Agenda

Tuesday, January 13, 2026

Pre-meeting workshop Using R to Analyze and Display Microbiome Data

Presenter: Blake Hanson, University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston

9:30-9:45         Introduction and Setup
Topics:

  • Brief overview of microbiome data structures
  • Loading data into R
  • Data pre-processing
  • Review of key packages

9:45-10:15      Describing the Microbiome – Alpha Diversity
Topics:

  • Summarizing composition by taxonomy level
  • Alpha diversity metrics
  • Visualizing community composition

10:15-10:55    Comparing Samples – Beta Diversity and Ordination
Topics:

  • Distance Metrics
  • Ordination Methods
  • Adding metadata and estimating confidence

10:55-11:05     Break

11:05-11:40    Co-Occurrence and Network Visualizations
Topics:

  • Detecting and visualizing microbiome associations
  • Correlation methods
  • Graph-based visualization

11:40-12:10    Linking microbiome to metadata
Topics:

  • Constrained ordination
  • Correlation heatmaps

12:10-12:30    Wrap-up and discussion

Day 1 – Wednesday, January 14, 2026

Drug Discovery and Mechanisms of Resistance

7:45-9:00         Registration

8:00-8:50         Career Mentoring Breakfast. Career Panel for International Scholars: from K99 to Professor
Natasha Kirienko, PhD
Rice University, Houston, TX
Cesar A. Arias, MD, PhD
Houston Methodist Research Institute and Weill Cornell Medical College, Houston, TX
Alex Kang, PhD
Houston Methodist Research Institute
Chetna Dureja, PhD
Texas A&M Health Science Center, Houston

 9:00-9:05         Welcome
Autumn Marsden, PhD
Gulf Coast Consortia
Natasha Kirienko, PhD
Rice University, Houston, TX
Cesar A. Arias, MD, PhD
Houston Methodist Research Institute and Weill Cornell Medical College, Houston, TX

Session 1       Microbiome and Microbe-Microbe Interactions in AMR

Conveners:    Anna Konovalova, PhD, University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston

9:05-9:25        Cutaneous Niches and Antimicrobial Resistance in Candida auris and the ESKAPE Pathogens
Diana Proctor, PhD
University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston

9:25-9:45        Exploiting Strain Richness Limits for Targeted Alteration of the gut Microbiome
Jeremiah Faith, PhD
Mount Sinai / Icahn Genomics Institute, New York, NY

9:45-10:05     Protein Folding Elements Enable Genetic Innovation in Antibiotic Resistance Genes
Despoina Mavridou, PhD
University of Texas

10:05-10:35    Vendor Show and Networking-Pre-function and Event Hall

Session 2       T32 Trainee Symposium: Texas Medical Center Training Program on Antimicrobial Resistance (TP-AMR), MBID, TIPS

 Convenor:    Ryan Valdez, PhD, University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston

10:35-10:50    Investigating the Impact of a Diabetic Urinary Environment on Group B Streptococcus Virulence and Host Response
Scott Bray, Baylor College of Medicine
AMR Trainee

10:50-11:05    Pan-resistance to Clostridioides difficile against C. Difficile-directed Antibiotics
Thanh Le, PharmD, University of Houston
AMR Trainee

11:05-11:20    Membrane Remodeling as a Resistance Mechanism to Bam Complex Inhibitor
Teresa Sullivan, University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston
MBID Trainee

Session 3       Barbara E. Murray Keynote Lecture

11:20-11:25 Introduction of the Keynote speaker
Jennifer Walker, PhD, University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston

11:25-12:00  Molecular Blueprint of UTI Pathogenesis and Application to Antibiotic-Sparing Therapeutics
Scott Hultgren, PhD
Washington University

Convener:       Ann McKelvey, MsC, Texas A&M Institute of Biosciences and Technology

12:00-12:30    Rapid Fire talks
Independent Prediction of Ampicillin MIC Using pbp5 Allele Classification in Enterococcus faecium: A Prospective Validation Cohort from VENOUS
Cheyenne Bright, Weill Cornell Medicine-Houston Methodist, Poster 1

