FEMS Newsletter June 2019

Regular updates from FEMS –
Federation of European Microbiological Societies

Hello,

In this issue of FEMS News:

Kind regards,
The FEMS Team

Childcare at FEMS2019: registration is open until Friday 7 June!

Parents may have experienced this dilemma repeatedly: you want to go to a meeting abroad, but it is difficult to arrange childcare. We are therefore happy to take away this hurdle and pilot child care services for delegates at FEMS2019.

BOOK YOUR CHILDCARE TICKET NOW

We have teamed up with Nipperbout and Crowne Plaza hotel to provide a childcare facilities for all children between the ages of 0 to 12 year. The childcare facilities are located at the Jura Suite at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, which is connected to the congress venue. Whether you use the child care we offer or have arranged child care elsewhere, your children are allowed to access the exhibition area SEC so you can join each other for lunch.

You can register for child care at FEMS2019 until Friday 7 June. Please follow the information described here so we can ensure the care you need is provided.

We ask for a contribution in the costs of the child care of 60 GBP per day. If you are a member of SfAM, you can apply for an SfAM care support grant – keep in mind that the application for this grant also closes this weekend!

New FEMS Delegates

A warm welcome to Dr Anne Jungblut, the new FEMS Delegate of The British Phycological Society (BPS).

She follows in the footsteps of Dr Paul Hayes, whom we thank for his involvement in FEMS as Delegate for several years.

The Society of Microbiologists of Ukraine (SMU) too has a new FEMS Delegate: Dr Marina Fomina, replacing Prof. Valentyn Pidgorskyi.

We welcome Dr Fomina heartily and thank Dr Pidgorski for his contribution in the past period.

Winner of the FEMS-ASM Mäkelä-Cassell Award:
Valerie de Anda

This year, FEMS selected from members of ASM that present at FEMS2019, Dr Valerie de Anda, Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Texas at Austin, to receive the FEMS-ASM Mäkelä-Cassell Award.

Dr Valerie de Anda’s abstract on Brockarchaeota has also been selected for an oral presentation in the Workshop Extreme environments that will be held on Tuesday 8 July 2019 14:30 – 17:00 in the Clyde Auditorium. The Jury of the FEMS-ASM Mäkelä-Cassell Travel Award 2019 for Early Career Scientists selected her abstract from various very good nominations as it is “well-done and impactful”.

Call for Papers

Thematic Issue on Metabolite Transport

Metabolite transport across cellular membranes is a key feature of living organisms. Specialized proteins or protein complexes mediate such transport processes and are accessible to genetic engineering approaches. This special issue Metabolite Transport and its Impact on Metabolic Engineering Approaches will reflect on the different transport between cellular compartments. It will provide an overview about different transporter classes and metabolic engineering approaches in different organisms ranging from Bacteria to Eukarya.

Authors should specify ‘Metabolite Transport 2019’ in the cover letter. Prospective authors for MiniReviews or Commentaries must contact the Issue’s Editors in advance.

More information can be found here.

Editor Contacts: Matthias G. Steiger, BOKU Vienna matthias.steiger@boku.ac.at and Gennaro Agrimi, University of Bari gennaro.agrimi@uniba.it
Extended submission deadline is August 31st 2019

New Co-Editors-in-Chief

We are very pleased to announce that a new team of three Co-Editors-in-Chief will be starting at FEMS Microbiology Reviews. We also extend our greatest thanks to Alain Filloux who, after acting as Editor-in-Chief of the journal for five years, has decided to step down.

The editorial lead of the journal will continue with three Co-Editors-in-Chief with a range of complementary areas of expertise.

Karin Sauer: Department of Biological Sciences, Binghamton Biofilm Research Center, Binghamton University, USA. Karin’s research group utilizes the model organism Pseudomonas aeruginosa to elucidate regulatory and signaling events underlying the formation and development of highly antimicrobial resistant biofilms.

David Blackbourn: Head, School of Biosciences and Medicine, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Surrey, UK. David’s group studies viruses that are responsible for causing cancer. In particular, his interests lie in how such viruses cause disease, evade the immune response and interact with the DNA damage response.

Bart Thomma: Laboratory of Phytopathology, Wageningen University, The Netherlands. Bart’s group studies fungal plant pathogens with particular emphasis on pathogen genome evolution and functional analysis of effectors that are secreted by these pathogens to establish disease on their hosts.

New FEMS Ambassador: Prof. Linda J. Kenney

We are very pleased to announce a new FEMS Ambassador for the USA: Prof. Linda J. Kenney, Principal Investigator Mechanobiology Institute, National University of Singapore. The research interests of her laboratory are signal transduction in Bacteria; Bacterial Pathogenesis; Mechanotransduction and osmotic signaling in E. coli; Mechanisms of anti-silencing of virulence genes in Salmonella.

Ambassadors represent FEMS at scientific meetings and among microbiologists, encouraging connections and collaborations. We announced the first three ambassadors back in February. All ambassadors are experienced microbiologists, of recognized standing in their microbiology community, who can act as advocates for FEMS beyond the existing European network. All are invited to attend the FEMS2019 Congress in Glasgow (7-11 July).

FEMS Ambassadors share our work and vision with microbiologists in their countries. Ambassadors use their contacts, communication skills and enthusiasm, supported by us to highlight the activities of FEMS and encourage collaboration and participation in these activities.