CMI International Microbiome Meeting 2026

March 11, 2026: 7:45AM – 6:30PM
Duane J. Roth Auditorium at Sanford Consortium, La Jolla, CA

7:45AM – 8:30AM

Registration, Breakfast, and Coffee

8:30AM – 8:35AM

Welcome and Introduction: Rob Knight, PhD
Professor of Pediatrics, Shu Chien-Gene Lay Department of Bioengineering, Computer Science & Engineering and Halıcıoğlu Data Science Institute at UC San Diego, and Faculty Director at the Center for Microbiome Innovation

8:35AM – 9:20AM

Keynote Presentation: Ruth Ley, PhD
Director of the Department of Microbiome Science at the Max Planck Institute for Biology and a Speaker for the Cluster of Excellence “Controlling Microbes to Fight Infections” at the University of Tübingen
Presentation Title: Silent Flagellins and Burning Hosts: How Microbes Shape Fever and Evolution

9:25AM – 9:50AM

Kine E. Kvitne, PhD
Visiting Researcher in the Dorrestein Lab at UC San Diego
Presentation Title: Early Life Metabolic Programming: Environmental and Maternal Drivers

9:55AM – 10:20AM

Manuela Raffatellu, MD
Professor of Pediatrics at UC San Diego
Presentation Title: Multiomics approaches reveal new insights on colonization resistance against gut pathogens

10:20AM – 10:35AM

Morning Break

10:40AM – 11:05AM

Lindsey Burnett, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences at UC San Diego
Presentation Title: Rethinking Postpartum Recovery through a Metabolomic Lens

11:10AM – 11:15AM

Metabolomics Tech Talk: Erica Forsberg, PhD
Vice President Metabolomics at Bruker Corporation
Presentation Title: Culturing the Future of Mass Spectrometry and Metabolomics

11:20AM – 12:10PM

Metabolomics Roundtable
Host: Pieter Dorrestein, PhD, Professor of Pharmacology and Pediatrics at UC San Diego, Director of the Collaborative Mass Spectrometry Innovation Center, and Co-Director of the Institute for Metabolomics Medicine
Participant: Erica Forsberg, PhD, Vice President Metabolomics at Bruker Corporation
Participant: Lindsey Burnett, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences at UC San Diego
Participant: Kine E. Kvitne, PhD, Visiting Researcher in the Dorrestein Lab at UC San Diego

12:10PM – 1:00PM

Lunch

1:05PM – 1:10PM

Afternoon Introduction: Andrew Bartko, PhD
Executive Director of the Center for Microbiome Innovation; Professor of Practice, Bioengineering, Pediatrics; and Affiliated Faculty, Program in Materials Science and Engineering at UC San Diego

1:10PM – 1:35PM

Michael Liss, MD
Professor of Urology at UC San Diego and Director of Clinical Trials at the Center for Microbiome Innovation
Presentation Title: Direct and Indirect Influence of the Gut Microbiome on Prostate Cancer

1:40PM – 2:05PM

Amir Zarrinpar, MD, PhD, AGAF
Professor of Gastroenterology & Hepatology at UC San Diego and Co-Faculty Director at the Center for Microbiome Innovation
Presentation Title: Microbial Timing, Bile Acids, and Metabolic Health

2:10PM – 3:05PM

Next-Generation Sequencing Roundtable
Host: Rob Knight, PhD, Professor of Pediatrics, Shu Chien-Gene Lay Department of Bioengineering, Computer Science & Engineering and Halıcıoğlu Data Science Institute at UC San Diego, and Faculty Director at the Center for Microbiome Innovation
Participant: Radoje Drmanac, PhD, Chief Science Officer at Complete Genomics
Participant: Francisco Garcia, PhD, SVP of Software and Informatics at Element Biosciences
Participant: Sean McKenzie, PhD, Director of Genomics Applications at Oxford Nanopore Technologies
Participant: Daniel Portik, PhD, Staff Bioinformatics Scientist at Pacific Biosciences

3:05PM – 3:20PM

Afternoon Break

3:25PM – 4:10PM

Keynote Presentation: Jian Xu, PhD
Director of Single-Cell Center and Director of Advanced Biomanufacturing at Qingdao Institute of BioEnergy and Bioprocess Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Presentation Title: ​​The iMAPS Initiative: building a global network of “metabolic sensor + strain miner + ecological restorer” for microbiome via the Ramanomics Platform

4:15PM – 4:55PM

Speaker Roundtable
Host: Rob Knight, PhD, Professor of Pediatrics, Shu Chien-Gene Lay Department of Bioengineering, Computer Science & Engineering and Halıcıoğlu Data Science Institute at UC San Diego, and Faculty Director at the Center for Microbiome Innovation
Participant: Michael Liss, MD, Professor of Urology at UC San Diego and Director of Clinical Trials at the Center for Microbiome Innovation
Participant: Amir Zarrinpar, MD, PhD, AGAF, Professor of Gastroenterology & Hepatology at UC San Diego and Co-Faculty Director at the Center for Microbiome Innovation

5:00PM – 5:05PM

Concluding Remarks: Andrew Bartko, PhD
Executive Director of the Center for Microbiome Innovation; Professor of Practice, Bioengineering, Pediatrics; and Affiliated Faculty, Program in Materials Science and Engineering at UC San Diego

5:10PM – 6:30PM

Reception and Poster Session