The International Human Microbiome Congress Media Advisory

Vancouver, BC, Canada (January 25, 2011) Increased global interest in the human microbiome has created an opportunity to bring together a diverse community of international researchers from the medical, microbial and computational fields to discuss the complex relationships of the microbiome with human health and disease.

WHO
Partners: The International Human Microbiome Consortium (IHMC), The NIH Common Fund
Organizer: The Foundation for the National Institutes of Health
Sponsors: BGI, Danone Research, General Mills, Genome British Columbia, MO BIO and PhyloTech.

WHAT
Increased global interest in the human microbiome has created an opportunity to bring together a diverse community of international researchers from the medical, microbial and computational fields to discuss the complex relationships of the microbiome with human health and disease. Attendees will learn about cutting edge microbiome research from leaders in the field from Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa and North America. Topics at the congress include: Human microbiome in human health and disease; Animal microbiomes; Environmental metagenomics; Quantitative metagenomics; Ethical, legal and social implications of human microbiome studies; New technologies and computational tools for the study of the human microbiome; and Metagenomic research areas. The 2011 congress will include general, concurrent and poster sessions, as well as a series of bioinformatics tutorials sessions.

Abstracts are now being accepted.

WHEN
Wednesday, March 9, 2011 7:00 AM – Friday, March 11, 2011 5:00 PM

WHERE
Hyatt Regency Vancouver
655 Burrard St. Vancouver
British Columbia V6C 2R7
Canada
604.639.4846

REGISTRATION
To register for the International Human Microbiome Congress, please visit: www.fnih.org
Registration for members of the media and freelancers is complimentary with a letter of assignment.

For press details please contact:
Richard Folkers
Director of Communications
[email protected]
(301) 435-2613

About the International Human Microbiome Consortium (IHMC)
The goal of the IMHC is to work under a common set of principles and policies to study and understand the role of the human microbiome in the maintenance of health and causation of disease and to use that knowledge to improve the ability to prevent and treat disease. The Consortium’s efforts are focused on generating a shared comprehensive data resource that will enable investigators to characterize the relationship between the composition of the human microbiome (or of parts of the human microbiome) and human health and disease.

The IHMC is open, at any time, to the funders and PIs of human microbiome research programs that have the capacity to mount a comprehensive analysis of the human microbiome in health and/or disease, and that agree to carry out their efforts according to a set of commonly agreed-upon IHMC policies (see Principles in the Membership section).

The principles, structure and operating modes of the IHMC were defined progressively through several meetings organized since November 2005 (see Historical perspective and previous meetings). The IHMC was officially launched at its meeting held in Heidelberg on October 15-16 2008. For additional information about the IHMC, please visit www.human-microbiome.org.

About the NIH Common Fund
The NIH Common Fund encourages collaboration and supports a series of exceptionally high impact, trans-NIH programs. These new programs are funded through the Common Fund, and managed by the NIH Office of the Director in partnership with the various NIH Institutes, Centers and Offices. Common Fund programs are designed to pursue major opportunities and gaps in biomedical research that no single NIH Institute could tackle alone, but that the agency as a whole can address to make the biggest impact possible on the progress of medical research. Additional information about the NIH Common Fund can be found at http://commonfund.nih.gov.

About the Foundation for the National Institutes of Healthh
Established by the United States Congress to support the mission of the NIH—improving health through scientific discovery in the search for cures—the Foundation for NIH is a leader in identifying and addressing complex scientific and health issues. The foundation is a not-for-profit, 501(c)(3) charitable organization that raises private-sector funds for a broad portfolio of unique programs that complement and enhance NIH priorities and activities. For additional information about the Foundation for NIH, please visit www.fnih.org.