Comparative Binding and Interaction Kinetics of LiaX and Its N-Terminal Domain with PBP4 Underlying the Seesaw Effect in E. faecalis
Kara Hood, Houston Methodist Research Institute, Poster 2

Colonization of the Nasopharynx by Klebsiella Pneumoniae is Associated with the Establishment of Gastrointestinal Carriage in Mice
Rina Matsuda, Baylor College of Medicine, Poster 3

Defining the Role of SpxA1 and SpxA2 Function in Group A Streptococcus (GAS)
Gretchen Morrison, Vanderbilt University, Poster 4

Disseminated Multi-Drug Resistant (MDR) Mycobacterium Tuberculosis (M-TB) in the Texas Gulf Coast: Highlighting the Hallmark of Clinical Stewardship & Resistance Testing
Marco Passeri, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Poster 5

Candidalysin: A Fungal Peptide with Protective Activity Against ESKAPEE Pathogens
Ryan Valdez, University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston, Poster 6

12:30-2:15      Lunch/Poster Session-Event Hall
12:30-1:15 Lunch
1:15-2:15 Poster Session, Poster #s 1-30

2:15-2:30 Poster removal and return to the auditorium

Session 4       Phages and phage-like treatments against MDR bacteria

Conveners:     Natasha Kirienko, PhD, Rice University
Marcos de Moraes, PhD, Rice University

2:30-2:50        Phage-Induced Immunity
Anthony Maresso, PhD
Baylor College of Medicine

2:50-3:10         Phages Facilitate Drug Penetration
Lanying Zeng, PhD
Texas A&M University, College Station, TX

3:10-3:30        Engineered Phage Tail-Like Bacteriocins as Novel Antimicrobials
Dean Scholl, PhD
Pylum Biosciences, San Carlos , CA

3:30-3:50      Development of R Pyocins as a Treatment for Pseudomonas aeruginosa Infections
Natasha Kirienko, PhD
Rice University, Houston, TX

3:50-4:15         Networking Break

Session 5       Selected Presentations
Convener:     Sam Shelburne, MD, PhD, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
Chetna Dureja, PhD, Texas A&M Health, Houston, TX                                   

4:15-4:30         Gut Derived PPAR-γ Signaling and Risk of Bacterial Enteric Infection in a Real World Cohort
Morgan Birabaharan, PhD, UC San Diego

4:30-4:45         Genomics Reveal Antimicrobial Therapy and Catheter Exchanges Do Not disrupt Staphylococcus aureus Colonization during Long-term Urinary Catheterization
Jesus Duran Ramirez, University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston

4:45-5:00         Prevalence and genetics of cefepime resistance among the AmpC-producing organisms Citrobacter freundii, Enterobacter cloacae, and Klebsiella aerogenes
Sarah Schrader, PhD, Massachusetts General Hospital / Brigham and Women’s Hospital

5:00-6:00         Reception & Networking-Pre-function

Day 2 – Thursday, January 15, 2026

Translational and Clinical Aspects of Antibiotic Resistance

7:45-9:00         Registration

8:00-8:50         Career Mentoring Breakfast: Scientific Communications on Social Media
Cesar A. Arias, MD, PhD, Houston Methodist Research Institute and Weill Cornell Medical College, Houston, TX
Barbara Gastel, MD, MPH, Texas A&M University
Peter Hotez, MD, PhD, Baylor College of Medicine
Ed Septimus, MD, Harvard Medical School

Session 6       AMR & Pediatrics
Conveners: Chase McNeil, MD, Texas Children’s Hospital
Michael Chang, MD, University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston

9:00-9:20        Performance of the Vitek Reveal and Accelerate Pheno Systems for Rapid Phenotypic Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing of Gram-Negative Bacilli Directly from Blood Cultures
Jim Dunn, PhD, D(ABMM)
Texas Children’s Hospital/Baylor College of Medicine

9:20-9:40         Shifting Antimicrobial Susceptibility In Gram Positive Infections in Children
J. Chase McNeil, MD
Texas Children’s, Houston, TX

