Day 1 :
Keynote Forum
Wolfram Brueck
University of Applied Sciences Western Switzerland Valais, Switzerland
Keynote: Applied Microbes: The good, the bad and the fastidious
Time : .
Biography:
Wolfram Brück studied microbiology at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota, USA before pursuing a M.Sc. in medical and molecular microbiology at the University of Manchester, UK. In 2003, he finished his Ph.D. at the University of Reading, UK on the influence of prebiotic milk peptides on infant health. Throughout his career, Prof. Brück has developed a strong international perspective in food and health microbiology and biotechnology through academic and industrial posts in Denmark, USA, Ireland, the UK and Switzerland. His areas of interest are gut health, food microbiology, "green" production of bioactives and added value ingredients from food wastes.
Abstract:
Assemblies of microorganisms in their various environmental niches harbour a vast metabolic potential. To make use of its specific activity, the targeted identification of particular members of these communities within or outside of its native habitat has been done to facilitate novel processes or functions or to hasten existing ones. Mining this prospective wealth of activity for biotechnology, agriculture, medicine, food microbiology and bioremediation is at the core of applied microbiology. For example, Entotheonella, a microbial marine invertebrate symbiont is assumed to produce an antifungal agent in the Palauan sponge Theonella swinhoei. The same organism, on the other hand may produce an immunosuppressive, neuroprotective, antiproliferative, microtubule-stabilizing and antifungal compound in the Caribbean sponge Discodermia dissoluta. Another example is the use of the shell wastes of marine invertebrates and the chitinolytic machinery of Serratia marcescens in combination with the acid production of Lactobacillus and the proteases of Bacillus cereus, which leads to an environmentally friendlier alternative to traditional production of chitin and chitosan. Additionally, Lactobacillus by itself has been shown to protect from urinary tract infections while its status as probiotic has long been established. Today it is well known that the microbiota composition of our gut influences strongly our health and dysbiosis is a serious risk factor. Targeted intervention of probiotics such as Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium may counteract the dysbiosis caused by various extrinsic factors during the acquisition of the early microbiota and into adulthood. Microorganisms for the maintenance of our well-being.
Keynote Forum
Xuehua Xu
National Institutes of Health, USA
Keynote: Dictyostwlium discoideum: A Model Organism for G Protein Coupled Receptor-Mediated Chemotaxis in Human Diseases
Time : .
Biography:
Dr. Xuehua Xu expertise in developing and applying state-of-the-art imaging technologies to monitor the signaling network of GPCR-mediated chemotaxis in the model organism Dictyostelium discoideum, human neutrophils, and breast cancer cells. The interplay between computational simulation and experimental verification allow her to identify new components and novel signaling pathways essential for chemotaxis. Her research focuses on understanding the molecular mechanisms of GPCR-mediated chemotaxis in multiple systems and identifying new therapeutic strategies for inflammatory diseases and metastasis of breast cancer.
Abstract:
Chemotaxis is a directional cell migration guided by extracellular chemoattractant gradients. This cellular behavior plays critical roles in many physiological processes, such as neuron patterning, immune responses, angiogenesis, metastasis of cancer cells, and the early development of the model organism Dictyostelium discoideum. Inappropriate recruitment and dysregulated activation of human neutrophils contribute to tissue damage and cause autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. Neutrophils and D. discoideum sense and migrate to sites of inflammation using G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) and share remarkable similarity in signaling pathways of governing this cellular behavior. During the last two decades, it has been proven that the latter provides a powerful model system to identify new components and develop novel theories to understand the molecular mechanism underlining chemotaxis. To accurately navigate through an enormous concentration-range gradient of various chemoattractants, neutrophils and D. d cells employ a mechanism called adaptation, in which they no longer respond to present stimuli but remain sensitive to stronger stimuli. Homogeneous, sustained chemoattractant stimuli trigger transient, adaptive responses in many steps of the GPCR-mediated signaling pathway, that adaptation is a fundamental strategy for eukaryotic cell chemotaxis through large-range gradients of chemoattractants. Abstract modules and computational simulations have proposed some temporal dynamics of adaptation: an increase in receptor occupancy activates two antagonistic signaling processes, namely, a rapid “excitation” that triggers cellular responses and a temporally delayed “inhibition” that terminates the responses and results in adaptation. Many excitatory components have been identified; however, the inhibitor(s) largely remain elusive. The small GTPase Ras mediates multiple signaling pathways that control directional cell migration in both neutrophils and D. discoideum. Here, we identified Ras GAP protein that mediates Ras adaptation and chemotaxis in both D. and neutrophils. Our findings reveal a general inhibitory mechanism for chemotaxis and provide the potential therapeutic targets for inflammation-related diseases and cancer.
Keynote Forum
Tetyana Milojevic
University of Vienna, Austria
Keynote: Biotransformation of extraterrestrial and terrestrial metal-bearing materials
Biography:
Tetyana Milojevic has her expertise in the area of metal-microbial-mineral interactions. Since 2014 she is a deputy head of the Department of Biophysical Chemistry at the Faculty of Chemistry, University of Vienna and a leader of Biochemistry/Space Microbiology group investigating biotransformation of terrestrial and extraterrestrial minerals and microbial survivability in outer space environment. She has been leading an “excellence” Elise-Richter FWF research project to decipher metal-oxidizing machinery of the extreme thermoacidophile Metallospaera sedula.
Abstract:
The ability of chemolithotrophic microorganisms to catalyze redox transformations of metals is an exquisite tool for energy transduction between a mineral body and a living entity. Evolutionally diversified metal-solubilizing microorganisms with their fascinating metabolic routes have developed an exquisite set of capabilities for manipulating minerals, dissolving them to access useful metals. In the meantime, mankind has begun to learn how to harness their activities in biotechnological processes. Biomining is an increasingly applied biotechnological procedure for processing of ores in the mining industry (biohydrometallurgy), which relies on metal solubilization mediated by microorganisms. Iron- and sulfur-oxidizing acidophiles have widespread use in the processing of metals ores. We have been investigating the microbial-mineral interface of bioleaching extremophile Metallosphaera sedula, which is a metal-oxidizing archaeon that lives in hot acid conditions and exhibits unusual heavy-metal resistance. Exploring the viability and metal extraction capacity of M. sedula living on and interacting with extraterrestrial and terrestrial minerals, we have shown that this microbe actively colonizes meteorite NWA 1172, synthetic Martian regolith materials, and hard, rare metal oxide ores. Ultrastructural analysis of the hard metal-biomineralized cell wall of M. sedula is a focus of our current investigations to reveal redox destiny and coordination chemistry of the incorporated metals. The results of our work have direct implications for extraterrestrial (e.g., asteroid) biomining and development of In-Situ Resource Utilization Programs, as well as for biomining of rare hard metal ores on Earth.
Keynote Forum
Tian Jin
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, NIH, USA
Keynote: How eukaryotic phagocytes locate and interact with microorganisms: lessons from the social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum
Time : .
Biography:
Dr. Tian Jin is a senior investigator and chief of the chemotaxis signal section in Laboratory of immunegenetics, NIAID, NIH. The section is studying how eukaryotic cells find and interact with bacteria. We focus on molecular mechanisms underlying chemotaxis and phagocytosis.
Abstract:
How eukaryotic cells find and interact with bacteria is a fundamental question in biology. Eukaryotic phagocytes and their interactions with bacteria began when single-celled life forms, protozoans, appeared about 2.5 billion years ago. Since then, multicellular organisms endowed with increasingly complex genomes gradually formed, and phagocytic cells from these organisms, such as invertebrates and vertebrates, patrol in a host body to detect, recognize, and eliminate invading pathogenic bacteria for host immunity. The current dogma is that phagocytic cells use at least two types of receptors for defense against invading pathogens: one for detecting and chasing pathogens via chemotaxis and another for recognizing and eliminating them via phagocytosis. Detection and chasing is facilitated by G-protein-coupled-receptors which sense diffusible chemoattractants derived from bacteria. Recognition and elimination employs pattern-recognition receptors (PRRs), such as Toll-like receptors, for recognizing microbial-associated molecular pattern (MAMPs) and/or phagocytic receptors for bacterial surface-bound complements or immunoglobulins. However, the social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum does not encode orthologs of any known PRRs or phagocytic receptors; yet, they are highly evolved as professional phagocytes that chase bacteria via chemotaxis and consume them as food through phagocytosis. We find that this stereotypical phagocyte, breaking the dogma, assembles a simple and elegant molecular machinery to detect a diffusible chemoattractant and recognize an immobile component on the bacterial coat for both chasing and engulfing bacteria. Our studies on the social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum sheds new light on the origin of bacterial recognition by eukaryotic phagocytes, the path through which PRRs evolved, and the unexpectedly close mechanistic connection between chemotaxis and phagocytosis.
