PLENARY SESSIONS

Biogeochemical Cycling: Past, Present and Future

8:15 a.m. - 10:45 a.m.

Conveners:
ALEXANDRA Z. WORDEN; Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, Moss Landing, CA
STEPHEN GIOVANNONI; Oregon State University, Corvalis, OR

Invited Speakers:
DAVID T. JOHNSTON; Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
BESS WARD; Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, Procter & Gamble Award in Applied Environmental Microbiology Award
KAREN CASCIOTTI; Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA
MARY ANN MORAN; University of Georgia, Athens, GA
E. VIRGINIA ARMBRUST; University of Washington, Seattle, WA

Description:
The Earth’s climate and biogeochemical cycles are entering a period of accelerated change as the result of human activities. Microbial evolution has been driven by energy from light and biogeochemical transformations, and in turn, microorganisms have shaped the evolution of biogeochemical cycles. This symposium addresses new knowledge about modern microbial ecosystems and the impact that information is having on our understanding of geochemical history. Technological advances, including next generation sequencing and the improved scope and resolution of isotopic analyses are yielding insights into the evolution of microbial metabolism and the complex arrangements of metabolic processes into networks of community interaction. These advancements are also facilitating reconstruction of ancient patterns of change in geochemical cycles from the geological record as well as discoveries on present day activities of individual taxa. How does this new information impact our understanding of past, present and possible future scenarios of geochemical change? This session will explore fundamental elemental cycles such as the sulfur, nitrogen and carbon cycles and address new insights on the evolution and ecology of key taxa. At a broader level, we will discuss how these cycles, and the complex microbial interactions that mediate them, operate in modern times as well as perspectives on past and future times.

Interrogating the Genome

8:15 a.m. – 10:45 a.m.

Convener:
CAROL GROSS; University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA

Invited Speakers:
ALEXANDER D. JOHNSON; University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
RACHEL BREM; University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA
HANA EL-SAMAD; University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
CHRISTOPHER LEE; University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
CAROL A. GROSS; University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA

Description:
The proliferation of sequence data provides an enormous opportunity to enhance our understanding of biological systems. Functional genomics utilizes sequence information to accelerate our understanding of gene function and pathway construction using a variety of technologies. The speakers in this session are at the forefront of these emerging approaches, including evolutionary genomics, genome-scale phenotyping and examining decision making at the cellular scale. Participants will not only be exposed to new fields, but are likely to get new ideas for their own research.

Microbes Trigger and Shape Immunity

8:15 a.m. - 10:45 a.m.

Convener:
SARKIS MAZMANIAN; California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA

Invited Speakers:
AKIKO IWASAKI; Yale University, New Haven, CT, Eli Lilly and Company Research Award
SARKIS MAZMANIAN; California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA
SAMUEL MILLER; University of Washington, Seattle, WA
CHARLES BEVINS; University of California-Davis, Davis, CA
JEFF WEISER; University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, Division D Lecturer

Description:
Mucosal surfaces are colonized by microbes that both promote and interact with the immune system. This session will focus on mucosal interactions and how microbes promote and alter the development of the immune system. Bacteria occupy nearly every niche in ecology. Animals are no exception: almost every environmentally exposed surface of the body is colonized with bacteria. Although adversely affected by bacterial infections (whose occurrence is relatively rare given the ubiquity of bacterial colonization), mammals have developed an essential requirement for association with bacteria. Adaptive co-evolution has guided this dynamic molecular conversation for millennia. However, the mechanism(s) employed by pathogenic and symbiotic bacteria to network with the immune system are only now being revealed. This symposium will bring together leading experts in the growing field of understanding how microbes shape their immune environment during both infections and symbiosis.

One Health: Humans, Animals and the Environment

8:15 a.m. – 10:45 a.m.

