Lukehart 9726956 The third Gordon Research Conference on Biology of the Spirochetes is being held in January, 1998. This conference is the only ongoing international meeting devoted to basic research on spirochetes, which is a separate phylum of the Bacteria. These organisms have a unique but common overall structure and mode of motility. There are both free living spirochetes and also those associated with parasitism of arthropod hosts including termites and ticks, and also mammals. Some species have been found to augment degradation of polymers such as cellulose. The free living organisms are ubiquitous and are found in both fresh and salt water, and some species among the largest prokaryotic organisms yet described. Many of these organisms are very difficult to study because of their inability to be cultivated in vitro and because of the lack of a facile genetic system for creating mutants. Nonetheless, this is one of the most rapidly growing areas in general microbiology and genomic research. The first two Gordon Research Conferences were held in 1994 and 1996; both were attended to the capacity allowed by the Gordon Conference guidelines, and both were judged by the participants to be among the most useful and stimulating meetings ever attended. The 1998 conference, which is anticipated to have approximately 135 attendees, will agin provide a forum for scientists, including faculty, graduate students, and postdoctoral fellows from the United States and abroad, to discuss recent developments and ideas regarding the biology of the spirochetes funds are provided to support participation by beginning investigators.
