ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥

Vanessa Sperandio, Ph.D., is Chair of the Department of Medical ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ and Immunology and Robert Turell Professor in infectious diseases at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Previously, she was the Jane and Bud Smith Distinguished Chair in Medicine and professor in UT Southwestern Departments of ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ and Biochemistry. She received her bachelor’s, master’s and Ph.D. at UNICAMP in Brazil and did her post-doctoral training at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. 

Sperandio was a Latin-American Pew fellow in biomedical sciences, an Ellison Foundation New Scholar and a Burroughs Wellcome Fund Investigator in the Pathogenesis of Infectious Diseases. She has been a National Academy Kavli Frontiers of Science fellow since 2007. She served on the national advisory committee of the Pew Latin-American Fellows Program and Projeto Serrapilheira in Brazil. She served on the advisory committee for the Burroughs Wellcome Fund’s Investigators in the Pathogenesis-of-Infectious Diseases. 

She has served as Chair of ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ Press, Chair of ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥'s Division D, member of the ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ Education Awards Committee and member and Chair of the ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ Microbe Program Committee HMB-track. She currently serves on the editorial boards of mBio and Infection and Immunity and recently served on the Journal of Bacteriology editorial board (term ended in 2024). 

In 2013, Sperandio was elected a fellow of the American Academy of ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ (AAM) and is currently serving as Chair of the AAM Academy Governors. She received the 2015 ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ Eli-Lilly and Company-Elanco Research Award and was a winner of the GSK- Discovery-Fast-track challenge in 2014. She was elected as an American Association for the Advancement of Sciences (AAAS) fellow in 2022.

Sperandio’s research investigates chemical, stress and nutritional signaling at the interface among the mammalian host, beneficial microbiota and invading bacterial pathogens. The main tenet of her research is the study of how bacterial cells sense several mammalian neurotransmitters leading to rewiring and reprogramming of bacterial transcription toward host and niche adaptation. She has also identified several bacterial receptors to mammalian neurotransmitters and reported that pathogens hijack these interkingdom signaling systems to promote virulence expression. She also translated these basic science concepts into strategies to develop novel approaches to antimicrobial therapy. 

Deborah Bell-Pedersen, Ph.D., is a distinguished professor of biology at Texas A&M University. Her research focuses on determining how the microbial circadian clock controls daily rhythms in gene expression, critical to an organism’s fitness and health.

Bell-Pedersen received her M.S. and Ph.D. in molecular biology from the State University of New York at Albany working with Marlene Belfort, where she aided in the discovery of mobile group I introns in bacteriophage T4. Following postdoctoral studies at Dartmouth Medical School working with Jay Dunlap and Jennifer Loros on the Neurospora crassa circadian clock, she joined the biology faculty at Texas A&M University. Her group’s research is currently focused on determining the mechanisms by which the N. crassa circadian clock regulates mRNA translation and translation fidelity, and the impacts of this regulation on health.

Bell-Pedersen serves as the director for the Center for Biological Clocks Research at Texas A&M University and has served on the boards of the Fungal Genetics Society and the Society for Research on Biological Rhythms as well as several journal editorial boards. Her work has been recognized with several awards, including the Jo Ann Treat Award for Excellence in Research, TAMU University Women Former Students’ Network Eminent Scholar Award and the Texas A&M University Association of Former Students Distinguished Achievement Award for Research and she was granted the honorary title of University Professor. She is an elected fellow of the American Academy of ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ and the American Academy for the Advancement of Science.

Christopher Rensing, Ph.D., is a distinguished professor and Director of the Institute of Environmental ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ in the College of Resource and Environment at Fujian Agriculture & Forestry University in Fuzhou, China. His research examines metal-microbe interaction with both an environmental and a medical focus. Other research areas include electromicrobiology and bioremediation. 

Rensing received his Ph.D. from the Free University Berlin. Thereafter, he was a postdoc with Barry Rosen at Wayne State University Medical School, after which he held several faculty positions, including The University of Arizona, Copenhagen University and his present position at Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University. 

Rensing is editor in chief of BioMetals, associate editor of Science of the Total Environment and Frontiers in ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ and served on several editorial boards including Applied and Environmental ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥. He has been elected to the American Academy of ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ and has been awarded the Fujian Friendship Award, Fujian 100 Talents and Yunnan 1000 Talents. 

Karen C. Carroll, M.D., is a professor of pathology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Her research focuses on design, evaluation and implementation of novel diagnostics to detect bacterial pathogens responsible for healthcare associated infections (e.g. MRSA and C. difficile) and bloodstream infections. She is also interested in diagnostic stewardship. Carroll serves as the Director of the Division of Medical ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ and the Co-Director of the bacteriology section of the JHH microbiology laboratory. She is also the Director of the ACGME Fellowship Program in Medical ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ and she is a contributing faculty member to the CPEP Medical ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ Fellowship Program.
 
Carroll received her M.D. degree from the University of Maryland School of Medicine and she trained in internal medicine, infectious diseases and medical microbiology. She has served on many committees for the American Society for ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ including Chair of Division C and the Board of Directors. Her work has been recognized with numerous awards, including the American Society for ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ BD award for excellence in clinical microbiology, the Infectious Diseases Society of America Kass Award and named lecture and the Illinois Society for ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ Pasteur Award.
 

Karen Visick, Ph.D., is a professor in the ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ and Immunology Department at Loyola University Chicago. Her research focuses on host-microbe and microbe-microbe interactions, with an emphasis on Vibrio fischeri and its ability to form and disperse from biofilms that promote host colonization. 

Visick received her Ph.D. from the University of Washington, where she studied Salmonella flagella gene regulation under the mentorship of Kelly Hughes, Ph.D. She then performed post-doctoral work at the University of Southern California and the University of Hawaii in the laboratory of Ned Ruby, Ph.D. There, she began to develop genetic tools for the study of V. fischeri and identified luminescence as an important trait for host colonization. After taking her independent position at Loyola University Chicago, she directed work that led to the development of V. fischeri as a model of host-associated biofilm formation, including the identification of key polysaccharide biosynthetic genes and the elucidation of a complex regulatory scheme that governs biofilm formation.

Visick was the chair and co-chair for the 2022 and 2018 iterations of the ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ Conference on Biofilms. She serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Bacteriology and Applied and Environmental ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥. She became a fellow in the American Academy of ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ in 2016. At Loyola, she has served as graduate program director and vice-chair for her department. She has been honored to be selected as Loyola’s Senior Scientist of the Year (2021) and Graduate Faculty Member of the Year (2023).

Sean Crosson, Ph.D, is a professor of microbiology, genetics, and immunology at Michigan State University. He studies mechanisms by which bacteria adapt to diverse environments, including freshwater, soil and the interior of mammalian cells. 

