Symposium highlights communal living by micro-organisms

The Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory is hosting a special symposium on microbial communities research Friday, Oct. 9, at 11 a.m. Pacific Standard Time. It will be webcast live at http://imse.labworks.org/2009/microbial/october/pasm.htm.

PNNL has organized the symposium to launch its new research focus on exploring the ins and outs of microbial communities, known as the Microbial Communities Initiative. We are also celebrating the opening of two new facilities on PNNL's campus, where most of the microbial research will be performed. Viewers of the symposium will learn why microbial communities are important to our biosphere, hear how thoroughly understanding these multi-cellular biological systems can help solve pressing environmental and energy-related problems, and see examples of promising tools and technologies for gaining this understanding.

For more on the Microbial Communities Initiative, see http://www.pnl.gov/biology/research/mci/.

The symposium program:

11:00 Welcome - Mike Kluse, Laboratory Director, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

11:05 "Why Microbial Communities?" - Dr. Jim Fredrickson, Laboratory Fellow, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

11:10 "Yellowstone Hot Spring Microbial Mats as Natural Models for Systems Microbiology and Biofuel Development" - Dr. David Ward, Professor of Microbial Ecology, Montana State University

11:40 "Microbial Communities Initiative — Melding Technology, Experimentation and Theory" - Dr. Allan Konopka, Environmental Microbiology Group Leader, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

12:10 "Single-Cell Phenotyping for Understanding Microbial Function" - Dr. Mary Lidstrom, Professor of Microbiology, University of Washington

Source: DOE/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory