AffiliAtes letter

februAry 2018

Who is your microbiology hero? The teacher that inspired you to study life sciences, the pioneer that saved many lives, the communicator that brought microbiology into the mainstream - we are surrounded by so many unsung heroes who have helped shape what we know about microbiology today and who have used their knowledge to solve some of the most pressing challenges in society.

Who opened your eyes to the hidden microbial world? Who inspires you as a microbiologist?

Microbiology Hall of FameWe invite you to share your microbiology heroes in our new microbiology Hall of Fame. Our aim is to share the stories of your microbiology heroes to the world and to work together in recognizing the tremendous milestones and achievements of the microbiology community, as well as inspiring the next generation of microbiologists.

To start things off, take a look at some of the FEMS Team’s microbiology heroes. Just click on their image to start their video:

Also in this issuePuBliCAtions / GRAnts CoRneR / oPPoRtunities / DeADlines

the officiAl newsletter for feMs AffiliAtes

Delftechpark 37A, 2628 XJ Delft, The NetherlandsT: +31 15 302 0050 | E: fems@fems-microbiology.org

Microbiology topics to watch out for in 2018Six Key Topics in Microbiology journal collectionTo showcase new developments in some of the important research trends in microbiology this year, we have a new special collection from the five FEMS journals highlighting journal articles on the ‘Six Key Topics in Microbiology‘. Have a read and discover what’s new this year.

Bauke Oudega President of FEMS

Matthew Harvey Project Manager

Jim Prosser Former Director

Vi NguyenComms Officer

Carianne BuurmeijerDivision Coordinator

Take part in the survey >

Survey: Key and Emerging Microbiology Topics in 2018We would also like to hear your opinions on what key and emerging microbiology topics you think the scientific community needs to be aware of this year. Your opinion matters to us and would be a valuable resource to the community.

https://academic.oup.com/femsyr/pages/replication_recombination_and_repair

februAry 2018

Continued from page 1

Meet Jean-Michel Claverie and his microbiology hero

Jean-Michel Claverie is the Co-Chair of the Programme Committee at the upcoming FEMS 2019 Congress. He was a plenary speaker at the FEMS 2015 Congress on giant viruses.

Professor of Genomics and Bioinformatics at the School of Medicine of Aix-Marseille University, Jean-Michel Claverie is also the Director of the Mediterranean Institute of Microbiology, and head and founder of the Structural and Genomic Information Laboratory - a unit of the French National Research Center (CNRS).

So who is Jean-Michel Claverie’s microbiology hero?

“Lwoff is one of my scientific heroes. In is famous article “The concept of Virus” published in 1957 in the Journal of General Microbiology and based on his work with bacteriophage, he was already able to propose a rigorous, clearly stated, set of criteria to distinguish any type of virus (i.e. “virus in general”), from any cellular type of microorganism...

Amazingly, when we discovered the first giant viruses (Mimivirus) and especially the largest and most complex of all, the Pandoraviruses, we had to go back to Lwoff’s historical criteria (actualized in his 1966 article with Tournier), to convince ourselves (and the referees) that we were actually dealing with viruses!” Prof Jean-Michel Claverie

Who is your microbiology hero? Who inspires you as a microbiologist? And would you like to share their story with the wider microbiology community?

We invite you to share your unsung microbiology heroes with us by submitting them to the Microbiology Hero Hall of Fame.

Sandra Memela (right) won the FEMS Microbiology Ecology Poster Prize at miCROPe2017

Prof Jean-Michel Claverie discusses giant viruses to the FEMS 2015 Congress

FEMS-Lwoff Award

The prestigious FEMS-Lwoff Award is another way in which we recognize those committed to advancing scientific excellence and knowledge. This prestigious award is named in honour of the first President of FEMS (1974-1976), Professor André Lwoff.

Why not nominate your microbiology hero for the 2019 FEMS-Lwoff Award?

As well as sharing the stories of your microbiology heroes in our Microbiology Hero Hall of Fame, why not also nominate them for the 2019 FEMS-Lwoff Award?

Anyone in the field of microbiology (societies, groups or individuals) may nominate a candidate for the 2019 FEMS-Lwoff Award.

The selected Awardee will be presented with the FEMS-Lwoff Award at the next FEMS Congress in 2019 where they will give a prize-winning talk, as well as invited to write an article for one of the FEMS journals to showcase the impact of their research.

You have until 10 March 2018 to nominate your microbiology hero for the FEMS-Lwoff Award.

