Distinguished Lectures in Microbiology

Unless otherwise noted, Seminars are at 3:30 p.m. Thursday in the Ebling Auditorium in the Microbial Sciences Building. The Department of Bacteriology Distinguished Lectures in Microbiology are supported in part by the J.B. Wilson Fund, the Perry Wilson Fund, the Dennis and Alicemay Watson Lectureship Fund, and the E.B. Fred Memorial Fund.

The Department of Bacteriology values and prioritizes increasing diversity, of both visible and invisible forms, in our invited speakers for the Distinguished Lectures in Bacteriology seminar series and departmental symposia.

videocam Virtual    groups In-person

2021 Seminars

  • Thursday, January 28, 2021 at 3:30 pm

    Reconstructing ancient biosystems to explore life’s origins, history and distribution in the universe

    Speaker: Betül Kaçar, University of Arizona
    Host: Katrina Forest
  • Thursday, February 4, 2021 at 3:30 pm

    Uncovering Microbial Metal Tolerance Mechanisms from a Nitrate and Multi-Metal Contaminated Environment

    Speaker: Michael Thorgersen, University of Georgia
    Host: Erica Lois-Wunderlich Majumder
  • Thursday, February 11, 2021 at 3:30 pm

    Microbial production of bioplastic precursors from acid whey wastewater

    Speaker: Liyuan Hou, Suny ESF
    Host: Erica Lois-Wunderlich Majumder
  • Thursday, February 18, 2021 at 3:30 pm

    Using carnivorous pitcher plant ecosystems to understand microbial community assembly

    Speaker: Leonora Bittleston, Boise State
    Host: Kerri Coon
  • Thursday, February 25, 2021 at 3:30 pm

    Evolutionary constraints on flagellar motility in bacteria

    Speaker: Yann Dufour, Michigan State
    Host: Mark Mandel
  • Thursday, March 11, 2021 at 3:30 pm

    State of the Department 2021

    Speaker: Chuck Kaspar
    Host: Katrina Forest
  • Thursday, March 18, 2021 at 3:30 pm

    Baby Steps: Development of the pediatric gut microbiome and its impact on health

    Speaker: Vanja Klepac-Ceraj, Wellesley College
    Host: Briana Burton
  • Thursday, March 25, 2021 at 3:30 pm

    Exploring the deep sea for new microbial life and the origins of eukaryotes

    Speaker: Brett Baker, University of Texas
    Host: Karthik Anantharaman
  • Thursday, April 8, 2021 at 3:30 pm

    Mechanisms of phenotypic heterogeneity in Clostridioides difficile

    Speaker: Rita Tamayo, University of North Carolina
    Host: David Hershey
  • Thursday, April 15, 2021 at 3:30 pm

    Using population structure and host-symbiont specificity to inform knowledge of transmission dynamics in two obligate marine microbial symbioses

    Speaker: Roxanne Beinart, University of Rhode Island
    Host: Karthik Anantharaman
  • Thursday, April 22, 2021 at 3:30 pm

    Ecology and evolution of honeybee-associated microbes

    Speaker: Kasie Raymann, UNC Greensboro
    Host: Kerri Coon
  • Thursday, April 29, 2021 at 3:30 pm

    Salmonella persisters during infection

    Speaker: Sophie Helaine, Department of Microbiology |Harvard Medical School
    Host: Jade Wang
  • Thursday, May 6, 2021 at 3:30 pm
    Speaker: Kat Milligan-Myhre, University of Connecticut
    Host: MDTP Students
  • groups  Thursday, September 16, 2021 at 3:30 pm

    State of the Department Address

    Speaker: Katrina Forest, Chair, UW-Madison Department of Bacteriology
  • groups  Thursday, September 23, 2021 at 3:30 pm

    The sea beneath the ocean

    Speaker: Elizabeth Trembath-Reichert, Arizona State University
    Host: Karthik Anantharaman
  • groups  Thursday, September 30, 2021 at 3:30 pm

    Expanding the genome editing toolbox with metagenomics

    Speaker: Christopher Brown, Metagenomi Inc
    Host: David Hershey
  • videocam  Thursday, October 7, 2021 at 3:30 pm

    New tricks from old molecules: using macrolactam comparative-metabologenomics for antibiotic regulatory and discovery insights

    Speaker: Joshua Blodgett, Washington University
    Host: Michael Thomas
  • videocam  Thursday, October 14, 2021 at 3:30 pm

    How condensin resolves chromosomes in Bacillus subtilis

    Speaker: Xindan Wang, Indiana University
    Host: Jade Wang
  • videocam  Thursday, October 21, 2021 at 3:30 pm

    Visualizing the bacterial stress sensing machinery in action

    Speaker: Allison Williams, UCSF
    Host: Jade Wang
  • groups  Thursday, October 28, 2021 at 3:30 pm

    Evolving together, evolving apart: measuring the fitness of rhizobial bacteria in and out of symbiosis with leguminous plants

    Speaker: Liana Burghardt, Penn State University
    Host: Jean-Michel Ané
  • videocam  Thursday, November 4, 2021 at 3:30 pm

    Deciphering the human microbiome with chemistry

    Speaker: Emily Balskus, Harvard University
    Host: Katrina Forest
  • groups  Thursday, November 11, 2021 at 3:30 pm

    Microbial interactions that mediate carbon, sulfur, and energy flux in the surface ocean

    Speaker: Bryndan Durham, University of Florida
    Host: Karthik Anantharaman
  • groups  Thursday, November 18, 2021 at 3:30 pm

    Fighting with phages: how epidemic Vibrio cholerae defends against viral attack

    Speaker: Kim Seed, UC Berkeley
    Host: Jason Peters
  • groups  Thursday, December 2, 2021 at 3:30 pm

    Lipoproteins: greasing the cogs of cell envelope assembly

    Speaker: Marcin Grabowicz, Emory U
    Host: Mark Mandel
  • groups  Thursday, December 9, 2021 at 3:30 pm

    Using wastewater surveillance to monitor known and unknown lineages of SARS-CoV-2

    Speaker: Marc Johnson, University of Missouri