F CUSN E W S L E T T E R O F F E M S F E D E R AT I O N O F E U RO P E A N M I C RO B I O L O G I C A L S O C I E T I E S

Yes, you guessed correctly, this is a new newsletter replacing our Circular. The Circular was started in 1977. Its 60 numbers (issue 60 coming soon) provided good service to the community thanks to all who contributed to it in the past 30 years. The Circular has been redesigned several times over the years, yet, we see a need for restructur-ing our messenger more profoundly. While the old circular was in-forming twice a year mainly about societies, FEMS-affairs, Executive Committee, meetings calendar, and lately prominent European microbiologists from the past, the new Focus will…well, the name says it…will focus on particular topics of your interest. Microbiology is changing, FEMS is changing, FEMS is moving forward and this is reflected also in the newsletter. Check out the future issue to learn how and where microbiology and nanoscience meet.

Peter Raspor & Alenka Prin i Editors

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

Let me say a few words of welcome to the second FEMS Congress. In this congress we bring the centre of attention to the front-line topics in microbiology today and to cover the very broad area of our interests. Not an easy task, but an interesting one. We all enjoyed planning this microbiology congress, as it helped us realize the exciting developments in the area, which bridges biology, medicine and biotechnology. We also realized the very high impact of European microbiologists in the field and we are glad to highlight one of these outstanding microbiologists - Prof. Jörg Hacker - by giving him the FEMS-Lwoff Award. I hope you will find the congress important, stimulating and beneficial. Whatever your microbiological interest, have a great scientific meeting and a pleasant stay in Madrid.

Regards, Eliora Ron

“Why has Darwin been so often misun-derstood?”, “What are the driving forces in evolution?”, “How do human behav-iour and evolution interact?”, “What is the role of neutral mutations in evolu-tion?” All these questions were raised during the scientific meeting “Evolu-tion” in Halle (East Germany) in 1973, organized by the German Academy of

Scientists “Leopoldina”. The topics, dis-cussed then are still “on the market”. I was a young student of Biology at the University of Halle at that time and the conference, and further discussions with colleagues, professors and friends during that time opened my eyes for the excit-ing questions of evolution. Microorga-nisms are, of course, considered as ex-cellent model organisms for addressing such questions of general importance for biology and medicine. Also during my PhD work that I carried out at an institute in Wernigerode, which is now part of the Robert-Koch-Institut, my

FEMS is moving forward...Read more on page two.

June 2006 No. 1

Jörg Hacker is the Lwoff Awardee

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Welcome to the first edition of

FEMS FOCUS!

The FEMS-Lwoff Award is given for outstanding service to microbiol-ogy in Europe. Initiated in 2000, it was named in honour of the 1st FEMS President, André M. Lwoff. At the Congress, the Award will be presented to Prof. Jörg Hacker, one of the pioneers in the molecular analysis of bacterial pathogens, an ingenious, creative and co-operative scientist, an academic and strategic leader and one of the most innova-tive medical microbiologists. At the Congress, the prize-lecture “Evolution of microbial pathogens” is given by Jörg Hacker. Read below Hacker’s message to the young microbiologists.

From the FEMS President

supervisors, Helmut Tschäpe and Helmut Rische, often discussed the role of gene trans-fer on the evolution of microorganisms.

The scientific questions mentioned above, i.e., the role of gene transfer in evolution, the genetic basis of infectious diseases and the mechanisms of evolution in general, were also discussed in Würzburg, where I contin-ued my studies in 1980. I had the chance to

FEMS is moving forward

oday, the Federation is devoted to pro-moting microbiology and unifying microbiology knowledge – not only in

Europe but also worldwide. FEMS is en-couraging joint activities among the socie-ties, facilitating communication among the members, supporting meetings and labora-tory courses, providing fellowships and pub-lishing journals and books. The Federation aims at stimulating and establishing a strong community of microbiologists in the Euro-pean area by crossing geographical borders in

Europe and by crossing borders of disciplines within microbiology. At the occasion of the 1st FEMS Congress in Ljubljana three years ago, member societies agreed and signed a European Declaration for Microbiology, which summarizes our main views and goals.

European Declaration for Microbiol-ogy can be downloaded from www.fems-microbiology.org or obtained from the FEMS Central Office.

o most of you FEMS is known as an organization publishing microbiology journals and handling grants, awards,

and fellowships. These activities expanded over the years. As the needs of the scientific community changed, new kinds of fellow-ships and grants have been introduced; sev-eral years ago, congress became an important addition to the FEMS portfolio.

For the newcomers and young researchers, grants will be undoubtedly of vital impor-tance for expanding their careers. The Feder-ation currently distributes grants worth 0.37 million euros each year. These benefits are restricted though - only members of FEMS Member Societies can apply for research fel-lowships and/or support when organizing a meeting.

FEMS can assist young scientists to pursue short-term research projects via the FEMS Research Fellowships. These fellowships fund visits for up to three months in a European country different from that in which the ap-plicant lives.

