AFFILIATES LETTER

NOVEMBER 2018

A Tribute to Professor Riks Laanbroek

Professor Riks Laanbroek is stepping down after 21 years as an Editor of FEMS Microbiology Ecology. Riks was the go-to Editor for handling papers on aquatic microbiology and nitrogen cycling. He also held the position as Deputy Editor-in-Chief for part of his time with us.

From everyone here at FEMS, we wish to pay tribute to Riks for his highly valued long term commitment to this journal and to the microbial ecology research that it publishes globally.

Before becoming a full editor in 1997, he was on the editorial board for 3 years, bringing his total involvement with FEMS Microbiology Ecology to a grand length of 24 years. During his long career, Riks has also held the position of Professor in Microbial Ecology of Wetlands at Utrecht University for 12 years. He is still an active Senior Scientist at the Netherlands Institute for Ecology (NIOO-KNAW) where he has held many senior posts, including 8 years as Director of the NIOO - Centre for Limnology from 2001 to 2009.

Riks gave us some personal commentary to help mark this occasion, and we learned that he can claim some fantastic ‘firsts’ with regard to the FEMS Journals:

‘’Personally, I had an early bond with FEMS via the deceased Hans Veldkamp, who was the first Editor-in-Chief of FEMS Microbiology Ecology and also supervisor of my PhD study. My first publication was in the first volume of FEMS Microbiology Letters.’’ said Riks.

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ALSO IN THIS ISSUEPUBLICATIONS / GRANTS CORNER / OPPORTUNITIES / DEADLINES

THE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER

Delftechpark 37A, 2628 XJ Delft, The NetherlandsT: +31 15 302 0050 | E: fems@fems-microbiology.org

Table of Contents

• Page 2: Meet Editor-in-Chief of FEMS Microbiology Letters, Rich Boden

• Page 3: FEMS News: Congress - Bacterial Toxins Thematic Issue - FEMS Director Recruitment

• Pages 4-5: The latest science published in each of the FEMS Journals

• Page 6: Grants Corner

• Page 7: Jobs and Opportunities

• Page 8:

GrantsDeadlines - FEMS Sponsored Events - and Extras...

Visit the web-version of Riks’ tribute to share the link with others >

NOVEMBER 2018

Read the full interview with Rich on the FEMS website >

...continued from page 1“I always had a very pleasant time as editor of FEMS Microbiology Ecology being able to promote good publications. It was nice to work together with different Editors-in-Chiefs. With two of them I shared a number of research interests, i.e. Ralf Conrad of the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology in Marburg, Germany, and Jim Prosser of the University of Aberdeen, UK.’’Riks’ particular research interests are in the nitrogen and sulfur metabolism of microorganisms. ‘’Being interested in the implications of microbial diversity for the cycling of nutrients, I spent most of my scientific work on two functional groups, i.e. the anaerobic sulfate-reducing microorganisms and the aerobic ammonia-oxidizing prokaryotes.’’ he explained. While researching these functional groups in microorganisms, his career spanned the genomic revolution that has forever changed the techniques used to investigate microbiology.

‘‘Especially with the second group, I experienced a large transformation in the approach of research questions.Starting with Most Probable Number enumerations of ammonia oxidizers in soils and eco-physiological experiments with isolated species in batch and continuous cultures, I finished with the application of metagenomics and meta-transcriptomics in soil and water samples as well as in enrichment cultures in the laboratory.’’ Riks recounted. But at no point did the discovery of new aspects of microbiology show any signs of ending, as Riks described:‘’At the same time the simple world of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria became more complex by the discovery of ammonia-oxidizing archaea and ammonia-oxidizing bacteria that were known before as only nitrite oxidizers.’’

We thank Riks for all the time he has given to FEMS, and we wish him the very best with all his

future activities.

Meet Editor-in-Chief: Rich

BodenDr Rich Boden is the Editor-in-Chief of FEMS Microbiology Letters and is Associate Professor of Microbial Physiology and Taxonomy at the School of Biological and Marine Sciences at the University of Plymouth, UK. Rich was ”roughly the 29th person” to visit the famous hermetically sealed Movile Cave in Romania, and was the first UK scientist to do so. In this must-read interview he explains his editorial role with FEMS, details the trajectory of his academic research career, and gives some sage advice to early career researchers on the topics of mental health and academic success.

‘‘If you’re doing a Ph.D or a postdoc, eat well, live well, don’t drink too much… Above all, look after your body and your mind. Mental health issues are very common in ECRs and academics – which makes total sense really – if you’re an athlete who uses a muscle really hard every day, you’re prone to injuring it, so it’s surely the same if you’re thinking at a very high level

every day?’’ - Prof. Rich Boden

What inspired you to get involved with FEMS Microbiology Letters? And what have been the highlights so far?

