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Microbiology Society Has Been Publishing Research for , and Now Has a Portfolio of Children Eating Probiotic Yogurt in Mwanza, Tanzania Microbiology Annual Conference 2019 8–11 APRIL, BELFAST WATERFRONT, UK TODAY 45:3 August 2018 Microbiology 45:3 Microbes Today August 2018 and Food Registration and abstract submission open August 2018 Abstract submission deadline: 10 December 2018 Grants deadline: 31 January 2019 Registration closes: 11 March 2019 @MicrobioSoc #Microbio19 Discover more at: microbiologysociety.org/annualconference Email: [email protected] Microbes and Food Using microbes to influence flavour production Microbial diversity in the digestive tract of herbivores Join over 1,400 delegates for three and a half days of Mycoprotein production and food sustainability Foodborne diseases: sequencing for answers presentations, posters and networking. Bacteriophage therapy in livestock: food for thought? Conference Flyer 2019 A4 v5.indd 1 17/04/2018 10:39 5 REASONS Since 2004, I have been committed to giving people in Africa access to probiotics. With amazing colleagues, we are now providing the opportunity for everyday citizens in TO PUBLISH WITH US villages and towns in Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda to produce probiotic fermented food (www.yoba4life.org, www.westernheadseast.ca). WE ARE A LEADING PUBLISHER IN THE These efforts are reaching over FIELD OF MICROBIOLOGY 250,000 people, while in Argentina, a wonderful school programme is doing The Microbiology Society has been publishing research for , and now has a portfolio of Children eating probiotic yogurt in Mwanza, Tanzania. Gregor Reid 69 years 1 the same through a locally discovered six peer-reviewed journals, with over 3,500 articles submitted in 2015. our hospital instituting probiotics as experiments in mice. I suspect less than probiotic yogurt. standard therapy for premature, low 10% of these projects ever make the birth weight newborns, and while the slightest dent in that disease. If we truly Imagine the possibilities! rate of NEC was not overly high at want to understand health and prevent It’s a microbial world, and WE ARE A NOT-FOR-PROFIT ORGANISATION around 3% beforehand, it’s almost zero and treat disease, we need to direct probiotics have an important place Unlike commerical publishers, we invest our publishing surplus to advance the understanding now. The ultimate in clinical translation. funding to studying and replenishing in it. Imagine what we could do as a and impact of microbiology by connecting and empowering communities worldwide, through: But probiotics are not a silver bullet. beneficial microbes in humans. collective? 2 international conferences, professional development, policy, education and outreach. They may never reduce cholesterol as much as statins, but they won’t cause Gregor Reid muscle wasting and terrible side effects. University of Western Ontario, Lawson Health Research They reduce colic in breast-fed babies, Institute, Rm F3-106, 268 Grosvenor Street, London, Ontario WE OFFER FAST AND RIGOROUS reduce the duration of diarrhoea and N6A 4V2, Canada PEER REVIEW respiratory infections and recurrence of e [email protected] UTI. What else can enhance immunity, Gregor Reid is Professor of Microbiology and Immunology, Our Editors and Reviewers provide unbiased, invaluable critical thinking and analysis to ensure 3 reduce side effects of HIV/AIDS and high-quality papers are accepted for publication. Average time to first decision is4–6 weeks, and our Reid Gregor and Surgery at The University of Western Ontario. He has many other drugs, reduce stunting and authors rate the peer review process 4 out of 5. published 520 peer-reviewed papers, been awarded 28 patents and given over improve maternal and infant health? 600 talks in 54 countries. He has many awards, including an Honorary Doctorate In the late eighties I had a grant from Orebro University in Sweden, and being appointed to the Royal Society of rejected on probiotics to prevent UTI with Canada and the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. OUR JOURNALS HAVE EXPERT a reviewer stating, “why are you doing this when we have antibiotics?” While INTERNATIONAL EDITORIAL BOARDS we now suffer the penalties of excessive What is the most enjoyable bit of your job? 4 Our influential Editors and Editorial Board members are selected antibiotic use, my only satisfaction from The highs. They come in many forms (discoveries, papers accepted, grants won, for their knowledge, expertise and contribution to the microbiology community. rejection is seeing many of these grant awards, student successes, invitations to speak, people personally benefiting panellists now studying probiotics. We from probiotics, etc.), and you need them to offset the lows which are sadly must be doing something right. inevitable in science. What advice would you give to someone starting out in this field? YOUR RESEARCH PUBLISHED ON A NEW AND Translation means to all people, not just the rich Find something to believe in that is real, and make it part