The theme of the meeting is Microbiomes Matter, and the focus of the sessions will be on the significant effect that microbiome research and methodology is having on all fields of applied microbiology, including the control of microbial populations in agricultural, food/food safety, built environments and in “man-made” materials as well as on understanding the resistome. While this theme is important to the meeting, we also encourage participants interested in microbial control without experience in microbiomes to attend and present, as the central focus of this meeting is still microbial control.