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New Approaches and Concepts in Microbiology – Course and Conference Office

EMBO | EMBL Symposium

New Approaches and Concepts in Microbiology

Overview

EMBO and EMBL are committed to sharing research advances and sustaining scientific interaction throughout the coronavirus pandemic. We are delighted to announce that this conference is going virtual and invite you to join us online.

Symposium Overview

This symposium will cover a broad range of topics in microbiology, including antibiotic-related research, bacterial communities and microbiome, cell biology, regulation & signalling, pathogenesis and evolution. Emphasis will be placed on novel approaches and technologies (from systems-based to single-cell) that drive each field or have the potential to revolutionise future research in microbiology.

This meeting is the fifth of its kind, part of a successful series which started in 2013 and held biannually since, becoming a must-attend event for scientists working with bacteria and new technologies. The focus remains on the interface of new technologies and new biology in bacteria, but the thematic areas change and speaker line-ups do not overlap between consecutive symposia.

This symposium aims at bridging the gap between traditional microbiology and novel technologies, by exposing microbiologists to new ways of addressing their hypotheses. At the same time, it provides a platform for systems or technology experts to get a better understanding of the important questions in the field.

Session Topics

  • Bacterial systems biology
  • Cell biology and protein machineries
  • Regulation, signalling and transcriptional networks
  • Pathogenesis and infection
  • Antibiotic action-resistance-persistance
  • Microbial communities / microbiotas / symbiosis
  • Evolution and ecology

Speakers & Discussion Panelists

Carol Gross

University of California, San Francisco

USA

Tam Mignot

French National Centre for Scientific Research

France

Scientific Organisers

Conference Organisers

Lea Hohmann

EMBL Heidelberg

Germany

Programme

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Day 0 [Pre-symposium] — Tuesday, 6 July 2021

Time (CEST)Speaker
17:00-17:40Transition to PI position
Moderator: Rachel Coulthard-Graf
Panelists:
– Nassos Typas – EMBL Heidelberg, Germany
– Tam Mignot – French National Centre for Scientific Research, France
– Carol Gross – University of California, San Francisco, USA
– Zemer Gitai – Princeton University, USA
17:40-17:50Break
17:50-18:30Future of Scientific Events
Moderator: Pascale Cossart
Panelists:
– Jürgen Deka – EMBL Heidelberg, Germany
– Daniel Lopez – National Centre for Biotechnology, Spain
– Gerlind Wallon – EMBO, Germany
18:30-18:40Break
18:40-19:20Scientific Publishing
Moderator: KC Huang
Panelists:
– Andrea Du Toit – Nature Reviews Microbiology
– Jingyi Hou – EMBO press
– Claudio Nunes-Alves – Nature Microbiology
– Nonia Pariente – PLOS
– Cherilyn Sirois – Cell
19:30-20:00Meet the editor session in individual zoom rooms
Cell Cherilyn Sirois
– Cell Host & Microbe– Lakshmi Goyal
– EMBO Review Comms– Sara Monaco
– iScience – Sheba Agarwal-Jans
– Nature Microbiology – Claudio Nunes-Alves
– Nature Communications – Cesar Sanchez
– Nature Protocols – Hannah Clark
– PLOS Biology – Nonia Pariente & Paula Jauregui
– Wiley – Marina Ostankovitch