9:40-10:00       Before and After the Bottleneck – Resistance to Second-Line Antimicrobials in Pediatric Group A Streptococcal Infections in Houston, TX, from 2013-2023
Anthony Flores, MD, MPH, PhD
Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN

10:00-10:30    Vendor Show and Networking-Pre-function and Event Hall

Session 7       Trainee Symposium

Convenors:     Alex Kang, PhD, Houston Methodist Research Institute

10:30-10:45   Acquisition of a Gene Cluster in Clostridioides difficile ribotype 023 Strains Allows for the Utilization of the Sugar Alcohol Xylitol
Katherine Wozniak, PhD, Baylor College of Medicine
AMR Trainee

10:45-11:00    Discovery of Novel Beta-Lactamase Inhibitors by Use of Covalent Warhead Libraries
Michael Lopez, Baylor College of Medicine
TIPS Trainee

11:00-11:15    Bacteriophage-Mediated Reduction of uropathogenic E. coli from the Urogenital Epithelium
Bishnu Joshi, PhD, Baylor College of Medicine
AMR Scholar

11:15-11:20    Keynote Lecture introduction
Ed Septimus, MD, Harvard Medical School

11:20-11:55    Keynote Lecture
Antibiotic Stewardship in the US: Where We Stand and What Comes Next
Sara Cosgrove, MD
Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD

Convener:       Dignite Fabrice Ngango, Baylor College of Medicine

11:55-12:25    Rapid Fire talks

Comprehensive Analysis of Bacteriocins and Exopolysaccharides from Lactic acid Bacteria Isolated from Fermented Foods for Innovative Drug Discovery: Functional Properties, Chemical Composition, and Antioxidant Activities
Stella Adeyemo, Texas Southern University, Poster 35

An Antibiotic-Microbial Metabolite Strategy to Mitigate Resistance in Multidrug-Resistant Gram-Negative Pathogens
Tanim Islam, Oklahoma State University, Poster 36

Alternating Magnetic Fields: Possible Treatment for Fungal Biofilms in PJI
John McKnight, University of Texas Southwestern Medical School, Poster 37

Trends in Antifungal Resistance among Candida Species in the United States, 2015 – 2024
Maria Perez, Houston Methodist Research Institute, Poster 38

Coexistence of Mercury Resistance Operon and Carbapenem Resistance Gene blaKPC-3 on Plasmids Potentially Conjugative in Klebsiella pneumoniae from ICU Patients in Colombian Hospitals
Jinethe Reyes, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, 39

Single-Cell RNA Sequencing to Reveal Interspecies Interactions and Heterogeneity in Mixed Biofilm of Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa
Qi Xu, University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston, 41

12:25-2:15      Lunch/Poster Session-Event Hall
12:30-1:15 Lunch
1:15-2:15 Poster Session, Poster #s 31-60

2:15-2:30 Poster removal and return to the auditorium

Session 8

Conveners:     Cesar A. Arias, MD, PhD, Houston Methodist Research Institute and Weill Cornell Medical College, Houston, TX  

2:30-3:30         Challenging Clinical Cases in Antimicrobial Resistance
Sara Cosgrove, Johns Hopkins University
William Miller, Houston Methodist Research

3:30-3:55         Break

Session 9       Drug discovery in AMR

Conveners:     Taryn Eubank, PharmD, University of Houston
Kara Hood, PhD, Houston Methodist Research Institute

3:55-4:15         Identification of a Structurally Novel Penicillin-Binding Protein Transglycosylase Inhibitor with Broad Spectrum Activity
Holly Sutterlin, PhD
Prokaryotics, Union, NJ

4:15-4:35         Antimicrobial Activity of a Natural Product of a Marine Bacterial Species
Carolyn Cannon, MD, PhD
Texas A&M University

4:35-4:55        From Worms to Algorithms: Accelerating Antimicrobial Discovery with AI and Whole-Animal Screens
Eleftherios Mylonakis, MD, PhD, FIDSA,
Houston Methodist Research Institute, Houston, TX

