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Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Agenda." Institute of Medicine. 2012. The Social Biology of Microbial Communities: Workshop Summary. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13500.
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Appendix B

Agenda

The Social Biology of Microbial Communities

March 6-7, 2012
500 Fifth St, NW
Washington, DC

DAY 1: TUESDAY, MARCH 6, 2012

8:30-9:00:

Registration & Continental Breakfast

9:00-9:15:

Welcoming remarks: David Relman, James Hughes, and Lonnie King

9:15-10:00:

KEYNOTE: Sociomicrobiology: Quorum sensing, biofilms, and territoriality

E. Peter Greenberg, University of Washington Moderator: David Relman

10:00-10:30:

DISCUSSION

10:30-10:45:

BREAK

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Agenda." Institute of Medicine. 2012. The Social Biology of Microbial Communities: Workshop Summary. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13500.
×

SESSION I: Formation and Function of Microbial Communities
Moderator: Jacque Fletcher

10:45-11:15:

Symbiont community complexity: The fungal gardens of leafcutter ants

Cameron R. Currie, University of Wisconsin–Madison

11:15-11:45:

The role of oxygen in shaping the structure and function of microbial communities

Thomas M. Schmidt, Michigan State University

11:45-12:15:

Source-sink dynamics: Marine invertebrate-associated and free-living chemosynthetic symbionts

Colleen Cavanaugh, Harvard University

12:15-1:00:

DISCUSSION

1:00-1:45:

LUNCH

SESSION II: Factors Contributing to Community Stability
Moderator: David Relman

1:45-2:15:

Social evolutionary theory, cooperation, and the expression of virulence in microbial communities

Sam Brown, University of Edinburgh

2:15-2:45:

Ecological factors and processes during evolutionary transitions in Darwinian individuality

Paul Rainey, New Zealand Institute for Advanced Study & Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology

2:45-3:15:

Evolution of cooperation and control of cheating in the social amoeba: Dictyostelium discoideum

Joan E. Strassmann, Washington University

3:15-3:45:

BREAK

3:45-4:15:

Swarming bacteria as freight haulage systems

Colin J. Ingham, Wageningen University

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Agenda." Institute of Medicine. 2012. The Social Biology of Microbial Communities: Workshop Summary. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13500.
×

4:15-4:45:

Emergence and robustness of multicellular behavior in bacteria

Joao Xavier, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center

4:45-5:15:

Mathematical and computational challenges in the study of complex adaptive systems

Simon A. Levin, Princeton University

5:15-6:00:

DISCUSSION

6:00-6:15:

CONCLUDING REMARKS

6:15:

ADJOURN DAY ONE

DAY 2: WEDNESDAY, MARCH 7, 2012

8:30-9:00:

Registration & Continental Breakfast

9:00-9:15:

Summary of Day One: David Relman

9:15-10:00:

KEYNOTE: Glowing corpses & radiant excrement: The role of bioluminescence in microbial communities

Edith Widder, Ocean Research & Conservation Association Moderator: Lonnie King

10:00-10:30:

DISCUSSION

10:30-10:45:

BREAK

SESSION III: Community Adaptation and Response to Environmental Stimuli
Moderator: David Rizzo

10:45-11:15:

Interspecies interactions among rhizosphere and soil bacteria

Jo Handelsman, Yale University

11:15-11:45:

Contact dependent mechanisms of communication in bacteria

David Low, University of California, Santa Barbara

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Agenda." Institute of Medicine. 2012. The Social Biology of Microbial Communities: Workshop Summary. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13500.
×

11:45-12:15:

Interactions between symbiotic microbes, their mammalian host, and invading pathogens

Vanessa Sperandio, The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center

12:15-12:45:

DISCUSSION

12:45-1:30:

LUNCH

SESSION IV: What More Do We Need to Know about Microbial Community Dynamics?
Moderator: Carole Heilman

1:30-2:00:

Phylogenetic and phylogenomic approaches to studies of microbial communities

Jonathan Eisen, University of California, Davis

2:00-2:30:

Discovery and applications of the metabolic diversity of microbial communities

Jared R. Leadbetter, California Institute of Technology

2:30-3:00:

Statistical tools for integrating community networks, spatial and clinical data

Susan Holmes, Stanford University

3:00-3:30:

Microbial community assembly and dynamics: From acidophilic biofilms to the premature infant gut

Jill Banfield, University of California, Berkeley

3:30-4:00:

Human-microbe mutualism in health and disease

David A. Relman, Stanford University

4:00-4:30:

DISCUSSION

4:30-4:45:

CONCLUDING REMARKS

4:45:

ADJOURN DAY TWO

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Agenda." Institute of Medicine. 2012. The Social Biology of Microbial Communities: Workshop Summary. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13500.
×
Page 581
Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Agenda." Institute of Medicine. 2012. The Social Biology of Microbial Communities: Workshop Summary. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13500.
×
Page 582
Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Agenda." Institute of Medicine. 2012. The Social Biology of Microbial Communities: Workshop Summary. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13500.
×
Page 583
Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Agenda." Institute of Medicine. 2012. The Social Biology of Microbial Communities: Workshop Summary. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13500.
×
Page 584
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Beginning with the germ theory of disease in the 19th century and extending through most of the 20th century, microbes were believed to live their lives as solitary, unicellular, disease-causing organisms . This perception stemmed from the focus of most investigators on organisms that could be grown in the laboratory as cellular monocultures, often dispersed in liquid, and under ambient conditions of temperature, lighting, and humidity. Most such inquiries were designed to identify microbial pathogens by satisfying Koch's postulates.3 This pathogen-centric approach to the study of microorganisms produced a metaphorical "war" against these microbial invaders waged with antibiotic therapies, while simultaneously obscuring the dynamic relationships that exist among and between host organisms and their associated microorganisms—only a tiny fraction of which act as pathogens.

Despite their obvious importance, very little is actually known about the processes and factors that influence the assembly, function, and stability of microbial communities. Gaining this knowledge will require a seismic shift away from the study of individual microbes in isolation to inquiries into the nature of diverse and often complex microbial communities, the forces that shape them, and their relationships with other communities and organisms, including their multicellular hosts.

On March 6 and 7, 2012, the Institute of Medicine's (IOM's) Forum on Microbial Threats hosted a public workshop to explore the emerging science of the "social biology" of microbial communities. Workshop presentations and discussions embraced a wide spectrum of topics, experimental systems, and theoretical perspectives representative of the current, multifaceted exploration of the microbial frontier. Participants discussed ecological, evolutionary, and genetic factors contributing to the assembly, function, and stability of microbial communities; how microbial communities adapt and respond to environmental stimuli; theoretical and experimental approaches to advance this nascent field; and potential applications of knowledge gained from the study of microbial communities for the improvement of human, animal, plant, and ecosystem health and toward a deeper understanding of microbial diversity and evolution. The Social Biology of Microbial Communities: Workshop Summary further explains the happenings of the workshop.

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