American Society for Microbiology (ASM)

July 1, 2026 Washington, D.C.—ASM welcomes a new president, president-elect and member of the ASM Board of Directors, who will begin their leadership terms on July 1, 2026. Together, these leaders will help advance ASM’s mission and guide the continued evolution of its 3 scientific units.

Source: ASM A patient presents with a bacterial infection that does not respond to standard antibiotics: a lock that modern medicine can't open. But somewhere in the world, there may exist a key: a bacteriophage capable of targeting that exact pathogen with precision. This remarkable specificity arises from how phages recognize and bind to bacteria. Each phage carries proteins on its surface that interact with distinct bacterial structures (e.g., receptors).

June 23, 2026 Washington, D.C.—ASM has joined a coalition of scientific societies to launch the Trust Seal, a community-led initiative organized by BioCore: A Scholarly Publishing Consortium (BioCore) that brings together organizations across the research ecosystem to strengthen trust in science. The Trust Seal is intended to provide greater confidence in publications that have adopted community-led best practices for trustworthy science.

June 22, 2026 Washington, D.C.–ASM’s Health Unit is working to transform phage therapy from a fragmented, case-by-case practice into a coordinated clinical system through its Phage Therapy Coordination Network (PTCN). This system-level approach is gaining traction across the field.

Washington, D.C.—Infections by hantaviruses are rare but dangerous, killing 30-40% of infected people. When cases occur, public health officials need rapid, detailed information about the virus to identify the strain and its origin, so they can stop others from being exposed to the disease. Whole genome sequencing is an integral part of this work, though the genomes of these viruses are difficult to sequence using existing approaches.

Washington, D.C.—A new study shows that sewage overflows in homes can expose people to bacteria that can make them sick, including antibiotic-resistant and multidrug resistant bacteria, which can make infections difficult to treat.

Hantaviruses are a group of global zoonotic, single-stranded, tri-segmented, negative-sense RNA viruses within the Orthohantavirus genus. They are generally divided into 2 groups, New World and Old-World hantaviruses, based on geographic distribution. Sin Nombre virus, a New World hantavirus, is endemic in the U.S., and Andes virus, also a New World hantavirus, is found in South America. Andes virus is the species associated with May 2026 multinational outbreak on a cruise ship.

Dr. Jay Bhattacharya Director National Institutes of Health 9000 Rockville Pike Bethesda, Md. 20892 Re: Request for Information (RFI): Inviting Comments and Suggestions on a Framework for the NIH-Wide Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2027-2031 Dear Dr. Bhattacharya, On behalf of the American Society for Microbiology (ASM), thank you for the opportunity to respond to this request for information on the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Strategic Plan.

In April 2026, a passenger boarded a Dutch cruise ship in Ushuaia, Argentina after a bird-watching trip. Ten days later, he died. The cause of his death, while initially unclear, was determined to be Andes hantavirus (ANDV), which he picked up prior to boarding the ship. His wife, sickened by the same virus, later died as well. As of this writing, there have been 10 reported cases of ANDV infection from the ship, resulting in 3 deaths.

The world runs on microbes. In many ways, understanding the mechanisms governing microbial life across scales, from single cells to ecosystems, is key to understanding life itself. But how do we unlock the mysteries of the microbial universe? The Spring 2026 issue of Microcosm highlights the power of basic science research for expanding our knowledge of (micro)biology.