Provisional Agenda
(Subject to change: The conference may finish earlier or later than the advertised times each day)
Event type: Virtual/in-person hybrid
Presentation language: English
Venue: The Jarvis Doctorow Hall, St Edmund Hall, Queen’s Lane, Oxford, UK
Time Zone: All times mentioned refer to British Standard (BST) – London/GMT +01:00.
Password and links: Registered conference delegates will be sent joining information and conference access links a few days before the conference.
World Time Converter: https://greenwichmeantime.com/time-gadgets/time-zone-converter | https://greenwichmeantime.com/timepiece/world-clock | https://www.worldtimebuddy.com
DAY 1: 01 September
0830: Registration
0920: Welcome and housekeeping
Session 1: Molecular Genetics, Evolution and Bacterial Defence
0930: Dr Deborah Hinton – Keynote Lecture
Senior Investigator & Chief, Gene Expression and Regulation Section, Laboratory of Biochemistry and Genetics, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
Uncovering a metabolism thermostat in Escherichia coli and the phage T4 proteins that manipulate it
1000: Professor Michael Brockhurst
Professor & Chair in Evolutionary Biology, Division of Evolution, Infection and Genomics, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
Resistance mutation supply modulates the benefit of CRISPR immunity against virulent phages
1020: Dr Alice Collins
Postdoctoral Scientist, Department of Infectious Disease, Section of Molecular Microbiology and Centre for Bacterial Resistance Biology, Imperial College London, London, UK
A nucleic acid host factor enables optimal phage replication in Escherichia coli
1040: Refreshment break, networking and posters
1110: Mr Nzubechukwu Ugokwe
Graduate Research Student, Becky Mayer Centre for Phage Research, Division of Microbiology and Infection, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK
Genome engineering enforces cooperation as a survival strategy of phage T7: implications for phage therapy
1130: Dr Daniel Cazares
Postdoctoral Scientist, Department of Biology, University of Oxford, Life and Mind Building, South Parks Road, Oxford, UK
Phage constrain multidrug resistance plasmid spread
Session 2: Translation, Regulatory and Legal Challenges
1150: Ms Maria Mackay
Knowledge Transfer Manager ‑
A practical “good application guide” for strong commercial grants
1210: Dr John Hudson
Senior Microbiological Risk Assessor, Food Standards Agency, Foss House, Kings Pool, 1-2 Peasholme Green, York, UK
A UK multi-agency sandbox addressing regulatory impediments to phage applications
1230: Dr Timo Faltus
Principal Investigator, Faculty of Law, Economics and Business, Research Project “MEDphage”, Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle (S), Saxony, Germany
The EU legal framework for ‘one-size-fits-all’ versus personalised phage therapy – Germany as a case study
1250: Lunch and networking
1350: Miss Sharaine Rogers
Graduate Research Student, UK Health Security Agency, Countermeasures, Development, Evaluation and Preparedness, Porton Down, Salisbury, SP4 0JG, Wiltshire, UK
Developing a Phage Service: Challenges Faced and Lessons Learnt
Session 3: Phage Therapy, Clinical/Veterinary Applications and Translational Research
1410: Professor John Chen
Associate Professor, Infectious Diseases Translational Research Programme, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
Exploiting resident prophages as a therapeutic vulnerability in pathogenic bacteria
1430: Ms Sara Alghamdi
Graduate Research Student, Becky Mayer Centre for Phage Research, Division of Microbiology and Infection, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK
Preclinical Evaluation of Phage Cocktail (LCPR1) Alone and Combined with Ertapenem for Treating Escherichia coli (ESBL) Urinary Tract Infections
1450: Dr Karolina Filik-Matyjaszczyk
Assistant Professor, Laboratory of Medical Microbiology, Hirszfeld Institute of Immunology and Experimental Therapy, Polish Academy of Sciences, Wroclaw, Poland
Precision Antibacterials: Integrating Phage Specificity with Immune Activation (when Bacteriophages Meet Antibodies)
1510: Dr Matthew Wand
Senior Project Team Leader, UK Health Security Agency, Countermeasures, Development, Evaluation and Preparedness, Porton Down, Salisbury, Wiltshire, UK
Phage Activity Against Hypervirulent ST23 Klebsiella pneumoniae Reveals Extensive Strain Diversity and Capsule-Mediated Resistance
1530: Professor Pablo Bifani
