Upcoming Events
Visiting Speaker - Jess Thompson
Nature Microbiology Senior Editor Jess Thompson is partaking in the ASM Visiting Speaker Program following her attendance at the ASM National Meeting.
Jess Thompson is a microbiologist, with a research background in host-microbe interactions. She investigated how Salmonella virulence factors affect intramacrophage survival and replication of this bacterium during her PhD in Cellular Microbiology with David Holden at Imperial College London. She then moved to the Institute Gulbenkian de Ciencia, Portugal. As a postdoc, she first researched intra- and inter-bacterial signalling during E. coli gut colonisation and upon interaction with the gut microbiome with Karina Xavier. Then she moved to Miguel Soares’s research team to investigate mechanisms of disease tolerance, resistance and metabolic adaptation to bacterial infections including sepsis. In August 2022, Jess joined the team at Nature Microbiology as a locum editor. She is now a permanent member of the team and became a senior editor in January 2025. She handles manuscripts in the areas of bacterial pathogenesis, bacterial physiology, microbes and cancer, plus some clinical and epidemiological research.
We are fortunate enough to host Jess in Melbourne for 2 days across both Monash University and The Peter Doherty Institute.
Monash University - Thu 31st July 2025
What: Seminar with Jess followed by an EMCR lunch
When: Seminar 10:30am – 12:00pm
Where: BDI, 19 Innovation Walk, Clayton, G-G02-Exhibition Space
Peter Doherty Institute - Fri 1st August
What: Seminar with Jess followed by lunch
When: 11am – 12pm
Where: Doherty Auditorium, 792 Elizabeth St, Melbourne
There may be potential to meet with Jess and pitch your work to her. If you are interested please email your details (name, email, & institution) to vicbranch@theasm.org.au and yogitha.srikhanta@monash.edu by 5pm Friday 4th of July.
Further details to follow.
ASM National Meeting
The annual meeting is the premier conference on microbiology, bringing together a diverse group of scientists, clinical researchers and other professionals to discuss the latest advances in microbiology.
The meeting features an outstanding range of plenary lectures and symposium sessions, as well as extensive opportunities for networking with colleagues.
Key Details
Oral Submissions close: NOW CLOSED
Poster Submissions Close: Friday 28 March 2025
Earlybird Registrations Close: Monday 28 April 2025
Microbial Mixer - Winter Wonderland Edition
Sick of listening to endless seminars but still want to shoot the breeze with your fellow microbiologists? Join us for our winter wonderland edition of our Microbial Mixer night where you and your favourite microbiology colleagues can meet for a casual chat and drink!
Wondering whether it's worth being an ASM member in Vic and want to see what the fuss is all about? Come along to find out! Open to all ASM members and fellow microbial aficionados!
Contact Zahra Islam (zahra.islam@unimelb.edu.au), Alex Hall (alex.hall@monash.edu) or Abigail Hartono (ahartono@student.unimelb.edu.au) for more info.
ASM Vic Branch Awards Night 2025
Our ASM Vic Branch Awards night is fast approaching! Please come join us to hear about the exciting research being carried out by our PhD and ECR researchers as they compete for a chance to present their work at the National conference in July.
We will also present our undergraduate academics prizes and the winners of our Clinical and Teaching travel grants.
Microbial Ecology & Environmental Microbiology - MEEM
Register now for MEEM November!
What: A microbial ecology-environmental microbiology conference series that aims to promote communication/collaboration for those interested in microbial ecology, environmental microbiology, evolutionary microbiology, and related disciplines
Who: Open to all interested!
When: Thursday 7th November 2024
Time: 2-5pm
Where: 2.10 Teaching Room, La Trobe City Campus, 360 Collins Street, Melbourne Victoria 3000
One Health Night
Join us for an evening of presentations on Antimicrobial Resistance in One Health.
Presenters:
Chris Greening - Monash University
Anna Sri - University of Melbourne
Laura Boelsen - Murdoch Children's Research Institute
Celeste Donato - University of Melbourne
This will be a hybrid meeting.
When: Wednesday 16 October 2024,
Nibbles and refreshments from 6:00 pm with talks commencing at 6:30 pm
Where: Doherty Auditorium
792 Elizabeth St, Melbourne Victoria 3000
News From The Hospitals
News From The Hospitals is back for 2024, Join us for an evening of informative case studies and delicious food. This year ‘Early Career Scientist’ presenter prize includes $250 cash and 1 year membership with ASM.
Have an interesting case study to share? We are still accepting abstracts, E-mail us!