Day 1 – Wednesday, 7 July 2021
Time (CEST)Speaker
12:45-13:00Opening remarks by scientific organisers
Virtual Session 1: Systems Biology
Session chairs: Gene-Wei Li, Berenike Maier
13:00-13:25Biophysical proteomics for elucidating protein interactions in microbes
Mikhail Savitski – EMBL Heidelberg, Germany
AVAILABLE ON DEMAND AFTER LIVE STREAM
13:25-13:30Transition (to setup and switch to the next live talk)
13:30-13:45The proton motive force determines Escherichia coli’s robustness to extracellular pH
Teuta Pilizota – University of Edinburgh, UK
AVAILABLE ON DEMAND AFTER LIVE STREAM
13:45-13:50Transition (to setup and switch to the next live talk)
13:50-14:05Defining the specificity of RNA decay initiation in Bacillus subtilis
James Taggart – Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA
AVAILABLE ON DEMAND AFTER LIVE STREAM
14:05-14:25Break
14:25-14:50Scaling systems level interrogation of prokaryotic biology to the needs of the microbiome era
Saeed Tavazoie – Columbia University, USA
14:50-14:55Transition (to setup and switch to the next live talk)
14:55-15:10High-throughput colony arrays for studying small RNA function in E. coli and Salmonella Typhimurium
Michael Ellis – McMaster University, Canada
AVAILABLE ON DEMAND AFTER LIVE STREAM
15:10-15:15Transition (to setup and switch to the next live talk)
15:15-15:30Systematic investigation of gene function in gut bacteria using randomly-barcoded transposon insertion libraries
Anthony Shiver – Stanford University School of Medicine, USA
AVAILABLE ON DEMAND AFTER LIVE STREAM
15:30-16:00Meet the speakers: Mikhail Savitski, Teuta Pilizota, James Taggart, Saeed Tavazoie, Michael Ellis, Anthony Shiver
15:30-17:00Digital poster session 1 (topics: Antibiotic action-resistance-persistance, Bacterial systems biology)
Virtual Session 2: Environment + Antibiotics
Session chairs: Sara Mitri & Mohammad Seyedsayamdost
17:00-17:25Engaging interactions between plants and their microbiome
Julia Vorholt – ETH Zürich, Switzerland
AVAILABLE ON DEMAND AFTER LIVE STREAM
17:25-17:30Transition (to setup and switch to the next live talk)
17:30-17:45Bacillus subtilis biofilm and the circadian rhythm within
Akos T Kovac – Technical University of Denmark, Denmark
AVAILABLE ON DEMAND AFTER LIVE STREAM
17:45-17:50Transition (to setup and switch to the next live talk)
17:50-18:05Better together: Obligate cross-feeding expands the metabolic niche of bacteria
Samir Giri – Osnabrück University, Germany
AVAILABLE ON DEMAND AFTER LIVE STREAM
18:05-18:25Transition (to setup and switch to the next live talk)
18:25-18:50Discovery of new natural product biosynthetic pathways
Wilfred van Der Donk – University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA
AVAILABLE ON DEMAND AFTER LIVE STREAM
18:50-18:55Transition (to setup and switch to the next live talk)
18:55-19:10Molecular multitasking – Aminoglycoside antibiotics protect bacteria from phage infection
Julia Frunzke – Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Germany
AVAILABLE ON DEMAND AFTER LIVE STREAM
19:10-19:15Transition (to setup and switch to the next live talk)
19:15-19:30GRINS: Genetic elements that accelerate the diversification of polyketide antibiotics
Aleksandra Nivina – Stanford University, USA
19:30-20:00Meet the speakers: Julia Vorholt, Akos T Kovac, Samir Giri, Wilfred van Der Donk, Julia Frunzke, Aleksandra Nivina
20:00-20:45Discussion Session: “Phage-microbe interactions”
Moderators: Michael Laub and Nassos Typas
Panelists: Rotem Sorek, Kimberley Seed, Melanie Blokesch, Colin Hill
20:45-21:30Optional: Speed networking

