70th Annual Conference of the Canadian Society of Microbiologists

Program Information

CSM2020 Conference - COVID-19

Posted: March 16, 2020

The CSM Executive and the CSM2020 Local Organizing Committee have been closely monitoring the COVID-19 pandemic since the end of January. We thank each of you for your support and patience as we navigate these unexplored waters. After careful consideration, we decided to cancel the conference in Guelph. All registrations received to date will be refunded in full. In addition, if you have an accommodation reservation, please cancel it. The Committee is studying the possibility of organizing the annual conference in 2021 in Guelph. More information will follow. Our decision to cancel the 2020 conference is in line with current public health recommendations for social isolation and aims to demonstrate our commitment to lead by example for our members and the community at large. We sincerely thank the members of the Local Organizing Committee for all their hard work to date. They laid the groundwork for a fantastic conference - and we will all benefit from it at our conference in 2021.

Jump to: Workshops | ASM Student Network Event

Day 1	Monday, June 22, 2020	Location	Session
8:15 AM	On-Site Registration	ROZH Lobby
9:00 AM	Professional Development Workshop	ROZH 103	Chair: Denice Bay Sharing your data with the world: tips on writing scientific manuscripts Invited Speaker: George diCenzo, Queens University, Kingston Research strategies beyond the bench: using technology for reproducibility, collaboration, and social networking Invited Speaker: Aleeza Gerstein, University of Manitoba, MB Coffee Break – 11:00 AM – ROZH Lobby
9:30 AM	CSM Executive Meeting	University Club	University Center
11:30 AM	CSM Council Meeting	University Club	University Center
12:30 PM 12:45 - 2:15 PM 2:15 – 2:30 PM 2:30 – 3:30 PM 3:30 – 4:15 PM	FOME Workshop Welcome to CSM FOME (Lunch will be served at 12:00 PM) Keynote Refreshment Break MicroFOME talks (10+2 min) Submit your proposals today! Water cooler chat sessions	ROZH 103	Chairs: Joesph Rubin & Maria Davis Dr. Kelly will present her how-to guide focusing on the development, implementation and refinement of two-stage exams. She will also briefly touch on highlights from her experience with other innovative teaching strategies including: just-in-time teaching, collaborative learning and how she fosters team-based approaches to learning in the classroom. Keynote Speaker: Dr. Tamara Kelly, York University, ON
4:30 PM	NSERC Information Session	ROZH 103	This presentation includes the review process of the Discovery Grants Program, the 2020 Discovery Grants (DG) and Research tools & Instruments (RTI) Competition Outcomes, NSERC program updates , and important information for the 2021 DG and RTI Competitions. Presenter: Melanie Pabstel, Program Officer \| Administratrice de programme, NSERC Research Grants \| Subventions de recherche du CRSNG
6:30 PM	Opening Remarks	ROZH 104	Cezar Khursigara and Kari Dunfield
6:40 PM	Keynote Lecture	ROZH 104	Small Molecules, Big Impact: Roles for Redox Active "Secondary" Metabolites in Microbial Survival and Development Keynote Speaker: Dianne Newman, California Institute of Technology, CA, USA
7:40 PM	Opening Reception	Science Complex Atrium
Day 2	Tuesday, June 23, 2020	Location	Session
8:00 AM	On-Site Registration	ROZH Lobby
8:30 AM	II-1: 'Novel Approaches to New Drug Discovery in the Antibiotic Resistance Era'	ROZH	Chair: Georgina Cox \| Vice-Chair: Lori Burrows Invited Speaker: Man-Wah Tan, Genentech, CA, USA
	MGCM-1: Multi-Omics profiling gains new biological insights	ROZH	Chair: Jennifer Geddes-McAlister \| Vice-Chair: Marie-Laurence Lemay Invited Speaker: Nicole Hansmeier, University of Regina, SK
	AEM-1: One Health - Animal and Environmental	ROZH	Chair: Marc Habash \| Vice-Chair: TBD One Health, Bats and Viruses: Adventures in Research and Teaching Invited Speaker: Vikram Misra, University of Saskatchewan, SK
10:00 AM	Coffee & Tea Break	ROZH Lobby	Refreshments will be served
10:30 AM	II-2: Fungal Biology & Pathogenesis	ROZH	Chair: Rebbeca Shapiro \| Vice-Chair: Aleeza Gerstein Invited Speaker: Deborah Hogan, Dartmouth College, NH, USA
	MGCM-2: Microbial Transporters	ROZH	Chair: Trevor Moraes \| Vice-Chair: Invited Speaker: Natalie Strynadka, University of British Columbia, BC
	AEM-2: All About Phages	ROZH	Chair: Hany Anany \| Vice-Chair: Andrew Kropinski Bacteriophages as bio-engineers of the bacterial metabolism Invited Speaker: Rob Lavigne, KU Leuven, Belgium
12:00 PM 1:50 PM	Lunch	Creelman
	Exhibits & Poster session 1	Field House
	Workshop	ROZH	1:00 – 1:30 PM
	Workshop	ROZH	1:30 – 2:00 PM
2:00 PM	Student Symposium Competition #1	ROZH 104	Chair: Denice Bay
3:30 PM	Exhibit & Posters and Refreshments	Field House	Refreshments will be served
5:30 PM	Thermo Fisher Award Lecture	ROZH 104	TBA Sponsored by Thermo *Fisher Scientific*
	Free time

