2023 Applied and Environmental Microbiology Gordon Research Conference and Seminar

Project Summary / Abstract The 2023 Applied and Environmental Microbiology Gordon Research Conference (AEM GRC) will explore the core principles for understanding and predicting the role of microbes in ecosystem functioning, from human holobionts to aquatic ecosystems. The fundamental mechanisms that regulate microbiome-host-environment

interactions lie at the heart of the sustainable control of microbial dynamics for therapeutic and environmental interventions. Despite being a well-established conference, AEM remains a forefront topic, bridging the traditional boundaries of many fields. It drives infectious disease outcomes and the susceptibility of microoorganisms to

antibiotics as well as beneficial processes such as the development of antimicrobials and probiotics. Importantly, common mechanisms of microbiome-host-environment interactions link these apparently diverse processes and a key aim of the conference will be to bring together fields that do not normally interact strongly. Further, the

meeting will highlight a wide range of experimental approaches from deep sequencing to probing single cell phenotype and bring together scientists of all career stages and backgrounds, from academia to industry. The GRC will comprise 27 invited speakers with 24 slots for talks to be selected from the abstracts as well as an

interactive poster session. In addition, the GRS, which precedes the main conference will have further oral and poster presentation opportunities specifically for graduate students and post-docs, as well as a career panel discussion. A `power hour' during the main meeting will focus on the challenges facing women and

underrepresented minorities in science. We aim to foster an interactive, friendly environment in which ideas can be freely exchanged independently of background or seniority. To that end, the sessions and working meals will be supplemented with a vigorous social program to foster these interactions. The GRC program will be organized

into nine morning and evening sessions entitled: (1) Core principles that govern life (Keynote session); (2) Biodiversity and ecosystem function; (3) Ecoengineering, applications, and emerging contaminants; (4) Ecology and evolution of holobionts; (5) Transitioning human microbiome research into health outcomes; (6) Probing

microbial phenotypes in situ; (7) Microbial mediation of biogeochemical cycles; (8) Microbes and climate change and (9) Symbiosis in ecosystems. The GRC and GRS will thus promote exchange of the latest ideas and techniques in the broad field of applied and environmental microbiology, generating new ideas and cross-field

collaborations while enhancing and promoting the careers of the next generation of scientists in this dynamic and exciting field.