Workshop: International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (ISMET) 2016 Conference, Stanford University

Stanford University, Stanford CA

Investigators

Abstract

1712411 Spormann The International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology (ISMET) was formed in 2011 as a new international umbrella organization (private nonprofit) with the goal to link researchers, engineers, and scientists in the area of microbial electrochemistry and their derived technologies. This conference, was held at Stanford University on October 5-7, 2016 with the objective of linking together an interdisciplinary group of researchers to discuss recent advancements in microbial electrochemistry and technologies. This technology is one of many that is being investigated related to the food-energy-water nexus. The topics that were covered at the North American-International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology conference was to integrate both fundamental and applied research, and cover topics were in the area of fundamental research: 1. Novel microbial pathways in microbial electrochemistry, 2. Fundamentals of extracellular electron transfer, 3. Synthetic biology approaches to optimize microbial electrochemical systems, and, 4. Microbial ecology of mixed culture systems. In the area of applied research the topics were: 1. Wastewater treatment and other bioremediation/bioenergy/biosensing applications, 2. Materials: electrodes and membranes for microbial electrochemistry and technologies, 3. Design towards applications and scale-up, and, 4. Modeling and optimization. The ISMET promotes the International and Continental meetings occurring every other year on alternating years. However, ISMET does not organize these meetings; the annual meetings are organized at the host level. The interaction among researchers from different fields created a unique environment to foster ideas and future collaborations. At the same time, these ideas could lead to novel technologies that can impact the future infrastructure at the water-energy nexus. The conference also had workshops to educate new researchers in techniques such as molecular biology and mathematical modeling. Through these workshops, the PI expected to train students that will become leaders in our field. The conference also serves to be a springboard for forging the thought processes of researchers from various backgrounds across the globe to enable the success of microbial electrochemical technologies.