APRIL 2013
A F F I L I AT E S L E T T E R The official newsletter for FEMS Affiliates
FEMS 2013: attractive to young scientists Also in this issue: MIRRI questionnaire Society Feature Italian Society for Virology Publications Page Molecular insights into environmental microbes Grants Corner • FEMS National and Regional Congresses Grant • FEMS Research Fellowship Deadlines FEMS-Sponsored Meetings Microbiology TidBits
Poster session at FEMS 2011 in Geneva. At FEMS 2013 in Leipzig, drinks and bites will be served at the poster sessions.
From 21 - 25 July, microbiological Europe will gather in Leipzig for FEMS 2013. The biennial congress literally represents FEMS’ most important aim: to unify the science of microbiology within Europe. Bernhard Schink and Jean Claude Piffaretti, the President and Vice-President of the Federation, highlight some of the initiatives to reach this goal. ‘Our greatest wish is to welcome as many young scientists as possible, in a context of scientific excellence.’ ‘We want to give young microbiologists throughout Europe the chance to attend our congress’, Jean-Claude Piffaretti says. ‘That is why we incorporated some programme items that are especially attractive to them.
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Instead of a traditional one-time conference banquet, we are offering drinks and snacks with the late afternoon poster sessions each day. People can take a look at the work of others, in an informal atmosphere.’
PhD discussion groups Bernhard Schink continues with some other aspects of FEMS 2013. ‘Besides poster presentations, there will also be discussion groups in which talented PhD students are given the opportunity to present their work to a relatively small group of colleagues. In these sessions, young scientists will gain international experience in an accessible way.’ Continue on page 2.
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Continuation of page 1
Career management Furthermore, scientific publisher Wiley Blackwell and FEMS’ Publications Manager Jim Prosser are going to organise a workshop on how to write a scientific paper. Schink explains: ‘This part of the programme is based on the success of such a session on our congress in Geneva in 2011. Wiley and Prosser will do it again now because, of course, all PhD students make the same mistakes. It is good to get some structured advice on how to organise your data and how to bring it to the attention of your colleagues and of interesting journals.’ This kind of ‘career management’ is also available for postdocs, but on a somewhat different level. ‘The Society of General Microbiology is going to
give career mentoring classes, primarily meant for scientists in postdoc positions’, Schink amplifies. ‘They will have to start thinking about their publication strategy and that may become quite a new challenge to them. In the mentoring classes, SGM will help them with it.’
Different traditions With these efforts, FEMS is working on the Federation’s primary goal. Piffaretti: ‘European microbiologists work on the highest scientific level, but there are differences based on traditions. FEMS want to unify them. At the biennial congress, we offer this broad European talent to anyone in our research field.
MIRRI Questionnaire Are you using microbial/genetic materials and services offered by Culture Collections or are you going to in the near future? Then, the Microbial Resource Research Infrastructure (MIRRI) needs your opinion. MIRRI aims to construct a pan-European distributed Research Infrastructure, connecting microbial resource holders with stakeholders. This platform will facilitate efficient ex-situ access to microorganisms, their derivatives and associated data, as well as expertise and services. MIRRI is now investigating your needs and expectations in this respect. Please let them know what you think. It will only take 20 minutes. You can exit the questionnaire at any time and resume later. On behalf of MIRRI: thank you!
Start the questionnaire
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Italian Society for Virology The Italian Society for Virology was founded in September 2001, as a non-profit scientific association aimed at promoting teaching, study and research in virology. The interests of SIV and its associates go across the fields of general, medical, veterinary and vegetal virology. Full members and student members SIV has got over 300 members from Faculties of the main Universities, the Veterinary Public Health Institutes (IZS), the National Research Council (CNR), the National Institute of Health (ISS) and other public and private institutions active in public health and science. Fifteen world famous virologists, immunologists and pathologists have been associated as SIV Honorary Members.
