The nonprofit Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) sponsors a series of Science Research Conferences (SRCs) each year. These conferences offer scientists a collegial and relaxing environment to discuss and explore new findings and approaches to specific research areas. They feature small-group settings in which scientists, faculty, postdoctoral fellows, and graduate students discuss scientific advances and share cutting-edge research through lectures, poster sessions, and informal discussions. The FASEB Science Research Conference on Microbial Glycobiology was held on July 13-14, 2020. The FASEB Conference on Microbial Glycobiology is a biennial meeting that forms part of the FASEB SRC Series. The Microbial Glycobiology Conference provides in-depth focus on emerging glycobiological topics such as host-pathogen interactions, the human microbiome, glycan-based vaccines and therapeutics, and industrial applications including biofilms and enzymes. This diversity recognizes the growing importance of microbial glycobiology in health and technology. Due to the COVID-19 pandemics, the 2020 FASEB Conference on Microbial Glycobiology was carried out in a virtual setting featuring 120 participants from different countries worldwide. The conference showcased exciting new avenues and novel research in the broad field of microbial glycobiology, covering aspects dealing with virulence and pathogenicity of microbes, as well as the critical role of microbes in the gut for health and homeostasis. The conference was organized in four thematic scientific sessions and featured Dr. M. Stephen Trent as the Keynote Speaker. He described the intricate mechanisms of adaptation of Acinetobacter baumannii, showing how this emerging, multidrug-resistant opportunistic bacterium can survive without lipopolysaccharide and unravelling the compensatory mechanisms associated with antimicrobial resistance. His findings expand our notions on bacterial cell envelope biogenesis, providing a framework for future studies to unravel the connections between lipid A and lipopolysaccharide synthesis in general and cell wall peptidoglycan biogenesis. Session 1, chaired by Nathalie Juge (Quadram Institute Bioscience, Norwich, UK), concerned the glycobiology of microbe-host interactions. This session covered topics on mucus and gut microbiota with a focus on the role of host glycans and dietary glycans on the interaction with microbes. The opening talk was given by Gunnar Hansson (University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden), the world leader in the study of mucus biochemistry and biology. His seminal work on mucus in the gut has inspired a novel generation of scientists from all over the world, as was evident from the number of poster and oral presentations given on mucins throughout the conference. During his presentation we learned new information about the heterogeneity of mucus secreted in the gut and the different types of goblet cells, spanning a diverse family of cells generating several specialized mucus layers to respond to bacterial challenge. His presentation was followed by presentations from Clara Belzer (Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands) on the role of human milk oligosaccharides in priming gut bacteria to adapt to the gut mucus layer and the effect of mucin glycans on biofilm formation and microbial signaling and virulence (Katharina Ribbeck, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA). We then dug deep into the molecular and structural mechanisms underpinning how bacteria recognize, transport, and metabolize complex glycans. We learned from Andrew Bell (Quadram Institute Bioscience), Nathalie Juge, and Gavin Thomas (University of York, York, UK) about the critical role of sialic acid, a major carbohydrate in mucins, in modulating commensal and pathogens in the gut. We then explored the set of polysaccharide-utilization loci (PULs), glycoside hydrolase (GH) families, and glycan-binding proteins required for members of the gut microbiota to metabolize the dietary glycans or mucin glycans through short talks and invited presentations. Nicole Koropatkin (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA) focused her presentation on the structural features underpinning surface glycan-binding lipoproteins to target starch, xyloglucan, and mixed-linkage β-glucans in PULs from Bacteroidetes. In his prerecorded presentation, Harry Brumer (University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada) further described the interplay of cell-surface GH and glycan-binding proteins enable specific Bacteroides strains to utilize β(1,3)-glucans, which constitute dietary fiber from algal, yeast, and plant cell walls, highlighting the role of the new GH family 158. Two short talks completed this session. Matthew Ostrowski (University of Michigan) shared his work on the metabolism of xanthan gum, a common food additive, highlighting the role of a novel GH5 enzyme in this process. Finally, Lucy Crouch (University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK) presented her latest and exciting data on the discovery of endo-acting O-glycanases within the GH16 family that have the capacity to target the polyLacNAc structures within oligosaccharide side chains of mammalian mucins. Overall, Session 1 highlighted advances in both commensal and pathogen microbial glycobiology, reflecting the growing interest and recognized importance of mucus and the gut microbiota in this field. There is clear benefit and value to be gained by considering all aspects of microbial glycobiology, and the two fields are starting to come together to address biological questions such as how commensals and pathogens compete or interact in situ. The growing interest in gut microbiota has renewed the importance of microbial and host glycans to the wider scientific community and provides a route to promote glycobiology across disciplines. Session 2, chaired by Fikri Avci (University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA), highlighted studies on microbial virulence mechanisms and glycan-based therapeutic and prophylactic approaches against viral and bacterial pathogens. In