Conveners:
STANLEY MALOY; San Diego State University, San Diego, CA
RONALD ATLAS; University of Louisville, Louisville, KY

Invited Speakers:
PATRICIA CONRAD; University of California, Davis, Davis, CA. Division Z Lecturer
IAN LIPKIN; Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY
NIKOS GURFIELD; County of San Diego, San Diego, CA
MYRON M. LEVINE; University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, Maurice Hilleman/Merck Award

Description:
The health of humans, animals, and the environment are inextricably interconnected. Disruption of the environment often creates new niches for the evolution of infectious diseases, and provides opportunities for the transmission of pathogens to animals or humans. The majority of infectious diseases that affect humans are acquired from animals. The ease and speed of travel makes it possible for a new human disease acquired from the environment or animals in one part of the world to rapidly spread to the rest of the world. Animals also often acquire infectious diseases from humans. Thus, human health depends upon health of animals and the environment. However, the fields of human and veterinary medicine and environmental sciences often fail to recognize this linkage. The panel will address these issues and discuss the impact of the One Health concept on the future of human and veterinary medicine and environmental policy.

Unseen Forces: Microbes Shape Animal Biology

8:15 a.m. - 10:45 a.m.

Conveners:
MICHAEL HADFIELD; University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI
MARGARET MCFALL-NGAI; University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI

Invited Speakers:
MICHAEL HADFIELD; University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI
NICOLE KING; University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA
THOMAS BOSCH; Christian-Albrechts University-Kiel, Kiel, Germany
TOMISLAV DOMAZET-LOSO; Ruder Boskovic Institute, Zabreg, Croatia
ANGELA DOUGLAS; Cornell University, Ithaca, NY

Description:
Research in microbiology over the last 20 years has convincingly demonstrated that the vast diversity of life is microbial, and that the evolution of plants and animals during the most recent 20% of the earth's history has occurred as a patina upon a microbe-dominated landscape. In addition, emerging data are revealing that, to maintain their health and the stability of their associated ecosystems, plants and animals require coevolved interactions with the microbial world. Integration of these recent and seminal discoveries across the discipline of biology is critical for all aspects of the life sciences, from evolutionary to biomedical to environmental biology; however, such a revolution in thought will be impossible without important changes in the basic fabric of the discipline. Specifically, over the last 50 years subspecialties have taken highly divergent trajectories. The resulting intellectual 'siloing', together with the current structures of departments and professional societies, has made it increasingly difficult to create the kind of synthetic approaches essential to biology in the 21st century. This plenary session highlights the efforts of an international group of scientists, working through the NSF-supported National Evolutionary Synthesis Center, to define mechanisms by which to catalyze this change in conceptual framework in biology.

SYMPOSIA

Best Practices in STI Testing for HIV, Syphilis, GC and Chlamydia

8:15 a.m. - 10:45 a.m.

Conveners:
MUHAMMAD MORSHED; University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C., Canada
MICHAEL PENTELLA; State Hygienic Laboratory, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA

Invited Speakers:
KAREN HOOVER; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA
BARBARA VAN DER POL; Indiana University, Bloomington, IN
MARK PANDORI; San Francisco Department of Public Health, San Francisco, CA
MICHELE OWEN; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA
HARALD KESSLER;Medical University of Graz, Steria, Austria

Description:
Sexually transmitted infection is one of the key areas in the infectious disease arena. This session will provide current knowledge on best practices for HIV, Syphilis, Gonorrhea (GC) and Chlamydia tracomatis (CT) testing. The proposed session will address global controversies in the selection of syphilis screening algorithm, key questions and more refined guidelines in the context of recent CDC guidelines. The audience will also be able to get current updates on CT/GC diagnosis and their treatment efficacy along with growing resistance problems. The latest rapid HIV test methodologies and need to have quality systems in place will be discussed along with challenges of HIV I and HIV II viral load quantification in the context of growing non-B HIV subtypes in patient mix. In addition, this session will address new classes of antiretroviral drugs which are requiring an extension of genotyping menu - what technological advances are in the horizon for diagnosis and patient management.

Diagnostic and Therapeutic Implications of Novel Mechanisms of Resistance

8:15 a.m. – 10:45 a.m.

