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Quarterly Newsletter of the Belgian Society for Microbiology Issue no.6, January 2013
Contents
Welcome by the president of BSM Page 1 Membership Page 2 News from FEMS Page 2 ASM Workshop on Best Practices in Scientific Writing and Publishing Page 3 Future microbiology meetings Page 4 Agar plates and Petri dishes : 130 years of age … and still going strong! Page 7 PhD/Postdoc positions at SCK-CEN Page 9 Second hand lab instruments for sale Page 11 Poster Awards – 2012 Meeting of the Belgian Society for Microbiology Page 13 Book announcement Page 15 Book review Page 16 Postdoctoral Position – University of Antwerp Page 18 Composition of the BSM board Page 19 Call for contributions Page 19
Welcome
Dear BSM member,
This issue of the BSM Newsletter coincides with the start of 2013, giving us the opportunity to wish you a successful and inspiring New Year ! Our annual symposium “Posttranscriptional regulation and epigenetics in microorganisms” that took place on 30 November 2012 was a big success, with over 200 participants and over 70 posters being presented. Thanks to the generosity of the sponsors, BSM was also able to honor the best posters with an award. The list of the poster awards can be found further in this issue (page 13). The 2013 annual meeting will be special, as we plan to organise a two-day meeting together with the Belgian Co-ordinated Collections of Micro-organisms (BCCM). Details will follow in due course but please already note the date for this meeting in your agenda (26 and 27 November 2013). We are sure that you are aware of the fact that as a society cannot survive without financial support. In the near future you will receive an invitation to pay your membership fee for 2013 (€ 25). We of course hope that you will renew your membership! For those of you who are not a member yet, please have a look at our website and see what BSM has to offer. Keep in mind that as a member of BSM, you are supporting Microbiology as a scientific discipline. We are looking forward to see you at one of our future activities.
Kind regards, The BSM Board 1
Membership
Historically membership of BSM has been linked to the attendance of the yearly BSM symposium : the registration fee for the symposium was at the same time the membership or vice versa. For practical reasons, this has been uncoupled since 2011, and therefore we urge you to pay your membership fee as early as possible. Members paying before 01/07/2013 owe only € 25 and will get free access to the annual symposium, other BSM organized events and can get sometimes reduction for events sponsored by BSM. Later payments for symposium pre-registration or for membership will be €30. On-site registration fee will be €35. To renew your membership visit the BSM website www.belsocmicrobio.be
News from FEMS
FEMS is the Federation of European Microbiological Societies, and its main mission is to advance and unify microbiology knowledge. FEMS brings together 46 member societies from 36 European countries, covering over 30000 microbiologists. Belgium is represented in FEMS by BSM, and our FEMS delegate is Jozef Anné. When member for at least 2 years of a FEMS Member Society, you can apply for research fellowships, an advanced fellowship and/or support when organizing a meeting. These benefits are restricted to members of FEMS societies only. For more information, go to the FEMS website (http://www.fems-microbiology.org). Every other year FEMS organises the Congress of European Microbiologists – the 5th edition will be in Leipzig from 21 to 25 July 2013. More information can be found at http://www2.kenes.com/fems2013/pages/home.aspx (abstract deadline : 11/02/2013).
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ASM Workshop on Best Practices in Scientific Writing and Publishing This virtual workshop aims to assist in the development of the skills needed to write and submit scientific manuscripts with the ultimate goal of improving the dissemination of research and enhanced knowledge sharing. The seminar will provide participants with insight and training into processes required to successfully publish a scientific article. The workshop will present an overview of how to write and publish a scientific manuscript. Best practices for developing both the content and presentation of a document will be outlined and the ethics and logistics of submitting manuscripts for publishing will be examined. The 1 ½ hour virtual program is as follows: Module One: Introductions, Overview, & Discussion of Why do we write? (7 min, 2 seconds) Module Two: Nuts and Bolts of Writing a Scientific Manuscript (20 min, 54 seconds) When do you start writing? Before you write. What are the parts of a scientific manuscript? Module Three: Powerful Titles and Compelling Abstracts (10 min, 34 seconds) The key elements of a title and abstract will be presented. The discussion will include what makes a good title and abstract, things to avoid, and tips for writing titles and abstracts. Module Four: Tables and Figures (9 min, 56 seconds) What to put in and what to leave out. How much detail to include in the legend. Module Five: The Submission Process (11 min, 33 seconds) When do you submit your manuscript? What is required to make a submission? What is the time frame of a submission? When is it proper to contact the journal? Module Six: Dealing with reviews (10 min, 8 seconds) The review process will make the manuscript better. Do not take it personally. How do you respond? What steps are involved in the response process? Module Seven: Ethics in Scientific Publishing (11 min, 45 seconds) What constitutes authorship? Can data ever be duplicated? Module Eight: Additional Types of Scientific Papers (12 min, 7 seconds) In addition to scientific manuscripts for journals, this module covers other types of scientific writing including: Review Articles, Letters to the Editor, Editorials, Book Reviews, Book Chapters, and Lay Writing. Please contact Pierre Cornelis ([email protected]) if you are interested in attending this webinar.
The International Conference on Antiviral Research provides an interdisciplinary forum of interest to chemists, biologists, and clinicians involved in antiviral research. At ICAR, scientists worldwide working in the areas of basic, applied, and clinical research meet in a collaborative and collegial atmosphere to review recent developments in all areas of antiviral drug discovery and development. Specific topics to be covered in the scientific program include: medicinal chemistry, virus replication, host cell-virus interactions, virus latency, new target identification, biochemistry and mechanism of action, mechanisms of viral drug resistance, assay development, in vitro evaluation, animal models, pharmacokinetics, toxicology, and clinical trials. Within these areas of interest, there will be keynote, plenary, single topic mini-symposia, a clinical symposium, and oral and poster presentations. The 26th ICAR will be held at the Hyatt Regency in San Francisco from May 11th- 15th 2013 ; California, USA. In addition to the poster awards, to graduate students and junior researchers, ICAR has expanded its travel grant support program to encourage more students and junior researchers to attend. San Francisco, often called "Everybody’s Favorite City," is the ideal location for the 26th ICAR. San Francisco has something for everybody; scenic beauty, cultural attractions, diverse communities, and world-class cuisine. Measuring 49 square miles, this very walk-able city is dotted with landmarks like the Golden Gate Bridge, cable cars, Alcatraz and the largest Chinatown in the United States. http://www.isar-icar.com/?page=26ICAR
The Koninklijke Nederlandse Vereniging voor Microbiologie (Royal Netherlands Society for Microbiology) will co-organise two major congresses in 2013: German – Dutch microbiology congress 2013, together with the VAAM. Dates: 2013 March 10-13 Venue: Congress Centre and Messe, Bremen, Germany URL: www.vaam-kongress.de. Email: [email protected] Further information: The programme will feature the following topics and speakers: Public Lecture: EHEC-Bakterien Gestern und Heute - Helge Karch (Münster/DE) Host-Microbe Interaction - Pierre de Wit (Wageningen/NL), Willem de Vos (Wageningen/NL) Marine Microbiology - Lars Peter Nielsen (Aarhus/DK), Mike Zubkov (Southampton/GB) Physiology and Metabolism - Christa Schleper (Vienna/AT), Mike Jetten (Nijmegen/NL) Omics and Bioinformatics - Peer Bork (Heidelberg/DE), Kathleen Marchal (Leuven/BE) Unicellular Eukaryotic Microbiology - Virginia Armbrust (Seattle, WA/US), Rene Wijffels (Wageningen/NL) Food and Feed Microbiology - Luc De Vuyst (Brussels/BE), Monika Ehling-Schulz (Vienna/AT) Environmental Biotechnology - Marc Strous (Bremen/DE), Juan Ramos (Granada/ES) Single Cell Microbiology - Ramunas Stephanauskas (East Boothbay, ME/US), Laura van Niftrik (Nijmegen/NL) KNVM-NVMM scientific spring meeting 2013 Dates: 2013 April 16-17 Venue: Papendal Congress Centre, Arnhem URL: www.nvvm-online.nl/modules/2013 Email: [email protected]
Future Microbiology Meetings
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EUROBIOFILMS 2013
Third European Congress on Microbial Biofilms
GHENT, BELGIUM, SEPTEMBER 9-12, 2013 www.eurobiofilms2013.ics.dk
Organising Committee: Tom Coenye (president), Patrick Van Dijck (vice-president, basic), Johan Van Eldere (vice-president, clinical) and the ESGB Executive Committee
International Scientific Advisory Board: Nuno Azevedo (PT), Thomas
Bjarnsholt (DK), Nico Boon (BE), Oana Ciofu (DK), Gianfranco Donelli (IT), Max Dow (IRL), Hans Curt Flemming (DE), Niels Hoiby (DK), Veronika Hola (CZ), Christine Imbert (FR), Mary-Ann Jabra-Rizk (US), Katrien Lagrou (BE), José Lopez-Ribot (US), Clarissa Nobile (US), Satoshi Okabe (JP), Antonio Oliver (SP), Lakshman Samaranayake (HK), W. Edward Swords (US), Karin Thevissen (BE), Phil Stewart (US), Hennie van der Mei (NL), Laurence Van Melderen (BE), Jeremy Webb (UK), Craig Williams (UK), Thomas Wood (US).
