June 3, 2024

UVM Davis Center – Burlington, Vermont

Welcome

The University of Vermont’s Microbiome Interest Group is pleased to invite you to the 2024 Northern New England Microbiome Symposium.  This one-day symposium will feature talks on cutting-edge research and applications by national and local speakers. It offers everyone an opportunity to share their work in a community poster session and get to know one another at a microbially-themed social event.  The symposium will be held in person at the Davis Center on the UVM campus; virtual attendance will also be made available via a Microsoft Teams link.  Attendance is completely free, but we do ask you to register for the event prior to June 3rd and let us know if you will be presenting a poster so we can plan for the right number of people.  We are looking forward to seeing you on June 3rd.

Register Here
Location:

590 Main St, Burlington, VT

UVM Davis Center on Google Maps

Parking:

Jefford’s Parking Lot (walking distance to Davis Center)

Jefford’s Lot Parking on Google Maps

 

 

Keynote Speaker: Dr. Rita Colwell

“Oceans, Environment, and Pandemic Prediction in the 21st Century”

Dr. Rita Colwell is Distinguished University Professor at the University of Maryland at College Park and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Founder of CosmosID, Inc.  Her interests are focused on global infectious diseases, water, and health. She has authored or co-authored 20 books and more than 800 scientific publications.

Dr. Colwell served as 11th Director of the National Science Foundation and Co-chair of the Committee on Science, National Science and Technology Council.   

https://www.umiacs.umd.edu/people/rita-colwell

 

Agenda

Davis Center Maple Ballroom
8:00 – 8:30 Breakfast
8:30 – 9:45
Intro and Keynote

Rita Colwell, “Oceans, Environment, and Pandemic Prediction in the 21st Century”
9:45 – 10:00 Break
10:00 – 11:00
Session I: Microbiomes and disease – Disease indicators, mediators and drivers (moderator: Dimitry Krementsov)

– John Barlow, Department of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, UVM, “Antimicrobial resistance and resistomes on dairy farms in Vermont”​
– Jess Crothers, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Vaccine Testing Center, UVM, “Mucosal immunity and the gut microbiome: who’s following who?”
– Theresa Montgomery, Department of Biomedical and Health Sciences, UVM, “Of Microbes, Mice, and Men: The gut microbiome in multiple sclerosis”
– Sue Ishaq, Department of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, University of Maine, “Place and Time Matter for Gut Microbes Making Anti-Inflammatories from Broccoli Sprouts”
11:00 – 11:15 Break
11:15 – 12:15
Session II: Understanding host-microbe/species interactions – Interactions from pairwise relationships to systems (moderator: Melissa Pespeni)

– Sandra Nnadi, Department of Plant Biology, UVM, “Examining the Root Fungal Microbiome of Northern Highbush Blueberry”
– Jacob Lacy, Department of Electrical and Biomedical Engineering, UVM, “Microbiome Metabolic Modeling”
– Matt Wargo, Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, UVM, “Helping the neighbors: Pseudomonas detoxification of host antimicrobial lipids”
– Melissa Pespeni, Department of Biology, UVM, “Does the microbiome play a role in the zombie-like Sea Star Wasting Disease?”
12:15 – 1:45 Posters Session/Lunch/Networking
1:45 – 2:35
Session III: Harnessing the Power of Microbes – Utility in engineering, environmental science, agriculture, and health (moderator: Matt Scarborough)

– Brigitte Lavoie, Department of Neurological Sciences, UVM, “Modulating gut and brain serotonin signaling through tryptophan producing bacteria”
– Carol Adair, Rubenstein School of the Environment and Natural Resources, UVM, “Climate change-agriculture connections: the potential for agriculture to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions” 
– Matt Scarborough, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, UVM, “Microbiome-based fermentation of organic wastes”

2:35 – 2:45 Break
2:40 – 3:40
Session IV: Discovering the Hidden World  - Environmental contexts (moderator: Eric von Wettberg)