Convener:
UPINDER SINGH; Stanford University, Stanford, CA

Invited Speakers:
THEODORE C. WHITE; University of Missouri-Kansas City, Kansas City, MO
ROBERT SHAFER; Stanford University, Stanford, CA
PRADIPSINH RATHOD; University of Washington, Seattle, WA
STANLEY DERESINSKI; Stanford University, Stanford, CA
PATRICE COURVALIN; Institut Pasteur, Paris, France, Division C Lecturer and BD Award for Research in Clinical Microbiology

Description:
With a kick-off introduction on the world-wide scourge of bacterial resistance and dissemination from one of the world’s foremost authorities on the subject, Dr. Patrice Courvalin, winner of this year’s Becton-Dickinson award, the session will focus on some of the current major issues regarding microbial resistance.  How has genetic sequencing enhanced our ability to predict resistance in HIV and improve treatment for AIDS?   What are the tools needed to combat the spreading threat of drug-resistant malaria?  What is happening in the realm of antifungals for Candida and related yeast?  The final presentation will present series of instructive true patient cases involving resistant organisms.  This symposium will focus on the academic work that underlies development of new diagnostic and therapeutic modalities and the current practical implications for clinicians on the frontline of encountering resistant organisms in their patients.

Getting By or Getting Along? Multidisciplinary Cases in Enhancing Patient Care from the Laboratory to the Bedside

8:15 a.m. - 10:45 a.m.

Convener:
COLLEEN S. KRAFT; Emory University, Atlanta, GA

Invited Speakers:
JESSE T. JACOB; Emory University, Atlanta, GA
COLLEEN S. KRAFT; Emory University, Atlanta, GA
CINDY B. MCCLOSKEY; University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, OK
JEROD L. NAGEL; University of Michigan Health System, Ann Arbor, MI
DUANE W. NEWTON; University of Michigan Health System, Ann Arbor, MI

Description:
Do you feel as though you speak a different language than the individuals who utilize your clinical laboratory? Are you sometimes concerned about when and how issues are raised and feel that the important questions are never considered? During this interactive symposium, a multidisciplinary group from different institutions will present representative cases with perspectives from the infection preventionist, the pharmacist, the clinician, and the laboratorian. Topics that will be discussed include: 1) instituting changes in antimicrobial susceptibility testing and reporting, 2) the laboratory role in infection prevention, 3) assessment and introduction of new laboratory tests, 4) pre-analytical process improvement, and 5) coordination between clinical and public health laboratories. The presentations will focus on decision making and interaction with other providers including physicians, pharmacists, and hospital administration.

The Gut Microbiome: Using the "Rest of the Story" to Inform Patient Care

8:15 a.m. - 10:45 a.m.

Conveners:
DAVID W. CRAFT; Hershey Medical Center, Hershey, PA
JONATHAN M. ZENILMAN; Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, Baltimore, MD

Invited Speakers:
DAVID W. CRAFT; Hershey Medical Center, Hershey, PA
BENJAMIN C. KIRKUP; Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Silver Spring, MD
JONATHAN M. ZENILMAN; Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, Baltimore, MD
MARTIN J. BLASER; NYU School of Medicine, New York, NY
JAMES VERSALOVIC; Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children's Hospital, Houston, TX

Description:
The microbial ecology of the human gastrointestinal tract is the foundational discipline of the NIH Human Microbiome Project. Simultaneously, the rising incidence of community and nosocomially acquired gastrointestinal tract infections has inspired new technology and practices in the clinical microbiology laboratory and has increasingly reformed infection control practice in the hospital setting. The clinical microbiology lab is challenged to provide diagnostic support of therapeutic decisions in which best practices are dictated by the phenotypic isolation and identification of an infectious etiology from a GI tract sample with a complex and varied microbial ecology. This seminar will provide insight into the best practices and constraints of current diagnostic laboratory capability and potential solutions from the human microbiome research bench. This forum should also provide an excellent opportunity for discourse between the clinical microbiologist and those basic science researchers and clinicians pursuing an understanding of the diagnostic and therapeutic implications of the human microbiome and the potential for changing laboratory practice, clinical algorithms, therapeutic decisions and infection control practice.

