NEMPET 2004

June 25-27

Minnowbrook Lodge

Blue Mountain Lake, NY

PHOTO GALLERY

This Year's Schedule:

Friday 25 June

5:00p.m.                                   THE NEMPET LECTURE:

"New Findings on Iron Bacteria in the Ocean"

Dr. Katrina Edwards

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA

DINNER: 6:00,    SOCIAL: Following

Saturday 26 June

7:30 a.m.          BREAKFAST

Edward Leadbetter, Session Chair

8:30 a.m.          Horizontal Gene Transfer and the Evolution of Metal Homeostasis Among Bacteria of the Deep Terrestrial Subsurface.

                        Jonna Coombs – Rutgers University

9:00                 Regulation of EmpA Metalloprotease Activity in Vibrio anguillarum by Post-translational Processing.

                        Andrew Staroscik – University of Rhode Island

9:30                 Arsenic Biogeochemical Cycling.

                        Danielle Rhine, E. Garcia-Dominguez and L.Y. Young – Rutgers University

10:00               Unusual Colony Morphology of the Yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisae.

                        Kristen Przekop and Edward Leadbetter – UCONN - Storrs

10:15                           INTERVAL - refreshments

10:30               Construction and Characterization of a Borrelia burgdorferi spoT Mutant.

                        Wendy Coy – University of Rhode Island

11:00               Interdomain Communication: Chemical Signaling Between Bacteria and Fungi.

                        Deborah Hogan – Dartmouth College

12:00               LUNCH

Afternoon free for swimming, boating, hiking, museum-going etc.

6:00 p.m.          DINNER

7:30                 Characterization and Expression of the Vibrio anguillarum Hemolysin Genes.

                        Jessica Rock – University of Rhode Island

8:00 p.m.          POSTER SESSION

Sunday 27 June

7:30 a.m.          BREAKFAST

Esther Angert, Session Chair

8:30                 Tracking Changes in a Denitrifying, Aromatic-Degrading Community Using Stable-Isotope Probing.

Erin Gallagher, Craig Phelps Lee J. Kerkhof and L.Y. Young – Rutgers Univ.

9:00                 Unusual Fermentation of Starch-Using Bifidobacteria From the Human Large Intestine.

                        Meyer Wolin – New York State Department of Health

9:15                 New Insights into the Anaerobic Biodegradation of Naphthalene.

Meghan Tierney, Craig Phelps and L.Y. Young – Rutgers University

9:45                             INTERVAL - refreshments

10:00               A Genetic Analysis of Gliding Motility in Flavobacterium johnsoniae.

David Hunnicutt – Penn State, Erie

10:30 a.m.        A Role for Group Behavior in Pseudomonas aeruginosa Biofilm Formation?

                        George A. O’Toole – Dartmouth College 

11:00                           NEMPET business meeting

12:00               LUNCH; DEPARTURE

POSTER PRESENTATIONS--Saturday evening

Examining Aerobic Growth on Naphthalene of Pseudomonas putida Strain NCIB 9816-4 Under Substrate-Limiting and Non-Limiting Conditions Using a Continuous Culture System.

            David J. Scala, John J. Scrivo and L.Y. Young - Rutgers University

Isolation and Characterization of Mercury Resistant, Thermophilic, Thiosulfate-Oxidizing Bacteria From a Hot Spring in Mount Amiata.

            Aspa Chatziefthimiou – Rutgers University 

Role of Phage-related Genes on Biofilm Development.

            Andreas Toba – Cornell University

Assigning Function to an Outer Membrane Protein from Carbon Tetrachloride Degrading Strains of Pseudomonas sp.

            Lynne Leach and Thomas A. Lewis – University of Vermont

Comparison of Bacterial Composition and Diversity in New England Sphagnum Bogs.

            Sergio E. Morales and Thomas A. Lewis – University of Vermont

Poisson Analysis of Mixed Infections with RNA and DNA Phages.

            Jeanne S. Poindexter and Gillian F. Wolff – Barnard College

Morphological Differentiation of Clostridium phytofermentans During Biofilm Development.

            Jason Rennie and Susan Leschine – UMASS Amherst

Liveweight Responses by Sheep to Vaccination Against Ruminal Methanogens.

            Sue K. Baker, P.E. Holloway, N.J. Edwards, V.S. Whiffen, and T.L. Smith – CSIRO

Understanding the Role of the sadARS Regulatory System in Biofilm Development by Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

            Sherry Kuchma and George A. O'Toole – Dartmouth College

Novel Mercuric Reductase Genes Found in Anaerobic Communities of Mercury Contaminated Sediments.

            S. M. Ni Chadhain, J. Schaefer, S. Hicks, T. Barkay, G. J. Zylstra – Rutgers University

Rapid Immunomagnetic Separation of Epulopiscium Cells from Surgeonfish Intestinal Contents

            Joe Flint and Esther Angert – Cornell University

Isolation and Characterization of Novel merA Sequences from Anaerobic, Mercury-Resistant Microorganisms

            Rita Theofanopoulos, Heather A. Wiatrowski and Tamar Barkay – Rutgers University

Real-time PCR Quantification of the ftsZ Gene in Single Cells of Epulopiscium.

            Jennifer E. Mendell and Esther R. Angert – Cornell University

Ruminal Bacteria as a Model for the Assessment of Biases in Terminal-Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism

            Julie C. Frey, Esther R. Angert and Alice N. Pell – Cornell University

Examination of the Role of arcA in Escherichia coli Biofilms.

Lauren M. Junker and Anthony G. Hay – Cornell University

Function of PdtI in PDTC Biosynthesis.

            Chunxiao Yu and Thomas A. Lewis – University of Vermont

Effect of Prior Exposure on Phenol-Degrading Populations at an Agricultural Field Site.

            Christopher M. DeRito, Graham Pumphrey, and Eugene L Madsen – Cornell University

Dehalogenase Gene Expression of Dehalococcoides ethenogenes 195 Growing on Tetrachloroethene

            Jennifer Mon Yee Fung and Steven Zinder – Cornell University

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Attendees: