September 28 - October 1, 2008. 10th Clostridium Workshop (Clostridium 10)
Wageningen, The Netherlands Further information
The 10th Workshop on the Genetics and Physiology of Acid- and Solvent-producing Clostridia continues the tradition of scientific meetings that take place every two years in which scientists from all over the world come together to exchange their knowledge on these industrially interesting organisms.

Full list of microbiology conferences at Microbiology Conferences

April 8 - 11, 2008. Genomes 2008 - Functional Genomics of Microorganisms
Institut Pasteur, Paris, France Further information

Microbial genomics is at the core of the scientific challenges we will have to meet in the 21st century with respect to emerging diseases, health and food science and sustainable development. Throughout the world, about 2200 genome projects are currently in progress. This impressive scientific knowledge is now further expanding as a wealth of genomics-enabled technologies in a large variety of research domains become available, ranging from sequencing and array technologies to informatics and to the analysis of host-pathogen interactions . In addition, Metagenomics and Systems B iology are expanding rapidly, promising to bring further advances. It will thus be an exciting time to bring together researchers and companies working on various aspects of the genomics field.

The emphasis of the meeting will be comparative analyses of pathogenic and environmental microbes, functional genomics, computational genomics and systems biology in the light of the new technological developments. Genomics has also dramatically changed studies concerning the interaction of microorganism s with their environment or, for pathogens, symbionts or commensals, their host. The newest results in this field will also be discussed.

For a full list of conferences please see Microbiology Conferences 2008

A team of researchers at the J. Craig Venter Institute has created the largest man-made DNA structure by synthesizing and assembling the 582,970 base pair genome of Mycoplasma genitalium. This work, published in the journal Science (Gibson, et al, 2008) is the second of three key steps toward the goal of creating a fully synthetic organism. In the next step the team will attempt to create a living bacterial cell based entirely on the synthetically made genome.

Reference: Gibson et al (2008). Complete Chemical Synthesis, Assembly, and Cloning of a Mycoplasma genitalium Genome. Science [DOI: 10.1126/science.1151721]

We would like to inform you of the following conferences.

For a full list please visit Microbiology Conferences and Meetings 2008

Any conference missing from this list? Please send details


October 19 - 23, 2008. 15th International Meeting on Frankia and Actinorhizal Plants
Bariloche, Argentina Further information: lgwall@unq.edu.ar

August 24 - September 1, 2008. Microbial Secondary Metabolites: Genomes, Signals and Communities
Inter-University Centre, Dubrovnik Further information
The Summer Schools in Applied Molecular Microbiology this year holds the Summer School on Microbial Secondary Metabolites intended for scientists at post-graduate and early post-doctoral level.

May 22 - 25, 2008. 4th International Conference on Analysis of the Microbial Cell at the Single Cell Level
Bad Schandau, Dresden, Germany Further information

August 30 - September 5, 2008. International Plasmid Biology Conference 2008
Gdansk, Poland Further information
The conference will cover all areas representing plasmids and other mobile genetic elements such as replication, partition/stability, transfer, evolution, ecology, genomics, systems biology, medical and veterinary aspects, applied aspects, and bioinformatics.

May 19 - 24, 2008. Retroviruses
Cold Spring Harbor, NY, USA Further information

The following conferences and meetings have been added to the list of microbiology conferences and meetings 2008

For a full list please visit Microbiology Conferences and Meetings 2008

Any conference missing from this list? Please send details

April 7 - 9, 2008. Workshop on ribosomal RNA technology
Bremen, Germany Further information
Central points that will be addressed by the workshop include: What kind of technology is needed to help biologists deal with the deluge of data? What kinds and quality of emerging data need to be organized, stored and analysed? How can rRNA help to answer burning questions in biology?

May 14-17, 2008. 8th International Meeting on Microbial Epidemiological Markers
Zakopane, Poland Further information
Will address a variety of topics: the development of new molecular tools and strategies for microbial typing, the evolution of virulence and antibiotic resistance genes, and the molecular epidemiology of infectious diseases.

May 16 - 18, 2008. 2nd International Conference on Bioinformatics and Biomedical Engineering (iCBBE2008)
Shanghai, China Further information
Will bring together top researchers from Asian Pacific areas, North America, Europe and around the world to exchange research results and address open issues in all aspects of bioinformatics and biomedical engineering.

May 27 - 31, 2008. Banff Conference on Infectious Diseases
Banff, Canada Further information
Internationally-recognized experts present their research on pathogenesis and other aspects of infectious diseases and host defenses.

