Held at Imperial College's MRC CMBI to improve communication between London-based postgraduate students in the field of host-pathogen interaction.

The inaugural London Postgraduate Symposium on Bacterial Pathogenesis and Host Response was held at the MRC Centre for Molecular Bacteriology and Infection (MRC CMBI), Imperial College London on 28 November 2014. Organised by PhD students based within the Centre, the objective of the symposium was to both educate and entertain, in the hope of improving communication between London­-based postgraduate students in the field of host-pathogen interaction.

After  a  welcoming  address from  Professor  David Holden, Director  of  the MRC  CMBI, the  attendees enjoyed a programme of oral and poster presentations from PhD students based across London.  Dr Thomas Clarke, an Early Career Research Fellow based within the MRC CMBI, gave the keynote presentation 'The role of the microbiota in regulating immunity to bacterial infection.'

Speaking after the symposium, Dr Clarke said "It was an honour to give the keynote presentation. The students had done a terrific job at organising the symposium and the quality of the presentations was very high. Given the importance of understanding host­-microbial interactions for our health, and the obvious success of the conference, I hope this is just the first of many of these student-led events."

All the presentations inspired healthy discussion and some very insightful questions from the students.The  day  closed  with  the  awarding  of  the prizes for  'Best  Oral' and 'Best Poster' presentations and a drinks reception. The prizes for the best posters were provided by Nature Reviews Microbiology.

Best Oral presentation: Ed Couchman (Imperial College); Best Poster presentations: Martin Oliver (UCL/Birkbeck) and Elizabeth Powell (Imperial College)

A total of 79 postgraduate students, representing eleven London institutions, attend the symposium.  Attendee feedback was overwhelmingly positive, with the day meeting or exceeding the expectations of 93% of respondents. Around 97% of respondents felt that the symposium increased their awareness of microbiology research being carried out in London, 90% felt that the symposium provided networking opportunities, and 97% said they would attend a future symposium.  

Some examples of the student feeback:

“Really enjoyed the range of subjects covered. The amount of time per speaker and number of oral presentations was perfect. Programme was put together really well. Great job!”

"Perfect format. Lots of interesting talks. Posters good format also. Environment really promoted discussion.”

'This symposium was unique and special because it was self­?organised and did not involve group leaders or post docs. This ensured that discussions and questions were not dominated by more senior colleagues, enabling the students to express themselves more freely.” Professor David Holden, Director, MRC CMBI

The organisers of the symposium, Angie Cheverton, Chris Furniss and Bevin McGeever hope that the symposium will become an annual event, rotating between research institutions in London. "Based on the success of this year’s event, we are sure that the London Postgraduate Symposium on Bacterial Pathogenesis and Host Response can go on to become a regular fixture for postgraduate students in this field."

We would like to acknowledge the financial support from Imperial College's Graduate School, the Society for General Microbiology and VWR, without which it would not have been possible to host the symposium.