33rd European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases

Dr. Dominik Nörz is a physician and clinical researcher within the field of infecious diseases and holds a Doctoral Degree (MD) from the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf. His interests are focused on the design and implementation of molecular diagnostics and has published more than 40 peer-reviewed articles, with focus on studies related to improving the testing modalities during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ryan Shields is an Infectious Diseases pharmacist and Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases. He serves as the Co-Director of UPMC Presbyterian Antibiotic Management Program and Co-Director of the Center for Innovative Antimicrobial Therapy. He is actively engaged in the diagnosis and management of patients infected by multi-drug resistant bacteria. His laboratory focuses on the characterization and suppression of antimicrobial resistance by using molecular markers to predict patient responses and PK-PD pre-clinical models to study novel antibiotic approaches. Dr. Shields’ clinical and research roles have focused on designing individualized treatment regimens for patients infected by MDR pathogens, the emergence of resistance to new antimicrobial agents and innovative stewardship approaches to implement molecular diagnostic tests.

Yvan CASPAR is a clinical microbiologist and assistant professor at the Bacteriology Laboratory of Grenoble Alpes University Hospital, which hosts the French National Reference Center for Francisella. He is also a member of the Bacterial Pathogenesis and Cellular Responses team of the Institute of Structural Biology Grenoble. His main research focuses are the development of new diagnosis methods and of new therapeutic strategies. He has great interest in innovative rapid diagnosis technologies, in particular to improve the management of sepsis and antibiotic stewardship.

Dr. Guido Bloemberg is a clinical microbiologist and heads the virological diagnostics group at the Medical Faculty of the University of Zurich (Switzerland). He holds a PhD in Molecular Microbiology from Leiden University (The Netherlands). He has contributed to over 140 peer-reviewed publications. One of his current interests is the implementation of novel tests for the diagnostic laboratory.

Professor Anna Maria Geretti (MD, PhD, FRCPath) is an academic clinician and specialise in virology. She trained in Italy, the Netherlands and the UK and had held senior positions within academia and the national health system in the UK and in Italy and within pharmaceutical research & development in Switzerland. Her research focuses on HIV and other STIs, viral hepatitis, antiviral therapy, viral co-infections and diagnostics. This has led to over 250 publications (Scopus H-index 53) spanning patient-side, laboratory-based and epidemiology studies, including projects with the World Health Organisation, field work in sub Saharan Africa and drug and biomarker development within academia, industry and academia/industry partnerships. She chairs the British HIV Association panel formulating guidelines on the immunisation of people living with HIV and has a special interest in understanding how to optimise vaccination practices in this population. Her ambition is to turn my multifaceted experience into delivery of an impact that promotes scientific progress and is globally beneficial to healthcare and the development of future generations of clinicians and scientists.

Tone Tønjum is full professor at University of Oslo and chief physician and head of her research team Genome Dynamics and the Mycobacteriology Lab at Oslo University Hospital. The main focus of the Genome Dynamics group is to study the mechanisms involved in genomic variability and maintenance, in health and disease. This involves the study of defects in DNA repair and horizontal gene transfer. These mechanisms are essential for the development of antimicrobial drug resistance (AMR). Her main research field and experinece over the last years is focused on the evolution and antimicrobial drug resistance (AMR) in Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Gram-negative bacteria; impact of genome dynamics and bioenergetics in bacterial pathogenesis and AMR; role of the microbiome in the Brain-Gut Axis.