JULY 2012
A F F I L I AT E S L E T T E R The official newsletter for FEMS Affiliates
Also in this issue: Publications corner: • Give back to microbiology, publish in the FEMS Journals • Thematic Issue from FEMS Microbiology Ecology • Thematic Issue from FEMS Immunology and Medical Microbiology Grants page: • Call for nominations: FEMS-Lwoff Award • Featured Grantee Stephanie Braun Galleani Society page: Society of Microbiologists of Ukraine SAVE THE DATE: The next FEMS Congress will be on July 21-25, 2013 Grants deadlines List of FEMS-sponsored meetings in July and August Microbiology tidbits
The 5th Congress of European Microbiologists by the Federation of European Microbiological Societies (FEMS) will be held in the city of Leipzig in Germany on July 21 - 25, 2013.
“Special attention will also be given to young scientists by providing an important number of grants allowing them to attend the Congress,” he added.
Examples of key areas to be tackled will be: • Biodiversity • Bioremediation • Biofilms in ecology and medicine • Clinical microbiology and pathogenesis • Eukaryotic microbes • Food microbiology • Microbial stress responses • Molecular microbiology and genomics • Veterinary microbiology • Virology
FEMS brings together more than 40 member societies from more than 30 European countries. It links about 30,000 microbiologists together.
In his welcome letter, Congress Chairperson Hauke Harms wrote, “This important microbiology Congress will provide an interesting forum for thousands of European and other international colleagues to appreciate the current state of the art in microbiology during numerous symposia and workshops led by prominent scientists in their field.
Professionals in the field are encouraged to participate in this congress as it promises to be an exciting forum that will address the many challenges facing key areas in microbiology.
The meeting will be a chance to discuss solutions to future challenges and to provide topical coverage of key disciplines.” www.fems-microbiology.org
Its previous congresses were instrumental to opening scientific discussions among microbiologists. The past FEMS Congress was held in Geneva, Switzerland. More than 2,000 microbiologists attended making it the FEMS congress with the biggest turn-out so far.
Deadline for submission of abstracts is February 11, 2013. For more information on the upcoming congress, you may visit the congress website at: www.kenes.com/fems-microbiology.
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FEMS MICROBIOLOGY ECOLOGY: Subsurface Microbiology This thematic issue of FEMS Microbiology Ecology brings to you a selection of the most interesting and challenging topics of research presented or discussed at the ISSM in Garmisch, supplemented with other articles on subsurface microbiology. Our journey to the subsurface opens with a comprehensive MiniReview of acidophilic microorganisms and their activities in underground mines. The diverse range of subsurface systems addressed in the research papers that follow include caves and karst, pristine and polluted aquifers, the deep terrestrial subsurface, mines, gas and coal formations, waste deposition sites, shallow and deep marine sediments, as well as methane hydrate deposits. Processes and microbiological issues tackled cover the oxidation of methane and ammonia, chemolithoautotrophy, mineral weathering, Acid waters and microbial growth in the anaerobic respiration, fermentation and methanogenesis, anaerobic abandoned Cae Coch ‘sulfur’ mine: (top) an acidic iron-rich pool and macroscopic degradation of aromatic compounds, radionucleotide reduction, streamers; (bottom) microbial stalactites on a bioremediation, and even fracking. Several exciting methodologisemi-vertical mine wall face. cal innovations are also presented, including enhanced methods to study subsurface bacterial transport, to detect microbial biomass in oligotrophic mineral samples, and to analyse microbial community structure and function using nextgeneration microarrays, pyrosequencing, or protein-based stable isotope probing. Johnson, D. B. (2012), FEMS Microbiology Ecology, 81: 2–12
FEMS IMMUNOLOGY and MEDICAL MICROBIOLOGY: Understanding biofilms – are we there yet?
Cover image from Alhede et al. (2012) FEMS Immunol Med Microbiol 65: 335-342.
Do we understand bacterial biofilms? Yes, we probably understand much of the developmental processes and matrix production of surface in-vitrogenerated Pseudomonas aeruginosa mono-species biofilms and to a lesser extent of Staphyloccocus aureus, but little else. We do not know how biofilms initiate and know little of what they do in vivo, except that their persistence provokes a continuous inflammatory response. Although we are not able to diagnose or treat chronic biofilm infections easily and efficiently, we can to some extent prevent some infections. So are we there yet? No, but with new tools and those yet to come the biofilm filed is primed for major advances in the next decade.
