Abstract Book: https://blogs.umass.edu/valleymicrobes/files/2022/02/Abstract-Book-2022-PVMS.docx.pdf
Saturday, March 5th
9:00 – 9:30 a.m. – Registration and Coffee
9:30 – 9:35 a.m. – Opening Remarks – James F. Holden, Professor and Department Head, Microbiology, University of Massachusetts Amherst
9:35 – 9:55 a.m. – Celebrating Lynn Margulis on her 84th birthday with Hummingbird Films and Emily Case
9:55 – 11:05 a.m. – Session 1
9:55 – 10:25 a.m. – Invited Keynote Speaker – Small Cell Size, Big Implications: Diversity, Episymbiosis, and Disease Association of Ultrasmall Saccharibacteria
Batbileg Bor, The Forsyth Institute
10:25 – 10:45 a.m. – The Host Strikes Back! C19ORF66 restricts KSHV Lytic Replication by Targeting Viral Gene Translation
William Rodriguez, Microbiology, UMass Amherst
10:45 – 11:05 a.m. – The King of Oils: Effect of dietary frankincense on allergic asthma through modulation of the gut microbiome
Cassandra Suther, Food Science, UMass Amherst
11:05 a.m. – 12:00 – Poster Session and Coffee Break Poster # 1-31
12:00 – 1:00 p.m. – Session 2
12:00 – 12:20 p.m. – Comparative genomics of Aspergillus oryzae genomes from different clades reveals signatures of artificial selection in primary and secondary metabolism in domesticate environments
Katherine Chacon-Vargas, Molecular and Cell Biology, UMass Amherst
12:20 – 12:40 p.m. – Multiplex imaging in living bacterial cells with fluorogenic RNAs
Ru Zheng, Chemistry, UMass Amherst
12:40 – 1:00 p.m. – Using machine learning to understand the determinants of mRNA stability in mycobacteria
Huaming Sun, Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, Worcester Polytechnic Institute
1:00 – 2:05 p.m. – Lunch
2:05 – 3:15 p.m. – Session 3
2:05 – 2:35 p.m. – Invited Keynote Speaker – Building the molecular genetic toolbox to probe mechanisms of RNA-protein interactions in bacteria
Katherine E. Berry, Department of Chemistry and Program in Biochemistry, Mount Holyoke College
2:35 – 2:55 p.m. – Detection and Characterization of a Novel Small Protein in Pseudomonas aeruginosa
Zach Jonas, Amherst College
2:55 – 3:15 p.m. – Evaluation of indole as a prospective natural agent for antimicrobial resistance management
Xiaojing Shi, Stockbridge School of Agriculture, UMass Amherst
3:15 – 4:10 p.m. – Poster Session 2 and Coffee Break – Poster # 32-62
4:10 – 5:20 p.m. – Session 4
4:10 – 4:40 p.m. – Invited Keynote Speaker – Bioprospecting acid mine drainage for bioactive secondary metabolites
Lesley-Ann Giddings, Department of Chemistry, Smith College
4:40 – 5:00 p.m. – Metabarcoding analyses of animal-associated foraminifera across built and open environments produce comparable diversity using DADA2 and In-house pipeline
Rabindra Thakur, Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, UMass Amherst
5:00 – 5:20 p.m. – FISHing for bacterial symbionts within the accessory nidamental gland of Euprymna scolopes
Derrick Kamp, Molecular and Cell Biology, University of Connecticut
5:20 – 5:45 p.m. – Closing Remarks and Prizes
5:45 – 7:30 p.m. – Evening Refreshments