Conference Venue Ghent University Aula, Voldersstraat, Ghent, Belgium
Registration & Hotel Accommodation Information on the registration and hotel booking will be available on the conference website.
Pre-conference workshops: Pre-conference workshops will be organised on 9 September 2013. Topics will be announced in the near future on the website
Main Sessions will take place from 9 September (evening) until 12 September (lunch time). Topics that will be addressed include mixed-species biofilms, microbial fuel cells, biofilm-related chronic wound infections, signalling in biofilms, clinical and basic aspects of fungal biofilms, mechanisms of biofilm resistance & tolerance, medical-device related biofilm infections, oral biofilms, biofilm heterogeneity & evolution, and microbial biofilm ecology. Abstract Submission Deadline for abstracts for poster and oral sessions: May 1st, 2013. Guidelines for submission will be available on the congress website
in the near future.
Congress Secretariat: International Conference Services A/S Copenhagen, Denmark, Mail: [email protected]
Scientific Secretariat: Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Microbiology Ghent University, Gent, Belgium Mail: [email protected]
Additional support by FWO-Vlaanderen, Ghent University, IUAP program, and VIB
From bread over potato to gelatin as solid culture medium Early (micro)biologists generally attempted to grow and study microbes using the substrate (food, infusions, or any other material) on which the organism had been observed. For example, Robert Hooke (1635-1703) observed under his microscope the mycelial structure of a fungus on mouldy leather and Bartolomeo Bizio studied in 1832 the red “blood “ spots on spoiled Italian polenta (a cornmeal mush), on rice soup and on communion hosts, which actually were caused by Serratia marcescens, whereby he used bread as solid growth medium. Later on in 1876, Robert Koch found -when dealing with non-pigmented organisms and pathogens- that liquid broths based on fresh beef serum or meat extracts (bouillons) resulted in best growth ; he tried mainly the serial dilution technique to arrive at a broth with a single organism. However with limited success, since it was usually the predominant or fastest growing micro-organism that would appear in the diluted broth and not the pathogen he was looking for. So there remained the persistent problem of having a reliable way to isolate the desired pure strains. He had also noticed that when a sliced potato was left out in the open, it would produce isolated tiny spots on its surface, which he could examine microscopically and streak to obtain isolated colonies! This led him to look for solid media alternatives, such as coagulated egg albumin, starch paste, gelatin, aseptically thinly sliced potato (as used by the German biologist J. Schroeter), ... Sliced potato was used in his discovery of the anthrax pathogen, Bacillus anthracis, but he finally decided upon meat extract with added gelatin as the best solidifier. The nutrient gelatin was poured onto flat glass plates which were inoculated and placed under a bell jar.
This new technique was demonstrated by Robert Koch in 1881 at the International Medical Congress in London, UK. It allowed to isolate pure cultures of bacteria and to subculture them onto fresh plates or nutrient gelatin slopes in cotton-wool plugged tubes. However on warm days (>25°C), the media would liquefy, and many bacteria were capable of “digesting “ gelatin. Koch and his associates became increasingly discouraged by the difficulty of isolating pure strains of bacteria. Luckily, serendipity struck in 1882. Agar and Walther and Angelina Fannie Hesse ‘s impact on R. Koch’s work… and on microbiology Walther Hesse (1846-1911), a well-known district physician in Saxony, married to American born Angelina (Fannie) Eilshemius (1850-1934 ), a housewife (see picture below), decided in 1881 to leave his post to spend a sabbatical in Robert Koch’s Kaiserliches Gesundheitsamt in Berlin, where he was to conduct research on microbial contamination of air, drinking water, swimming pools, … to broaden his knowledge of environmental hygiene, a subject he had started in 1878 with Max von Pettenkofer in Munich. His wife assisted him in the lab and was very talented in preparing drawings of her husband’s microscopic observations.
Agar plates and Petri dishes : 130 years of age … and still going strong!
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In the summertime, Walther Hesse experienced major technical problems attempting to analyze microbial counts in air samples, mainly due to liquefaction of the solid gelatin media used. One day in 1881, Walther asked his wife Fannie over lunch why her fruit jellies and puddings at home stayed nicely solid, while his plates and tubes in the lab liquefied. She told him she used agar-agar in her kitchen, a recipe her mother in the USA had obtained from her Dutch neighbours, emigrated from Java, Indonesia. There it was the local custom to use agar, derived from red seaweeds, in their daily cooking. She suggested him to try this kitchen secret out in the lab. Walther tested it with success and reported his findings to Robert Koch. The rest is history! The thermal stability of agar, its transparency, its resistance to most microbial enzymes, its capacity to melt at >85°C and yet -when cooled- it does not gel until 35°C, and its ability to be stored for a long time permitted immediate general and longterm culturing of a wide range of microbes. In 1884 Fredrick Loeffler added peptone (an enzymatic digest of meat) and salt to Koch’s basic meat extract formulations, allowing for optimal growth of even a wider range of microorganisms.
In 1887 another co-worker in Koch’s laboratory, Julius Richard Petri (1852-1921), modified the flat glass plate and produced a new type of cylindrical culture dish, with an overhanging lid to keep contaminants out, the Petri-dish. By the 1890’s, the common culture media we know and still use today, with Petri-dishes, peptones and agar, were developed. Koch used this new solid media to isolate the tubercle bacillus and eventually discovered the etiological agents of 21 infectious diseases, including tuberculosis, cholera, anthrax, … and it all allowed him to formulate a set of rigourous criteria, known as “Koch’s postulates“. Later on selective, diagnostic and chromogenic media followed. Early media were developed through trial and error experiments ; currently used media are designed based on basic knowledge of specific microbial metabolism and of the chemical composition of the raw materials . The Hesse’s received no reward for their invention, nor was there any mention in the scientific literature of those days. Even today we do not fully recognize the value of their simple but essential contribution to microbiology: agar plates and Petri dishes, …after 130 years still the workhorse of every microbiologist! Em. Prof. dr. ir. Erick J. Vandamme, Dept. Biochemical & Microbial Technology, Fac. Bioscience Engineering , Ghent University References : -Schroeter, J. 1872. Uber einige durch Bacteriën gebildete Pigmente ; Beitr.Z.biol.D.Planzen 1:2, 109-126 -Hesse, W.1884. Uber die quantitative Bestimmung der in der Luft enthaltenen MIcroorganismen. Mitt.a.d. Kaiserl.Gesh.Berlin, 2, 182-207 -Koch, R. 1882. Die Aetiologie der Tuberculose. Berlin. Klin.Wochenschr.19, 221-230 -Hitchins, A.P. and Leikind, M.C. 1939. The introduction of agar-agar into bacteriology. J.Bacteriol. 37, 485-493
Agar plates and Petri dishes : 130 years of age … and still going strong!
