EMBO Workshop Shigella:from biology to prevention
April 20-24, 2026
Paris, France
The programme is intended to be a book-ended meeting where the keynotes and first session are designed to give an overview of what we know about the molecular and infection biology of Shigella, the burden and distribution of disease across settings, and the diversity of the pathogen; effectively outlining the challenge and the state of play for the community. The middle sessions of infection models, molecular mechanisms, and pathology and immunology will then give an overview of the knowledge and tools we have available to study and emphasize key knowledge gaps in our understanding of Shigella, while highlighting fundamental discoveries that improve our understanding of microbiology and cellular biology. And finally, the closing session on vaccines and therapeutics and policy panel discussion will set the direction for future work and highlight the remaining research challenges for the development of tools to control the disease. This interchange between basic and applied research is also structured to ensure that participants are incentivized to attend the entire programme.
Monday, April 20, 2026
| Registration / Welcome |
| 12.30 pm-2.00 pm
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| Opening address by the Organization committee |
| 2.00 pm-2.30 pm
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| Opening keynote |
| 2.30 pm-3.30 pm
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1
2.30 pm |
Perspectives from decades of research into shigellosis
Philippe Sansonetti
Institut Pasteur, Paris, France
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| Keynote lecture |
| 3.30 pm-4.30 pm
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2
3.30 pm |
The global burden of shigellosis
Karen Kotloff
University of Maryland, Baltimore, United States
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| Welcome drinks |
| 4.30 pm-6.00 pm
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Tuesday, April 21, 2026
| Session 1: SHIGELLOSIS BURDEN IN 2026 |
| 09.00 am-12.35 pm
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3
09.00 am |
Shigellosis in lower to middle income nations: focus on clinical presentation and management
Firdausi Qadri
icddr,b, Dahka, Bangladesh
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4
09.25 am |
Missed Opportunities of Syndrome-Based Diarrhea Management Guidelines to Detect Non-Dysenteric Shigella Infections in Kenyan Children: Findings from the Enterics for Global Health (EFGH)-Shigella Surveillance study Kenya: 2022-2024
Alex Ondeng Awuor Awuor
Centre for Global Health Resaerch, Kenya Medical Research Institute, Kisumu, Kenya
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5
09.35 am |
Geographic and time trends in Shigella diarrhea burden among children in LMICs
Maria Garcia Quesada
Department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Emory University, Atlanta, United States Department of Epidemiology, Emory University, Atlanta, United States
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6
09.45 am |
Can river and wastewater surveillance capture clinical Shigella burden and serotype diversity? Evidence from Malawi
Jen Cornick
Malawi Liverpoool Wellcome Trust, University of Liverpool, Blantyre, Malawi
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7
09.55 am |
The burden, consequences, and cost of Shigella diarrhea in young children and implications for
Shigella vaccines: Findings from the seven-country Enterics for Global Health (EFGH)-Shigella Study
Patricia Pavlinac
University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States
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0
10.20 am |
Coffee break/networking
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8
10.55 am |
The Burden and Characterization of Shigella Infections In Under-five Children In Lusaka, Zambia
Mwelwa Chibuye
Analysis Unit, Center for infectious diseases research in Zambia (CIDRZ), Lusaka, Zambia Amsterdam Institute of Infection and Immunity, Amsterdam University Medical Centers, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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9
11.05 am |
Burden of Shigellosis among Household contacts of index cases: a study in the EFGH catchment area, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Md Taufiqul Islam
Infectious Diseases Division, International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b), Dhaka, Bangladesh
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10
11.15 am |
Burden of Shigella in under‑five diarrheal hospitalizations in India following rotavirus vaccine introduction: A molecular study
Tintu Varghese
Christian Medical College, Vellore, India
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11
11.40 am |
Machine-Learning Prediction of Shigella Infection using Clinical, Demographic, and Weather Data in Urban and Rural Bangladesh
Sharika Nuzhat
International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh, Dhaka, Bangladesh
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12
11.50 am |
Effects of Shigella diarrhea on linear growth: an individual patient data meta-analysis of five multisite studies among children in low-resource settings
Allison Codi
Department of Biostatistics, Emory University, Atlanta, United States
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13
12.00 pm |
Association between the gut microbiome and Shigella incidence in children in Mali
Jane Juma
Center for Vaccine Development, Bamako, Mali
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0
12.25 pm |
Committee remarks - Reminder of arrangements for social activities