This year the FEMS Advanced Fellowships have been introduced to support excellence in research and to promote long-term in-ternational research of the highest scientific standard in the most prestigious laboratories in Europe. In 2006 FEMS has made available 75 000 euros for granting a few of these fel-

lowships with each lasting from six to twelve months. Applicants should be promising, young (less than 36 years of age) European microbiologists, who have recently complet-ed a PhD and have done less than three years of postdoctoral work.

Young scientists wishing to attend microbiol-ogy meetings should check the Meeting At-tendance Grants. They support attendance at meetings worldwide but preference is given for meetings within the European area.

The Federation presents several awards. The first one, the FEMS-Lwoff Award, was es-tablished at the occasion of the Federation’s 25th anniversary in 2000. It was named in honour of the 1st FEMS President, Dr André M. Lwoff. The award is given for outstand-ing service to microbiology in Europe. It is intended as a reward for a person or a group of persons.

Recently, a new award for young microbiol-ogists has been established, named after the Danish soil microbiologist Dr Hans Laurits Jensen (1898-1977), who selflessly helped young scientists in establishing their scientific careers. The award has been initiated through a donation by the microbiologist Dr John R. Norris, known as an Editor of Methods in Microbiology and former FEMS Treasurer. The award, given once every two years, is intended to recognize academic achievement and superior research accomplishments of outstanding European students of microbiol-ogy in the final stages of their PhD studies. The award enables spending at least half a year in an outstanding research laboratory.

More information on the grants and awards of FEMS is available on the website at www.fems-microbiology.org.

Not only the grants, the congress and fur-ther member societies are new about FEMS.

Take a minute to read further about the new website, the Affiliates and Microbiology Pro-tocols. Last of all, also new is the loca-tion of the FEMS Central Office in Delft, the city of eminent founding fathers in microbi-ology in The Neth-erlands.

move from East Germany to West Germa-ny and met distinguished scientists includ-ing Werner Goebel of the Chair for Micro-biology and Volker ter Meulen of the Chair for Virology who created a very fruitful atmosphere for the development of infec-tious diseases research at the University of Würzburg. We often discussed the role of gene transfer on the evolution of patho-genic microorganisms, the genetic basis of deletion events, which we de-scribed for entero-bacteria, and the view that many virulence-associ-ated gene clusters represent highly flexible genome regions. A conse-quence of ongoing discussions was the development of the con-cept of pathogenicity islands, which are mobile, highly flexible genetic elements important for the evolution of bacterial pathogens. The gene products encoded on these islands contribute to the adaptability and fitness of microorganisms and thus also to pathogenicity. Especially Werner Goebel’s view on the genetic basis of virulence was essential for the develop-ment of this concept.

In my talk at the 2nd FEMS Congress in Madrid, I summarize our current know-ledge on this particular issue. To date, pathogenicity islands have been described for more than 30 species of pathogenic microbes. In addition, non-pathogenic microbes also carry particular genomic regions, termed “genomic islands” that belong to the flexible gene pool and are essential for the adaptation of numerous microbial species to their environments.

Thus, despite the fact that there are, as always in science, more open questions than answers, our view on the evolution of microorganisms has changed dramatically over the last 20 years. It is my guess that further exciting mechanisms that microbes use to adapt themselves to particular envi-

ronments, will be determined in the future. As George Klein, the outstanding virologist from the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, said: “The simplest microbe is much more clever than the cleverest microbiologist.”

In my view, the younger generation of sci-entists – microbiologists has chosen a very exciting field with a huge future potential,

both scientifically and practically. I guess, more and more mechanisms that mi-

crobes use to interact with their host organisms will be described. It is my strong belief that, in addition to the host organism and the pathogenic microbe, the residential commensal flora will be the focus of future infectious diseases research.

From an evolutionary perspec-tive, there are supposedly always

three players: the incoming mi-crobe, the residential flora and the host

cells, and the defense molecules expressed by the host cells, which interact with each other. The description of commensal mi-crobes, the adaptation mechanism and the interplay between different types of microorganisms will therefore be an excit-ing subject of future research. Microbiol-ogy will not only help understand the basic mechanisms of microbe – host interactions but also microbe – microbe interactions.

From the work on the genetic basis of pathogenicity done in Würzburg, I learned one thing, which is important also for the young generation; strong collaboration is needed to establish new concepts and to do successful research. Werner Goebel, Volker ter Meulen and others in Würzburg had the charisma and the knowledge to bring together scientists working on different aspects of infectious diseases. Especially at the cutting-edge areas of science, progress in research can be achieved. I should men-tion here that a number of co-workers, in-cluding Ulrich Dobrindt at the University of Würzburg, are successfully working on the role of virulence factors of enterobacte-ria. It is my strong belief that the sentence “Nothing makes sense in biology except in the light of evolution”, written by Th. Dobshanski in 1972, will be as valid in the future as it was in the past.

Jörg Hacker, Institute for Molecular Infection Biology at University of Würzburg

Where will we meet in three years at the 3rd FEMS congress to celebrate the discoveries in our field? It will be announced at the closing ceremony of this congress.

