FEMS Affiliates Letter December 2013

DECEMBER 2013

A F F I L I AT E S L E T T E R The official newsletter for FEMS Affiliates

Auld lang syne Also in this issue: Publications Page FEMS Journals in 2013 Grants Corner FEMS-ASM Mäkelä –Cassell Grant Deadlines FEMS-Sponsored Meetings Microbiology TidBits

Should old acquaintaince be forgot?

It is a rhetorical question in the New Year’s song ‘Auld lang syne’. The answer is obvious: it should not! It is good to look back at the past, to remember the moments we shared.

As FEMS, one of the precious moments of 2013 was the FEMS Congress, held 7-15 June in Leipzig. It was an excellent opportunity to share knowledge and meet other microbiologists. FEMS was represented at many more meetings, such as the 40th FEMS Council in Lviv, Ukraine.

And then, perhaps we have met at one of the microbiology meetings sponsored by FEMS. A friend that certainly will not be forgotten, is ASM (American Society of Microbiology). ASM and FEMS launched a new grant in 2013: the FEMS-ASM Mäkelä –Cassell Grant.

Other ‘new’ friends are the societies that joined FEMS in 2013: the society of Bosnia-Herzegovina and the Spanish Society of Virology are now full members of FEMS. Last but not least, the European Federation of Food Science & Technology hosted the EMF workshop, as you can see on page 5.

Successions were in place as well, both on the side of the FEMS Executive Committee and on the side of www.fems-microbiology.org

FEMS Reviews we could welcome in their new position: • Jean-Claude Piffaretti - President • Bauke Oudega - Vice President • Per Eric Lindgren - Member-atLarge Meetings Board • Alain Filloux (middle in the picture) - Chief Editor of FEMS Reviews.

In 2013, FEMS gave out two awards and 79 grants: • the Lwoff award for Prof. Juan Luis Ramos for his study on Mechanism of Solvent Tolerance in Gram Negative Bacteria • the FEMS-ESCMID award for Dr. Balasz Vajna further to his study ‘Lignocellulose degrading activities and sporocarp formation of Pleurotus ostreatus in a mushroom production model system and the role of bacterial communities meanwhile’ • 58 personal grants were given, i.e.

Fellowships or travel grants (MAG) • 21 grants were given for meeting organizers i.e. Meeting Grants and National and Regional Congresses Grants And what about the journals you may ask? Well, please turn the page...

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FEMS Journals in 2013 The FEMS Journals collection was enriched by some new Thematic and Virtual Issues in 2013 Thematic Issues

Pathogens and Disease • Coinfections Microbiology Ecology • Microbial ecology of biogeochemical interfaces – diversity, structure and function of microhabitats in soil Microbiology Reviews • Host-associated microbiota: impact on health and disease • Molecular Insights into Environmental Microbes • Microbial toxins in the green world Microbiology Letters • Actinobacteria within soils: capacities for mutualism, symbiosis and pathogenesis Virtual Issues

Microbiology Ecology • Polar and Alpine What was new for FEMS Journals in 2013?

Microbiology Letters • Fish Pathogens Yeast research • Yeast Genetics and Molecular Biology • Organelles and Cells • Yeast & Food Microbiology Microbiology Letters • Systems and synthetic biology Microbiology Reviews • Regulation of Gene Uptake/CRISPR Microbiology Ecology • Environmental Microbes Pathogens and Disease • A proteomics view at pathogenicity

P U B L I C AT I O N S PA G E

• The first Thematic Issue of FEMS Letters appears “Actinobacteria within soils: capacities for mutualism, symbiosis and pathogenesis” • FEMS Yeast and FEMS Ecology introduced the Editor’s choice.

• Pathogens and Disease first thematic issue related to the EAM meeting on Coinfections • Virtual Issues were published on each journal sponsored session of the FEMS Congress 2013 • 14 new Editors joined the team • FEMS Reviews gained a new Chief Editor, Alain Filloux • The impact factor for FEMS Reviews went up by 2 points

www.fems-microbiology.org

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2013 from a bird’s eye view How many manuscripts were published?

In 2013 (to date) a total of 1971 manuscripts were submitted, 605 of which were published. In the below figure the submissions per journal are stated. The full bar represents the total of manuscripts submitted, whereas the bottom part of the bar represents the published manuscripts.

100 100 90

In what countries have the Meeting Attendance Grantees attended their meetings?

The FEMS Journal family

Volume 343 Issue 2 June 2013

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Volume 343 Issue 2 June 2013 ISSN 0378 –1097

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In 2013, over 30,000 microbiologists from 48 societies in 34 countries were represented by FEMS Impact factors in 2013 Pathogens and Disease Microbiology Ecology Microbiology Letters Microbiology Reviews Yeast Research

not applicable* 3.563 2.049 13.231 2.462

What countries were represented by FEMS?