June 20 - 22, 2008. Northeast Microbiologists: Physiology, Ecology and Taxonomy NEMPET (25th Anniversary)
Minnowbrook Lodge, Blue Mountain Lake, NY, USA Further information

June 22 - 26, 2008. Natural Products Discovery and Production II
Whistler, Canada Further information
A cross-disciplinary approach to explore the present and future status of natural products and their prospects for continued commercialization. Developments will be explored as they impact traditional culture classes: actinomyces, non-yeast fungal, plants, and single cell bacteria/yeast.

July 6 - 10, 2008. ASM 2008 MELBOURNE (Australian Society for Microbiology)
Melbourne, Australia Further information
July 2008 will see Melbourne host some of the world’s best researchers in subjects as diverse as vibrios, parasites, infection control, retroviruses, marine microbiology, probiotics, bioremediation, molecular microbiology and natural products as antibiotics, in addition to of course mainstream microbiology in all its sub-groups.

July 6 - 11, 2008. Aquatic Virus Workshop 5
Vancouver, Canada Further information
The theme of the AVW has been expanded from Algal Viruses to Aquatic Viruses to facilitate a broader interaction among researchers interested in viruses in aquatic systems.

July 27 - Aug 1, 2008. 33rd International Herpesvirus Workshop
Estoril, Portugal Further information

July 30 - August 2, 2008. Biennial confernce of the International Endotoxin and Innate Immunity Society
Edinburgh, UK Further information

August 3 - 7, 2008. 9th International Conference on Bacillus thuringiensis
University of Warwick, UK Further information
41st Annual meeting of the Society for Invertebrate Pathology, 9th international conference on Bacillus thuringiensis (incorporating COST 862).

August 3 - 7, 2008 41st Annual Meeting of Society for Invertebrate Pathology (SIP)
Warwick, UK Further information

August 3 - 8, 2008. XVII International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2008)
Mexico City, Mexico Further information

August 11 - 15, 2008. 12th International Congress on Yeasts
Kyiv (Kiev), Ukraine Further information
The list of confirmed speakers includes Nobel laureate Aaron Ciechanover and other top-level yeast researchers (altogether, near 100 scientists already confirmed their participation as Invited Speakers).

August 20 - 24, 2008. Molecular Genetics of Bacteria and Phages
Cold Spring Harbor, NY, USA Further information

September 4 - 6, 2008. Symposium on the Evolution of Antiviral and Antibacterial Defense
Berlin, Germany Further information

September 7 - 11, 2008. Extremophiles 2008
Cape Town, South Africa Further information
Will encompass the latest research developments in a broad range of subjects including extremophile molecular ecology, metagenomics, physiology, genetics, protein structure and function and biotechnology.

November 5 - 7, 2008. Conference on Congenital Cytomegalovirus 2008
Harkin Global Communications Center, Centers for Disease Control,Atlanta, Georgia, USA Further information
The theme of CCC 08 will be Public Health Action towards Awareness, Prevention, and Treatment. Planned topics include: epidemiology, pathogenesis, maternal diagnosis, newborn screening, prognostic markers, prevention/counseling, immunity, vaccination and therapy.

A recent paper in Current Issues in Molecular Biology reviews the Gene-Environment Interactions and Epigenetic Basis of Human Diseases.

Most human diseases are related in some way to the loss or gain in gene functions. Regulation of gene expression is a complex process. In addition to genetic mechanisms, epigenetic causes are gaining new perspectives in human diseases related to gene deregulation. Most eukaryotic genes are packed into chromatin structures, which lead to high condensations of the genes that require dynamic chromatin remodeling processes to facilitate their transcription. DNA methylation and histone modifications represent two of the major chromatin remodeling processes. They also serve to integrate environmental signals for the cells to modulate the functional output of their genome. Complex human diseases such as cancer and type 2 diabetes are believed to have a strong environmental component in addition to genetic causes. Aberrancies in chromatin remodeling are associated with both genetically and environmentally-related diseases. We will focus on recent findings of the epigenetic basis of human metabolic disorders to facilitate further exploration of epigenetic mechanisms and better understandings of the molecular cues underlying such complex diseases.

Liu et al (2008) Gene-Environment Interactions and Epigenetic Basis of Human Diseases. Curr. Issues Mol. Biol. 10: 25-36

Download the full article (pdf)

Epigenetics A recently published volume describing the molecular mechanisms and biological processes in which epigenetic modifications play a primordial role.

from Int. Microbiol. (Dec 2007) 10: 296-297.

Overall, this book proves to be an essential reading for all Candida genome and molecular biology researchers and is a recommended text for scientists working on fungal genomics and molecular biology. In spite of its high price, it is recommended for a wide range of scientists interested in the biology of yeasts, fungal infections and also the basic mechanisms of the eukaryotic cell. As the book's editors, Christophe d'Enfert and Bernhard Hube conclude in their introduction, "the hope is that this system biology of the host-pathogen interaction will provide the foundation for a better management of Candida infections."

Candida: Comparative and Functional Genomics