André Lwoff (above) is Jean-Michel Claverie’s microbiology hero

Share the story of your hero >

Nominate your hero for the 2019 FEMS-Lwoff Award >

http://www.femsjournals.com/content/virtual-special-issue-conference-physiology-yeasts-and-filamentous-fungi-pyff6http://bit.ly/2mwuqN6http://www.femsjournals.com/content/virtual-special-issue-conference-physiology-yeasts-and-filamentous-fungi-pyff6http://bit.ly/2mwuqN6http://bit.ly/2mwuqN6https://doi.org/10.1093/femsle/fnx014https://doi.org/10.1093/femspd/ftx010https://doi.org/10.1093/femsec/fiw249

4 februAry 2018

Pathogens and DiseaseResearch Article

A significant therapeutic effect of immunoglobulins administered alone, or in combination with conventional chemotherapy, in experimental pulmonary tuberculosis caused by drug-sensitive or drug-resistant strains

BALB/c mice with active late disease 60 days after infection with drug-sensitive tuberculosis strain H37Rv were treated with intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg), alone or in combination with conventional chemotherapy

Authors: Olivares et al.

PUBLICATIONSFEMS Microbiology ReviewsReview

Metals in fungal virulence

Pathogenic fungi require metals to survive and cause disease in the host. This review compares and contrasts metal homeostasis mechanisms of human fungal pathogens.

Authors: Gerwien et al.

FEMS Microbiology EcologyLetter to the Editor

An appeal for a more evidence based approach to biopesticide safety in the EU

The authors urge a more balanced view from the Biological Hazards Panel of the European Food Safety Authority’s (EFSA) stand against their hypothesis that the insect pathogen Bacillus thrurigiensis (Bt) is capable of causing cryptic infections in humans.

Authors: Raymond and Federici

Letter to the Editor

Reply to the article ‘In defense of Bacillus thuringiensis, the safest and most successful microbial insecticide available to humanity —a response to EFSA’

EFSA responds to the article by Raymond and Federici in order to clarify their position on Bacillus thrurigiensis (Bt).

Authors: Biological Hazards Panel of EFSA

FEMS Yeast ResearchRetrospective

Friends, science and freedom—Can one ask for more

Joana Rytka describes her life in science, starting from 1945 in post II world war Warsaw to an enthusiastic and devoted member of the international yeast community, recalling her collaboration with laboratories from US through Australia to France and Germany where she met great scientists and great friends.

Author: Rytka

FEMS Microbiology LettersMiniReview

State of the art in eukaryotic nitrogenase engineering

Improving the ability of plants and plant-associated organisms to fix and assimilate atmospheric nitrogen has economic benefits and opportunities. This review discusses strategies on how this could be accomplished using biotechnology, with a special focus on recent progress on engineering plants to express their own nitrogenase.

Authors: Burén and Rubio

Biofilms: advantage for bacteria, threat for medical devicesInterested in learning more about biofilms? Vera Carniello, a PhD candidate at the University of Groningen, The Netherlands and winner of the FEMS Microbiology Ecology poster prize at Eurobiofilms 2017, has written about her winning biofilm research on the Oxford University Press (OUP) blog.

“Medical-device related infections are often caused by biofilms forming on biomaterials inserted or implanted in the human body... Studying biofilms is necessary in order to find innovative or effective strategies to treat or prevent infections.”

Vera Carniello, OUP blog

https://doi.org/10.1093/femsle/fnx014https://doi.org/10.1093/femspd/ftx010https://doi.org/10.1093/femsre/fuw045https://doi.org/10.1093/femsec/fiw249https://doi.org/10.1093/femsle/fnx014https://academic.oup.com/femsyr/pages/replication_recombination_and_repairhttps://doi.org/10.1093/femsec/fiw249https://academic.oup.com/femsyr/pages/replication_recombination_and_repair

6 februAry 2018

GRANTS CORNeR OPPORTUNITIeSMaría J. TorresGrant: FEMS Research and Training Grant

Host lab: Dr. Andrew J. Gates, Faculty of Sciences, University of East Anglia, United Kingdom

María J. Torres is a postdoctoral researcher who is interested in the mechanisms underlying the production of the greenhouse gas, nitrous oxide in rhizobia.

“I studied the Biology degree at the University of Granada, Spain and after I did my PhD in Microbiology at the Estación Experimental del Zaidín (CSIC) in Spain. After finishing my Doctorate, I achieved a Postdoctoral grant from UNAM and I spent one year at Centro de Ciencias Genómicas in México. After that, I continued working with several contracts in Granada.

I principally worked on denitrification in endosymbiotic bacteria during my PhD, specifically in the rhizobia species, Bradyrhizobium diazoefficiens and Ensifer meliloti, which are also able to establish a unique symbiotic nitrogen fixation association with their host plants as soybean and alfalfa, respectively.

Both plants belong to the legume plants group and they have a huge worldwide agronomic importance. After my PhD, I continued investigating the regulatory mechanisms involved in the control of the production and reduction of the crucial greenhouse gas, nitrous oxide (N2O), in rhizobia.

