PROJECT SUMMARY The Wind River Conference on Prokaryotic Biology (WRC) is held each year over four days in the Rockies. There are two features of this meeting that are unique, major strengths. First, the WRC is a small meeting that mingles investigators working on a wide variety of microbial questions. Second, interactions between trainees and senior investigators at the WRC take place on a level playing field, a situation one has to experience to appreciate. A critical goal of the WRC is to foster collaborations among and between junior and senior researchers who may only cross paths at a broad meeting such as the WRC. This enables junior scientists to build networks and identify opportunities for postdoctoral research and/or careers in government, industry or science writing, for instance. Our scientific program changes annually based on recent developments in the field, but each year we aim for strong representation in the areas of bacterial pathogenesis, physiology, and environmental microbiology. Many of our meeting participants, increasing so in recent years, direct or are supported by NIH-sponsored research programs studying diverse aspects of microbiology. We draw researchers from across the nation, with the aim of stimulating new ideas for collaborations on unexplored areas of scientific research. The active participation of principal investigators, including the keynote speakers, ensures the presence of an expert audience for the presentations given by the students and postdoctoral fellows. 1