New Technology: Is the Juice Worth the Squeeze?

8:15 a.m. – 10:45 a.m.

Conveners:
ROBERTA CAREY; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA

Invited Speakers:
MIKE RYAN; NY Department of Health, Wadsworth Center, Albany, NY
NATHAN LEDEBOER; Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI
CHRISTINE GINOCCHIO; North Shore-Long Island Health System Laboratories, New Hyde Park, NY
RICHARD L. HODINKA; Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA
GROVER SMITH; WakeMed Health & Hospitals, Raleigh, NC

Description:
Everyone would like to do the newest methodology and have the most current technology and toys in their lab. However new technologies come with a price beyond the actual instrument. They must be validated sufficiently, staff must be trained, specific regulatory requirements, such as those with laboratory developed tests, add to the complexity of introducing a new test methodology. Beside economic concerns, one must prove that this new test will impact patient care and improve outcome. Is the juice worth the squeeze in the end? This symposium will focus on understanding how to plan and implement new diagnostic technologies and how to evaluate the costs in resources, personnel, and documentation attached to making this decision.

Special Interest Session

A Century of Bacteriophages

11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

Developed by the Center for the History of Microbiology/ASM Archives

Invited Speakers:
WILLIAM C. SUMMERS; Yale University, New Haven, CT

Description:
This is the annual History of Microbiology Lecture, sponsored by the Center for the History of Microbiology/ASM Archives. Bacteriophages were first recognized by Felix d'Herelle in 1916, but his first encounter with their effects was in 1911-1912 when he noted "cultural irregularities" of interest when he was studyingCoccobacillus acridiorum. Thus, one can reasonably claim that 2012 might be the centennial of the bacteriophage phenomenon. The history of phage is one that is embedded in the study of epizootics: phage are infections of bacterial populations. This early focus quickly led d'Herelle to employ them as antibacterial agents, just as he was using C. acridioruman anti-locust epizootic infection. The first third of the century of phage was devoted to this therapeutic application of these biological antibiotics. In the middle third of its history, phage were studied as biological objects in their own right. The "nature" of phage was central to the development of modern molecular biology and understanding of the so-called "central dogma." Phages have played a central role in gene engineering and biotechnology, based on this knowledge. In more recent years, attention has returned to the role phages play in diseases and large and small ecosystems. This lecture will provide a chronology of the past century of phage research, but also highlight changing emphasis, changing styles of research, and changing importance of research questions, all related to the ubiquitous bacteriophage.

Best Practices for Rapid and Emerging Diagnostic Techniques

3:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.

Conveners:
JAYNE B. MORROW; National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD
STEPHEN A. MORSE; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA

Invited Speakers:
JAMES MUSSER; The Methodist Hospital Research Institute, Houston, TX
JOHN F. GRIFFITH; Southern California Coastal Water Research Project, Costa Mesa, CA
JEFFREY T. FOSTER; Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ
JORDAN PECCIA; Yale University, New Haven, CT

Description:
Rapid and emerging diagnostics are changing the way we see microbes and how we treat disease. The focus of this session will be to discuss current best practices for integrating new technological capabilities and methods to address complex environmental, food, water, security and clinical diagnostic needs. Talks will provide high level guidance on the implementation of controls for analytical method, process performance and results interpretation. Invited speakers will provide examples of implementation of controls for gauging the measurement performance of new and emerging techniques (genomics methods and next generation sequencing) as well as comparisons of new techniques to traditional methods.

Chromosome Structure and Dynamics

3:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.

