Quarterly Newsletter of the Belgian Society for Microbiology Issue no.6, January 2013 Contents Welcome by the president of BSM Page 1 Membership Page 2 News from FEMS Page 2 ASM Workshop on Best Practices in Scientific Writing and Publishing Page 3 Future microbiology meetings Page 4 Agar plates and Petri dishes : 130 years of age … and still going strong! Page 7 PhD/Postdoc positions at SCK-CEN Page 9 Second hand lab instruments for sale Page 11 Poster Awards – 2012 Meeting of the Belgian Society for Microbiology Page 13 Book announcement Page 15 Book review Page 16 Postdoctoral Position – University of Antwerp Page 18 Composition of the BSM board Page 19 Call for contributions Page 19 Welcome Dear BSM member, This issue of the BSM Newsletter coincides with the start of 2013, giving us the opportunity to wish you a successful and inspiring New Year ! Our annual symposium “Posttranscriptional regulation and epigenetics in microorganisms” that took place on 30 November 2012 was a big success, with over 200 participants and over 70 posters being presented. Thanks to the generosity of the sponsors, BSM was also able to honor the best posters with an award. The list of the poster awards can be found further in this issue (page 13). The 2013 annual meeting will be special, as we plan to organise a two-day meeting together with the Belgian Co-ordinated Collections of Micro-organisms (BCCM). Details will follow in due course but please already note the date for this meeting in your agenda (26 and 27 November 2013). We are sure that you are aware of the fact that as a society cannot survive without financial support. In the near future you will receive an invitation to pay your membership fee for 2013 (€ 25). We of course hope that you will renew your membership! For those of you who are not a member yet, please have a look at our website and see what BSM has to offer. Keep in mind that as a member of BSM, you are supporting Microbiology as a scientific discipline. We are looking forward to see you at one of our future activities. Kind regards, The BSM Board 1 News from FEMS Membership Historically membership of BSM has been linked to the attendance of the yearly BSM symposium : the registration fee for the symposium was at the same time the membership or vice versa. For practical reasons, this FEMS is the Federation of European has been uncoupled since 2011, and Microbiological Societies, and its therefore we urge you to pay your main mission is to advance and unify membership fee as early as possible. microbiology knowledge. FEMS brings together 46 member societies from Members paying before 01/07/2013 36 European countries, covering over owe only € 25 and will get free access 30000 microbiologists. Belgium is to the annual symposium, other BSM represented in FEMS by BSM, and our organized events and can get FEMS delegate is Jozef Anné. sometimes reduction for events When member for at least 2 years of sponsored by BSM. a FEMS Member Society, you can apply for research fellowships, an Later payments for symposium pre- advanced fellowship and/or support registration or for membership will be when organizing a meeting. These €30. On-site registration fee will be €35. benefits are restricted to members of FEMS societies only. For more To renew your membership visit the information, go to the FEMS website BSM website www.belsocmicrobio.be (http://www.fems-microbiology.org). Every other year FEMS organises the Congress of European Microbiologists – the 5th edition will be in Leipzig from 21 to 25 July 2013. More information can be found at http://www2.kenes.com/fems2013/ pages/home.aspx (abstract deadline : 2 11/02/2013). ASM Workshop on Best Practices in Scientific Writing and Publishing This virtual workshop aims to assist in the development of the skills needed to write and submit scientific manuscripts with the ultimate goal of improving the dissemination of research and enhanced knowledge sharing. The seminar will provide participants with insight and training into processes required to successfully publish a scientific article. The workshop will present an overview of how to write and publish a scientific manuscript. Best practices for developing both the content and presentation of a document will be outlined and the ethics and logistics of submitting manuscripts for publishing will be examined. The 1 ½ hour virtual program is as follows: Module One: Introductions, Overview, & Discussion of Why do we write? (7 min, 2 seconds) Module Two: Nuts and Bolts of Writing a Scientific Manuscript (20 min, 54 seconds) When do you start writing? Before you write. What are the parts of a scientific manuscript? Module Three: Powerful Titles and Compelling Abstracts (10 min, 34 seconds) The key elements of a title and