Official Program
BacPath 2026
21–24 September 2026 · Saltwater, Busselton WA
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Monday21 September
3:30 PM–4:30 PMArrival & Registration
4:30 PM–4:40 PM
Opening Address
Mitali Sarkar-Tyson
4:40 PM–5:30 PM
ASM Oration — Charlene Kahler
Chair: Mark Schembri
Session 1
5:30 PM–7:00 PM
Advances in Treatment Strategies
5:30 PM
Paul Brett
Melioidosis Subunit Vaccines: Lessons Learned and Future Directions
5:45 PM
Mary Burtnick
Burkholderia pseudomallei OPS, CPS and Hcp1: From Bench to Bedside
6:00 PM
Mark Blaskovich
Imaging Bacteria and Biofilms
6:15 PM
Bailey Heron
Utilising bacteriophages to limit the dissemination of broad-host range conjugative plasmids
6:30 PM
Aimee Tan
Disruption of zinc homeostasis and the development of novel interventions against drug resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae
6:45 PM
Samuel Lundin
From virulence factor to immune signature: precision epitope mapping of the antibody response to Helicobacter pylori CagA
7:00 PM–9:00 PMWelcome Mixer & Poster Session 1
Tuesday22 September
8:30 AM–9:15 AM
Keynote 1 — Cynthia Whitchurch
Chair: Joshua Ramsay
Session 2
9:15 AM–10:30 AM
Bacterial Communities and Biofilms
9:15 AM
Janessa Pickering
Exploring microbiome-based protection from Streptococcus pyogenes to develop a new, child-friendly therapeutic
9:30 AM
Carola Venturini
Characterisation of bacteriophages for clinical applications: the good, the bad, and the ugly
9:45 AM
Laura M. Nolan
Studying food-associated microbial biofilm development to develop interventions that increase food shelf life and safety
10:00 AM
Debnath Ghosal
From cells to communities: Decoding the molecular logic of drug-resistant polymicrobial biofilms
10:15 AM
Glen P Carter
Rational microbiome engineering enables the development of live bacterial therapeutics targeting carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae
10:30 AM–11:00 AMMorning Tea
Session 3
11:00 AM–12:30 PM
Resistance Pathways and Determinants
11:00 AM
Desirel Ng
Circadian rhythm disruption protects against severe Clostridioides difficile infection
11:15 AM
Karl Hassan
Investigating Antimicrobial Passage Across Gram-negative Cell Envelopes
11:30 AM
Claire L Gorrie
Compensatory evolution facilitates transmission of daptomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium
11:45 AM
Bonnie L Hyatt
Investigating Oropharyngeal Commensal-Dependent Penicillin Resistance in Strep A as a Mechanism for Relapse
12:00 PM
Zeus J Nair
Enterococcus faecalis flotillins associate with distinct membrane microdomains and contribute to fitness in wound infections
12:15 PM
Chloe Estoque
Copper mediated inhibition of nucleotide biosynthesis potentiates tetracycline antibiotic efficacy in Streptococcus pneumoniae
12:30 PM–1:45 PMLunch
Session 4
1:45 PM–3:15 PM
Genomes and Virulence
1:45 PM
Jane Hawkey
AMRrules: expert-curated interpretive standards for AMR genotypes
2:00 PM
Romain Guérillot
Reversible genetic switching drives a hidden mode of adaptation in Staphylococcus aureus
2:15 PM
August Mikucki
Changes in invasive potential associated with capsule and lipooligosaccharide switching in an outbreak of Neisseria meningitidis in Western Australia
2:30 PM
Pauline ML Coulon
Uncovering the complexity of Burkholderia pseudomallei infections: multi-omics insights into colony morphotype variation and polyclonal co-infection
2:45 PM
Olivia M Bertolla
If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen – Group A Streptococcus M1UK adaptation to fever
3:00 PM
Ritika Bahal
Understanding genetic determinants of inter-bacterial interactions between nasopharyngeal Corynebacterium species and pathogens associated with childhood respiratory illness.
