MUMMIES, BONES, and ANCIENT PATHOGENS: CONFERENCE PROGRAM 7-8 September 2012

Below is the Program for the Conference MUMMIES, BONES, and ANCIENT PATHOGENS to be held in Sardinia, Italy 7-8 September 2012.  You can find a PDF for download at the bottom.  I hope everyone has an incredible time!

Alyson

MUMMIES, BONES, and ANCIENT PATHOGENS:  CONFERENCE PROGRAM

7-8 September 2012

STINTINO Palazzo Comunale, Sala Consiliare – Stintino, Sardinia, Italy

DAY 1

9:45-10:15 Opening of the Meeting
Salvatore Rubino, Co-chair Organizing Committee
Antonio Diana, Mayor of Stintino
Francesco Tamponi, Responsabile Regionale per i beni culturali ecclesiastici

Daniela Rovina, Soprintendenza Archeologica per le Provincie di Sassari e Nuoro
Attilio Mastino, Rector, University of Sassari

10:15-12:00 Session I: Archaic and Modern Genomes

Piero Cappuccinelli (Session Chair) Introductory remarks

10:15-10:45
Susanna Sawyer
Department Evolutionary Genetics, Max-Planck-Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
Archaic Genomes: A Story Written in Neanderthal and Denisova DNA

10:45-11:15
Carsten Pusch
Institute of Human Genetics, Division of Molecular Genetics, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
First Insights into the Metagenome of Ancient Egyptian Mummies Using Next Generation Sequencing

11:15-11:30 Coffee break

11:30-12:00
Paolo Francalacci
Dipartimento di Scienze della Natura e del Territorio, University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy
Placing the Sequence of “Ötzi the Iceman” in the High Resolution Y chromosome Phlylogeny by Whole Genome Sequencing

12:00-15:15 Session II: Evolutionary Medicine, Ancient Pathogens and Pathologies

David Kelvin (Session Chair) Introductory remarks

12:00-12:30
Bernardino Fantini
Institute for the History of Medicine and Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
The Convergence of Genomic Studies and Historical Analysis of Infectious Diseases: the Case of Black Death

12:30-13:00
Marco Milanese
Dipartimento di Storia, Scienze dell’Uomo e della Formazione, University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy
The Biological Archives of Alghero: Archaeological Questions and Expectations from Biohistory and Biotechnology Projects in the Study of Human Remains from Urban Populations during the Thirteenth to the Seventeenth Centuries

13:00-14:30 Lunch Break

14:30-16:00 Session II: Evolutionary Medicine, Ancient Pathogens and Pathologies (Continued)

14:30-15:00
Gino Fornaciari
Division of Paleopathology, History of Medicine and Bioethics, Department of Oncology, Transplants and Advanced Technologies in Medicine
Medical School University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy
Cancer and Infectious Diseases: the Challenge of Soft Tissue Paleopathology

15:00-15:30
Frank Rühli
Centre for Evolutionary Medicine, Institute of Anatomy, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
Evolutionary Medicine: Ancient Mummies and More…

15:30-16:00 Coffee break

16:00-17:30 Session III: Ancient Pathogens

Giovani Fadda (Session Chair) Introductory remarks

16:00-16:30
Eugenia Tognotti
Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche, Università degli Studi di Sassari, Sassari, Italy
Epidemics and Plagues in Sardinia from the 15th to the 20th Century

16:30-17:00
Raffaella Bianucci
Department of Anatomy, Pharmacology and Legal Medicine, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
Vector-Borne Diseases in Ancient Human Remains

17:00-17:30
Helen Donoghue
Centre for Infectious Diseases and International Health, University College London, London, UK

Insights into Ancient Tuberculosis and Leprosy

17:30-18:00 Sparkling Wine Cocktail (Brut/Prosecco!)

End of the first day

DAY 2

9:30-12:15 Session IV: Bioarchaeology, Modeling, and Perspectives on Ancient Pathogens

Mohammed Al Ahdal and Marco Milanese (Session Chairs): Introductory remarks

Archaeology of Sant’Imbenia

9:30-9:40
Elisabetta Garau, Marco Rendeli
Dipartimento di Storia, Scienze dell’Uomo e della Formazione, University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy
Seeds for Thought: Overview of the Archaeology of Sant’Imbenia

9:40-9:50
Rossella Filigheddu
Dipartimento di Scienze della Natura e del Territorio, University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy
Phenotypic Analysis of Seeds from Sant’Imbenia

9:50-10:00
Alberto Leon
University Health Network, Toronto, Canada
Summary of Sequencing of Seeds from Sant’Imbenia

Analysis of a Crypt of Sant’Antonio Abate Cathedral, Castelsardo

10:00-10:10
Franco Campus
Dipartimento di Storia, Scienze dell’Uomo e della Formazione, University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy
Bioarcheaology of a Crypt of Sant’Antonio Abate Cathedral, Castelsardo

10:10-10:20
Andrea Montella, Vittorio Mazzarello
Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche, University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy
Histological Analysis of Mummified Tissue from the Crypt of Sant’Antonio Abate Cathedral, Castelsardo

10:20-10:30
Luca Simbula, Gianni Meloni, Paolo Lampus
Dipartimento di Scienze Chirurgiche, Microchirurgiche e Mediche, University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy
X-Ray Examination of Mummies and Bones from a Crypt of Sant’Antonio Abate Cathedral, Castelsardo

10:30-10:40
Cristiano Farace, Roberto Madeddu
Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche, University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy
A Possible Estimation of Historical Pollution Increases by Heavy Metals Analysis in Ancient Bones: Emerging Data from Castelsardo Mummies and Comparison with Mummies from Other Centuries

10:40-10:50
Manuela Murgia, Bianca Paglietti
Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche, University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy
Identification of Sporigens in a Crypt of Sant’Antonio Abate Cathedral, Castelsardo

10:50-11:00
Claudia Viganò, Patrizia Marongiu
Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche, University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy
Analysis of Pathogens Using PCR of Biomaterial from a Crypt of Sant’Antonio Abate Cathedral, Castelsardo

11:00-11:20 Coffee

11:20-11:30
Luca Ruiu, Ignazio Floris
Dipartimento di Agraria, University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy
First Report of Insects and Other Arthropods on the Mummies Found inside a Crypt of the Castelsardo Cathedral (Sardinia, Italy)

11:30-11:40
Nikki Kelvin
Dipartimento di Storia, Scienze dell’Uomo e della Formazione, University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy
Mother-and-Infant Deaths from a Crypt of Sant’Antonio Abate Cathedral, Castelsardo

Historical Modelling and Perspectives

11:40-11:50
Alessandro Ponzelleti
Art Historian, Sassari, Italy
Practices and Burial Crypts in Churches of Sardinia: Some Examples

11:50-12:00
Luca Sanna
Dipartimento di Storia, Scienze dell’Uomo e della Formazione, University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy
An Integrated Bioarchaeology Project in North-West Sardinia: the Contribution of Preventive Archeology

12:00-12:10
Dario Piombino-Mascali
EURAC, Bolzano, Italy
The Sicily Mummy Project

12:10-12:20
Giampaolo Piga, Assumpciò Malgosa, Antonio Brunetti, Simona Spada, Stefano Enzo.
Dipartimento di Chimica e Farmacia, University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy
Anthropological and Chemico-Physical Studies on the Mummies of Peter II of Aragon and Blanca d’Anjou

12:20-12:30
Pierre-Olivier Méthot
Institute for the History of Medicine and Health, Geneva University, Geneva, Switzerland
What is a Pathogen? Perspectives (and Problems) from Medical Bacteriology and Pathogenomics

12:30-12:50 Concluding Remarks

David Kelvin
A Cryptic Approach to Future Studies

Salvatore Rubino
Closing Remarks

End of the Meeting

Organizing Committee
Salvatore Rubino (Co-Chair), David Kelvin (Co-Chair)
Attilio Mastino, Marco Milanese, Bruno Masala, Nikki Kelvin, and Andrea Montella

Sponsors
University of Sassari
• “International PhD School in Biomolecular and Biotechnological Sciences”
• Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche
• Scuola di Dottorato, “Storia, Letterature e Cultura Mediterraneo”

International Sponsors
• University Health Network, Toronto, Canada
• IDR, Canada
• Shantou University Medical School, Shantou, China
• Journal of Infection in Developing Countries

This meeting is in celebration of the 450th anniversary of the founding of the University of Sassari.