Assistant Professor, Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Nanyang Technological University, Experimental Med Building, 59 Nanyang Drive, Singapore, Singapore
Layered phage therapy exploits capsule-loss escape and increased antibiotic vulnerability in hypervirulent Klebsiella pneumoniae
1550: Refreshment break, networking and posters
1620: Mr Javier Ignatio Neri
Graduate Research Student, Research Center for the Natural and Applied Sciences, University of Santo Tomas, España, Manila, Philippines
Bacteriophage Selective Pressure on Klebsiella pneumoniae Results in the Loss of the HMV Phenotype
1640: Dr Katarzyna Gembara
Group Leader, Laboratory of Phage Molecular Biology, Institute of Immunology and Experimental Therapy, Polish Academy of Sciences, Wrocław, Poland
Bacteriophage transfer along the gut–urinary axis after radical cystectomy with ileal urinary diversion
1700: Dr Mariam Dadiani
Internal Medicine Physician, Eliava Phage Therapy Center (EPTC), Tbilisi, Georgia
Phage Therapy in Immunocompromised Patients: Current Clinical Evidence and Practical Experience
1720: End of Day 1 (please Vacate the conference hall by 1740)
1900: Networking Dinner (further information to follow)
DAY 2: 02 September
0900: Accommodation checkout
Session 4: Ecological and Evolutionary Consequences of Phage–Host Interactions
1000: Professor Jeremy Barr
Professor and Group Leader, School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, Rainforest Walk, Clayton Campus, Clayton, VIC, Australia
Temperate bacteriophage populations in the human gut: culturomics and experimental insights
1020: Professor Ville-Petri Friman
Professor in Microbiology, Department of Microbiology, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
Bacteria–phage coevolution drives variation in bacterial wilt disease incidence via resistance–virulence trade-offs
1040: Miss Aparna Kaaraal Mohan
Graduate Research Student, Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, Trumpington Street, Cambridge, UK
Single-cell studies reveal phages can exploit the physiological heterogeneity of dormant bacteria
1100: Refreshment break, networking and posters
1130: Dr Suzanne Humphrey
Lecturer, Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK
Determinants of temperate phage susceptibility in Enterococcus faecium: roles for anti-phage systems and resident prophages
1150: Dr Conor Graham
Postdoctoral Scientist, Department of Bacteriology, Animal and Plant Health Agency, UK
Targeted bacteriophage suppresses Salmonella infantis while preserving the overall microbiome in a chicken gut model
Session 5: Isolation, Characterisation and Novel Phage Biology
1210: Professor Martha Clokie
Professor of Microbiology, Centre for Phage Research, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK
Changing where and how we look for phages: combining hidden genomes with mass isolation to expand the therapeutic phage landscape
1230: Professor Thomas Sicheritz-Pontén
Professor, Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
Towards biologically explainable AI for phage host prediction
1250: Lunch, networking and posters
1330: Miss Sophie Lawson
Graduate Research Student, UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), Porton Down, Manor Farm Road, Wiltshire, UK
Understanding the impact of phage characteristics on the interactions between phage and antibiotics
1350: Dr Bożena Szermer-Olearnik
Assistant Professor, Hirszfeld Institute of Immunology and Experimental Therapy, Polish Academy of Sciences, Wroclaw, Lower Silesia, Poland
In Vitro Assessment of Lytic Bacteriophages: Physicochemical Characterization, Cytotoxicity and Immunomodulatory Potential
1410: Miss Julia Ammann
Graduate Research Student, Research Unit Microbial Diseases Prevention, Institute of Virology, Helmholtz Centre Munich – German Research Centre for Environmental Health, Neuherberg, Germany
Targeted Discovery of Phage-Derived Antimicrobial Peptides Using Viral Tagging
1420: Mr Calum Lloyd
Graduate Research Student, School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK
Visualising phage damage to the bacterial cell wall using high-resolution microscopy
1440: Dr Rachael Wilkinson
Postdoctoral Scientist, Becky Mayer Centre for Phage Research, Division of Microbiology and Infection, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK
Structural and Functional Characterisation of a Phage-Derived Colanic Acid-Degrading Enzyme for Biofilm Disruption
1500: General discussion and end of the conference
1530: Departure
