Transdisciplinary Approaches to Advance Tropical Infectious Diseases Health Technologies

The Tropical Infectious Diseases GRC is a premier, international scientific conference focused on advancing the frontiers of science through the presentation of cutting-edge and unpublished research, prioritizing time for discussion after each talk and fostering informal interactions among scientists of all career stages. The conference program includes a diverse range of speakers and discussion leaders from institutions and organizations worldwide, concentrating on the latest developments in the field. The conference is five days long and held in a remote location to increase the sense of camaraderie and create scientific communities, with lasting collaborations and friendships. In addition to premier talks, the conference has designated time for poster sessions from individuals of all career stages, and afternoon free time and communal meals allow for informal networking opportunities with leaders in the field.

The 2023 Gordon Research Conference on Tropical Infectious Diseases will present cutting edge research on the most prevalent and medically important tropical infectious and emerging diseases (TIEDs). It will have a thematic organization similar to the conferences held in 2015, 2017 and 2019. The intent is to gather a multidisciplinary community of scientists and discuss cutting edge basic, field-based, translational and clinical research in TIEDs.

The 2023 GRC will include disease-focused sessions highlighting transdisciplinary approaches towards the development of novel and innovative health technologies for the detection, prevention and treatment of tropical infectious and emerging diseases. Thematic sessions will highlight breakthroughs and progress to understand disease transmission, pathogenesis, ecology, epidemiology and will include topics spanning from big data and the role of artificial intelligence, systems biology, the -omics and novel technologies with an emphasis in new advances in host-parasite relationships, the lessons learned from translational medicine and from clinic to practice.

For each session, speakers who are at the forefront of their respective fields will discuss how discoveries made at the bench are being translated into new diagnostics, therapeutics, vaccines, and interventions aimed at blocking transmission in the vector or reservoir hosts.

An important goal of the GRC is to attract junior scientists and graduate students, including those from disease endemic countries, to present their work and exchange ideas with leaders in the field. Building on the success of previous conferences, a 2-day Gordon Research Seminar (GRS) is organized for senior doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers. Participants will have the opportunity to showcase their research projects in oral or poster presentations in a setting that promotes networking and gears them towards the GRC that follows on the next day.

The GRS will also include an interactive career panel featuring discussions on different career options in science, and participants will have the opportunity to interact with the panel members during both the GRS and GRC. The GRS will be an excellent opportunity for highly motivated junior investigators from disease endemic areas to receive mentoring, develop and expand collaborations with senior investigators and strengthen ongoing research in their own countries. These interactions will help to build a community of scientists setting the future of TIEDs research.

The Conference will be held in a historic seaside hotel in Galveston, Texas, which offers a quiet and relaxing environment in one of the best-preserved concentrations of Victorian architecture in the country. The presentations of cutting-edge research, along with the programmed discussion sessions and opportunities for informal gatherings in the afternoons and evenings, will serve to greatly enrich the community of multidisciplinary scientists working on TIEDs.