Finally, Sarah Fortune (Harvard School of Public Health) will deliver a lecture titled “On the Clock: Diversity through Growth and Division in Mycobacteria,” describing her lab’s attempts to probe adaptation of extant strains of M. tuberculosis using next-generation sequencing approaches to identify and understand polymorphisms that are geographically or pathogenically unique.

The three symposia also will include presentations chosen from submitted abstracts and will be complemented by related poster sessions. These symposia will present a unique opportunity for investigators interested in the biochemistry and detailed molecular mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis of this important disease to be exposed to an exciting selection of some of the most important recent developments in this area. 

Squire J. Booker (sjb14@psu.edu) is an associate professor of chemistry and associate professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at The Pennsylvania State University.  Clifton E. Barry III (clifton_barry@nih.gov) is a senior investigator and chief of the tuberculosis research section at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.