her opening talk, Alla Zamyatina (BOKU, Vienna, Austria) presented lipopolysaccharide and its lipid A moiety as major virulence factors for Gram-negative bacteria. She summarized the host toll-like receptor (TLR) interactions of lipid A followed by delineating LPS-TLR interactions at the structural and biochemical level through the use of synthetic lipid A and lipid A mimetics developed in her laboratory. We next learned about another major bacterial virulence factor, the capsular polysaccharide (CPS), from Rita Gerardy-Schahn (Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany) who presented a compelling case for utilizing the polymerases that facilitate the biosynthesis of CPSs to develop tools for the production of nature-identical, knowledge-based vaccines against encapsulated bacterial pathogens. Next, a novel bacterial virulence factor EndoS secreted by Group A streptococcus (GAS) was introduced by Mattias Collin (Lund University, Lund, Sweden). EndoS is an endoglycosidase that specifically cleaves the N-glycan on the Fc region of IgG antibodies, thereby impairing their effector function. Through IgG hydrolysis by EndoS, GAS evades adaptive immune responses. We next shifted gears to a viral pathogen and learned about adaptive humoral immune responses induced by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) gp120 envelope glycoprotein, from Fikri Avci; he reported recent findings from his laboratory demonstrating that a CD4+ helper T-cell repertoire recognizes a glycopeptide epitope on gp120 presented by MHCII pathway. This glycopeptide is highly immunogenic and elicits neutralizing antibody production upon immunization. Session 2 continued with selected short talks that focused on host interactions of microbial factors and their effect in pathogenicity or symbiosis. Ana Luis (University of Gothenburg) presented her work on mucin utilizing sulfatases and fucosidases by Bacteroides; Meztlli Gaytan (Abigail Wexner Research Institute, Columbus, OH, USA) introduced a novel sialic acid-binding adhesin contributing to the pathogenesis of infective endocarditis; Mindy Engevik (Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA) gave a presentation focused on microbial degradation of ileal mucus that promotes rotavirus infection; Christian Bull (Copenhagen Center for Glycomics, Copenhagen, Denmark) proposed a cell-based mucin display to study mucosal interactions of microbes; Didier Ndeh (Quadram Institute) described a methyltransferase expressed by Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron as an essential factor for pectin metabolism in the human gut; and in the last presentation of the session, Ekaterina Buzun (Newcastle University, Newcastle, UK) delineated mechanisms employed by Bacteroides type 9 secretion of glycoside hydrolases in the gut glycan metabolism. Overall, Session 2 laid out our current understanding of the major virulence mechanisms employed by microbial products and ways we can utilize these mechanisms and microbial products to develop strategies and products to combat infectious diseases. We also learned about the advances in host interactions of symbiotic bacteria and how these interactions modulate homeostasis and dysbiosis. Session 3, chaired by Nichollas Scott (University of Melbourne), explored protein glycosylation and the increasing recognition of these systems across microbial organisms. The session opened with Justin Boddey (Walter AND Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, Parkville, VIC, Australia), who discussed his work on the role of glycosylation on protein stability within Plasmodium falciparum and, in particular, how O-fucosylation affects the protein stability of key surface proteins that are essential for mosquito/vertebrate transmission. Boddy revealed exciting results that C-glycosylation also plays a critical role in parasite transmission and highlighted the potential to improve malaria vaccines by incorporating these modifications. This theme was extended in the prerecorded lecture by Igor Almeida (University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX, USA), who highlighted his work harnessing the power of glycotopes for vaccines and biomarkers for Trypanosome cruzi, the causing agent of Chagas disease. Keeping with the theme of protein glycosylation, Nichollas Scott discussed his interest in O-linked glycosylation within the Burkholderia genus and his work to improve our understanding of the pan-Burkholderia glycoproteome. He highlighted that the glycoproteome of Burkholderia species is far greater than anticipated, with nearly 200 proteins subjected to glycosylation in the cystic fibrosis pathogen Burkholderia cenocepacia. Next, the session moved from a focus on glycoproteins to glycolipids with Stephen Cochrane (Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, UK) discussing his work developing novel probes based on undecaprenyl lipids derived from plants; he elegantly demonstrated how semisynthetic approaches can be used to produced novel undecaprenyl probes at a near-gram scale, opening new avenues for the study of bacterial glycopolymers. Michael Koomey (University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway), returned to the topic of protein glycosylation and presented his recent findings on the evolution of the Neisseria O-linked glycosylation system and pan-Neisseria glycoproteome. He highlighted the exciting observation that subtle differences in oligosaccharyl transferases from Neisseria species have profound effects on the substrates targeted for glycosylation. The concept of subtle differences in transferases affecting substrate targeting was also mirrored in the prerecorded presentation from Elizabeth Hartland (Hudson Institute of Medical Research, Clayton, VIC, Australia). Speaking about her pioneering work characterizing the arginine glycosyltransferase effectors, Hartland highlighted that although similar in sequence, the NleB/SseK effectors target discrete substrates during infections. In the final invited talk of the session, we heard from Giulia Bandini (University of York), an emerging leader in the field of Toxoplasma glycosylation, who described SPY-catalysed