Grinnell Hosts 82nd Annual Meeting of American Society for Microbiology, North Central Branch

Nov 3, 2022

Two women present their research posters in a busy atrium. They stand on either side of a bulletin board, and are gesticulating toward their posters while speaking to listeners in the foreground.

The meeting, which attracts undergraduate, graduate, and career microbiologists across the Midwest, has never before been held at Grinnell College.

A woman seated in the front row of an auditorium asks a question of the speaker, not pictured. She holds a cup of coffee and her legs are crossed.

Adina Howe, Ph.D., Iowa State University (pictured center) delivered a keynote lecture on Friday morning entitled, "The scoop on poop and its role in managing antibiotic resistance."

A row of bulletin boards with research posters attached.

Work shared at the meeting by faculty, graduate students, and undergraduates encompassed leading issues in microbiology.

A young woman in an orange shirt explains her research poster to a man in a blue shirt, who is listening.

Work shared at the meeting by faculty, graduate students, and undergraduates encompassed leading issues in microbiology.

On Oct. 21 and 22, Grinnell College hosted the 82nd annual meeting of the American Society for Microbiology’s (ASM) North Central Branch (NCB). The meeting gathered researchers from institutions across Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota, North Dakota, and Wisconsin for two days of lectures, research presentations, and fellowship. Grinnell College faculty members Shannon Hinsa-Leasure, NCB President, and Leslie Gregg-Jolly, NCB treasurer and secretary, organized the weekend’s events along with Dominique Limoli, Ph.D., NCB vice president, from the University of Iowa.

Work shared at the meeting by faculty, graduate students, and undergraduates encompassed leading issues in microbiology — from the spread of antibiotic resistance in agricultural settings and bacterial genome editing to emergent pathogens and the impacts of invasive species on existing microbial communities.

The meeting opened with the ASM Distinguished Lecture, given by Creighton University’s Jason Bartz. Ph.D. His lecture, “Prion and Prion-Like Diseases,” covered advancements in the understanding of protein misfolding neurodegenerative diseases such as mad cow disease, Alzheimer’s, and Parkinson’s.

The weekend featured keynote lectures by Adina Howe, Ph.D., Iowa State University, and Dominique Limoli, Ph.D., University of Iowa, as well as presentations by Grinnell College’s Pu Wang, assistant professor of biology; Anika Jane Beamer ’22; Sara Huang ’25; and Duy Nguyen ’25.