If you are interested in this meeting but not yet ready to register, you can sign up for updates here and our team will keep you updated regarding deadline reminders and grant opportunities relating to this meeting only.

This will be the 4th Conference on Bacterial Cell Biology. In the last two decades there has been an explosion of interest in fundamental aspects of bacterial structure and function, based on advances in fluorescence and cryo-EM imaging. Quantitative and automated methods have brought about radical changes in the breadth and depth of questions that could be explored, while genome sequencing and genetic methods such as CRISPR-Cas9 and Tn-Seq have greatly expanded the range of organisms that can be studied incisively, enabling comparative studies of processes such as growth, morphogenesis and division, across diverse bacterial phyla. Many of these bacterial cell biology systems are being successfully reconstituted using purified components, leading to the discovery of molecular mechanisms underpinning cellular functions. The conference will bring together presentations illustrating the application of advanced cell and molecular biology methods to a wide range of basic functions in bacterial cells. Advances in understanding of the fundamentals of bacterial structure and function also create opportunities for the development of novel approaches to kill or modulate the growth and behaviour of bacterial cells.

Key Sessions

• Spatial Organization of Cellular Structures
• Advances in Nanoimaging
• Genome Organization and Transcription
• Genome Processes
• Cell Division Dynamics
• Cell Wall Construction and Destruction
• Cell Growth and Cell Cycle
• Cell Shape and Morphogenesis

Early Career Researcher Bursary

Due to the generous pledges from our invited speakers and sponsors, the conference chairs have setup an ECR bursary. At least 20x $800 registration discounts have been set aside for early career researchers (ECR’s defined as graduate students & postdocs), and scientists from underrepresented minority backgrounds (URMs). Interested parties should email an oral/poster abstract submission to Conference Manager Jack Peters. The conference chairs will be reviewing the submissions on an ad hoc basis.
Please click here to apply. 
*cannot be used in conjunction with 'student offer'

Student & Postdoc Offer

Take advantage of this fantastic opportunity for students and postdocs! Fully paying academics can bring a student or junior postdoc for only $890. Both registration packages include; accommodation for the 12, 13, 14 February 2023 (on a shared basis for students/postdocs) and a 24hour all-inclusive food and beverage package for the conference period. Once registered, please contact Jack Peters to obtain a special registration link for your student or junior postdoc. 

