Hello,

Welcome to Day 2 of the PDA Pharmaceutical Microbiology Conference 2025!

Yesterday was an exciting start to the conference! With more than 580 attendees (our largest PDA Pharmaceutical Microbiology Conference to date!) the atmosphere was vibrant—fostering knowledge sharing, connecting theory with practice, and inspiring meaningful networking and collaboration throughout the day. The Exhibit Hall, featuring over 50 exhibitors, was filled with energy and enthusiasm.

After a full day of insightful presentations and engaging Q&A, Day 1 concluded with a Networking Reception. The event provided the perfect opportunity for attendees to engage with exhibitors, forge new connections, and reconnect with longtime friends and colleagues.

On Deck Today

Today’s program includes our third plenary session, with 2020 Nobel Prize winner in Physiology or Medicine, Dr. Harvey Alter. Twenty-nine additional speakers round out the program with topics ranging from endotoxin testing to contamination control strategies to EU Annex 1 compliance. Explore all of your options via the agenda in the My PDA App.

Selected Highlights From Yesterday

The morning kicked off with a Welcome and Opening Remarks from PDA Leadership and Conference Co-Chairs:

The opening plenary: Lessons of Recovery and Resilience highlighted the coordinated efforts among industry, regulators, and public health partners in the immediate aftermath of a natural disaster. Presenter Christiana Bielinski from Baxter related the story of how the organization recovered from the devastation of Hurricane Helene through collaboration with regulators to enable the rapid restoration of operations to avert a national drug supply crisis.

Session moderator, Erika Pfeiler, PhD, discussed with us what practitioners can immediately take back and apply from this session. She emphasized that planning is key since you never know what type of disaster may occur. We also discussed the biggest hurdles companies face when putting these ideas into practice. Erika highlighted that resources are often the greatest challenge, balancing the investment in preparedness with other operational priorities can be difficult, as every resource spent here is one that can’t be used elsewhere.

Elizabeth (Liz) Brockson, MPH, VPH, Aseptic Processing and Sterility Assurance Lead, Takeda Pharmaceuticals, moderated the second plenary session: Breaking Biofilms, which explored breakthrough research on a universal biofilm matrix component that, when targeted, causes the biofilm structure to collapse.

We spoke with Liz about  Dr. Lauren Bakaletz's  presentation, which explored how bacterial phenotypes can offer new opportunities to better manage chronic and hard-to-treat diseases where bacterial biofilms play a major role. She believes that staying informed about new discoveries in biofilm research will be critical to identifying novel approaches to eliminating biofilms, which could one day be applied to pharmaceutical manufacturing.

We highlighted one of our many concurrent sessions with: Bio-Decontamination in Focus, moderated by Daniel Bice, Associate Director Microbiologist Quality Compliance, Teva. The session tackled critical processing challenges, including rogue biological indicators (BIs) that compromise validation reliability, and explored VHP’s effectiveness against resilient lyophilized biohazards.

We spoke with Daniel about the current challenges surrounding rogue BIs and ways to navigate them. His key takeaway from the session was the value of using electronic imaging, such as electron microscopy, to investigate the physical causes behind rogue BIs. He noted the importance of keeping an eye out for additional data from presenters Dr. Hussein Bachir  and Giacomo Guidi, MEng, which will potentially uncover more insights into bio-decontamination processes.

Dive Into the Latest Research at the Poster Presentations

Yesterday’s 23 Poster Presentations encouraged lively discussion and showcased innovative research. Don’t miss the new selection of posters on display today.

Stop by to pick up a limited-edition PDA Week 2026 T-Shirt (while supplies last). Sign up for a PDA membership at the booth and receive your second year free.

Lastly, don't miss out on the Networking Lunch today from 12:30-14:00. Please take time to visit the exhibitors and thank our sponsors for their support and make sure to get your passport stamped to qualify for the Passport Drawing. Winners will be announced during the Networking Break (15:30–16:15). Good luck to our participants!

Sincerely,

Lori Daane, PhD, and Erika A. Pfeiler, PhD
PDA Pharmaceutical Microbiology Conference 2025 Co-Chairs

And a big thank you to our Sponsors!

Diamond Sponsor
  • bioMérieux
Platinum Sponsors
  • Associates of Cape Cod
  • Rapid Micro Biosystems
Silver Sponsor
  • Charles River
Parenteral Drug Association (PDA), 4350 East West Highway, Suite 600, Bethesda, MD 20814, USA, +1 (301) 656-5900