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| Session 2: MOLECULAR EPIDEMIOLOGY AND AMR EMERGENCE |
| 2.00 pm-5.15 pm
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14
2.00 pm |
Shigellosis genomic epidemiology in high income nations: sex and travel
Claire Jenkins1, Kate Baker2
1United Kingdom Health Security Agency, London, United Kingdom 2University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
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15
2.25 pm |
The spread of sexually transmissible drug-resistant shigellosis
Julia Marshall
Yale School of Public Health, New Haven, United States Department of Genetics, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
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16
2.35 pm |
Flex-it: A global standardised genotyping framework for Shigella flexneri
Jane Hawkey
Department of Infectious Diseases, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
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17
2.45 pm |
Genomic and Functional Characterization of geographically diverse Shigella flexneri serotype 6
David Rasko
University of Maryland School of Dentistry, Baltimore, Maryland, United States
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0
3.10 pm |
Coffee Break/Networking
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18
4.00 pm |
Shigella in Chile and Latin America
Cecilia Toro
1. Núcleo Interdisciplinario de Microbiología. Instituto de Ciencias Biomédicas, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile
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19
4.25 pm |
Piloting a rapid and low-cost molecular diagnostic method for Shigella serotyping in a low-resource setting (online presentation)
John B Ochieng
Center for Global Health Research, Kenya Medical Research Institute, Kisumu, Kenya
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20
4.35 pm |
Fosfomycin in-vitro activity against multidrug-resistant and extensively drug-resistant Shigella sonnei and Shigella flexneri
Aleksandra Stefanovic
Department of Pathoology and Laboratory Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada Division of Medical Microbiology and Virology, Providence Health Care, Vancouver, Canada
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21
4.45 pm |
Performance of Fecal Inflammatory Biomarkers to Identify Watery Shigellosis: Findings from the Enterics for Global Health (EFGH) Shigella Surveillance Study, 2022-2024
Billy Ogwel
Centre for Gloabl Health Research, Kenya Medical Research Institute, Kisumu, Kenya
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22
4.55 pm |
Changing epidemiology of Shigella - how do we address?
Subhra Chakraborty
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, United States
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0
5.05 pm |
Closing remarks
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Wednesday, April 22, 2026
| Session 3: INFECTION MODELS |
| 09.00 am-12.50 pm
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23
09.00 am |
Using gastrointestinal signals and organoids to model the human environment and study Shigella
Christina Faherty
Uniformed Services University of the Health Science, Bethesda, Maryland, United States
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24
09.25 am |
Establishing a robust clinical framework for enteric challenge studies in Africa: insights from Kenya’s pioneering Shigella infection study in healthy adults
Mohamed Abdullahi Adan
Bioscience, KEMRI-WELLCOME TRUST, Kilifi, Kenya
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25
09.35 am |
A bottom-up platform reveals a biphasic epithelial cell death response to invading mT3Sf blocked by OspC1 and OspC3
Marcos Valdespino Diaz
Molecular Biology and Microbiology, Tufts University, Boston, United States
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26
09.45 am |
A mouse model of shigellosis
Russell Vance
UC Berkeley, Berkeley, California, United States
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27
10.10 am |
Cytosolic LPS sensing by caspase-4 requires the primate-specific sensor NLRP11 in human macrophages during Shigella flexneri Infection
Maria Luisa Gil Marques
Division of Infectious Diseases, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, United States Department of Microbiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, United States
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0
10.30 am |
Coffee break/networking
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28
11.10 am |
Large scale Shigella infection of gut epithelial organoids
Mikael Sellin, Maria Letizia Di Martino
Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
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29
11.35 am |
Epithelial and post epithelial phases in Shigellosis using the infant rabbit model
Niti Jadeja
Microbiology, Immunology, and Cancer Biology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, United States
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30
11.45 am |
In vivo functions of bacterial effectors and TNFα-mediated protection in a mouse model of Shigella infection
Charlotte Nichols
Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, United States
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31
11.55 am |
Development and utilization of the Shigella controlled human infection model
Chad Porter
Naval Medical Research Center, Silver Spring, Maryland, United States
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0
12.20 pm |
8 X odd number poster flash talks (2 min each)
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0
12.40 pm |
Committee remarks
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| Session 4: MOLECULAR MECHANISMS - SHIGELLA VIRULENCE |