Organizing Secretariat: Segreteria Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche, Viale San Pietro 43 B, 07100 Sassari segrdip@uniss.it

To register or receive more information or submit an abstract: rubino(at)uniss(dot)it or nkelvin(at)jidc(dot)org

Mummies, Bones, and Ancient Pathogens Conference Program

Mummies, Bones and Ancient Pathogens — The Official Conference Poster

Below is the Official Poster for the Ancient Pathogens Conference in Sardinia, Italy.  More posts on the conference are to come including the full conference program.

And until then, here is a link to a past post on pathogens — My search for the Contagion Sign in Toronto.

http://blog.jidc.org/2011/09/16/some-friday-science-fun-contagion/

PDF of the Poster for Download:  AncientPathogensConference_SardiniaItaly

A Plague of Bones: Conference!

Without a doubt, my favourite research project I have ever been a part of is the ancient Pathogens project. This was my research focus during my Visiting Professorship at the University of Sassari, Sardinia, Italy in 2010. This was my Indian Jones moment, except the treasure was not rare artifacts but the discovery of ancient pathogens.

In Sardinia there is an abundance of ancient and medieval mass graves (see burial map).  Although these mass graves data back more than 3,000 years, the reason for the mass grave construction still remains a mystery.  Thereby a fascinating scientific problem exists:  What did these people buried together die from?

Archeology of Sardinia

We hypothesized that by sequencing the nonhuman DNA extracted from the bones and teeth of the victims in the mass graves, we could identify a pathogen that may have infected these people and caused their death.   Our list of pathogenic suspects that may have caused death included Yersinia pestis, Salmonella enterica, Bacillos anthracis, Mycobacterium tuberculosis.  This mode of attack, sequencing ancient DNA to determine cause of death, is not new and previous examples include identification of Salmonella enterica enterica serovar Thypi as the causative agent of the ancient plague of Athens in 430 BC [1] and Yersinia pestis as the agent of the Black Plague [2–4] although the later has been disputed [5].   Importantly, mass graves are commonly devised during a disease outbreak to limit the spread of disease, as in Europe during the Black Plague.  Therefore, we speculated that the people buried together in the mass graves of Sardinia died of the same cause, a disease epidemic.  By identifying and studying the causative agent of ancient plagues, we hope to learn about the evolving nature of human and animal modern pathogens so that we can model current and future epidemics.

Since I left Sardinia and my little project, the ancient Pathogen Project has grown enormously.  And that brings us to the announcement of the Ancient Pathogens meeting hosted by Professor Salvatore Rubino in Sardinia, Italy, in September.  The conference is sponsered by JIDC, University Health Network, Shantou University Medical School, Immune Diagnostics and Research, Comune Di Stintino, University of Sassari. This is an exciting opportunity!

Mass grave excavation in Alghero, Sardinia

Titled Mummies, Bones, and Ancient Pathogens, the conference will take place 7-8 September 2012, in Stintino, Sardinia, Italy, at the STINTINO Palazzo Comunale. Over the course of the two days, four sessions on “Archaic and Modern Genomes”, “Evolutionary Medicine, Ancient Pathogens and Pathologies”, “Ancient Pathogens”, and “Bioarchaeology of Sardinia and Sicily” will be held. Several of Europe’s foremost researchers in the fields of Archaeology, Bioarchaeology, the History of Medicine, and Ancient Pathogens are featured speakers, including Prof. Carsten Pusch of the Institute of Human GeneticsUniversity of Tübingen, Germany;  Prof. Bernardino Fantini University of Geneva, Switzerland; Prof. Marco Milanese, University of Sassari; Susanna Sawyer University of Tübingen, Germany; Prof. Raffaella Bianucci University of Turin; Prof. Paolo Francalacci University of Sassari; Prof. Marco Rendeli, University of Sassari; Elisabetta Garau, Unversity of Sassari; Rossella Filigheddu, University of Sassari; and Dr. Alberto Leo Shantou University to name a few. Just to tantalize you, here are some titles of the exciting presentations:

“Archaic Genomes: A Story Written in Neanderthal and Denisova DNA”

“Placing the sequence of “Ötzi the Iceman” in the high resolution Y chromosome phlylogeny by whole genome sequencing”

“Cancer and Infectious Diseases: the Challenge of Soft Tissue Paleopathology”

“Vector-Borne Diseases in Ancient Human Remains”

“The Sicily Mummy Project”

“First Insights into the Metagenome of Ancient Egyptian Mummies Using Next Generation Sequencing”

“Sequencing DNA from Ancient Seeds with Medicinal Properties”

For more information including registration, please visit the conference website http://www.mummiesbonesandancientpathogens.org/  or email Prof. Salvatore Rubino at rubino(at)uniss(dot)it

Reference List

    1.    Papagrigorakis MJ, Yapijakis C, Synodinos PN, Baziotopoulou-Valavani E (2006) DNA examination of ancient dental pulp incriminates typhoid fever as a probable cause of the Plague of Athens. Int J Infect Dis 10: 206-214. S1201-9712(05)00178-5 [pii];10.1016/j.ijid.2005.09.001 [doi].

2.    Raoult D, Aboudharam G, Crubezy E, Larrouy G, Ludes B, Drancourt M (2000) Molecular identification by “suicide PCR” of Yersinia pestis as the agent of medieval black death. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 97: 12800-12803. 10.1073/pnas.220225197 [doi];220225197 [pii].

3.    Drancourt M, Aboudharam G, Signoli M, Dutour O, Raoult D (1998) Detection of 400-year-old Yersinia pestis DNA in human dental pulp: an approach to the diagnosis of ancient septicemia. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 95: 12637-12640.

4.    Drancourt M, Raoult D (2004) Molecular detection of Yersinia pestis in dental pulp. Microbiology 150: 263-264.

5.    Gilbert MT, Cuccui J, White W, Lynnerup N, Titball RW, Cooper A, Prentice MB (2004) Absence of Yersinia pestis-specific DNA in human teeth from five European excavations of putative plague victims. Microbiology 150: 341-354.

Birthdays, TB and Thank yous! JIDC News — January 2012

As you read last week, I am looking forward to New Science Year 2012.

One reason for my excitement is the January 2012 edition of JIDC, which is a special issue on TB. I will be featuring posts this month and in February on TB to coincide with the TB JIDC issue, including a TB post from Amber, our Editor’s Picks contributor.

This year also marks JIDC’s fifth birthday! Happy Birthday, JIDC! August 2012 will be the official anniversary of our first issue, which was published in August of 2007.

Editor-in-Chief Salvatore Rubino has written an excellent editorial on the five years of JIDC in the current January issue, which you can read here. In summary, Prof. Rubino describes the tremendous growth of JIDC as the journal moved from a bimonthly format to monthly format and notes our acceptance into PubMed in 2009 –  a major accomplishment that allows the articles by our authors to reach a wide professional audience.

Importantly JIDC could not function without the extraordinary contributions from scientists, writers, educators, health officials and students worldwide. There is no doubt that JIDC would not be as successful without these people.

Manuscript reviews are a critical component of a functioning scientific community. A reviewed and accepted manuscript signifies scientific studies and findings that have been acknowledged by experts in the field. As a scientist, having your work reviewed allows the perspectives of others to inform your work and identify possible flaws in the methods, results and/or interpretations. Reviewers’ suggestions and manuscript discussion can often lead to improved research since it is not always possible to have an unbiased view of your own work from the inside and out. We would like to thank everyone who contributed to the global scientific community by reviewing JIDC manuscripts in 2011. Below you can see that JIDC reviewers are international experts representing 65 countries acround the globe. I find this truly amazing.