Robert Koch’s flat glass nutrient gelatin plate with bell jar (1881)
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More specific, within the Institute Environment, Health and Safety of SCK/CEN, PhD candidates for 3 microbiology research projects are invited: - Extraction of minerals from rocks with bacteria in space (PhD) (YOP643,
http://www.sckcen.be/en/layout/set/print/yop/view/461)
- Survival and adaption mechanisms of bacteria in water systems on-board ISS (PhD) (YOP461, http://www.sckcen.be/en/layout/set/print/yop/view/642)
- Mobile genetic elements and their role in microbial metal complexation (PhD) (YOP462, http://www.sckcen.be/en/layout/set/print/yop/view/643)
The instructions for application are announced on the website "academy.sckcen.be", in the section "1. Guidance for young researchers in the preparation of their thesis“. Applications need to be done on-line, and completed files need to reach SCK/CEN the latest on March 25, 2013 and candidates will be informed about the selection on file by May 1, 2013. In case of a positive appraisal, candidates will be invited for an oral presentation in Mol on May 30 or May 31, 2013. The final results of the selection procedure will be announced during the first week of June. Besides these specific PhD research topics, there are also continuous openings to perform Bachelor and Master thesis work or apprentices in our SCK/CEN microbiology laboratories, which can be consulted on the website academy.sckcen.be
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During the annual BSM meeting in Brussels on 30 November 2012, the following poster prizes were awarded in the Bacteriology session. “Microbiology Open“ Award for the Best Bacteriology Poster of the BSM meeting 2012 Authors : Deghelt M., Sternon, J.-F., Letesson, J.-J. & De Bolle X. Title : Made to invade. Characterization of the chromosomes replication stages of the infectious Brucella abortus cell type Presenter : Michael Deghelt (FUNDP) “Merck Sharp & Dohme” Poster Award for Bacteriology Authors : Mijnendonckx K., P. Monsieurs, N. Leys, J.Mahillon and R. Van Houdt. Title : Dynamic genetic adaptation of Cupriavidus metallidurans in response to silver toxicity Presenter : Kristel Mijnendonckx (SCK-CEN) BSM Poster Award for Excellent Poster in Bacteriology Authors : Van Puyvelde S., Mariën N., De Coster D., Steenackers H. and Vanderleyden J. Title : A well-timed trigger for Salmonella biofilm formation: the Hfq-dependent switch Presenter : Sandra Van Puyvelde (KU Leuven) BSM Poster Award for Excellent Poster in Bacteriology Authors : Ye L., Cosijns S., Matthijs S., Ballet S. and Cornelis P. Title : Novel Antimicrobial Compounds from Pseudomonas Secondary Metabolites Presenter : Lumeng Ye (VUB) American Society for Microbiology Poster Award for Excellent Poster in Bacteriology Authors : Michaux C., Hartke A., Verneuil N. and Giard J-C. Title : CspR is a cold-shock RNA-binding protein involve in the long term survival and the virulence of Enterococcus faecalis Presenter : Charlotte Michaux (Université de Caen, France)
Poster Awards – Meeting of the Belgian Society for Microbiology 30/11/2012
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During the annual BSM meeting in Brussels on 30 November 2012, the following poster prizes were awarded in the Virology session. “Microbiology Open” Award for the Best Virology Poster of the BSM meeting 2012 Authors : Kreit M. and Michiels T. Title : Antiviral activity of a murine Apolipoprotein L Presenter : Marguerite Kreit (UCL) “Merck Sharp & Dohme” Poster Award for Virology Authors : Férir G., Hänchen A., Hoorelbeke B., François K.O., Huskens D., Dettner F., Süssmuth R.D. and Schols, D. Title : Feglymycin, a unique natural bacterial peptide isolated from Streptomyces sp. DSM11171, potently inhibits HIV replication by interfering with the CD4/gp120 interaction Presenter : Geoffrey Férir (KU Leuven) BSM Poster Award for Excellent Poster in Virology Authors : Desmarets L.M.B., Theuns S., Olyslaegers D.A.J., Dedeurwaerder A., Vermeulen B.L., Dewerchin H.L. and Nauwynck H.J. Title : Contrasting replication kinetics of feline enteric coronavirus and feline infectious peritonitis virus in newly established feline intestinal epithelial cell cultures Presenter : Lowiese Desmarets (UGent)