Keynote Forum
Shu-Lin Liu
Harbin Medical University, China
Keynote: Defining natural species of bacteria by a common yardstick: Universal genomic parameter to delineate bacteria into discrete phylogenetic clusters
Biography:
Shu-Lin Liu has expertise in bacterial systematics and evolution. He was the first in the world to conduct comparative genomic studies on Salmonella bacteria and uncovered a series of genomic evolutionary events, with findings published in PNAS, Journal of Bacteriology, Molecular Biology and Evolution, etc. He proposed the 3Cs criteria to define natural species of bacteria and put forward the Adopt-Adapt Model of bacterial speciation, which may lead to the origin of pathogenic species. He teaches Microbiology, Genomics, Evolution, and Classic Chinese Literature. He has an adjunct academic position at University of Calgary, Canada, and conducted teaching and research there. As the Dean of College of Pharmacy, Harbin Medical University, he was active in international collaboration and communication activities and organized a broad range of exchange programs with international institutions including University of British Columbia, University of Calgary, Canada, and Purdue University, University of Missouri, Kentucky State University, USA, etc.
Abstract:
Bacteria are classified, like higher organisms, into species, but the current taxonomic species contain bacteria of enormous phylogenetic diversity, causing serious confusions in medical practice and other fields. Therefore, a common yardstick is badly needed for universally defining bacterial species by using a parameter that produces discrete rather than continual data to reveal clear-cut distinctions among the species. Using Salmonella as the primary model to search for such delineating genomic parameters, we found that members of a monophyletic bacterial grouping equivalent to natural species have a high percentage of their common genes sharing identical nucleotide sequences. The percentage windows are mostly broad: >70% for members within a species and <10% for bacteria between species. Similarly broad percentage windows were also seen in Streptomyces; we propose percentages <70% to reflect genetic boundaries and exclude bacteria from a species. The clear-cut nature of such percentages makes them suitable as a common yardstick to define natural bacterial species. The broad percentage windows could be interpreted as the results of non-overlapping gene pools: bacteria of the same gene pool can purge less adapted members once they acquire beneficial traits, but they cannot do that across different gene pools.
- Microbiology
Session Introduction
Le Tang
Harbin Medical University, China
Title: Genetic boundary to delineate bacteria into discrete natural clusters
Biography:
Dr. Tang is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow at University of Calgary. She received her MD and PhD degrees from Harbin Medical University, one of the top medical schools in China. She has won multiple national and provincial awards and scholarships from China and Canada in the past three years, including the National Natural Science Foundation of China, Alberta Innovates Health Solutions Postdoctoral Fellow of Canada, Heilongjiang Provincial Innovation Endowment Award for graduate studies, and the Heilongjiang Provincial Endowment Award for International Academic Exchanges. Her research focuses on understanding how benign bacteria evolve into human pathogens. Her research work has been published in international core journals, along with book chapters in prestigious references like Molecular Medical Microbiology (2nd Edition) and Encyclopedia of Genetics (3rd Edition).