Lorena Abadia-Patino (Venezuela) , Ibrahim Abdel-Messih (Italy), Yusuf Abdu Misau (Nigeria), Hikmate Abriouel (Spain), Ishag Adam (Sudan), Mohammad Aghasadeghi (Iran), Kabiru Akinyemi (Nigeria), Onoja Akpa (Nigeria), Bolajoko Aina (Nigeria), Raquel Almansa (Spain), Sitara Ajjampur (India), Carlos Alencar (Brazil), Abdulghani Alsamarai (Iraq), Patricia Agaba (Nigeria), Saurabh Agarwal (India), Deepak Aggarwal (United States), Jaffar Al-Tawfiq (Saudi Arabia), Carlos Amabile-Cuevas (Mexico), Malaka Amer (Saudi Arabia), Ben Amos (Tanzania), Vicente Antonello (Brazil), Maria Appleman (United States), Liana Ariza (Brazil), George Araj (Lebanon), Antonio Arbo (Paraguay), Carmen Ardanuy (Spain), Elisabete Arrese (Spain), Ifedayo Adetifa (Gambia), Samar Al-Nahhas (Syria), Ibrahim Al-Traif (Saudi Arabia), Jazzmin Arrivillaga (Venezuela), Myo Aung (Thailand), Reham A. Aziz (Egypt), Sina Aziz (Pakistan) Ahmed Al-Naaimi (Iran), Clement Azodo (Nigeria), Parisa Badiee (Iran), Ahmet Balik (Turkey), Frederick Baliraine (United States) , Kristin Banek (Uganda), Bita Bakhshi (Iran), Stephen Baker (Vietnam), Mustafa Bakir (Turkey), Fukai Bao (China), Oussama Baraket (Tunisia), Ladaporn Bodhidatta (Thailand), Andreas Baumler (United States), Wafaa Bakr (Egypt), Matteo Biasotto (Italy), Norma Binsztein (Argentina), Joseph Bliss (United States), Eve Boakes (United Kingdom), Steven Bosinger (United States), Giuseppe Botta (Italy), Zulkif Bozgeyik (Turkey), Maria Braoudaki (Greece), John Bremner (Australia), Rama Bhunia (India), Mathilde Boon (Netherlands), Franco Buonaguro (Italy), Cyrille Bisseye (Burkina Faso), Jorge Cabral (Portugal), Adrian Canizalez-Roman (Mexico), Jean-Philippe Chippaux (France), Andrea Carai (Italy), Nishat Chowdhury (Bangladesh), Lance Christiansen (United States), Phillip Collier (United Kingdom), Mauro Colombo (Italy), Daniela Ceccarelli (Italy), Solmaz Celebi (Turkey), Changfa (Clark) Cui (United States), Marie Chattaway (United Kingdom), Giancarlo Ceccarelli (Italy), Ricardo Correa (Panama), Carlos Canelo-Aybar (Peru), Nikoloz Chkhartishvili (Georgia), Rajesh Chudasama (India), Celso Cunha (Portugal), Nihar Dash (United Arab Emirates), Terezinha da Silva Leitao (Brazil), Monica da Silva-Nunes (Brazil), Barun Kumar De (United States), Monorama Deb (India), Debmita Debdas (India), Bouke De Jong (Belgium), Mireya de la Garza (Mexico), Giovanni Delogu (Italy), Jacobus de Waard (Venezuela), Elisa Deriu (United States), İlker Devrim (Turkey), Antonina Dolei (Italy), Gerusa Dreyer (Brasil), Maria Drogari-Apiranthitou (Greece), Milena Dropa (Brazil), Renu Dutta (India), Shanta Dutta (India), Mohamad Elsweify (Saudi Arabia), Atef El-Gendy (Egypt), Sabry El-Naggar (Egypt), Şevval Eren (Turkey), Abdul-Naser Elzouki (Libya), Teresa Estrada-Garcia (Mexico), Mônica Facanha (Brazil), Heriberto Fernandez (Chile), Joseli Ferreira (Brazil), Parissa Farnia (Iran), Mel Figtree (Australia), Joseph Forbi (Nigeria), Lucia Galli (Italy), R. Glenn Gaston (United States), Gerardo González-Rocha (Chile), P. Grabarczyk (Poland), Javier Garaizar (Spain), Marina Giuliano (Italy), Deniz Gur Akman (Turkey), Tayyaba Ijaz (Pakistan), Noyal Joseph (India), Yadav Prasad Joshi (Nepal), Wafa Habbal (Sirya), Xiang Han (United Stetes), Azian Harun (Malaysia) , Abdul Haque (Pakistan), Zahra Hasan (Pakistan), Mary Hoelscher (United States), Richard C. Huard (United States), Entesar Husain (Kuwait), Murat Kapan (Turkey), Ismail Kapicioglu (Turkey), Oguz Karabay (Turkey), Salim Abdool Karim (South Africa), Supaletchimi Katherason (Malaysia), Rumeyza Kazancıoğlun (Turkey), Adnan Khan (Pakistan), Karen Keddy (South Africa), Abdullah Kilic (Turkey), Paul Klatser (Netherlands), Diamantis Kofteridis (Greece), Michael Koster (United States), Anil Kumar (India), J. Labbe (New Caledonia), Lincoln Lau (Hong Kong), Sisinnio Leori (Italy), Benedikt Ley (Austria), Ming-Li Liou (Taiwan), Jean Limongi (Brazil), Amanda Loftis (Saint Kitts and Nevis), Zhigang Liu (United States), Chun-Yi Lu (Taiwain), Eric Macy (United States), Emin Maden (Turkey), Evelyn Madoroba (South Africa), Stanley Maloy (United States), Daniel Marcano (Venezuela), Margarita Martinez-Medina (Spain), Humphrey Mazigo (Tanzania), Jacobe Mathew (India), Mark Melzer (United Kingdom), Juliane Meng-Hentschel (Germany), Vitaliano Muzii (Italy), Lucky Moehario (Indonesia), Denise Patricia Mawili-Mboumba (Gabon), Leigh Miller (Thailand), Santosh Mondal (India), David Murdoch (New Zealand), Reggie Mutetwa (Zimbabwe), Nutan Mytle (USA), Joseph Mwanzia Nguta (Kenya), Gholamreza Nikbakht Brujeni (Iran), Vishal Nigam (India), Carla Novais (Portugal), Samuel Ola (Nigeria), Obeid Obeid (Saudi Arabia), A. B. Olokoba (Nigeria), Bianca Paglietti (Italy), Tibor Pal (United Arab Emirates), Dimple Panwar (India), Georgios Pappas (Greece), Violeta Pardío (Mexico), Luis Pianciola (Argentina), Ariel Pereda (Argentina), Alicia Perez (France), Celeste Pérez (Argentina), Cristian Perez (Costa Rica), Mrudula Phadke (India), Guillermo Pimentel (United States), Aggeliki Poulou (Greece), Farhad Pourfarzi (Iran), Audino Podda (Italy), Mayoor Prabhu (India), Pradyot Prakash (India), Zhikang Qian (United States), Manuela Raffatellu (United States), Md Siddiqur Rahman (Bangladesh), Paola Rappelli (Italy), Ayalu Reda (Ethiopia), Ana Carolina Ritter (Brazil), Octavio Rivero (Spain), Alesia Romanovkaya (Russia),Jane Rose (Saint Kitts and Nevis), Joaquim Ruiz (Spain), Suleiman Saidi (Kenya), Eisa Salehi (Iran), Sandeep Saluja (India), Vittorio Sambri (Italy), Amy Sapkota (United States), Sanda Sardelic (Croatia), Shiv Sarin (India), Murat Sayan (Turkey), Dianella Savoia (Italy), Karin Schwaiger (Germany), M Elena Seoane (Spain), Burcin Sener (Turkey), Asa Sjoling (Sweden), Abubaker Sidahmed (Canada), Nidhi Singla (India), Herman Sprenger (Netherlands), Ajanta Sharma (India), Seyed Davar Siadat (Iran), Addmore Shonhai (South Africa), Kirill Sharshov (Russia), VN Sehgal (India), Michael Seckeler (United States), Pierre Smeesters (Belgium), Malini Shariff (India), Wei Sun (United States), Olusegun Soge (United States), Bahman Tabaraie (Iran), Irene Tami (United States), Reda Tagajdid (Morocco), Narhari Timilshina (Canada), Mohammed Timinouni (Morocco), Eduardo Tondo (Brazil), Hasan Ucmak (Turkey), Uade Ugbomoiko (Nigeria), Kingsley Ukwaja (Nigeria), Maria Leide Wand-del-Rey Oliveira (Brazil ), Tjip van der Werf (Netherlands), A Veloo (Netherlands), Tommie Victor (South Africa), Roberto Vidal (Chile), Ha Vinh (Vietnam), Jugsharan Virdi (India), Simonetta Viviani (France), Georgia Vrioni (Greece), Richard Vincent (Madagascar), Francois-Xavier Weill (France), Hannah Wexlecheck (United States), Heather Williamson (United States), Paul-Louis Woerther (France), Asnakew Yeshiwondim (United States), Raffaele Zarrilli (Italy), Dominik Zenner (United Kingdom), Roberto Zenteno (Mexico), Abdulaziz Zorgani (Libya), Pablo Zunino (Uruguay).

