2024 Streptococcal Biology Gordon Research Conference and Gordon Research Seminar - PROJECT SUMMARY This grant application requests funds to partially support the 2024 Streptococcal Biology Gordon Research Conference (GRC) and its associated Seminar (GRS). This will be the third meeting of this GRC, which has been highly successful in its prior years of 2018 and 2022. This will also be the 2nd meeting of the GRS, whose purpose is to foster development of the next generation of investigators and invite their active participation and integration into the broader research community. Both meetings will be held at the Grand Summit Hotel at Sunday River, Newry, Maine, USA. The GRS is to be held August 10-11, and the GRC August 11-16. The 2024 Chairs are Drs. Michael Federle and Jan-Willem Veening, who served as Co-Vice Chairs in 2022. Drs. Kimberly Kline and Jose Lemos will serve as Co-Vice Chairs and then will Chair the 2026 meeting. Postdoctoral fellows Luke Joyce and Kristin Huse will Co-Chair the GRS. The GRS/GRC program encompasses a wide range of exciting topics among important human and animal pathogens from the genera Streptococcus and Enterococcus. Topics will include genomics, virulence regulation, antimicrobial resistance, new antimicrobial targets, host-pathogen interactions, clinical findings, microbial communities, and advancing therapeutics. Invited speakers and discussion leaders will address the most current and exciting topics in the field. The overall goal is to bring the world’s leading scientists and the most promising young investigators and trainees together in a collegial and supportive environment. The specific goals are to: 1) provide a forum for the presentation of unpublished, cutting-edge research on streptococci and enterococci and foster formal and informal discussions on how these results advance the field; 2) include investigators and clinicians focusing on diverse streptococcal species and define the impact of these on infection; 3) expand the boundaries of the work of the scientists within this field; and 4) ensure development and integration of young investigators, including those in under-represented groups into the broader research community in a meaningful and interactive way.The collegial atmosphere will include organized discussion sessions during talks and poster sessions and opportunities for informal gatherings in the afternoons and evenings, providing an ideal setting for scientists from different disciplines to exchange ideas and foster cross-disciplinary collaborations among peers and the next generation of investigators. Thus, these events will provide a fundamentally important opportunity not currently offered to this field in any other global venue, to bring together leading investigators in a format designed for the free exchange of research results and ideas covering all aspects of streptococcal biology and its relationship to disease. Together with the GRS, the GRC will promote diversity, equity and inclusion and the development of promising young investigators in the field and their integration into the larger research community. In the short term, this will significantly enhance the ability of investigators around the world to address critical problems in streptococcal and enterococcal diseases, while in the long term it will ensure the continued success of their efforts and those of the next generation of investigators.