Day 3	Wednesday, June 24, 2020	Location	Session
8:00 AM	On-Site Registration	ROZH Lobby
8:30 AM	II-3: Virulence & Host-pathogen Interactions	ROZH	Chair: Alex Ensminger \| Vice-Chair: Georgina Cox Invited Speaker: Tamara O'Connor, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Marlyland, USA
	MGCM-3: Microbiome from Farm to Fork	ROZH	Chair: Nicole Ricker \| Vice-Chair: Allen-Vercoe Shaping the early life microbiome for long-term metabolic health and disease resilience Invited Speaker: Ben Willing, University of Alberta, AB
	AEM-3: Food Safety: New Challenges	ROZH	Chair: Moussa Diarra \| Vice-Chair: Invited Speaker: Ting Zhou, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Guelph, ON
10:00 AM	Coffee & Tea Break	ROZH Lobby	Refreshments will be served
10:30 AM	II-4: Mechanisms of parasite pathogenesis	ROZH	Chair: Albert Descoteaux \| Vice-Chair: Maritza Jaramillo NLRP3 is a pathogen sensor for invasive Entamoeba histolytica Invited Speaker: Kris Chadee, University of Calgary, AB
	MGCM-4: Microbial Signalling and Stress Responses	ROZH	Chair: Cezar Khursigara \| Vice-Chair: Invited Speaker: Tracy Raivio, University of Alberta, AB
	AEM–4: Ecology of Soils and Plants	ROZH	Chair: Kari Dunfield \| Vice-Chair: Christopher Yost Invited Speaker: Isabelle Laforest-Lapointe, University of Sherbrooke, QC
12:00 PM 1:50 PM	Lunch	Creelman
	Exhibits & Poster session 2	Field House
	Workshops	ROZH	1:00-1:30:
	Workshops	ROZH	1:30-2:00:
2:00 PM	Student Symposium Competition #2	ROZH 104	Chair: Denice Bay
3:30 PM	Posters and Refreshments	Field House	Refreshments will be served
5:30 PM	Armand Frappier Award lecture	ROZH 104	Speaker: TBA
7:00 PM	Student Mixer & ASM Student Network Event	Brass Taps	Student Mixer ticket has to be purchased to participate in either event.
Day 4	Thursday, June 25, 2020	Location	Session
8:15 AM	On-Site Registration	ROZH Lobby
9:00 AM	AEM Section Symposium	ROZH	Chair: Steven Short \| Vice-Chair: Laura Hug
	II Section Symposium	ROZH	Chair: Sebastien Faucher \| Vice-Chair: Georgina Cox
	MGCM Section Symposium	ROZH	Chair: Tracy Raivio \| Vice-Chair: Alex Hynes
10:30	Coffee break	ROZH Lobby
11:00 – 12:30	CSM Annual General Meeting	ROZH	Everyone is welcome!
12:30 PM	Lunch	Creelman
1:30 PM	Postdoctoral Research Symposium	ROZH 104	Chair: \| Vice-Chair: *Sponsored by Knowles Alumni Fund*
3:00 PM	CSM Murray Award for Career Achievement	ROZH 104	Speaker: TBA Sponsored by: Canadian Science Publishing & Canadian Journal of Microbiology
4:00 PM	Invitation for 2021 Conference	ROZH 104	Nikhil Thomas, Dalhousie University, NS
4:30 PM – 6:00 PM	Free Time
6:30 – Midnight	CSM President Banquet	Field House	Awards Presentations and Hat Ceremony Bring your dancing shoes!