Poster Awards – Meeting of the Belgian Society for Microbiology 30/11/2012
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Table of Contents 1. Transposon Tn7 ; Zaoping Li, Nancy L. Craig and Joseph E. Peters 2. Mercury Resistance Transposons ;Sofia Mindlin and Mayya Petrova 3. Integrons: Antibiotic Resistance Evolution and Beyond ; Piklu Roy Chowdhury, H.W. Stokes and Maurizio Labbate 4. Inteins and Introns ; Kristen S. Swithers and J. Peter Gogarten 5. Restriction-Modification Systems as Mobile Epigenetic Elements ; Yoshikazu Furuta and Ichizo Kobayashi 6. Mobile Genetic Elements in the Genus Bacteroides, and Their Mechanism(s) of Dissemination ; Mai Nguyen and Gayatri Vedantam 7. Mobilisable Genetic Elements from the Clostridia ; Vicki Adams, Priscilla A. Johanesen, Julian I. Rood and Dena Lyras 8. pSAM2, a Paradigm for a Family of Actinomycete Integrative and Conjugative Elements ; Emilie Esnault, Alain Raynal and Jean-Luc Pernodet 9. The Tn916/Tn1545 Family of Conjugative Transposons ; Lena Ciric, Azmiza Jasni, Lisbeth Elvira de Vries, Yvonne Agersø, Peter Mullany and Adam P. Roberts 10. Tn1549 and Closely Related Elements ; Thierry Lambert 11. The Tn4371 ICE Family of Bacterial Mobile Genetic Elements ; Rob Van Houdt, Ariane Toussaint, Michael P. Ryan, J. Tony Pembroke, Max Mergeay and Catherine C. Adley 12. The Integrative and Conjugative Element ICEBs1 of Bacillus subtilis ; Melanie B. Berkmen, Stephanie J. Laurer, Bridget K. Giarusso, and Rodrigo Romero 13. Integrating Conjugative Elements of the SXT/R391 Family ; Geneviève Garriss and Vincent Burrus 14. Excision and Transfer of Bacteroides Conjugative Integrated Elements ; Abigail A. Salyers, Jeffrey F. Gardner and Nadja B. Shoemaker 15. Integrative and Conjugative Elements Encoding DDE Transposases ; Violette Da Cunha, Romain Guérillot, Mathieu Brochet and Philippe Glaser 16. The clc Element and Related Genomic Islands in Proteobacteria ;Ryo Miyazaki, Marco Minoia, Nicolas Pradervand, Vladimir Sentchilo, Sandra Sulser, Friedrich Reinhard and Jan Roelof van der Meer 17. Pathogenicity Island Evolution: A Distinct New Class of Integrative Element or a Mosaic of Other Elements? Michael G. Napolitano and E. Fidelma Boyd 18. Staphylococcal Cassette Chromosome (SCC): A Unique Gene Transfer System in Staphylococci ; Teruyo Ito, Sae Tsubakishita, Kyoko Kuwahara-Arai, Xiao Han and Keiichi Hiramatsu
BOOK ANNOUNCEMENT As our understanding of mobile genetic elements continues to grow we are gaining a deeper appreciation of their importance in shaping the bacterial genome and in the properties they confer to their bacterial hosts. These include, but are by no means limited to, resistance to antibiotics, and heavy metals, toxin production and increased virulence, production of antibiotics and the ability to utilize a diverse range of metabolic substrates. We are also gaining an understanding of diversity of these elements and their interactions with each other; a property which continually complicates any attempt to classify them. We are learning more about the molecular mechanisms by which they translocate to new genomic sites both within genomes and between different bacteria. This book provides a timely, state of the art update on the properties of an important selection of different bacterial integrative mobile genetic elements and the myriad of different ways in which they move and influence the biology of the host bacterium. The chapters are all written by authors who have undertaken pioneering work in their respective fields, making this book vital reading for all who are interested in the biology of bacteria and the mobile elements they carry.