Seema Kanade (seema_rknz@yahoo.com), Mikayla Kingston (mikayla.kingston@nh.org.au), Sara Sujansky (sara.sujansky@monashhealth.org), or Taylor Corocher (Taylor.corocher@nh.org.au)
Registration to attend is free for ASM members, $20 for student non-members, and $40 for all other non-members
ECR Awards Night
ECRs from Microbiology research laboratories and tertiary institutes within Victoria will deliver presentations and compete for the opportunity to present as part of the ASM National Meeting in Brisbane in 2024.
This award is being offered by the ASM Vic branch for Vic branch ECR members. The winner of the ECR Award will receive full conference registration, in addition to travel and accommodation funds to attend the ASM national meeting. The winner will present as part of a dedicated session for all state ECR representatives at the national meeting, and will be competing for the chance to win a €500 sponsored prize.
Nancy Millis Awards 2024
Post-graduate students from Microbiology research laboratories from tertiary institutes within Victoria will deliver 10-minute presentations and respond to questions for a further 5 minutes about their area of study.
The ASM Nancy Millis Student Award is presented annually to one student member of the ASM from each state: Victoria, NSW, Queensland, WA, SA and Tasmania, to enable them to attend and deliver an oral presentation at the annual scientific meeting of the ASM. It is awarded to the best student presenting research carried out as part of a PhD or Masters by Research and consists of conference registration, and airfare and accommodation allowance.
Inaugural Microbial Mixer
Sick of listening to endless seminars but still want to shoot the breeze with your fellow microbiologists? Join us for our inaugural Microbial Mixer night where you and your favourite microbiology colleagues can meet for a casual chat and drink! Wondering whether it's worth being an ASM member in Vic and want to see what the fuss is all about? Come along to find out!
Open to all ASM members and fellow microbial aficionados!
One Health Night - Friend or Foe? Pseudomonas, a multifaceted genus
This event aims to explore different aspects of research related to Pseudomonas occurring across Victoria. The night will feature 4 speakers whose research areas span Pseudomonas as human and plant pathogens, and as model bacterium for experimental evolution.
Microbial Art Prize
Calling all artistic individuals! It is time for the 2023 Microbial Art Prize.
All forms of art with a microbial theme are accepted: agar plate photos, computer generated images, bacteria-themed cookies - let your imagination run wild!
Multiple prizes are up for grabs! Winning entries will be posted on the branch website, newsletter, and social media accounts.
Entry requirements -
A complete entry consists of 1x high quality image + 100-word description.
Only ASM VIC Branch members are eligible to enter the Microbial Art Prize.
Each branch member may submit up to two images for consideration.
The submitter must be the owner of the image, and it is strongly preferred that the image has not been published elsewhere prior to the competition.
Send all entries (and enquiries) to:
Sarah Baines (bainess@unimelb.edu.au)
All entries must be received by COB Friday 20th Oct 2023
News From The Hospitals
Chair: Dr. Yvonne Hersusianto, Microbiologist, NV
Presenters:
Dr. Danielle Sevior, Technical Solutions Manager, BD
- Title TBA -
Dr. Taylor Corocher, Medical scientist NPV
-Investigation of heparin-mediated PC interference in SARS-CoV-2 testing in nasopharyngeal swabs -
Sara Sujansky, Medical Scientist, Monash Medial Centre
-Title TBA -
Dr. Ben Aw-Yeong, Microbiology registrar Dorevitch Pathology
- A Hearts Recompense -
Dr. George Drewett, Infectious diseases registrar, Northern Hospital
-The elephant in the room -
MicroSeq 2023
Welcome to MicroSeq, an online conference designed to bring together early career researchers in Australia from a broad range of microbiology domains, who are united by their use of DNA and RNA sequencing technologies to investigate microbes. We were delighted by the success of the previous three iterations, so we have decided to do it again.
The first 50 ECR’s and graduate students who are ASM members will receive free registration, kindly provided by ASM.
MicroSeq2023 is supported by the Australian Society for Microbiology and Microbial Genomics.
ASM National Meeting
Join us for the The Australian Society for Microbiology Annual National Meeting
The annual meeting is the premier conference on microbiology, bringing together a diverse group of scientists, clinical researchers and other professionals to discuss the latest advances in microbiology.
The meeting features an outstanding range of plenary lectures and symposium sessions, as well as extensive opportunities for networking with colleagues. We look forward to seeing everyone in Perth in 2023!