‘‘The role of Editor-In-Chief was advertised in mid-2014 at a time when I was feeling quite dis-engaged from the wider research community and it seemed like a means to get more involved again, effectively.

In terms of highlights, I’ve been particularly pleased with our Professional Development Section. Before I was interviewed or appointed, I’d identified that this was an under-represented area in academic publication (education, training, careers, history of science etc.). I remember a meeting in the winter of 2014 in Oxford and I really wanted to add this to the journal, which FEMS were very much behind.’’

http://www.femsjournals.com/content/virtual-special-issue-conference-physiology-yeasts-and-filamentous-fungi-pyff6http://bit.ly/2mwuqN6http://www.femsjournals.com/content/virtual-special-issue-conference-physiology-yeasts-and-filamentous-fungi-pyff6http://bit.ly/2mwuqN6http://www.femsjournals.com/content/virtual-special-issue-conference-physiology-yeasts-and-filamentous-fungi-pyff6

4 NOVEMBER 2018

Pathogens and DiseaseMiniReview

Mycobacterial biomaterials and resources for researchers

This review article aims to summarize and publicize many of these resources available to mycobacterial researchers, thus strengthening the quality and reproducibility of mycobacterial research by providing the scientific community access to authenticated and quality-controlled biomaterials and a wealth of information, analytical tools and research opportunities.

Authors: Manzour Hernando Hazbón et al.

PUBLICATIONSFEMS Microbiology ReviewsReview

Strategies to combat antimicrobial resistance: anti-plasmid and plasmid curing

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) genes (ARGs) are frequently located on plasmids, which are self-replicating elements of DNA. This review highlights the important shortfall of in vivo AMR curing options, which if filled could provide a promising mechanism to reduce AMR gene prevalence in the microbial populutions in humans and animals.

Authors: Buckner, Ciusa, and Piddock

FEMS Microbiology EcologyResearch Article

Freshwater copepod carcasses as pelagic microsites of dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium

This research tests the hypothesis that sinking zooplankton carcasses in freshwater lakes are microsites of anaerobic nitrogen cycling that contribute to pelagic fixed-nitrogen loss even in the presence of ambient oxygen. We conclude that the unique bacterial communities and microenvironments provided by zooplankton carcasses influence pelagic nitrogen cycling in lakes, but mainly at seasonally low ambient O2 levels in the bottom water.

Authors: Stief et al.

FEMS Yeast ResearchResearch Article

Physiologic and metabolic characterization of Saccharomyces cerevisiae reveals limitations in the synthesis of the triterpene squalene

A squalene overproducing S. cerevisiae strain was physiologically characterized to elucidate the effect of cultivation conditions on the production of this central triterpenoid precursor. Analysis demonstrates that characterization of production strains is valuable for the identification of bottlenecks and for guiding optimization.

Authors: Ebert, Czarnotta and Blank

FEMS Microbiology LettersMiniReview

The colors of biotechnology: general overview and developments of white, green and blue areas

Due to the wide range of applications of biotechnology, colors have been used to differentiate the main areas of research, such as white (industrial), green (agricultural) and blue (marine and fresh-water), among others. Thus, this review outlines the impacts of these areas of biotechnology, emphasizing their potential to replace carbon-based technologies with more sustainable technologies.Authors: Barcelos, Lupki, Campolina, Nelson, and Molina

New Thematic Issue: Susan LindquistThis Thematic Issue of FEMS Yeast Research is dedicated to Professor Susan Lindquist (June 1949 – October 2016). Susan was a pioneer in the field of protein folding and a champion of using yeast to drive biomedical research. She won many prestigious prizes for her work including the E.B. Wilson Award, the Dickson Prize in Medicine, and the highest honour for scientific research in the USA, the National Medal of Science. The issue is made up of 10 papers from Susan’s former trainees, who continue to contribute to ground-breaking yeast research around the world.

Edited by Brooke J. Bevis

Image from ‘A brief overview of the Swi1 prion—[SWI+]’ by Dustin K Goncharoff, Zhiqiang Du, and Liming Li

https://doi.org/10.1093/femsle/fnx014https://doi.org/10.1093/femspd/ftx010https://doi.org/10.1093/femsre/fuw045https://doi.org/10.1093/femsec/fiw249https://doi.org/10.1093/femsle/fnx014https://doi.org/10.1093/femsle/fnx014

6 NOVEMBER 2018

GRANTS CORNER OPPORTUNITIESFEMS Meeting Attendance

Grants - Grantee StatementsDr Samuel Hickman,

Department of Biochemistry, University of Oxford, UK

Member Society: Microbiology Society

Attended FEMS sponsored meeting: Bacterial Protein Export 2018 (BPE2018) in

Leuven, Belgium

30 September - 03 October 2018

“I am currently undertaking my first postdoctoral position with Prof Ben Berks and Prof Achillefs Kapanidis at the Dept. of Biochemistry, University of Oxford. In this project, I am developing single-molecule fluorescence microscopy methods (PALM and single-molecule tracking) to characterise the kinetics of folded protein transport by the twin arginine translocon (Tat) system in E. coli. Alongside this, I am also using similar methodology to study the complex assembly of the membrane components.