– Scott Tighe, Vermont Integrative Genomics, UVM, “Dark matter and the hidden world of extreme environments”
– Amanda Northrop, Department of Biology, Norwich University, “Meta -omics approaches to characterizing microbes in the pitcher traps of the carnivorous plant Sarracenia purpurea”
– Raju Badireddy, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, UVM, “Understanding Soil Milieu Using Sensors”

3:40 – 3:50 Break
3:50 – 4:40
Session V: Current Techniques and Protocols – How to pick the right tool for your question (moderator: Scott Tighe)

– Emily Curd, Vermont Biomedical Research Network, UVM, “Exploring Metagenomics Data Using Bioinformatics”
– Scott Tighe, Vermont Integrative Genomics, UVM, “Technical and Laboratory Approaches for Microbiome Studies from Sampling to Sequencing”
– Stefan Green, Rush Medical University Chicago IL, “Implementing Shotgun and Amplicon Sequencing Methods for Microbiome Applications”

4:40 – 5:30

Fermented Festivities social hour, featuring delicacies from:

– Jasper Hill Farm
– Aqua ViTea
– Pitchfork Pickle

Poster Session

Presenter’s Name Presenter’s Institute Presenter’s Position at Institute Poster Title
Felipe Machado Department of Animal and Veterinary Sciences Assistant Professor Unraveling the hidden resistance: metagenomic insights into antibiotic resistance genes and microbial diversity in raw and pasteurized cheeses
Hallie Shi The Univeristy of Vermont Ph.D. student The effect of probiotic yogurt on gut microbiota in ob/ob mice
Andrew Magnuson The University of Vermont Posdoctoral Associate Influence of Forage Level and Ketoacid Supplementation on Rumen Microbiota
Mona Davoudimehr The University of Vermont PhD Student Influence of Thermochemical Pretreatment on the Butyric Acid Production from Anaerobic Digestion of Cow Manure
Bailey Kretzler University of Vermont Graduate Student Examining the relationship between soil microbial recruitment and the rotational value of 104 field pea genotypes from the USDA minicore
Daniel Peipert University of Vermont Graduate Student Mechanisms of EAE modulation by intestinal colonization with Akkermansia muciniphila
John Barlow University of Vermont Associate Professor Antimicrobial resistance and resistomes on dairy farms in Vermont
Eurydice Aboagye The University of Vermont Graduate Research Assistant Assessing the Efficacy of Commercial Probiotics in Preventing the colonization of Listeria monocytogenes on cheese aging boards
Heather Richard University of Maine Graduate Student Salt Marsh Environment and Microbial Communities Above and Below Tidal Restrictions
Pauline DiGianivittorio University of Vermont Graduate Student Exploring the role of host-derived sphingolipids in Pseudomonas aeruginosa interactions with the host
Jessica Tolbert Dartmouth College Graduate Student Structural analysis of a virulence factor regulatory protein suggests novel small molecule therapeutics
Andrew McCracken University of Vermont PhD candidate Associations between host gene response and microbial dysbiosis of sea star wasting disease
Stephen Keller University of Vermont Associate Professor Alpine plants as a model system for understanding biodiversity dynamics in a warming world: Integrating genetic, functional, and community approaches

Organizers

University of Vermont Office of the Vice President for Research (OVPR)

Sara Helms Cahan, Associate VP for Research, OVPR, (802) 656-1435

Also:

Scott Tighe (Vermont Integrative Genomics)
Julie Dragon (Vermont Integrative Genomics and Vermont Biomedical Research Network)
Christopher Franklin (UVM Biochemistry and Vermont Biomedical Research Network)
Eric Bishop Von Wettberg (UVM Plant and Soil Sciences)
Dimitry Krementsov (UVM Biomedical and Health Science)
Melissa Pespeni (UVM Biology)
Matthew Scarborough (UVM Civil/Environmental Engineering)
Andrew Mccracken (UVM Biology)