Connecticut Valley Branch
of the
American Society for Microbiology

2005 Region I Meeting

On November 1 and 2, the Connecticut Valley Branch sponsored this year's Region I meeting in conjunction with the Northeast Branch, the Eastern New York Branch, and the New York City Branch. The Crowne-Plaza Hotel in Cromwell, CT provided a great setting, especially the combined poster-exhibits display in the Garden Room and a staff that kept everyone well fed and the AV systems rolling.

If you weren't there, you missed a great opportunity to mingle with 150 or so microbiologists from academia, government, and industry labs, exhibitors from 11 different companies, and students from 14 different colleges and universities.

On Tuesday, November 1, the twin sessions on Emerging Antimicrobials and Antibiotic Resistance brought out representatives of large and small pharma and from public health labs, updating critical issues and describing the latest efforts to keep ahead of the problems. Bacterial Cytokinesis and Sporulation molecularly dissected the pathways and structures of dividing E. coli and B. subtilis, while the session on Molecular Techniques surveyed rapid methods for screening strep and drug-resistant influenza.

Tuesday night's banquet included a talk from David Mills, UC Davis, about the microbiology of wine, giving a whole new meaning to the vintner's concept of "terroir".

Wednesday's General Session had Ralph Tanner from the U. Oklahoma introducing us to "30 Years of Bizarre Bugs", where a search for growth conditions led to amazing variations in microbial physiology.

Wednesday's session on Arthropod-Borne Diseases looked at our summer scourges, West Nile, EEE, and Borrelia, from geographic, ecological, and epidemiological perspectives. The Biodefense Symposium had the attention of a large crowd interested to hear about detection and virulence of, and chemotherapy for potential bioweapons.

Sixteen students presented posters and competed for cash prizes for the best presentation based on concept and content. Congratultions to our winners, who received their awards at Tuesday night's banquet:

First Prize: Elizabeth Gallagher, University of New Hampshire, "Frequency of Reovirus Detection in Biosolids:Comparison of EPA CFR 503 Technique to Integrated Cell Culture-Real Time PCR"

Second Prize: Zachary Zwirko, University of Massachusetts, Boston, "Possibility of Extraintestinal Growth of Escherichia coli in Temperate Sediments" Zachary's award was accepted by post doctoral fellow, Michie Yasuda, and his advisor, Michael Shiaris, on his behalf.

Third Prize: Wendi Ratajczak, Western Connecticut State University, "Metabolic Profiles, Characterization, and Enhancement of Mercury Volatilization of Culturable Isolates from Mercury Contaminated Soil"

Honorable Mention: Maureen Varina, University of Rhode Island, "Identification of the EmpA Processing Protease (epp) gene of Vibrio anguillarum"

Honorable Mention: Ryan Rhodes, University of Rhode Island, "The Role of rpoS in growth of Borrelia burgdorferi and expression of chbC during N-acetylglucosamine starvation"