Day 2 — Thursday, 8 July 2021
TimeSpeaker
Virtual Session 3: Regulation & Signaling
Session chairs: Michael Laub and Daniel Lopez
13:00-13:25They contain multitudes: How bacteria generate ‘the state of being many
Urs Jenal – University of Basel, Switzerland
AVAILABLE ON DEMAND AFTER LIVE STREAM
13:25-13:30Transition (to setup and switch to the next live talk)
13:30-13:45Identification of non-canonical crRNAs derived from host transcripts in Campylobacter jejuni enables multiplexable RNA detection by Cas9
Cynthia M. Sharma – University of Würzburg, Germany
AVAILABLE ON DEMAND AFTER LIVE STREAM
13:45-13:50Transition (to setup and switch to the next live talk)
13:50-14:05Short-range quorum sensing controls horizontal gene transfer at micron scale in bacterial communities
Jordi van Gestel – University of California, San Francisco, USA
14:05-14:25Break
14:25-14:50Selected human gut commensals withstand V. cholerae’s type VI secretion attacks
Melanie Blokesch – EPFL, Switzerland
AVAILABLE ON DEMAND AFTER LIVE STREAM
14:50-14:55Transition (to setup and switch to the next live talk)
14:55-15:10Bacterial retrons encode phage-sensing toxin/antitoxin systems
Jacob Bobonis – EMBL Heidelberg, Germany
AVAILABLE ON DEMAND AFTER LIVE STREAM
15:10-15:15Transition (to setup and switch to the next live talk)
15:15-15:30Identification of molecular mediators of interspecies sensing in a two-species bacterial community
Anupama Khare – National Cancer Institute, USA
AVAILABLE ON DEMAND AFTER LIVE STREAM
15:30-16:00Meet the speakers: Urs Jenal, Cynthia M. Sharma, Jordi van Gestel, Melanie Blokesch, Jacob Bobonis, Anupama Khare
15:30-17:00Digital poster session 2 (Cell biology and protein machineries, Regulation, signalling and transcriptional networks, Evolution and ecology)
Virtual Session 4: Cell Biology & Protein machines
Session chairs: Zemer Gitai and Waldemar Vollmer
17:00-17:25Multiscale models of bacterial contractile injection systems
Martin Pilhofer – ETH Zurich, Switzerland
17:25-17:30Transition (to setup and switch to the next live talk)
17:30-17:45Antiviral defense via nucleotide depletion in bacteria
Nitzan Tal – Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel
AVAILABLE ON DEMAND AFTER LIVE STREAM
17:45-17:50Break (to setup and switch to the next live talk)
17:50-18:05HEPN-MNT toxin-antitoxin system as a proposed bacterial ATP sensor
Inga Songailiene – Vilnius University, Lithuania
AVAILABLE ON DEMAND AFTER LIVE STREAM
18:05-18:25Transition (to setup and switch to the next live talk)
18:25-18:50Starvation induces shrinkage of the bacterial cytoplasm
Petra Levin – Washington University in St. Louis, USA
AVAILABLE ON DEMAND AFTER LIVE STREAM
18:50-18:55Transition (to setup and switch to the next live talk)
18:55-19:10Mechanism of phage defense by a type III toxin-antitoxin system
Chantal Guegler – Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA
AVAILABLE ON DEMAND AFTER LIVE STREAM
19:10-19:15Transition (to setup and switch to the next live talk)
19:15-19:30Bacterial endocytosis: A new mechanism of DNA uptake by wall-deficient bacteria
Renée Kapteijn – Leiden University, The Netherlands
AVAILABLE ON DEMAND AFTER LIVE STREAM
19:30-20:00Meet the speakers: Martin Pilhofer, Nitzan Tal, Inga Songailiene, Petra Levin, Chantal Guegler, Renée Kapteijn
20:00-20:45Discussion Session: “Genetic dark matter of microbes”
Moderators: KC Huang, Nassos Typas
Panelists: Carol Gross, Martin Pilhofer, Michael Zimmermann
20:45-21:30Optional: Bar mixer

Day 3 – Friday, 9 July 2021
TimeSpeaker
Virtual Session 5: Pathogenesis
Session Chairs: Pascale Cossart and Kim Orth
13:00-13:25Salmonella tissue invasion: A role in the spread of resistance plasmids? 
Wolf-Dietrich Hardt – ETH Zürich, Switzerland
AVAILABLE ON DEMAND AFTER LIVE STREAM
13:25-13:30Transition (to setup and switch to the next live talk)
13:30-13:45Listeria monocytogenes modulates RIG-I signaling by secreting an RNA-binding protein
Alessandro Pagliuso – INRAE, Italy
AVAILABLE ON DEMAND AFTER LIVE STREAM
13:45-13:50Transition (to setup and switch to the next live talk)
13:50-14:05Host succinate is an activation signal for Salmonella virulence during intracellular infection
Gili Rosenberg – Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel
14:05-14:25Break
14:25-14:50Aldehyde Hypothesis: A new weapon against Mycobacterium tuberculosis
Heran Darwin – New York University School of Medicine, USA
AVAILABLE ON DEMAND AFTER LIVE STREAM
14:50-14:55Transition (to setup and switch to the next live talk)
14:55-15:10Developmental differentiation and peptidoglycan remodelling in a cytoplasmic obligate intracellular bacterium
Jeanne Salje – Rutgers University, USA
15:10-15:15Transition (to setup and switch to the next live talk)
15:15-15:30A distinct inhibitory mechanism of the V-ATPase by Vibrio VopQ revealed by cryo-EM
Wei Peng – The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, USA
AVAILABLE ON DEMAND AFTER LIVE STREAM
15:30-16:00Meet the speakers: Wolf-Dietrich Hardt, Alessandro Pagliuso, Gili Rosenberg, Heran Darwin, Jeanne Salje, Wei Peng
15:30-17:00Digital poster session 3 (Microbial communities / microbiotas / symbiosis, Pathogenesis and infection)
Virtual Session 6: Microbiome
Session chairs: KC Huang, Michael Zimmermann
17:00-17:25Microbial context-mediated mechanisms of colonization resistance against Salmonella Typhimurium
Bärbel Stecher – Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Germany
AVAILABLE ON DEMAND AFTER LIVE STREAM
17:25-17:30Transition (to setup and switch to the next live talk)
17:30-17:45Dissecting the collateral damage of antibiotics on gut microbes
Camille Goemans – EMBL Heidelberg, Germany
AVAILABLE ON DEMAND AFTER LIVE STREAM
17:45-17:50Transition (to setup and switch to the next live talk)
17:50-18:05Insights into bacteriophages of Eggerthella lenta, a prevalent human gut commensal
Colin Buttimer – APC microbiome Ireland, Ireland
AVAILABLE ON DEMAND AFTER LIVE STREAM
18:05-18:25Break
18:25-18:50Small molecules from the human microbiota
Michael Fischbach – Stanford University, USA
18:50-18:55Transition (to setup and switch to the next live talk)
18:55-19:10Global analysis of biosynthetic gene clusters reveals conserved and unique natural products in entomopathogenic nematode-symbiotic bacteria
Yi-Ming Shi – Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, Germany
AVAILABLE ON DEMAND AFTER LIVE STREAM
19:10-19:15Transition (to setup and switch to the next live talk)
19:15-19:30Bacterial control of phage susceptibility and prophage induction by cell-to-cell signaling
Sine Lo Svenningsen – University of Copenhagen, Denmark
AVAILABLE ON DEMAND AFTER LIVE STREAM
19:30-19:40Closing remarks by scientific organisers
19:40-20:10Meet the speakers: Bärbel Stecher, Camille Goemans, Colin Buttimer, Michael Fischbach, Yi-Ming Shi, Sine Lo Svenningsen
Digital posters, recordings and discussion channels will be available for registered participants throughout the whole virtual conference (as well as 1 week before and until 26 July 2021)

