Invited Oral Sessions*
* please note that all information below is preliminary and subject to change
Monday 23 August, 2010, 10:00 - 12:00
Biogeochemistry: Microbially-Driven, Globally Significant
Convenors: Corina Brussaard, Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, the
Netherlands, and Joshua Schimel, Ecology, Evolution & Marine Biology, University of
California, Santa Barbara, USA
* Implications of Exoenzyme Cheaters for Biogeochemical Processes
Steven Allison, University of California, Irvine, USA
* Microscale interactions of pelagic bacteria affecting the ocean's
biogeochemical state
Farooq Azam, University of California, San Diego
* Viruses as globally significant drivers of biogeochemistry
Corina Brussaard, Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, the Netherlands
* Microbial Control over Tundra Cycling
Joshua Schimel, Ecology, Evolution & Marine Biology, University of
California, Santa Barbara, USA
Climate Change: Positive & Negative Feedbacks in Microbial
Processes
Convenors: Kathleen Treseder, University of California – Irvine, USA, and Hans Paerl,
University of North Carolina, USA
* Assessing Human Alteration of Aquatic Microbial Community Structure and
Function in a World Experiencing Climatic Change
Hans Paerl, University of North Carolina, USA
* Can Temporal Patterns in Planktonic Microbial Communities serve as Indicators of
Ecosystem Change?
Byron Crump,University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, USA
* Resistance, resilience, and redundancy of microbial communities to environmental
change
Jennifer Martiny, University of California, Irvine, USA
* Evolutionary trade-offs among decomposers may constrain responses to
nitrogen
Kathleen Treseder, University of California, Irvine, USA
Ecology of Recalcitrant Compound Degradation
Convenors: Frank Loeffler, Georgia Institute of Technology, USA and Dan Cullen, Forest
Products Laboratory, USA
* Wood decay fungi and lignin degradation
Dan Cullen, Forest Products Laboratory, USA
* The Initial Step in Anaerobic Benzene Degradation
Rainer Meckenstock, Helmholtz Center München, Germany
* Ecology of Organohalide Respiring Dehalococcoides
Frank Loeffler, Georgia Institute of Technology, USA
* Gene-targeted-metagenomics: pyrosequencing for aromatic dioxygenase gene
diversities in the environment
Shoko Iwai, UC San Francisco, USA
Theme and Variation in Microbial Diversity: Novel Organisms
and Novel Functions
Convenors: Donald Bryant, Penn State University, USA, and Marc Strous, MPI for Marine
Microbiology, Germany
* Discovery and Characterization of Novel Chlorophototrophs by Genomics,
Metanomics, and Metatranscriptomics
Donald Bryant, Penn State University
* New insights into the interpretation of putative biomarkers for oxygenic
photosynthesis
Dianne Newman, Caltech, USA
* Autotrophic Arsenite-Oxidizing Anaerobic Bacteria From Mono Lake, California
Ronald Oremland, US Geological Survey, USA
* How to make oxygen from nitrate - A microbial cheater in the redox tower game
Marc Strous, MPI for Marine Microbiology, Germany
The Gut Microbiome: Comparative and Functional Analysis
Convenors: Willem de Vos, Wageningen University, the Netherlands, and Liping Zhao,
Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China
* Re-Engineering of Gut Microbiota with Traditional Chinese Medicinal Foods for Early
Prevention of the Metabolic Syndrome
Liping Zhao, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China
* Human Intestinal Microbiota: From Composition to Function
Willem de Vos, Wageningen University, the Netherlands
* Impacts of antibiotics and disease on the human gut mircobiota
Janet Jansson, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, USA
* High throughput functional analysis of the human gut metagenome
Joel Doré, INRA Jouy-en-Josas, France
Implications of Rare Microbes in Natural Populations
Convenors: John Baross, University of Washington, USA, and Carlos Pedrós-Alió, Consejo
Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas, Spain
* Dipping into the rare biosphere: features of rare and abundant bacterial taxa
Carlos Pedrós-Alió, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas, Spain
* Importance in numbers: disturbance and less abundant members of the human
gut microbiota
David Relman, Stanford University, USA
* The Rare Biosphere: Sorting out Fact from Fiction
Mitch Sogin, Josephine Bay Paul Center for Comparative Molecular Biology
and Evolution, Marine Biological Laboratory, USA
* Deep sequencing reveals exceptional diversity and alternative lifestyles of
marine bacterial symbionts
Nicole Webster, Australian Institute of Marine Science, Australia
Microbial Theory and Ecological Theory
Convenors: Jessica Green, University of Oregon, USA, and Bill Sloan,
University of Glasgow, Scotland, UK
* Strength, distribution of species, and optimal foraging morphology in
fluvial biofilms
Bill Sloan, University of Glasgow, Scotland, UK
* Biodiversity Theory and the Built Environment Microbiome
Jessica Green, University of Oregon, USA
* Microbial diversity, nutrient cycling, and ecosystem functioning
Michel Loreau, McGill University, Canada
* Modelling the microbial food web: Attempts to link biogeochemistry,
organism strategies and biodiversity in the marine pelagic
Tron Frede Thingstad, University of Bergen, Norway
Evolution in Action: Horizontal Gene Transfer
Convenor: Harald Brüssow, Nestlé Research Centre, Switzerland
* Comparative genomics and evolution of antivirus defense and stress response
systems in archaea and bacteria
Eugene Koonin, National Center for Biotechnology Information, USA
* Phages, lysogenic conversion and the evolution of bacterial
pathogenicity
Harald Brüssow, Nestlé Research Centre, Switzerland
* Barriers and bypasses to lateral gne transfer in prokaryotes
Tal Dagan, Heinrich Heine University, Düsseldorf, Germany
* Widespread homologous recombination within and between Streptomyces
species
Daniel Buckley, Cornell University, USA
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Tuesday 24 August, 2010, 10:00 - 12:00
The Metagenome in Action
Convenors: Stephen Giovannoni, Oregon State University, USA, and Tim
Urich, University of Vienna, Austria
* Integrated transcriptional and post-transcirptional regulatory responses of
Pelagibacter to environmental changes
Stephen Giovannoni, Oregon State University, USA
* A biogeochemist's guide to comparative metatranscriptomics
Mary Ann Moran, University of Georgia, Athens, USA
* Proteogenomics 2.0: Identifying Microbial Community Functions in
Complex Ecosystems
Robert Morris, University of Washington, USA
* Deep-sea hydrothermal vent community structure and functioning
probed by an integrated 'omics' approach
Tim Urich, University of Vienna, Austria
Shifting Paradigms in Major Biogeochemical Cycles
Convenors: Marcel Kuypers, MPI for Marine Microbiology, Germany, and
Bess Ward, Princeton University, USA
* Re-evaluating nitrification in marine ecosystems: Assessing the relative
diversity, abundance, and activity of ammonia-oxidizing Archaea and
Bacteria
Christopher Francis, Stanford University, USA
* Genomics and metagenomics insights into oceanic nitrogen fixation
Jonathan Zehr, University of California, Santa Cruz
* NanoSIMS a New Tool for Marine Biogeochemistry: From Single Cells
to Global Fluxes
Marcel Kuypers, MPI for Marine Microbiology, Germany
* Denitrification revisited: Implications for nitrogen and carbon cycling
in the oxygen minimum zones of the ocean
Bess Ward, Princeton University, USA
Evolutionary Ecology of Microbial Communities
Convenor: David Stahl, University of Washington, USA
* A bacteria’s host environment shapes the scale and magnitude of
phage adaptation
Britt Koskella, Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, UC
Santa Cruz, USA
* Rapid adaptation and its effect on predator-prey interaction
Takehito Yoshida, Department of General Systems
Studies, University of Tokyo, Japan
* Rapid evolution of stability and productivity at the origin of mutualistic interaction
between a Bacteria and an Archaea
David Stahl & Kristina Hillesland, University of Washington, USA