Crosson received his B.A. in biology from Earlham College, his Ph.D. in molecular biophysics from the University of Chicago and was a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University. Prior to joining the faculty of Michigan State in 2019, he was professor of biochemistry and molecular biophysics and of microbiology at the University of Chicago.

His research primarily focuses on the physiology of Alphaproteobacteria, including mammalian pathogens of the genus Brucella and the freshwater/soil bacterium Caulobacter crescentus. He also collaborates with clinicians and ecologists on studies of Bacteroides fragilis and other bacteria that reside in the human gut. This work is aimed at understanding the contribution of these microbes to inflammatory bowel diseases. 

Crosson is section Editor for Microbial Genetics at PLoS Genetics and serves on the editorial board and advisory board of the Journal of Bacteriology and Molecular ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥. He served on the ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ Council on Microbial Sciences from 2017-2021, was elected to the American Academy of ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ in 2017 and is currently an ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ Distinguished Lecturer. 

Suzanne M.J. Fleiszig, O.D., Ph.D., is a professor at the University of California, Berkeley. She received a Doctor of Optometry degree and Ph.D. in ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ at the University of Melbourne. She completed her postdoctoral training in Infectious Disease at Harvard Medical School.
 
At UC Berkeley, Dr. Fleiszig holds appointments in Vision Science, Infectious Diseases & Immunity, ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥, and the School of Optometry. She studies microbe-host interactions using the eye as a model and key intrinsic defenses protecting epithelial surfaces in vivo against infection, conditions enabling susceptibility, and how the opportunistic pathogen P. aeruginosa colonizes epithelial surfaces.

Fleiszig is the current Chair of COMS. Previously she served ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ as Chair of Division D, an At-Large Division Councilor, an Interdisciplinary Councilor, and co-chaired the HMB community retreat. She serves on the editorial boards of Infection & Immunity, PLOS One, Frontiers in Cellular & Infection ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥, and PeerJ, and is a standing member of NIH’s Bacterial Pathogenesis (BACP) study section. She has also served as President of the International Society for Contact Lens Research, Vice-President of TFOS (ocular surface society), Chair of the Immunology & ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ Section for the Association for Research in Vision & Ophthalmology, and Chair of the Corneal Biology Gordon Research Conference.

Melissa Miller, Ph.D., D(ABMM), FAAM, is a professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill School of Medicine. She is also the Director of the Clinical ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ and Molecular ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ Laboratories for UNC Medical Center.

Miller received her Ph.D. in molecular biology from Princeton University and completed the medical and public health microbiology fellowship at UNC hospitals. She is the Chair of the American Society for ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ Clinical and Public Health ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ Committee, a fellow of the American Academy of ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ and an Editor for the Journal of Clinical ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥.

Miller’s research interests include the development of accurate and cost-effective molecular tests for viral infections and the assessment of patient and healthcare outcomes associated with the implementation of new molecular technologies. She received the 2021 ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ Award for Research and Leadership in Clinical ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ and was a co-recipient of the 2021 ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ Special Recognition Award for leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic. Miller is also the recipient of the N.C. Governor’s Award for Excellence in Public Service, which is the highest honor a state employee can receive for dedicated service to the state and its citizens.

Michael J. Imperiale, Ph.D., is the Arthur F. Thurnau Professor Emeritus of ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ and Immunology at the University of Michigan. His research focuses on interactions between BK polyomavirus and human host cells that determine viral persistence and replication. He received his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. from Columbia University, and completed postdoctoral training at Rockefeller University before joining the University of Michigan faculty.
 
In addition to his research, Imperiale has been engaged in science policy discussions centering around biosafety, biosecurity and biodefense. He is the founding Editor in Chief of mSphere.

Imperiale has been recognized with numerous honors, including being a fellow of the American Academy of ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a recipient of the Distinguished Faculty Award and Rackham Distinguished Graduate Mentor Award from the University of Michigan.

Dr. Susan E. Sharp received her B.S. in Medical Technology and her M.S. in Medical ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ & Biochemistry from the University of Nebraska Medical Center and her Ph.D. from Texas A&M University.  Her post-doctorate fellowship was at Hartford Hospital in Hartford, Conn. She served as the director of microbiology at Mt. Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach and at Kaiser Permanente in Portland, Ore. She is currently the Scientific Director for Copan Diagnostics and an assistant professor at Florida International University in Miami. 
 
Sharp has been a clinical microbiologist for over 30 years, is actively involved with the American Society for ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥, leading the Committee for Laboratory Practices for 9 years and serving as ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ president in 2016-2017. She is a Diplomat of the American Board of Medical ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ and served as Vice-Chair of that board for 6 years. She is a fellow in the American Academy of ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥. She was selected as the 2012 bioMerieux Sonnenwirth laureate, the highest award given by ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ for leadership in Clinical ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ and recognized by her peers in receiving the 2017 ABMM award. Sharp serves as a member of the Board (2022) and a member of the Expert Panel for the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute and is a past member of the Board of Scientific Councilors for the Office of Infectious Diseases at the CDC. She has lectured both nationally and internationally and has published numerous scientific articles and book chapters in the field of clinical microbiology.

Alfredo Torres, Ph.D., is the Herman Barnett Distinguished Professor in ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ and Immunology at the University of Texas Medical Branch. He is member of the ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ Education Board, Chair of the ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ Subcommittee for Minority Education and a presenter in the ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ .

Paul Turner, Ph.D., is the Rachel Carson Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (EEB) at Yale University, and microbiology faculty member at Yale School of Medicine. He obtained a B.A. in biology (1988) from the University of Rochester in New York, a Ph.D. in microbial evolution (1995) from Michigan State University and did postdocs at National Institutes of Health, University of Valencia in Spain and University of Maryland-College Park, before joining Yale in 2001.

Turner previously served as Director of Graduate Studies and Chair of the Yale EEB department and as Interim Dean of Science at Yale. He currently serves as Director of the Center for Phage Biology and Therapy at Yale and also directs Yale’s Quantitative Biology Institute.

Turner studies evolutionary genetics of viruses, particularly phages (bacteria-specific viruses) that infect bacterial pathogens and RNA viruses transmitted by mosquitoes, and researches the use of phages to treat antibiotic-resistant bacterial diseases. He is very active in science communication outreach to the general public and is involved in the Yale National Initiative where faculty collaborate with K-12 teachers to improve STEMM education in underserved public schools.

Turner’s current service includes the National Science Foundation’s Bio Advisory Committee and the Health and Medicine Division of the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine. He also serves as President of the International Society for Evolution, Medicine and Public Health. Turner’s honors include fellowships in the National Academy of Sciences, American Academy of Arts & Sciences and American Academy of ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥. 

