Eastern Pennsylvania Branch Meeting

The Eastern Pennsylvania Branch of the ASM held its 715th meeting at the new Medical Education and Research Building on 24 October. The building has a large three-story atrium, and hanging from the ceiling is an array of 55 replicas of different microbes, designed and installed by artists Kate Kaman and Joel Erland. Each microbe is approximately 6 feet in length and is made from translucent plastic with LED lights inside. The artists attended the dinner meeting and showed a film about how they were inspired to choose microbes for this commissioned installation. Following their delightful and enlightening presentation, attendees enjoyed a buffet dinner in the atrium under the microbes. Tom G. Schwan, Chief of the Laboratory of Zoonotic Pathogens and Chief of the Entomology Section of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, then delivered a lecture on "Continental Differences in Tick-borne Relapsing Fever." Schwan is an ASM Branch Lecturer. It was a delightful and unique evening for the Philadelphia microbiologists.