* Genomic signatures of coevolutionary interactions at global and local scales in
Sulfolobus islandicus
Rachel Whitaker, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA
Sociomicrobiology and Biofilms
Convenors: Martin Ackermann, EAWAG, Switzerland, and Jeremy Webb,
University of Southampton, UK
* Microbial urbanisation: the science and society of biofilms
Hilary Lappin-Scott, Swansea University, UK
* Functional redundancy in the extracellular matrix of Pseudomonas
aeruginosa biofilms
Matthew Parsek, Department of Microbiology, University of
Washington, USA
* Biofilm development as an evolutionary process
Jeremy Webb, University of Southampton, UK
* Bacterial individuality: biological functions of phenotypic
heterogeneity
Martin Ackermann, EAWAG, Switzerland
Conflict and Conversation: Chemistry at the Interface between
Microbes and Their Friends and Enemies
Convenors: Joyce Loper, Oregon State University, USA, and Margo
Haygood, Oregon Health and Science University, USA
* Bioactive Molecules from Photorhabdus and Xenorhabdus: the More
the Better
Helge Bode, Goethe University, Frankfurt, Germany
* Marine invertebrates and their bacterial partners
Margo Haygood, Oregon Health and Science University, USA
* Discovering new traits in genomes of plant-associated Pseudomonas
spp
Joyce Loper, Oregon State University, USA
* Antibiotic production by soil bacteria: diversity, activity and natural
functions
Jos Raaijmakers, Wageningen University, the Netherlands
Microbe-Mineral Interactions
Convenors: Pieter Visscher, University of Connecticut, Department
of Marine Sciences, USA, and Gordon Southam, University of Western
Ontario, Canada
* Fungi-mineral interface: quantification and mechanism of weathering at
the nanometer scale
Steeve Bonneville, School of Earth and Environment, Leeds, UK
* Minerals that Support Life: Physical Environments and Redox
Processes
Gordon Southam, University of Western Ontario, Canada
* Microbial Community - Carbonate Mineral Interactions in a Geological
Context
Dawn Sumner, University of California, Davis, USA
* Microbe-Mineral Interactions Shaping the Rock Record: Lessons
learned from Modern Microbialites
Pieter Visscher, University of Connecticut, Department of Marine
Sciences, USA
Interkingdom Interactions
Convenors: Edward G. Ruby, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA, and
Linda Blackall, Australian Institute of Marine Science, Marine Microbes and
Symbioses, Cape Ferguson, Australia
* Sequential signaling during the development of the squid-vibrio
symbiosis
Edward G. Ruby, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA
* Symbiosis between caterpillars and gut microbial communities
Jo Handelsman, Yale University, USA
* Title to be confirmed
Vanessa Sperandio, Southwestern Medical Center, Texas, USA
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Thursday 26 August, 2010, 10:00 - 12:00
Marine Microbiology: from the coast to the deep sea
Convenors: Mark Osborn, University of Sheffield, UK, and Gerhard Herndl,
University of Vienna, Austria
* Bacterial Dynamics and Lineage Specific Responses to Mixing and
Dom Dynamics in the Mesopelagic Zone of the Northwestern Sargasso
Sea
Craig Carlson, Ecology, Evolution & Marine Biology University of California, Santa
Barbara, USA
* Shedding light on the dark ocean: phylogenetic and functional successions of
bacterial and archaeal communities North Atlantic deep waters
Gerhard Herndl, University of Vienna, Austria
* Microbial diversity and functional ecology in temperate and
tropical coastal sediments
Mark Osborn, University of Sheffield, UK
* Illuminating the black box: Ecology of marine eukaryotic
picophytoplankton by targeted metagenomics and more
Alexandra Worden, MBARI, Monterey, CA, USA
Spatial Heterogeneity - Small Volumes with Big Impacts
Convenors: Michael Kühl, University of Copenhagen, Denmark, and Iain Young, University
of New England, Australia
* Title to be confirmed
Michael Kühl, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
