The overarching goal of the Mid-Atlantic Microbiome Meetup (M³) is to enable and spur interactions within the very broad community of scientists interested in microbiome within the (loosely defined) Mid-Atlantic region, including academia, government, and industry participants alike. The M3 2019 Annual Meeting will be held on Jan. 9, 2019 at Johns Hopkins University focused on Predictions and the Microbiome.

Researchers rely on predictions in microbiome research in many different ways, yet more work is needed to develop reliable predictions for many microbiome applications. Researchers have developed techniques to mine the microbiome to reveal components that can be used to predict both environment conditions and disease states. For example, the composition of the microbiome has been used extensively to predict environmental conditions, from pH to particle export in the ocean, and diseases, from inflammatory bowel disease to cancer from existing datasets. Some studies have attempted to provide a truly predictive forecast of microbiome changes anticipated at a future state, with some success. These include forecasts of harmful algal blooms, the growth of harmful microorganisms given storage conditions in food safety and even flu strain spread in public health. However, understanding how to predict and control environmental and human microbiomes is a major challenge facing microbiome researchers. Throughout this meeting, we will highlight research topics that advance the use of predictive techniques in microbiome analysis and challenge participants to identify the biggest barriers to applying prediction in their field of study.

We welcome abstract submissions for this conference on any topic relating to microbiome research (e.g. environmental, clinical, computational). We are especially interested in abstracts that address the theme of Predictions and the Microbiome.

Additionally, an associated workshop will be held on January 10, 2019 organized by Mihai Pop. This will include a hands-on Workshop on Taxonomic Annotation.

Submission Guidelines

All abstracts must be original research. The following abstract categories are welcome:

• Talk describing original reseach in any area of microbiome research, with preference for any topics associated with using prediction in microbiome analysis.
• Posters describing original research in any area of micrbiome research are welcome.

List of Topics

• Human microbiome analysis
• Environmental microbiome analysis
• Computational methods and techniques

Committees

Program Committee

• TBD

Organizing committee

• Sarah Preheim (JHU)
• Jocelyne DiRuggiero (JHU)

Invited Speakers

• Alvaro Sanchez, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Microbial Sciences Institute, Yale University
• Joseph Zackular, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania

Venue

The conference will be held in Mudd Hall, Johns Hopkins University, Homewood Campus, 3400 N. Charles St. Baltimore, MD 21218

Registration

Please register for the Meet-up conference at:

https://bio.jhu.edu/events/mid-atlantic-microbiome-meet-up/

Contact

All questions about submissions should be emailed to Sarah Preheim (sprehei1@jhu.edu).

Sponsors

CosmosID

Johns Hopkins University, Biology Department