Rapid Fire Presentations take place inside the Petri Dish—immersive, igloo-style theaters located in the Exhibit and Poster Hall. In this high-traffic space, attendees can catch short, 5-minute talks highlighting bold ideas, preliminary data and emerging discoveries.
Selected from top abstracts, Rapid Fire presenters pair their talk with a poster presentation, creating opportunities for deeper discussion on the exhibit floor. Each ASM Microbe 2026 meeting will feature its own dedicated Petri Dish, making it easy to discover fast-paced, emerging science throughout the program.
Why Attend?
High energy, bite-sized science in a central, high traffic space.
A dynamic way to discover emerging research and new ideas.
Opportunities to engage directly with presenters on the exhibit and poster floor.
A unique feature of ASM Microbe 2026 you won’t find anywhere else.
Experience Rapid Fires—and much more—at ASM Microbe 2026.
ASM Health Meeting Overview
Advancing Microbial Science for a Healthier World
The ASM Health Meeting is a dynamic, inclusive scientific ecosystem that brings together professionals from across the clinical, public health, biomedical and translational research spectrum to tackle urgent challenges at the intersection of microbial science and human health. By combining the Antimicrobial Agents and Resistance (AAR), Clinical and Public Health Microbiology (CPHM) and Clinical Infections and Vaccines (CIV) communities, this new meeting fosters a holistic, multi-disciplinary approach to understanding infectious diseases, innovating diagnostics and treatment, and strengthening global health resilience.
With a commitment to advancing microbial science for societal benefit, and a focus on diagnostics, prevention, therapeutics, surveillance and the microbiome, the ASM Health Meeting facilitates cross-cutting dialogue among academic, clinical, public health and industry sectors.
Advancing Innovation at the Intersection of Microbial Science and Global Health
From emerging pathogens and microbiome-driven therapeutics to next-generation surveillance and prevention strategies, these featured sessions spotlight groundbreaking science shaping the future of human and animal health.
Diagnostics and Laboratory Systems: explore diagnostic microbiology and clinical lab operations that improve the speed, accuracy and equity of infectious disease detection, including molecular diagnostics, automation, AI, stewardship and decentralized testing for clinical and public health use.
Vaccines, Immunology and Prevention: delve into novel vaccine technologies, immunological profiling and prevention strategies for infectious diseases in humans and animals, including translational immunology, innovative platforms (e.g., mRNA, vector-based), population-level prevention and immune-based diagnostics.
Antimicrobials and Therapeutics: advance discovery, development and application of antimicrobial and non-traditional therapies, including mechanisms of action, resistance, pharmacodynamics and emerging treatments (e.g., phages and peptides). This area also explores other innovative solutions for antimicrobial resistance, tolerance and toxicity.
Clinical Infectious Disease and Management: apply diagnosis, treatment and clinical management of infectious diseases across patient populations and health care settings, including adult and pediatric care, infections in immunocompromised patients, global disease patterns and hospital acquired infections, with an emphasis on evidence-based practice to improve patient outcomes.
Public Health, Surveillance and Systems: use microbial surveillance systems, including genomic and environmental surveillance, AMR tracking and real-time outbreak response, to generate actionable insights to prevent, detect and respond to infectious disease threats across human, animal and environmental health.
Microbiomes and Ecosystems Health: explore functions, interactions and therapeutic potential of microbiomes across humans, animals, plants and the environment, integrating systems of biology and engineered interventions to advance applications in health, agriculture and climate resilience.
