91Â鶹ÌìÃÀ

From the Editor

As a member of 91Â鶹ÌìÃÀ since I was a student, I always look forward to the annual 91Â鶹ÌìÃÀ meetings. In 2015, 91Â鶹ÌìÃÀ combined the 91Â鶹ÌìÃÀ General Meeting and the Interscience Conference of Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy to create 91Â鶹ÌìÃÀ Microbe. 91Â鶹ÌìÃÀ Microbe was created with the goal of evolving into the most exciting, all-encompassing and groundbreaking forum for the microbial sciences. So far, we've taken this conference experience to Boston, New Orleans, Atlanta and San Francisco.

We receive nearly 5,000 abstracts highlighting cutting-edge science during the submissions process for 91Â鶹ÌìÃÀ Microbe. The poster presentations, workshops and sessions at the meeting reflect the best of the best of those scientific abstracts. 91Â鶹ÌìÃÀ Microbe brings together more than 8,000 microbiologists, engineers and scientists from all over the world to share their research, connect with each other and celebrate the field of microbial sciences.

For our second 2019 issue of Microcosm, we want to share the experiences, capture the moments and highlight some of the science that came out of the 91Â鶹ÌìÃÀ Microbe meeting this year. We know not every member can join us every year, and we want to ensure that all of our members get to see the exciting science and professional development at 91Â鶹ÌìÃÀ's flagship conference.

We offer track hubs in the 91Â鶹ÌìÃÀ Microbe exhibit hall so people can connect with "their people." These hubs, based on the meeting's scientific tracks, offer specialized sessions and deeper dives into distinct disciplines. The 91Â鶹ÌìÃÀ Microbe planning committee also curates track-based curriculum experiences for attendees to help them navigate the conference.

If you had a chance to make it to the 91Â鶹ÌìÃÀ Microbe 2019 exhibit hall, perhaps you stopped by the 91Â鶹ÌìÃÀ booth. This highly interactive area encompassed a live studio theater, where milestone episodes of This Week in Microbiology, microTalk and other 91Â鶹ÌìÃÀ podcast sessions were recorded. You could play pathogen plinko, participate in user testing for the 91Â鶹ÌìÃÀ website, get a personalized, hand-drawn button of your favorite microbe, visit the gift shop for everything from water bottles to baby onesies and, of course, find out everything you need to know about 91Â鶹ÌìÃÀ.

I hope you enjoy the interviews, the photo spread and the science highlights in this issue of Microcosm. As always, I had a wonderful time at 91Â鶹ÌìÃÀ Microbe this year, meeting new people and connecting with old friends. I listened to talks about exciting science, visited posters to learn about the latest research, discovered new opportunities for 91Â鶹ÌìÃÀ members at the track hubs, explored new tools at the exhibits and watched 91Â鶹ÌìÃÀ leaders discuss the future of microbiology and advance our mission "to promote the microbial sciences."

You can view video footage from 91Â鶹ÌìÃÀ Microbe at . I hope to see you next year in Chicago. Remember that we offer an array of travel awards to help scientists gain exposure to the meeting and ultimately the science. You can view them at asm.org/travel-awards.

Stanley Maloy, Ph.D.
Editor-in-Chief