Events

BSP Spring Meeting – 2nd 5th April 2024 - University of Liverpool

BSP 2024, 2nd -5th Apr 2024 


In April 2024, the British Society for Parasitology Spring Meeting comes to Liverpool, a city that has long been a home to parasitology and to a vibrant community of researchers dedicated to combatting parasitic diseases in the UK and worldwide. 

BSP 2024 will bring the parasitological community together to discuss the latest findings in parasite biology and progress in controlling disease. Our ambition is for the meeting to reach across divides, whether they be between parasites, all our scientific sessions that cut across taxonomy, or between countries, nearly half of our invited speakers come from outside the UK, or between generations, half of our speakers will be early-career researchers.

Scientific sessions will span the complete parasitological spectrum. From discovering the basic principles of parasite biology (‘Antigenic variation’, ‘Evolutionary origins of parasitism’), including the latest trends in parasite research (‘Cellular heterogeneity’, ‘Subcellular structure’, ‘Population variation’, ‘Organoid infection models’, ‘Parasite-immune interactions’, ‘Parasite-microbiome interactions’ and ‘Artificial Intelligence’), to applied parasitology for controlling disease (‘Drug development’, ‘Disease elimination’, ‘Epidemiology’, ‘Veterinary vaccines’, ‘Vector control’).

In addition, the BSP Spring Meeting will renew its association with British Ecological Society, which will present two sessions on ‘Parasite wildlife ecology’ and ‘Complex ecology data analysis’.

Besides our scientific sessions, BSP 2024 will feature a poster exhibition that, for the first time, will include video abstracts, as well as two genome database training workshops with accreditation for pre-registered delegates. At lunchtimes, we will be joined by special guest speakers to lead conversations on professional parasitology, how best to implement successful equality and inclusion and career development practices.

Save the dates, submit your abstract from 1st November; we look forward to welcoming the global parasitological community to Liverpool in April 2024.

Registration and Abstract submission here

Free Training Workshops in Parasite Genome Databases

The BSP is linking up with the teams behind VEuPathDB and Wormbase Parasite to provide training workshops in these essential genome databases at this year’s BSP Spring Meeting.

The Eukaryotic Pathogen, Vector and Host Informatics Resource (VEuPathDB) provides access to diverse genomic datasets of eukaryotic pathogens and invertebrate vectors of disease. Professor Andy Jones (University of Liverpool) will lead this training in how to combine different datatypes for in silico experiments, to discover ‘targets of interest’ representing parasite specific genes utilising VEuPathDB’s search strategies. Attendees will also gain experience in assessing different evidence, so they can confidently evaluate gene models and learn how to use tools to correct them. Finally, attendees will be trained to leverage sequence orthology to help them combine these results with phenotypic and gene ontological information, allowing them to make assertions about different genes of interest.

WormBase ParaSite provides genome sequence, genome browsers, semi-automatic annotation and comparative genomics data for approximately one hundred flatworm and nematode species. Professor Matt Berriman (University of Glasgow) will lead this training in the cross-species data mining platform, including protein and nucleotide sequence searches, variant effect predicting to enable the analysis of different strain/isolate genomes in the context of the reference, and performing gene enrichment analysis.

The workshops are happening on Day 1 (2nd April) of the BSP Spring Meeting in Liverpool and have been accredited by the Royal Society of Biology as Continuing Professional Development. They are in-person only and will last between 4 and 5 hours. Both workshops are free of charge.

The training is directed at participants who want to get started with using these resources to benefit their research, but anyone who wants to develop their skills through discussion with the VEuPathDB or Wormbase Parasite teams should get in touch.Attendance is open to researchers of any career-stage but places are limited and will be given on a first-come-first-served basis.

The workshops are open to people who are not attending the BSP Spring Meeting, (although we hope you will!), but you must register for either workshop through the meeting registration page, here. Select either the option to attend the workshop only or register for the Spring Meeting and tick the option to attend a workshop as well.

 

For more information, contact Andrew Jackson (a.p.jackson@liv.ac.uk)

BSP Spring Meeting 2023!

BSP 2023, 11-14 April in Edinburgh

11th – 14th April, 2023

University Of Edinburgh

The 2023 British Society for Parasitology Spring Meeting will be held at the
University of Edinburgh, in partnership with the British Ecological Society (BES).
As well as welcoming all general parasitology themes across the discipline, there
will also be a dedicated stream focused on trypanosomiasis and leishmaniasis.

The 2023 Spring meeting of the British Society for Parasitology will be held in the
city of Edinburgh, UK. Edinburgh boasts a long association with parasitology and
also benefits from strong links to ecology, both of which will be represented by
distinct streams and keynote lectures. A major stream of trypanosomiasis and
Leishmaniasis, and also ecology, will be supplemented by sessions including
host-pathogen interactions, neglected tropical diseases, malaria, veterinary
parasitology, and nematode biology, as well as a series of open sessions
covering the full breadth of parasitology.

Download Abstract book

Go to registration

The key events in the annual BSP calendar include the annual residential meetings in spring and autumn which are focused upon general and specialist aspects of parasitology.

The video on the right gives a flavour of our events, which are attended by a wide range of academics, researchers and students.

19-20 September

BSP Autumn Symposium 2022 – Keele University

The BSP Autumn symposium 2022 will be on 19-20 September at Keele University, UK. The theme is: Achieving impact in parasitology: learning lessons from interdisciplinary research and community engagement. Registration is open now!

Other events

Other organisations run events that you might find interesting: here are some up and coming online events from across the world for those with an interest in parasitology.
19th JUNE 2022

WorldLeish 7

WorldLeish7 will be held in Cartagena, Colombia on 1-6 August 2022

This is a key event on leishmaniasis, reuniting workers in this area every 4 years. The meeting will highlight the advances and new research findings in this area. On this occasion, WorldLeish7, expects the participation of more than 1500 investigators, professionals and students who will get together to identify and generate new ideas. It will also promote a multidisciplinary approach to research and its alliances with technological development groups and research centers around the world.
19th JUNE 2022

Kinetoplastid Molecular Cell Biology meeting 2022

The Kinetoplastid Molecular Cell Biology (KMCB) meeting will be held at Woods Hole, Massachusetts, USA on 13-17 September 2022
19th JUNE 2022

MPM XXXIII (2022)

The Molecular Parasitology Meeting (MPM) XXXIII will be held in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, USA on 18-22 September 2022.


Travel Awards

If you are a student you may be able to apply for one of our meeting travel awards to support your attendance at these events

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