There is more than golf happening this weekend in San Francisco so even if you prefer fungi to fairways or bacteria to birdies you are in the right city. On June 16, the American Society for Microbiology begins its 112^th General Meeting (asm2012) at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, CA. Thankfully, I have the opportunity to attend, since this is an especially exciting time for the field of microbiology. NIH Human Microbiome Project (HMP) researchers recently published sixteen papers in four journals detailing the work of this ground breaking initiative. These publications report findings from genomic examinations of microbes isolated from 15-18 body sites of over 240 healthy adults. Based on current estimates, the number of microbes that inhabit a human body outnumber actual human cells 10 to 1 (luckily they are small, making up only 1-3% of body mass, and, for the most part, friendly); therefore, knowing their exact location, composition and functions are essential to understanding their contributions to human health and disease. One of the principle findings of the Project was how diverse microbe populations were between healthy individuals. In spite of these findings, further research is required to understand why this diversity exists. A second HMP paper describes the approach and infrastructure associated with these types of studies—~200 scientists at 80 institutions collecting 5,000 samples from over 240 individuals and then sequencing AND analyzing over 3.5 terabases of DNA (Phew!). The human microbiome is so hot right now, ASM Live, the General Meeting’s internet talk show will be taping microbiome-related panel discussions. Interesting sessions on Sunday, June 17 include “Microbial Colonization and the Host: Do the Colonists Reshape the Landscape?” (10 AM) and “Microbiome Dynamics and Disease” (Noon) followed by Monday’s “Antibiotic Exposure, The Microbiome and Obesity” (10 AM). If you’re attending the meeting, these sessions are held in room 121 or available for streaming at http://microbeworld.org/asmlive if you are not.

Also on the schedule is the annual President’s Forum, a series of talks examining the topic “A Brave New World of Technology: Informing Science and Health.” This always interesting series will feature Dr. Eric Schadt from Mount Sinai School of Medicine and Dr. John Mekalanos from Harvard Medical School. Dr. Schadt, an expert in genomic analysis, will give a talk entitled “Whole-genome Characterization of Methyladenine Residues in Highly Pathogenic Strains of E. coli and V. cholerae and Their Impact on Function.” “New Technological Approaches To Understanding Bacterial Virulence” will then be presented by Dr. Mekalanos, who has done extensive research on Vibrio cholerae, the causative agent of cholera.

I will be attending asm2012 with JoVE Senior Science Editor Nandita Singh and we will have some cutting edge microbiology to report on our return! If you will also be attending and would like to discuss your research, visualization in science or potential publication, feel free to send me an email at charlotte.sage@jove.com