Practical Information

Registration Fees and Abstract Submission

Registration Fees 

Academia190 Euro
PhD Student140 Euro
Industry240 Euro
EMBL StaffIntranet access

Accredited journalists may be eligible to register for a reduced press rate or in some cases for complimentary registration. Registrants may be required to provide accreditation or equivalent proof of press membership after registration. Please contact Lea Hohmann for more information.

Confirmation and Payment

Registration will be on a first-come first-served basis. Your place can only be confirmed after payment of the registration fee.
Types of payments accepted are international bank transfers (only up to 8 weeks before event) and credit card payments.

Abstract submission

Only registered participants are eligible to submit an abstract. We only accept online abstract submissions. 

After registration you can submit your abstract via a separate link that will be provided in the email confirmation. Alternatively, you can access the link on the confirmation page directly after registering. The same login credentials are used for both processes.

Please note:

Title: The title should not exceed 20 words. Only the first word of the title should start with a capital letter and the rest of the title should be in lowercase.

Authors and Affiliations: Please fill in the author’s details as requested in the online form. The compulsory details are: First Name, Last Name, Organisation Name (Affiliation or Company), Country and Email. Mark only one author as the role of First author and please don’t forget to indicate who will be presenting. The order of the authors will be listed as follows: First Author, Co-First Author (alphabetically if multiple), co-author(s) (in the order added by the submitter).

Presentation Types: When submitting your abstract, you can apply for an oral or poster presentation. A selection process will take place with the results announced 2-3 weeks after the abstract submission deadline.

Please check our FAQs pages for further information on how to submit an abstract.

Financial Assistance

Registration Fee Waivers

All academic and student registrants are invited to apply for a registration fee waiver, provided by the EMBL Advanced Training Centre Corporate Partnership Programme and EMBO. The registration fee waiver covers the registration sum that you have paid to attend the meeting. Conference participants are not required to pre-pay the registration fee to be selected for a fee waiver for a virtual meeting. If you have already paid the registration fee and are awarded a fee waiver, it will be reimbursed after the meeting. Course participants are required to pay the course fee in advance, which will then be reimbursed after the course to the fee waiver recipients.

Childcare Grants
For participants with children, there is the possibility to apply for a childcare grant provided by the EMBL Advanced Training Centre Corporate Partnership Programme, to offset childcare costs incurred by participants or speakers when participating at a virtual event. Eligible costs include fees for a babysitter or childcare facility or travel costs for a care giver. Please note that priority will be given to early stage researchers. A maximum amount of 500 EUR can be awarded per participant selected for the virtual childcare grant. Costs will be reimbursed after the meeting only once a reimbursement form and original receipts have been received. Attendance at the event is required in order to be eligible to receive the reimbursement. In order to apply for this grant, you must be registered by the abstract submission deadline.

