Union Conference on Lung Health 2017

The 48th Union World Conference on Lung Health will assemble in Guadalajara, Mexico, from 11 to 14 October 2017. Researchers, global advocates, civil society, scientists, healthcare professionals and students working on all aspects of lung health will unite under the theme ‘Accelerating Toward Elimination’. The conference will focus on how to accelerate toward elimination on multiple fronts. including tuberculosis (TB) and co-infections, improving tobacco control and reducing air pollution.

---

FIND-NDWG Symposium

Jointly organized by FIND and the New Diagnostics Working Group (NDWG). This year, FIND and NDWG join in convening partners and members at a symposium to be held on 11 October, back-to-back with the Union World Conference on Lung Health.

The symposium provided an overview of the most recent advances in the global TB diagnostics pipeline and reviewed progress made towards ending the TB epidemic.

Date and time: 11 October 2017, 13:00-17:00, Guadalajara, Mexico

Chairpersons:
Catharina Boehme, FIND and Daniela Cirillo, San Raffaele Scientific Institute, NDWG Co-Chairs

AGENDA (Speaker biographies can be viewed here)

Welcome and introduction by Co-Chairs

Session 1 – The global TB diagnostics pipeline: Progress and needs – 13:05-14:00

• Overview and updates on recent developments against needs, Claudia Denkinger, FIND
• The funding gap in TB diagnostics R&D – Results from report on TB research funding trends, Erica Lessem, TAG
• Highlights and new promising technologies:
  • Use of genome-wide expression for diagnosing active TB and potential for non-sputum based diagnosis, Purvesh Khatri, Standford University
  • Potential of cell-free DNA in plasma or urine for rapid detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Niaz Banaei, Stanford University

Session 2 – Supporting development of new tests for LTBI: Recent advances – 14:00-14:45

• Incipient TB assays to support TB elimination: opportunities and challenges, Samuel Schumacher, FIND
• Estimating the impact of a test for incipient TB: preliminary results of a transmission and cost effectiveness model, Suzanne Verver, Erasmus University
• The current landscape of discovery and early development in LTBI and incipient TB, Gavin Churchyard, Aurum Institute

Coffee break – 14:45-15:15

Session 3 – Progress on use of NGS for surveillance, diagnosis and patient management – 15:15-16:00

• Programmatic Implementation of NGS for TB and future plans for the ReSeqTB knowledgebase, Timothy Rodwell, FIND/UCSD
• Predicting susceptibility to first-line drugs: can we phase out phenotypic DST and transition to WGS-led diagnostics? Timothy Walker, Oxford University
• WHO policy update and guidelines on interpretation of mutations, Christopher Gilpin, World Health Organization

Session 4 – Challenges in molecular testing roll-out on a programmatic level – Round table – 16:00-17:00

Panelists will consider how the interpretation of genetic mutations can guide clinical decision for treatment and will share different perspectives about the prospects of scaling up molecular approaches in different settings

Moderator: Martina Casenghi, NDWG Core Group

Panel:

• Stephanie Denamps, CHAI
• Gunta Dravniece, KNCV
• Kathleen England, MSF Access Campaign
• Kaiser Shen, USAID

---

Conference website