Tuesday, 2nd July Australian Society for Microbiology Annual Scientific Meeting 2024

Join us for the Nancy Millis Mentoring Program student breakfast, where you’ll enjoy breakfast while engaging with plenary speakers, the ASM executive, prominent Microbiology leaders and your fellow students.

This unique opportunity fosters networking and insightful discussion in an informal setting.

This session is only available to students and pre-registration is required before the day.

• Exploring the Impact of Nut Consumption on Human Large Intestinal Microbiota: Insights from a Dietary Intervention Study - Deirdre Mikkelsen
• Gut microbial ecosystem features associated with cancer immunotherapy outcomes - Erin Shanahan
• Feeding the Hungry Microbiome: The role of dietary fibres  - RAJARAMAN D ERI
• A previously uncharacterised hydrogenase dominates fermentation in the human gastrointestinal tract - Caitlin Welsh
• The effects of probiotic secretomes on human gut methanogen growth in-vitro provide new efficacy insights for functional constipation prophylaxis and/or therapy. - Yenkai Lim
• Does the Mediterranean diet impact the gut microbiome composition and function during pregnancy? - David F. Garcia Mendez
• Longitudinal culturing of the early life human microbiome reveals temporal and spatial differentiation between the respiratory tract and gut - Sara K Di Simone

• Community-Associated MRSA (CA-MRSA) in Papua New Guinea - Paul Horwood
• Surveillance and Molecular Epidemiology of Gastrointestinal Pathogens in Papua New Guinea - Andrew R Greenhill
• Seek and you shall find – insights from nationally comprehensive genomic snapshots of public health priority pathogens in the AusPathoGen program - Patiyan Andersson
• Advancing hospital infection control: Real-time genomic surveillance and intervention strategies using nanopore sequencing - Rhys T White
• Population diversity and antimicrobial resistance profiling of Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolated from Australians with bronchiectasis - Kellie R Strickland
• Molecular tracing of the emergence, clonal dominance, and virulence of the toxigenic Streptococcus pyogenes M1_UK lineage - Olivia Bertolla
• A genomic framework for enhanced strain identification to improve outbreak detection and public health surveillance: Enterobacter Cloacae Complex as an exemplar. - Susan Noonan

• Molecular basis of nanoparticle resistance in bacterial pathogens - Cindy Gunawan
• Taking a shotgun approach to the fight against antimicrobial resistance. - Sanmarie Schlebusch
• How to inhibit efflux-mediated drug resistance in staphylococci - Melissa H Brown
• A Comparative Analysis of the Mechanisms of Action of Guanidine Mimics and N-Substituted Glycine Peptoids Against P. aeruginosa - Manjulatha Mrs Sara
• Towards the development of non-antibiotic based strategies to clear Klebsiella pneumoniae from the gut - Sher Maine Tan
• Fast Evolution of SOS-Independent Multi-Drug Resistance in Bacteria - Leo Zhang
• Cell metabolic repression as a key mechanism underpinning antimicrobial resistance of staphylococcal biofilms - Yao Sun

• When Anatomical Pathology meets Microbiology - The interface - Robert Norton
• The issues surrounding implementation of a Dermatophyte & Mould PCR within a clinical laboratory.  - Vickie Horton-Szar
• Computer Assisted Scanning and Interpretation of Ziehl-Neelson stains - an AI Evolution - Brett Baker
• Ancylostoma ceylanicum Infection:  an overlooked and emerging health risk in Northern Australia   - Rodney J McDougall

• Microbial oxidation of atmospheric trace gases: from enzymes to ecosystems - Chris Greening

• Harnessing Genomics for Public Health Impact: Insights from Salmonella Pathogen Lead, England. - Marie Anne Chattaway

Bug Break: Microbiology Tales Over Lunchtime

Speaker: Nikki Townell

• What in the world is Research Integrity and why should I care? - Cheryl-lynn Ong

Careers in Science - Nancy Millis Mentoring Program 

Panel Discussion examining turning your scientific knowledge and experience into a career.  

Panellists:

• Dr Sheila Barbero
• Emma Chung
• A/Professor Amy Jennison
• Scott McNeil
• Professor Kate Seib

Topics include: 

• Important skills employers seek in applicants
• What makes a good CV?
• What are the steps in the hiring process?

• High throughput “problems” require automated solutions: Validation of the MGISTP-7000 instrument for processing of preserved stool specimens - Indya Gardner
• The Adoption of Pre-analytical Automation into a Large Clinical Microbiology Laboratory - Matthew Hadaway
• Gram stain interpretation from digital images – from development to implementation into the laboratory. - Justin Staweno
• Assessing SARS-CoV-2 genomics capacity and performance in public health laboratories: Three-year in review - Katherine Lau

• The Battle for Balance on the Nutrient Tightrope: Lipid Homeostasis during Bacterial Infection - Brynley Davies
• Genomic analysis of diverse environmental Acinetobacter isolates identifies plasmids, antibiotic resistance genes, and capsular polysaccharides shared with clinical strains - Liam Tobin
• Characterisation of bacterial pathogens using CRISPR-Cas9 enrichment and Oxford Nanopore sequencing. - Hugh Cottingham
• Are low lactose concentrations in human milk a risk factor for Staphylococcus aureus-associated mastitis? - Grace C McLoughlin
• A recombinant alphavirus platform based on the Australian insect-specific Yada Yada virus - Mikaela G Bell

• Permanent tenancy or a bad case of squatting? - Tolerance to Haemophilus influenzae infection in human epithelial cells - Ulrike Kappler
• Primary tuberculous granulomas provide a growth niche for superinfecting non-tuberculous mycobacteria - Stefan H Oehlers
• The importance of oxidative protein folding for virulence of Neisseria gonorrhoeae - Charlene Kahler
• Precision-cut lung slices are an innovative model of early Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection  - Thomas D Watts
• The gastric microbiota invades the lamina propria in Helicobacter pylori-associated gastric carcinogenesis - Amanda E Rossiter-Pearson
• Sensitive to lysis D (SlyD) is essential for cell adherence and internalisation in Burkholderia pseudomallei - Justine Bendo
• A novel TLR4 mutation deregulates inflammation during Helicobacter pylori infection and related gastric cancer - Ezekiel Otaegui-Campos

• Respiratory Microbiome and Microbial Genomics in Queensland First Nations Children Prone to Otitis Media - Seweryn Bialasiewicz
• Genomic insights around AMR and hypervirulence convergence in a global dataset of Klebsiella pneumoniae  - Margaret Lam
• Proteomics of Fungal Disease in One Health - Jennifer Geddes-McAlister
• Accurate Identification of Enterococcus lactis Causing Bacteraemia by MALDI-TOF Mass Spectrometry and Multiplex qPCR - Marhami Fahriani
• Molecular diagnostics development for rapid human fungal infection detection and identification - Tiana R Davey
• Unravelling the temporal and geographic strain dynamics of invasive group A streptococci in Australia - Mark R Davies
• Vancomycin heteroresistant Staphylococcus epidermidis from a refractory peritonitis case - Malgorzata Kopczyk

• Microbial life in the atmosphere - Rachael Lappan
• SingleM and Sandpiper: Robust microbial community profiles of Earth’s metagenomes - Ben J Woodcroft
• Marsupials harbour characteristic gut microbiomes reflecting host phylogeny - Rochelle M Soo
• A Viral Inflection: The Microbial Ecology of Shark Epidermal Wound Healing - Ryan D Hesse
• Temporal self-organisation in tiger shark skin microbiomes despite fluctuations in diversity structure - Michael Doane
•  Shark and ray body-sites provide unique microbial niches - Emma Kerr
• Unravelling Toxic Cyanobacterial Ecosystem Challenges in Wastewater Reuse - Linda Blackall

• Whipple’s Disease: molecular diagnosis and insights from case studies - Riley Thomson
• From Flipper’s fin to your skin: Pathogenesis and case study of Staphylococcus delphini  - Lisa Hansen
• Sneaky Sneathia:  an interesting post partum blood culture isolate - Eleanor Dunlop
• DELIVERING POSITIVE BLOOD CULTURE RESULTS SOONER FOR REGIONAL PATIENTS   - Jarrod Chatfield