*no comparison can be made to 2012 for this journal

www.fems-microbiology.org

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FEMS-ASM Mäkelä - Cassell Grant Grant description

Application checklist

The Mäkelä –Cassell Grant is a joint FEMS-ASM exchange program that in turns allows a young American or European scientist to join either the FEMS Congress or the ASM congress respectively.

FEMS-ASM Mäkelä –Cassell Grant regulations apply to each application. The requirements consist of, but are not limited to, the following: • You are an active microbiologist.

A visit at a research laboratory in the country where the congress is held is also part of the program.

• You are younger than 36 years old.

• You are a citizen of a European country

This year’s FEMS-ASM Mäkelä –Cassell Grant will be awarded by FEMS for one of its scientists to join the ASM Congress from 17-20 May 2014 in Boston, Massachusetts.

Deadline for application: 6 January 2014.

• You are a member of a FEMS member society (at least for one year before applying) • You are a presenting author and attend the meeting.

• You have thoroughly read the regulations governing FEMS Research Fellowships.

• Your application is endorsed by the FEMS Delegate of your society • You have completed the relevant application form available on the FEMS website with the following attachments: • A curriculum vitae • A letter confirming acceptance by the US laboratory • The abstract submitted for the Congress • Confirmation from ASM of abstract acceptance (by 25 April 2014) • You comply with appropriate visa requirements by US Authorities, if applicable.

Send your complete application as an electronic copy to grants@fems-microbiology.org and as a hard copy to FEMS Central Office before the deadline of 6 January 2014.

G R AN T S CO R N ER

www.fems-microbiology.org

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EMF workshop: a success!

The pre-conference workshop on Infection diagnostics and Infection biology, held at the start of the EFFoST conference in Bologna, Italy on 12 November was a good one. Here, food and microbes were key players and scientists from around the globe discussed the playing field.

✓✓ food for thought! ✓✓ vivid interactions ✓✓ handling an emerging and interdisciplinary field ✓✓ combined activities with EFFoST to be continued

For further reading, please download the full program of the workshop.

I N I T I AT I V E S

www.fems-microbiology.org

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MICROBIOLOGY TIDBITS

1 March 2014 FEMS Meeting Grants (for meetings to be held in 2015) 1 April 2014 1 September 2014 FEMS Meeting Attendance Grants

Resistant bird flu virus The neuraminidase inhibitor Oseltamivir is used for preventing and treating bird flu. Recently, a stem of H7N9 resistant to Oseltamivir was found in a bird flu patient in Shanghai. The researchers speculate that the resistant virus compensated for the disadvantages of the mutation by other changes.

Source: Spektrum

15 June 2014 1 December 2014 FEMS Research Fellowships 1 June 2014 1 December 2014 FEMS National & Regional Congresses Grants

FEMS-Sponsored Meetings, Spring 2014 2 3 M A R C H 2 014 12th European Conf. on Fungal Genetics Spain 3 0 M A R C H 2 014 Stalked alpha-Proteobacteria and Relatives Germany 1 A P R I L 2 014 VIBRIO 2014 United Kingdom 2 A P R I L 2 014 R E V I S E D D AT E ! !

From Emerging to Pandemic Viruses France 9 A P R I L 2 014 6th European Spores Conference United Kingdom

The FEMS Affiliates Letter is a production of FEMS Central Office

Gender Bending in Yeast Researchers have found a way to create ‘transvestite yeast that pretended to be the opposite mating type’. By that, they discovered that the gene YLR040C is involved in mating and that apparently, the most attractive yeast are likely those that make the most pheromone.

Source: Yeastgenome Registering 3,000 bacterial pathogens PacBio, the UK’s Sanger Institute and Public Health England will analyse the genomes of 3,000 bacterial pathogens. Combining reference genomes with historical and biological information should generate valuable data for clinical microbiology as well as basic research.

Source: European Biotechnology News Teen publishes study on Berry Fungus We know more about a little-known fungus that is infecting Highbush Cranberries, thanks to a Canadian teen. His paper was subject to the same peer-review process and met the same scientific standards as articles authored by professors and other professional scientists.

Source: Science Daily Keverling Buismanweg 4, 2628 CL Delft, The Netherlands T: 0031 15 269 3920 | F: 0031 15 269 3921 | E: fems@fems-microbiology.org

The voice of microbiology in Europe.

We advance and unify microbiology knowledge. www.fems-microbiology.org