* The microbial seascape: processes relevant to individual phytoplankton
Jim Mitchell, Flinders University, Australia
* Exploring the biophysical interface in soils
Iain Young, University of New England, Australia
* The biogeography of salt marsh ammonia-oxidizing Bacteria and Archaea across spatial scales
Claire Horner-Devine, University of Washington, USA
Bacterial Symbioses
Convenors: Cameron Currie, University of Wisconsin - Madison, USA, and Jörg
Overmann, Leibniz-Institut DSMZ - Deutsche Sammlung von Mikroorganismen und
Zellkulturen GmbH, Braunschweig, Germany
* The Fungus Garden Microbiome of Leaf-cutter Ants
Cameron Currie, University of Wisconsin - Madison, USA
* Evolutionary genomics of symbiont-host interactions
Nancy Moran, University of Arizona, USA
* How bacteria get multicellular - complex interactions in phototrophic consortia
Jörg Overmann, Leibniz-Institut DSMZ - Deutsche Sammlung von Mikroorganismen
und Zellkulturen GmbH, Braunschweig, Germany
* Patterns of nitrogen utilization by syntrophic consortia mediating the anaerobic
oxidation of methane
Victoria Orphan, California Institute of Technology, USA
Ecology of Engineered Environments
Convenors: Derek Lovley, University of Massachusetts, USA, and Korneel Rabaey,
University of Queensland, Australia
* Neutral Models in Engineering Biology
Tom Curtis, Newcastle University, UK
* Electrosynthesis: Diversity of Microbes and Pathways for Directly Producing
Chemicals and Fuels from Carbon Dioxide and Water
Derek Lovley, University of Massachusetts, USA
* The Role of Syntrophic Communities in Treatment of High Strength Wastewater
Caroline Plugge, Wageningen University, the Netherlands
* Electrical current sustains highly diverse denitrifying and bioproduction
communities
Korneel Rabaey, University of Queensland, Australia
Ecology of Cold Habitats
Convenors: Jill Mickucki, Darthmouth College, USA, and Antje Boetius, MPI for Marine
Microbiology, Germany
* Of Ice and Microbes in a Rapidly Changing Arctic Ocean
Jody Deming, School of Oceanography, Washington, USA
* Linking climate change in the Arctic with the fate of deep sea life
Antje Boetius, MPI for Marine Microbiology, Germany
* Cryptic microbial communities in Antarctic Dry Valley Soils
Don Cowan, University of the Western Cape, South Africa
* Exploring the subglacial biosphere
Jill Mikucki, Darthmouth College, USA
Paleobiogeochemistry and Ancient Microbial Environments
Convenors : Jaap Sinnighe Damsté, Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, the
Netherlands, and Jochen Brocks, Research School of Earth Sciences, the Australian
National University, Canberrra, Australia
* Molecular fossils and the late rise of eukaryotes and oxygenic photosynthesis
Jochen Brocks, Research School of Earth Sciences, the Australian National
University, Canberra, Australia
* Revolutionizing ocean structure: microbe-metazoan co-evolution through
the Proterozoic-Phanerozoic transition
Nicolas Butterfield, Cambridge University, UK
* 14,000 years of plankton molecular succession dynamics in the Black Sea
Marco Coolen, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, USA
* Membrane Lipids of Crenarchaeota: Tales of past Climate Development
Jaap Sinnighe Damsté, Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, the
Netherlands
Life at the Energetic Edge
Convenors: Bo Barker Jørgensen, University of Aarhus, Denmark and Steven D'Hondt,
University of Rhode Island, USA
* Microbial Energetics in Subseafloor Sediment
Steven D'Hondt, University of Rhode Island, USA
* Modeling energy flow at the cellular level
Tori Hoehler, NASA Ames Research Center, USA
* Syntrophy: growth at the thermodynamic edge
Michael J. McInerney, University of Oklahoma, USA
* Survival metabolism and lifetimes of microbes imprisoned in ice, permafrost, and
rock
P. Buford Price, University of California, USA
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Friday 27 August, 2010, 10:00 - 12:00
Genomic and Functional Analyses of Individual Microbial Cells
Convenors: Michael Wagner, University of Vienna, Austria, and Roger Lasken, J.