Patrick Schloss, Ph.D., is a professor in the Department of ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ & Immunology in the School of Medicine at the University of Michigan. He is also affiliated with the Center for Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics, the Michigan Institute for Data Science and the Rogel Cancer Center. His research focuses on the role of the gut microbiota in diseases including Clostridiodes difficile infection and colorectal cancer. He is also active in the development and validation of tools for analyzing microbiome sequence data. Schloss has been a member of the American Academy of ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ (AAM) since 2016 and fellow of the American Academy for the Advancement of Science since 2022. 

Schloss received his B.S. and Ph.D. from Cornell University and did postdoctoral research in the laboratory of Jo Handelsman at the University of Wisconsin. Prior to joining the University of Michigan, Schloss was on faculty at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. 

Schloss is the Chair of the American Society for ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥’s (ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥) Journals Committee and a member of the Publications Committee and the Council on Microbial Sciences. He has also served as an editor and editorial board member for Applied and Environmental ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥. He served as a reviewer for many of ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥’s journals. His research has been published in Applied and Environmental ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥, Journal of Clinical ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥, mBio, mSphere, mSystems, ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ Resource Announcements, ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ and Molecular Biology Reviews and ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ Spectrum. Schloss received the 2019 ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ Award for Service and the inaugural 2019 Microbiome Data Prize. 

Suzanne M.J. Fleiszig, O.D., Ph.D., is a professor at the University of California, Berkeley. She received a Doctor of Optometry degree and Ph.D. in ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ at the University of Melbourne. She completed her postdoctoral training in Infectious Disease at Harvard Medical School.
 
At UC Berkeley, Dr. Fleiszig holds appointments in Vision Science, Infectious Diseases & Immunity, ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥, and the School of Optometry. She studies microbe-host interactions using the eye as a model and key intrinsic defenses protecting epithelial surfaces in vivo against infection, conditions enabling susceptibility, and how the opportunistic pathogen P. aeruginosa colonizes epithelial surfaces.

Fleiszig is the current Chair of COMS. Previously she served ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ as Chair of Division D, an At-Large Division Councilor, an Interdisciplinary Councilor, and co-chaired the HMB community retreat. She serves on the editorial boards of Infection & Immunity, PLOS One, Frontiers in Cellular & Infection ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥, and PeerJ, and is a standing member of NIH’s Bacterial Pathogenesis (BACP) study section. She has also served as President of the International Society for Contact Lens Research, Vice-President of TFOS (ocular surface society), Chair of the Immunology & ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ Section for the Association for Research in Vision & Ophthalmology, and Chair of the Corneal Biology Gordon Research Conference.

Andrew Darwin, Ph.D., is a professor in the Department of ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ at NYU Grossman School of Medicine. He did his undergraduate education at the University of Liverpool, followed by doctoral research at the University of Birmingham, both in the United Kingdom. After postdoctoral training at Cornell University and Washington University in St. Louis he joined the faculty at NYU Grossman School of Medicine.

Darwin serves on the editorial board of Journal of Bacteriology and previously served on the editorial board of Infection and Immunity and ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ Spectrum. He co-edited the book "Regulation of Bacterial Virulence" for ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ Press. He was an ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ Distinguished Lecturer 2010-2012 and served as the Molecular Biology and Physiology Track Leader on the ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ Microbe Planning committee for the 2020 and 2021 meetings. In 2020, he received the Journal of Bacteriology Jack Kenney Award for Outstanding Service and was also elected as a member of the American Academy of ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥.

Darwin's research has been aimed at understanding fundamental processes within the cell envelopes of gram-negative bacterial pathogens, originally studying Yersinia enterocolitica and now Pseudomonas aeruginosa. In P. aeruginosa his laboratory currently studies cell envelope stress responses, membrane protein function, proteolysis and autolysin control mechanisms.

Christine Jacobs-Wagner, Ph.D., is the Dennis Cunningham Professor of Biology at Stanford, a faculty scholar of the Sarafan ChEM-H Institute and an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. She obtained her Ph.D. in biochemistry at the University of Liège, Belgium, after which she completed postdoctoral training in developmental biology at Stanford University School of Medicine.

Jacobs-Wagner joined the faculty of the Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology of Yale University in 2001. She led the Microbial Sciences Institute at Yale University prior to joining the department of biology and the Sarafan ChEM-H Institute at Stanford University in 2019. She also has a secondary appointment at the Department of ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ and Immunology at Stanford University School of Medicine.  

Jacobs-Wagner is recognized as a pioneer of the field of bacterial cell biology by demonstrating that bacteria rely on intracellular organization for cell morphogenesis and cell cycle processes. For her scientific achievements, Jacobs-Wagner has received multiple awards throughout her career, including GE & Science Prize for Young Life Scientists for best Ph.D. thesis, PEW Scholar Award, the Woman in Cell Biology Junior Award and the Eli Lilly Award. She is a fellow of the American Academy of ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥, a member of Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering and a member of the National Academy of Sciences. 

Gary W. Procop, M.D., M.S., M.Ed., is the Chief Executive Officer of the American Board of Pathology and a staff member at Moffitt Cancer Center. Most of his career was at the Cleveland Clinic, where he held several leadership positions, and remains a consulting staff and a professor of pathology.  

Procop completed a Bachelor of Science at Eastern Michigan University, followed by an M.D. and M.S. at Marshall University School of Medicine. Residency training in anatomic and clinical pathology training was completed at Duke University Medical Center, followed by a Clinical ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ Fellowship at the Mayo Clinic. He recently completed a M.Ed from Johns Hopkins University. He is a diplomat of the American Board of Pathology in anatomic and clinical pathology and medical microbiology. He is a fellow of the American Academy of ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥, the College of American Pathologists, the American Society for Clinical Pathology, the Infectious Diseases Society of America and the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. Procop has given more than 750 presentations, and has 251 published manuscripts, 57 chapters and 5 books to his credit.

Procop is President-Elect of Board of Directors of the Clinical & Laboratory Standards Institute and past Chair of the Antifungal Subcommittee of that organization. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the American Board of Medical Specialties, and has held leadership positions in several other national pathology and microbiology organizations.

Manuela Raffatellu, M.D., is a professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine. She received her M.D. at the University of Sassari, Italy, in 2000, followed by postdoctoral training at Texas A&M University and at the University of California, Davis. She started her own lab at the University of California, Irvine in 2008, where she was promoted to associate professor with tenure in 2014. She then relocated to the University of California, San Diego in 2017.

Raffatellu's research focuses on many aspects of Salmonella and Escherichia coli interactions with the mucosal immune response and with the intestinal microbiota in the inflamed gut. Her recent efforts aim to design strategies to reduce intestinal colonization of enteric pathogens without affecting the gut microbiota composition. She is the recipient of several awards, including the IDSA ERF/NFID Astellas Young Investigator Award, the ICAAC Young Investigator Award from the American Society for ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ and the Burroughs Wellcome Fund Investigator in the Pathogenesis of Infectious Disease Award. In 2019, she was elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation, and she became a fellow of the American Academy of ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥. She serves as an editor for Infection and Immunity. 

