11th International Conference on Polar and Alpine Microbiology
Date: October 2027
Location: Winnipeg, Canada
Communities of the Cryosphere: The Relationships that Shape Life, Ice, and Us
Groundbreaking research and innovative discussions on microorganisms thriving in extreme polar and alpine environments.
Outline of Potential Sessions
Day 1: Human-to-Human: Communities of Practice
- Northern Voices: Microbial Stewardship with Arctic Institutions and Communities
- Microbiology at the Policy Table: Science for Pan-Arctic Decision-Making
- The Long Haul: Community-Based Monitoring That Endures
- Whose Samples, Whose Data? Sovereignty, Access, and Accountability
- Naming What Lives Here: Language, Place, and Microbial Identity
Day 2: Human-to-Microbe: Human Effects on Microbes
- Resistance in Remote Places: Contaminants and Antibiotic Genes in the Cold
- When Sampling Is the Disturbance: Ethics in Low-Biomass Systems
- Can We Fix What We’ve Broken? Restoration of Microbial Communities
- Thawing Ground, Rising Risk: Infrastructure, Waste, and Permafrost
- Nowhere Else to Go: Endemic Microbes and Shrinking Refugia
Day 3: Microbe-to-Human: Microbial Effects on Humans
- Living Indoors at High Latitudes: Microbes, Health, and the Built Environment
- Is It Safe to Drink? Microbial Indicators in Water and Melting Ice
- What Crosses the Ice Edge? Wildlife, Vectors, and Disease Spillover
- What Microbes Do for Us: Ecosystem Services in Frozen Landscapes
- Talking About Risk Without Sparking Alarm: Tools for Decision-Makers
Day 4: Microbe-to-Microbe: Relationships on Ice
- Friends and Rivals in the Cold: Cooperation, Competition, Survival
- Life Beneath the Ice: Biofilms, Aggregates, and Hidden Hotspots
- Sharing the Metabolic Load: Partnerships for Survival
- Sleeping and Waking: Dormancy, Seed Banks, and Surprise Blooms
- Genes on the Move: Horizontal Transfer and Fast Adaptation