The Wadsworth Center Division of Genetics principal investigators Todd Gray and Jon Paczkowski presented work from their individual research programs at the “Cell-cell communication in bacteria: new insights and future trends” conference held in Trieste, Italy on October 27-30. Understanding how bacteria communicate may lead to therapies that disrupt communication as an alternative to traditional antibiotics that are becoming ineffective. Drs. Paczkowski and Gray each presented talks from their laboratories, titled “Timing is everything: how Pseudomonas aeruginosa makes and breaks a quorum” and “Calcium dependence and dynamics in mycobacterial cell-cell interaction”, respectively. Their talks reflected the conference’s goal of featuring new insights and future trends while also showcasing this focus of funded research conducted at the Wadsworth Center.