2025 Peggy Cotter Awardee: Zhenxin Sun
ASM Microbe 2025 – Peggy Cotter Travel Awardee Experience Summary
Submitted by: Zhenxin Sun, M.Sc./ Ph.D.
Attending ASM Microbe 2025 in Los Angeles as a Peggy Cotter Travel Award recipient was a truly transformative and empowering experience. I am deeply grateful for this opportunity to engage with the global microbiology community, exchange ideas, and explore a wide range of career paths within the field.
One of the highlights of my time at the meeting was participating in the full-day “Unlock Your Career Potential: A Job Search and Career Development Summit” held on June 19, 2025. This summit could not have come at a better time, as I am currently in the midst of a career transition and seeking clarity on my next steps.
The summit opened with a forward-looking session on the future of the microbial sciences workforce by Dr. Shelley Payne, followed by a dynamic panel on navigating career opportunities featuring professionals across various sectors. I especially appreciated the practical workshops on resume building and interviewing led by Lauren Celano and Dr. Casey Schroeder, which were packed with actionable advice that I can directly apply. Equally impactful was the session on mental health in science by Dr. Sharon Milgram, who emphasized the importance of sustainability and balance in scientific careers, an often overlooked yet essential topic. A particularly memorable experience was the career speed networking session, where I had the opportunity to speak directly with professionals from academia, industry, government, clinical microbiology, and public health. I was especially inspired by my conversation with Dr. Rebecca Yee, Chief of Microbiology at George Washington University Hospital. She shared valuable insights into what it is like to work as a microbiologist in a hospital setting and highlighted several advantages of this career path, including access to a steady stream of patient samples, flexibility in balancing research and teaching responsibilities, and opportunities for diverse research funding. Dr. Yee also offered thoughtful guidance on how young scientists or those looking to pivot mid-career can pursue this path effectively. Her encouragement and perspective were incredibly motivating, giving me a clearer picture of a potential direction for my future.
Another exciting and forward-looking aspect of the conference was the growing integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in microbiology, showcased during the session titled “Back to the Future: Combining Traditional Microbiology Techniques and Artificial Intelligence Algorithms.” This session opened my eyes to how AI is transforming diagnostic microbiology and laboratory workflows. For example, I learned how AI-assisted analysis is being applied to interpret urine cultures more efficiently, including the detection of pathogens such as MRSA, which was identified by an AI system but missed during manual culturing. The integration of AI with chromogenic agar has enhanced sensitivity, while automated zone diameter measurement offers improved consistency in antibiotic susceptibility testing. What truly impressed me was AI's expanding role beyond bacterial culture, supporting gram stain interpretation, acid-fast bacilli detection, malaria diagnosis in hematology, and even ova and parasite examinations in parasitology. These tools not only increase throughput but also reduce inter-observer variability and error, particularly in resource-limited settings. Additionally, AI is being actively explored in areas such as vaccine development and predictive modeling of pathogen behavior, offering exciting interdisciplinary research opportunities at the intersection of microbiology and computational science.
In addition to these sessions, I was particularly inspired by a talk presented by Dr. Haig Alexander Eskandarian titled “Using Atomic Force Microscopy to Track Bacterial Growth and Membrane Dynamics.” This session demonstrated the power of long-term time-lapse atomic force microscopy (LTTL-AFM) in studying the surface architecture and behavior of Mycobacterium spp. in unprecedented detail. I was fascinated by how AFM can be used to monitor bacterial growth and membrane dynamics in real time, revealing insights into how physical properties of the bacterial envelope contribute to pathogenesis and virulence. This cutting-edge technique offers a valuable tool to bridge the gap between molecular biology and biomechanical behavior, and it has inspired new ways of thinking about host-pathogen interactions at the nanoscale.
Beyond the summit and scientific sessions, ASM Microbe itself was an outstanding meeting, filled with cutting-edge presentations, poster sessions, and meaningful networking opportunities. It was inspiring to be surrounded by such a passionate and collaborative community of microbiologists working to solve critical problems in health, the environment, and beyond.
Thank you again to the Peggy Cotter Travel Award committee for supporting my participation. This experience has greatly enriched my professional development, broadened my perspective on career possibilities in microbiology, and strengthened my resolve to contribute meaningfully to the field, particularly at the exciting intersection of microbiology, AI, and advanced microscopy.
