Have you wanted to experience microbiology in industry situation, but never had the chance? Now you can with the support of FEMS!

As Early Career Scientist, you can apply similar to a Research & Training Grant, but with an industry of your choice as your host. Also non-laboratory work can be considered, as long as relevant for microbiology (ie communications, patenting, quality control, advocacy, etc).

What are you waiting for? Get in touch with the industry of your choice and start creating a working plan.

Application deadline is 1st February 2022 with the application system will open on 1st January  2022.

These past weeks, FEMS Microbiology Letters awarded prizes to excellent posters and presentations at MiFFI (Microbial Food and Feed Ingredients conference) and MMEG (Molecular Microbial Ecology Group meeting).

You can read interviews with the winners below!

Marina Jovanović (Poster Prize at MiFFI)

Grete Raba (Poster Prize at MiFFI)

Ainsley Beaton (Flash presentation award at MMEG: ‘Understanding the ecological functions of natural product antibiotics’)

Marine Cambon (Flash presentation award at MMEG: ‘Chemical cues as potential triggers of Brenneria goodwinii pathogenicity in Acute Oak Decline’)

The recording of our recent FEMS Microbiology Ecology Webinar on Approaches, Methods and Challenges in Microbiome Research is now available to watch on our YouTube channel.

The continued development of DNA sequencing technologies is providing exciting new capabilities to characterize complex microbial communities in various habitats. This webinar explores some of the new developments and challenges in microbiome research methods and takes a critical look at what we can learn about the inhabitants of diverse microbiomes and their possible functions. Key topics include the concerns with reproducibility and controls in microbiome research, the improvements in Oxford Nanopore long-read sequencing technology, and the role of the microbial rare biosphere.

FEMS Microbiology Letters has switched to double-anonymised peer review for all manuscripts submitted to the journal.

We are introducing this change as part of our efforts to improve the diversity, inclusion, and equity of our publishing.

The introduction of double-anonymised review will help to reduce the impact of unconscious biases throughout the journal, and allow reviewers to focus on the scientific content of papers, maintaining the high standards the FEMS journals are known for.

Hear more about the change in this video from Editor-in-Chief Rich Boden.

FEMS is happy to have supported VAAM – The German Association for General and Applied Microbiology, to internationalize their great initiative Microbe of the Year which just appeared with a new English website.

With this initiative, which has been successful for eight years, the association wants to draw attention to the many small but extremely important organisms that significantly influence and determine our lives.

The Microbe of the Year 2021 is Methanothermobacter, and previous microbes were Myxococcus, Magnetospirillum and Lactobacilli.

Want to learn more? Take a look at the new English website of the Microbe of the Year.

And as a society who is federated by FEMS, you can apply for support to your project.

The #FEMSmicroBlog is proudly celebrating (almost) 2 years and we invite you to discover the broad range of sections and entries presenting exciting science, news from the FEMS community, microbiology meetings, historical events, fun facts, and more!

A diverse pool of contributors has written close to 100 entries. An average of 225 people read blog posts, with peaks of readership over 1,800 for some entries! Blog posts of interest for an international, non-scientist audience are translated into major European languages to reach as many people as possible.

We also welcome contributors, so feel free to send us our pitch for a blog entry (the contact is available at the end of every post).

(Illustration for the #FEMSmicroBlog by Eliza Wolfson (@eliza_coli))

FEMS Microbiology Ecology

Your natural research habitat

FEMS Microbiology Letters

Promoting new ideas

FEMS Microbiology Reviews

Outstanding reviews from leading experts

Presence of Fe(II) and nitrate shapes aquifer-originating communities leading to an autotrophic enrichment dominated by an Fe(II)-oxidizing Gallionellaceae sp

Nitrate in organic-poor aquifers can be removed by autotrophic Fe(II)-oxidizing communities, dominated by microorganisms belonging to the family Gallionellaceae.

Natalia Jakus, Nia Blackwell, Daniel Straub, Andreas Kappler, Sara Kleindienst

Biosurfactant production by halophilic yeasts isolated from extreme environments in Botswana

Halophilic yeasts from the biggest saltpans in the whole world produce potential antimicrobial agents important in the era of increasing global antimicrobial drug resistance crisis.

Daniel Loeto, Mosimanegape Jongman, Lerato Lekote, Mbaki Muzila, Margaret Mokomane, Koketso Motlhanka, Thando Ndlovu, Nerve Zhou

Intrabacterial lipid inclusions in mycobacteria: unexpected key players in survival and pathogenesis?

