Schedule
Friday, November 7th
2:30 – 5:00 PM Hands-On Workshops. (Heim Building Labs) Session Descriptions Follow

Bacterial Whole Genome Assembly and Annotation with GCAT-SEEK

Medium throughput Phenotyping of YOUR Organism with Biolog GenIII plates

Fatty Acid Methyl Ester (FAME) Analysis of YOUR Organism

HPLC with Diode Array Detector analysis of non-polar pigments from YOUR Organism
4:00 – 6:30 PM Registration - Burchfield Lounge in Wertz Student Center
5:15 – 6:30 PM Buffet Dinner. Cost $20 - Schultz Room in Wertz Student Center
6:30 – 6:45 PM Welcome and Opening Remarks - Schultz Room in Wertz Student Center
6:45 – 7:45 PM ASM Distinguished Branch Lecturer - Schultz Room in Wertz Student Center
Dr. John F. Stolz, Director, Center for Environmental Research and Education, Duquesne University
"Life in the Frac Pitt" The Microbiology of Unconventional Shale Gas Extraction.
8:00 – 9:30 PM Student-Planned “Fun” Activity - Schultz Room in Wertz Student Center
8:00 – 10:30 PM Hands-On Workshops. (Heim Building Labs)

Bacterial Whole Genome Assembly and Annotation with GCAT-SEEK

Medium throughput Phenotyping of YOUR Organism with Biolog GenIII plates

Fatty Acid Methyl Ester (FAME) Analysis of YOUR Organism

HPLC with Diode Array Detector analysis of non-polar pigments from YOUR Organism
4/15/20

Saturday, November 8th
7:30-10:30 AM
7:30-8:45 AM
8:45-9:00 AM
Registration, Poster Set-Up – Heim Ground Floor
Continental Breakfast, Faculty Exchange of Best Practice , – Heim G-09
Welcome and Opening Remarks , Dr. Jeff Newman, Lycoming College – Heim G-09
9:00-10:30 AM
10:30-10:45 AM
10:45-12:00 PM
12:00-1:30 PM
12:00-1:30 PM
Session 1 Poster Presentations (odd numbered posters), – Heim Ground Floor
Snacks Heim G-09
Session 1 Oral Presentations , Heim G-11
ABASM Business Meeting and Lunch , Jonas Room in Wertz Student Center
Student lunch and career panel led by Tri-Beta Rho Beta Chapter and ASM Student
Chapters, Schultz Room in Wertz Student Center

Christine Wheary – Director of Clinical Laboratory Sciences Program with
Susquehanna Health System.

Lisa M. Kozlowski, Ph.D., Associate Dean for Postdoctoral Affairs and
Recruitment, Jefferson Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences,
Thomas Jefferson University
1:45-2:30 PM
2:30-3:30 PM
3:30-3:45 PM
3:45-4:45 PM
4:45-5:00 PM
Amy Cheng Vollmer, Swarthmore College
Lessons learned from studying bacterial stress response in E. coli
Session 2 Poster Presentations (even numbered posters) – Heim Ground Floor
Snacks Heim G-09
Session 2 Oral Presentations , Heim G-11
Awards presentation and Closing Remarks, Dr. Jeff Newman, Lycoming College
Heim G-11
electronically (in Word or PDF) to Jeff Newman at newman@lycoming.edu
Persons NOT desiring meals can register on-site to attend talks and poster sessions with registration or ABASM membership.
2. Send Membership form and Payment form electronically to
Nancy Trun at trun@duq.edu
3. Mail Hardcopy Payment Form and checks payable to ABASM to:
Dr. Nancy Trun, ABASM Treasurer, Dept.of Biology, 256 Mellon Hall,
Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA 15282
4/15/20

Hands-On Workshop Descriptions.
Bacterial Whole Genome Assembly and Annotation with GCAT-SEEK
Participants will access the GCAT-SEEK server at Juniata College to initiate a de novo assembly of a bacterial genome from raw MiSeq data. Assembly statistics and output will be reviewed, the assembly will be uploaded to RAST for automated annotation. Annotated genomes will be reviewed to predict phenotypes, compared to identify shared and unique genes, and used to calculate average nucleotide identity (ANI), average amino acid identity (AAI) and estimated
DNA-DNA hybridization value (DDH). A drawing will be done from participants for a free genome sequence (~1/30th of a MiSeq run) through GCAT-SEEK.
Medium Throughput Phenotyping of YOUR Organism with Biolog GenIII Plates
Participants will bring an actively growing plate of their organism streaked for single colonies.
(Biolog Universal Growth medium + Blood preferred, TSA + Blood 2 nd choice, TSA 3 rd choice, other complex rich medium acceptable). During the workshop, participants will suspend their organism in inoculating fluid, dispense the suspension into the wells of the Biolog GenIII plate with a multi-channel pipettor, and load the plate into the Lycoming College Omnilog
Instrument for incubation and monitoring at 27 o C. Initial data will be available at 5 PM on
Saturday. Final results will be sent via email.
Fatty Acid Methyl Ester (FAME) Analysis of YOUR Organism
Participants will bring an actively growing plate of their organism streaked for single colonies.
(Tryptic Soy Broth Agar preferred, TSA 2 nd choice, TSA + Blood 3 rd choice, other complex rich medium acceptable). During the workshop, participants will harvest cells from the plate, saponify the lipids, methylate the fatty acids, extract the fatty acid methyl esters, and determine the percentage of each fatty acid methyl ester via gas chromatography on Lycoming
College’s Microbial ID Inc. Sherlock System. This system also compares the percentages to a database to identify the organism. Final results will be available at 5 PM on Saturday.
HPLC with Diode Array Detector Analysis of Non-polar Pigments from YOUR Organism
Participants will bring an actively growing plate of their pigmented organism streaked for single colonies (any medium acceptable). During the workshop, participants will harvest cells from the plate, extract non-polar pigments with acetone, separate the pigments by reversed phase
HPLC, and obtain the UV-VIS spectrum of the pigments with the diode array detector. Final results will be available at 5 PM on Saturday and will include a 3-D “pigment landscape” and excel data file with elution profiles at peak wavelengths as well as spectra for pigment peaks.
4/15/20

A block of rooms has been reserved at the following hotel within walking distance (4 blocks) of campus.
TownePlace Suites by Marriott: (570) 567-467
10 West Church Street
Williamsport, PA 17701
Rate: $89/night +9% tax
Online Booking Instructions:
1.
TownePlace Suites – www.marriott.com/iptts
2.
Enter arrival and departure dates
3.
Enter Marriott Reward Number (if applicable)
4.
Click “Special Rates & Awards” to expand the selection a.
Select "Group Code” b.
Then enter the 7 digit code(s) i.
King Studio: ABAABAS ii.
Queen/Queen Suite: ABAABAB
6.
Click “Find” to proceed to the Allegheny Branch of the American Society for Microbiology guest room reservation page.
4/15/20