The scientific area that I have specialised in is single-molecule bacteriology, specifically studying how membrane protein transporters work.

The FEMS grant was important for me to be able to attend the BPE2018 conference, which was a fantastic opportunity for me to display my exciting research to the bacterial transporter community. It has been a great privilege to go to a conference with a purely bacterial transport focus; I had been anticipating a meeting like this for a long time. Also winning the FEMS letters poster prize was a huge delight and great exposure for me at such a crucial stage of my scientific career.

Being a member of FEMS provides great exposure to opportunities getting involved and volunteering within the microbiology community, particularly outside of the lab. I am always keen to promote microbiology and science outside of academia, as we need the next generation to get interested and involved.’’

Post on our Opportunities Board!

Do you want to promote your event, job, funding or interesting projects on our website to the wider microbiology

community?

You can do this on our Opportunities Board!Here you can find FEMS-sponsored events and funding, as well as many other exciting jobs, events, courses, resources and funding

opportunities from the microbiology community.

Job of the monthPostdoctoral Postion in Biochemistry and

Molecular Biology: SBU-CSIS, Spain

Final application date: 14.12.2018Institute: Molecular Biology Institute of Barcelona

(IBMB)Location: Barcelona, Spaim

Email contact: vacri@ibmb.csic.es

A position is available for a postdoctoral researcher to study the molecular biology and function of proteolytic enzymes and their inhibitors. The role is in the Proteolysis Lab headed by F. Xavier Gomis-Rüth, which is part of the Structural Biology Unit (SBU) from the Spanish Research Council (CSIC) in Barcelona (Spain). The position is scheduled for start in the first quarter of 2019 and currently funded for maximally 3 years, although it may be extended if new funds become available.

http://fems-microbiology.org/fems-work/grants/fems-research-grants/https://doi.org/10.1093/femspd/ftx010https://fems-microbiology.org/opportunities/13th-yeast-lipid-conference-ylc13/http://www.femsjournals.com/content/virtual-special-issue-conference-physiology-yeasts-and-filamentous-fungi-pyff6https://fems-microbiology.org/network/opportunities-board/

8

EXTRAS

Scientists report in Nature the indentification of two new species of Hemimastigophora, a predatory protist. What makes the paper newsworthy is that the authors are arguing that their genetic analysis suggests Hemimastigophora, currently categorized as a phylum, should instead be its own suprakingdom.

Source: Science News

A new MIT study shows how bubbles contaminated with bacteria can act as tiny microbial grenades, bursting and launching microorganisms, including potential pathogens, out of the water and into the air.

Source: Science Daily

Two cancer patients were successfully treated with fecal microbiota transplants (FMTs) for colitis caused by immunotherapy, according to a case report published today (November 12) in Nature Medicine. Both patients accepted donors’ gut microbiomes following the procedure and their symptoms cleared up within weeks.

Source: The Scientist

DEADLINES EVENTS

Post your Events with us >

03.12.2018, Germany | 3rd International Metaproteome Symposium 2018 >

17.12.2018, UK | Molecular Microbial Ecology Group (MMEG) meeting 2018 >

12.01.2019, USA | Understanding the Host-Fungal Dialogue: Impliations for Therapy & Management >

13.01.2019, USA | Keystone Symposia: Host and The Environment in IBD >

13.01.2019, USA | Mechanisms of Fungal Immunopathology >

29.01.2019, USA | 2019 ASM Biothreats >

03.02.2019, USA | GRC: Understanding Human Diseases Through Metabolomics >

24.02.2019, Italy | GRC: Mechanisms and Application: Antimicrobial Host Defense Peptides >

http://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/http://https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/12/161222143401.htmhttps://www.newscientist.com/article/2124893-tardigrades-turn-into-glass-to-survive-complete-dehydration/https://phys.org/news/2017-03-anti-bacterial-discovery-infections-medical-devices.htmlhttps://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/03/170314081623.htmhttp://fems-microbiology.org/fems-work/grants/fems-meeting-grants/http://fems-microbiology.org/fems-work/grants/fems-meeting-grants/http://fems-microbiology.org/fems-work/grants/fems-meeting-grants/

MeetingsMembershipA Diverse CommunityActivities

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