Quarterly Newsletter of the Belgian Society for Microbiology Issue no. 4, May 2012 Contents Welcome by the president of BSM Page 1 Membership Page 2 News from FEMS Page 2 Annual BSM Symposium Page 3 Future microbiology meetings Page 4 BSM’s Minisymposium on Metaproteogenomics Page 5 A Belgian penicillin production plant in the 1940s and 1950s: an achievement with long-term consequences Page 6 Eurobiofilms 2013 Page 11 PhD Corner Page 12 Composition of the BSM board Page 14 Call for contributions Page 14 Welcome Here is the new issue of the BSM Newsletter! It is meant as a link between BSM and its members, and aims (among other things), to inform you about BSM, its activities and activities of Society members as well as some interesting data and history. I hope you take some time to read the Newsletter, which in this issue informs about two new activities BSM will organize in 2012, free of charge for the BSM members. More information about membership can be found on page 2. On 25 September, a half-day meeting “Functional analysis of microbial communities and consortia without cultivation“ will highlight the strength of the state-of-the-art technology to get more insight in the microbial diversity, and how this can exploited for pure and applied microbiology. Four international experts will explain the available methods and illustrate the potential of this approach. More about the program can be found further in the Newsletter (page 5). On 30 November 30, the annual BSM symposium will take place. These meetings attrack yearly between 160 and 200 microbiologists. This year’s meeting is about “Posttranscriptional regulation and epigenetics in micro- organisms”, a topic that recently gained much attention. Since the discovery of small non-coding RNAs (sRNAs), the traditional role of RNA has to be reconsidered. sRNAs can play an important role in the control of biological functions such as for the regulation of gene expression, gene silencing, stress response and apoptosis both in eukaryotes and prokaryotes. The meeting will give an overview of what is known about these sRNAs in bacteria and viruses, their importance in regulation and pathogenesis. For the program, see further in this issue. This meeting gives also the opportunity for poster presentations and short oral commincations for junior researchers. In addition, the best posters will be awarded with a valuable BSM poster prize. For the full program, see page 3. Block 25 September and 30 November already in your agenda. In each case, the meeting place is the Academy Palace, Brussels, easily reachable by public transport. Hopefully, I will meet you in Brussels! Jozef Anné, President BSM Membership News from FEMS 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 has been uncoupled since last year, and FEMS is the Federation of European therefore we urge you to pay your Microbiological Societies, and its membership fee before 1 July 2012. main mission is to advance and unify microbiology knowledge. Members who pay their fee before FEMS brings together 46 member 01/07/2012 pay €25 and will get free societies from 36 European access to the annual symposium, other countries, covering over 30000 BSM organized events and can get microbiologists. Belgium is sometimes reduction for events represented in FEMS by BSM, and sponsored by BSM. Later payments for symposium pre-registration or for our FEMS delegate is Jozef Anné. membership will cost €30. On-site When member for at least 2 years registration fee will be €35. of FEMS Member Societies can apply for research fellowships, an To renew your membership please visit advanced fellowship (new as of the BSM website 2006) and/or support when (www.belsocmicrobio.be). organizing a meeting. These benefits are restricted to members An invitation to pay your membership of FEMS societies only. For more fee will soon be sent by email. information, go to the FEMS website (http://www.fems- microbiology.org). Every other year FEMS organises the Congress of European Microbiologists – the 5th edition2 will be in Leipzig in July 2013. ANNUAL BSM SYMPOSIUM Friday 30 November 2012 ; Academy Palace, Brussels “Posttranscriptional regulation and epigenetics in microorganisms” Preliminary program Morning Session Schedule Title Speaker Chair session 08.00 - 09.00 u Registration 09.00 - 09.10 u Welcome Prof. J. Anné, KU Leuven 09.10 - 09.55 u New mechanisms of gene activation Prof. Jörg Vogel, Institute Prof. J. Vanderleyden, by small RNAs Molecular Infection Biology, KU Leuven University of Würzburg, DE 09.55 - 10.40 u MicroRNAs in viral gene regulation Prof. Ben Berkhout, Prof. H. Favoreel, UGent Lab. Experimental Virology, University of Amsterdam, NL 10.40 – 11.20 u Coffee break Alma – Leuven 11.20 – 12.05 u Small Regulatory RNAs and Energy- Prof. Susan Gottesman Prof. A. Allaoui, ULB Dependent Proteolysis: Novel Modes National Cancer Institute- for the Regulation of Gene Bethesda, USA Expression 12.05 – 13.00 u Epigenetic reprogramming of host Prof. Martin