NEMPET 2005

June 24-26

Minnowbrook Lodge

Blue Mountain Lake, NY

PHOTO GALLERY

This Year's Schedule: 

Friday 24 June

5:00p.m.                                   THE NEMPET LECTURE:

"Cellulase: A Societal Perspective"

or

“A portmanteau of discursive dictums, bewildering conundrums and chymical adages:  though with a cunning plethora of baffling enigmas, and combined with chortlingly pleasant epitaphs: integrated with nature’s aphorisms, maxims and powerful poesies.  All in plain method with cavorting dragons and antediluvian settings.”

Prof. Douglas Eveleigh

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

DINNER: 6:00 p.m.,    SOCIAL: Following

Saturday 25 June

7:30 a.m.          BREAKFAST

Esther Angert, Session Chair

8:30 a.m.          Arsenic, Bacteria and the Environment.  Are They Related?

                        Elizabeth García-Domínguez – Rutgers University

9:00                 Modeling the Biogeochemical Cycle of Arsenic.

                        Craig Phelps, E.D. Rhine, E. García-Domínguez and L.Y. Young – Rutgers Univ.

9:15                 Regulation of PDTC (pyridine 2,6-bis thiocarboxylic acid) Biosynthesis in Ps. stutzeri KC: Involvement of the PdtC Protein and Other Factors in the Putative Regulatory Cascade.

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

9:45                 Real-time PCR Analysis of Genome Copy Number in Individual Epulopiscium Cells.

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

10:15                           INTERVAL - refreshments

10:30               Regulation of AI-2 Production in the Fish Pathogen Vibrio anguillarum.

                        Andrew Staroscik, S.M. Denkin and D.R. Nelson  – University of Rhode Island

11:00               Diversity of Dissimilatory Selenate-Reducing Bacteria.

                        Priya Narasingarao and M. Häggblom – Rutgers University

11:20               Medicinal Plants: From Weed to Drugstore's Shelves.

                        Paulo Ribeiro – Rutgers University

12:00               LUNCH

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

6:00 p.m.          DINNER

7:30 p.m.          POSTER SESSION

Sunday 26 June

7:30 a.m.          BREAKFAST

Craig Phelps, Session Chair

9:00                 Bacterial Babies: The Development of Multiple Intracellular Offspring.

Esther Angert – Cornell University

9:30                 Detection and Characterization of Microbial PCB Dechlorination Processes in Contaminated Marine Sediments of the Venice Lagoon.

                        Giulio Zanaroli, J. Pérez-Jiménez, L.Y. Young and F. Fava – Rutgers University

10:00                           INTERVAL - refreshments

10:15               The Role of rpoS and spoT in Borrelia burgdorferi During N-Acetylglucosamine Starvation.

Ryan Rhodes, Y. Hussein, W. Coy and D.R. Nelson – University of Rhode Island

10:45               lolA is Required for Colony Spreading in F. johnsoniae (probably).

David Hunnicutt – Penn State, Erie

11:05               Discussion of Microbiology Programs

11:30               NEMPET business meeting

12:00               LUNCH; DEPARTURE

POSTER PRESENTATIONS--Saturday evening

Biofilm Formatiion as a Selectable Phenotype for Functionality of Universal Stress Proteins A, C, D, and E in Escherichia coli.

            Meagan Bolles and Amy C. Vollmer – Swarthmore College

Functional Characterization of the Universal Stress Protein A Paralog uspC in Mediating Response to Environmental Stress and Nutritional Deprivation in Escherichia coli.

            Charlie Buffie and Amy C. Vollmer – Swarthmore College

Characterization of the Universal Stress Protein A Paralog uspE as a Possible Negative Regulator of the Stress Response in Escherichia coli.

            Alexander Glick and Amy C. Vollmer – Swarthmore College

Mercuric Reductase Enzymes from Mesophilic Bacteria are Optimally Active at a Moderately Thermophilic to Thermophilic Temperature Range.

            Melitza Crespo-Medina, Costantino Vetriani and Tamar Barkay – Rutgers University

Molecular Characterization of Bacterial and Archaeal Communities in a Hg-Contaminated Adirondack Wetland.

            Riqing Yu, Jeffra Schaefer, Chris Dipasquale and Tamar Barkay – Rutgers University

Degradation of DEET by Pseudomonas putida Strain DTB.

            Giomar Rivera-Cancel, Daniela Bocioaga, Anthony G. Hay – Cornell University

Characterization of Mercury and Antibiotic Resistance Determinants in Salmonid Gastrointestinal Tract Bacterial Isolates.

            Erin M. Parry, Matthew M. Meredith, Justin A. Guay,  Casey E. Dunton, Victoria R.    Work, G. Russell Danner, and Frank A. Fekete – Colby College

Characterization of Mercury and Antibiotic-Resistant Bacillus Strains Isolated from Maine Soil Environments.

            Justin A. Guay, Erin M. Parry, Matthew Meredith, and Frank A. Fekete – Colby College

Cell Turgor and Anion Accumulation in the Silage Contaminant Clostridium sporogenes MD1.

            Michael D. Flythe and James B. Russell – Cornell University

The Effect of Calcium and Magnesium on the Activity of Bovicin HC5.

            Adam J. Houlihan and James B. Russell – Cornell University

Reductive Dehalogenase Gene Expression by Dehalococcoides ethenogenes 195 Growing on Various Chlorinated Compounds.

            Jennifer Fung, L. Adrian, and Steven H. Zinder – Cornell University

Taxonomic Characterization of Psychrotolerant Bacteria from Finnish Soils.

            Leslie Wickham and Max Häggblom

A Phylogenetic Comparison of Epulopiscium spp. Found in Two Different Surgeonfish from Hawaii

            Joseph Flint and Esther Angert – Cornell University

Stress Response and Virulence Gene Expression During Extra- and Intracellular Growth of L. monocytogenes

            Mark J. Kazmierczak, Kathryn J. Boor, and Martin Wiedmann – Cornell University

gspM (pshM) Affects Biofilm Formation in E. coli

            Andreas Toba and Anthony Hay – Cornell University

The Cycling of Arsenic by Environmental Microbes.

            E.D. Rhine, Elizabeth García-Domínguez, C.D. Phelps and L.Y. Young – Rutgers Univ.

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Attendees: