Info
Joint meeting of the 26th Drug Design & Development Seminar (DDDS) 2026
of the German Society for Parasitology (DGP)
& The European Cost Action – CA21111 – “OneHealthDrugs”
“Human and Animal Parasitic Diseases
– Bridging the Innovation Gap“
Connecting human and veterinary health by complementary approaches in medical and veterinary parasitology and medicinal chemistry is important to stimulate One-Health approaches to combat parasitic diseases. The Joint 26th DDDS conference invites scientists and professionals to discuss the challenges and chances of anti-parasitic research. Besides keynote presentations by internationally renowned speakers, oral and poster presentations will be selected from submitted abstracts.
The main topics include but are not limited to:
Target identification, characterization, and validation
Identification of compounds
Synthesis and optimization of lead compounds towards marketable drugs
Testing active compounds in animal models
The seminar will be opened with a welcome reception on Tuesday evening and conclude Friday at noon.
Deadline for registration is November 17th, 2025
Deadline for abstract submission is December 8th, 2025
Provisional Keynote Speakers
Prof. Makedonka Mitreva, PhD: WashU Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases
Prof. Mostafa Zamanian, PhD: University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine
Prof. Guy Caljon, PhD: University of Antwerp
Prof. Britta Lundström-Stadelmann, PhD: University of Bern, Institut für Parasitologie
Prof. Ard Nijhof, PhD: Parasitologie und Tropenveterinärmedizin, Fachbereich Veterinärmedizin
Natacha Gaillard, PhD & Ashwani Verma, PhD: ASTRA Therapeutics
Prof. Lilach Sheiner, PhD: University of Glasgow School of Infection & Immunity
Prof. Dr. Arnold Grünweller: Institut für Pharmazeutische Chemie, Philipps-Universität Marburg
Program
About the Drug Design & Development Seminar (DDDS)
The Drug Design & Development Seminar (DDDS) was founded in 1999 as an active
working group of the German Society for Parasitology, by Prof. Dr. Peter Köhler (Univ. of
Zürich, CH), Prof. Dr. Rolf Walter (BNI, Hamburg, DE), and Prof. Dr. Heiner Schirmer
(Univ. of Heidelberg, DE). Since 2004 Prof. Dr. Paul M. Selzer (Boehringer Ingelheim
Animal Health, Ingelheim, DE) is the coordinator of the DDDS transferring the meeting
into an international well recognized scientific forum.
About the Cost Action CA21111 / OneHealthdrugs
OneHealthdrugs aims to coordinate the discovery of drugs that stop vector-borne
infections in both human and veterinary settings according to the principles of the optimal
profile for both organisms, increasing quality and reducing environmental impact. The
COST Action is a platform aiming at the integration and generation of synergies among
drug R&D experts from the chemical / biological / human / veterinary and earth science
within academies, SMEs, industries, governments. The platform encompasses pre-clinical
drug discovery, animal studies, and drug delivery. Strategies such as bioinformatics,
PROTACs, nanotechnology will be enhanced. OneHealthdrugs impacts in Europe and in
disease-endemic countries. The action provides a compound database and a white chart
about the discovery of new drugs for human and animal infections.
Scientific Board
PD Dr. Simone Häberlein
Justus Liebig University Giessen, Germany
Prof. Dr. Christoph G. Grevelding
Justus Liebig University Giessen, Germany
Prof. Dr. Franco Falcone
Justus Liebig University Giessen, Germany
Prof. Maria Paola Costi, PhD
Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Italy
Prof. Dr. Paul M. Selzer
Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health Ingelheim am Rhein, Germany
Dr. Sandra Noack
Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health Ingelheim am Rhein, Germany
Organizer and Venue
Justus Liebig University Giessen,
Biomedical Research Center Seltersberg (BFS)
Schubertstr. 81
35392 Giessen, Germany
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For arrival & hotel information: see tab Location
Cover images from left to right: Toxoplasma tachyzoites with mitochondria marker in pink, nuclear pore marker in light blue, and DAPI in purple (kindly provided by Lilach Sheiner https://lilachsheiner.wixsite.com/sheinerlab-wtcmp); in vitro cultured metacestodes of Echinococcus multilocularis (Institut für Parasitologie Bern); hatching tick larva (Bastian Gerst, Freie Universität Berlin); immature liver fluke after treatment with a TRPMPZQ agonist (Simone Häberlein, Institut für Parasitologie Giessen)