| 2.00 pm-4.30 pm
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32
2.00 pm |
Interferon: Tug of War between Host and Pathogen (EMBO Young Investigator Lecture)
Charlotte Odendall
King's College, London, United Kingdom
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33
2.25 pm |
Shigella effector OspB suppresses apoptosis by remodeling BCL-2 family proteins via peptide-bond recombination
Yue Xu
Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
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34
2.35 pm |
Characterization of group 4 capsule expression among Shigella species and serotypes and its impact on pathogenesis
Brock Brethour
Center for Vaccine Development and Global Health, University of Maryland Baltimore, Baltimore, United States Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Maryland Baltimore, Baltimore, United States
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35
2.45 pm |
Effector-Driven Discovery of Conserved Antimicrobial Defense Networks
Neal Alto
University of Texas, Dallas, Texas, United States
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0
3.10 pm |
Coffee Break/Networking
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36
3.45 pm |
Dynamics of the Shigella virulence plasmid
Christoph Tang
University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
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37
4.10 pm |
Application of the Promiscuous Biotin Ligase TurboID to the Study of the Shigella Type III Secretion System
Francois-Xavier Campbell-Valois
Department of Chemistry and Biomolecular Sciences, Centre for Chemical and Synthetic Biology, and Host-Microbe Interactions Laboratory, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology and Immunology and Centre for Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada
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38
4.20 pm |
Non-canonical role of colicins in host-Shigella interactions
Béatrice Roche
CNRS IBMC, Strasbourg, France
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| Poster session 1 / Refreshments (Odd numbers) |
| 4.30 pm-6.30 pm
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Thursday, April 23, 2026
| Session 5: MOLECULAR MECHANISMS - CELL BIOLOGY |
| 09.00 am-12.30 pm
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39
09.00 am |
Leveraging synthetic biology to advance our understanding of the intracytosolic armor of Shigella
Cammie Lesser
Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts, United States
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40
09.25 am |
α-catenin regulates force to stabilize protrusions during intercellular spread
Brian Russo
University of Colorado, Aurora, United States
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41
09.35 am |
The Shigella IcsB Effector Reveals a Family of Acyltransferases from Proteobacteria
Waad Bajunaid
Department of Chemistry and Biomolecular Sciences, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada
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42
09.45 am |
Identification of small molecule disruptors of the T3SS in Salmonella Typhimurium and Shigella flexneri
France Manigat
Chemistry and Biomolecular Science, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada
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43
09.55 am |
Proximity biotinylation at the host-Shigella interface reveals UFMylation as an antibacterial pathway
Ana Teresa López Jiménez
Department of Infection Biology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom
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0
10.05 am |
Coffee break/networking
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44
10.45 am |
The molecular basis of vacuolar rupture by Shigella
Jost Enninga
Institut Pasteur, Paris, France
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45
11.10 am |
Septin binding restricts Shigella growth and triggers intracellular tolerance
Gizem Ozbaykal-Guler
Department of Infection Biology, LSHTM, London, United Kingdom
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46
11.20 am |
Host PIK3C3 promotes Shigella flexneri spread from cell to cell through vacuole formation
Steven Rolland
Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Cancer Biology, University of Virginia School of Medecine, Charlottesville, United States
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47
11.30 am |
Regulation of host membrane unpeeling by Shigella IcsB controls intracellular niche formation
Arthur Lensen
Institut Pasteur, Paris, France
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48
11.40 am |
Shigella: a master regulator of the inflammatory signal extracellular ATP
Andrea Puhar
Queen's University, Belfast, United Kingdom
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0
12.05 pm |
8 x even number poster flash talks
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| Session 6: IMMUNE DYNAMICS - BASIC RESEARCH |
| 2.00 pm-3.10 pm
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49
2.00 pm |
How Shigella escapes from cell-autonomous immunity
Felix Randow
MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, United Kingdom
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50
2.25 pm |
Shigella hijacks the noncanonical inflammasome and suppresses pyroptosis-mediated host defenses
Feng Shao
National Institute of Biological Sciences, Beijing, China
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51
2.50 pm |
Spatial Coupling of Mucosal Inflammation and E2F-Driven Epithelial Regeneration in Acute Human Shigellosis
Zannatun Noor
Infectious Diseases Division, International Center for Diarrheal Disease and Research, Dhaka, Bangladesh
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52