of your life. The concept INTERACTIVE JOURNAL PLATFORM of lactobacilli being beneficial for the female urogenital tract made sense from Of the thousands of grants I have read, day one, and made even more sense the more I studied it. I was relentless in its Authors benefit fromenhanced article level metrics so they know where their research is being 5 almost all start with stating a clinical discussed online and how many times their article has been downloaded. Our journals have a pursuit, making the data be the marker, not mythical ideas. Passion is critical if problem their project relates to then global readership, so your article is highly discoverable and citable. what you are passionate about has a foundation in stone, not sand. many describe so-called ‘mechanistic’ Find out more about our journals at microbiologyresearch.org Microbiology Today Aug 18 | www.microbiologysociety.org 149 Editorial Welcome to the August edition of Microbiology Today, hopefully one you are able to enjoy in the summer sun, possibly alongside a cold drink or an ice cream. If you are enjoying this issue with a snack, it is worth stopping for a moment to consider how microbes might be impacting on your experience of that food. Whole Picture icrobes influence our food in digestive tract of ruminants reared for health as well as human health, Prerna an extensive range of ways, human consumption are of particular explains how sequencing technology Mdictating whether or not you commercial interest, as they can impact is being utilised to provide valuable experience a delicious flavour or will be on the energy available for the growth information on the virulence and sick as a result of what you eat. They can of those animals and can also alter zoonotic potential of these microbes. be utilised to produce protein and can greenhouse gas production. With this in mind, up next are the impact on the health of livestock that Given that the production of the microbes which could have a role in are an essential part of the food chain. In food we eat comes at a cost, both helping to combat infection in livestock. this edition we look at all the wonderful monetary and environmental, it is Robert Atterbury turns our attention to and not so wonderful ways in which becoming increasingly important to bacteriophage and the ways in which microbes affect our food. look at lower-cost alternatives. Richard these viruses could be used to reduce To start us off on our journey looking Harrison and Rob Johnson walk us infection and antibiotic use in animals into microbes and food, Christine Dodd through the production of low-carbon destined for the food chain, potentially and Dewi Yunita explain how microbes protein made by fungi and how it can creating a knock-on effect for human can influence the complexity and variety be consumed globally as an alternative health. of flavours and textures in the foods we to meat. Discussing some of the To finish off, Gregor Reid helps eat. Covering a wide diversity of food reasons for the increased demand for us all out with his Comment piece on products, they explain how microbes this type of protein, they outline its probiotics. Answering the questions, can direct flavour development and how origins, manufacture and the direction “what are probiotics and which one using the right starter culture plays a of research which will support an should I take?”, Gregor provides us with major role in producing the desirable increasingly energy-efficient product in an insight into the evidence for some flavours that we come across every day. the future. of the probiotics available to the public As well as being used directly Despite the many positive roles and highlights the impact probiotics can to flavour our food, microbes also microbes can have in food production, have in clinics when used appropriately. impact our food choices through the there are still those few microbes which He also describes how production role they play as an essential part of can cause us distress in the form of of probiotics is being used to benefit the digestive tract of herbivores. Neil foodborne disease. The symptoms human populations on a global scale. McEwan describes how the relationship can range from mild through to life- between host and microbe allows the threatening, and some of the microbes Rowena Jenkins host to utilise nutrients from plants causing these problems are considered Editor that they would be unable to process here by Prerna Vohra. Reminding us that [email protected] alone. The microbes present in the these microbes can impact on animal Microbiology Today Aug 18 | www.microbiologysociety.org 101 Contents Microbiology TODAY Articles A matter of taste: using microbes to 110 influence flavour production Christine Dodd & Dewi Yunita The tastes of different microbes. Microbial diversity in the digestive tract 114 of herbivores Neil McEwan Symbiosis between herbivores and micro-organisms. Mycoprotein production and food 118 sustainability Richard Harrison & Rob Johnson Mycoprotein development and production.
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