Intrabacterial lipid inclusions formed into the mycobacteria during infection processes suggest a major role of these structures in the pathogenesis and persistence of infection in host cells.

Ivy Mallick, Pierre Santucci, Isabelle Poncin, Vanessa Point, Laurent Kremer, Jean-François Cavalier, Stéphane Canaan

Pathogens and Disease

Next generation host pathogen research

FEMS Yeast Research

The yeast community journal 

Out Now: Thematic Issue from microLife

Combination of kaempferol and azithromycin attenuates Staphylococcus aureus-induced osteomyelitis via anti-biofilm effects and by inhibiting the phosphorylation of ERK1/2 and SAPK

The present study screened the effect of the combination of azithromycin and kaempferol on osteomyelitis conditions involving azithromycin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. The study confirmed that the presence of kaempferol with azithromycin showed potential effects and reduced infection. It was found that the combination inhibited the phosphorylation of ERK1/2 and SAPK, and also displayed anti-biofilm effects.

Lei Gao, Zhipeng Tang, Tianbo Li, Jiangning Wang

Efficient production of shinorine, a natural sunscreen material, from glucose and xylose by deleting HXK2 encoding hexokinase in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Production of shinorine, a natural sunscreen material, was improved by redirecting glucose flux toward shinorine production in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Chaeyeon Jin, Sojeong Kim, Seokjun Moon, Hyunbin Jin, Ji-Sook Hahn

Out Now: Thematic Issue on Extracellular Vesicles

We are proud to announce the publication of the first Thematic Issue of papers from microLife.

From exploring outer membrane vesicles as modulators of the innate immune response, to studying fungal extracellular vesicles, this collection brings together the latest high-quality research.

Bringing together industry, research and policy. The quickening pace of scientific and technological discovery is re-shaping policies, markets and economies around the world.

Arm yourself with a
regular new Science|Business briefing.

Research and Training Grants are meant to assist early career scientists in pursuing research and training at a European host institution in another country than their own country of residence.

Deadline for application: 1 January for projects that will start within a year from the following 1 March

Welcome to Belgrade 2022!
FEMS and the Serbian Society for Microbiology are happy to announce the next FEMS Conference on Microbiology, which will take place from 30 June to 2 July 2022 in Belgrade, Serbia.

Registration is Now Open!

Our commitment at FEMS is to support microbiologists with their work, promote the best in microbiology research to the world, and bring microbiologists together. This event supports that commitment: giving high value for money at a low registration fee, it opens possibilities for networking and exchanging knowledge and experiences.

The FEMS Conference on Microbiology, a new FEMS event format, is organized in close collaboration with the respective local regional society. The FEMS Online Conference 2020 has already been successfully organized in collaboration with the Serbian Society for Microbiology (SSM) as an ONLINE format.

Yet again, the FEMS Conference in Belgrade 2022 relies on its high-end scientific profile and combined expertise of FEMS and SSM in successfully organizing global and SEE regional scientific events and we are looking forward to a great experience for all involved.

We aim to highlight science communications and public relations that contribute significantly to the public discourse about science and evidence. The nominees that were in the running for this year’s Science Communication Award, truly are science communication projects we love.

Have a look at this inspiring example – you may get some reading ideas for the holidays!

The Bad Bugs Bookclub website is a freely available resource that provides reading guides/suggested questions for more than 70 books, alongside discussion notes for each meeting.

Jo Verran set up the bookclub in 2009. The aim was - and remains - to bring scientists and non-scientists together to discuss novels where microbiology forms part of the plot. It is common for science advocates to blame fiction for negative public attitudes to science, or for the public’s ‘ignorance’ about scientific facts, but the bookclub format enables democratic engagement between (interested) adults, and the presence of ‘experts’, in a relaxed setting. The format also enables exploration of controversial issues, or misunderstandings, in an informal manner. It has provided a fantastic and versatile focus for engaging adult (and other) audiences in discussion.

After the challenges of the pandemic and with strong support from our community, we’re looking forward to exciting activities in 2022.

- Join us for a wide-ranging programme of events, including our Annual Conference in Belfast.

- Supporting early and mid-career researchers with the Unlocking Potential Fund. Donate today. Make the difference.

- Publishing for the Community. Celebrating 75 years of Microbiology, our flagship journal, welcoming submissions in our anniversary year.

- Our Publish and Read initiative will offer more researchers a fee-free way to publish Open Access across our journals.

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