5th ASM Conference on Beneficial Microbes: Toward Mechanism and Prediction in Hos

描述(申请人提供)：越来越多的人认识到人类和其他动物是多组织的，由共同进化的动物细胞和微生物细胞组成。其影响是深远的。例如，与病原体的相互作用只是动物-微生物相互作用多样性的一小部分，只有在常驻微生物区系的背景下才能充分了解人类健康。人们日益认识到有益微生物的普遍性和重要性，这既有助于我们确定复杂微生物群落的多样性和功能，特别是通过先进的测序方法，也是在此基础上取得的显著进展。这项研究的影响包括重新评估动物-微生物相互作用的性质，以及促进人类健康的新疗法的巨大机会。2014年有益微生物大会将为交流这一快速发展领域的最新概念和技术发展提供一个论坛。它将概述目前的研究状况和未来的研究方向，通过将来自多个学科(微生物学、免疫学、基因组学、营养学、生态学、系统生物学、进化生物学和临床科学)的美国和国际研究人员聚集在一起，研究各种联系，从而实现这一目标。美国微生物学会(ASM)慷慨提供了核心赞助，会议将于2014年9月27-30日在华盛顿特区举行。会议分为五场：(1)有益微生物在人类健康和疾病中的作用，以确定微生物区系在促进健康和影响疾病易感性方面的因果作用(2)宿主-微生物相互作用的进化动力学，特别是微生物之间以及宿主-微生物之间的共同进化如何塑造宿主-微生物相互作用；(3)饮食与免疫功能：跨物种视角，将调查饮食(营养和前/益生菌配方)在调节免疫功能方面的作用，在人类、生物医学模型和其他系统中；(4)宿主-微生物相互作用生态学将应用种群生态学和群落生态学的原理来解释和预测与宿主相关的微生物群落的组成和功能；(5)微生物区系和肠脑轴将探索微生物区系对大脑功能和行为的影响，包括摄食、活动和情绪指数。每届会议将包括两次特邀讲座、四次从提交的摘要中挑选的讲座，以及每届会议一次(受邀的或选定的)定量讲座，以传播大数据集分析方面的最佳做法，并促进讨论宿主-微生物相互作用的计算分析和数学建模方面的突出障碍。会议将包括为分组讨论特定主题的广告机会，以及会议关于有益微生物研究未来方向的讨论，这将是一篇关于研究优先事项的出版评论的基础，以克服该领域目前的进步障碍。邀请函和旅费将确保早期研究人员、妇女和少数群体在演讲者和所有参与者中都有充分的代表性。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): It is increasingly recognized that humans and other animals are multi-organismal, comprising co-evolved animal cells and microbial cells. The implications are profound. For example, interactions with pathogens are just a small subset of the diversity of animal-microbial interactions, and human health can only be understood fully in the context of the resident microbiota. This growing appreciation of the ubiquity and importance of beneficial microbes is both contributing to, and builds on, remarkable advances in our capacity to determine the diversity and function of complex microbial communities, especially through advanced sequencing methods. The impacts of this research include a re-evaluation of the nature of animal-microbial interactions and immense opportunities for novel therapies to promote human health. The 2014 Beneficial Microbes Conference will provide a forum for the exchange of the latest conceptual and technological developments in this fast-moving field. It will provide an overview of the current state of research and future directions of inquiry, achieved by bringing together US and international researchers from multiple disciplines (microbiology, immunology, genomics, nutrition, ecology, systems biology, evolutionary biology and clinical science) who study a diversity of associations. Core sponsorship has generously been provided by The American Society for Microbiology (ASM), and the meeting will be held in Washington DC on 27-30 September, 2014. The meeting has five sessions: (1) Beneficial Microbes in Human Health and Disease, to identify the causal roles of microbiota in promoting health and influencing susceptibility to disease (2) Evolutionary Dynamics of Host-Microbe Interactions, especially how coevolution among microbes and between host & microbes can shape host-microbial interactions; (3) Diet and Immune Function: Cross-Species Perspectives, will investigate the role of diet (both nutrition and pre/probiotic formulations) in regulating immunological function, in humans, biomedical models and other systems; (4) The Ecology of Host-Microbial Interactions will apply principles of population ecology and community ecology to explain and predict the composition and function of host-associated microbial communities; and (5) Microbiota and the Gut-Brain Axis will explore the impact of microbiota on brain function and behavior, including feeding, activity and indices of "mood". Each session will include two invited talks, four talks selected from submitted abstracts, and a further talk (invited or selected) per session with a quantitative flavor, to disseminate best practice in analysis of large datasets and facilitate discussion of outstanding barriers to computational analysis and mathematical modeling of host-microbial interactions. The conference will include advertised opportunities for break-out groups to discuss specific topics, and a Conference Discussion on Future Directions in Beneficial Microbes Research, which will be the foundation for a published commentary on research priorities to overcome current barriers to advancement of the field. Invitations and travel funds will ensure that early-career researchers, women and minorities are well-represented among speakers and all participants.