More info : http://www.landesbioscience.com/books/iu/id/4698/
I found this book last October in a cozy book store in Lake Placid, the former Olympic winter games resort in the Adiron Dacks National Park, upstate New York. We (i.e. I myself, my wife and our daughter’s family with three grandchildren) had chosen Lake Placid as a refuge from the super storm Sandy that hit the American East coast just at the time that we were visiting our daughter’s family in New Jersey. In fact, fleeing their home for some days turned out to be a wise decision as their neighborhood remained without electric power for more than a week. I already knew of Quammen’s book as a few days earlier, - while anxiously awaiting the storm in New Jersey -, I had read a review about it in the New York Times. Later, when we returned to Belgium, I found another review in Science. Both reviewers glorify the book as well as its author. I can only share their opinion and have no better way to do so than by citing from them: About the book’s content (from: Streicker, D.G. and Pedersen, A.B. Science 2012, 338: 1030) [David Quammen] chronicles [his] 6-year, global exploration of the origins of new diseases, which led him from remote forests to sophisticated laboratories. The book hybridizes the rigor of an investigative report with the suspense of a mystery novel, making for a page-turner that will have readers pondering the answers before the questions are even raised. Through a series of interconnected case studies of disease emergence, Quammen describes a remarkable breadth of epidemiological and evolutionary concepts, from the basic reproductive number (R0) and phylogenetic inference to immunology and viral replication. Quammen introduces an eclectic mix of field and laboratory adventurers, who range from “judiciously empirical” to “ ‘jumping around’ … [with] insane jubilance” but are all driven by a common unquenchable curiosity.
His scientists dress like rock stars, stake out monkeys in temples, and sneak beers into federal laboratories for quarantined colleagues. … The book diverges from earlier popular science presentations of emerging human diseases by defining infectious disease in ecological terms: a natural interspecific interaction, analogous to “what lions do to wildebeests and zebras, or what owls do to mice.” ... Moreover, Quammen accurately points out that emergence is not simply something that happens to us as guiltless victims but often a response to human activities such as agricultural intensification and ever-increasing encroachment into forests. ... […] the book is a remarkable achievement born of tenacious investigation and masterful writing. Quammen’s account firmly establishes emerging infectious diseases as the realm of not only physicians, veterinarians, and public health workers but also ecologists and evolutionary biologists. About the author (from McGrath, C., the New York Times, October 20, 2012, page C1 of the New York edition, with the headline: The Subject Is Science, The Style Is Faulkner) Mr. Quammen, who is 64 but looks much younger, grew up in Cincinnati but has lived for the last 40 years in Montana. He is wiry and tanned, and though Dwight Garner, reviewing ‘Spillover’ in The Times, called him ‘not just among our best science writers but among our best writers, period,’• you could easily mistake him for a fishing guide or a field biologist. ‘Spillover,’ which took Mr. Quammen some 12 years to write, has chapters on virology, scientific history, even on math, but in most of the book he is not just in the lab or the library but also in remote locations all over Central Africa, Malaysia and China. He loves arduous travel, he said over lunch, and he enjoys the company of adventurous scientists.
Book review Spillover, Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic
by David Quammen
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In the book some of them become as vivid as characters in a Michael Crichton scientific thriller, or as obsessed as the questers in a Rider Haggard novel, only in search of pathogens instead of buried treasure. … Mr. Quammen, who is also the author of ‘The Song of the Dodo: Island Biogeography in an Age of Extinction’ and a biography of Charles Darwin, went to Yale, where he wasn’t just an English major but also a protégé of the novelist and poet Robert Penn Warren, with whose encouragement he wrote a novel that came out just a few months after he graduated, in 1970. … He went on to publish two more novels and a collection of short stories before gradually switching over to nonfiction. He was having trouble getting published as a novelist, he said, and at a certain point he decided: ‘… The world does not need me to be a novelist.’ From reading authors like Stephen Jay Gould, Lewis Thomas, Annie Dillard and John McPhee, moreover, he discovered, he said, that ‘nonfiction could be wondrous and imaginative, shapely and literary: it didn’t just have to be explanatory.’ But his greatest influence as a science writer, Mr. Quammen insisted, was the seemingly unscientific William Faulkner, about whom he wrote both undergraduate and graduate school theses. Do not let the subtitle on the book’s cover (‘Animal infections and the next human pandemic) mislead you: it is not a doomsday-prophesy. Instead, reading this book you will let you meet fascinating people who had first-hand involvement with the beginnings and the spread of such diseases as Ebola, SARS, Hendra (equine measles), Lyme disease, Q-fever, AIDS, bird flu, herpes B, Hantavirus disease, and more. Each person, - surviving patient, doctor, field worker, lab investigator -, interviewed by Quammen gets a Faulkner-style description.