Workshops:

Professional Development Workshop
Chair: Denice Bay, University of Manitoba

Monday June 22 - 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM (Registration Required)

Scientific communication for microbiologists in a digital age

The ability to communicate effectively is a crucial element in navigating a successful career in microbiology. This year's professional development workshop focuses on developing many aspects of scientific writing, from the skills required for traditional writing of journal articles through to modern digital communication techniques. This year’s workshop will include presentations and discussions from Drs. George diCenzo (Queens University; “Sharing your data with the world: tips on writing scientific manuscripts”) and Aleeza Gerstein (University of Manitoba; “Research strategies beyond the bench: using technology for reproducibility, collaboration, and social networking”). They will discuss both practical and philosophical approaches to these important scientific communication methods, and share tips, strategies, and best practices on how to effectively communicate science using these varied forms of media.

Please join us!

FOME Workshop

Co- Chairs: Maria Davis, University of Regina & Joe Rubin, University of Saskatchewan

Monday, June 22 - 1:00 PM - 4:00 PM (Registration Required)

Interested in improving microbiology education? Wondering how can we best spend our efforts in teaching microbiology so students have the best learning experience? The Canadian Society of Microbiologists has a long history supporting both undergraduate and graduate students; we’re pleased to continue this tradition with the FOME workshop.

Keynote:
This year we are excited to have Dr. Tamara Kelly as our keynote facilitator!

In this session Dr. Kelly will present her how-to guide focusing on the development, implementation and refinement of two-stage exams. She will also briefly touch on highlights from her experience with other innovative teaching strategies including: just-in-time teaching, collaborative learning and how she fosters team-based approaches to learning in the classroom.

MicroFOME:
A CSM favorite where delightful vignettes of teaching excellence will be shared, and you will no doubt walk away inspired! Whether you’re a TA, sessional or tenured full professor, if you’re an instructor with an innovation to share, we want to hear from you. Faculty members, sessional instructors, post-docs, and graduate students are all welcome at this workshop. Join us for the discussion!

MicroFOME – Call for abstracts
Submit a proposal for a 10 (+2) minute talk, educational demonstration, or discussion TODAY! In a MicroFOME session, you can share a teaching strategy you’ve used in a microbiology (or biology) class, laboratory, or field activity that you feel greatly enhanced your teaching or didn’t quite work the way you wanted (and you want to tell your cautionary tale). Alternatively, you could share resources that helped to enhance your teaching, curriculum development, or assessments. Proposals discussing novel educational research are also encouraged. You could also facilitate a discussion on an issue relating to (or affecting) undergraduate microbiology education.

Review Process
The CSM FOME committee will review submitted proposals after the submission deadline. Proposals will be reviewed for relevance (to undergraduate microbiology education), clarity and potential applicability in different institutions/settings.

Proposal Format:
Proposals should be submitted to csmfome@gmail.com and include:

Title (maximum 25 words) – Provide a title that describes your topic.
Presenter(s) information - Names, positions, institutional affiliations, and contact information for the presenter(s). The person who submits the proposal will be the key contact.
Abstract (maximum 250 words) – Provide a brief description of what will be discussed in your session. This abstract will appear in the conference program.
Elements of engagement/relevance – How will you engage the audience during this session (discussion, tech-demonstration, activities)? Can you use activities or methods in your session that can be extended to the classroom? (As in evidence-based educational practice, we’re encouraging participants to go beyond a traditional presentation structured as a single presenter speaking to an audience “sage-on-stage” approach, though we recognize that there are limited elements that can be used in the short session format.)
Audiovisual requirements. There will be a screen and projector for computer display. If additional AV equipment or materials are needed, please list them.
Other requirements. If there are any other materials needed, please indicate what they are.

Submissions are accepted by email (csmfome@gmail.com) until May 22, 2020.

NOTE: Please DO NOT use the CSM abstract submission site to submit proposals for this workshop or education poster presentations.

Water cooler chat sessions:
This year we are excited to offer “Water cooler chat sessions”. This will be themed around non-traditional assessments and facilitated as small group activities. In these sessions, participants will have the opportunity to engage in group work and discussions around innovative teaching and assessment strategies. By coming together to share teaching experiences and network with other educators, our goal is for you to come away with new implementable strategies to improve the student experience and outcomes in your classrooms.

If you have ideas or would like to help facilitate a discussion, contact us today!

Join us for the CSM FOME 2020!

ASM Student Network Event
Wednesday, June 24, 2020
Organized by: Thomas Finn, University of Calgary & ASM Young Ambassador

The ASM Student Network event will be held within the CSM Student Mixer. The ASM Student Network Event is a speed dating style, informal networking event which aims to bring students and post docs closer to established-career scientists. This is a great opportunity to get some valuable face time with leaders in various microbiology-related fields from Canada and the US over some drinks and food. This event is sponsored in part by the American Society for Microbiology. Tickets to the CSM Student Mixer have to be purchased to be able to access and participate in the ASM Student Networking Event.