It was an absolute privilege to represent Bangladesh at the 14th International Meeting on Microbial Epidemiological Markers (IMMEM XIV), held from 17–20 September 2025 in Porto — the largest clinical microbiology conference dedicated to microbial typing and epidemiology. The meeting brought together scientists from across the globe to share the latest developments in the field.

Dr. Senjuti Saha, Deputy Executive Director at CHRF, served on the organizing committee, spoke in a debate session on bacterial strain typing, and presented insights from CHRF’s semi-national invasive bacterial disease surveillance network—highlighting the challenges of bacterial identification in low-resource settings, how genomics can help answer critical questions, and the gaps that remain.

Three of CHRF’s young scientists had their posters selected: Ms. Sharmin Mehbooba on differentiating the Klebsiella pneumoniae species complex via rpoB gene (Sanger sequencing to MAMA-PCR), Mr. Himadree Sarkar on bactericidal tailocins against high-risk clones of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Ms. Sumona Akter on identifying clinical non-Enterobacteriaceae isolates using 16S rRNA sequencing — with Ms. Sumona presenting her poster in person.

We were also honored that our paper, “Overcoming Colonialism in Pathogen Genomics” was highlighted by Professor Simon Williamson, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Head of the School of Medicine at the University of St Andrews, UK.

We are grateful to the IMMEM XIV and the global scientific community for providing such a valuable opportunity. We look forward to continuing our journey of learning, collaboration, and contribution to the global scientific community.