Microorganisms have endured and thrived through the beginning of life on our planet and this makes them the most resourceful biology “story-tellers” of all living beings. They play key roles in biogeochemical cycling at different environmental compartments, with reciprocal and cascading effects in agriculture, animal, human and plant health. They are important for a sustainable agriculture, as microbial pesticides, biofertilisers or bioremediating agents, and mediate in environmental cleanup and biodepuration. They support life in lakes and oceans affecting all aquatic organism yields, and have an overall impact on the climate; they indeed regulate climate change. They contribute to food production, preservation and safety, and thus in animal and human health and nutrition. They constitute an invaluable source of cellular and molecular materials for exploitation in biotechnology and bioenergy production. Last but not least, they constitute an important and integral part of all other living organisms: the microbiome.

Thus, the role of the microbial world – “mikrobiokosmos” in Greek – is considered more than ever crucial in the “One Health” and “One Planet” schools of thought; i.e., the emerging concepts advocating the intertwining of healthy global ecosystems with healthy living beings.

With a vision of the above, the Hellenic Scientific Society MIKROBIOKOSMOS invites its members and all those involved in research in the field of Microbiology, especially young researchers, to participate in the 9th International Conference of MIKROBIOKOSMOS which will be held in Athens from 16 to 18 December 2021. The aim of the conference is to bring together a multidisciplinary audience of leading academic scientists, researchers and research scholars to exchange and share their experiences and research results in the field of Microbiology.

The theme of the conference is “Beneficial microbes at the heart of Mikrobiokosmos” to highlight the beneficial role of microorganisms in the following fields/sessions: Agriculture/Fisheries/Aquaculture, Food/Nutrition, Environment, Bioengineering, Biotechnology/Bioenergy. Advances in Molecular mechanisms, Model organisms, Microbiome studies, Omics approaches and bioinformatics tools, mechanisms of action, host-microbe association and interaction, are also included.

Distinguished scientists from Greece and abroad have been invited as speakers at the conference, to present research developments in the above fields.

The conference will take place in the heart of the city Athens, at the Agricultural University campus, a perfect place close to the historical city centre and we hope to attract a broad European, International and Mediterranean participation