Bringing microbiologists (and mycologists) together

This coming July the world-renowned Adelaide Convention Centre will be hosting the Australian Society for Microbiology Annual Scientific Meeting and the Australasian Mycological Society Joint Conference. Add them to your diary and register to attend now.

• The Australian Society for Microbiology, Annual Scientific Meeting 7-10 July 2013
• Australasian Mycological Society Joint Conference 10-12 July 2013

ASM 2013 - the Australian Society for Microbiology, Annual Scientific Meeting

The ASM scientific meeting is Australia's largest and most prestigious microbiological conference, bringing together researchers, clinicians and other industry professionals. ASM 2013 will showcase the importance of microbiology to our world through presentations delivered by national and international leaders in their disciplines.

ASM 2013: Invited speakers
Prof Ron Atlas	University of Louisville, USA
Prof Gurdyal Besra	University of Birmingham, UK
Prof Kathleen Collins	University of Michigan, USA
Prof Roy Curtiss III	Arizona State University, USA	Rubbo Orator
Prof Steven J Geary	University of Connecticut, USA
Dr Peter D Karp	BRG Artificial Intelligence Center, USA
Dr Jean Lang	Sanofi Pasteur, France	Bazeley Orator
Dr Juan Lubroth	Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Italy	Snowdon Lecture
Dr Patrick Murray	BD Diagnostics, USA
Prof Forest Rohwer	San Diego State University, USA
A/Prof Gilda Tachedjian	Burnet Institute, Australia	Fenner Lecture
Prof Gisela Storz	National Institute of Health, USA

Workshops

A series of workshops will take place on Sunday 7 July 2013. These workshops are free for full conference delegates to attend or can be attended on a Workshop Only registration if you are not a conference delegate.

Workshop Only registrations include name tag, attendance at selected workshop and morning tea only. If you wish to attend the full Sunday program you will need to select, at minimum, a Single Day registration for Sunday.

Antibiotics: What’s in a name? - Impact of MALDI-TOF and Susceptibility Testing in Microbiology

Australian Society for Microbiology Antimicrobial Special Interest Group

Decreasing the time to species identification and early antibiotic susceptibility determination of bacterial strains recovered from infected patients significantly decreases morbidity, mortality in patients and aids in infection-control practices. This workshop will focus on the MALDI-TOF system(s) and current applications with automated susceptibility testing methods (ViTek, Phoenix) and disc-susceptibility testing methods (CLSI, CDS users or EUCAST users), its impact on laboratories in providing a faster and accurate turnaround time. Fast and accurate diagnostic identification and AST methods are an important part in guiding treatment for infections and infection-control practices.

In this ASIG workshop various invited presenters will give brief presentations on the impact of MALDI-TOF and AST methods in their institutions and what the future holds in screening, identifying pathogens and antimicrobial resistance.

For further information contact Dr John Merlino -  jmerlino@med.usyd.edu.au.

Culture Media - Review of the SIG’s guidelines for quality control of media

Culture Media Special Interest Group

The SIG has produced four sets of guidelines for quality control of microbiological media, including the release of one new set of guidelines in 2012 (mycology media) and revision and release of new editions of the three existing guidelines (medical media, solid mycobacteria media, food and water media) in 2012 as well.

This is a dry workshop that, effectively, takes the role of an open editorial meeting, with the opportunity for all ASM members to present ideas, suggestions or observations on where the various guidelines require adjustment, improvement or expansion. This workshop seeks to review the new editions of the guidelines and to discuss:

• effectiveness of the new editions
• opportunities for further revision and improvement

There will also be time made for discussion of:

• relevant NATA Field Application document sections
• ISO 11133 and its impact

FASM

Have you been intrigued by the articles in the Australian microbiology online journal? Do you think that you might meet the requirements for FASM? Have you read the case studies of recent FASM awardees? Are you considering the FASM? What can it offer you?

In this workshop you will meet some members of the FASM Examinations Board and go through the FASM process and also a worked example of a part two type question.

Cosmetics and pharmaceuticals

Risk management has become a cornerstone of GMP in the modern manufacturing environment. This workshop will explore various aspects of this important responsibility of manufacturers. At this workshop experts will be presenting on risk aspects of biological production, aseptic production, the microbiology laboratory and a candid look at some interactions between inspectors and manufacturers in some European jurisdictions. This promises to be a very stimulating look at risk management from a variety of viewpoints and well worth attending if you are from the human or veterinary pharma or medical devices industries. Numbers will be limited to 60 to enable full participation.

Workshop registration

To register for the workshops visit http://asmmeeting.theasm.org.au/registration/.

Exhibitors and sponsors:

Visiting the exhibitors’ booths in your breaks from the conference sessions is a great way to connect with current and potential suppliers and find out all about their latest equipment and services. The following companies will be exhibiting at the joint conference so make some time to see their latest wares.

Abbott Australasia

AGRF

APAF

BD Pathology

Bioline Australia

Blackaby Diagnostics

Bruker Biosciences

Cell Biosciences

DiaSorin

Genesearch

Human Genetic Signatures

Hologic/Gen-Probe

Illumina

Immuno

Qiagen

Tecan Australia

Thermo Fisher Scientific

Vital Diagnostics

VWR International

Don't miss your opportunity to update your knowledge and skills in all things microbiology at ASM 2013.

The Australasian Mycological Society

This society promotes research and teaching in all areas of fungal biology. It aims to raise the profile of mycology in the Australasian region, to promote the conservation of Australasian fungi and to facilitate networking and collaboration among mycologists.

AMS program highlights

Following the ASM program stay an extra couple of days for the AMS program. Some of the highlights will be:

David Ellis	Adelaide University, Adelaide	My top 10 fungi - fungi that have influenced my career and their impact on medical mycology
David Catcheside	Flinders University, Adelaide	Fungal genetics
Fabian Cariconde [Chair]		Mycorrhizal fungi
Richard Robinson [Chair]		Fungal ecology
Melanie Weckert [Chair]		Applied mycology
Sarah Kidd [Chair]		AMS proffered talks
Julie Djordjevic [Chair]		Molecular mycology

To register your interest in attending the Australasian Mycological Society's conference contact Diana Leemon at diana.leemon@daff.qld.gov.au.