Gladys Alexandre, M.S., Ph.D., is a professor and the Head of the Biochemistry & Cellular and Molecular Biology department at the University of Tennessee (UT), Knoxville. She has also a joint faculty appointment in the Genome Science and Technology graduate program, a UT/Oak Ridge National Laboratory venture. Her research addresses challenges related to sustainable agriculture through basic research; specifically, she is interested in strategies used by commensal motile soil bacteria used as commercial bio-inoculants to establish beneficial plant-microbe associations.

She received her M.S. and Ph.D. from Université Claude Bernard, Lyon I (France) and served as an Assistant Professor of Biology at Georgia State University before joining the faculty of UT Knoxville.

Her group has characterized the chemotaxis responses of bacteria in the vicinity of plant roots and elucidated mechanisms by which soil bacteria integrate signaling by multiple chemotaxis signal transduction pathways to coordinate a single response. Alexandre and colleagues have also identified several strategies by which motile bacteria couple metabolism with sensing during chemotaxis and discovered novel regulatory mechanisms for controlling the signaling activity of chemotaxis receptors. Her current research focuses on molecular mechanisms that underlie the integration of metabolic status with bacterial chemotaxis signaling and expression of nitrogen fixation in the rhizosphere. 

Alexandre’s work has been recognized with a NSF CAREER award, an election as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences (AAAS) and on the Bacterial Locomotion and Signal Transduction Board of Directors. She has also been active in outreach activities and in initiatives to promote those most underrepresented in science, including deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals. From 2014 to 2019, she was the program director of the Program for Excellence and Equity in Research (PEER) to increase the diversity of students earning Ph.D.s in biomedically relevant STEM disciplines. She has mentored more than 65 undergraduate students in research, many from under-represented groups in STEM. She received the 2019 ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ William A. Hinton Award for Advancement of a Diverse Community of Microbiologists for some of this work. She is an external Advisory Board Committee member for the Rochester Bridges to the Doctorate program, Rochester Institute of Technology. She is an elected fellow of the American Academy for ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥, an editor for Applied and Environmental ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ and on the editorial board of the Journal of Bacteriology.

Kelly Doran, Ph.D., is a professor of immunology and microbiology at the University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Campus. She relocated her laboratory in July 2017 after developing her research program at San Diego State University (2007-2017). Doran has a broad background in molecular microbiology and innate immunology with expertise working with gram-positive bacterial pathogens including Streptococcus, Staphylococcus, Bacillus and Enterococcus.

The interest of the Doran laboratory lies in understanding fundamental mechanisms of bacterial pathogenesis and cellular immune/inflammatory responses, specifically during bacterial meningitis, colonization and ascending infection in the female reproductive tract, or in diabetic wound infection caused by Group B Streptococcus (GBS). More recent projects seek to understand the role of the normal microbiota and other pathobionts in GBS pathogenesis. Using a variety of molecular genetic approaches, her research team seeks to discover and characterize bacterial virulence determinants involved in cytotoxicity, adherence, invasion, inflammation and resistance to immunologic clearance, as well as interaction with native microbiota. She also investigates the contribution of host factors such as surface receptors, signal transduction pathways and transcription factors in defense against invasive bacterial infection. Doran is passionate about mentoring and has a successful record of training the next generation of scientists.

Dr. Dudley has a B.S. in ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ from Penn State, and an M.S. in Food Science and Ph.D. in Bacteriology, both from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His training has spanned various areas of food microbiology, including the genetics and physiology of lactic acid bacteria, the mechanisms of virulence of E. coli and the use of genomics to define routes of transmission during foodborne outbreaks. He is currently an Associate Professor of Food Science at Penn State, and also serves as the Director of Penn State’s E. coli Reference Center. His group leads Pennsylvania’s involvement in a Food & Drug Administration (FDA) program called GenomeTrakr, the goals of which include assisting public health laboratories as they transition to using whole genome sequences in foodborne outbreak investigations. He is the current head of the Applied and Environmental Science track for the annual ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ Microbe meetings and serves as an editor for the journal Applied and Environmental ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥.

Marie Elliot, Ph.D., is a professor and chair of the Biology Department at McMaster University, Canada. She obtained her B.S. and Ph.D. at the University of Alberta and completed her post-doctoral training at the John Innes Centre, U.K.

Elliot’s research is broadly focused on understanding the molecular mechanisms governing bacterial growth, development and metabolism in the context of microbial communities and dynamic growth conditions. She is particularly interested in environmental Streptomyces bacteria, given their complex developmental life cycle and the associated genetic and biological innovations that support this, and given their prodigious metabolic capabilities, including the production of most naturally-synthesized antibiotics, many of which have been co-opted for clinical and agricultural application.

Elliot was elected a fellow of the American Academy of ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥, is a past President of the Canadian Society for Microbiologists and has received Tier II Canada Research Chair and Science Research Chair recognitions, alongside awards for graduate student and post-doctoral fellow mentorship. She served as an editor for Applied and Environmental ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ and was on the editorial board of the Journal of Bacteriology for 15 years. Elliot is currently on the editorial boards for Molecular ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥, Current Opinion in ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ and the Canadian Journal of ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥.

Joseph Heitman, M.D., Ph.D., is James B. Duke Professor and Chair, Department of Molecular Genetics and ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥, Duke University. He co-directs with Leah Cowen, Ph.D., the CIFAR program Fungal Kingdom: Threats & Opportunities. He studies model/pathogenic fungi addressing fundamental questions of scientific/medical importance. Pioneering studies with Baker’s yeast revealed immunosuppressive natural products inhibit signaling cascades via FKBP12-drug complexes and discovered TOR as a globally conserved nutrient sensor targeted by the immunosuppressive/antiproliferative drug rapamycin. Heitman's research discovered unisexual reproduction of pathogenic microbes, with implications for pathogen emergence, sex-generated diversity and evolution of sexual reproduction. His lab developed genetic/genomic approaches elucidating molecular principles of virulence and illustrating convergent evolution of mating-type loci and sex chromosomes. His studies defined calcineurin as a global microbial virulence factor and explored novel therapeutic leads. They elucidated RNAi and heterochromatin roles evoking transient antimicrobial drug resistance via epimutations.

Heitman was Burroughs-Wellcome Scholar and HHMI investigator, received the AMGEN award (ASBMB), Squibb award (IDSA), NIH MERIT award, Korsmeyer Award (ASCI), Benham Award (MMSA), Novitski Prize (GSA), ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ Basic Science Award, Distinguished Mycologist Award (MSA) and Lucille Georg Medal (ISHAM). He is elected fellow/member of the American Academy of ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ (AAM), American Society for Clinical Investigation, Association of American Physicians, American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, National Academy of Sciences, German National Academy of Sciences–Leopoldina and National Academy of Medicine. Long an ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ member/AAM fellow, Heitman co-organized 2 AAM colloquia on the fungal kingdom and currently serves on the AAM awards committee.

