Conference: 2025 Mechanisms of Microbial Transcription GRC/GRS

This award will support participation of graduate students, postdocs, and junior scientists in the 2025 Gordon Research Seminar (GRS) and Gordon Research Conference (GRC) on Mechanisms of Microbial Transcription, to be held June 14-20, 2025, at Southern New Hampshire University. This meeting, titled “Phylogenetic Contrasts and Commonalities in Gene Expression Mechanisms,” will spotlight the latest advances in the mechanisms and regulation of microbial gene expression.

The GRC program will showcase distinguished invited speakers and selected talks from submitted abstracts, emphasizing early-stage investigators, postdocs, and graduate students. The daily poster sessions will facilitate dynamic exchanges of new findings and ongoing research, fostering interactions among all participants. The GRS will precede the main GRC in order to provide students and postdocs additional opportunities to present their research and build their networks.

The overall goals of this GRS/GRC are to (1) present a comprehensive view of the latest conceptual, intellectual, and technical advances in the field of microbial transcription; (2) bring together a broad group of scientists at all career levels; (3) create an environment that fosters communication and collaboration among these researchers; and (4) promote the scientific and professional development of the next generation of researchers in the field.

Bacteria, archaea, and viruses inhabit an extraordinary range of environments. These microbes commonly face changes in nutrients and temperature and must also contend with challenges from antibiotics/antivirals, phages, and host immune systems. To survive and replicate amidst these physical and chemical challenges, microbes have developed sophisticated mechanisms to precisely control transcription.

Studies of transcriptional mechanisms continue to illuminate essential molecular processes in microbes, which have significant implications for biotechnology and human health. This meeting is expected to advance our understanding of microbial transcription and its impact on health and the environment, helping to produce a knowledge foundation and workforce that will support future advances in biotechnology and medicine.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.