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Iran J Parasitol
Iran J Parasitol
IJPA
Iranian Journal of Parasitology
1735-7020
2008-238X
Tehran University of Medical Sciences

10.18502/ijpa.v19i3.16400
IJPA-19-379
Congress Report
12th National and 5th International Congress of Parasitology and Parasitic Diseases of Iran (NICOPA XII), Karaj, Iran 2024
Zibaei Mohammad 1 2 *
Heidari Aliehsan 1
1. Department of Parasitology and Mycology, School of Medicine, Alborz University of Medical Sciences, Karaj, Iran
2. Kosar Clinical Research Development Unit, Alborz University of Medical Sciences, Karaj, Iran
* Correspondence Email: zibaeim@sums.ac.ir
Jul-Sep 2024
19 3 379383
15 7 2024
26 7 2024
Copyright © 2024 Zibaei et al. Published by Tehran University of Medical Sciences.
2024
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/). Non-commercial uses of the work are permitted, provided the original work is properly cited.
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pmcReport

In May 2024, the Iranian Society of Parasitology (ISP) held the 12th National and 5th International Congress of Parasitology and Parasitic Diseases (NICOPA 12) at Alborz University of Medical Sciences (ABZUMS), Karaj City, the capital of Alborz Province, central Iran (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1: Announcement poster of the 12th National and 5th International Congress of Parasitology and Parasitic Diseases of Iran (NICOPA 12)

The program was organized by Dr. Hossein Keshavarz (Professor, ISP Chairperson), Dr. Mohammad Zibaei (Professor, Scientific Secretary), Dr. Alihasan Heidari (Professor, Executive Secretary), and Dr. Mohammad-Bagher Rokni (Professor, International Secretary) together with a scientific committee including most of the Iranian senior parasitologists in addition to board members of the ISP (Fig. 2).

Fig. 2: Some members of the Organizing Committee of the 12th NICOPA

During this three day congress, over 650 scientists from Iran and 8 other countries came together to present the latest advances and transformative sciences on the Parasitology and parasitic diseases. At NICOPA 12, there was a strong emphasis on highlighting the achievements of young parasitologists who had made major advances in diagnosis and treatment. Participants were invited to submit scientific contributions, as oral presentations or posters (January 10 to March 10, 2024). After evaluation of the 503 received abstracts, the scientific committee selected 80 of them for oral presentations, and accepted 370 as posters.

The congress program was organized into the following sessions: Epidemiology of parasitic diseases, parasitic zoonosis, clinical Parasitology, food Parasitology, classical and new aspects of diagnosing parasitic diseases, molecular Parasitology, Pathology and Immunology of parasitic diseases, parasitic diseases transmitted by insects, Paleoparasitology, treatment of parasitic diseases and the use of parasites in the treatment of various diseases. After the congress, all authors of scientific contributions were invited to prepare and submit their abstracts to be evaluated for publication as proceeding in Iranian Journal of Parasitology (IJP) Supplementary.

One of the important points of this congress is the plenary lectures from top national and international scientists as follows: Dr. Mohammad Zeinali (Vice Chancellery for Health, Ministry of Health and Medical Education, Iran): Description and investigation of the situation of parasitic diseases in Iran.

Dr. Mohammad Javad Gharavi (Professor, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Iran): The use of artificial intelligence on the laboratory diagnosis of parasites.

Dr. Seyed Mahmoud Sadjjadi (Professor, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Iran): The current state of medical Parasitology in Iran and the compilation of a road map and future development.

Dr. Abdolreza Salahi-Moghadam (Emeritus Professor, Iran): GIS as ecoparasitological studies methods.

Dr. Gholamreza Mowlavi (Professor, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Iran): Paleoparasitology and interpretation of parasitological findings in the time trend.

Dr. Jean Dupouy-Camet (Honorary Professor of Paris Cité University, France): One Health and parasitic infections.

In the congress, three workshops were organized. A workshop on “How to write a scientific paper?” presented by Prof. Mohammad-Bagher Rokni, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran (TUMS) based on his considerable and practical experience as editor of the Iran J Parasitol and Iran J Public Health. This workshop was welcomed by young researchers. Another workshop with the topic “Getting to know how to design primers and probes and using appropriate design tools” by Dr. Ahmad Hosseini-Safa, Iran University of Medical Sciences provided general guidelines for designing primers and probes and choosing target locations for amplification. Finally, the third workshop titled “MEGA 11 software training for drawing a phylogenetic tree” was presented by Mr. Ehsan Javanmard, Ph.D student of Parasitology at TUMS.

During the congress, the scientific and executive secretaries of the congress were honored by the Iranian Society of Parasitology (Fig. 3). In addition, the ISP gave 10 awards to those young researchers that presented the best oral and poster works.

Fig. 3: (A) The Scientific Secretary (Dr. Mohammad Zibaei, right) and the Executive Secretary (Dr. Aliehsan Heidari, left) of the Congress from ABZUMS were honored by the ISP Executive Board Members (B)

In brief, the ISP together with ABZUMS held a high quality and successful congress, complemented by social activities such as visit to sights and attractions, and guided to historical places in Alborz Province. Newspapers, radio and television of Alborz Province showed a great interest in the congress. Eventually, the congress closed with a commemorative photo of the participants (Fig. 4).

Fig. 4: Group photo of NICOPA 12 participants