Craig Venter Institute, USA
* DNA sequencing from single bacterial cells using the multiple displacement
amplification (MDA) reaction
Roger Lasken, J. Craig Venter Institute, USA
* Sorting out the microbial dark matter
Paul Blainey, Stanford University, USA
* Discovery and characterization of new nitrifiers on a single cell level
Michael Wagner, University of Vienna, Austria
* Linking function with identity inside bacterial cells by in situ Rolling Circle
Amplification - FISH
Tatsuhiko Hoshino, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology,
Japan
Disease Ecology
Convenor: Brian Austin, University of Sterling, Scotland, UK
* Ecology of fish pathogens with emphasis on Aeromonas salmonicida
Brian Austin, University of Sterling, Scotland, UK
* Interaction between Shigella and Acanthamebae-an ecological niche for survival
Gunnar Sandström, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
* Diversity, Taxonomy, and Pathogenicity of Brazilian Corals Microbiotas
Fabiano Thompson, Departamento de Genética, University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
* Title to be confirmed
Rita Colwell, University of Maryland, USA
Roles of Anaerobic Microbial Communities in Conversion to Carbohydrates and
Hydrocarbons to Methane and CO²
Convenors: Gerrit Voordouw, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Calgary,
Canada, and Ralf Conrad, MPI for Terrestrial Ecology, Germany
* Methanogenic degradation of organic matter in submerged soils and sediments:
pathways and microbial communities
Ralf Conrad, MPI for Terrestrial Ecology, Germany
* Role of Desulfovibrio as a hydrogen- and acetate-producing syntroph in carbohydrate-
and hydrocarbon-degrading consortia
Gerrit Voordouw, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Calgary,
Canada
* The Importance of Syntrophy for Anaerobic Hydrocarbon Metabolism in High
Temperature Oil Reservoirs
Joseph Suflita, University of Oklahoma, USA
* Unravelling the microbial ecology of methanogenic crude oil degradation
Ian Head, University of Newcastle, USA
Plant-Microbe Interactions
Convenors: Julia Vorholt, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich, Switzerland, and
Kornelia Smalla, Federal Biological Research Centre for Agriculture and Forestry,
Germany
* Enhancing our knowledge of the rhizosphere competence of difficult-to-culture
bacteria
Jan-Dirk van Elsas, University of Groningen, the Netherlands
* Unravel the complex interactions between biological control strains, pathogens and
indigenous microbial communities in the rhizosphere by means of molecular
tools
Kornelia Smalla, Federal Biological Research Centre for Agriculture and
Forestry, Germany
* Comparative community proteogenomics reveals new insights into bacterial life on
leaf surfaces
Julia Vorholt, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich, Switzerland
* Plants as drivers of soil-borne microbial diversity?
George Kowalchuk, Netherlands Institute of Ecology, the Netherlands
Forest Soil Ecology
Convenors: David Myrold, Oregon State University, and Marc-André Selosse, University
of Montpellier, France
* Mycorrhizal Associations as Networks Between Forest Plants
Marc-André Selosse, University of Montpellier, France
* Bacterial and Fungal Growth in Forest Soils: Limiting Factors and Perturbation
Effects
Erland Bååth, University of Lund, Sweden
* Responses of Soil Fungal and Bacterial Communities of Pacific Northwest Forests to
Perturbations
David Myrold, Oregon State University, USA
* Microbial Responses to a Changing Climate: Implications for the Future Functioning
of Terrestrial Ecosystems
Donald R. Zak, School of Natural Resources, University of Michigan, USA
Viral Drivers of Global Processes
Convenors: Steven Wilhelm, University of Tennessee, USA, and Markus
Weinbauer, Oceanology Observatory of Villefranche-sur-Mer, UPMC, France
* The Surprisingly (High/Low) Diversity of Marine Viruses – Can we Decide
Which
Mya Breitbart, University of South Florida, USA
* Viruses in the dark ocean
Markus Weinbauer, Oceanology Observatory of Villefranche-sur-Mer, UPMC,
France
* Complex interactions between marine phages and their Flavobacterium
hosts
Lasse Riemann, University of Kalmar, Sweden
* Viruses and global-scale processes
Steven Wilhelm, University of Tennessee, USA
Systems Ecology of Expanding Marine Oxygen Minimum Zones
Convenors: Steven Hallam, University of British Columbia, Canada, and Osvaldo
Ulloa, Universidad de Concepción, Chile
* From fjords to open seas: microbial systems ecology of expanding oxygen minimum zones
Steven Hallam, University of British Columbia, Canada
* Microbial Nitrogen Cycling Processes in three Oxygen Minimum Zones
Phyllis Lam, MPI for Marine Biology, Germany
* Microbial community gene expression in an oxygen-deficient coastal
ecosystem
Osvaldo Ulloa, Universidad de Concepción, Chile
* Microbiological and Geochemical Dynamics in the Permanently Anoxic Cariaco Basin:
Deconvoluting a Fifteen Year Time Series
Gordon Taylor, Stony Brook University, USA