RCM Workshop
AIMS and ASM Vic Branches present:
Urine red cell morphology tutorial & discussions
Join us to learn more about urine microscopy including red cell morphology and examination of urine sediment with Dr PeterWard, Dr Kathy Paizis, Dr Jeffery Susilo, and Patricia Szczurek.
Brought to you by Sysmex
ECR Award & Undergraduate Prizes
ASM Vic Branch ECR Award:
ECRs from Microbiology research laboratories and tertiary institutes within Victoria will deliver presentations and compete for the opportunity to present as part of the ASM National Meeting in Perth in 2023.
This is a new award being offered by the ASM Vic branch for Vic branch ECR members. The winner of the ECR Award will receive full conference registration, in addition to travel and accommodation funds to attend the ASM national meeting. The winner will present as part of a dedicated session for all state ECR representatives at the national meeting, and will be competing for the chance to win a €500 prize sponsored by Elsevier.
ASM VIC Branch undergraduate academic prizes:
The ASM VIC Branch undergraduate academic prizes will also be announced at this event.
News From The Hospitals
Hear about interesting findings from our clinical microbiologists working in hospitals and pathology!
ASM Mentoring Program
Call for Mentors and Mentees!
The ASM is running a 6-month program (starting July 2023) involving one-on-one mentoring for ASM members.
The program will involve one-on-one mentoring with the expectation of mentors meeting with their mentees for approximately 1 hour per month/6 months.
Hurry, applications are closing Monday 8th May
Microbial Ecology-Environmental Microbiology (MEEM) 2023
A symposium designed to promote communication/ collaboration for those interested in microbial ecology, environmental microbiology, evolutionary microbiology and related disciplines.
ECR Awards - Call for Abstracts
The ASM Vic branch is offering a new award for Vic branch ECR members. This award will fund full conference registration in addition to travel and accommodation (up to $1200) for the successful applicant to attend the ASM national meeting in Perth. The successful candidate will present the findings of their research as a 12 minute presentation as part of a dedicated session for all state ECR representatives at the national meeting. Furthermore, the successful applicant will be competing for the chance to win a €500 prize sponsored by Elsevier.
Application Process: To apply for the award, ECR members are required to:
1. Submit a 300 word abstract about their current research, and
2. Submit a 100 word statement detailing their interests for attending the ASM national conference.
The shortlisted applicants will be invited to give a 12-minute in person presentation in May from which one applicant will be selected to present at the national meeting as the Vic Branch ECR representative.
Eligibility: Applicants must be a current ASM member. The definition of ECR is an individual that has been engaged in research at postdoctoral level or equivalent for less than or equal to five years post PhD.
Submissions: All submission (and any enquiries) should be sent either to m.liaskos@latrobe.edu.au or steve.petrovski@latrobe.edu.au no later than 5pm on Friday the 28th of April 2023.
Nancy Millis Student Awards 2023
Post-graduate students from Microbiology research laboratories from tertiary institutes within Victoria will deliver 10-minute presentations and respond to questions for a further 5 minutes about their area of study.
Presentations will cover a broad range of topics and are sure to interest and inform you. Cutting edge technologies and new concepts will be discussed.
One Health Microbial Genomics Seminar #2
Join us for our One Health Microbial Genomics Seminar Series! The aim of this monthly series is to showcase presentations and research in microbial genomics from all aspects of One Health (veterinary, agriculture, human and food) in Victoria.
Each session will be online and comprised of 3 or 4 speakers with 12-minute talks and 5 minutes of questions per speaker.
One Health Microbial Genomics Seminar #1
Join us for our One Health Microbial Genomics Seminar Series! The aim of this monthly series is to showcase presentations and research in microbial genomics from all aspects of One Health (veterinary, agriculture, human and food) in Victoria.
Each session will be online and comprised of 3 or 4 speakers with 12-minute talks and 5 minutes of questions per speaker.
Microbial Art Prize Competition
Get back in touch with your creative side and submit an entry for 2022 Microbial Art Prize!
This year’s theme is EMERGING. All types of entries are welcome as well as any interpretation of the theme!
Deadline extended
ASM Nancy Millis Students Awards Night
Come join our Nancy Millis Student Awards night! A great place for Honours, Masters, and PhD students to present their work to the Victorian branch and get an opportunity to present at the ASM Annual Meeting in Sydney this year.
2021 Christmas Party
Our end of year celebrations were held at the Great Northern Hotel in Carlton. We would like to thank all of our members for the last two years in lockdown, and wish everyone the best for 2022!
Public Health Night
Please join us in an exciting night of online presentations by The Doherty Institute as the scientists talk all things COVID-19.