Submitting a paper to us soon? You may already know that all but one of our journals are becoming fully Open Access (OA) by 1 January 2024.

Make sure you are ready for this change, as from 1 September 2023 all new papers submitted to these journals will be entered into the Open Access pipeline.

FEMS Journals becoming fully Open Access on 1 January 2024: 

• FEMS Microbiology Ecology 
• FEMS Microbiology Reviews 
• Pathogens and Disease 
• FEMS Yeast Research 

We believe that OA is key in supporting our mission of sharing high quality microbiology research as widely as possible – and OA means that no-one needs to pay to read these articles published in our OA journals. 

The “Lex Scheffers Memorial Issue on Yeast Physiology” in FEMS Yeast Research celebrates the memory and legacy of W. Alexander (Lex) Scheffers (1925-2021), the founding editor-in-chief of the journal.

A personal account of his time in Delft (published in 2015) recollects protagonists and milestones in understanding yeast physiology. The Memorial Issue also presents eight research articles and two reviews, all published within the past few years. Discover all the articles with a brief digest in this #FEMSmicroBlog entry. #FascinatingMicrobes

At FEMS2023 in Hamburg, we held for the first time a session on policy on the topic: “Why and how can scientists engage with policymaking?” Opening and chairing the session was Paul Cos, Director of Policy & Business. The speakers brought different perspectives and examples on the topic, and participated in the discussion. Speakers were:

• Julian Keimer, Policy Analyst, European Commission Joint Research Centre (EC-JRC): “27 Competences: An aspirational checklist for scientific policy advisers”
• Chloe Hill, Policy Officer, European Geosciences Union (EGU): “From evidence to action: a practical guide to policy engagement”
• Lucky Cullen, Policy, Public Affairs and Diversity Manager, Applied Microbiology International (AMI): “Applied Microbiology International: Bridging the gap between Science and Policy”
  

Take a look at the page Your Voice in Policy on the FEMS Website if you’d like to learn how you could get involved too!

Pengfei Li: Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands

Host supervisor and host laboratory: Prof. Dr. Eike Steinmann, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany

Dates: 10th October of 2022 to 10th January of 2023

FEMS Member Society Membership: Royal Netherlands Society for Microbiology

‘’At the early stage of my research (Veterinary Medicine), I dedicated to investigating the epidemiology of emerging viruses among waterfowls in China and developing specific preventive or therapeutic antivirals against these animal viruses. In 2018, I moved to The Netherlands and started my PhD research. Incorporating previous experience in animal diseases, my research interests have expanded to analyzing epidemiology of emerging cross-species viruses, studying virus-host interactions, as well as developing antiviral therapies. So far, I have contributed to 45 publications on these topics, with 16 publications as first author. My current research focuses on: 1. Developing human-derived primary organoids based models, including liver organoids, intestinal organoids and airway organoids, for viral infections. Based on these 3D-constructed organoids, I aim to understand the pathogenesis, host responses and antiviral therapies against human hepatitis E virus, SARS-CoV-2, monkeypox (mpox) virus, and seasonal coronaviruses (OC43, 229E and NL63 virus). 2. Systematically mapping epidemiological and clinical features of emerging viruses infections by employing multiple bioinformatics analyzing approaches.

It's an exciting moment when I get the chance to network and to visit my host in Germany. I want to deeply thank FEMS for awarding me a FEMS Research and Training Grant.

My research visit is to Prof. Dr. Eike Steinmann in Ruhr University Bochum, Germany. Prof. Steinmann is prestigious in hepatitis E field. His group members are very nice and we have talked about projects with each other. Most importantly, my original group has been troubled with generating high titers of HEV, and I learned this technique in Prof. Steinmann's group. We now have constructed a long-term collaboration for extending the HEV study in liver organoids.’’

Postdoc On Antimycobacterial Drugs: France

Final application date: 15 September 2023

Institute: Sorbonne Université (Paris)

In the context of a European IMI AMR project (innovative medicines initiative, antimicrobial resistance), we are offering a postdoc position for a project aiming at evaluating pre-clinical activities of new antimycobacterial drugs in murine models for tuberculosis and non-tuberculous mycobacteria. This project will be performed with collaborating European academic teams having complementary expertise in different topics (chemistry, crystallography, toxicology, zebra fish, clinical trials) and with an industrial partner (Janssen).

We are seeking a highly motivated and autonomous postdoc with proven experience in bacteriology, animal models and statistics. Additional PK/PD expertise would be greatly appreciated.

The postdoc position will cover 2.5 years of salary.

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