PVMS 2023 Schedule
Pioneer Valley Microbiology Symposium Agenda
University of Massachusetts, Amherst – March 25, 2023
Integrative Sciences Building, UMass Amherst campus, Amherst, MA
9:00 – 9:40 am Registration and Coffee
9:40 – 9:45 am Opening Remarks: James F. Holden, Professor and Department Head, Microbiology, University of Massachusetts Amherst
9:45 – 10:55 am Session 1
- 9:45 – 10:15 am Invited Keynote Speaker: Mistranslation of the genetic code by a novel class of bacterial transfer RNAs
Oscar Vargas-Rodriguez, Molecular Biology and Biophysics, UConn Health - 10:15 – 10:35 am Molecular determinants of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Gram-negative bacteria outer membrane impermeability
Irene Lepori, Microbiology, UMass Amherst - 10:35 – 10:55 am Developing a robust system for genetic detection of RNA-binding protein
Suxuan Wang, Program in Biochemistry, Mount Holyoke College
10:55 – 11:50 am Poster Session 1 and Coffee Break – Poster # 1-28
11:50 – 1:00 pm Session 2
- 11:50 – 12:20 pm Invited Keynote Speaker: Microbiomes help marine animals adapt to a changing world
Sarah Gignoux-Wolfsohn, Biological Sciences, UMass Lowell - 12:20 – 12:40 pm Phage influence on hydrothermal vent bacterial symbionts in the Lau Basin
Michelle Hauer, Graduate School of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island - 12:40 – 1:00 pm Junonia coenia Densovirus Infections of Euphydryas Phaeton larvae, the Baltimore Checkerspot Butterfly
Billi Kozak, Eastern Connecticut State University
1:00 – 1:55 pm Lunch
1:55 – 3:05 pm Session 3
- 1:55 – 2:25 pm Invited Keynote Speaker: Effective application of machine learning to microbiome-based classification problems
Begüm Topçuoğlu, Bristol Myers Squibb - 2:25 – 2:45 pm Microbial nanowires with genetically modified peptide ligands to sustainably fabricate electronic sensing devices
Yassir Lekbach, Microbiology, UMass Amherst - 2:45 – 3:05 pm Genetic and lipidomic identification of tuberculostearic acid as a controller of mycobacterial membrane compartmentalization
Malavika Prithviraj, Microbiology, UMass Amherst
3:05 – 4:00 pm Poster Sessions 2 and Coffee Break – Poster # 29-56
4:00 – 5:00 pm Session 4
- 4:00 – 4:20 pm Towards programmable interspecies cell-cell communication in bacterial consortia: synthetic homoserine lactone-based quorum sensors for gram-positive B. subtilis
Min Zeng, Chemical Engineering, UMass Amherst - 4:20 – 4:40 pm Bent Out of SHAPE: Using Structural Probing and Mutational Profiling to Explore RNA That Resist Viral Decay
Jacob Miles, Microbiology, UMass Amherst - 4:40 – 5:00 pm Evaluation of Caenorhabditis elegans for enrichment of and as an in vivo infectivity model for noroviruses*
Anand Soorneedi, Food Science, UMass Amherst
*tentatively not presenting*
5:00 – 5:25 pm Closing Remarks and Prizes
5:25 – 7:15 pm Evening Refreshments