Fungal Pathogens: Emerging Threats and Future Challenges (X7)
February 18-21, 2024  | Fairmont Banff Springs, Banff, AB, Canada
Michail Lionakis, Sarah L. Gaffen and Mari L. Shinohara
Scholarship Deadline: Nov. 9, 2023 | Abstract Deadline: Nov. 9, 2023 | Early Registration Deadline: Dec. 14, 2023
* Session Chair † Invited but not yet accepted | Program current as of November 4, 2025 2 PM | For the most up-to-date details, visit https://www.keystonesymposia.org
Sunday, February 18, 2024
4:00–8:00 PM Arrival and Registration Van Horne Foyer
6:00–8:00 PM Welcome Mixer Van Horne Foyer
Monday, February 19, 2024
7:00–8:00 AM Breakfast President's Hall
8:00–9:00 AM Welcome and Keynote Address Van Horne A
  Kirsten Nielsen, University of Minnesota
One Gene to Rule Them All		  
9:00–11:15 AM Host-Cryptococcus Interactions Van Horne A
  Arturo Casadevall, Johns Hopkins University
What have we Learned About Cryptococcal Virulence in the Past Decade		  
  Mari L. Shinohara, Duke University
Host Immune Responses Against Cryptococcus Infection		  
  Amariliz Rivera-Medina, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School
Insights on Mechanisms of Vaccine-induced Protection against Cryptococcosis		  
  Atsushi Miyashita, Teikyo University
Short Talk: Short Talk: Primed Immune Responses in the Silkworm (Bombyx mori) Enhance the Immune Barrier to Fungal and Bacterial Pathogens		  
9:30–9:50 AM Coffee Break Van Horne Foyer
11:15–1:00 PM Poster Setup Van Horne C
11:15–5:00 PM On Own for Lunch
1:00–2:00 PM Career Roundtable (Joint)
  Amariliz Rivera-Medina, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School
Associate Professor		  
  David Blehert, USGS
Chief of the National Wildlife Health Center's Laboratory Sciences Branch		  
  John Robert Grainger, University of Manchester
Principal Investigator		  
  Jamie M. Orengo, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Vice President Research, Allergy and Immunity		  
  Jillian Astarita, TRex Bio
Principal Scientist		  
1:00–10:00 PM Poster Viewing Van Horne C
2:30–4:30 PM Workshop 1: New Research Developments from Junior Investigators Van Horne A
  Yogesh Scindia, University of Florida
Hepcidin Deficiency: A Novel Host Susceptibility Factor in Disseminating Candidiasis		  
  Marcos Isidoro-Ayza, UW-Madison
'The Skin I Live in' The Intracellular Lifestyle of Pseudogymnoascus destructans during White-Nose Syndrome of Bats		  
  Jianfeng Lin, the lundquist institute
IL-17A Enhances C. albicans-induced Proinflammatory Cytokine Production in Oral Epithelial Cells by Relieving Translation Repression		  
  Peter C. Cook, University of Exeter
Mgl2+ cDC2 Driven Anti-fungal Allergic Inflammatory Responses is Highly Dependent on a Glycolytic Switch, Orchestrated by Both Spore Uptake and the Lung Environment		  
  Eric Dang, NIH
Regulation of Persistent Fungal Infection by Alternatively Activated Macrophages		  
  Lena Heung, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
GM-CSF Regulates Pulmonary Immune Responses to Cryptococcus Gattii		  
  Darin Wiesner, Rutgers - New Jersey Medical School
Sensitization with Fungal Protease Allergen Establishes Long-lived, Allergenic Helper T Cell Memory in the Lung		  
  Derek Bays, UC Davis Health
Epithelial Hypoxia Maintains Colonization Resistance against Candida Albicans		  
4:30–5:00 PM Coffee Available Van Horne Foyer
5:00–7:00 PM What is New on the Candida-Mucosal Interface Van Horne A
  Sarah L Gaffen, University of Pittsburgh
What’s New with the Th17 Pathway in Candidiasis		  
  Julian Naglik, King’s College London
An Update on Candidalysin		  
  Marc Swidergall, University of California, Los Angeles
Candida Commensalism and Structural Immunity		  
  Daniel Wychrij, University of Georgia
Short Talk: Short Talk: The Prevention and Treatment of Vulvovaginal Candidiasis in a Murine Model		  
7:00–8:00 PM Social Hour with Lite Bites President's Hall
7:30–10:00 PM Poster Session 1 Van Horne C
Tuesday, February 20, 2024
7:00–8:00 AM Breakfast President's Hall
8:00–11:00 AM Fungal Recognition and Innate Immunity Van Horne A
  Gordon D. Brown, University of Exeter
Remote Presentation: The Role of C-Type Lectin Receptor Signaling in Response to Various Fungi		  
  Sho Yamasaki, Osaka University
Self-Recognition Through Fungal Receptors		  
  Jatin M. Vyas, Massachusetts General Hospital
Rewiring Macrophages using Extracellular Vesicles to Prime Innate Immune Responses to C. Albicans		  
  Partha S. Biswas, University of Pittsburgh
Metabolic Regulation of Antifungal Function of Neutrophils		  
  Axel Dietschmann, Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology – Hans Knöll Institute (Leibniz HKI)