Especially at the cutting-edge areas of science,

progress in research can be achieved.

The Federation of European Microbiological Societies remains, as it was stated at the time of its founding just over 30 years ago, the voice of microbiology in Europe, supporting microbiologists in this area. It was established in 1974 to bring together microbiological societies from Northern and Western Europe. At its beginning, 17 societies from 16 countries were associated through this organization. Currently, it encompasses 46 microbiological societies in 36 countries thus linking some 30.000 microbiologists. From its small but sure beginnings FEMS has grown into a dynamic organization. FEMS is moving forward.

… FEMS is European … and FEMS is global

… so what is new about FEMS?

From Ljubljana to Madrid and then to….?

Thi th FEMS Ad d F ll hi

The Federation of European Microbiological Societies is pleased to announce long-term, FEMS Advanced

Fellowships, for a period of six to twelve months.

The fellowships are intended to acknowledge excellence in research and to stimulate and promote inter-

national research of the highest scientifi c standard by young and promising European microbiologists in

the most prestigious laboratories in Europe. Applicants must be members of a FEMS Society and less than

36 years of age. Full details of conditions and application procedure are given online at www.fems-microbiology.org or

can be obtained from grants@fems-microbiology.org.

The closing date for receipt of applications is 1 October, 2006.

FEMS Advanced Fellowship

. . . F E M S I S T H E V O I C E O F M I C R O B I O L O G Y I N E U R O P E . . .

N E W F E L L O W S H I P O F F E M S

Take a look at the new online home of FEMS, launched just a month ago, at www.fems-microbiology.org. You will find infor-mation on all activities of the Federation easily available. The members of the Ex-ecutive Committee and the Central Office addresses are given under “About FEMS”. Look also at “Who is who in FEMS” on that page. If you wish to check if your local society is a member of the Federation and find out about its representative, check the list under “Member Societies”. Of course, journal pages are restructured too. A new feature of the website is the possibil-ity to share documents for certain groups via the website. For the aficionados of the old bi-annual Circular, this is archived on the website too.

FEMS has a new, improved website

These are undoubtedly the marker of the Federation. The

first issue of the rapid turna-round journal, FEMS Microbi-

ology Letters, appeared in 1977. Today the Federation publishes, in addition to Letters, FEMS Micro-

biology Ecology, FEMS Microbi-ology Reviews, FEMS Immunology

…and the five FEMS journalsand Medical Microbiology, and the addi-tion from 2001, the young FEMS Yeast Research. They have now been published almost a year by a new publisher, Black-well. See their online homes on the FEMS website with direct links to article and issue listings on Blackwell Synergy (http://www.blackwell-synergy.com). Many articles are currently available with free online access.

…what is in it for you as an individual?The nature of Europe is such that FEMS, unlike ASM or ISME, does not have indi-vidual members, but is a federation of na-tional societies. As an individual member of a national society, you can benefit from the Federation’s activities. For those who wish to communicate more directly, FEMS has introduced the possibility to register as “FEMS Affiliate”. This registration is not linked to the membership in national societies; you just need to be interested in microbiology and in FEMS. As an affiliate you get access to several new initiatives and interesting microbiology-related informa-

tion. You will be kept up-to-date about rel-evant grants deadlines, about the suite of five FEMS journals and you will receive the newsletter Focus. In future, more informa-tion on microbiology jobs in Europe will be added to the website. Just recently, an electronic forum has been started, based on controversial topics published in our jour-nals; with a possibility to contribute. And while you are there – do not forget to look at the FEMS Microbiology Protocols. This initiative aims to be the principal on-line resource for microbiologists seeking comprehensive, updated and high-quality information on microbiological protocols, methods and techniques. Novel and state-of-the-art methods as well as significant improvements to existing methods and interesting applications of current methods can be deposited. The Protocols work as an open-access repository source of methods in microbiology.

The FEMS Focus is published three times a year by the FEMS Central Of-fice. Whom to contact? Key members of the Editorial team: Dr Alenka Prin i (alenka.princic@fems-microbiology.org) and Prof. Dr Peter Raspor (peter.raspor@bf.uni-lj.si).Design: IluminaPhoto of Delft: Max JeleniewskiFEMS is registered charity (no. 1072117) and also a company limited by guarantee (no. 3565643). © FEMS

FEMS Central OfficeKeverling Buismanweg 4 2628 CL Delft The NetherlandsTel: +31-15-269 3920 Fax: +31-15-269 3921E-mail: fems@fems-microbiology.orgRegister as an Affiliate!

FEMS invites you to register as a FEMS Affiliate at the FEMS booth at the Congress or any time through the FEMS website.

To qualify for this rate your society must be a member of FEMS. For information please contact FEMS Publications Office at

admin.journals@fems-microbiology.org: T: +31-15-269 3920; F: +31-15-269 3921.

Online subscription to the full set of FEMS journals for only 140 Euro.

www.fems-microbiology.org

The newsletter Focus is meant for you, microbiologists. If you wish to share microbi-ology-related infor-mation and news with your fellow research-ers, please contact the Editorial team.

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