Confirmed Invited Speakers

Anjana Badrinarayanan (NCBS)
PRESERVING THE BACTERIAL GENOME: DIVERSE MECHANISMS, UNIFYING FUNCTION
Melanie Blokesch (EPFL) *The EMBO Keynote Lecture*
MOLECULAR SECRETS OF PANDEMIC VIBRIO CHOLERAE
Pamela Brown (University of Missouri)
ChvG-ChvI FUNCTIONS AS AN ENVELOPE STRESS RESPONSE SYSTEM IN A. TUMEFACIENS
Eli Cohen (Imperial College London)
CAMPYLOBACTER JEJUNI EVOLVED AN EXTRA-LARGE BASAL DISK TO ESCAPE STICKY SITUATIONS
Jeff Errington (The University of Sydney)
WHY CELLS DIE WHEN PEPTIDOGLYCAN SYNTHESIS IS PERTURBED
Ethan Garner (Harvard University)
PROBING THE UNDERLYING MECHANISMS AND FORCES THAT DRIVE CELL DIVISION
Stephan Gruber (UNIL-Sorge District)
SMC COMPLEXES: FROM ORGANIZING CHROMOSOMES TO RESTRICTING PLASMIDS AND BACK AGAIN
Christine Jacobs-Wagner (Stanford University/HHMI)
GOVERNING PRINCIPLES OF BACTERIAL CELL CYCLE REGULATION THROUGH CELL AND NUCLEOID SIZE SENSING
Grant Jensen (Brigham Young University)
Sangjin Kim (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)
BACTERIAL CELL BIOLOGY OF mRNA DEGRADATION
Tung Le (John Innes Centre)
MULTITUDES OF CTP-BINDING DOMAIN: BACTERIAL CHROMOSOME SEGREGATION, CELL DIVISION, AND GENE EXPRESSION REGULATION
Petra Levin (Washington University)
THE ENVIRONMENT AND THE SINGLE-CELL: INTRINSIC ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE IN THE ENTEROBACTERACEAE 
Martin Loose (Institute of Science and Technology Austria) *The EMBO Junior Young Investigator Lecture*
IN VITRO RECONSTITUTION OF ESCHERICHIA COLI DIVISOME ACTIVATION
Harry Low (Imperial College London)
Jan Löwe (MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology)
DIVISOME CORE COMPLEX IN BACTERIAL CELL DIVISION REVEALED BY cryo-EM
Houra Merrikh (Vanderbilt University)
INHIBITING THE EVOLUTION OF ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE
Kiyoshi Mizuuchi (NIDDK)
CELL DIVISION CONTROL BY MinD/E OSCILLATION: MEMBRANE-BOUND D/E COMPLEX SPECIES SWITCH, BASED ON THE MEMBRANE-BOUND TWO PROTEIN RATIO, BETWEEN ATPase ACTIVATING AND NON-ACTIVATING TYPES TOGGLED BY TWO FEEDBACK LOOP MECHANISMS
Cecile Morlot (Institut de Biologie Structurale)
CLICK AND COLLECT AT HIGH RESOLUTION TO REVEAL SECRETS OF CELL WALL SYNTHESIS
Mariana Pinho (ITQB)
A NEW MECHANISM FOR COORDINATION OF BACTERIAL CHROMOSOME SEGREGATION AND DAUGHTER CELL SEPARATION
Kumaran Ramamurthi (NIH)
DEVELOPMENTAL CHECKPOINTS THAT MEDIATE BACTERIAL CELL SURFACE MORPHOGENESIS
Rodrigo Reyes (McGill University)
MOLECULAR CIRCUS: HOW THE REPLISOME COUPLES UNWINDING AND SYNTHESIS WHILE JUGGLING DNA POLYMERASES
Nina Salama (Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center)
Henrik Strahl (Newcastle University)
LYSIS-INDEPENDENT KILLING BY CELL WALL-TARGETING ANTIBIOTICS
Sven van Teeffelen (Université de Montréal)
DETERMINANTS OF RATE OF CELL-ENVELOPE GROWTH IN ROD-SHAPED BACTERIA
Elitza Tocheva (University of British Columbia)
CELL ENVELOPE DIVERSITY IN EARLY BRANCHING PHYLA
Xindan Wang (Indiana University)
ORGANIZATION AND MAINTENANCE OF THE MULTIPARTITE GENOME IN AGROBACTERIUM TUMEFACIENS

Target Audience

The conference will attract the major players in the bacterial cell biology field, of which there are probably 50 or so significant groups worldwide. It will also attract many microbiologists with a general interest in microbial cell function who would badge themselves as molecular biologists or microbial biochemists. Talks will cover a wide range of topics and PhDs, post-docs and group leaders will all benefit by being brought up to date with developments across the discipline. 

Educational Need

Bacterial cell biology underpins important applied research areas such as infectious disease, antimicrobial discovery and development, and synthetic biology, but it is rarely taught as a discipline in its own right, especially with the decline of offered degrees in microbiology. The modern discipline, which has emerged in the last 20 or so years, covers a wide range of technical methods and can be highly quantitative, encompassing a diversity of organisms and mechanistic problems. The conference presentations will collectively provide a comprehensive grounding in all major facets of the field, bringing new participants to field at all levels (pre- and post-doctoral, as well as group leaders switching fields).

Please note, although the below is the most up to date version of the conference programme, it is still subject to change. A final version of the programme will be circulated to all participants in the weeks before the conference.