Coccidioidomycosis Study Group

Scientific Section II - Immunology

B Cell Depletion Damages Granuloma Formation in a Mouse Model of Coccidioidomycosis
Lisa Shubitz, Daniel Powell, Christine Butkiewicz, Hien Trinh, John Galgiani
University of Arizona, Tucson, USA SLIDES

Identification of Coccidioides spp. Specific T Cell Clones in Naturally Exposed
Pig-tailed Macaques (Macaca Nemestrina)
Allison Harmon¹, Mame Ndiaye¹, Jessica Marshall¹, Paul Phillips¹, Megan Fredericks², Deborah Fuller^2,3, Bridget Barker¹, Paul Keim¹, Erik Settles^{1
1Pathogen and Microbiome Institute; Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, USA. 2Department of Microbiology; University of Washington, Seattle, USA. 3Washington National Primate Research Center, Seattle, USA SLIDES}

Single-cell Transcriptomic Analysis Reveals Unique Patterns of Myeloid Cell Differentiation and Potential Therapeutic Targets During C. Posadasii Infection
Dina Weilhammer, Oscar Davalos, Margarita Rangel, Deepa Murugesh, Nicole Leon, Ashlee Phillips, Aimy Sebastian, Nicholas Hum
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, USA SLIDES

Single-Cell Analysis and Functional Exploration of Human Airway Epithelial Responses to Coccidioides Posadasii Infection
Olivia Hepworth^1,2, Alfred T Harding^3,4, Arianne J Crossen¹, Jennifer L Reedy^1,2, Kyle J Basham¹, Yanting Zhang⁵, Viral S Shah^6,7,8,9, Hannah Brown Harding^1,2, Manalee V Surve^6,7,10, Patricia Simaku¹, Geneva N Kwaku¹, Kirstine Nolling Jensen^1,2, Yohana Otto⁷, Rebecca A Ward¹, George R Thompson 3rd¹¹, Bruce S Klein^12,13,14, Jayaraj Rajagopal^6,7,8,9, Pritha Sen^2,15,16, Adam L Haber⁵, Jatin M Vyas^1,2   SLIDES

^{1Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, USA. 2Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA. 3Institute for Medical Engineering and Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, USA. 4Department of Microbiology, Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, USA. 5Department of Environmental Health, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, USA. 6Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Cambridge, USA. 7Center for Regenerative Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, USA. 8Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, USA. 9Klarman Cell Observatory, Broad Institute of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard, Cambridge, USA. 10Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, USA. 11Division of Infectious Diseases,and Departments of Internal Medicine and Medical Microbiology and Immunology, University of California-Davis, Sacramento, USA. 12Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Wisconsin Madison, Madison, USA. 13Department of Medicine, School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Wisconsin Madison, Madison, USA. 14Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, USA. 15Transplant, Oncology, and Immunocompromised Host Group, Division of Infectious Disease, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, USA. 16Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, USA SLIDES}

Diabetic Mice are More Susceptible to Coccidioides Posadasii Infection, but Protected by a Subunit Vaccine
Matthew Mendoza Barker, Althea Campuzano, Sofia Lozano, Nawal Abdul-Baki, Reimi Navarro, Austin Negron, Jieh-Juen Yu, Astrid Cardona, Chiung-Yu Hung
Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology and South Texas Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases, The University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, USA SLIDES

Multi-Valent DNA Vaccines Encoding Coccidioides Proteins and Potent Genetic Adjuvants Induce Mucosal and Th1 Immune Responses, Afford Protection Against High Dose Challenges with C. Posadasii and Enable The Discovery of Novel Immunogens
Deborah H Fuller^1,2, James T Fuller¹, Daniel Kollath³, Ana Braga³, Phillip M Bohn¹, Sanford E Leake IV¹, Erik Settles³, Bridget Barker^{3
1University of Washington, Seattle, USA. 2Washington National Primate Research Center, Seattle, USA. 3Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, USA SLIDES}

Scientific Section III - Ecology

Updated Ecological Niche Model of Coccidioides Using Compiled Soil Samples

Morgan Gorris¹, Cari Lewis¹, Bridget Barker², Daniel Kollath², Marieke Ramsey², Heather Mead³, Antje Lauer⁴, Hanna Oltean⁵, Adriana Romero-Olivares⁶, Jovani Catalán-Dibene⁶, Yahaira Álvarez-Gandía¹, Kimberly Kaufeld¹, Andrew Bartlow^{1
1Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, USA. 2Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, USA. 3The Translational Genomics Research Institute, Flagstaff, USA. 4California State University Bakersfield, Bakersfield, USA. 5Washington State Department of Health, Shoreline, USA. 6New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, USA SLIDES}

Leveraging Elevation Gradients to Characterize the Distribution of Coccidioides in Southern Utah: A Field and Modeling Study

Emanuel Fonseca^1,2, Katrina Derieg³, Eric Rickart⁴, Evelyn Adams¹, Ammon Miles¹, Bridget Barker⁵, Kevin Perry¹, Katharine S. Walter^{1
1University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA. 2Elfa Analytics, Ponte Nova, Brazil. 3Philip L. Wright Zoological Museum, Missoula, MT, USA. 4Natural History Museum of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA. 5Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ, USA SLIDES}

Temporal Surveillance of Coccidioides in Aerosols and Soils at a Single Location in Arizona

Amelia Stout¹, Marieke L. Ramsey², Daniel R. Kollath², Megan C. Ruby², Bridget M. Barker², Pierre Herckes¹, Matthew Fraser^{1
1Arizona State University, Tempe, USA. 2Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, USA SLIDES}

Multiplexed qPCR Lab-on-Chip Technology and Personal Exposome Tracker for Scalable Environmental Surveillance of Coccidioides

Jeremy Woods¹, Fanqing Chen¹, Allison Zhang², Michael Snyder^{2
1Kelliop, Newark, USA. 2Stanford, Palo Alto, USA SLIDES}

Transcriptomic Atlas of the Morphologic Development of the Fungal Pathogen Coccidioides Reveals Key Phase-Enriched Transcripts

Christina Homer, Mark Voorhies, Keith Walcott, Elena Ochoa, Anita Sil
University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, USA SLIDES

Scientific Section IV - Basic Science

Macrophages Promote the Development of Coccidioides Spores into the Parasitic Morphology

Jane Symington, Apoorva Dabholkar, Bevin English, Mark Voorhies, Anita Sil

UCSF, SF, USA SLIDES

Novel Peptide Drug Demonstrates Anti-Coccidiodes Activity

Sofia Lozano¹, Sarah Saeger¹, Matthew Mendoza Barker¹, Guiseppe Buda de Cesare², Michael Lorenz², Jieh-Juen Yu¹, Chiung-Yu Hung¹

¹University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, USA. ²University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, USA SLIDES

The Coccidioides Tri-factor: Innate Immune Detection of Fungal Conidia, Spherules and Endospores by Macrophages

Ka Pui Sharon Yau¹, Jonathan Rodrigo Erlich¹, Matthew Tate², Janset Onyuru¹, Cameron J. Nowell³, Aaron Carlin¹, Theo Kirkland¹, Josh Fierer^1,4, Hal M. Hoffman¹, Sinem Beyhan², Ben A. Croker¹

¹University of California San Diego, La Jolla, USA. ²J. Craig Venter Insitute, La Jolla, USA. ³Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Parkville, Australia. ⁴VA Medical Center, San Diego, USA SLIDES

Discovery of Novel Seroreactive Antigens for Coccidioides

Megan Koehler¹, Kenta Reilly², Francisca Grill², Lusheng Song¹, Yunro Chung¹, Vel Murugan¹, Joshua LaBaer¹, Marc Orbach³, Janis Blair², Thomas Grys², Douglas Lake¹, D Mitch Magee¹

Scientific Section V - Molecular Biology

Expanding the Known Genomic Diversity of Coccidioides Posadasii Through Whole Genome Sequencing and Comparative Genomics

Jason Sahl¹, Bridget Barker¹, John Galgiani², David Wagner¹, Paul Keim¹, Dawn Birdsell¹, Dan Kollath¹, Irene Ruberto³, Thomas Williamson^{3
1Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, USA. 2University of Arizona, Tucson, USA. 3Arizona Department of Health Services, Phoenix, USA SLIDES}

Ancestry-aware GWAS Identifies Novel Common Variants Associated with Susceptibility to Disseminated Coccidioidomycosis

