Australian Society For Microbiology 2018 to be held next month

The Australian Society for Microbiology would like to invite you to Queensland for its Annual Scientific Meeting and Trade Exhibition. This year, the meeting will be held in Queensland’s capital city, Brisbane, from 1–4 July.

ASM2018 will be held at the Brisbane Convention and Entertainment Centre (BCEC) at South Bank, just a few steps from the beautiful Brisbane River and a few minutes from the vibrant city centre. The venue is in close proximity to a host of good restaurants, museums including the Queensland Art Gallery-Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA), the Queensland Museum and Sciencentre, and the Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC), shops and weekend markets. For those who may want to explore further, there are beautiful beaches only an hour to the north (Sunshine Coast) or south (Gold Coast) and other tourist attractions nearby (eg, Dream World, Sea World, Australia Zoo).

The meeting will feature eminent scientists from Australia and around the world, covering a range of topics related to microbiology. The symposia and workshops will cover a variety of topics including clinical diagnostics; antimicrobial resistance; vaccine and therapeutic development; public health and one health; tropical, regional and point-of-care medicine; genomics; microbial evolution; marine, wildlife and livestock microbiology; bacterial pathogenesis and regulation; viral pathogenesis; medical mycology; fungal ecology and evolution; as well as communication, education and history.

ASM2018 will commence on Sunday with the Annual Public Lecture. This year’s opening speaker is Nicholas Graves, Professor of Health Economics at the Institute of Biomedical and Health Innovation, School of Public Health, Queensland University of Technology (QUT). Professor Graves is currently the Academic Director for The Australian Centre for Health Services Innovation (AusHSI) and the Centre of Research Excellence in Reducing Healthcare Associated Infections (CRE-RHAI) QUT. His applied research brings economics to the study of health care.

The Bazeley Oration will be presented by Professor Dennis Burton on Sunday. The Bazeley Oration is fully supported by the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories (CSL) to recognise significant achievements in the field of vaccines. Professor Burton is Chairman of the Department of Immunology and Microbial Science, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, USA. His research is focused on infectious disease, in particular the interplay of antibodies and highly mutable viruses, notably HIV.

The annual Rubbo Oration will be held on Tuesday evening, and recognises outstanding contribution to the field of microbiology. This year, the awardee is Paul Young, Professor of Virology and Head of the School of Chemistry & Molecular Biosciences at the University of Queensland. Professor Young has dedicated much of his working life to understanding the molecular basis of dengue virus induced pathogenesis, as well as developing improved diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccine control strategies for the flaviviruses, dengue, West Nile and Zika viruses.

The event will feature several plenary speakers, including Professor Michael Jennings (Institute for Glycomics Griffith University, Australia — bacterial pathogenesis and glycobiology), Professor Karl Kuchler (Medical University, Vienna — fungal infection biology and antifungal resistance), Dr Susan Sharp (Kaiser Permanente, Portland — clinical microbiology and diagnostics), Dr Anja Spang (Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research — archaea in oceanic environments), Associate Professor Victor Torres (New York University School of Medicine — Staphylococci toxins and host interactions) and Professor Fitnat Yildiz (University of California, Santa Cruz — biofilms and signal transduction).

The symposia invited speakers and proffered papers, the posters and the Special Interest Group, and specific discipline meetings will provide attendees with an opportunity to learn and interact with industry colleagues. The meeting will conclude on Wednesday with a comprehensive workshop program delivering content pertinent to genomics, clinical serology and molecular biology, culture media and Eukaryotic microbes.

The 2018 Australasian Mycological Society (AMS) Scientific meeting will be held on Wednesday, 4 July in conjunction with ASM (at the BCEC) and on Thursday, 5 July (AMS only, at the University of Queensland). Professor Rytas Vilgalys (Duke University, USA) is the plenary speaker for Thursday.

EduCon 2018 will commence immediately after the conclusion of the main ASM Annual Scientific Meeting. To be held on Wednesday, 4 July (2.30–5.30 pm) and Thursday, 5 July (8.30 am–4.00 pm), the event will focus on contemporary and exciting ways to engage students and teach microbiology at all levels. It is open to educators in any field, not just microbiology.

The social program has been developed with the objective of facilitating networking and interactions. The Sunday night Welcome Reception and Poster & Trade Session, and the Monday night Poster & Trade Session will both be held in the BCEC Plaza Auditorium Foyer. The Tuesday night Rubbo celebration will be held in the BCEC Sky Room that overlooks South Bank and the Brisbane wheel. All three evenings will provide a great opportunity to catch up with old friends and colleagues, and to develop new relationships within the industry, while also having fun.

For more information, visit the meeting website: www.asmmeeting.theasm.org.au.

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/asab974