Barbara Kazmierczak, M.D., Ph.D., is a graduate of the University of Chicago who completed her M.D.-Ph.D. training at Weill Cornell University Medical College and the Rockefeller University. After internal medicine residency and infectious diseases fellowship training at the University of California, San Francisco, she joined the faculty at Yale where she is currently professor of medicine and professor of microbial pathogenesis. She was selected to lead Yale’s NIGMS-funded medical scientist training program in 2014. Kazmierczak has been active at the national level in the development of training programs for physician-scientists, serving as President of the National Association of M.D.-Ph.D. Programs, Chair of the AAMC GREAT section on M.D.-Ph.D. training, and member of the Association for Academic Internal Medicine’s Research Committee.

Kazmierczak is a practicing infectious diseases physician who leads a laboratory focused on the regulation and function of bacterial nanomachines and their recognition by innate immune receptors. She has been funded by NIH/NIAID for this work since 1999, with additional support from HHMI, the Donaghue Medical Research Foundation, the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, the Gates foundation and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Kazmierczak is a fellow of the Infectious Diseases Society of America who has been elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation (2014), the American Academy of ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ (2019) and the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering (2022). She currently serves as Director of the Gustavus and Louise Pfeiffer Research Foundation M.D.-Ph.D.
 

James E. Kirby, M.D., is Director of the Clinical ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ Laboratory and a member of the Experimental Pathology Division at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. His clinical and research interests include antimicrobial development, novel treatment strategies for multidrug-resistant bacterial infections, antimicrobial resistance and innovations in infectious disease diagnostics. He is the Founding Program Director of the Medical ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ Fellowships at BIDMC and a fellow of the American Academy of ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥.
 
Kirby received his M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. He completed residency training in Clinical Pathology at Massachusetts General Hospital, followed by postdoctoral research training in bacterial pathogenesis at Tufts University School of Medicine.

Kirby is board certified in clinical pathology and is a Diplomate of the American Board of Medical ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥. Kirby previously served as President of the Northeast Branch of the American Society for ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥.
 

Martin Polz, Ph.D., is currently a professor at the Center for ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ and Environmental System Science at the University of Vienna. He obtained his Ph.D. from Harvard University in organismic and evolutionary biology in 1997, after which he joined the faculty at MIT in 1998, where he spent the next 20 years as a professor.

Polz is a microbial ecologist and evolutionary biologist whose work is focused on the elucidation of structure function relationships in natural microbial communities. Using primarily environmental vibrios as a model, he investigates microbial population biology and genomics in the marine environment, including how bacterial viruses interact with their hosts. Other interests include microbe-microbe and host-microbe interactions and the evolution of ecological differentiation within complex microbiomes. 

His teaching covers courses on microbial ecology and evolution at both the undergraduate and graduate level. At MIT, Polz served as the Chair of the MIT Joint Program in Biological Oceanography and Co-Chair of the MIT ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ program. Polz has also served as editor for Environmental ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ and ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ and Molecular Biology Reviews and was previously on the editorial board of Microbiome. 

Polz has received a number of recognitions, including from the ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ election to fellow of the American Academy for ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ and receipt of the Eli Lilly and the Company Elanco Research Award. At MIT, he received the Frank E. Perkins Award for excellence in graduate advising. 
 

Steven W. Wilhelm, Ph.D., is the Kenneth & Blaire Mossman Professor of ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK), where he is in his 25th year. After training at Western University, he moved to the University of Texas and then University of British Columbia before joining the UTK faculty. In 2016, he became a fellow of the American Academy of ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ (AAM), as well as a Sustaining Fellow of the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO). In 2021, he was elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In 2021, he was awarded (with Curtis Suttle) the John Martin award from ASLO for their contribution describing the viral shunt.

He studies synergies between microbial communities and biogeochemical cycles in lakes and oceans. Lab members use biomolecular tools—DNA/RNA sequencing, metabolomics and PCR-based quantitative analyses—to study viruses, bacteria and algae. His research is well-supported by various funding agencies; moreover, he is PI of an NSF-funded Research Experience for Undergraduates program that is entering its 10th year. His group has graduated 16 Ph.D.’s and 8 M.S..’s and engaged >100 undergraduates in research. Notable service includes more than a decade as graduate director and associate head, multiple editorial advisory boards and presently the AAM Subcommittee on Elections.  

Esther Babady, Ph.D., D(ABMM), FIDSA, F(AAM) is the Director of the Clinical ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ Service, the Director of the CPEP clinical microbiology fellowship program, an attending microbiologist and member (professor) in the Departments of Laboratory Medicine and Medicine at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) in New York City.

She received her Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biology and completed a postdoctoral CPEP fellowship in clinical microbiology, both at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., before joining MSKCC. She is board-certified by the American Board of Medical ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥, a fellow of the Infectious Disease Society of America and a fellow of the American Academy of ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥.

She is a senior editor for ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ Spectrum and an associate editor for the Journal of Molecular Diagnostics. She is the immediate past-president of the Pan American Society for Clinical Virology (PASCV) and serves on the CDC Clinical Laboratory Improvement Advisory Committee (CLIAC) and the CLSI Expert Panel on Molecular Diagnostics. Her research interests include rapid diagnosis of infections in immunocompromised hosts, viral and fungal diagnostics and the development and evaluation of the clinical utility of molecular microbiology assays. She has published extensively on these topics.

Rodolphe Barrangou, Ph.D., is T. R. Klaenhammer Distinguished Professor at North Carolina State University (N.C. State). Barrangou is focusing on the characterization of CRISPR-Cas systems and their applications in bacteria and beyond. The work has spanned basic scientific studies to understand and decipher the genetics of CRISPR-Cas systems, as well as developing novel technologies and applying them to develop and formulate next-generation commercial products. Barrangou spent 9 years in research and development and mergers and acquisitions at Danisco and DuPont and has been at N.C. State since 2013.  

For his CRISPR work, Barrangou received several international awards, including the 2016 Canada Gairdner International Award, the 2016 Harvard Medical School Warren Alpert Prize, the 2017 NAS Award in Molecular Biology and the 2018 NAS Prize in Food and Agriculture Sciences. He has been elected into the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, the National Academy of Inventors, the National Inventors Hall of Fame and the American Academy of ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥.  

Barrangou earned a B.S. in biological sciences from Rene Descartes University in Paris, France, an M.S. in biological engineering from the University of Technology in Compiegne, France, an M.S. in food science from N.C. State, a Ph.D. in genomics from N.C. State and an MBA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Barrangou is also the former Chairman of the Board of Caribou Biosciences (NASDAQ CRBU), a co-founder of Intellia Therapeutics (NASDAQ NTLA), Locus Biosciences, TreeCo, Ancilia Biosciences and CRISPR Biotechnologies, an advisor to Inari Ag, Invaio, Provaxus and Hoofprint Biome and the Editor in Chief of the CRISPR Journal. 

Mya Breitbart, Ph.D., is a professor at the University of South Florida in the College of Marine Science, where she has been a faculty member for 15 years.  She earned her B.S. in biology from Florida Institute of Technology in 2000, and her Ph.D. in cellular and molecular biology from San Diego State University and the University of California, San Diego in 2006.

Her research uses metagenomic sequencing to explore the identity, diversity and distribution of viruses in a wide range of environments, ranging from seawater to sewage. In addition, her laboratory is using viral metagenomics to discover novel viral pathogens causing disease in plants and animals, as well as to explore the environmental reservoirs and transmission mechanisms of these viruses.

Breitbart is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the American Academy of ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥, the National Academy of Sciences’ Kavli Frontiers Fellow, and an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow, and was recognized as 1 of Popular Science Magazine’s “Brilliant 10” young scientists in 2013. She is also actively involved in scientific outreach activities and was recognized as the Girls Incorporated of Pinellas 2015 STEM Woman of the Year for her work inspiring young women to pursue STEM careers.

Garth D. Ehrlich, Ph.D., is a professor of microbiology and immunology and otolaryngology–head and neck surgery at Drexel University College of Medicine in Philadelphia, Pa. His scientific career has been characterized by his integration of technologies and ideas across a broad spectrum of academic and clinical disciplines and the continuous development of highly significant advances that span a range of disciplines, including diagnostics, informatics, artificial intelligence, infectious diseases, genetic diseases, wound healing and evolutionary biology.

Ehrlich was elected a fellow of both the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Academy of ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ based on his work in the development of molecular diagnostics, genomic technologies and evolutionary modeling of chronic bacterial pathogenesis. Ehrlich’s career has been distinguished by his conceptual and technical advances in molecular medicine and evolutionary biology over more than 40 years—spanning the eras of the AIDS and COVID-19 pandemics—both of which he has materially affected by his insights and work. 

JoAnne Flynn, Ph.D., is a distinguished professor and chair of the Department of ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ and Molecular Genetics and the Health Sciences Endowed Chair in ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. She has a B.S. in biochemistry, from the University of California, Davis and a Ph.D. in microbiology and immunology from University of California, Berkeley.

Flynn’s first postdoc was with Magdalene So, Ph.D., at Scripps Clinic Research Institute. Then she began her studies in tuberculosis as a Howard Hughes Research Associate with Barry Bloom, Ph.D., at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. She served as a councilor for the American Association of Immunologists (AAI) and as president in 2018. She is a fellow of the American Academy of ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ and a Distinguished Fellow of AAI.

Flynn won the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine Distinguished Mentor Award in 2018 and Chancellor’s Distinguished Research Award in 2019. She served a 4-year term on the Board of Scientific Counselors for National Institutes of Health National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and was a section editor at Public Library of Science Pathogens and an editor at Infection and Immunity and The Journal of Immunology.

Her research in tuberculosis is focused on immunology, host-pathogen interactions, vaccines and drugs, and she developed non-human primate models for TB research. Flynn’s research uses cutting-edge tools and technologies, including PET CT imaging, to investigate the complexities of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection, with a particular focus on lung and lymph node granulomas, vaccines and treatments. Her h-index is 107.

Erin Goley, Ph.D., is a professor of molecular biology and genetics at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She has a joint appointment in the Department of Molecular ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ and Immunology in the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Her research seeks to elucidate fundamental mechanisms of growth and adaptation in bacteria, with a focus on spatial and temporal regulation of cellular processes. 

Goley received her Ph.D. in molecular and cell biology from the University of California-Berkeley where she studied actin nucleation mechanisms and pathogen co-option of actin during infection. She pivoted to bacterial cell biology, with a focus on cell division, for her postdoctoral work at Stanford University. Goley began her laboratory at Johns Hopkins in 2011. Her lab focuses on comparative cell biology studies of the alphaproteobacterial Caulobacter crescentus and Rickettsia parkeri to understand how cell biology of bacteria is adapted to promote growth in diverse environments. 

Goley has served on the editorial boards of J Bacteriology, PLoS Biology, Molecular Biology of the Cell, Molecular ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ and Journal of Cell Biology. She served as Division J Chair for ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥, on the program committee for ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ Microbe and was an elected councilor for the American Society for Cell Biology. Goley was recently recognized as a fellow of the American Society for Cell Biology and a fellow of the American Academy of ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥.

Susan Gottesman, Ph.D., is an National Institutes of Health (NIH) Distinguished Investigator and Chief of the Laboratory of Molecular Biology at the Center for Cancer Research at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), NIH. Her research focuses on mechanisms and roles of novel forms of post-transcriptional regulation in bacteria.

Gottesman received her B.A. from Radcliffe College in Biochemical Sciences, did her Ph.D. with Jonathan Beckwith, Ph.D., in the Department of ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ and Molecular Genetics at Harvard University, and postdoctoral training at the NIH with Max Gottesman (unrelated), Ph.D., and Massacheusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) with David Botstein Ph.D. She returned to NIH in 1976.

Gottesman’s lab, in collaborative work, has described the roles of energy-dependent proteolysis and the role of small non-coding RNAs in regulating translation and mRNA stability, extending our understanding beyond the “central dogma” of molecular biology to the complex ways that cells adapt and recover from stress. In studies on the regulation of the RpoS sigma factor, a regulator of the general stress response, she has identified how multiple small RNAs activate translation and how multiple anti-adaptors regulate the ClpXP-dependent degradation of RpoS.

Gottesman’s work has been recognized with election to the National Academy of Sciences, associate member of European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO), with the Abbott ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ Lifetime Achievement Award, the Selman A. Waksman Award from the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and the Tabor Award from American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB), among other awards.

Richard L. Hodinka, Ph.D., is professor emeritus at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine where he spent over 26 years as a professor of pathology and laboratory medicine and Director of the Clinical Virology Laboratory at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia before retiring from these institutions in 2014. Most recently, he was a tenured professor in microbiology at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine, Greenville from 2014-2021 and served as the Chair of the Department of Biomedical Sciences from 2015-2020. He has years of experience in development and translation of viral diagnostics into clinical practice, with a major emphasis in the design, validation and implementation of qualitative and quantitative molecular-based assays and their use in patient care and management.