Short Talk: Short Talk: The Hyphal Morphology Triggers Inflammatory Cell Death in Human Macrophages		  
  Brendan Snarr, NIH/NIAID
Short Talk: Short Talk: Card9-expressing Monocytes are Critical in Defending against Fungal Encephalitis		  
  Dona Love, National Institutes of Health
Short Talk: NIH Funding Opportunities		  
  Amanda A. Melillo, National Institutes of Health
Short Talk: NIH Funding Opportunities		  
9:00–9:20 AM Coffee Break Van Horne Foyer
11:00–1:00 PM Poster Setup Van Horne C
11:00–5:00 PM On Own for Lunch
1:00–10:00 PM Poster Viewing Van Horne C
4:30–5:00 PM Coffee Available Van Horne Foyer
5:00–7:00 PM Inhalation-Acquired Fungal Pathogens Van Horne A
  Elizabeth R. Ballou, University of Exeter
Endofungal Bacteria are Widespread and Dynamic in Clinical Isolates of Mucorales		  
  Ashraf S. Ibrahim, The Lundquist Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center
Host-Mucorales Interactions		  
  Bridget Marie Barker, Northern Arizona University
The Ecology and Genomics of Coccidioides		  
  Mariano Aufiero, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Short Talk: Short Talk: Dectin-1/CARD9 Induction of the TFEB and TFE3 Gene Network is Dispensable for Phagocyte Anti-Aspergillus Activity in the Lung		  
  Alexander Rapp, Dartmouth College
Short Talk: Short Talk: Uncovering Alterations in the Murine Interferon Response due to dsRNA Mycovirus during Aspergillus fumigatus Infection		  
7:00–8:00 PM Social Hour with Lite Bites President's Hall
7:30–10:00 PM Poster Session 2 Van Horne C
Wednesday, February 21, 2024
7:00–8:00 AM Breakfast President's Hall
8:00–11:00 AM Translational Mycology Van Horne A
  David Blehert, USGS
Ecology and Pathobiology of Bat White-Nose Syndrome		  
  Leah E. Cowen, University of Toronto
A Novel Platform for Developing Therapeutics for Drug-Resistant Fungal Pathogens		  
  Iliyan D. Iliev, Weill-Cornell Medical College
Interfacing the Mycobiota, Neuroimmunity and Inflammation		  
  Michail Lionakis, NIAID, National Institutes of Health
Fungal Immunity from the Bench to Bedside: Lessons from Inborn Errors of Immunity		  
  Feng Zhu, NCI, National Institutes of Health
Short Talk: Short Talk: Oral C. Albicans Infection Promotes Upper GI Tract Tumor Progression via Neutrophil Dysfunction and EGFR Activation		  
  Claire Pearson, University of Oxford
Short Talk: Short Talk: SYK Gain of Function Variants Alter the Host Immune Response to Intestinal Fungi		  
9:00–9:20 AM Coffee Break Van Horne Foyer
11:00–5:00 PM On Own for Lunch
2:30–4:30 PM Workshop 2: Women and Minorities in Science Van Horne A
  Riley Risteen, University of Maryland, Baltimore
A Cunning Foe: Exploring the Interface between Cunninghamella bertholletiae and Lung Epithelium		  
  Shannon Righi, Tulane University School of Medicine
Bone Marrow Expansion Induced by Candida Dubliniensis Drives Protective Trained Immunity against Fungal/Bacterial Sepsis and is Dependent on Card9 Signaling		  
  Lynn Bimler, Baylor College of Medicine
Developing a Chronic Model of Candida Albicans Cerebral Mycosis through Gut Colonization		  
  Estefany Yamilet Reyes, Duke University
Elucidating The Role of Central Nervous System (CNS)-Resident Cells During Cryptococcal Meningoencephalitis		  
  Judith Behnsen, University of Illinois Chicago
Salmonella, Candida Albicans, and Arginine: Intricate Cross-Talk in the Gut Enhances Bacterial Virulence		  
  Ganlin Qu, University of Florida
The Heme-scavenger, Hemopexin, Protects against Aspergillosis by Mitigating Lung Injury: An Experimental and Computational Study		  
  Vanda Lerer, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Viro-Fungal Tag-Team: Mycovirus-Mediated Modulation of Fungal Stress Responses, Fitness, and Virulence		  
4:30–5:00 PM Coffee Available Van Horne Foyer
5:00–6:45 PM Crosstalk Between the Fungus and the Host Van Horne A
  Ilse Jacobsen, Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology
Synergistic Interactions Between Candida and Bacteria: Mechanisms and Consequences		  
  Jessica Hargarten, NIH/NIAID/DIR
Probing the breadth of the Parabola: Pathway analysis identifies a requirement for MTOR and JAK/STAT signaling in cryptococcal disease		  
  Teresa O'Meara, University of Michigan Medical School
Genetic Approaches to Understanding Candida auris Pathogenesis		  
  Kevin Newhall, Case Western Reserve University
Short Talk: Short Talk: Specific Macrophage States and Select Debaryomyces hansenii Strains Promote Immune Evasion		  
6:45–7:00 PM Meeting Wrap-Up: Outcomes and Future Directions (Organizers) Van Horne A
7:00–8:00 PM Social Hour with Lite Bites President's Hall
8:00–11:00 PM Entertainment
8:00–11:00 PM Cash Bar President's Hall
Thursday, February 22, 2024
7:00–11:59 PM Departure