American Society for Microbiology to host 107th General Meeting in Toronto

May 21-25, 2007

For the first time in its 107-year history, the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) will hold its annual meeting outside the United States. Featuring over 3,000 individual scientific presentations, and with an expected attendance of 12,000, the 107th ASM General Meeting will be held May 21-25, 2007, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Microbiologists study living organisms and infectious agents, and their work is critical to health, agriculture, the environment and biotechnology. Many accomplishments in the microbiological sciences have significantly affected our lives, such as the development of treatments for infectious diseases, the prevention of food spoilage, the use of microorganisms to clean up pollutants and basic knowledge of the nature of all living things.

Among the topics to be presented are:

• How global warming is changing patterns of human disease worldwide
• Extreme drug-resistant tuberculosis: a greater threat than HIV?
• Diseases from produce and a possible source of the E. coli spinach outbreak
• The interface of science and art: microbial degradation of cultural heritage materials

The keynote lecture will feature Edward O. Wilson of Harvard University. Considered by many to be the father of the modern environmental movement, Wilson will draw on the ideas of his best-selling book, The Future of Life, to make a passionate and eloquent plea for a new approach to the management and protection of our eco-system. Marshalling arguments from science, economics, and ethics, he demonstrates that proper stewardship of the earth's bio-diversity is not an option -- it is a necessity, and a choice we must make if life is going to continue to thrive on the only home we have.

More detailed information, including programs and abstract, will be available in early May. Preliminary programs and press registration materials are currently available and can be obtained by calling the ASM Office of Communications or online at http://www.asm.org/Media/index.asp?bid=40352. Additional press materials can be found at this site as they become available. PLEASE NOTE: The housing deadline is April 27, 2007. While media will be allowed to register for the meeting after that date, they will be responsible for arranging hotel accommodations on their own.

Comprehensive media facilities will be available and meeting registration is complimentary for the media.

The ASM General Meeting Press Center will be located in the Metro Toronto Convention Center and will be open starting at 12:00 noon on Monday, May 21. Programs, abstracts, news releases and information about daily press conferences will be available. An opening media briefing has been tentatively scheduled for 12:00 noon on Tuesday, May 22.

The ASM, headquartered in Washington, D.C., is the oldest and largest single biological membership organization with approximately 44,000 members worldwide. Members work in different organizations, including education (research institutions, undergraduate and graduate institutions, and medical dental and veterinary schools), industry (pharmaceutical, food and agriculture, biotechnology, environmental, and pollution control companies and hospitals), and federal and state governments (research laboratories and public health).