Wednesday, 16th July Australian Society for Microbiology Annual Scientific Meeting 2025

Session Chairs: Meghan Zadow, Yogi Srikhanta, Zahara Islam, August Mikucki & Heema Vyas

Are you attending the EDI Brekkie session at ASM Adelaide?

Do you have a question or discussion point that you would like us to talk about?

If so, you can either ask us on the day or submit your questions ahead of time using the link below, all submissions will be anonymous. There will also be a dropbox available to leave questions at the registration desk during the conference.

Submit your EDI Question here

• The expanding arsenal of efflux pumps contributing to Acinetobacter’s fight against antibiotics - Karl Hassan
• A VRE worrying problem: Defining mechanisms of last-resort antimicrobial resistance in Enterococcus faecium - Glen P Carter
• Targeting bacterial arginine metabolism to overcome polymyxin resistance in Acinetobacter baumannii - Meiling Han
• Understanding the molecular dynamics of bacterial plasmids and post-segregational killing at a single cell level-See it to believe it ! - Tanuka Sen
• A genomics to genetics approach to uncovering entry exclusion interactions during bacterial conjugation - Wen Wen Low
• How Klebsiella pneumoniae evades copper intoxication: molecular insights into metal resistance - Aimee Tan
• Genome-scale mutagenesis and sorting reveals the regulatory network for the hypervirulence-associated siderophore, aerobactin, in Klebsiella pneumoniae - To Nguyen

• Developing a defined microbial consortium for the treatment of ulcerative colitis. - Reuben Wheeler
• Targeting Biofilms in Paediatric Otitis Media: Microbiological Findings from the ATOMIC Ears Trial in Children Undergoing Grommet Insertion - Ruth Thornton
• Development of a Staphylococcus aureus Phage Cocktail for Clinical Use: Early Screening Results from the SNAP Isolate Cohort - Stephanie Lynch
• CARB-X – Accelerating the Development of Innovative Antibacterial Products. - Richard Alm
• Investigation of microbial signatures associated with response to faecal microbiota transplantation in ulcerative colitis - Shreeya S Raich
• Augmenting the clinical utility of cefiderocol through dysregulation of bacterial metal ion homeostasis - David MP De Oliveira
• Understanding the enhanced immune responses to high-density microarray patch vaccination through spatial transcriptomics and antibody repertoire analysis - Paul Young

• Scaling Up AMR Surveillance in Livestock: Insights from Australia’s High-Throughput Robotic Antimicrobial Susceptibility Platform (RASP) - Sam Abraham
• Spotty Liver Disease in Chickens: Campylobacter Infection and Disease Progression - Thi Thu Hao Van
• Modulation of the Gut Microbiome as a Strategy to Combat Multidrug-Resistant Organisms. - Calum J Walsh
• Characterisation of avian hepatitis E virus in layer hens  - Stephanie Hewitt
• Development of phage-based interventions against UPEC for companion animals with recurrent UTI - Carola Venturini
• Growth modulating effect of proteogenic amino acids on chicken origin pathogenic bacteria - David Chau
• Design and validation of peptide antigens for immunohistochemical detection of Histophilus somni in bovine lung tissue samples - Gebremeskel Mamu Werid

• A contamination conundrum - Stephanie Kelsey
• Duplex PCR testing to combat the rise of ulcerative STIs: mpox and syphilis - Josie Sullivan
• External quality assessment in bacteriology a five-year review - Melanie Otormin
• Snapshot genomic surveillance reveals insights into antimicrobial resistance and lineage diversity of uropathogens in older adults in Queensland - Budi Permana
• Beyond the Bench: Integrating Quality into Clinical Microbiology Laboratory - Patricia Szczurek

• Scientific Publishing: A perspective from Nature Microbiology - Jess Thompson

Opening talk by Prof Lambert Schuwirth (Director Flinders University Prideaux Centre for Research in Health Professions Education, South Australia)

Title: Role of AI in shaping Education and Research practices 

Followed by a Panel Presentation led by Thiru Vanniasinkam (CSU, NSW)

Title: Incorporating generative AI in teaching: practical examples 

Panel Members:

• Jamie Botten (UAdelaide, SA)
• Nicholas Jackson (Scotch college, SA)
• Kimberley McClean (UniSA, SA)
• Katelyn Mroczek (LTU, VIC)

The marvellous microbiologists behind our awards and orations

Naming an award after someone is about celebrating a career and a contribution to a discipline. Since its formation in 1959 the Australian Society for Microbiology has played an important role in the careers of many Australian microbiologists who in turn have advanced the discipline and played significant roles in the society.  This session is about the microbiologists after whom our awards and orations have been named. 

Name of Award: Sydney Rubbo
First Year Awarded: 1970
Speaker: Cheryl Power

Name of Award: Frank Fenner
First Year Awarded: 1989
Speaker: Ipek Kurtboke

Name of Award: David White
First Awarded: 1989
Speakers: Senaka Ranadheera 

Name of Award: Bill Snowdon
First Awarded: 1996
Speaker: Paul Selleck 

Name of Award: Nancy Millis
First Awarded: 2013
Speaker: Jenny Davis 

Name of Award: Lyn Gilbert
First Awarded: 2014
Speaker: Peter Traynor 

Name of Award: Jim Pittard
First Awarded: 2016
Speaker: Julian Rood

• Macrolide-Resistant Mycoplasma pneumoniae: Epidemiology review and Public Health Implications - Ching-min MY Yeh
• An alternative to the QuantiFERON-TB Gold Plus test - Belinda McEwan
• Vaccination of adolescents for invasive  group B meningococcal disease with an Associated Benefit - Andrew Lawrence

• Antibody-mediated exacerbation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa infected chronic wounds - Timothy Wells
• From environment to infection: How a novel vector of disease transmission supercharges pathogen virulence - Gustavo Espinoza-Vergara
• Helicobacter pylori uses extracellular vesicles to modulate immune responses in gastric epithelial cells and peripheral blood mononuclear cells - Angus R Cramond
• The persistent presence of intracellular UPEC in a paediatric chronic UTI patient and its associated inflammatory profiling: Leads for the Future - Arthika Manoharan
• Modulating lipid metabolism to combat infections in the Cystic Fibrosis lung - Ella Haracic
• Characterising host immune responses to invasive multi-drug resistant ST34 monophasic Salmonella - Sahampath Hettiarachchi
• Characterizing the Restriction of Influenza A Virus by Duck TRIM Proteins - Lee Campbell

• AMRrules: expert-curated interpretive standards for AMR genotypes - Jane Hawkey
• Application of quantitative PCR and genomics for early detection and tracing of Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis on poultry farms during an outbreak in New South Wales, Australia - Cheryl Jenkins
• Culture free whole genome sequencing of Mycobacterium tuberculosis direct from sputum - Lachlan Coin
• Tracking the transmission of antibiotic resistance genes using their mobile genetic element contexts - Bethany Cross
• Genetic heterogeneity in the Salmonella Typhi Vi capsule locus: a population genomic study from Fiji - Andrew J Hayes
• A nationally collaborative genomics study to enhance our understanding of V. parahaemolyticus in Australia - Claire Hedges
• Mobile genetic elements driving antimicrobial resistance in Streptococcus pneumoniae in South Australia - Gabriel Temitope Sunmonu

• Microbial Risk Management in Engineered Water Systems: Where Microbiology Meets Design, Engineering, and Infection Control - Harriet Whiley
• A shift from heterotrophy to autotrophy underlies microbial adaptation to global desert ecosystems - Pok Man Leung
• A multi-omic approach to studying the evolutionary origins of microbial mercury methylation - Caitlin Gionfriddo
• Antimicrobial Resistance in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Focus on Fiji - Barbara Drigo
• Life in the Upside Down: Sulfur Oxidation at Oxidant Seeps in a Euxinic Lake Basin - Michael McCormick
• Understanding the survival mechanisms of Escherichia coli in urban water systems - Charles Nunez
• Exceptional preservation in Ginkgo and fern leaves incubated in microbial mats, Shark Bay (Western Australia) - Hridya Vijay

• From Findings to Insights: Leveraging Data from Microbiology Laboratory Assessments for Quality Advancement - Gillian Treloar
• Blood Culture Microscopy in Regional South Australia - Xiao Chen
• Resilience Under Pressure: Managing Fire, Flood and Cyclone Disruption in a Clinical Laboratory - Matthew Hadaway
• So you think you know the organism! - Danilla Grando