Opening lecture

The discovery of Clostridium and its clinical impact. An insight in the history of medicine

Roland Koerner, Sunderland Royal Hospital, Sunderland, UK

Clostridia in general, their toxins and other pathogenicity factors

Basis of the mode of action of clostridial toxins

Michel-Robert Popoff, Institut Pasteur, Paris, F

Insights into the mechanism of botulinum neurotoxin (BoNT) receptor binding and substrate cleavage from a structural perspective

Axel T. Brunger, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Stanford, USA

C. perfringen sepsilon-toxin

Juan Blasi, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, ES

Comparative genomics of clostridia and pathogenic properties

Holger Brüggemann, Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology, Berlin, DE

C. difficile

Clostridium difficile: an overview of the changes in our understanding the organism over the last 30 years

Maja Rupnik, Instituteof Public Health, Maribor, Slovenia

C. difficile- the wider perspective (humans, animals, environment)

Viveca Båverud,National Veterinary Institute, Uppsala, SE

Clostridium difficile: an overview of the disease, host defences, risk factors and changing host susceptibility

Ian R. Poxton, Centre for Infectious Diseases, Edinburgh, UK

Clinical spectrum of Clostridium difficile Infection (CDI) and the emergence of hypervirulent strains

Ed J. Kuijper, Centre for Infectious Diseases, Leiden, NL

Clostridia: clinical issues

Clostridial infections in the immunocompromised host

David Dockrell, Royal Hallamshire Hospital, Sheffield, UK

Emerging clostridial infections in USA

L. Clifford McDonald, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, USA

Clostridia in cancer therapy

Jan Theys,University Maastricht, Maastricht, NL

Toll-like receptors and intestinal inflammation

William F. Stenson,WashingtonUniversity Schoolof Medicine, St-Louis, USA

Afternoon sessions

Regulation of Clostridium difficile toxin expression

Jeroen Corver, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, NL

Structure-function analysis of Clostridium difficile toxin E expressed

in Escherichia coli

Genotyping of Clostridium difficile in Finland, 2007-2008

Emergence of Clostridium difficile infection due to a new hypervirulent strain, PCR-ribotype 078

Clinical-epidemiological characterization

of Clostridium difficile-Ribotype 053 - a new strain with high transmissibility

Characterization of Clostridium difficile ribotype 078 from human

and animal origin

Isolation of Clostridium difficile from domestic and wild avian species

Clinical significance of clostridial bacteremia: a retrospective three-year analysis in a French University Hospital Center

Risk factors for Clostridium difficile infections in an endemic setting

in The Netherlands

Abraham Goorhuis, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, NL