Abstract:
The current taxonomy classifies bacteria into largely arbitrary species, because it is still unclear whether the prokaryotes exist as natural species. Based on our previous findings that bacterial genomes are highly conserved in evolution, we hypothesize that bacteria, like all other life forms, should dwell in nature in discrete biological units, members within each of which should share common genetic and biological traits. The key evidence to support this hypothesis would be the demonstration of clear-cut genetic distinction among even very closely related bacterial lineages. To this end, we carried out systematic genomic comparisons among representative Salmonella lineages. Remarkably, we found that Salmonella, highly related from one serotype to another, formed distinct phylogenetic clusters separated by various genetic distances: whereas over 90% of the approximately four thousand shared genes had completely identical sequences among strains of the same lineage, the percentages dropped sharply to below 10% across the lineages with rare exceptions, demonstrating the existence of genetic boundaries. Recombination assays supported the genetic boundary hypothesis, showing that genetic barriers had been formed between bacteria of even very closely related lineages. We found similar situations also in other bacteria, such as Yersinia and Staphylococcus. We conclude that bacteria are genetically isolated into discrete clusters equivalent to natural species.
- Microbial Pathogenesis
Session Introduction
Huidi Liu
Harbin Medical University, China
Title: Oncolytic Virotherapy for Clear Cell Ovarian Carcinoma: a potential treatment strategy
Biography:
Dr. Huidi Liu received her PhD degree from Harbin Medical University (HMU), Harbin, China, with a major in Microbial and Biochemical Pharmacy. After her graduation in 2011, she joined the Genomic Research Center at HMU and worked on genomic research of ovarian cancer and natural anti-cancer drugs. She has an overseas experience at University of Calgary as a visiting scholar supported by China Scholar Council (CSC, 2016-2017). She has published more than ten papers in core international journals on ovarian cancer. Besides research, Huidi Liu teaches a course on Systematic Bacteriology. Recently, Huidi Liu has been appointed project manager for the Centre for Infection and Genomics, a joint project between HMU and the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Calgary.
Abstract:
Ovarian cancer is one of the three leading gynecological malignancies, hardly to be diagnosed at early stages. Mammalian lignans enterodiol (END) and Enterolactone (ENL) can reduce the risk of various cancers. We have previously reported the production of END and ENL from flaxseeds by human intestinal microbiota through biotransformation (seeds of Linum usitatissimum L.) and isolated bacterial strains that produced mammalian lignans. Both END and ENL reduce the risk of various cancers, but their anti-cancer mechanisms in ovarian cancer remain unclear. We used in vitro assays on the ES-2 cell line to evaluate the inhibiting effects of END and ENL on ovarian cancer cell proliferation, invasion and migration ability and in vivo xenograft experiments on nude mice to validate the anticancer effects of END and ENL. We also sequenced the transcriptomes of high-dose ENL to look into the possible anticancer mechanisms of ENL. The in vitro assays demonstrated that high-doses of END and ENL could obviously inhibit ovarian malignant properties, including cancerous proliferation, invasion, and metastasis. Compared to END, ENL behaved in a better time-dose dependent manner on the cancer cells. The in vivo experiments showed that END (1 mg/kg), ENL(1 mg/kg) and ENL (0.1 mg/kg) suppressed the tumor markedly with statistically significant differences between the experimental and control groups in tumor weight and volume. Compared to END, which have serious side effects to the animals at high concentration such as 1 mg/kg, ENL had higher anticancer activities and less side effects in the animals than END at the same concentrations. GO and KEGG pathway enrichment analysis showed that ENL mainly inhibited the invasion and metastasis of the cancer cells. We further confirmed that the expression levels and activities of MMP-2 and MMP-9 were inhibited by ENL treatments in a dose-dependent manner. ENL had better inhibition effects than END on ovarian cancer. The inhibition was achieved by suppressing the cancer invasion and metastasis pathways and down-regulating the expression of MMP-2 and MMP-9. These results demonstrated possibilities of clinical application of the phytoestrogens in the treatment of ovarian cancer.