Just one example: ‘Billy Karesh (whom Quammen accompanied during field work on Ebola) is a veterinarian and an authority on zoonoses. He’s a peripatetic field man, raised in Charleston, South Carolina. … An empiricist by disposition, he speaks quietly, barely moving his mouth, and avoids categorical pronouncements as though they might hurt his teeth. Often he wears a sly smile, suggesting amusement at the wonders of the world and the varied spectacle of human folly’ Alfons Billiau Rega Institute – University of Leuven Spillover, Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic by David Quammen. Norton, New York, 2012. ISBN 9780393066807.
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The Laboratory of Microbiology, Parasitology and Hygiene (LMPH) (Universiteit Antwerpen) is a multidisciplinary team looking for a
highly motivated postdoctoral researcher Job description: LMPH recently received funding from the IWT in the framework of the Strategic Basic Research (SBO) program for a project entitled “Fighting infectious diseases with combination therapy: targeting sociomicrobiological processes to circumvent antimicrobial resistance”. Our primary aim is to identify novel microbial targets involved in governing antimicrobial tolerance. Interfering with the normal function of these targets by using ‘antimicrobial potentiators’ will result in increased susceptibility of microbes to existing antimicrobial agents. This “weakening strategy” will translate to combination therapy of an existing antimicrobial agent with a specific antimicrobial potentiator, thereby increasing the effect of the former. You will be responsible for the daily supervision of master and pre-doctoral students working on the project. In consultation with the UA promoter, you will be in charge for the project management and the written and oral reporting to the IWT and other project partners in a timely manner. An active participation in meetings with the other IWT-SBO partners and the industrial advisory group is required. Profile and requirements You hold a doctoral degree (PhD) in pharmacy, biology, biochemistry, bio-engineering, veterinary medicine or a related field. A good knowledge of microbiology with experimental skills is essential. Experience in cell-pathogen interaction is an asset. Excellent verbal and written English communication skills. Experience with project management is a plus. We offer An appointment as a postdoctoral researcher for a period of 1 year, with a possibility for extension of 2 years. The date of appointment will be as soon as possible. A dynamic and stimulating work environment with a highly interdisciplinary research team. Highly motivated candidates can apply by sending a motivation letter, names and contact information for at least two references, publication list, and CV to [email protected] before 15 February 2013.
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Composition of the BSM Board
President & FEMS delegate : Jozef Anné (KU Leuven) Secretary & representative in the IUMS : Paul De Vos (UGent) Treasurer & liaison with NVVM : Tom Coenye (UGent) Members : Spiros Agathos (UCL), Abdelmounaaim Allaoui (ULB), Alfons Billiau (KU Leuven), Pierre Cornelis (VUB, liaison officer ASM), Paul Cos (UA), Herman Favoreel (UGent), Isabelle George (ULB), David Gillan (UMons), Laurent Gillet (ULg), Natalie Leys (SCK-CEN), Max Mergeay (SCK-CEN), Dominique Schols (KU Leuven), Jos Vanderleyden (KU Leuven) Contributed to this issue: Jozef Anné, Alfons Billiau, Tom Coenye, Pierre Cornelis, Natalie Leys, Max Mergeay, Erick Vandamme
Call for contributions
With this quarterly newsletter the BSM board wants to improve its communication with BSM members and we hope to bring you useful microbiology-related information on a regular basis. Of course this is only possible with your contributions and we would like to invite you to submit these contributions to [email protected] (preferably as a Word document). What can you submit ? Basically anything that is microbiology-related : vacancies in your lab, announcements of seminars, a summary of important/interesting research findings etc. If you want to discuss whether something would be suitable for inclusion in the newsletter prior to preparing the text, feel free to contact us as well.
VISIT US AT : http://www.belsocmicrobio.be/
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