Conference: 2025 Lactic Acid Bacteria Biology, Symbioses and Applications GRC

The Gordon Research Conference on Lactic Acid Bacteria Biology, Symbioses, and Applications will bring together researchers to explore the beneficial roles of lactic acid bacteria in health, food systems, and the environment. This meeting will unite scientists from fields as diverse as microbiology, nutrition, medicine, and synthetic biology. Lactic acid bacteria are essential for making many fermented foods and are associated with health benefits, but much remains unknown about how they function. The conference will create a unique environment where scientists at all career stages, from students to senior leaders, can share new, unpublished findings and foster collaborations. A companion Gordon Research Seminar, organized by early-career researchers, will emphasize peer networking and professional development. By encouraging the exchange of ideas across disciplines and generations, the meeting will spark new discoveries with the potential to improve human health, advance food innovation and the bioeconomy, and strengthen scientific training. The Gordon Research Conference will focus on advancing mechanistic understanding of lactic acid bacteria across varied environments from fermented foods to the animal gut, with an emphasis on cross-disciplinary challenges in microbial genetics, host adaptation, metabolism, and therapeutic development. Specific research areas include the molecular basis of lactic acid bacteria-host interactions, metabolic cross-feeding within microbial communities, bacterial adaptation to different environments, and the development of lactic acid bacteria-based therapeutic delivery systems. The program will feature nine thematic sessions ranging from phage-bacteria dynamics to symbioses in the human gut and vagina. Experimental approaches discussed will include functional genomics, synthetic biology, live microbial imaging, and systems biology analyses. The conference aims to catalyze new collaborations and technical innovations that will push the frontiers of microbiome science, fermentation biology, and microbial therapeutics. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.