.es/?gws_rd=ssl#q=hostal+miaria+isabel+majadahonda
• For more information please sent an email to: tgarate@isciii.es; chus.perteguer@isciii.es; jmrubio@isciii.es

 

upcoming events