KEYNOTE SPEAKER: 

Rob Knight, PhD

Professor in the Departments of Pediatrics

Bioengineering and Computer Science Engineering 

Director of the Center for Microbiome Innovation

University of California, San Diego

Ophelia Venturelli, PhD

Associate Professor

Department of Biomedical Engineering

Duke University

RUMP Work in Progress Presents:

Garam Choi, Ph.D.

Post Doctoral Associate

Dr. Nick Bessman laboratory

Center for Immunity and Inflammation, NJMS

Topic: Exploring the effect of diet on intestinal colonization of Bifidobacterium using a gnotobiotic mouse model

Summary: Bifidobacterium spp., known for their various health-promoting effects, dominate the infant gut microbiota but are replaced by a more complex microbiota after weaning. Using a gnotobiotic mouse model, we identified diet switch as a potential driver for the decrease of intestinal Bifidobacterium. Our project aims to uncover how diet switch regulates the persistence of Bifidobacterium in the gut and, consequently, its probiotic functions.

Sara Di Rienzi, PhD

Assistant Professor

Department of Neuroscience and Cell Biology

RBHS, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School

Topic: “Introducing oxytocin as a gut hormone.”

Sara Di Rienzi asks the broad question of how the ecosystem of the gut results in effects across the entire body. She specifically focuses on how hormones in the gut are modulated by gut microbes and diet and the role of gut hormones in host physiology. Her current work is addressing the functions of intestinal produced oxytocin.

Mauro Costa-Mattioli, PhD

Adjunct Professor

Neuroscience

Baylor College of Medicine

RUMP Work in Progress Presents:

Timothy Stephens

Post-doctoral Researcher

Bhattacharya Lab

Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology

School of Environmental & Biological Sciences

Topic:

"Community-wide interactions sustain life in geothermal spring habitats" 

Microbes often live in habitats that have extremes of pH, temperature, solar radiation, salt concentrations, and atmospheric pressure. Using multi-omics data from an algal hot spring community in Yellowstone National Park, I aim to address two major questions regarding microbial evolution in extreme environments: First, how are the conflicting forces of genome streamlining and adaptation balanced in extreme habitats? Second, what are the consequences of biotic interactions on longer-term genome evolution in microbial and algal extremophiles?

Alexander Valvezan

Assistant Professor

RWJMS Dept of Pharmacology

Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine (CABM)

Topic:

"Cell cycle control of cellular metabolism" 

In proliferating eukaryotic cells, metabolism must be coordinated with the cell cycle to meet phase-specific biosynthetic requirements, but how this coordination occurs is unknown. We discovered that the master metabolic regulator mTOR Complex 1 is controlled in a cell cycle phase-specific manner, with important functional consequences for cell growth and proliferation. Better understanding of how the cell cycle influences metabolism is fundamental to our knowledge of how cells grow and proliferate in health and disease.

Noah Fierer, PhD
Professor
Dept. of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences
University of Colorado at Boulder

KEYNOTE SPEAKER: Seth Bordenstein, PhD

All please register here!

Students, trainees, post-docs, junior faculty submit poster abstracts here!

Faculty submit short talks here!

Jan Claesen, PhD

Assistant Professor

Lerner Research Institute

Cleveland Clinic

Bhupendra Singh Rawat, PhD

Postdoctoral Fellow

New Jersey Medical School

Center for Immunity and Inflammation

Department of Medicine

Topic:

“Hepcidin and Iron homeostasis in inflammatory diseases"

Intestinal macrophages express the iron exporter ferroportin (Fpn) which can bind hepcidin. The intestinal hepcidin-Fpn axis does not impact systemic iron availability. Exogenous oral hepcidin acts on intestinal macrophage Fpn, suppresses pro-inflammatory bacteria, and promotes mucosal healing after intestinal inflammation.
 

Michael Manhart, PhD

Assistant Professor

Rutgers University | Robert Wood Johnson Medical School

Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine

Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Topic:

“How do ecological interactions shape evolution in the microbiome?"

Ecological interactions, such as sharing or competing for nutrients, are widespread in natural microbial communities.  While we know these interactions play important roles in these communities’ stability, metabolic activity, and host health, we understand little about how interactions affect the ability of these communities to adapt to environmental changes such as drug treatment.  Using a combination of controlled laboratory experiments and computational models, we are working to determine the principles by which ecological interactions alter the fitness of mutants and hence adaptation.

Irene Newton, PhD

Editor-in-Chief, Microbiology Resource Announcements

Professor of Biology

Microbiology Section Associate Chair, Biology

Indiana University, Bloomington