CHIB to Co-Host Microbiome Workshop on Biodefense and Pathogen Detection

The Center for Health-related Informatics and Bioimaging (CHIB) is co-hosting a one-day workshop next January focused on biodefense and pathogen detection.

The 2018 Winter Mid-Atlantic Microbiome Meet-up (M3), set for January 10, 2018 at the University of Maryland, is designed to create synergistic connections between academia, federal experts and others involved in pathogen detection, antibiotic resistance and biodefense matters.

Keynote speakers for the event are Tara O'Toole, executive vice president of In-Q-Tel (IQT), and Rita Colwell, a Distinguished University Professor in the University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies.

O’Toole is currently leading B.Next, an IQT lab dedicated to exploring opportunities and risks likely to arise as a result of advances in the biological sciences and biotechnologies, with a particular focus on detecting and preventing biological attacks.

Colwell is recognized as an international leader in the field of bioinformatics—most notably in understanding microbiomes and the application of this knowledge to human health and the diagnosis and treatment of disease. She is founder and chairman of CosmosID Inc., a microbial genomics company focused on molecular diagnostics of human pathogens and antimicrobial resistance.

Other featured speakers are Nicholas Bergman, a senior principal investigator in genomics at the National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Center, and Stephanie Rogers, a deputy director of B.Next.

This is the second Mid-Atlantic Microbiome Meet-up held on the Maryland campus. The inaugural M3 in Fall 2016 brought together more than 60 researchers and scientists who discussed topics such as human skin microbiomes and tracking the spread of hospital infections.

“M3 has served as a conduit for the Mid-Atlantic scientific community interested in microbiome research, enabling researchers at all levels to coalesce around the main challenges in the field,” says Todd Treangen, the assistant director of CHIB who is coordinating much of the M3 activities.

To register for the January 2018 workshop, go here.