Microbe Forum 2 Comes to AiG

Creation microbiologists from around the country—from both creation organizations and secular universities—came together for another meeting of minds to promote creation research.

What was the role of fungi, viruses, parasites, and bacteria in God’s “very good” original creation? What mechanisms have led to changes in microbes since the Fall such that some now cause disease? Are mitochondria the result of past endosymbiosis? What is the role of endogenous retroviruses that make up 8% of the human genome? Should microbes be considered extracellular organelles? All of these topics and more were discussed at the AiG sponsored Microbe Forum 2 in July of 2009.

AiG was proud to sponsor the first ever Microbe Forum meeting in 2007. The purpose of the forum is to present research related to the role of microbes before and after the Fall. This includes not only combating the evolutionary thinking on the topic of microbes, but also proposing models to increase understanding of the role of microbes in God’s creation.

The 2007 meeting consisted of presentations from creation microbiologists from around the country and affiliated with several creation organizations (AiG, Institute for Creation Research, and Creation Research Society) and secular universities. Proceedings of the meeting were published in Answers Research Journal (ARJ). In addition, a variety of papers have appeared in both ARJ and Answers in Depth on the topic of creation microbiology from Microbe Forum participants (see complete list below).

This year eight creation microbiologists (including two new members) participated, and six gave presentations on their research for Microbe Forum 2. Presentation titles were as follows:

Overview of Creation Microbiology
The Natural History of Retroviruses: Exogenization vs. Endogenization
A Review of Mitoribosome Structure and Function Does Not Support Serial Endosymbiotic Theory
A Possible Function of Entamoeba histolytica in the Creation Model
Fungi from the Biblical Perspective: Design and Purpose in the Original Creation
The Role of Genomic Islands, Mutation, and Displacement in the Origin of Bacterial Pathogenicity

The research presented will be detailed in a series of microbiology articles in our peer-reviewed technical (and free!) online journal Answers Research Journal later this year.

Research and creation model building continue, and plans are being set for Microbe Forum 3 in 2011. AiG is pleased to continue to play a role in bringing together scientists to discuss and research the issues that are at the forefront of the creation/evolution debate.