Forum on Microbial Threats
Board on Global Health
Institute of Medicine
The National Academies

Ending the War Metaphor:  The Future Agenda for Unraveling the Host-Microbe Relationship

March 16 - 17, 2005 
KECK 100
National Academy of Sciences
500 Fifth Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20001

AGENDA

Wednesday,  March 16, 2005

8:30 - 9:00
Continental Breakfast

9:00     
Welcome and Opening Remarks
Stanley Lemon, The University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston
Chair, Forum on Microbial Threats

9:15     
Arms Races with Evolving Diseases: "We've Met the Enemy and He is Us"
Stanley Falkow, Stanford University (part 1, part 2, part 3)

10:15   
Discussion

10:30   
Break

Session I:  Host-Pathogen Interactions:  Defining the Concepts of Pathogenicity, Virulence, Colonization, Commensalism, and Symbiosis

Moderator:  
P. Frederick Sparling, Vice-Chair, Forum on Microbial Threats, University of North Carolina        

10:45   
Colonization
Jeffrey I. Gordon, Washington University School of Medicine (part 1, part 2)                 
Karen Guillemin, University of Washington

11:45   
Discussion

12:15   
Lunch

1:00 - 2:30      
Commensalism and Symbiosis - Host, Microbial and Environmental Factors
David Stahl, University of Washington
Jo Handelsman, Department of Plant Pathology, UW-Madison

2:30 - 2:45       
Discussion

2:45 - 3:00 
BREAK

3:00 - 4:15     
Pathogenicity and Virulence
Martin Blaser, New York University School of Medicine
Brian Staskawicz (UC Berkeley) Common/Contrasting themes of plant and animal
diseases (part 1, part 2)

4:15 - 5:45
Open Discussion of Day 1
Moderator: David Relman, Stanford University
Balfor Sartor, University of North Carolina (part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4)
Maria G. Dominguez-Bello, University of Puerto Rico- Rio Piedras

5:45    
Adjournment of the first day

6:00    
RECEPTION

Thursday,  march 17, 2005

8:00 - 8:30
Continental Breakfast

8:30
Opening Remarks / Summary of Day 1
P. Frederick Sparling, UNC, Vice-Chair, Forum on Microbial Threats                     

Session II: Ecology of Host-Microbe Interactions

8:40 - 10:00
Moderator: Stephen S. Morse, Columbia University

8:40 - 9:25
Endogenous Microbial Communities
Mark E.J. Woolhouse, Centre for Tropical Veterinary Medicine, University of Edinburgh
Abigail Salyers, University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana

9:25 - 10: 15
How the Host "Sees" and Responds to Pathogens
Marian Neutra, Harvard Medical School and Children’s Hospital (part 1, part 2)
David Relman, Stanford University (part 1, part 2)

10:15 - 10:30
Discussion

10:30 - 10:45
BREAK
Session III: Understanding the Dynamic Relationships of Host-Microbe Interactions - Discussion Panel

Moderator: David Relman, Stanford University

10:45 - 12:15
Lonnie King, Michigan State University
Stanley Falkow, Stanford University
Jeffrey I. Gordon, Washington University School of Medicine

12:15 - 12:45   
LUNCH

Session IV: Novel Approaches for Mitigating the Development of Resistance
Moderator:   James Hughes, Emory University

12:45 - 1:30
Using Pre- and Probiotics to Modify Host-Environmental Factors to Promote  Health and Mitigate Disease
Michiel Kleerebezem, NIZO, Holland  (part 1, part 2)
Suzanne Cunningham-Rundles, Cornell University                   

1:30 - 2:00       
Governmental Approaches to Regulating Pre- and Pro-biotics
Julienne Vaillancourt, CBER, FDA
Lorenzo Morelli, Istituto di Microbiologie UCSC, Italy

2:00 - 2:15:
Discussion

Session V: Challenges and Opportunities to Developing a New Paradigm to Replace the "War Metaphor"
Moderator: Fredrick Sparling, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

2:15 - 4:00       
With the backdrop of the previous days' presentations and discussion, Forum members, panel discussants, and the audience will comment on the issues and next steps that they would identify as priority areas for consideration within industry, academia, public health organizations, and other government sectors. The discussion of priorities will summarize the issues surrounding emerging opportunities for more effective collaboration as well as the remaining research and programmatic needs. The confounding issues of the major obstacles to preparing an optimal response, particularly as it relates to the complexities of interaction between private industry, research and public health agencies, regulatory agencies, policymakers, academic researchers, and the public will be explored with an eye toward innovative responses to such challenges.

Panel Discussants:
David Stahl, University of Washington

4:00      Adjourn