The SIV has been among the co-founders of the European Society for Virology (www.eusv.eu) established in Rome, April 2009, to which it has provided two of the Executive Board members. We have organized the new Society meeting in Cernobbio, April 2010. Three days in Orvieto each year A three-day general Meeting is held every year to gather all SIV members and provide a regular setting where to exchange data, perspectives and thoughts, between senior virologists and young scientists and students from different parts of Italy and other fields of activity. The Annual SIV Meeting is held during September in the medieval small city of Orvieto, offering a warm environment that conjugates affordable attendance conditions and continuous interac-
Excellence in virology is a keystone in the history of SIV, and acceptance of new full members depends on Take a look at our website: www.SIV-virologia.it minimal requisites of scientific and professional career. Students can become extraordinary members, tion between participants. This has been proven with free temporary registration to the SIV and beneficial to optimizing full participation of young reduced registration fees for SIV meetings. virologists, whose training in the presentation of data in front of large audiences remains a main target of the SIV. In this respect, the SIV annual SIV’s activities meeting is held in English and the attendance of Since its foundation, the SIV has pursued its curforeign virologists is regularly pursued, also via rent activities. These include the organization of official participation of delegations from other meetings, workshops, courses, professional trainSocieties for Virology in Europe. ing, post-university education, scientific advice and the implementation of guidelines. Current Executive Board We give much interest to interaction with other The former President of the SIV, SIV founder and societies and scientific bodies within and outside current ESV First Vice-President, Prof. Giorgio the country, to finalize inter-laboratory exchange, Palù (University of Padua), has been substituted joint scientific programs, harmonized protocols for by Dr. Franco Maria Ruggeri (Istituto Supeand a scientific position on hot issues with inriore di Sanità, Rome) in November 2012. The ternational impact. Furthermore, the SIV awards current SIV Executive Board also includes two meritorious PhD students and young post-docs Vice-Presidents (Prof. A. Dolei and Dr. A. Calistri), with fellowships and prizes to attend national and a Secretary (Prof. M. Zazzi), and a Treasurer (Dr. international virology meetings. L. Rubino).
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Microbes awaiting exploration
Seaweed holobiont (Egan et al. 2013) Every microbial community living in whatever ecological niche on our planet may be accommodated in the term ‘environmental microbes’. Much has been discovered in the past few years but as Hauke Hennecke and his colleagues allude in their recent FEMS Microbiology Reviews Editorial, 95 percent of microbes living ‘out there’ have yet to reveal their physiological and molecular secrets.
revolutionary concepts of how organisms make a living. Our present knowledge encompasses only a tiny fraction of what is to be learnt, giving us the opportunity to discover novel life styles, new biochemical reactions and pathways, and unanticipated mechanisms of gene regulation of environmental microbes. FEMS journals contribute to this ongoing process, reporting on contemporary research in these fields. Read some of the most striking articles.
As the prime research discipline in life sciences, molecular microbiology is the tool to provide
Pathogens and Disease • Pseudomonas aeruginosa: new insights into pathogenesis and host defenses Microbiology Letters • Fungal diversity from various marine habitats deduced through culture-independent studies • From Saccharomyces cerviseae to Candida glabrata in a few easy steps: important adaptations for opportunistic pathogen Yeast Research • Salt and oxidative stress tolerance in Debaryomyces hansenii and Debaryomyces fabryi • Rewiring of iron assimilation gene expression in Candida albicans and C. dublinisiensis Microbiology Reviews • How to make a living from anaerobic ammonium oxidation Microbiology Ecology • Temporal dynamics in the free-living bacterial community composition in the coastal North Sea
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Immunology and Medical Microbiology • Endosymbiotic bacteria associated with nematodes, ticks and amoebae
P U B L I C AT I O N S PA G E
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New feature! We are delighted to announce that these exciting studies also provide the inspiration for a new feature in our FEMS journals, crosslinking two journals: a Virtual Issue published in FEMS Microbiology Ecology and a FEMS Microbiology Reviews Thematic Issue on Molecular insights into environmental microbes.
FEMS Microbiology Reviews
FEMS Microbiology Ecology
Thematic Issue Molecular Insights into Environmental Microbes
Virtual Issue Environmental Microbes
The eight review articles report contemporary research on topical issues related to microbes in dissimilar environments ranging from life in symbiosis, commensalism, and syntrophy to life in soil, lakes, oceans and a seemingly hostile place such as the Antarctic. Mechanisms of adaptation, the implications of horizontal gene transfer and the use of cutting-edge technology for genetic and biochemical analysis are also covered.
Much has to be deciphered with regards to the diversity and interactions of microbial communities in different habitats and their important roles in biogeochemical cycles and ecosystem function. We have selected key MiniReviews and Research articles recently published in FEMS Microbiology Ecology to complement the topics of the FEMS Reviews Thematic Issues on the activity of microbes in different environments covering life in symbioses, commensalism, syntrophy and life in soil, lakes and oceans. P U B L I C AT I O N S PA G E
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FEMS National and Regional Congresses Grant Grant description
Application checklist
The FEMS National and Regional Congresses Grant (NRCG) is meant to provide assistance to support the microbiological congresses of FEMS Member Societies on the national or regional level.
FEMS National and Regional Congresses Grants (NRCG) regulations apply to each application for the FEMS NRCG.
FEMS finds it very important to have microbiologists meet under the wings of their local society. The NRCG may be used by the organisers in any way as long as it ensures a successful organisation of the meetings. Annual budget for these grants is € 30 000. The grant amount may vary to between € 1 000 and € 3 000 depending on the number of society members and expected participants at an event. The regulations and application forms are available electronically. Please read them carefully and check the list at the right before contacting the FEMS Central Office. Upon its receipt at the FEMS Central Office, the application is checked for eligibility and completeness. Complete applications are then submitted to the Grants Board. The Grants Board formulates its recommendations to the Executive Committee, which then makes the final decision that will be communicated soon thereafter.
The requirements consist of, but are not limited to, the following: • You are a FEMS Member Society organising a national or regional society meeting. • Your meeting will be held between 1 July and 30 December 2013 (for meetings between 1 January and 1 July, the deadline is 15 December). • You have read the regulations governing the FEMS National and Regional Congresses Grants. • You have completed the relevant application form available on the FEMS website. • You have provided the general and budgetary information, full programme and list of speakers along with your completed application form. • Your applications has been endorsed by the FEMS Delegate of the host FEMS Member Society. • You have indicated how you intend to use / spend this grant. After completion of the application form, you may send it to grants@fems-microbiology.org before the deadline of 1 June 2013.
G R AN T S CO R N ER
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FEMS Research Fellowships Grant description
Application checklist
FEMS Research Fellowships are meant to assist young European scientists in pursuing research up to 3 months in a European country different from that in which he/she lives. These grants are intended to support travel and living costs of the Fellow only.
FEMS Research Fellowships regulations apply to each application for the FEMS Research Fellowships.
A FEMS Research Fellowship covers travel (at economy rates) and living costs for the fellow to a maximum of EUR 4 000 (no financial assistance for the host - e.g. bench fees).
• You are an active microbiologist.
The requirements consist of, but are not limited to the following:
• You are below 36 years of age. • You are a citizen of a European country.
The deadlines for receipt of applications at FEMS Central Office are 1 December (first round) and 15 June (second round). The regulations and application forms are available electronically. Please read them carefully and check the list at the right before contacting the FEMS Central Office. Upon its receipt at FEMS Central Office, the application is checked for eligibility and completeness. Complete applications are then submitted to the Grants Board. The Grants Board formulates its recommendations to the Executive Committee, which then makes the final decision that will be communicated soon thereafter.
• You are a member of a FEMS member society (at least for 1 year before applying). • You will pursue your project in a European country which is not your country of residence. • You have thoroughly read the regulations governing FEMS Research Fellowships • You have completed the relevant application form available on the FEMS website with the following attachments: - Your curriculum vitae - Letter of reference - Letter of acceptance from the host laboratory - Research project proposal written by yourself - Your photograph
• Your application is endorsed by a FEMS Delegate. Send the complete application to grants@ fems-microbiology.org before the deadline of 15 June 2013.
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DEADLINES 1 June 2013 15 December 2013 FEMS National & Regional Congresses Grants
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MICROBIOLOGY TIDBITS
Official State Microbe in Oregon, US The Oregon House has, with 58-0 votes, approved a resolution to designate a yeast as their Official State Microbe. Worldwide, Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been important in, for example, cancer and Alzheimer’s research. But Oregon celebrates the yeast for its essential role in craft breweries, traditional beer brewing companies. According to one of the Oregon House members, S. cerevisiae has contributed to the state’s economy for an amount of $2.4 billion. The bill is now going to the Senate.
15 June 2013 1 December 2013 FEMS Research Fellowships 1 September 2013 1 April 2014 FEMS Meeting Attendance Grants 1 March 2014 FEMS Meeting Grants (for meetings to be held in 2015)
Source: The Oregonian
FEMS-Sponsored Meetings, Spring/Summer 2013 2 5 -31 M ay 2 013 Molecular Mechanisms of Host-Pathogen Interactions and Virulence, HFP2013, Paris, France. 19 -21 J u n e 2 013 9th International Symposium on the Biology of Acinetobacter, Cologne, Germany.
Radioactive bacteria decrease aggressive cancer Scientists from the Albert Einstein College in New York have successfully used radioactive Listeria bacteria to fight pancreatic cancer. Healthy tissues would eliminate Listeria, but the weak immune system of tumour cells allows them to stay alive. After a few doses with bacteria carrying 188Rhenium, mice in this study had 90 percent fewer metastases than did the control groups. However, more research has to be done on the impact of this new type of therapy on other organs. In present therapeutics, less than 1 out of 25 people is still alive five years after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
2 9 A u g u s t - 3 S e p t e m b e r 2 013 26th International Conference on Yeast Genetics and Molecular Biology, Frankfurt/M, Germany.
The FEMS Affiliates Letter is a production of the Federation of European Microbiological Societies
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Source: PNAS
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