Biofilms II covers the trends in biofilm research as presented in Copenhagen at EuroBiofilms 2011. Guest Editors: Thomas Bjarnsholt, Gianfranco Donelli, Åke Försberg, Niels Høiby and Christine Imbert. The Thematic Issue is dedicated to J.W. Costerton who died in May 2012. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1574-695X
P U B L I C AT I O N S PA G E
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Get your work out there! Submit to one of the five FEMS journals
No page or submission charges Free colour images Highly accessed: over 2 million downloads High quality editorial team
FEMS Microbiology Reviews publishes comprehensive reviews dealing with key areas in microbiology of current and future interest. Submit your manuscript online: http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/femsre Please visit: wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/femsre
FEMS Yeast Research has a broad coverage, publishing both fundamental and applied research on conventional and nonconventional yeasts and yeast-like organisms. Submit your manuscript online: http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/femsyr Please visit: wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/femsyr
FEMS Microbiology Letters aims to publish articles that merit urgent publication by virtue of their originality. MiniReviews cover all aspects of microbiology. Submit your manuscript online: http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/femsle Please visit: wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/femsle
FEMS Immunology & Medical Microbiology publishes papers relating to infection, infection control and their molecular and cellular correlates. Submit your manuscript online: http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/femsim Please visit: wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/femsim
FEMS Microbiology Ecology aims to publish high quality papers providing a significant contribution to the understanding of microbial ecology. Submit your manuscript online: http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/femsec Please visit: wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/femsec By publishing in a FEMS journal you help the scientific community by supporting FEMS Grants, Fellowships and Meetings
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Named in honour of the first FEMS President (1974-1976) Professor AndrĂŠ M. Lwoff, the FEMSLwoff Award is intended to reward a person or group of persons preferably working and residing in Europe in recognition of his/her/their outstanding service to microbiology in the continent. Initiated in the year 2000 at the occasion of the 25th Anniversary of FEMS, the FEMS-Lwoff Award consists of a prize-lecture presented at a FEMS Congress, a medal, and an honorarium of 1.000,00 euros. All fields of microbiology are considered in the award while preference will be given to scientific research activity. The award is usually conferred during the FEMS Congress. The next FEMS Congress will be held in Leipzig, Germany on July 21-25, 2013. If you want to nominate a person or group of persons, please check the regulations thoroughly before sending in your applications.
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PAST FEMS-LWOFF AWARDEES 2011 Miroslav Radman, Croatia Venue and date of awarding: 4th FEMS Congress, Geneva, Switzerland, 30 June 2011
2009 Karl-Heinz Schleifer, Germany Venue and date of awarding: 3rd FEMS Congress, Gothenburg, Sweden 1 July 2009
2006 Jorg Hacker, Germany Venue and date of awarding: 2nd FEMS Congress, Madrid, Spain 6 July 2006
2003 Sir David A. Hopwood, United Kingdom Venue and date of awarding: 1st FEMS Congress, Ljubljana, Slovenia 2 July 2003
2000 Philippe J. Sansonetti, France Venue and date of awarding: FEMS Jubilee, Sevilla, Spain 15 September 2000
DEADLINE FOR NOMINATIONS January 10, 2013 G R AN T S CO R N ER
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Words from Stephanie Braun Galleani, FEMS Meeting Attendance Grantee: I’m very grateful to FEMS for supporting my attendance at the 15th International Conference on the Cell and Molecular Biology of Chlamydomonas held in Potsdam. It was a very enjoyable experience and I got many new ideas to consider for my research, as well as great feedback and networking. Thanks FEMS!
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History
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The Winogradsky Society of microbiologists of Ukraine (SMU) was founded in 1959. It currently consists of 17 regional departments and includes more than 300 members: scientists, engineers, graduate students, teachers, among others. The SMU became a full member of FEMS in 2009.
Annually, members of the SMU take part in the organisation and realisation of All-Ukrainian international conferences. Examples of this are: the 12th International Congress on Yeasts (Kyiv, 2008), the 6th International Conference on Bioresources and Viruses (Kyiv, 2010), the International Poland-Ukraine Weigel Conference (From microbiology to synthetic biology) (Wroclaw, 2011).
