BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//Drupal iCal API//EN X-WR-CALNAME:Events items teaser X-WR-TIMEZONE:America/Toronto BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/Toronto X-LIC-LOCATION:America/Toronto BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZNAME:EDT TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 DTSTART:20250309T070000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZNAME:EDT TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 DTSTART:20240310T070000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZNAME:EDT TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 DTSTART:20230312T070000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZNAME:EDT TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 DTSTART:20180311T070000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZNAME:EST TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 DTSTART:20241103T060000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:STANDARD TZNAME:EST TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 DTSTART:20231105T060000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:STANDARD TZNAME:EST TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 DTSTART:20221106T060000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:STANDARD TZNAME:EST TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 DTSTART:20181104T060000 END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT UID:6826e86805584 DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20250626T130000 SEQUENCE:0 TRANSP:TRANSPARENT DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20250626T160000 URL:/waterloo-centre-microbial-research/events/wcmr-res earch-symposium SUMMARY:WCMR Research Symposium CLASS:PUBLIC DESCRIPTION:Summary \n\nWCMR Research Symposium event Thursday\, June 26\, 2025 at University of\nÀ¶Ý®ÊÓƵ\n DTSTAMP:20250516T072528Z END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:6826e8680961f DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20250313T130000 SEQUENCE:0 TRANSP:TRANSPARENT DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20250313T143000 URL:/waterloo-centre-microbial-research/events/how-shou ld-we-use-ai-antibiotic-discovery SUMMARY:How should we use AI for antibiotic discovery? CLASS:PUBLIC DESCRIPTION:Summary \n\nWCMR invites Jon Stokes\, Assistant Professor of Bi ochemistry and\nBiomedical Sciences at McMaster University\, to talk about the use of\nAI in antibiotic discovery.\n\nJoin us in DC 1302 on Thursday \, March 13 at 1 p.m.\n DTSTAMP:20250516T072528Z END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:6826e8680a236 DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20241022T150000 SEQUENCE:0 TRANSP:TRANSPARENT DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20241022T163000 URL:/waterloo-centre-microbial-research/events/2024-gai rdner-national-lecture-dr-christian-landry SUMMARY:2024 Gairdner National Lecture: Dr. Christian Landry CLASS:PUBLIC DESCRIPTION:Summary \n\nThe 2024 Gairdner National Lecture with Dr. Christi an Landry: Towards\na Complete Understanding of Drug Resistance in Pathoge nic Fungi\n DTSTAMP:20250516T072528Z END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:6826e8680ad59 DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20240628T120000 SEQUENCE:0 TRANSP:TRANSPARENT DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20240628T130000 URL:/waterloo-centre-microbial-research/events/wcmr-spr ingsummer-2024-open-house SUMMARY:WCMR Spring/Summer 2024 Open House CLASS:PUBLIC DESCRIPTION:Summary \n\nEvent page for S2024 WCMR Open House\n DTSTAMP:20250516T072528Z END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:6826e8680b7e2 DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20240423T130000 SEQUENCE:0 TRANSP:TRANSPARENT DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20240423T143000 URL:/waterloo-centre-microbial-research/events/wcmr-mon thly-meetup-2 SUMMARY:WCMR Monthly Meetup CLASS:PUBLIC DESCRIPTION:Summary \n\n> SHIRLEY WONG\, POSTDOCTORAL FELLOW PRESENTS: \n> \n> TOWARDS VALORIZATION OF FOOD WASTE TO BIOPLASTIC IN _PSE UDOMONAS\n> ALLOPUTIDA_ \n> \n> ABSTRACT: \n> \n> Annually\, over  a billion tonnes of food is wasted\, where it largely\n> ends  up in landfills and massively contributes to the emission of\n>  greenhouse gases. To improve global sustainability\, this low-val ue\n> carbon resource can instead be converted into high-value bi o-based\n> products. Microbial valorization of food waste has been  validated\n> for many applications\, from biofuels to bioplastic  polymers like\n> polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs). Much effort has go ne into processing\n> heterogenous food waste towards such applica tions\, such as anaerobic\n> digestion to produce short-chain fatt y acids (scFAs)\, a group of\n> industrially-relevant fatty acids  that can be used as building\n> blocks for other bioproducts.  _Pseudomonas alloputida_ is a highly\n> promising PHA producer but  its ability to metabolize scFAs is\n> limited.\n> \n> To improv e the capacity of PH production on scFAs and\, therefore\,\n> en able its upcycling of food waste into high-value bioplastic\, we\ n> are using functional metagenomics to mine exogenous carbon\n>  utilization pathways from the environment. Environmental microbial\n > communities represent rich\, untapped reservoirs of novel genes  and\n> metabolic pathways. Here\, we present community analyses  of compost\n> and soil microbiomes enriched for utilization of sh ort (C2-C5)\n> versus medium chain fatty acids (C8 and C9) under  conditions\n> conducive to PHA accumulation. We are furthermore  constructing\n> metagenomic libraries from the enriched cultures us ing the\n> broad-host-range cosmid pJC8\, with an average insert  size of 33 kb.\n> The metagenomic libraries will enable us to f unctionally screen for\,\n> identify\, and isolate exogenous metabo lic pathways that could\n> support scFA-PHA conversion by _P. all oputida_. Additionally\, we\n> further characterize the ability of  engineered _P. alloputida_ to\n> use VFAs in bioplastic producti on\, demonstrating its use in food\n> waste valorization.\n DTSTAMP:20250516T072528Z END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:6826e8680c602 DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20240326T130000 SEQUENCE:0 TRANSP:TRANSPARENT DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20240326T143000 URL:/waterloo-centre-microbial-research/events/wcmr-mon thly-meetup-1 SUMMARY:WCMR Monthly Meetup CLASS:PUBLIC DESCRIPTION:Summary \n\n> METATRANSCRIPTOMICS IDENTIFIES PATHOGENS AND  HOST RESPONSES\n> ASSOCIATED WITH ACUTE SINUSITIS IN CHILDREN\n>  \n> ABSTRACT: Acute sinusitis (AS) is a frequent cause of anti biotic\n> prescriptions in children. Distinguishing bacterial AS fr om common\n> viral upper respiratory infections is crucial to pre vent unnecessary\n> antibiotic use. We performed RNA-seq of nasoph aryngeal samples from\n> 221 children with AS to better understan d the etiology of AS and the\n> impact of bacterial and viral  infections on host immune responses.\n> Metatranscriptomics detected  three AS-associated bacterial pathogens\n> with 87%/81% sensitivit y/specificity (sens/spec) compared to\n> culture\, and 12 respirato ry viruses with 86%/92% sens/spec compared\n> to qRT-PCR. Metatran scriptomics also detected 22 additional\n> pathogens not tested fo r in the clinical panel\, and facilitated\n> assembly of 205 vir al genomes including new strains of\n> coronaviruses\, respiratory  syncytial virus\, and enterovirus D68.\n> Lastly\, metatranscripto mic analysis identified distinct host immune\n> responses in indiv iduals with bacterial versus viral infections. Our\n> study demons trates the power of metatranscriptomics for\n> comprehensive analys is of AS etiology\, and reveals host responses\n> that could ena ble new diagnostic approaches.\n DTSTAMP:20250516T072528Z END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:6826e8680d293 DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20231024T130000 SEQUENCE:0 TRANSP:TRANSPARENT DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20231024T150000 URL:/waterloo-centre-microbial-research/events/monthly- microbiology-meetup SUMMARY:Monthly Microbiology Meetup CLASS:PUBLIC DESCRIPTION:Summary \n\nIn the first monthly microbiology meetup\, WCMR pre sents \"Ancient\nClostridium DNA and variants of tetanus neurotoxins assoc iated with\nhuman archaeological remains\" by Harold Hodgins from the Doxe y lab.\n\nTUESDAY OCTOBER 24\, 2023\n\n1-3 P.M. IN HH 2107\n\nOpen to all faculty\, students and postdocs who are interested.\n DTSTAMP:20250516T072528Z END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:6826e8680dd20 DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20190124T114500 SEQUENCE:0 TRANSP:TRANSPARENT DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20190124T114500 URL:/waterloo-centre-microbial-research/events/ancient- microbes-panel SUMMARY:Ancient Microbes Panel CLASS:PUBLIC DESCRIPTION:Summary \n\nTogether with the Office of Research\, the WCMR pre sents a special\npanel discussion on:\n\nUNEARTHING ANCIENT ENVIRONMENTS W ITH MICROBES.\n\nThe panel will feature WCMR speakers Alexis Dolphin (Anth ropology)\,\nKirsten Müller (Biology)\, and Andrew Doxey (Biology) as wel l as Peter\nKeech of the Nuclear Waste Management Organization.\n\nRefresh ments provided.\n\nPlease register at uwaterloo.ca/research/research-talks \n[/research/research-talks]\n DTSTAMP:20250516T072528Z END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR