Conference Description
The Animal-Microbe Symbioses GRC is a premier, international scientific conference focused on advancing the frontiers of science through the presentation of cutting-edge and unpublished research, prioritizing time for discussion after each talk and fostering informal interactions among scientists of all career stages. The conference program includes an array of speakers and discussion leaders from institutions and organizations worldwide, concentrating on the latest developments in the field. The conference is five days long and held in a remote location to increase the sense of camaraderie and create scientific communities, with lasting collaborations and friendships. In addition to premier talks, the conference has designated time for poster sessions from individuals of all career stages, and afternoon free time and communal meals allow for informal networking opportunities with leaders in the field.
The conference will bring together researchers studying animal-microbe symbioses across diverse environments and from different perspectives. A central focus will be understanding the emergent properties of symbioses and how the integration of animals and microorganisms fundamentally transform hosts, microbes, and the environments around them. The conference will highlight how symbiotic interactions generate biological complexity across scales, from molecular signaling and cellular processes to host physiology, population dynamics, community structure, and ecosystem function. Bringing together insights from experimentally tractable model systems and complex natural systems, the conference will emphasize how mechanistic, ecological, and evolutionary approaches can be combined to uncover general principles governing symbioses. Beyond their fundamental biological importance, these interactions shape much of life on Earth and have broad implications for conservation, agriculture, and human health.
The conference chair is currently developing their preliminary program, which will include 9 sessions and the names of the invited speakers and discussion leaders for each of these sessions. The preliminary program will be available by September 23, 2026. Please check back for updates.
