IIT Madras to Host International Symposium on Microbiomes in February 2027
The three-day symposium, titled ‘Microbiomes in Environment, Health, and Beyond’, is being organised by the Centre for Integrative Biology and Systems Medicine (IBSE), a Centre of Excellence at IIT Madras.
The discussions will focus on microbial communities and their potential applications, ranging from addressing childhood malnutrition and developing biotechnological solutions to degrading plastics and exploring the possibility of life beyond Earth, the Institute said in a release on Tuesday.
Prof. Karthik Raman, IBSE Coordinator and Professor in the Department of Data Science and AI at IIT Madras, and Dr. Kasthuri Venkateswaran, Adjunct Faculty at the institute, are organising the symposium.
Dr. Venkateswaran, who retired from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory after more than two decades of research on microbes in spacecraft assembly cleanrooms and aboard the International Space Station, has contributed to research relevant to planetary protection.
Prof. Raman said microbiomes influence human and planetary health, while understanding them increasingly requires the integration of data, computational models and experiments. The symposium would bring together leading researchers to discuss emerging scientific developments, he added.
Dr. Venkateswaran highlighted the potential of extremophiles, microorganisms that thrive in harsh environments, for biotechnology, healthcare and space exploration.
Among the scheduled speakers are Rob Knight of the University of California San Diego, co-founder of the Earth Microbiome Project and the American Gut Project; Daniel Segrè of Boston University; and Janet Jansson of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. More than 20 researchers from India and abroad are expected to participate.
The sessions will cover microbial ecology and evolution, human and environmental microbiomes, multiomics, bioinformatics, mathematical modelling, phage-host dynamics and antimicrobial resistance.
The programme will also feature poster presentations, flash talks and a panel discussion.