3.00 pm |
Subcellular dynamics of innate immune recognition of Shigella flexneri by NOD1
Thomas Kufer
Dep. of Immunology, University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany
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| Poster session 2 / Coffee break (Even numbers) |
| 3.10 pm-5.15 pm
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| Visit of the Museum followed by a dinner at the Museum restaurant (timing to be confirmed) |
| 6.00 pm-10.00 pm
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Friday, April 24, 2026
| Session 7: IMMUNE DYNAMICS - SEROEPIDEMIOLOGY |
| 09.30 am-11.55 am
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53
09.30 am |
Hyperendemic shigellosis in Israel: immunological insights into disease transmission
Dani Cohen
Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
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54
09.55 am |
Magnitude, dynamics, and determinants of the humoral immune response to Shigella infection in Zambian children under the age of 5
Sam Miti
Copperbelt University School of Medicine, Ndola, Zambia National Health Research and Training Institute, Ndola, Zambia
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55
10.05 am |
Age-dependent acquisition of IgG antibodies to Shigella serotypes: implications for infant vaccination
Melissa Kapulu
University of Oxford, Kenya Medical Research Institute, Kilifi, Kenya
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56
10.30 am |
Antibody mediated mechanisms of protection against Shigella
Biana Bernshtein
Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
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0
10.40 am |
Coffee break/networking
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57
11.20 am |
Serologic Responses to Shigella in the EFGH Study: Implications for diagnosis, immunity, and vaccine development
James Platts-Mills
University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, United States
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58
11.45 am |
Comparative Analysis of Shigella Serotyping by Traditional Agglutination to Commercial Antisera, qPCR, and Whole Genome Sequencing
Francesca Schiaffino
Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Lima, Peru
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| Prize awards - Best poster prize |
| 11.55 am-12.20 pm
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| Session 8: DEFEATING SHIGELLA - VACCINE AND THERAPEUTIC DEVELOPMENT |
| 2.00 pm-4.35 pm
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59
2.00 pm |
Novel natural antimicrobials for fighting shigellosis
Shushmita Bhattacharya
Division of Biochemistry, ICMR - National Institute for Research in Bacterial Infections, Kolkata, India
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60
2.25 pm |
Human monoclonal antibodies against Shigella, for therapy and vaccine acceleration
Claudia Sala
Fondazione Biotecnopolo di Siena, Siena, Italy
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0
2.50 pm |
Coffee break/networking
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61
3.10 pm |
Shigella Vaccine Development; History, Pipeline and Progress
Duncan Steele
Gates Foundation, Seattle, Washington, United States
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62
3.35 pm |
Engineering novel bacteriophage-based biotherapeutics to target antimicrobial-resistant pathogens (online presentation)
Bryan Lenneman
Department of Pediatrics, Massachusetts General Brigham, Charlestown, United States
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63
3.45 pm |
Randomized Phase IIb Non-Inferiority Trial of Ceftriaxone and Tebipenem-Pivoxil for Second-Line Treatment of Paediatric Shigellosis in Bangladesh
Md Ridwan Islam
Nutrition Research Division, International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b), Dhaka, Bangladesh
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64
3.55 pm |
The Shigella flexneri 2a synthetic carbohydrate-based conjugate, SF2a-TT15, is safe and immunogenic in the 9-month-old infant target population in Kenya
Armelle Phalipon
Université Paris Cité, Unité de Pathogénie Microbienne Moléculaire, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France
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65
4.05 pm |
Results from Phase I/II observer-blind, randomised, controlled, multi-country study to evaluate safety and immune responses to altSonflex1-2-3 GMMA-based vaccine against S. sonnei and S. flexneri 1b, 2a, 3a
Agnes Hunyady
GSK Vaccines Institute for Global Health, Siena, Italy
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66
4.15 pm |
Projected worldwide impact of a Shigella vaccine on antibiotic use and bystander pathogen exposures to antibiotics among children in 129 low- and middle- income countries
Stephanie Brennhofer
University of Virginia, Charlottesville, United States
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67
4.25 pm |
A Phase III clinical trial evaluating the protective efficacy, immunogenicity, and safety of Shigella Flexneri-Shigella Sonnei bivalent conjugate vaccine in 6 months to 5 years old children in Bangladesh: Study design and current status
Rubhana Raqib
icddr,b, Dhaka, Bangladesh
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| Policy panel discussion |
| 4.35 pm-5.35 pm
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0
4.35 pm |
Directions of travel for Shigella therapeutics and global management with Firdausi Qadri, Claire Jenkins & Duncan Steele
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| Closing remarks and prize awards - Best talk prize |
| 5.35 pm-5.55 pm
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