Host-Pathogen Interactions CoBRE Symposium
Tuesday, September 15, 2020,
8:30 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Virtual Symposium
UND faculty, staff, and students are invited to attend the Annual Host-Pathogen CoBRE Symposium to be held as an online virtual event.
The Center for Biomedical Research Excellence (CoBRE) for Host-Pathogen Interactions is inviting UND faculty, staff, and graduate and undergraduate students to attend the Fifth Annual Host-Pathogen CoBRE Symposium to be held as an online virtual event 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM on Tuesday, September 15, 2020. The Symposium will bring together experts investigating both microbial infectious agents and host responses to those infectious agents.

Dr. Jane Foster received her Ph.D. from the University of Toronto in 1996. Dr. Foster joined the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences at McMaster University in Hamilton, ON in 2003 and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2008.
Dr. Foster also holds a research appointment as a Scientific Associate with the University Health Network in Toronto, ON (since 2013) and a Scientist at St. Michael’s Hospital (since May 2016). Dr. Foster is an active researcher in two large translational networks - the Province of Ontario Neurodevelopmental Disorders Network (POND) and the Canadian Biomarker Integration Network in Depression (CAN-BIND). Dr. Foster’s research program focuses on the role of immune-brain and gut-brain interactions on neurodevelopment, behavior, and brain function and is funded by NSERC, CIHR, Brain Canada, and the Ontario Brain Institute. The Foster lab at McMaster has a CFI-funded behavioral unit designed to measure a range of behaviors across the life span including communication, motor control, developmental milestones, activity, approach, avoidance, anxiety-like, repetitive, and learning behaviors. Data analysis is automated and high throughput. The lab has developed tools to measure behavior and related molecular mechanisms in the postnatal period and over the life span. Dr. Foster hopes that her research accomplishments lead to a better understanding of how these relationships contribute to psychiatric disorders such as neurodevelopmental disorders, anxiety and depression.

Dr. Nur A Hasan is a molecular microbiologist with over 15 years of training and experiences in the field of microbial genomics, microbiome, bioinformatics and molecular ecology. Dr. Hasan is the President and Chief Executive Officer of EzBiome/ChunLab USA and an adjunct faculty at the Center for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, University of Maryland College Park.
Dr. Hasan received his Bachelor and Master’s in microbiology, M.B.A in Marketing and Ph.D. in Microbiology and Genomics. Before joining EzBiome, Dr. Hasan was the Chief Scientific Officer at CosmosID Inc. Dr. Hasan led the effort in, for pathogen detection and cross-disciplinary microbiome research and diagnostics. Through numerous large-scale genomic, metagenomic and microbiome projects and development and application curated genome databases, ultra-rapid bioinformatics platforms, and novel bioinformatics approaches, Dr. Hasan’s work has led to numerous publications (>75) in top-tier journals in the areas of cross disciplinary microbiome R&D, pathogen typing, microbial ecology, biomarker discovery, and infectious disease diagnostics. Dr. Hasan has frequently taught webinar and workshops on Microbiome and bioinformatics and deliver scientific and conference presentations nationally and internationally. Currently, Dr. Hasan directs the scientific functions and strategic leadership of EzBiome Inc., a microbiome company that promises discovery of exciting new biology and transformative microbiota-based therapeutics.
In addition, investigators from the University of North Dakota will be presenting their research related to infection and immunity in virtual oral and poster sessions.
This event is organized and funded by the Center of Biomedical Research Excellence (CoBRE) for Host-Pathogen Interactions, UND. Contact Shannon Bupp (shannon.bupp@und.edu) with any questions.
Event Registration due by August 31