Programme

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Content

The content of the FEMS Summer School for Postdocs 2024 will be focused on the following theme:

Climate Change: Challenges and Influence on Microbial Safety of Water and Food

Climate change is one of the biggest challenges of our time affecting all aspects of life on Earth. The directors are preparing an excellent 8-day scientific programme with distinguished speakers-mentors.

Directors 

Prof. Lisa Y. Stein, Professor, Climate Change Microbiology, Faculty of Science – Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Canada

Professor Lisa Stein is a distinguished figure at the University of Alberta, Canada, where she holds the position of Professor in Climate Change Microbiology within the Faculty of Science – Biological Sciences. Her educational journey began with a B.A. Magna cum laude in Molecular Cellular and Developmental Biology from the University of Colorado, followed by a Ph.D. in Molecular and Cellular Biology from Oregon State University. She further honed her expertise as a Postdoctoral Scholar at the California Institute of Technology and the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Prof. Stein’s career at the University of Alberta has seen her evolve from an Assistant Professor to her current role, with significant recognition as the Canada Research Chair (Tier 1) in Climate Change Microbiology. Her research is ground-breaking, focusing on microbial conversion of greenhouse gases into valuable products, understanding the evolutionary and physiological commonalities between methane- and ammonia-oxidizing bacteria, and investigating the role of reactive nitrogen intermediates in controlling nitrous oxide emissions. Her international collaborations have accelerated genome sequencing of methanotrophic and nitrifying microorganisms, crucial for climate change mitigation strategies. Additionally, Prof. Stein has delved into the microbiomes of wildlife and industrial systems, uncovering the impact of diet on urban coyote behaviour and health, among other significant findings. Her work not only advances our understanding of microbial processes affecting climate change but also bridges basic and industrial microbiology, highlighting her as a key player in environmental science and mentorship.

Prof. Andreja Rajkovic, Professor in Microbial Food Safety at Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

Andreja Rajkovic Ph.D is a Principle Investigator of the research group on foodborne toxins, pathogens and in-vitro host models within BW23. His basic training was a food technology engineer, followed by Master after Master in Food Science and Technology and PhD in Applied Biological sciences. Until 6 years ago his research was predominantly related to foodborne pathogens and microbial toxins and their relation to food processing, food composition and health. In the later years, his research expanded to risk assessment of chemical mixtures in food, contaminants at the food, environment, and health interface, mitochondrial toxicity and cellular bioenergetics as markers of adverse and positive health outcomes, and toxicological and microbial impacts of microplastics and nanoplastics in contemporary food supply. In all research projects, the central target is related to studies of effects of foodborne and environmental hazards (microbial and chemical) on human health using battery of molecular and other analytical tools. Prof. Rajkovic is a president of International Committee of Food Microbiology and Hygiene, member of scientific committee of Belgian Federal Agency for the Safety of the Food Chain, board member of Belgian Society of Food Microbiology, expert of Belgian Superior Health Council, founding editor in chief of Food Safety & Risk, and Editorial Board member of several Q1 scientific journals, such as International Journal of Food Microbiology.


Mentors and 
Speakers

Lisa Stein, Summer School Co-director, Research Chair in Climate Change Microbiology; Faculty of Science Assoc. Dean, Mentorship & Awards, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada

  • Omics methods for linking soil microbial communities to greenhouse gas emissions.
  • Valorization of single-carbon feedstocks for clean fuels and biopolymer production
  • Interconnections between microbial nitrogen and methane cycles

 

Andreja Rajkovic, Summer School Co-director, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Department of Food Technology, Safety and Health, Ghent University, Belgium

  • Mycotoxins, pathogens and plastisphere in time of climate change

 

Ana Allende, Spanish National Research Council | CSIC · Centro de Edafología y Biología Aplicada del Segura, Madrid, Spain

Water safety in agriculture, the food processing chain and AMR:

  • How climate change affects horticultural production systems and food safety?
  • European Green Deal, the Circular Economy and Wastewater Reuse: What impact do they have on the transfer and amplification of antimicrobial resistance?
  • New European Legislation on water re-use for agriculture: The challenge of the Risk Assessment

 

Christina Hazard, Research Leader, Bioengineering Department, Laboratoire Ampère, Université de Lyon, France

  • Soil viruses and biogeochemical cycling
  • Understanding soil nitrifier ecophysiology to decelerate the nitrogen cycle.

 

Jennifer Pett-Ridge, Group Leader, Physical & Life Sciences Directorate, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, California, USA

  • (Titles of talks coming soon.)

 

Mirjana Andjelkovic:, Senior Research Scientist at Sciensano, Ghent, Flemish Region, Belgium

  • Exposure assessment in food safety

 

Peter Raspor, Emeritus Professor of Microbiology and Biotechnology, University of Ljubljana. Slovenia, https://peter-raspor.eu/

  • Environmental And Demographic Challenges due to Climate Change: The Case of Food Safety and Security
  • Food Safety Episode Due to Climate Change: How to Handle Risk Communication?

 

Liesbeth Jacxsens, Department of Food Safety and Food Quality, Ghent University, Belgium

  • Plant toxins as a food safety hazard

 

Kostas Koutsomanis, Head of Laboratory of Food Microbiology and Hygiene, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Department of Food Science and Technology, Faculty of Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Environment, Thessaloniki, Greece

  • Risk-based food safety management and climate change (theoretical background)
  • Impact of climate change on the microbiological stability of non-refrigerated foods (application example)

 

Evelyne Selberherr, Institute of Food Safety, Food Technology and Veterinary Public Health, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Austria

  • (Titles of talks coming soon.)

 

Nicole Webster, Executive Director, Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania, Honorary Senior Principal Research Scientist, Australian Institute of Marine Science

  • (Titles of talks coming soon.)


Timetable

Coming soon.

 

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FEMS Journals and Open Access

Embracing an Open Future

All but one of the FEMS journals are now fully open access (OA), with one journal, FEMS Microbiology Letters remaining a subscription journal with free-to-publish and OA options. Open access is key to supporting the FEMS mission of disseminating high quality research as widely as possible: when high quality, peer reviewed sound science is open access, anyone, anywhere in the world with an internet connection, can read it.

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