Hodinka is active in and has held positions of responsibility in the American Society for ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥, Pan American Society for Clinical Virology and Association for Molecular Pathology. He has served as the co-organizer of the Clinical Virology Symposium from 1994-2002 and co-organized the Molecular Virology Workshop for over 20 years.

Hodinka has authored numerous original scientific publications, review articles and book chapters in clinical microbiology and infectious diseases and has delivered many invited presentations. He is an editor of the Clinical Virology Manual and serves as an invited reviewer and editor/editorial board member for various journals. His awards include fellowship in the American Academy of ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥, ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ bioMérieux Sonnenwirth Award for Leadership in Clinical ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥, PASCV Diagnostic Virology Award and PASCV Dupont Clinical Virology Young Investigator Award.

Cammie Lesser, M.D., Ph.D., is an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and a research scholar and infectious diseases attending at Massachusetts General Hospital. She received her M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of California, San Francisco and completed an internal medical residency, infectious disease fellowship and postdoctoral training at the University of Washington, Seattle. 

Lesser is the Associate Director of the Massachusetts General Hospital Center for the Study of Bacterial Pathogenesis, as well as the Harvard Medical School Infectious Disease and Basic Microbiological Mechanisms T32 training program. Research in her lab studies host-pathogen interactions, focusing on type III secretion systems. Projects in her lab focus on understanding how type III secreted proteins are defined as substrates, deciphering how they act to manipulate eukaryotic host cell processes and, most recently, engineering these secretion systems to develop engineered Escherichia coli as a therapeutic protein delivery platform. 

Lesser is a member of the Editorial Boards of Infection & Immunity, Current Opinions in ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ and the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology Journal and will be Co-Editor in Chief of Current Opinions in ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ starting in 2025. She recently completed a term as a standing member of the National Institute of Health’s Bacterial Pathogenesis (BACP) study section.

She is the recipient of multiple awards, including election to the American Academy of ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ and 2 National Institute of Health Director Awards, a Transformative Research Award and an Extraordinary, Unconventional Research Knowledge Acceleration (EUREKA) award.   

Peter Lipke, Ph.D., is a professor of biology at Brooklyn College. He is a microbiologist interested in the surface of fungi. Specifically, his group studies how protein amyloids affect adhesion of the fungi, how the host responds to fungal colonization and whether amyloid-targeted drugs can be developed as antifungals. His interests also include science education, opportunities in science for historically excluded groups, mentoring and student development.

He has authored over and several patent applications.
 
Lipke has served as Director of MARC and SCORE Programs, department chairperson and faculty fellow for research development. He was elected to the American Academy of ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ and is a fellow of the AAAS. In 2018, he was awarded the prestigious ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ William A. Hinton Award for Advancement of a Diverse Community of Microbiologists, which recognizes outstanding contributions and service toward fostering the research training of minorities and increasing diversity in microbiology. 

Samantha Joye, Ph.D., is an oceanographer, an educator and a vocal ocean and environmental advocate. She is a regents’ professor and holds the Athletic Association Distinguished Professorship of Arts and Sciences at the University of Georgia; she is a professor in the Department of Marine Sciences. She is an expert in microbiology and biogeochemistry and works in extreme deep ocean environments, as well in blue-water environments. Her work bridges the fields of analytical chemistry, geology and microbiology and many projects focus on extreme environments, including seafloor cold seeps and hydrothermal vents, Antarctic ice-covered lakes and pelagic hypoxic zones where she and her colleagues seek to understand how microbial processes shape biogeochemical cycling.

Joye received her B.Sc., M.Sc. and Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Joye has published 250 peer-reviewed scientific works to date and is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography, the American Geophysical Union, the American Academy of ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ and The Explorers Club. Joye is deeply committed to science communication and public outreach and works to advance ocean literacy and environmental education. She served as a science advisor to the BBC during production of Blue Planet II: The Deep. She partnered with award-winning cartoonist Jim Toomey to produce the educational cartoon series, “Adventures of Zach and Molly.” She works frequently with artists to generate ocean-themed art that stimulates empathy for, and interest in, the ocean.

Shan-Lu Liu, M.D., Ph.D., is professor of virology in the College of Veterinary Medicine at Ohio State University (OSU). He also holds an appointment in the Department of Microbial Infection and Immunity College of Medicine. His research focuses on viral entry, evolution and virus-host interactions of emerging and re-emerging viruses. Liu directs the Viruses and Emerging Pathogens Program of the Infectious Diseases Institute and serves as Associate Director of the Center for Retrovirus Research at OSU. 

Liu received his medical training from China and Ph.D. from the University of Washington/Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. Prior to joining OSU, Liu was an associate professor at University of Missouri School of Medicine in Columbia and assistant professor and Canada Research Chair at McGill University in Canada. 

Liu is an editor of the Journal of Virology and guest editor of mBio, PNAS and PLoS Pathogens. He is also an associate editor of Viruses and serves on several editorial boards. He was Chair of the American Society for Virology (ASV)’s Travel Award Committee during 2017-2019 and will be the local host of the ASV 43rd Annual Meeting in 2024. He organized the first Midwest Virology Symposium in 2019 and serves as President of The Society of Chinese Bioscientists in America from 2022-2023. Liu was the founding President of the Association of Chinese Virologists in America from 2018-2020. He has was elected fellow to the American Academy of ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ in 2018 and fellow of the American Academy for the Advancement of Science in 2020. 

 

Kasturi Haldar, Ph.D., is Rev. Julius A. Nieuwland C.S.C. Professor of Biological Sciences at the University of Notre Dame. She is also professor of anatomy and cell biology at Indiana University School of Medicine. Her research focuses on molecular, cellular and animal models host-pathogen interactions as well as clinical disease. Haldar served as the Parsons-Quinn Founding Director of the Boler-Parseghian Center for Rare and Neglected Diseases from 2008-2022 at the University of Notre Dame.

Haldar received her A.B. from Bryn Mawr College and Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Prior to joining Notre Dame, she was the Charles and Emma H. Professor of Pathology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Her research is currently focused on molecular and evolutionary mechanisms underlying drug resistance in apicomplexan parasites as well as monogenetic genetic disorders and associated immune dysfunction.

Haldar served as a founding Deputy Editor/Co-Editor in Chief of PLOS Pathogens from 2006-2023. Her work has been recognized by the Burroughs Wellcome New Investigator in Molecular Parasitology and the Burroughs Wellcome New Initiatives in Malaria Award. She has also been elected to the American Academy of ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥, fellow of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene and fellow of the American Academy for the Advancement of Science.

Gemma Reguera, Ph.D., is a professor of microbiology, genetics and immunology and Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs and Development in the College of Natural Sciences at Michigan State University. She is an applied and environmental microbiologist known for her pioneering work in electromicrobiology and her commitment to advancing the climate economy, bridging the divide between academia and industry and promoting the full participation and advancement of women and other historically excluded groups in the microbial sciences. 

