Saturday, September 16, 9:30 – 11:00 a.m.
Beckman Room 1025 – Auditorium
Chair: Shannon Sirk
Recent years have seen a growing appreciation and understanding of the fundamental and powerful roles that microbes play in countless processes across human, animal, and environmental health. Researchers studying these microscopic organisms have uncovered countless insights into their behavior, metabolism, and community interactions, establishing the foundations to move beyond discovery, toward application. Speakers in this session will share the diverse approaches they have taken to exploit and expand this substantial body of microbial knowledge, and describe the innovative ways in which they aim to harness microbial activities to address unmet needs in human health and environmental sustainability.
Presenters:
Mechanisms of microbe-contaminant interactions and their applications in environmental health
Erica Majumder, Department of Bacteriology, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Harnessing bacterial toxin diversity: Learning from modularity, domain swapping, and evolutionary fine-tuning
Brenda Wilson, School of Molecular & Cellular Biology, University of Illinois
Harnessing bacterial viruses to combat antibiotic-resistant pathogens
Asma Hatoum-Aslan, School of Molecular & Cellular Biology, University of Illinois
Engineering microbes for environmental sustainability
Na Wei, Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois