Since 1957, a meeting referred to as “ISOPOL”, for the “International Symposium on Problems of Listeria and Listeriosis”, has been held every three years in countries across the globe.   Participants come from all over the world and this allows for cutting-edge exchanges and updates on a wide variety of topics related to Listeria and listeriosis. The topics range from disciplines such as epidemiology, diagnostics and typing methods, to genomics, post-genomics, fundamental microbiology, cell biology and pathogenesis.

Since the original article published by EGD Murray, RA Webb and MBR Swann in 1926 in the Journal of Pathology and Bacteriology, 90 years of research have placed Listeria monocytogenes among the most documented pathogenic bacteria and listeriosis among the best studied infectious diseases. From a food safety perspective, although we do not see as many outbreaks as other established pathogens such as Salmonella spp., it is the foodborne pathogen which has the highest case-fatality rate during outbreaks and is a cause of many food recalls, with large subsequent economic losses to the food industry.

In the field of listeriology, we are reaching a level of tremendous complexity in the description of the bacterial physiology and of the infection process, learning more about the ecology of the organism in foods and finding new ways to control L. monocytogenes in foods. In order to mimic more closely the human disease process, future research will require a better understanding of the various cells and tissues which are infected in vivo, based on animal models. Clearly, understanding how L. monocytogenes interacts with the microbiome in the gut will also be a major challenge in the future.

The target audience includes scientists including students and post-docs, from academia, from the food industry and from public health agencies, i.e., fundamental microbiologists, food and medical microbiologists, veterinary microbiologists and public health specialists, as well as researchers in cell biology and immunology.

Register today for the 20th ISOPOL Symposium bringing together an international audience.  Listeria experts come from all over the world and exchange information and give updates on a wide range of topics concerning Listeria and listeriosis including food safety, epidemiology, diagnostics, typing methods, genomics, post-genomics, fundamental microbiology, cell biology and pathogenesis.