The SMU is an All-Ukrainian public association of scientific volunteers and specialists of Ukraine. They come from more than 72 establishments including research institutes of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, departments of microbiology, virology, biotechnology, medical and agrarian.
The Germany-Ukraine International Scientific and Practical Conference of Radostim-2012 (Microbial biotechnologies: actuality and future) is planned to be held in Kyiv (November, 2012).
The main purpose of the SMU is the unification of scientists for development of microbiology, virology and adjacent sciences, defend their professional interests, mutual coordination of research works and exchange of experience between scientists.
Activities The SMU organizes meetings every 4-5 years. The last congress took place in Uzhhorod (2009). Scientists from Belgium, Great Britain, Hungary, Slovakia, and other countries were also present. The achievements of microbiologists of Ukraine are related to researches in ecology, systematics, physiology, biochemistry, and molecular biology of microorganisms, features of their cooperation with macroorganisms, developments of microbal biotechnology and use of microbal preparations in medical and veterinary practice, agriculture and defence of environment. Their work have been realized in medicine, agriculture, environmental protection. The SMU works with scientific establishments of Armenia, Byelorussia, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Czech Republic, France, Greece, Georgia, Germany, Hungary, Moldova, Poland, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, USA, and other countries. Scientific researches are conducted according to the grants and programs of INTAS, SORES, CRDF, NATO, FIRCA, STCU. S O C I E T Y F E AT U R E
The members of the SMU work in international organisations and are members of editorial boards of foreign magazines. A few microbiological magazines – Microbiological journal, Microbiology and biotechnology, Prophylactic medicine and others are published in Ukraine. The SMU thanks FEMS for all the support it provides to its member societies in terms of grants, dissemination of news and its own conferences. Text by Acad. NASU Valentyn S. Pidgorsky
ORGANISATION President: Prof. Valentyn S. Pidgorskyy Vice-Presidents: Prof. Ivan K. Kurdysh Prof. Volodymyr O. Ivanytsia Prof. Volodymyr P. Patica FEMS Delegate: Prof. Andriy A. Sibirny Secretary: PhD Lyudmyla O. Bilyavska
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DEADLINES 1 September 2012 1 April 2013 FEMS Meeting Attendance Grants
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MICROBIOLOGY TIDBITS
Manmade climate change is the main driver behind the unexpected emergence of a group of bacteria in northern Europe which can cause gastroenteritis, new research by a group of international experts shows.
1 December 2012 15 June 2013 FEMS Research Fellowships FEMS Visiting Scientist Grants
Source: Reuters, published by Science Daily
15 December 2012 1 June 2013 FEMS National & Regional Congresses Grants
Aging Heart Cells Rejuvenated by Modified Stem Cells
1 March 2013 FEMS Meeting Grants (for meetings to be held in 2014)
FEMS-Sponsored Meetings, August - September 2012
2 012 A u g 2 5 Summer School in Applied Molecular Microbiology, Croatia
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Bacteria outbreak in Northern Europe due to ocean warming, study says
1 October 2012 FEMS Advanced Fellowships
2 012 A u g 19 The Power of the Small (ISME14), Denmark
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Damaged and aged heart tissue of older heart failure patients was rejuvenated by stem cells modified by scientists, according to research presented at the American Heart Association’s Basic Cardiovascular Sciences 2012 Scientific Sessions. Source: American Heart Association
Researchers Produce First Complete Computer Model of an Organism In a breakthrough effort for computational biology, the world’s first complete computer model of an organism has been completed, Stanford researchers reported last week in the journal Cell. Source: Stanford University
2 012 S e p 9 IPNC 2012, Germany 2 012 S e p 10 9th Int’l Congress on Extremophiles, Spain 2 0 12 S e p 11 Tuberculosis 2012, France 2 012 S e p 16 9th IMYA, Italy
Behold, the Artificial Jellyfish: Researchers Create Moving Model, Using Silicone Polymer and Heart Muscle Cells Using recent advances in marine biomechanics, materials science, and tissue engineering, a team of researchers at Harvard University and the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have turned inanimate silicone and living cardiac muscle cells into a freely swimming “jellyfish.” Source: Harvard University
2 012 S e p 2 3 CESAR 2012, Croatia
The FEMS Affiliates Letter is a production of FEMS Central Office
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