Application

Registration Fee Waivers

You may apply for financial assistance when submitting your abstract for this conference. In your application you will be asked to answer questions regarding your motivation for applying, reasons why your lab cannot fund your attendance and how your attendance will make a difference to your career. Application for financial support will not affect the outcome of your registration application.

Childcare Grants

Participants registered by the abstract deadline will be emailed information about the childcare grants. You should apply for the grant by the deadline specified in the email.

Selection

The scientific organisers will select the recipients of registration fee waivers during the abstract selection process. Results will be announced approximately 3 – 4 weeks before the event start date. Selection results do not impact your admission to the meeting. Registration fee waiver selection is based on your current work or study location, your motivation for applying, the reasons for needing financial support and the impact this event will have on your career. Childcare grants are allocated based on career stage, with priority given to early stage researchers.

Further details

For further information about financial assistance please refer to the FAQ page.

Virtual Participation Guidelines

Guidelines

Please do:

  • Use the event-specific hashtag as communicated during the event for any related tweets
  • Tweet unless the speaker specifically says otherwise
  • Be mindful of unpublished data
  • Be respectful in tone and content

Please don’t:

  • Share Slack, live stream or poster session links with others
  • Broadcast the conference to unregistered participants
  • Capture, transmit or redistribute data presented at the meeting unless presenter gives explicit consent
  • Use offensive language in your posts
  • Engage in rudeness or personal attacks

Additional information can be found in our Code of Conduct.

Health and well-being

It is important to stay healthy and move around, especially when you are attending an event virtually. We have put together a few coffee break stretches and yoga videos. You can find these under ‘resources’ on the conference platform.

How to ask questions

Please use the Q&A function. It is possible to send a direct message to participants, poster presenters, and speakers within the conference platform.

If you have any other questions, you can go to the Help Desk on the conference platform. Click on ‘more’ on the top menu and click Help Desk. 

Time zone

The programme is planned based on Central European Time (CET) or Central European Summer Time (CEST) unless otherwise stated. As many virtual participants are attending from around the world, we do our best to accommodate as many timezones as possible when creating the programme. Please take your time zone into consideration when planning your attendance. Remember to set your time zone in your account. 

Virtual event platforms

We are using a virtual event platform for this conference. More information about the platform will be shared ahead of the conference.

Sponsors

Media partners:

EMBO Journal, an EMBO Press journal

Open Biology, a Royal Society journal

Wiley

Sponsorship Opportunities

We offer a variety of event sponsoring possibilities, with the flexibility to select a set sponsorship package or combine individual sponsorship options to suit your event budget. Discounts are available for companies sponsoring multiple events at EMBL Heidelberg. View other conferences, or contact sponsorship@embl.de for further information.

If you are interested in becoming a media partner of this event, please visit our media partnerships webpage

Warning

EMBL wishes to warn sponsors of EMBL conferences and courses of fraudulent schemes purporting to offer sponsorship opportunities on behalf of EMBL or affiliated with EMBL officials. One current scam campaign of which we are aware is conducted using the name ‘Judy Eastman’ (judy@gopcontact.a2hosted.com) and entails approaches to sponsors offering sponsorship opportunities on EMBL’s behalf. Please be kindly advised that all relevant communication regarding sponsorship of EMBL conferences, symposia and courses is handled by EMBL directly and is sent from an official EMBL account. EMBL does not work with any external providers on sponsorship acquisition.

Please also note that:

  • EMBL never provides attendee lists for purchase. Any offers of such are fraudulent.
  • EMBL will never call or email you to ask for your credit card details or to request a payment.
  • All payments are on invoice.

Suspicious communications purportedly from, for or on behalf of EMBL should be reported to EMBL at the following email address sponsoring@embl.de.

About

EMBO | EMBL Symposia promote scientific communication and collaboration in the European research area. They provide scientists with a platform to discuss and exchange ideas on forward-looking topics and new developments in the life sciences.

Topics emphasise upcoming developments and the interdisciplinary nature of related fields. Jointly funded and organised by EMBO and EMBL – and complementary to their respective courses, workshops, and conference programmes – the symposia promote scientific communication and collaboration.

All symposia are held in the EMBL Advanced Training Centre (ATC) in Heidelberg, Germany, or virtually.

Date: 7 - 9 Jul 2021

Location: Virtual


Deadline(s):

Abstract submission: Closed

Registration: Closed


Contact: Lea Hohmann

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