Convener:
SANKAR ADHYA; National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD

Invited Speakers:
STEVEN D. GOODMAN; University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
ANDREW A. TRAVERS; MRC-LMB, Cambridge, United Kingdom
JASON BRICKNER; Northwestern University, Chicago, IL

Description:
The recent explosion in technology has resulted in the accumulation of immense amounts of information relating to patterns of gene expression in both bacteria and eukaryotes but has left largely unanswered the central question of how these patterns of gene expression are related to the 3D organization and dynamics of the chromosome. To answer this question requires knowledge of the 3D structure of the chromosome and of how this structure might influence gene expression. In both bacteria and eukaryotes there is strong evidence that the chromosomal DNA does not exist as a random jumble but instead is organized into discrete regions - in bacteria these approximate to the macrodomains and in eukaryotes to chromosomal territories. We believe that the greatest advances in the understanding of gene expression in future years will come from an integration of the structural, bioinformatic and biochemical approaches to this problem. The subject remains one of the most important remaining questions in biology and this session will explore the concept that the information for forming an ordered chromatin structure is encoded in the DNA genome itself, and will enable the establishment of a coherent framework of concepts relating to how different regions of the DNA genome communicate with each other.

The Continuing Plague of Foodborne-associated Outbreaks

3:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.

Convener:
JOHN BESSER; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA

Invited Speakers:
KAYE WACHSMUTH; International Public Health Consultant, DeLand, FL, Gen-Probe Joseph Public Health Award
JOHN BESSER; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA
ERIC BROWN; Food and Drug Administration, College Park, MD
COLLETTE FITZGERALD; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA
ANGELA SPIVEY; McGuire Woods, LLC, Atlanta, GA

Description:
Foodborne illnesses outbreaks are occurring at what seems to be an increasing frequency. Detection, prevention and control of foodborne illness and outbreaks involves multiple levels of laboratories and scientists from multiple disciplines. Attendees of this symposium will hear from scientific experts in this area who will discuss new technologies, capabilities, developments and future challenges. Legal issues involving foodborne outbreaks will be described by a widely known and accomplished personal injury and products liability attorney.

Cooperation and Conflict in Microbes

3:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.

Convener:
E. TOBY KIERS; Institute of Ecological Science, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Invited Speakers:
E. TOBY KIERS; Institute of Ecological Science, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, Netherlands
STUART A. WEST; University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
JOAN E. STRASSMANN; Washington University, St. Louis, St. Louis, MO

Description:
The evolution of cooperation and cheating in microbes has received much theoretical and empirical attention in recent years. Microbes practice a variety of social behaviors involving complex systems of cooperation and communication. Why do microorganisms engage in these behaviors given that cooperative individuals can be exploited by selfish cheaters? Microbes provide novel experimental opportunities to answer this and other long-standing problems in evolution, such as horizontal transmission of genes and communication to coordinate cooperation. Understanding cooperation among microbes may shed light on the origin of multicellular life, and allow us to maximize benefits microbes provide to their hosts, such as agricultural plants. Understanding other kinds of cooperation can help us determine why pathogenic microbes become more deadly. Work in this area has demonstrated the importance of microbe relatedness, kin discrimination, and competition between relatives in driving the evolution of microbe behavior. Our understanding of the social lives of microbes has been revolutionized in the past decade; this symposium will explore these exciting advances.

CRISPR Interference: RNA-directed Adaptive Immunity in Bacteria and Archaea

3:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.

Convener:
LUCIANO A. MARRAFFINI; The Rockefeller University, New York, NY

Invited Speakers:
RODOLPHE BARRANGOU; Danisco, USA, Inc., Madison, WI
EMMANUELLE CHARPENTIER; Umea University, Umea, Sweden
KONSTANTIN SEVERINOV; Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, NJ

Description:
In recent years, clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) loci have been revealed to encode a novel genetic interference mechanism that uses small guide RNA molecules to defend archaea and bacteria from bacteriophage and plasmid invasion. This pathway also constitutes a primitive adaptive immune system, plays a fundamental role in the evolution of prokaryotes and has potential for both industrial and biomedical applications. In this symposium we will discuss (1) recent advances in our understanding of the mechanism of CRISPR interference and (2) the impact of CRISPR loci on lateral gene transfer and the evolution of bacteria. The symposium will provide a perspective on the present and future of this exciting field.

