The Beneficial Microbes Conference offers a unique opportunity for researchers who study diverse beneficial host-microbe associations to come together with experts in multiple disciplines, to identify solutions to problems, and to learn about the latest results in this exciting fast-moving field.
The conference’s inception occurred in Seattle in 2001 as the Beneficial Microbial Workshop sponsored by the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research. One of the main objectives of this first meeting was to unite biomedical researchers who were studying human-associated microbes with those researchers using other model systems to study beneficial bacteria, including the evolution and diversity of such associations. This forum brought together individuals who typically do not interact scientifically, such as bacteriologists, immunologists, ecologists, and invertebrate biologists. The value of assembling scientists who study diverse model systems and the subsequent explosion of microbiome research led to the biennial Beneficial Microbes Conference that met six times while under sponsorship from the American Society for Microbiology.
Since 2018, the meeting has been run independently in Madison, Wisconsin. The 7th Conference on Beneficial Microbes brought together over 300 researchers from diverse fields to share exciting results in this field. This 9th Conference continues the meeting’s traditions, infuses new energy into the community, and provides a forum for researchers from diverse backgrounds to gather and learn from each other.