O-fucosylation. Bandini highlighted her recent findings on the functional consequences of SPY and the role of O-fucosylation in parasite fitness. These presentations were followed by short talks. Mingji Li (Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA) reported a novel and useful scanning glycomutagenesis approach to understand structure-activity relationships of glycosylation sites in proteins. Jaqueline Gerhardt (University of Campinas, Campinas, SP, Brazil) discussed the influence of N-glycosylation pathway mutants on recombinant enzyme production in fungal systems and lastly, Nadine L. Samara (U.S. National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA), showed data on the structure of the N-acetylgalactosaminyltransferase T12 and the importance of non-conserved residues for substrate glycosylation. Overall, Session 3 showcased both emerging and established group leaders drawing the community’s attention to the wide variety of protein glycosylation systems now identified in microbes. The growing recognition and interest in these systems resulted from improvements in the tools at the community’s disposal, such as novel probes and mass spectrometry instrumentation. As these tools continue to improve, we anticipate additional novel findings in the microbial protein glycosylation space, emphasizing the biological relevance of protein glycosylation in the physiology, and adaption of microbes, as well as a novel target for developing new therapies and diagnostic tools. Session 4, chaired by Carole Creuzenet (University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada), continued with the microbial glycan synthesis and surfaces theme. The talks in this session described the novel uses of glycosylation mechanisms or glycan-degrading enzymes for diagnostics and the development of new antimicrobials, as well as other talks highlighting the fundamental aspects of surface glycan synthesis and adaptations of such mechanisms to host/microbe interactions. The opening talk of this session was provided by Zuzanna Drulis-Kawa (University of Wroclaw, Wroclaw, Poland), who developed the fascinating angle of exploiting phages and their glycan-degrading enzymes as alternatives to antimicrobials, a very timely research area in the light of rising antimicrobial resistance that has resulted in many pathogens being declared as priority pathogens by the World Health Organization. Carmen Galan (University of Bristol, Bristol, UK) then described highly innovative antibacterial carbon nanodots that can be exploited to label and eliminate clinical microorganisms. This was followed by Jose A. Bengoecha (Queen’s University Belfast) and Paola Sperandeo (University of Milan, Milan, Italy) who revealed new advances in our understanding of lipid A adaptations to virulence after tissue exposure and lipopolysaccharide transport, respectively, and by Carole Creuzenet, who described how the capsule synthesis machinery of Campylobacter jejuni can be exploited to curtail campylobacteriosis. We then explored a variety of mechanisms that allow bacteria to optimize their interactions with hosts. Two talks related to protein glycosylation: Ravin Seepersaud (San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center and University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA) described the role of O-acetylation on protein glycosylation for streptococcal binding to human platelets, and Dimitris Latousakis (Quadram Institute Biosciences) described O-protein glycosylation in gut commensal bacteria. Two further talks related to modifications in the surface polysaccharides: Yang Shen (Institute of Food, Nutrition, and Health, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland) showed how bacteriophages induce modifications in the surface of Listeria by effecting enzymes involved in wall teichoic acid synthesis, and Sarah N. Tindall (University of York) described the role of O-acetylation in O-antigen modification in Salmonella. Finally, two talks highlighted the role of lectins in host-pathogen interactions and immune modulation: Dimitra Lamprinaki (Quadram Institute Biosciences) discussed how Siglec lectins contribute to immunomodulation induced by Fusarium in colorectal cancer, and Kelly Lee (School of Life Sciences, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK) showed how ligands at the surface of Pseudomonas aeruginosa interfere with C-type lectin receptor function. Overall, Session 4 covered a breadth of topics and bacterial species, from enhanced fundamental discovery in mechanisms of surface glycan synthesis and their host- or phage-induced modifications, to innovative applications of glycan synthesis pathways to curtail disease, and provide alternative to antimicrobials, as well as the effect of surface glycans on the host response, covering both commensal and pathogenic bacteria. The breadth of topics covered highlights the high potential of glycobiology in the in-depth understanding and potentially better control of host-microbe interactions. In summary, the 2020 FASEB Microbial Glycobiology Conference was a success, and also reflected on the concerted efforts of scientists across the world to participate and disseminate their recent findings despite the limitations imposed by the COVID-19 pandemics. The FASEB Conference on Microbial Glycobiology received support from the following sponsors: Chemical Biology (ACS Publications), the Society for Glycobiology, Glycom (Hørsholm, Denmark), the Journal of Biological Chemistry, VaxNewMo LLC (St. Louis, MO, USA), GLYcoDiag (Orléans, France), and the Microbiology Society. The Organizing Committee thanks the sponsors for their support. Sponsorship also allowed the committee to provide four awards for the best short talks and poster presentations by junior researchers, which were given to: Andrew Bell (Quadram Institute Bioscience, Norwich, UK), Kelly Lee (University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK), Sarah Tindall (University of York, York, UK), and Wouter van Bakel (Quadram Institute Bioscience). The authors declare no conflicts of interest. N. Juge, F. Avci, N. E. Scott, C. Creuzenet, and M. A. Valvano jointly wrote the article.