Downsides of Really Sensitive (and Not So Sensitive) New Technologies

3:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.

Convener:
DANIEL S. SHAPIRO; University of Nevada School of Medicine, Reno, NV

Invited Speakers:
DANIEL S. SHAPIRO; University of Nevada School of Medicine, Reno, NV
BRIAN WICKES; University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio, San Antonio, TX
JULIE R. HARRIS; Centers for Disease Control, Atlanta, GA

Description:
This symposium will discuss the problems that are inherent in depending upon nucleic acid testing in clinical microbiology. These include: 1.) Lack of having a living organism with which to perform susceptibility testing (e.g., Neisseria gonorrhoeae) . 2.) "Noise" in 16S rRNA gene sequence databases resulting in inaccuracy in bacterial identification. 3.) Inability to distinguish species solely on the basis of 16S rRNA gene sequences (e.g., E. coli vs. Shigella). 4.) Need to use additional gene sequences (e.g., for mycobacterial identification). 5.) Persistence of the nucleic acid in killed organisms; thus a "test of cure" cannot be depended upon (e.g., Neisseria gonorrhoeae). 6.) Difficulty in validating multiplex assays that include uncommon or novel pathogens (e.g., various uncommonly sought viruses in multiplex respiratory panels). 7.) Susceptibility testing with genotypes: a moving target and potentially an issue with intellectual property. 8.) Small volume of sample used may result in missing a low number of organisms present. 9.) Technologist practices, moving into a STAT lab (non-microbiologists), and collection site contamination.

Ecology and Evolution of Unicellular Eukaryotes

3:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.

Convener:
NICOLE KING; University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA

Invited Speakers:
NICOLE KING; University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA
LAURA KATZ; Smith College, Northhampton, MA, Division X Lecturer
THOMAS RICHARDS; Natural History Museum, London, United Kingdom

Description:
The unicellular eukaryotes, long overshadowed by research on the plants and animals, have a deep evolutionary history and diverse ecological strategies. This session aims to address recent advances in the study of these fascinating organisms, from multiple branches of the tree of life – including the closest living relatives of animals, aquatic fungi and fungal-like microbial eukaryotes and other lineages. New insights will be presented regarding the ability of some unicellular eukaryotes to distinguish germline and somatic genomes, phylogenetic relationships among diverse enigmatic taxa, genome organization and evolution, and inter-species interactions.

Enviable Microbial Powers to Tap Earth's Energy

3:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.

Conveners:
ANTJE BOETIUS; Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Bremerhaven, Germany
JOSEPH GRABER; U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Biological and Environmental Research, Washington, DC

Invited Speakers:
ANTJE BOETIUS; Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Bremerhaven, Germany
JENNIFER PETT-RIDGE; Lawrence Livermore Natl. Lab., Livermore, CA
LARS PETER NIELSEN; Aarhus University, Department of Biological Sciences, Aarhus, Denmark

Description:
Microorganisms drive biogeochemical cycles of carbon, nitrogen and sulfur on Earth. They are responsible for a significant proportion of Earth's biomass, for remineralization of organic matter, and for significant fluxes of several important climate-active gases, including CO₂, N₂O and CH₄. Bacteria and Archaea have evolved a plethora of metabolic pathways to tap Earth's energy, allowing them to live literally everywhere, and influencing substantially the chemistry that appear like visionary engineering solutions to humans' ever-increasing need for sustainable energy. These include for example generating hydrogen from sunlight, making fertilizer from air, and biofuel from cellulose, recycling refractory detritus to energy-rich food, switching from methane to hydrogen fuel cells, tapping the diffuse electricity of the seabed, and many more. Progress in this field is based on new technologies for the sensing of microbial processes on scales from cells to communities, improved insight into genomic functions, and interdisciplinary advances at the interface of physics, chemistry and biology. Studies presented will include examples from terrestrial and marine environments, with a focus on environmental microbiology and community ecology.