Samantha L. Jensen¹, Sarah J. Spendlove², Alexis V. Stephens¹, Zhenjie Jin¹, Kangcheng Hou¹, Christa Caggiano³, Ruhollah Shemirani³, Rachel Mester¹, George R. Thompson⁴, Royce H. Johnson^1,5, Arash Heidari^6,7, Rasha Kuran^1,5, Bogdan Pasaniuc¹, Harold Pimentel¹, Manish J. Butte¹, Valerie A. Arboleda^{1
1UCLA, Los Angeles, USA. 2Kaiser Permanente Molecular Genetic Pathology Laboratory, Los Angeles, USA. 3Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York City, USA. 4UC Davis, Davis, USA. 5Kern Medical, Bakersfield, USA. 6Bakersfield Memorial Hospital, Bakersfield, USA. 7Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, USA SLIDES}

Assessing Hierarchical Population Structure Among Coccidioides spp. Across the Americas

Cari Lewis, Morgan Gorris, Kimberly Kaufeld, Andrew Bartlow
Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, USA SLIDES

Coccidioides Genomes from Low-Incidence States Reveal Complex Migration History Across the Western US

Emanuel M. Fonseca^1,2, Adrienne L. Carey³, Bridget Barker⁴, Megan Hirschi³, Kimberly E. Hanson^3,5, Katharine S. Walter^1
1Division of Epidemiology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, USA. ²Elfa Analytics, Ponte Nova, Brazil. ³Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, USA. ⁴Department of Biological Sciences, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, USA. ⁵Department of Pathology, Division of Clinical Microbiology, University of Utah and ARUP Laboratories, Salt Lake City, USA SLIDES

Scientific Section VI - Epidemiology

Testing for Coccidioidomycosis in Hospitalized Patients with Pneumonia Within the Coccidioides-Endemic Area

Janis Blair, Gretchen Taylor
Mayo Clinic, Phoenix, AZ, USA SLIDES

Increasing Cases of Severe Pediatric Coccidioidomycosis From 2000 to 2024: Description and Outcomes at a Tertiary Care Center

Sanchi Malhotra, Kristina Adachi, Paula Arribas, Ishminder Kaur, Paul Krogstad
University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, USA SLIDES

Characteristics of Disseminated Coccidioidomycosis in Pediatric Patients

Sarah Zhang¹, James Woodward^2,1, Wassim Ballan^2,1, Katherine Perry^2,1, Keith Sacco^{2,1
1University of Arizona, College of Medicine-Phoenix, Phoenix, USA. 2Phoenix Children's, Phoenix, USA SLIDES}

Owner Economic Burden of Canine Coccidioidomycosis in Endemic States

Christine Butkiewicz¹, Jane Sykes², Lisa Shubitz^{1
1University of AZ - VFCE, Tucson, USA. 2School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California-Davis, Davis, USA SLIDES}

Delayed Diagnosis and Treatment of Coccidioidomycosis Identified Through Enhanced Surveillance — Riverside County, California, 2024

Bethan Swift^1,2, Amanda Mitry², Wendy Hetherington², Jennifer Chevinsky², Marshare Penny², Barbara Cole^{2
1Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, USA. 2Riverside County Department of Public Health, Riverside, USA SLIDES}

Forecasting the Impact of Hydroclimatic Swings on Coccidioidomycosis Incidence in California

Simon Camponuri¹, Alexandra Heaney², Gail Sondermeyer-Cooksey³, Duc Vugia³, Seema Jain³, Daniel Swain^4,5, John Balmes^1,6, Justin Remais¹, Jennifer Head^{7
1University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, USA. 2University of California, San Diego, San Diego, USA. 3California Department of Public Health, Richmond, USA. 4University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, USA. 5NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, USA. 6University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, USA. 7University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA SLIDES}

Coccidioidomycosis Cases at a Regional Medical Center in West Texas, 2021-2024

Chun Ho Szeto¹, Gloria Erazao Motalvan¹, Thao Do², Trisha Singh¹, Sai Siva Mungara^{1
1Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center at Permain Basin, Odessa, USA. 2Medical Center Hospital, Odessa, USA SLIDES}

^{Refractory Disseminated Coccidioidomycosis with Musculoskeletal Involvement in a 14-Year-Old Effectively Treated with Adjunctive Interferon Gamma} 

Sarah Zhang¹, Keith Sacco^2,1, Michell Lozano Chinga^2,1, Jessica Burns^2,1, Kathryn King^2,1, Scott Osdiek^2,1, Wassim Ballan^2,1, Matthew Smith^2,1, Michelle Ratkiewicz^2,1, James Woodward^2,1, Holly Miller^2,1, Brenna LaBere^{2,1
1University of Arizona, College of Medicine-Phoenix, Phoenix, USA. 2Phoenix Children's, Phoenix, USA SLIDES}