We are pleased to announce our keynote speakers:
Dr. Alvaro Sanchez, Yale University
Dr. Sue Ishaq, University of Maine

The topic sessions and keynotes were be broadcast through Zoom and the virtual poster session conducted through Fourwaves.  


Friday Jan 14th

Speaking Sessions Broadcast on Zoom

9:30-9:45 am         Welcoming Remarks

Christopher Hemme, PhD., Rhode Island INBRE Molecular Informatics Core Director

Bongsup Cho, PhD., Rhode Island INBRE Program Director

Comments from Sponsors

9:45-10:45 am        Keynote Speaker 1

Alvaro Sanchez, PhD, Associate Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology/Microbial Sciences Institute, Yale University

“Evolutionary engineering of microbial consortia”

10:45 am-11:00 am    Break

11:00 am-12:00 pm         Session I – Host-Associated Microbiomes

Michelle Hauer, University of Rhode Island “Geography, not lifestyle, explains the population structure of free-living and host-associated deep-sea hydrothermal vent snail symbionts” 

Mohan Kumar, PhD., Brown University “Altered gut microbiome in asthma triggered by maternal exposure to environmental particles” 

Elizabeth Klingbeil, PhD., Johnson & Wales University “The impact of gut microbiota modulation on the negative effects of a high-fat diet”

12:00-12:30 pm    Break

12:30-1:30 pm    Virtual Poster Session (Available on Fourwaves)

1:30-2:30 pm         Keynote Speaker 2

Suzanne Ishaq, PhD. Assistant Professor of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, University of Maine

“Microbes at the nexus of environmental, biological, and social research”

2:30-2:45 pm    Break

2:45-3:45 pm    Session II – Methods in Microbiome Research

Tyler Stack, PhD., Providence College “Chemically-guided functional profiling of drug-metabolizing enzymes in the gut microbiome”

Quang Nguyen, Dartmouth College “Evaluation of trait-based taxon-sets for enrichment analysis in microbiome relative abundance data

Vivek Ramanan, Brown University “A novel approach for monitoring host-microbe data in GenBank”

3:45-4:00 pm    Break

4:00-5:00 pm    Session III – Microbial Ecology and Environmental Microbiomes

Ian KroutUniversity of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry “Demethylation of methylmercury by the gut microbiome plays a role in determining the kinetics and toxicity outcomes post methylmercury exposure”

Chris Powers, University of Rhode Island “Expression of organelle-specific metabolism of foraminifera under oxygen depletion”

Yong Jin Lee, PhD., Albany State University “Effects of Tritiated Water on Soil Microbiome at a Mixed Waste Disposal Site at SRS”

5:00 pm    Closing Session