News

The Scientific Committee of the ECCO meeting 2024 (https://eccomeeting2024.org/) is presenting a survey aimed at engaging the broad community of microbiologists, microbiome scientists and technology developers with an interest in microbiology to understand their awareness of key issues in microbial biodiversity and to assess the importance of good taxonomic practices in their field.
The survey should take no more than 10 minutes to complete all answers.
Please complete the survey at https://forms.gle/v3NBs7YtGbDJYfw66 within the end of September.

The third edition of the International Symposium ‘Microbiome: From Benchtop to Bedside,’ which will take place on November 26th at the KAVA Congrescentrum in Antwerp, Belgium.
This symposium aims to bring together researchers, clinicians, and industrial partners to catalyze the translation of novel scientific insights in the microbiome field into clinical applications. Building on the success of our 2022 and 2023 symposia, which hosted around 150 participants each year, we are continuing to expand our international reach with invited speakers and participants from around the world.
The symposium will feature sessions about Microbiome & General Health (1), Disease (2) and Applications and Regulations (3).
Info and registration: https://www.uza.be/activiteit/symposium-microbiome-benchtop-bedside.

We are pleased to invite you to the 3rd Belgian celebration of International Microorganism Day to be held on Saturday September 21st at the Museum of Natural Sciences in Brussels.
International Microorganism Day was laid down to commemorate the discovery of microbes by Antonie van Leeuwenhoek in 1676. Since 2017, microbiologists across the world get together on this day to disseminate their passion for microbiology to younger kids and the broad public.
On this occasion, the Young Belgian Society for Microbiology is organizing a day filled with hands-on microbiology activities open to all ages. These activities not only highlight the relevance of microbiology in our day-to-day lives but also explore individuals’ artistic sides (virus-origami, painting with bacteria etc.).
We invite colleagues, students, parents and teachers to our IMD celebrations and experience an educational and fun way to start the academic year. We are also offering a reduced price for adults (10 euros instead of 13) to visit the Museum of Natural Sciences when accompanied with this flyer that would give access to all our activities. The entry fee for students and children between 4 and 17 years old remains unchanged at €5.
We are hoping that you will spread the word about our event to students, parents and teachers in your vicinity.

Symposium organized by the ULB on Monday September 16th, 2024 on the subject “Antimycobacterial drug development”. Location: Salle Solvay,building NO, Campus Plaine, Boulevard du Triomphe, 1050 Brussels. Qualified researchers will present keynote lectures and Belgian PhD students or postdoc will be able to present short communications.

The inscription is free but mandatory through the following link (closed on September 16th, 2024):
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdc8gh3jqmaF6DY5Tqqxi5QSLvZElXywyOfXUYGrI6-lSANSw/viewform?usp=sf_link

Program divided in 4 sessions:
• New antimycobacterial and antimicrobial compounds in view
• New mycobacterial targets in view
• New drug regimens in view
• New antimycobacterial drug assessments in view

Among the qualified managers making an oral presentation:

• Prof. Jayanta Haldar (JNCASR, Bangalore, India) on « Vancomycin analogues in the pipeline of antimicrobial drug development”
• Prof. Alain Baulard (Institut Pasteur de Lille, France) on « Rewiring M.tuberculosis to reverse antibiotic resistance: Alpibectir from bench to bedside”
• Prof. Leen Rigouts (Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium) on “Genetic variants across phylogenetic lineages of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex may cause resistance in drug-naïve populations”.
• Prof. Gilles Berger (Université Libre de Bruxelles) on « Exploring transition metal complexes for human diseases »
• Prof. Véronique Fontaine (Université Libre de Bruxelles) on “Why to target GroEL1 and PDIM biosynthesis to fight M. tuberculosis ”

Born in 1921, Lise Thiry (https://belsocmicrobio.be/famous-belgian-microbiologists/lise-thiry/) passed away January 16th 2024, at the respectable age of 102! A time to remember her astonishing commitments, whether scientific, political or social, at a time when not everyone paid attention to women speaking. From 1947 she worked at the Institut Pasteur in Brussels, where she set up the Virology laboratory in 1952. Alongside many fundamental discoveries, her lab developed diagnostic tests for the detection of a number of viruses (e.g. scarlet fever, mumps, poliomyelitis, VRS, adenovirus, HIV). In 1985, she detected HIV particles in the milk of mothers from Rwanda, identifying a route of transmission and raising, for the first time, doubts about the universally accepted benefits of breastfeeding. In addition to her brilliant scientific career, in the early seventies, Lise started a political career at the socialist party. In 1985, she received the title of “Woman of the year” and became a member of the Senate. In 1990, she was part of the commission in charge of evaluating the impact of the new law legalizing abortion. She championed the rights of asylum seekers, and other excluded people. Besides her scientific publications, she wrote a series of books, including “Conversations avec des clandestins” (ISBN 978-2-87267-064-2, unfortunately not translated).
We present our condolences to her family. She keeps showing us the way to dedicating scientific research to the benefit of people and society.