4:55-5:15         Identifying Inhibitors of Antibiotic Resistance Enzymes Using DNA-Encoded Chemical Libraries
Timothy Palzkill, PhD
Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX

Day 3-Friday, January 16, 2026

Surveillance & Stewardship

7:45-9:00         Registration

8:00-8:50         Career Mentoring Breakfast: Leadership and Outreach: Careers in Microbiology
Heidi Kaplan, PhD, University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston
Terri Koehler, PhD, University of Texas Health Science Center
Ed Septimus, MD, Harvard Medical School

Welcome
9:00                 Ed Septimus, MD, Harvard Medical School

Session 10     Keynote Speaker                                                     

9:00-9:30         Antimicrobial Resistance: The Silent Global Threat
Denise Cardo, MD
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Session 11     Sepsis Symposium

Convenor:    Max Adelman, MD, Houston Methodist Research Institute

9:30-9:55         Sepsis Opportunities and Challenges in the Earliest Care Moments
Donald Yealy, MD
Univ. of Pittsburgh Schools of the Health Sciences

9:55-10:20       Next-Generation Sepsis Quality Measures: Moving Beyond Bundle Compliance
Chanu Rhee, MD, MPH
Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA

10:20-10:50    Vendor Show and Networking

10:50-11:15    Updates in Pediatric Sepsis
Kathleen Chiotos, MD, MSCE
Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA

11:15-11:35    Panel Discussion

11:35-12:00    Not all that Complicated: the 2025 IDSA Guidelines for Complicated UTI
Barbara Trautner, MD, PhD,
Washington University at St Louis, St Louis, MO

Convener:     Jacob McPherson, PharmD, University of Houston

12:00-12:25    Rapid Fire talks

A Natural Antibiotic That Curtails Cell Envelope Adaptation and Evolution of Resistance in Multidrug-Resistant Enterococcus faecalis
Domenica Acevedo-Lopez, Houston Methodist Research Institute, Poster 66

CidaGel: A Sprayable Self-Assembling Peptide Hydrogel for Perioperative Surgical Site Infection Prophylaxis
Vivek Kumar, University of Houston, Poster 68

Molecular Mechanisms, Physiological Costs, and Therapeutic Impact Associated with Fidaxomicin Resistance in Clostridioides difficile
Ann McKelvey, Texas A&M Institute of Biosciences and Technology, Poster 69

Leveraging the Global Genomic Epidemiology of Carbapenemase-Producing Klebsiella pneumoniae to Inform Infection Prevention in a Tunisian Hospital
Basma Menif, Harvard Medical School, Poster 70

Antibiotic Stewardship in a Pediatric Community Hospital Setting
Gabriela Rodas Cedeno, Baylor College of Medicine, Poster 71

12:25-2:15      Lunch/Poster Session-Event Hall
12:30-1:15 Lunch
1:15-2:15 Poster Session, Poster #s 61-100

2:15-2:30 Poster removal and return to the auditorium                                

Session 12     Vaccination Symposium

Convenor:       Julie Boom, MD,  Texas Children’s Hospital

2:30-2:55         Measles – Historic Perspective on Disease Impact and Vaccine Development
Robert Atmar, MD
Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX

2:55-3:20         Measles – Factors Impacting Population Immunity
Hana El Sahly, MD
Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX

3:20-3:45         Protecting Infants and Children – Considerations for Vaccine Timing and Uptake
Mary Healy, MD
Texas Children’s Hospital, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX

3:45-4:00         Panel Discussion

4:00-4:15         Networking Break

Session 13

Convenor: Shivani Patel, PharmD, BCPS, Houston Methodist Research Institute

4:15-4:40         Antifungal Resistance Trends and Treatment
Wesley Hoffman, PharmD
Houston Methodist Research Institute

4:40-5:00         ID Watch: Most Influential Publications of 2025
Ed Septimus, MD

5:00                 Wrap Up

5:15-6:30        GCC-AMR and ASM-TMC Scholar Networking Event, Valhalla