4th Bacterial Cell Biology

This will be the 4th Conference on Bacterial Cell Biology. In the last two decades there has been an explosion of interest in fundamental aspects of bacterial structure and function, based on advances in fluorescence and cryo-EM imaging. Quantitative and automated methods have brought about radical changes in the breadth and depth of questions that could be explored, while genome sequencing and genetic methods such as CRISPR-Cas9 and Tn-Seq have greatly expanded the range of organisms that can be studied incisively, enabling comparative studies of processes such as growth, morphogenesis and division, across diverse bacterial phyla. Many of these bacterial cell biology systems are being successfully reconstituted using purified components, leading to the discovery of molecular mechanisms underpinning cellular functions. The conference will bring together presentations illustrating the application of advanced cell and molecular biology methods to a wide range of basic functions in bacterial cells. Advances in understanding of the fundamentals of bacterial structure and function also create opportunities for the development of novel approaches to kill or modulate the growth and behaviour of bacterial cells.