Biofilms 2003
November 1 - 7, 2003
Victoria, British Columbia

Contents of This Page:
Organizing Committee
General Sessions
Evening Parallel Sessions
Confirmed Speakers
Tentative Schedule

Links to Other Pages:
General Information

Scientific Program

Organizing Committee

Bill Costerton, Montana State University

Michael Givskov, Technical University of Denmark

Hilary Lappin-Scott, University of Exeter

Robert Palmer, National Institutes of Health

Matt Parsek, Northwestern University

Paul Stoodley, Montana State University

Scientific Program

(may be subject to changes)

Saturday, November 1, 2003

12:00 n – 7:00 pm       Conference registration

7:00 – 8:00 pm             Bill Costerton                 
                                   Opening Remarks and Keynote Address

8:00 – 9:30 pm             Opening Reception at the Fairmont Empress

Sunday, November 2, 2003

8:00 - 12:00 noon         BIOFILM STRUCTURE-FUNCTION AND PHYSIOLOGY

Paul Stoodley            
Material properties

Morten Hentzer          
Interspecies Co-operation

Michael Wagner            
New Methods to Infer Community Composition, Architecture and Ecophysiology of Complex Microbial Biofilms

Peter Gilbert            
Resistance of Biofilm Communities Towards Antimicrobial Treatments: A Tail of Survival

Additional talks selected from submitted abstracts

12:00 – 1:00pm            Lunch break

1:00 – 4:30 pm             THE BIOFILM PHENOTYPE

Jim Pearson                        
Resistance

Jean-Marc Ghigo            
Horizontal Gene Transfer

George O’Toole            
Resistance

Additional talks selected from submitted abstracts

4:30 – 6:00 pm             Poster Session           

6:00 – 7:30 pm             Dinner break

7:30 – 9:00 pm             EVENING SESSIONS (ES)

                                    ES 1            The EPS matrix: Peering into the black box

                                    ES 2            Methods to detect changes in gene                                                        expression in biofilms

                                    ES 3            Heightened resistance of biofilms to                                                         antimicrobial treatment: Fact or fiction?

                                    ES 4            Biofilms in human organ systems

                                    ES 5            The new Biofilms journal

Monday, November 3, 2003

8:00 am – 3:00 pm        DEVELOPMENTAL PATTERNS IN BIOFILMS

Beth Lazazzara           
Bacillus

Dennis Cvitkovitch            
2-component Regulatory Systems

Staffan Kjelleberg           
Apoptosis

Matt Parsek             
Cell-cell Signaling in Biofilms

Additional talks selected from submitted abstracts

Lunch break

Roberto Kolter                      
Universality of Patterns

Hilary Lappin-Scott           
Early Events in Biofilm Formation

Additional talks selected from submitted abstracts

3:00 – 4:20 pm             BIOFILMS AND BIOTERRORISM

Ron Atlas

Joe Bielitski

Talk selected from submitted abstracts

4:30 – 6:00 pm             Posters (Posters up all day but manned at these times)

6:00 – 7:30 pm             Dinner break

7:30 – 9:00 pm             EVENING SESSIONS

                                    ES 6            Environmental biofilms as a reservoir for                                                         pathogens

                                    ES 7            Clinical application of signal blockers for                                                         biofilm control

                                    ES 8            An uneasy détente- Oral biofilms : symbiotic                                                         and pathogenic

                                    ES 9            Biofilms in bioterrorism

                                    ES 10          Novel strategies for industrial biofilm control

                                    ES 11          Biofilm education: getting biofilms in the                                                         curricula                         

Tuesday, November 4, 2003

8 am – 4:30 pm            BIOFILM WORKSHOPS: Concurrent biofilm workshops

6:00 – 7:00 pm             Keynote address – David Stahl

8:00 – 11:00 pm           Conference dinner at the Royal British Columbia Museum

Wednesday, November 5, 2003

8:00 – 11:50 am            CROSS KINGDOM INTERACTIONS

Clay Fuqua              
Surface Colonization and Biofilm Maturation of the Plant Pathogen Agrobacterium tumefaciens

Michael Hadfield           
Marine Biofilms and Biofouling: the Former Begets the Latter

Pat Schlievert                    
Microbial and Host Interactions on Human Vaginal Epithelial Surfaces

Additional talks selected from submitted abstracts

11:50 am – 1:00 pm       Lunch break

 

1:00 – 1:30 pm              BIOFILMS IN NATURAL AND INDUSTRIAL SYSTEMS

Anne Camper                                   
Focused Attack

Dianne Newman                     
Metal Microbe Interactions

Andrew Schramm                 
Physiology/Distribution in Engineered Systems

David Ward                          
Mats

Additional talks selected from submitted abstracts

5:00 – 6:00 pm             Posters (Posters up all day but manned at these times)

6:00 – 7:30 pm             Dinner break

7:30 – 8:30 pm             Keynote address - Soeren Molin

8:30 – 9:30 pm             EVENING SESSIONS

                                    ES 12         Biofilms and regulatory issues

                                    ES 13         Differentiation in biofilms

Thursday, November 6, 2003

8:00 am - 4:30 pm        PATHOGENESIS

Gerd Doering           
Anaerobic Triggering of Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa Exopolysaccharide Production: Implications for Phagocytosis in Cystic Fibrosis and in Animal Models.

Michael Givskov           
Battling Bacteria by Jamming their Command Language

Peter Greenberg           
Regulation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Biofilm Development by Iron and Quorum Sensing Signaling

Additional talks selected from submitted abstracts

Lunch break

Niels Hoiby              
Pseudomonas aeruginosa Biofilm - Adaption to Inflammation and Antibiotics During Chronic Lung Infections

Phil Marsh             
Gene Expression by Mycobacterium tuberculosis in Response to Environmental Cues

Annette Moter            
FISHing in Subgingival Plaque

Additional talks selected from submitted abstracts

4:30 pm                       Conference concludes

Evening Sessions

The evening sessions for the ASM Conference on Biofilms allow participants to explore specialized interests in an environment more conducive to small group interactivity.  A tradition carried over from past ASM biofilms conferences, more evening sessions are offered this year than ever before to better serve the participants’ educational objectives.  Organizers of each evening session are noted here:

1. The EPS matrix: Peering into the black box                             
Hans-Curt Flemming
Linda Blackall

2. The challenge of monitoring gene expression in heteregenous environments
Barbara Iglewski
Karin Sauer

3. Heightened resistance of biofilms to antimicrobial treatment: Fact or fiction?
Kim Lewis  
Peter Gilbert                                                 

4. Biofilms in human organ systems                                               
Pradeep Singh
Donna Hill

5. The new “Biofilms” journal
Mike Wilson
Ward Cooper (Cambridge University press)

6. Environmental biofilms as a reservoir for pathogens                    
Garth Ehrlich
Tim Ford

7. The challenge of targeting biofilms for antimicrobial therapy
Mike Givskov
Naomi Balaban

8. An uneasy détente- Oral biofilms : symbiotic and pathogenic 
Paul Kolenbrander
Mike Wilson                                                                                        

9. Biofilms in bioterrorism                                                     
Joe Bielitski (DARPA)
Sherry Tove

10. Novel strategies for industrial biofilm control              
Bill McCoy
Bill Keevil

11. Biofilm education: getting biofilms into the curriculum           
Joanna Rayner (invited)
John Lennox (invited)

12. Differentiation in biofilms                                                        
Sorin Molin
Staffan Kjelleberg

13. Biofilms and regulatory issues                                      
Chui Lin (FDA)
Susanna Barrett (FDA)