Thursday, May 19

3:00 - 5:00 PM
Symposium registration

Opening Session (5:15 - 9:30 PM)
Chair: Dr. Ashok Chopra
Department of Microbiology & Immunology
University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX

5:15 - 5:30 PM
Dr. James LeDuc
Director, Galveston National Laboratory
University of Texas Medical Branch, Gaveston, TX

5:35 - 5:50 PM
Dr. Scott Weaver
Director, Institute for Human Infections and Immunity
University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX

5:55 - 6:10 PM
Dr. Alan Barrett
Director, Sealy Center for Vaccine Development
University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX

6:15 - 7:15 PM
Dr. Ashok Chopra
Professor, Department of Microbiology & Immunology
University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX
Evidence of Water to Human Transmission of Aeromonas hydrophila: Network of Virulence Factors Involved in Pathogenesis

7:40 - 10:30 PM
Mixer on board the Colonel Paddlewheel Boat
Boarding begins at 7:30 PM. Boat leaves the dock at 8:30 PM

Friday, May 20

Session 1: Genomics (9:00 - 11:00 AM)
Chair: Dr. Joerg Graf
Department of Molecular and Cell Biology
University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT

9:00 - 10:00 AM (45 minute talk with 15 minutes for questions)
Dr. Jonathon Shaw
University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK
Molecular characterization of the flagellar systems of Aeromonas species

10:00 - 11:00 AM (45 minute talk with 15 minutes for questions)
Dr. Ka Yin Leung
Department of Biology, Faculty of Natural and Applied Sciences, Trinity Western University, Langley, British Columbia, Canada
Virulence potential of aeromonads. Studies of chaperones and their substrates of the type III secretion system (T3SS) in Aeromonas hydrophila AH-1

11:00 AM - 11:30 AM
Coffee Break and Poster Session

11:30 AM - 12:30 PM
Dr. Cristi Galindo
Eagle Eye Microarray Analysis, Nashville, TN
Balancing Infection: Aeromonas hydrophila Virulence Factors, Host Responses, and Modality

12:30 - 1:30 PM
Lunch and Poster Session

Session 2: Systematics, Phylogeny and Diversity (1:30 - 6:00 PM)
Chair: Dr. Amy Horneman
Veterans Administration Medical Health Care Center, Baltimore, MD

1:30 - 2:30 PM (45 minute talk with 15 minutes for questions)
Dr. Sam Joseph / Dr. Christopher Grim
University of Maryland, College Park, MD / FDA, Laurel, MD
A Taxonomic Re-Evaluation of the Arabinose - Negative Aeromonas hydrophila Group

2:30 - 3:30 PM (45 minute talk with 15 minutes for questions)
Dr. Amy Horneman
Veterans Administration Medical Health Care Center, Baltimore, MD
Identification of Aeromonas Isolates from Clinical and Environmental Sources Using Multilocus Sequence Typing Based on gyrB, rpoD, dnaJ and chitll

3:30 - 4:00 PM
Coffee Break

4:00 - 5:00 PM (45 minute talk with 15 minutes for questions)
Dr. Brigitte Lamy
Hopital Arnaud de Villeneuve, CHU Montpellier, France
Development and evaluation of the use of a multilocus sequence scheme for the whole genus Aeromonas

5:00 - 6:00 PM (45 minute talk with 15 minutes for questions)
Dr. Maria-Jose Figueras
Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Reus, Spain
Why have so many new Aeromonas species been described in the recent years?

Session 3: Pathogenesis and Epidemiology (6:00 - 7:30 PM)
Chair: Dr. Maria-Jose Figueras
Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Reus, Spain

6:00 - 6:30 PM (25 minute talk with 5 minutes for questions)
Dr. Jason A. Rosenzweig
Texas Southern University, Houston, TX
Aeromonas hydrophila, a possible model organism for low shear modeled microgravity (LSMMG) studies: Unexpected modulation of other enteric pathogens and Yersinia pestis virulence following exposure to LSMMG

6:30 - 7:00 PM (25 minute talk with 5 minutes for questions)
Dr. Christopher Grim
Federal Drug Administration, Laurel, MD
Characterization of Lactose-Positive Aeromonas caviae Isolates using a Polyphasic Approach

7:00 - 7:30 PM (25 minute talk with 5 minutes for questions)
Dr. Roxana Beaz Hidalgo
Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Reus, Spain
Genetic identification enables to discover a high diversity of Aeromonas species involved in fish pathology and the new species A.piscicola

8:00 - 10:00 PM
Poster Session and Dinner, featuring a historical talk by Dr. Clifford W. Houston

Saturday, May 21

Session 4: Model Systems to Study Pathogenesis (9:00 - 10:30 AM)
Chair: Dr. Jonathon G. Shaw
University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK

9:00 - 10:00 AM (45 minute talk with 15 minutes for questions)
Dr. Joerg Graf
Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT
Identification of virulence factors of aeromonads by using the leech model

10:00 - 11:00 AM (45 minute talk with 15 minutes for questions)
Dr. Dennis Lye
Environmental Protection Agency, Cincinnati, OH
Gastrointestinal Colonization Rates of Environmental Drinking Water Isolates and Human Clinical Isolates of Aeromonas Using a Mouse Model

Closing Session (11:00 - 11:30 AM)
Chair: Dr. Sam W. Joseph
University of Maryland, College Park, MD