abstract will be presented. The discussion will include what makes a good title and abstract, things to avoid, and tips for writing titles and abstracts. Module Four: Tables and Figures (9 min, 56 seconds) What to put in and what to leave out. How much detail to include in the legend. Module Five: The Submission Process (11 min, 33 seconds) When do you submit your manuscript? What is required to make a submission? What is the time frame of a submission? When is it proper to contact the journal? Module Six: Dealing with reviews (10 min, 8 seconds) The review process will make the manuscript better. Do not take it personally. How do you respond? What steps are involved in the response process? Module Seven: Ethics in Scientific Publishing (11 min, 45 seconds) What constitutes authorship? Can data ever be duplicated? Module Eight: Additional Types of Scientific Papers (12 min, 7 seconds) In addition to scientific manuscripts for journals, this module covers other types of scientific writing including: Review Articles, Letters to the Editor, Editorials, Book Reviews, Book Chapters, and Lay Writing. Please contact Pierre Cornelis ([email protected]) if you are interested in attending this webinar. Future Microbiology Meetings The Koninklijke Nederlandse Vereniging voor The International Conference on Antiviral Research Microbiologie (Royal Netherlands Society for provides an interdisciplinary forum of interest to Microbiology) will co-organise two major chemists, biologists, and clinicians involved in congresses in 2013: antiviral research. At ICAR, scientists worldwide working in the areas of basic, applied, and clinical German – Dutch microbiology congress 2013, research meet in a collaborative and collegial together with the VAAM. atmosphere to review recent developments in all Dates: 2013 March 10-13 areas of antiviral drug discovery and development. Venue: Congress Centre and Messe, Bremen, Specific topics to be covered in the scientific program Germany include: medicinal chemistry, virus replication, host URL: www.vaam-kongress.de. cell-virus interactions, virus latency, new target Email: [email protected] identification, biochemistry and mechanism of Further information: action, mechanisms of viral drug resistance, assay The programme will feature the following topics development, in vitro evaluation, animal models, and speakers: pharmacokinetics, toxicology, and clinical trials. Public Lecture: EHEC-Bakterien Gestern und Heute Within these areas of interest, there will be keynote, - Helge Karch (Münster/DE) plenary, single topic mini-symposia, a clinical Host-Microbe Interaction - Pierre de Wit symposium, and oral and poster presentations. (Wageningen/NL), Willem de Vos (Wageningen/NL) The 26th ICAR will be held at the Hyatt Regency in San Marine Microbiology - Lars Peter Nielsen Francisco from May 11th- 15th 2013 ; California, USA. (Aarhus/DK), Mike Zubkov (Southampton/GB) In addition to the poster awards, to graduate Physiology and Metabolism - Christa Schleper students and junior researchers, ICAR has expanded (Vienna/AT), Mike Jetten (Nijmegen/NL) its travel grant support program to encourage more Omics and Bioinformatics - Peer Bork students and junior researchers to attend. (Heidelberg/DE), Kathleen Marchal (Leuven/BE) Unicellular Eukaryotic Microbiology - Virginia San Francisco, often called "Everybody’s Favorite Armbrust (Seattle, WA/US), Rene Wijffels City," is the ideal location for the 26th ICAR. San (Wageningen/NL) Francisco has something for everybody; scenic Food and Feed Microbiology - Luc De Vuyst beauty, cultural attractions, diverse communities, and (Brussels/BE), Monika Ehling-Schulz (Vienna/AT) world-class cuisine. Measuring 49 square miles, this Environmental Biotechnology - Marc Strous very walk-able city is dotted with landmarks like the (Bremen/DE), Juan Ramos (Granada/ES) Golden Gate Bridge, cable cars, Alcatraz and the Single Cell Microbiology - Ramunas Stephanauskas largest Chinatown in the United States. (East Boothbay, ME/US), Laura van Niftrik (Nijmegen/NL) http://www.isar-icar.com/?page=26ICAR KNVM-NVMM scientific spring meeting 2013 Dates: 2013 April 16-17 Venue: Papendal Congress Centre, Arnhem URL: www.nvvm-online.nl/modules/2013 Email: [email protected] 4 EUROBIOFILMS 2013 Third European Congress on Microbial Biofilms GHENT, BELGIUM, SEPTEMBER 9-12, 2013 www.eurobiofilms2013.ics.dk Organising Committee: Tom Coenye (president), Patrick Van Dijck (vice-president, basic), Johan Van Eldere (vice-president, clinical) and the ESGB Executive Committee International Scientific Advisory Board: Nuno Azevedo (PT), Thomas Bjarnsholt (DK), Nico Boon (BE), Oana Ciofu (DK), Gianfranco Donelli (IT), Max Dow (IRL), Hans Curt Flemming (DE), Niels Hoiby (DK), Veronika Hola (CZ), Christine