Tracking plasmids for clinical and public health use

Event Description

This three-day course offers a practical and structured introduction to plasmid-focused bioinformatics with relevance to clinical microbiology and public health surveillance. Participants will gain insight into the challenges of reconstructing, annotating, and comparing plasmids from bacterial whole-genome sequencing data. Through expert lectures and hands-on exercises, the course will equip participants with tools and strategies to detect plasmid-borne antimicrobial resistance, understand transmission dynamics, and support outbreak investigations. While the main focus is on clinical contexts, examples from animal and environmental sources will also be discussed to provide a broader perspective.

Intended audience: 

Clinical microbiologists, public health specialists, infection control professionals and bioinformaticians who work with, or plan to work with, bacterial whole-genome sequencing data for surveillance or outbreak investigation. A basic understanding of genome-based typing and command-line tools is useful but not required.

Objectives:

By the end of the course, participants will:

• Be able to explain the clinical relevance of plasmids in antimicrobial resistance and virulence dissemination
• Be able to apply tools for plasmid assembly, annotation, typing and visualisation
• Evaluate the strengths and limitations of plasmid reconstruction using short- and long-read sequencing data
• Be able to analyse and compare plasmid sequences in outbreak and surveillance contexts- Identify strengths and limitations of current plasmid genomics approaches relevant to their own work

Course coordinator:

Louise Roer, Denmark 
Natacha Couto, United Kingdom

Organisers: 

ESGEM
ESGMAP

Accreditation:

This course has been granted 17.0 European CME credits (ECMEC®s) by the European Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (EACCME®). Each participant can only receive the number of credits according to actual participation in the event and upon completion of the feedback survey.

Certification:

Course organisers will monitor attendance. Participants are required to attend at least 70% of live sessions to be eligible to receive a certificate.

Course Venue:

CPH Conference 
Tietgensgade 65, 1704 Copenhagen 
Denmark

Accommodation:

Accommodation is not included in the registration.

Registration details: 

Registration fees include full access to the course, coffee breaks, and lunches. Travel costs and accommodation are not included with either fee.

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