We are pleased to announce the first DECIDE Symposium, an international event dedicated to host-directed therapies for human infectious diseases. The symposium, organized by the Collaborative Research Center DECIDE, will take place from March 22 to 24, 2026 in Würzburg, Germany.

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The worldwide rise of multidrug-resistant bacteria and pandemics, such as COVID-19, significantly affects our healthcare systems and societies. While pathogen-targeted therapies have been very effective in fighting infectious diseases, they drive the evolution of resistant microbes and facilitate unrelated diseases by disrupting the protective functions of the microbiota. Additionally, host immune responses can worsen the outcomes of many infectious diseases, like COVID-19. Therefore, solely targeting the pathogen is not always sufficient for successful treatment. Another strategy involves host-directed therapies, which focus on targeting host cellular processes vital for pathogen survival or adjusting immune responses to either strengthen immunity or lower immunopathology. However, we currently understand very little about possible host targets. In particular, the processes that lead from an initially harmless infection to a severe or chronic disease have not been systematically studied. There is a pressing need to identify molecular decision points in the host that control disease progression and outcome.

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The two-day DECIDE symposium includes talks by distinguished national and international speakers to provide a forum for discussing the opportunities and challenges of advancing host-directed therapies for a broader range of infectious diseases.