2005 Florida Branch ASM Meeting Information



 
Location: Best Western Rolling Hills Resort
3501 West Rolling Hills Circle
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33328
Click HERE to visit the hotel's website!
For Reservations: 1-800-327-7735 Be sure to mention you are attending the Florida Branch ASM Meeting when making reservations
Abstracts and Pre-Registration Due March 18, 2005 Send abstracts electronically to Dr. Theresa Slifko at
terri.slifko@ocfl.net
Send pre-registration to Dr. William Saffranek, 
4635 Janet Road, Cocoa, FL 32926
Make checks payable to 'FL Branch ASM'
**Undergraduate Student Lodging  Provided (limited)!** Contact Christina Kellogg for more information at ckellogg@usgs.gov
Waksman Foundation Guest Speaker: Dr. Ralph Tanner Title: A Funny Thing Happened On The Way From The Sewage Treatment Plant
(see below for biographical sketch) ( see below for a summary)
Guest Speakers: Dr. Helena Solo-Gabriele Title: The Effect Of Environmental Factors On Indicator Microbe Levels Within Marine Subtropical Waters And Future Efforts To Evaluate Relationships With Human Health
Dr. Christina Kellogg Title: Deep-Sea Coral Microbial Ecology
Dr. James Hickman Title: The Creation Of Cellular Circuits And Their Integration With Silicon-Based Devices For Biological Applications
Michael Gray Title: People, Caves, And Floating Bugs
There is a rumor that Dr. Stan Malloy, Director of the Center for Microbial Sciences at San Diego State will make a guest appearance!
More speakers to follow!
Meeting Schedule:
Friday April 1 Guest Speakers, 1:00 pm to 6:00 pm
Mixer, 6:00 pm until
Saturday April 2 Student Presentations and Guest Speakers,
8:30 am to 4:00 pm

Maps and directions available on the resort's web site.
 
A Funny Thing Happened On The Way From The Sewage Treatment Plant

The microbiotoa of bluegills living in treated sewage was examined, along with the water.  A new genus in the cytophagales was discovered.  Aeromonas sp. were common gut inhabitants and also behaved as fecal indicator organisms.  The microbiota was highly variant from fish to fish, but large numbers of antibiotic-resistant bacteria were recovered.  Bluegills from rural lakes with no significant human impact, however, and the water from these lakes were also found to be carrying large numbers of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, including resistance to more recently available compounds like ciprofloxacin.  The impact and meaning of these reservoirs of resistance remains unclear.
 

Biographical Sketch

Ralph Tanner is an applied microbial physiologist with particular experience with acetogens, methanogens, SRB, clostridia and other anaerobes.  By inclination and training in industry, much of his research has been collaborative efforts with colleagues from chemical engineering (e.g., ethanol from biomass), environmental science (e.g., hydrocarbon degradation) and petroleum engineering (e.g., enhanced oil recovery).  He also works in industrial biocides and disinfectants, another hangover from his industry days.  New microorganisms are a routine reward in this work, resulting in about 20 publications in microbial systematics over the years.  Many of these were in collaboration with Carl Woese, always an interesting event.  Ralph Tanner is a professor of microbiology at the University of Oklahoma, teaching the senior laboratory in microbial diversity and physiology, a la Ralph S. Wolfe, for the past 15 years.  He was an ASM Wellcome Visiting Professor and was a past chair of Division Q.




Last updated February 25, 2005