• THE OPPORTUNISTS: GROUP B STREPTOCOCCUS COLONISATION AND INFECTION - Lucy Furfaro
• Genomic surveillance of bacterial pathogens: then and now - Leah Roberts
• Regulatory mRNA-mRNA interactions coordinate bacterial gene expression. - Daniel G Mediati
• From Basic Research to Developing Solutions for Multidrug-Resistance Gonorrhea - Freda Jen
• Establishing mechanistic knowledge to support microbiome-based medicines - Samuel Forster
• Probing the temperate phage population within human gut isolates - Jeremy J Barr

• Combating Antimicrobial Resistance with Next-Generation Sequencing - Tara Cassidy
• Unravelling the molecular mechanisms underlying scarlet fever: insights from Streptococcus pyogenes   - Phoebe K Shaw
• Multilocus sequence typing of T. pallidum ssp. pallidum isolated in the Czech Republic between 2004 and 2022 revealed 33 different allelic profiles - David Šmajs
• The zinc ionophore PBT2 is tuberculocidal and synergistic with current Mtb therapies - Emily Strong
• Analysis of the scabies associated microbiota demonstrates a shift to opportunistically pathogenic bacteria - Sara Taylor
• Oral administrations of microbiota and metabolites exert different promotional mechanisms in weaned piglets - Xiaofan Wang
• Characterisation of lactic acid bacteria isolated from various food sources and developing low-cost media for their potential applications in food industry - Laiyi Wei
• Resolving the classification of closely related pathogens with machine learning, a case study of the B cereus group - Hewa Wijesinghe
• Revealing the genetic diversity and evolution of virulence of Mycobacterium intracellulare by whole genome sequencing - Han Sang Yoo
• Novel oseltamivir derivatives demonstrated in vitro activity against influenza A neuraminidases - Qingyu Zou
• Exploring wine grape variety-derived topical tannin formulations for enhanced animal skin repair and health - Wanting Chen
• Epidemiology of Staphylococcus aureus infections in Timor-Leste - Virginia da Conceicao
• Genomic characterisation of Torque teno virus in pigeon highlights cryptic host divergence in old world pigeon from Australasia - Pangkaj Kumar Dhar
• Molecular and phenotypic characterisation of vancomycin variable Enterococcus faecium causing bacteraemia in Australia - Auriane N Form
• Interaction of pathogenic Escherichia coli carrying T6SS with an improved model of gut epithelial cells - Behnoush asgari
• Stormwater use and the fresh produce microbiome: a preliminary investigation - Penny Galbraith
• Developing New Antimicrobial Therapies: Are Combination of Plant Infusions with Conventional Antibiotics the Solutions? - Tesleem Ibrahim
• Another brick in the wall: a close encounter with Clostridium tetani    - Holly M Woodford
• Development  Of a Single-Stage Bioreactor for the Study of the Gut Microbial Ecology in the Ascending Colon - David Garcia Mendez
• Identification and characterisation of antimicrobial molecules in sydney rock oysters - Jessica C Gibbs
• Characterisation of novel copper and zinc subversion mechanisms in Group B Streptococcus: implications for virulence in vitro and in vivo - Kelvin Goh
• Safety and carriage of probiotics given during the first 10 days of life in infants of the Eastern Highlands Province, Papua New Guinea - Andrew R Greenhill
• Exploring the role of Acinetobacter baumannii plasmid types in disseminating antimicrobial resistance - Mehrad Hamidian
• Ecophysiology of trimethylamine-producing bacterial communities of human gut microbiota - Ylenia Heinrich Sanchez
• FK506-binding protein Mip is involved in gonococcal resistance to cationic antimicrobial peptides. - Joe Hooton
• Could Plant-Based Antimicrobials bean Alternative to Antibiotic in Combating Bacterial Drug Resistance? - Tesleem Ibrahim
• Elucidating the role of a putative para-aminobenzoic acid synthesis enzyme in Burkholderia pseudomallei - Ashley Johnson
• Development and pre-clinical evaluation of a Chikungunya virus diagnostic for low resource locations - Rickyle Balea
• Stability and antimicrobial activity of Buddha wood essential oil emulsion against Staphylococcus aureus recovered from chronic rhinosinusitis patients - Sumeena Karki
• Carbon monoxide: poison or fuel for Mycobacterium tuberculosis? - Thilini Koralegedara
• A rigorous approach to identify novel inhibitors of staphylococcal efflux pump QacA - Phung Hien Le
• Dysregulation in the antibody response to Pseudomonas aeruginosa in people with cystic fibrosis - Emma L Ledger
• The culturability of acid-tolerant Salmonella in mayonnaise, a raw egg based food - Lingyun Li
• Bacteriophage isolation against major aquaculture pathogens - Kai Cheng Lim
• Antibiotic discovery by targeting bacterial RNA polymerase holoenzyme formation - Cong Ma
• Exploiting Nanostructured Silicon for Viral Inactivation: Investigating Nature-Inspired Solutions for Countering Viral Threats - Samson W.L. Mah
• Smart visualization for the detailed taste of the edible mushroom, Pholiota nameko, -the effects of the treatments for harvested fruit bodies- - kazuhiko Masuno
• A novel Methanobrevibacter isolate from a Lumholtz’s Tree Kangaroo appears to have a unique growth profile - Harley McRae
• Extraintestinal Escherichia coli from camel carcasses: Phylogroups, serotypes, bacteriocins, and virulence markers - Juraj Bosák
• Deciphering the pan-methylome of Group A Streptococcus - August Mikucki
• Energy matters - How growth substrates contribute to the Haemophilus influenzae virulence - Saurab Kishore Munshi
• Implications of φSa3int prophage acquisition in Staphylococcus aureus   - Roshan Nepal
• Investigating the non-antibiotic antibacterial activity of bioceramics for infection prevention and biocompatibility in orthopaedic implants   - Ngoc Huu Nguyen
• Duo-enrichment approach for long read sequencing to detect antibiotic resistance in clinical samples - Thi Nhu An N.T Nguyen
• Developing a quantitative three-dimensional bovine mammary gland cell model using an automated, high-content confocal imaging platform to investigate Coxiella burnetii pathogenesis - Lucy O'Shannessy
• The PAZ domain of Aedes aegypti Dicer 2 is critical for size determination of virus derived small interfering RNAs, and processing into the exogenous siRNA pathway. - Rhys H Parry
• Comparative genomic analysis of Salmonella Typhimurium isolated from meat chicken production chain in New South Wales, Australia - Michael Payne
• Characterising Candida drug susceptibilities using ATR-FTIR spectroscopy and machine learning techniques. - Savithri Pebotuwa
• Human Breast Milk vs. Infant Formulas: Changes to the Infant Gut Microbiota Determined Using an In Vitro Gut Model - Christopher Pillidge
• The Epidemiology of Burkholderia pseudomallei in Townsville Groundwater - Kaitlin V Burns
• “Stall-and-Kill” - A genetic approach for accurately determining the functional order of glycosyltransferases during polysaccharide synthesis in Shigella flexneri - Jilong Qin
• Modern Vaccines for an Ancient Disease: Toward mRNA Vaccination for TB. - Sean Riek
• Heat stress in microalgae - symbiotic dinoflagellates and resulting oxidative stress and cellular changes - Nedeljka Rosic
• Stimulated saliva has a distinct composition that influences release of volatiles from wine - Xinwei Ruan
• Antibiotic exposure leads to depletion of Bifidobacterium in the infant gut microbiota and impaired antibody responses to vaccination - Feargal J. Ryan
• Revolutionizing microbial monitoring: assessing the efficacy of an environmental kit in preserving and neutralizing across diverse industrial settings - Cristiano Sabelli
• Gut microbiome analysis in a company population: insights and interventions for health and wellness - Cristiano Sabelli
• Comparison of a commercial kit and a laboratory-developed test for detection of antimicrobial resistance genes from bacterial isolates - Kai Qian Saw
• Developing Dual proteomic Approaches to Study Burkholderia cenocepacia Infections in Macrophage Cells - Nichollas E. Scott
• Passive sampling for wastewater-based epidemiology of pathogens - Andreana G Shakallis
• Fluoroquinolone resistance detection in Mycoplasma genitalium - Nicole G Ertl
• 722: A novel ionophore antibiotic against multidrug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus - Gen (Tom) Li
• Evaluating an Innovative, Boric Acid-Free Device for Urine Molecular and Antigenic Testing in UTI Pre-Analytics - Francesco Bonometti