And thanks to Editors of JIDC and technical staff including:

 Nikki Kelvin, Marco Scano, Joey Kelvin, Jeff Coombs, Giustina Casu, Nadia Ahmod, Eve Boakes, Mark Cameron, Cheryl Cameron, Antigoni Chaidaroglou, Marie Anne Chattaway, Daniela Chessa, Amber Farooqui, Katy Harker, Jorg Heukelbach, Richard C. Huard, Adnan Khan, Patrick J. Kelly, Gemma C Langridge, Asghar Nazeer, Alicia San José, Helena Seth-Smith, Chengming Wang, Aysegul Karahasan Yagci, Dominique China, Mark David Dickson, Emily Hiltz, Lisa M. Lambert, and Eva Molak.

 Special acknowledgement to Senior Editor Aysegul Karahasan Yagci!

We also thank the financial supports of JIDC.  Without financial support, JIDC could not exist:

• Fondazione Banco di Sardegna
• Sardegna Ricerche
• the University of Sassari
• Shantou University Medical College
• the Li Ka Shing Foundation
• the University Health Network in Toronto, Canada.

Alyson

Goodbye 2011 and Hello New Science Year 2012: JIDC Postcards 2011- a Wrap-up

Good Bye 2011.  Hello New Science Year! Its 2012!  I hope everyone had a fabulous 2011 and rang in 2012 with a (big) bang!

There is so much a new year brings, especially in science. A new year with many possibilities. New conferences to attend (yeah!). Papers to publish. Exciting projects to start.  And new posts to write for the JIDC Blog!

To move forward in a guided direction I often feel we need to review the past.  What conferences were attended?  Were they beneficial? What papers were we able to publish last year? Were they well received? What are the stages of the current projects? Are they close to a publication? Are they close to completion?

And here at the JIDC Blog, what were the posts on the Blog over the last year?  Were they helpful to readers and authors? Did they promote scientific discussion? Were the Blog and the Blog Posts a good resource for research information? – This was my main goal when starting the JIDC Blog.  My hope was that the Blog would be useful to JIDC readers and authors alike as an information resource as well as a point for discussions.  I also hoped that it would be a valuable tool for non-JIDC members and help educate new people about JIDC.

So shall we review?

There is a blog tradition that I have only just learned about.  The tradition is that the first post of the New Year should be a listing of all the first sentences from the first post of every month from the previous year.

Below is a listing of all of the first Posts of every month in 2011 and the first sentences from each.  I have also added my personal notes from each post.

Here we go…

June 2011 — JIDC Postcards: The JIDC Blog

Hi, and welcome to JIDC’s blog. 

I was sooo excited…and nervous to introduce the Blog to the JIDC community and the world.  Would anyone read it? Would anyone like it?  Would it be a Blog that we could be proud of? Only you can answer these questions for me. 

 

July 2011 – Olga:  From Mozambique to Brazil

A Challenge!! An Opportunity!!

My name is Olga André Chichava, and I’m a young biologist fromMozambique!

I absolutely loved this post from Olga. Her story gave an incredible view into the life of a research student who is also a mother.  I was inspired to see her courage to move to a foreign country and her drive to build her masters project.   She shared her passion for research as well as life with us. This post was featured on the headlines of Microbiology Daily, I was so proud. Also, this post is the most popular post on the Blog.

 

August 2011 – Milliedes in Kashmir,India

Insects have been found in Marrhama, a village in Blok Trehgam in the District of Kupwara Jammu and Kashmir, India. The main water source used for drinking purposes is badly affected by the insects.

This post from Dr. Kadri highlighted problems that affect regional areas which can easily go unnoticed to the rest of the world.  I am so glad that he shared this experience so that more people can be aware of such difficulties that face communities. This is the second most popular post of all time on the Blog and I am happy that it has reached so many people!

 

September 2011 – The First Annual Conference on Drug Therapy in TB Infection

The Africa Health Research Organization, AHRO, presents the International Conference on Drug Therapy in TB Infection

What: First International Conference on Drug Therapy in TB Infection
When: 6-7 January 2012
Where: Edinburgh Scotland
Who: Presented by AHRO,Africa Health Research Organization

It was great to post about this conference.  Since the conference was just completed, I hope that everything went well and it was a successful event.  Also, I would love to hear a roundup of the conference by anyone who attended.  Please contact me if you are interested in writing a Blog Post describing this meeting.

 

October 2011 – And the winner is…! JIDC Open Access Week#4

And the winner is….I just couldn’t help it.  I have enjoyed Open Access Week and the JIDC T-shirt give-away that I could not just draw only 1 name.  So I picked 6!

Ooooo this was an exciting one.  I was incredibly happy to share JIDC and the JIDC T-shirts with readers and authors! If you are a winner and you haven’t contacted me and would still like at T-shirt, please let me know.

 

November 2011 – Publishing a Scientific Article in JIDC

How do I publish a scientific paper?…This question is asked by all young scientists. 

How do you write a scientific paper? There are so many directions one can take when putting their research together. I hope this helped authors organize themselves when preparing manuscripts for JIDC.  In addition to this Post, if you have other specific questions about writing a paper or you have a particular writing topic you would like to see a post about, please don’t hesitate to let me know.  I am currently preparing a post how I write a scientific paper to share with you.

 

December 2011 – ReR – MedToday!

Memento te hominem esse. – Remember that you are human.

What an important point that is! Remember you are human. We are all vulnerable and delicate aren’t we? I am so happy to have posted the special work of ReR-MedToday! The importance of support during times of ill health can’t be overstated. I am sure the families touched by this organization are forever grateful.

 

Thats a Wrap! 

So that’s the JIDC Blog for 2011.  I hope 2012 brings just as fabulous Posts and discussions as 2011 did.

I would like to thank everyone who contributed to the Posts and Discussion of the 2011 JIDC Blog!  In no particular order, BIG THANKS to:

IRIN and Jane Summ

Olga Andre Chichava

Prof. Jorg Heukelbach

Anna Carolina Ritter

Laboratory of Food Microbiology of the ICTA/UFRGS

Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul

Dr. Vinod Singh

USAID

David Dorherty

Joanne Wong

Dr. S.M. Kadri

Open Access and Open Access Week

SPARC

PLoS

Donna Okubo

Dr. Amber Farooqui

Jain et al., JIDC 2011

Dr. Abubaker Yaro

Annals of Tropical Medicine and Public Health

1^st International Conference on Drug Therapy in TB Infection

The Grandest Challenge

Dr. Abdallah S. Daar

Dr. Peter A. Singer

Sun et al., JIDC 2011

Amedei et al., JIDC 2011

Elios et al., JIDC 2011

Jeff Coombs

Tracy Zao

Ashish Chandra Shrestha

Sara Norris

Christopher Logue

Sunita Pareek

Marie Anne Chattaway

Chimwemwe Mandalasi

Jane-Francis Akoachere

University of Buea, Cameroon

Nikki Kelvin

Tribaldos et al., JIDC 2011

Dr. Lorelei Silverman

Dr. Rosalind Silverman

Models of Human Diseases

Loredana

University Hospital of Hue, Vietnam

University of Sassari

Dr. Le Van An

Dr. Tran

Prof. Piero Cappuccinelli

Remi Eryk Raitza

ReR-MedToday!

SmileKenya

Drake Current

Current Family

Dr. Myo Nyein Aung

School of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, Bangkok

And a spceial thanks to Prof. Salvatore Rubino for his support of the Blog!

Reflecting on the 2011 Blog has shown me I have lots more science to cover! It has also spiked my curiosity.  What was your favorite Post of 2011?  What about your Favorite JIDC Postcard? Was there a topic that you enjoyed reading about or a Postcard that you could identify with? Let me know. I love to hear from you!