J. Allday, Prof. D. Schols, KU Leuven genes in viral and microbial Virology, Div. Infectious pathogenesis Diseases, Imperial College London, UK 13.00 – 14.30 u Lunch and Poster Session Afternoon Sessions - 2 parallel sessions Bacteriology session Schedule Title Speaker Chair session 14.30 – 15.10 u RNA in defense: CRISPRs protect Dr. Stan Brouns, Prof. P. Cornelis, VUB prokaryotes against mobile genetic Wageningen University, elements and bacteriophages. Wageningen, NL 15.10 – 16.50 u 5 short communications of selected Junior researchers (PhD Prof. T. Coenye, UGent posters in terms of Bacteriology students or recent postdocs) Virology Session 14.30 – 15.10 u Epigenetic control of Human Prof. Carine Van Lint, Lab Dr L. Gillet, ULiège Immunodefieciency Virus type 1 Mol Virology, ULB, Gosselies, (HIV-1) postintegration latency: BE implications for therapeutic interventions 15.10 – 16.50 u 5 short communications of selected Junior researchers (PhD posters in terms of Virology students or recent postdocs) Plenary session 3 16.50 – 17.00 u Conclusion and discussion; poster presentation awards Prof. J. Anné Future Microbiology Meetings Viruses of Microbes (Brussels) This EMBO conference in Brussels (16-20 July) will address the diversity, evolution, ecology and environmental impact of microbial viruses, the most abundant biological entities on Earth. New developments in fundamental, (bio)technological, industrial and medical aspects of virus research will be discussed. More information can be found at http://events.embo.org/12-virus-microbe/index.html. Biometals 2012 (Brussels) The Biometals 2012 meeting will be held in Brussels from 15 to 19 July 2012. More information can be obtained from www.biometals2012.be. Gut Day Symposium (Leuven) The 14th Gut Day Symposium, an initiatve of the Gut Flora Foundation (www.gutflora.org), will take place November 9th, 2012, in Leuven (University Hall). Organising committee: Kristin Verbeke (Chairperson), Sarah Lebeer, Christophe Courtin, Tom van de Wiele, Jeroen Raes, Jos Vanderleyden 4 Academy Palace, Hertogsstraat/Rue Ducale n°1 Brussels – 25th September 2012 – 13h00 • Jörg Overmann (Leibniz-Institut DSMZ) • Nicole Dubilier (Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology) • Philippe Bertin (Strasbourg University) • Rolph Daniel (Georg-August Universität ) * Free entrance for BSM members ! Registration : www.belsocmicrobio.be/BSM * Free access to the next BSM symposium on November 30th – 2012 ! Contact / Info : [email protected] 5 http://www.belsocmicrobio.be/BSM/ A Belgian penicillin production plant in the 1940s and 1950s: an achievement with long-term consequences When, in 1944-45, the British and U.S. military At the time (1942-43) in the ‘Institut de arrived in Belgium, they brought with them the first Bactériologie’ in Leuven, a freshly graduated penicillin available to Belgian doctors. The antibiotic, Medical Doctor, by the name of Piet De Somer first described by Fleming in 1929, had been (1917-1985), was working on his NFWO/FNRS developed into a useful drug by Howard Florey and fellowship project: erythrocyte agglutination tests Ernst Chain, working in Oxford in the late 1930s and in mononucleosis infectiosa (Fig. 1). His mentor, early 1940s. The first patient ever to be treated with bacteriologist Professor Richard Bruynoghe (1881- the drug was a police officer suffering from life- 1957), the Director of the Institute, encouraged threatening streptococcal wound infection. The date him to start a side-project and try his hand at was February 12th 1941. Improvement of his producing some of that penicillin. Reportedly, De condition was immediate and spectacular. Yet, Somer, outwitting the German border controls, because insufficient amounts of the preparation were succeeded in obtaining some Penicillium strains available, treatment had to be discontinued from the ‘Nederlands Bureau voor prematurely. The infection resumed and the patient Schimmelculturen in Baarn’. The mold needed to died on March 15th, not without leaving the be grown on the surface of liquid culture medium; investigators with the conviction that penicillin held probably he first used bar-shaped milk bottles. No unprecedented promise. The Oxford investigators records exist on whether his first attempts, most scaled up production of the drug in their local likely conducted at the Bacteriology Institute in premises using whatever technical means they could Leuven, were at all successful. scramble together in this period of extreme scarcity due to war conditions. More patients were treated and the results were spectacular. Attempts of Florey to secure support from British pharmaceutical companies or from the Defense Department were rather unsuccessful, such that he turned to the U.S. Again, it met with indifference and skepticism, but eventually several companies and the Defense Department did become involved. One American group made a giant leap forward by isolating a Penicillium strain that grew in suspension culture.