Zheng Zeng
Harbin Medical University, China
Title: END and ENL inhibit the proliferation, migration and invasiveness of ovarian cancer
Biography:
Zheng Zeng is a PhD student at Harbin Medical University, with major in Microbiology and Biochemical Pharmacy. Her research focuses on gynecological cancers and natural anticancer products. In 2016, she was founded by the Chinese government to study at Okayama University, Japan, for a year as an exchange student in immunopathology under the guidance of Prof. Akihiro Matsukawa, where she obtained plenty of clinical diagnosis experience. Currently, she works on human intestinal bacteria for their biotransformation of phytoestrogen polymers in daily diet to the potent anticancer mammalian lignans END and ENL with ovarian cancer as the target and the underlying mechanisms involving cell cycle arrest, apoptosis and/or autophagy as her primary goas of research.
Abstract:
Ovarian carcinoma is the third most common malignancy and the fifth most fatal cancer among the gynecological cancers. Those of the epithelial origin account for 80%−90% of all types of ovarian cancer and are the deadliest, giving rise to 5-year survival rates of the patients lower than 30%. At present, chemotherapy is still among the most important treatment strategies along with surgery and radiotherapy, but drug resistance, poor prognosis and tumor recurrence remain to be the overwhelming challenges. Over the past years, natural substances, such as the mammalian lignans enterodiol (END) and enterolactone (ENL), have gained attention for their excellent activities against a broad range of cancers and low side effects. However, whether END or ENL can inhibit ovarian cancers is not clear. In this study, we found that the proliferation, migration and invasion characteristics of epithelial ovarian cancer derived ES-2 cells were severely limited by ENL and END in an incremental dose and time pattern. In the parallel tumor-bearing mouse model, ENL exhibited more effective tumor-suppressing capability and less side effects than END. These findings may help develop novel strategies for the treatment of ovarian cancers by the use of ENL and END.
- Agricultural Microbiology
Session Introduction
Nurfadzilah M
Malaysian Cocoa Board, Malaysia
Title: Utilization of selected beneficial bacteria incorporated with carrier materials on growth response of (theobroma cacao l.) Cocoa seedlings.
Biography:
Nurfadzilah Madian has her expertise in microbiology and soil ecology of cocoa crops. She has joined Malaysian Cocoa Board for 10 years since November 2008. She holds Bsc (Hons) in Plantation Technology and Management, University Technology Mara (UiTM) Shah Alam, Malaysia and now continue her study in Master of Science of Agriculture Technology in University Putra Malaysia, Malaysia. She has involved in several studies especially in organic fertilizer and crop intercropping system. She is the author of 2 journal, 5 proceedings and involved in technical and advisory for the cocoa farmers in Malaysia.
Abstract:
Statement of the Problem: Cocoa industry in Malaysia has undergone challenging phase recently. The planting industry has started to decline since 1990’s due to the outbreak of disease and relatively high cost of fertilizer. Hence, there is a potential value by emerging the technologies of potential bacteria with selected carrier materials such as cocoa pod husk (CPH) and rice husk charcoal (RHC) as biofertilizer. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the potential value of selected bacteria incorporation with selected carrier materials on growth response on cocoa seedlings.
Methodology: This study has been conducted in nursery at Cocoa Research and Development Centre, Malaysian Cocoa Board, Pahang. Four treatments with three replications were arranged in this study. Physical growth of cocoa seedlings was recorded biweekly; fresh and dry weight of plant parts were recorded at the end of the study.
Findings: Based on data recorded, the application of beneficial bacteria in the carrier materials significantly influenced the plant height and plant girth of cocoa seedlings. Cocoa seedlings grown on soils treated with 30 gm of CPH and RHC in addition of 1.2% of beneficial bacteria were higher in plant height and plant girth whereas, applications of 45 gm of CPH and RHC in addition of 1.2% of beneficial bacteria in the carrier materials were significantly affected the fresh and dry weight of plant parts.
Conclusion: The application of 1.2% of beneficial bacteria with 30 gm of CPH and RHC influences the cocoa seedlings growth rate by 56.05% and 73.15% where, applications of 1.2% of beneficial bacteria with 45gm of CPH and RHC increase leaves, stem, root weight by 38.66%, 75.35% and 50.40% respectively as compared with normal NPK applications. This result indicated that bacteria incorporated with selected carrier material improve cocoa seedling growth and biomass.