She holds a Ph.D. in microbiology from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst and received a postdoctoral fellowship from Spain’s Ministry of Science to work on the ecology of infectious diseases (with Roberto Kolter, Harvard Medical School) and metal cycling (with Derek Lovley, University of Massachusetts-Amherst).

Since joining Michigan State University in 2006. She has led seminal studies to describe the electric nature of metal-reducing microbes and apply this knowledge to develop sustainable technologies for bioremediation, nanotechnology and bioenergy applications. She has also been recognized for her applied research and efforts to bridge the divide between academia and industry. She was elected fellow to the American Academy of ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ in 2019 and appointed in 2021 as Editor in Chief of Applied and Environmental ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥. She is also known for her advocacy and initiatives to promote the full participation and advancement of women in the microbial sciences, efforts that were recognized in 2022 with the ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ Alice C. Evans Award for Advancement of Women from the American Society of ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥. 

Salama, Ph.D., received her Ph.D. in molecular and cell biology from University of California Berkeley in 1995. Her dissertation, conducted with Randy Schekman, Ph.D., and supported by an National Science Foundation fellowship, focused on defining the vesicle coat (COPII) that drives movement of secretory protein cargo between the endoplasmic reticulum and the Golgi apparatus. In the laboratory of Stanley Falkow, Ph.D., in the Department of ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ and Immunology, Salama then became interested in the ability of pathogenic bacteria to manipulate host cells and tissues. During her postdoctoral fellowship, supported by the Jane Coffin Child Memorial Fund for Medical Research, Salama spearheaded the development of genetic and genomic tools and an animal model of infection for the study of Helicobacter pylori, the first bacteria to be designated as a carcinogen by the World Health Organization.

In 2001, Salama was recruited to Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center as an assistant professor in human biology. Now a full professor, her work focuses on the role of genetic variation and cell morphology in chronic stomach colonization by H. pylori, as well as how this organism modifies stomach tissues to simultaneously promote long term bacterial persistence and stomach cancer development.

Salama prioritizes training and mentoring of the next scientific generation. She was Co-Director of the Molecular and Cellular Biology Graduate Program jointly administered University of Washington and Fred Hutch from 2016-2022 and currently leads the Office of Education and Training at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center as Senior Vice President of Education.

Anita Sil, Ph.D., M.D., is professor and chair of the Department of ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ & Immunology and co-director of the Integrative ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ Program at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF). Her research focuses on thermally dimorphic fungal pathogens. The long-term goal of her research is to determine how environmental signals such as temperature regulate morphology and virulence in the fungal pathogens Histoplasma and Coccidioides. These organisms sense host temperature to switch from a soil form to a parasitic form that bypasses the anti-microbial strategies of macrophages. 

Sil received an undergraduate degree in biochemistry from Harvard and a Ph.D. and M.D. from UCSF. She has served on several editorial boards and was a standing member of the National Institutes of Health Pathogenic Eukaryotes Integrated Review Group. She is a member of the American Academy of ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ and was awarded a Burroughs Wellcome New Investigator Award, an Ellison New Scholar Award, an Early Career Scientist Award from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the 2021 Rhoda Benham Lifetime Achievement Award in Medical Mycology from the Medical Mycology Society of America.

Lisa Y. Stein, Ph.D., is a professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Climate Change ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ and Faculty of Science Associate Dean of Mentorship & Awards at the University of Alberta. 

Stein's research focuses on the metabolic pathways of inorganic nitrogen and single carbon metabolism in bacteria and archaea. She interrogates the integrated cycles of nitrogen and methane at the molecular, whole-cell and ecosystem levels to predict how and when greenhouse gases, methane and nitrous oxide are released. Projects aim to harness microorganisms to generate commercially valuable bioproducts (e.g. bioplastics, biofuels) using single-carbon waste streams as feedstocks and to neutralize and maximize microbial activities in the nitrogen cycle to increase global crop productivity without production of greenhouse gases. Understanding the interconnections between the nitrogen and methane cycles enables novel climate change solutions that simultaneously reduce greenhouse gas emissions and maximize production of food, fuels and material resources for humanity.   

Stein is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine Committee on Atmospheric Methane Removal. She is Editor in Chief of the ISME Journal since 2020, an elected member of the American Academy of ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥ since 2023 and received the Killam Award for Excellence in Mentoring in 2022. Stein works in partnership with industries, non-governmental organizations, academics and governments to translate microbiological solutions toward greenhouse gas mitigation in engineered, agricultural and natural ecosystems.  

Brenda Anne Wilson, Ph.D., is a professor of microbiology and the Associate Director of Undergraduate Education in the School of Molecular & Cellular Biology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). She holds joint appointments in pathobiology at the College of Veterinary Medicine and in biomedical and translational sciences at the Carle Illinois College of Medicine. She is the Illinois Faculty Fellow for Sandia National Laboratories in the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation.
 
After completing her B.A. in biochemistry and German from Barnard College at Columbia University, she was a DAAD graduate fellow of biochemistry at the Ludwig-Maximilians Universität München in Germany, studying virus labeling for in vivo tracking. She then earned her M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in chemistry from the Johns Hopkins University, where she received the Ernest M. Marks Achievement Award and an AAUW doctoral fellowship to study antibiotic biosynthesis. She began her studies on bacterial pathogenesis and bacterial protein toxins as an NIH-postdoctoral fellow in microbiology at Harvard Medical School, and during her first tenured faculty appointment in biochemistry at Wright State University School of Medicine.
 
Wilson's current research focuses on the host-microbe interface; bacterial pathogenesis and bacterial protein toxins; development of anti-toxin and toxin-based biologics; and comparative and functional genomic technologies and applications involving microbiomes in health and disease. 

Wade Winkler, Ph.D., is a professor of molecular microbiology at the University of Maryland. His research group investigates the biology of bacterial RNA elements, such as riboswitches, protein-sequestering RNAs, trans-acting regulatory RNAs, RNA-binding proteins, RNases and RNA elements that promote antitermination. By studying the molecular mechanisms of genetic regulatory elements, his laboratory is working to uncover new targets for antimicrobial drugs and to develop new and impactful tools for synthetic biology.

Winkler received his B.S. in molecular biology and microbiology from the University of Central Florida. He received his Ph.D. from The Ohio State University Department of ÃÞ»¨ÌÇÖ±²¥, where he used genetic approaches to investigate Bacillus subtilis signal-responsive regulatory RNAs. He was a postdoctoral research associate at Yale University, where he used biochemical approaches to investigate ligand-RNA interactions. He was an assistant and associate professor of biochemistry at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center from 2004-2011, before relocating to the University of Maryland, where he holds joint professor appointments in the departments of cell biology and molecular genetics and chemistry and biochemistry.