3:15 PM–3:45 PMAfternoon Tea
Session 5
3:45 PM–5:15 PM
Bacterial Cell Envelope Biology
3:45 PM
Yoshikazu Kawai
Cell Wall Targeting Antibiotics and L-form Switching
4:00 PM
Bart Eijkelkamp
Fatty acid utilisation and carbon catabolism demonstrate niche-specific interdependencies in Streptococcus pneumoniae
4:15 PM
Jason J Paxman
The duality of bacterial toxins – Jekyll and Hyde
4:30 PM
Sam Gastrell
Comparison of the septal morphology of Escherichia coli chaining strains utilising cryo-electron tomography
4:45 PM
Daniel G Mediati
A bicistronic transcript forms a cis-regulatory interaction that allows sub-operonic control of a global transcription factor
5:00 PM
Anna Roujeinikova
Expanding the ligand repertoire of the Helicobacter pylori dCache chemoreceptor TlpC: structural and functional insights into multi-site sensing
5:15 PM–7:15 PMPoster Session 2
7:30 PM–9:30 PMTuesday Offsite Dinner at Shelter Brewing Co.
Wednesday23 September
8:30 AM–9:15 AM
Keynote 2 — Johan Malmström
Antibody-guided discovery of evolutionarily constrained immune vulnerabilities for bacterial vaccine design
Chair: Tim Barnett
Session 6
9:15 AM–10:30 AM
Virulence Factors and Functions
9:15 AM
Matthew J Sullivan
Beyond efflux: metabolic determinants of copper resistance in Group B Streptococcus
9:30 AM
Christopher McDevitt
Advancing development of an antibiotic potentiator to improve community-acquired bacterial pneumonia treatment
9:45 AM
Joanna K MacKichan
Investigation of Bartonella quintana virulence and immune evasion
10:00 AM
Jessica L Rooke
Interaction with host lipids mediates Salmonella virulence
10:15 AM
Justine Bendo
Host cell entry and secondary metabolite biosynthesis in Burkholderia pseudomallei requires the chaperone protein Sensitive to Lysis D
10:30 AM–11:00 AMMorning Tea
Session 7
11:00 AM–12:00 PM
Awards Session
11:00 AM
Vanessa Tenaglia
PilA is essential for Streptococcus pyogenes strain M1 attachment to primary tonsil epithelial cells
11:10 AM
Thanh Huyen Linh (Leah) Dinh
Exploring bacteriophages and outer membrane vesicles dynamics in non-typhoidal Salmonella
11:20 AM
Georgia-Rose Gilmore
Antibiotic Sensing Directly Promotes Hypervirulence and Pathogenesis in Clostridioides difficile
11:30 AM
Holly Floyd (Ellis)
Old drugs new tricks beating gonorrhoea resistance
11:40 AM
Kate P Whyte
Loss of the sucrose phosphorylase GtfA enhances Streptococcus pneumoniae colonisation
12:00 PM–5:00 PMLunch & Organised Tours
5:15 PM–5:45 PMTravel to Conference Dinner
5:45 PM–9:30 PMConference Dinner at Sabina River Farm
Thursday24 September
8:30 AM–9:15 AM
Keynote 3 — Manuela Raffatellu
Chair: August Mikucki
Session 8
9:15 AM–10:30 AM
Host-Pathogen Interactions
9:15 AM
Matthew McNeil
Efflux pumps potentiate the evolution of drug resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis
9:30 AM
Ulrike Kappler
Acetate-linked energy metabolism as a determinant of early Haemophilus influenzae infection fitness and immunomodulation
9:45 AM
Joe T Hooton
Phenotypic mapping of gonococcal FKBPs supports Mip as a distinct anti-virulence target.
10:00 AM
Johanna K Ljungberg
Infection-induced WNT ligands regulate macrophage antibacterial functions
10:15 AM
Riya Joshi
Purine - Pyrimidine salvage - Face-Off in Haemophilus influenzae
10:30 AM–11:00 AMMorning Tea
Session 9
11:00 AM–12:15 PM
Bacterial Metabolic Pathways and Regulation
11:00 AM
Jai Tree
Leveraging lessons from small RNAs to program RNA cleavage with clipmers
11:15 AM
Lauren Zavan
Defining the zinc metalloregulatory network of K. pneumoniae
11:30 AM
Jackie Lu
Measuring gene vulnerability to find new targets for antisense oligonucleotide antibiotics in uropathogenic E. coli
11:45 AM
Kwok Jian Goh
Silencing the silencers unleashes a cryptic regulatory network in Klebsiella pneumoniae
12:15 PM–12:40 PMClosing Remarks & Awards
12:40 PM–2:00 PMLunch & Departures
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Program correct at time of publishing and subject to change.