2015 Microbial Adhesion and Signal Transduction Gordon Research Conference and Seminar

Gordon Research Conferences, East Greenwich RI

Investigators

Abstract

? DESCRIPTION (provided by the applicant): The Gordon Research Conference on Microbial Adhesion and Signal Transduction is a premier international scientific conference that brings together researchers with a shared interest in understanding the diverse mechanisms bacteria have evolved to interact with the environment, each other and with animal hosts. The meeting is held biennially at Salve Regina University in Newport, Rhode Island. The 2015 meeting will be held July 26-31. The meeting will focus on scientific questions on how microbes sense, respond, colonize, and eventually spread in both the environment and in host organisms. Attendees will include an equal distribution of independent investigators, post-doctoral scholars, and graduate students. Genetic, biochemical, immunological and structural biology approaches will all be represented. There will be nine seminar sessions with session leaders that will provide an overview of the topic and stimulate discussion from the attendees.The 2015 meeting will be chaired by Matthew R Parsek (University of Washington), with the assistance of Joerg Vogel (University of Wuertzburg), and the elected Vice-chairs Nina Salama (Fred Hutchison Research Center, Seattle) and Christoph Dehio (University of Basel, Biozentrum). This meeting provides a forum where cutting edge research will be presented on the mechanisms controlling bacterial adherence and signal transduction. There are slots reserved in thematic seminar sessions for postdoctoral fellows and graduate students, giving them an opportunity to share their discoveries and gain exposure at a high-impact international conference. Along these lines, for the first time this Gordon conference will has an associated Gordon research seminar (GRS). The GRS will be co-chaired by two post-doctoral fellows, Melissa Martin (Harvard) and Sandy Pernitzsch (Wuerzburg), who in turn will be advised by Dr Parsek. The GRS is approximately a day and a half and involves several graduate student and post doctoral fellow talks. Since the GRS is attended primarily by junior investigators, it offers them a chance to present and ask questions in a less stressful/intimidating environment. This meeting provides an environment that enables networking and collaboration among investigators, and gives post-doctoral researchers and graduate students access to influential leaders in the field of microbial adherence and signal transduction. The program includes many new investigators that have not previously presented their research at this meeting, and includes new sessions that reflect the multi- disciplinary approaches being used to address questions of seminal importance in the field.