Evolution and Development of the Microbiome

3:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.

Conveners:
MARIA GLORIA DOMINGUEZ-BELLO; University of Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico
RUTH LEY; Cornell University, Ithaca, NY

Invited Speakers:
RUTH LEY; Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
MARIA GLORIA DOMINGUEZ-BELLO; University of Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico
STEPHAN SCHUSTER; Penn State University, State College, PA

Description:
Our understanding of the development of the microbiome within a host, as well as the evolution of the microbiome both within the human species and more broadly throughout the mammals, is now being profoundly transformed by studies collecting thousands of sequences from each of thousands of samples. In this session, we highlight these recent studies that aim at understanding the human microbiome from an evolutionary and ecological view, including comparative studies among human groups and among vertebrates, and the evolution of individual members of the microbiome. The session will thus offer an especially broad and multidisciplinary view of the microbiome, which will go far beyond the knowledge gained in the individual fields of clinical microbiology, microbial ecology, and genomics to provide a broad synthesis.

Expanding the Metabolic Blueprint

3:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.

Convener:
MECKY POHLSCHRÖDER; University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA

Invited Speakers:
JOSEPH KRZYCKI; The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, Division K Lecturer
DANIEL AMADOR-NOGUEZ; Princeton University, Princeton, NJ
BERNHARD PALSSON; University of California, San Diego, San Diego, CA, Promega Biotechnology Research Award

Description:

Our understanding of microbial physiology and metabolism is being revolutionized by genome enabled and systems biology approaches. These approaches combined with traditional microbial physiology and genetic studies are providing an unprecedented view into the novel biochemistry of microbes, and the complexity of their metabolic networks. This session will highlight several major advances in the field. Attendees will learn about pyrrolysine, the twenty-second amino acid, which is necessary for all known pathways of methane formation from methylamines by methanogenic Archaea and which redefines the genetic code of Archaea. The ground-breaking use of metabolomics to study metabolic transitions in bacterial systems will also be addressed. One focus will be the regulation of the acidogenic-solventogenic transition in C. acetobutylicum. Finally, systems biology has led to the formulation of mechanistic metabolic genotype-phenotype relationships for microbes. The last talk will summarize this development that has been 15 years in the making including the basic and applied uses of such relationships.

Microbiology Literature Review 2012

3:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.

Convener:
ROBIN PATEL; Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN

Invited Speakers:
FERRIC C. FANG; University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA
ROBIN PATEL; Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN
BETTY A. FORBES; Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center, Richmond, VA
WENDY ARMSTRONG; Emory University, Atlanta, GA

Description:
This session will review the microbiology literature from the past year, highlighting some of the most notable manuscripts dealing with pathogenesis, epidemiology, vaccines, diagnostics, and therapeutics.

The Microbiome of Nature's Vampires: Roles in Health and Disease

3:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.

Conveners:
JOERG GRAF; University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT
CLAY FUQUA; Indiana University, Bloomington, IN

Invited Speakers:
CLAY FUQUA; Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, Division I Lecturer
JOERG GRAF; University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT
SHANNON BENNETT; California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, CA

Description:
Animals such as ticks, leeches and mosquitoes feed on blood, giving them the unique ability to directly inject microbes into the animals they feed on. As blood is deficient in key nutrients, such as vitamin B, symbiotic bacteria are considered critical in providing these to the host. In this symposium, we will present both sides of these interactions, the human pathogens and the microbiome. The pathogens can be interlopers that utilize sangivorous animals as a vector or members of the microbiome that are opportunistic pathogens. The Division I lecture by Dr. Clay Fuqua will focus on the diversity and dynamics of endogenous microbial communities of ixodid ticks and their potential impact on pathogen transmission. The contribution of the medicinal leech microbiome to host physiology and its potential to cause wound infections during leech therapy will be explored. In the next invited lecture, the evolution of the mosquito-transmitted dengue virus during epidemics will be described. Additional talks covering other aspects of microbes associated with blood-feeding animals will be selected from the abstracts.

