Upper Airway Microbiome

This award helps fund a one day conference, “Upper Airway Microbiome: Principles for Mucosal Biology in Health and Disease,” on July 12, 2018 to be held in conjunction with the 15th Biennial Phonosurgery Conference in Madison. The conference will bring together experts in upper airway microbiology with an emphasis in the nasal/sinus cavities, larynx and trachea to advance and integrate knowledge of the upper airway microbiome in health and disease.

The conference is an opportunity to incorporate an understanding of these microbiological niches of the unified upper airway, inflammation and immune development in this part of the body, potentially generating novel strategies for the prevention, recovery, or compensation of disorders of the head and neck in disease and across the lifespan.

Guest speakers will include experts in each of these areas, as well in research not directly related to upper airway, but has a parallel application or research program relevant to microbiome. This conference is an efficient means to disseminate current information on these topics and to foster new avenues of investigation and collaboration between different research teams. Furthermore, the conference will provide an effective avenue for encouraging and helping trainees and junior investigators in the discipline to network with a more established research group.