Several members of the THOP-GHTM research group attended the 34th European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID), now renamed as ESCMID Global, that took place as a hybrid event both online and in Barcelona, Spain, between 27th and 30th April 2024.
The 34th edition of ECCMID/ESCMID Global was the largest ever, with over 18,000 attendees from over 130 countries. The congress included over 150 symposiums, educational & meet-the-expert sessions, oral and poster presentations as well as > 50 integrated symposiums & innovative sessions, which covered the most recent worldwide findings in clinical microbiology and infectious diseases.
GHTM´s onsite participation involved the GHTM´s scientific coordinator, Miguel Viveiros and the THOP researchers Ana Armada, Liliana Rodrigues and Sofia Santos Costa, who presented three posters and an oral presentation on their work at GHTM/IHTM-NOVA.
Sofia Santos Costa presented the oral communication “New candidate drugs for repurposing as efflux inhibitors and antibiofilm agents against antimicrobial-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis”, showcasing the data gathered so far on the DREBI Research project, funded by FCT (2022.07931.PTDC, http://doi.org/10.54499/2022.07931.PTDC), focusing on Drug Repurposing for inhibition of efflux and biofilms in staphylococci. She also presented a poster by Margarida Marques, entitled ”Pseudomonas mendocina isolated from Anopheles midguts generates thick biofilms: a potential new malaria transmission blocking tool”. This work results from Margarida´s Master thesis on Medical Microbiology, under the supervision of VBD and THOP researchers (Henrique Silveira, SN Pinto and Sofia Santos Costa).
Ana Armada presented a poster on the antimicrobial mechanisms employed by macrophages exposed to pathogenic spirochetes responsible for Lyme borreliosis entitled “Impact of Borrelia spirochetes on macrophages: unveiling gene expression amid oxidative stress in Lyme disease”.
Liliana Rodrigues presented a poster on her recent advancements on the evaluation of the activity of repurposed drugs against N. gonorrhoeae, entitled “Evaluation of toxicity and efflux inhibitory activity of candidate drugs for repurposing against Neisseria gonorrhoeae”.
The next edition, 35th ESCMID Global, will be expanded to include an extra day dedicated to Educational Sessions, and will take place in Vienna, Austria, between 11th and 15th of April 2025.