New Biological Questions Brought by Species Pangenomes

3:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.

Conveners:
LAURENCE ROHMER; University of Washington, Seattle, WA
MICHAEL A. JACOBS; University of Washington, Seattle, WA

Invited Speakers:
LAURENCE ROHMER; University of Washington, Seattle, WA
CHRISTINE CITTI; Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, Toulouse, France, Division G Lecturer
DAVID USSERY; Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, Denmark

Description:
High-throughput sequencing is radically changing the way we do research in biology. This session will discuss the utilization of genome sequences to tackle questions that could not be answered with traditional techniques and is aimed at communicating to biologists the potential of these new methods. More specifically, the role of high-throughput sequencing is particularly important to investigate the relationship between bacteria and their environment. The analysis of species pan-genomes is uncovering new information about functions necessary for bacteria to thrive in given habitats. In addition, the impact of an environment on bacterial evolution can now easily be followed by massive parallel sequencing, both in laboratory and environmental conditions. For example, this brings novel insight on the advent and unfolding of pathogens outbreaks and bacterial resistance to antibiotics. Hence these new approaches show great potential to drive new discoveries in medical microbiology and environmental microbiology.

Parallels in Innate Immune Responses to Bacterial and Viral Infections

3:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.

Convener:
LOU LAIMINS; Northwestern University, Chicago, IL

Invited Speakers:
RUSSELL VANCE; University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA
LOU LAIMINS; Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, Division S Lecturer
JOHN PATTON; National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Bethesda, MD, Division T Lecturer

Description:
Both bacteria and viruses need to evade innate immune surveillance to establish productive infections. There exist many similarities in how viruses and bacteria target innate immune surveillances as well as significant differences and these will be highlighted in this session. This topic will be of great interest to the members attending the ASM meeting, as it will address important mechanisms used by viruses and bacteria in microbial pathogenesis.

Phagocytes: Heroes and Victims of Infection

3:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.

Convener:
MARY O’RIORDAN; University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI

Invited Speakers:
DANIEL PORTNOY; University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, Division E Lecturer
PETER MURRAY; St. Judes Children’s Research Hospital, Memphis, TN
MARY O’RIORDAN; University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI

Description:
Phagocytes, such as macrophages, are early responders to microbial invasion, and play a pivotal role in the outcome of infection. These innate immune cells have potent anti-microbial functions triggered by recognition of microbial components. Phagocytes are also essential for educating other cells in the immune system to stimulate effective immunity. However, macrophages can be targeted by pathogens to serve as reservoirs of microbial replication or to derail signaling, resulting in unproductive systemic immune responses. This session will elucidate molecular mechanisms that regulate early interactions of phagocytes with invading pathogens, providing a framework for interpreting the more complex consequences of infection.

Small Words, Big Impact: Intercellular Communication Among Bacteria

3:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.

Convener:
MICHAEL J. FEDERLE; University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL

Invited Speakers:
E. PETER GREENBERG; University of Washington, Seattle, WA, D.C. White Research and Mentoring Award
MATTHEW NEIDITCH; University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Newark, NJ
VANESSA SPERANDIO; University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX

Description:
Bacterial cell-to-cell communication, commonly referred to as quorum sensing, is now recognized to be a common means by which bacteria coordinate gene regulation and group behavior. The types of processes continue to expand, and includes control of multi-species biofilm development, bistability in population dynamics, and biowarfare between species. Regulation of cell-cell communication is also fascinating and can involve multiple signaling molecules, small regulatory RNAs, and intracellular second-messenger compounds. Important questions to explore include: how diverse is the bacterial chemical lexicon, how are signals delivered between cells, how are they detected robustly, how is information encoded in molecules transformed into a response, what is the set of processes controlled by communication, how did these collective behaviors evolve and how do they avoid exploitation, can communication be interrupted or manipulated for medical or industrial purposes?