Dealing with the Unknown: Bacterial Stress Responses Across Time and Space

The Microbial Stress Response 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scientific conference focused on advancing the frontiers of science through the presentation of cutting-edge and unpublished research, prioritizing time for discussion after each talk and fostering informal interactions among scientists of all career stages.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 a diverse range 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.

Bacteria face a nearly constant onslaught of diverse stressors both expected (e.g., nutrient fluctuations, temperature changes, phage predation, etc) and unknown (e.g., novel antibiotics, unanticipated changes in environment, etc). How they detect and respond to such stressors largely determines their survival in a world of fierce competition. The 2024 Microbial Stress Response GRC will feature the latest, cutting-edge research into all facets of how bacteria sense, respond, and adapt to stress. The talks and posters presented will showcase the many approaches being taken to understand bacterial stress responses, including genetic, biochemical, structural, imaging, computational, and genome-scale assays. A range of organisms and scales of study, from the molecular to the population level, will be included.

The program will feature a diverse and distinguished set of invited speakers as well as many talks selected from submitted abstracts that highlight early-stage investigators, postdocs, and graduate students. Daily poster sessions will be a major element of the meeting, enabling the dynamic exchange of new results and ongoing work, while promoting interactions between conference participants at every level. Diversity and inclusion will be emphasized throughout the meeting, with a GRC Power Hour focusing on group discussion. Finally, as in past years, this GRC will be preceded by a GRS that focuses entirely on grad students and postdocs.