Beneficial Microbes and International Symbiosis
Society Joint Conference

Madison, Wisconsin | July 19 – 23, 2026

The 2026 Conference on Beneficial Microbes will be co-organized with the International Symbiosis Society. The conference will provide a forum for the exchange of the latest conceptual and technological developments in the fast-moving field of beneficial host-microbe interactions. By bringing together US and international researchers across multiple disciplines (microbiology, immunology, developmental biology, neurobiology, physiology, nutrition, genomics, ecology, systems biology, evolutionary biology and clinical science), the conference will continue its 20-year tradition to examine the central role of microbes across biology. We encourage established and new investigators and trainees to attend the meeting and submit abstracts for oral and poster presentations. Most talks will be selected from abstract submissions! We look forward to seeing you in Madison, Wisconsin.

2026 Keynote Speakers

Colleen M. Cavanaugh
Harvard University

Jonathan A. Eisen
University of California, Davis

Topics and Session Chairs

Topics

One Health and Beneficial Microbes

Microbe-Host Interaction at the Molecular Scale I

Microbe-Host Interactions at the Molecular Scale II

Microbe-host interactions at the Ecological scale

Microbe-Host Interactions at the Ecological Scale II

Microbe-host interactions at the evolutionary scale

New Approaches to Study Microbe-Host Crosstalk

Session Chair

Jack Gilbert, University of California-San Diego

John Rawls, Duke University

Amelia Lindsey, University of Minnesota

Julia Oh, Duke University

Laura Katz, Smith College

Maggie Sogin, University of California Merced

Laura Knoll, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Conference Co-Chairs

Federico Rey
University of Wisconsin-Madison

Rosie Alegado
University of Hawaiʻi, Mānoa

Planning Committee 2026

Elizabeth Johnson, Cornell University
Kevin Kohl, University of Pittsburg
Kathy Paige Lemon, Baylor College of Medicine
Irene Newton, Indiana University (ISS)

David Clarke, University College Cork
Kat Milligan-McClellan, University of Connecticut
Buck Samuel, Baylor College of Medicine
Elizabeth Heath-Heckman, Michigan State University (ISS)

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