Dr. Jessica Brinkworth and I proposed and organized a symposium for the 88th annual meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists in Cleveland in 2019 which was successfully accepted with funding: http://physanth.org/annual-meetings/88th-annual-meeting-2019/
This symposium is titled "Primate hosts and microbial interactions and communities: disease, development and evolution" and the abstract is listed below:
"This symposium features cutting edge research by a diverse and multidisciplinary group of scholars on the evolutionary interactions between primate immunity, microbiota and their effect on health and disease. Primates have co-evolved with microorganisms for millions of years, such that some microbial communities direct tissue and organ development and function, ensure tissue integrity, enable immunity and affect metabolism. In disease states, these communities are disrupted, and can contribute to symptoms and mortality. The distribution of microorganisms across vector populations and host bodies, therefore, has major implications for health and reproductive fitness. Understanding the patterns of microbial colonization and function is not only important for explaining differences in primate health and disease, but may also clarify mechanisms driving variation and divergence of species.
This symposium presents new research from biological anthropology as well as immunology, microbiology, cancer biology and HIV research that illuminates the roles of multi-way interactions between microbial communities, hosts, pathogens and vectors in primate disease susceptibility and progress. Authors investigate relationships between microbiota and disease states, growth and development and environment in both extant and ancient host populations, and how these relationships have affected host immune function and variation. Our goal in this symposium is to contribute to a better understanding of how microorganisms operate in immunity, health and primate evolution. As this kind of research has important implications for primate evolution, conservation and human health, this symposium will draw high attendance and have significant scientific impact. We aim to publish the symposium in an edited volume or a special issue of an appropriate peer-reviewed journal in the following year."
Hope to see you all there.
http://physanth.org/news/meeting-registration-and-abstract-submission-portal-now-open/
Talks on this symposium will be recorded and posted here after the event. Please check back after March 30th, 2019.
Update: Feb 19, 2019:
Here is the symposium schedule: http://meeting.physanth.org/program/2019/session17/
Update: April 14, 2019
The symposium was very successful. We had a diverse group of speakers from around the US who gave very interesting talks. Only a few of the talks were recorded and we are in the process of getting consent for broadcasting the talks. I will update where these will be uploaded as soon as it is determined. Below, I uploaded a video from a portion of the opening remarks of the symposium.
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