N2O is one of the gaseous intermediates of the denitrification process and the nitrous oxide reductase - the enzyme able to reduce N2O and responsible for the

last step of the denitrification pathway - is the only N2O sink known up to now. In this context, this kind of research becomes decisive for the development of future strategies for mitigation of the release for this potent greenhouse gas with a huge reported environmental impact in climate change. The results obtained during my PhD as well as the years forth have been published in several scientific reviews.

This FEMS Grant provided me the long-awaited opportunity to continue investigating in Norwich the mechanisms and signals implicated in the control of the production and reduction of N2O.

In addition, thanks to the FEMS Grant, I met other PhD students, doctors and scientists specialised in the same scientific area, being possible a productive knowledge exchange as well as the opportunity to apply for others grants in the near future in order to continue gaining experience and investigating.

I think it’s worth mentioning that thanks to the FEMS Grant, I really could enjoy living for a couple of months in a honestly beautiful city and working in an amazing huge university campus as is University of East Anglia campus.”

Posting on our Opportunities Board just got easier! Do you want to promote your event, job, funding or interesting projects on our website to the wider microbiology community? You can do this on our Opportunities Board! Here you can find FEMS-sponsored events and funding, as well as many other exciting jobs, events, courses, resources and funding opportunities from the microbiology community.

Adding your opportunity on our Opportunities Board is easy! Just fill in the new and simplified online form with the details of your opportunity and we’ll do the rest.

Fighting AMR campaign taskforce > Opportunities Board taskforce >

http://fems-microbiology.org/fems-work/grants/fems-research-grants/http://fems-microbiology.org/fems-work/grants/fems-research-grants/https://fems-microbiology.org/opportunities/13th-yeast-lipid-conference-ylc13/https://fems-microbiology.org/network/opportunities-board/http://www.femsjournals.com/content/virtual-special-issue-conference-physiology-yeasts-and-filamentous-fungi-pyff6http://www.femsjournals.com/content/virtual-special-issue-conference-physiology-yeasts-and-filamentous-fungi-pyff6http://bit.ly/2mwuqN6

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Delftechpark 37A, 2628 XJ Delft, The Netherlands

T: +31 15 302 0050 | E: fems@fems-microbiology.org

exTRAS

Billions of people around the world rely on rice in their daily diets. We will need more rice as the global human population grows in the future. A vast new genetic resource based on a comparison of 13 rice genomes could accelerate efforts to develop new rice varieties, guide breeders to pest-resistant plant genomes and produce abundant amounts of grain. Here’s to the future of rice!

Source: Science Daily

DeADLINeS eVeNTS

Is this the most valuable poop on the planet?

Post your Events with us >

14.03.2018, Germany | 28th Annual Meeting of the Society for Virology >

The hardy bacterium, Cupriavidus metallidurans, can ingest toxic metallic compounds and still thrive, pooping out tiny gold nuggets as a side-effect. Scientists are hopeful thay this discovery could unlock the biogeochemical cycle of gold.

Source: Science Alert

Two types of bacteria, Escherichia coli and Bacteroides fragilis found in the gut might boost the risk of colon cancer, according to studies in mice and humans. When the two bacteria were introduced into mice predisposed to cancer, the mice developed tumours faster than control animals implanted with only one of the bacterial strains.

Source: Nature

16.03.2018, Belgium | Sense about Science: Standing up for Science EU workshop >

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/12/161222143401.htmhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidney_Pagethttps://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/12/161222143401.htmhttps://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/12/161222143401.htmhttps://phys.org/news/2017-03-anti-bacterial-discovery-infections-medical-devices.htmlhttps://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/03/170314081623.htmhttp://fems-microbiology.org/fems-work/grants/fems-meeting-grants/http://fems-microbiology.org/opportunities/13th-yeast-lipid-conference-ylc13/http://fems-microbiology.org/opportunities/12th-international-meeting-yeast-apoptosis-imya12/http://fems-microbiology.org/opportunities/molecular-mechanisms-host-pathogen-interactions-virulence-human-fungal-pathogens-hfp2017/http://http://fems-microbiology.org/fems-work/grants/fems-meeting-grants/http://fems-microbiology.org/opportunities/bageco14-14th-symposium-bacterial-genetics-ecology/http://fems-microbiology.org/opportunities/molecular-mechanisms-host-pathogen-interactions-virulence-human-fungal-pathogens-hfp2017/http://fems-microbiology.org/fems-work/grants/fems-meeting-grants/https://phys.org/news/2017-03-anti-bacterial-discovery-infections-medical-devices.htmlhttp://fems-microbiology.org/opportunities/molecular-mechanisms-host-pathogen-interactions-virulence-human-fungal-pathogens-hfp2017/

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