Mid-Atlantic Microbial Pathogenesis Meeting

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Abstract The Mid-Atlantic Microbial Pathogenesis Meeting (MAMPM) will be held Feb. 8-10, 2009 at the Wintergreen Ski Resort near Charlottesville, VA. The Mid-Atlantic region is defined as North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, The District of Columbia, Delaware, and New Jersey. The Wintergreen Resort was selected because of its central location, its excellent facilities and its professional conference staff. This will be the fifth meeting of the conference and all have taken place at The Wintergreen Resort. During the first four MAMPM conferences, we have attracted scientists from both within and outside the Mid-Atlantic region, averaging approximately 140 attendees per meeting. The purpose of the conference is to foster communication and collaboration between scientists engaged in microbial pathogenesis research. In addition, one of our key goals is to provide students and post-doctoral fellows with an opportunity to present their work to a knowledgeable audience, focused in their discipline, in a relaxed and collegial environment. Providing such opportunities for young scientists is important for their scientific development and has been one of the most appealing aspects of this conference. The meeting will consist of four sessions over two days. Each session will feature an invited keynote speaker and talks by principal investigators, post-doctoral fellows, and graduate and undergraduate students drawn from the submitted abstracts. Selection of the four keynote speakers is currently underway, and in past years we have successfully attracted renowned scientists from across the country. Two poster sessions will provide an additional opportunity for participants to present and discuss their work. Scientists working in all aspects of microbial pathogenesis are expected to attend the meeting and present their work. A considerable number of NIH-funded investigators studying the virulence mechanisms of a variety of bacterial pathogens of human importance are located in this geographic region, and it is anticipated that many of these laboratories will participate in this meeting. The meeting will be publicized through a combination of advertisements in professional publications, direct mailings to relevant departments at academic institutions, and government and private laboratories within the region, and e-mails directed at members of the local American Society for Microbiology branches that serve this region. A dedicated website (www.ecu.edu/mampm) has also been established to publicize the meeting and provide the necessary information and forms required for registration. Project Narrative The purpose of the Mid-Atlantic Microbial Pathogenesis Meeting is to foster communication and collaboration between scientists engaged in research focused on disease- causing microbes. The goal of the organizers is to assemble a scientific program of sufficient quality to attract many outstanding principal investigators along with their post-doctoral fellows and students. Many of the meeting's anticipated participants are in the Mid-Atlantic region and direct NIH-sponsored research programs studying the pathogenesis of bacterial diseases. In addition, this meeting will provide an opportunity for undergraduate and graduate students, and postdoctoral fellows to present their work to a knowledgeable audience in a relaxed and collegial environment. Such presentations are a valuable experience for young scientists and should enhance their career development.