The World Microbe Forum is just around the corner. Together with the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) and several other societies, the World Microbe Forum aims to break barriers to share science and address the most pressing challenges facing humankind today. By registering now, you will get access to the hottest topics in microbiology – from new infectious pathogens like SARS-CoV-2, antimicrobial resistance to the role of microbes in climate change, agriculture and food microbiology – and discuss them like never before. Here, Sarah Wettstadt highlights the advantages that you will gain from participating in this ground-breaking online meeting that aims to unite the microbial science community worldwide. #FEMSmicroBlog #FEMSevents

 

Choose your favourite topics

We know that microbiologists are just as diverse as the microbes they are discussing. This is why there are multiple tracks and topics so that you can explore the full spectrum of microbiology research.

You will be able to discuss the latest on the discovery and development of new antimicrobial drugs or their associated resistance mechanisms, explore pathogenic and symbiotic relationships between microbes and the host or learn more about the microbiome. Maybe you will find peers that are just as crazy as you about learning how microbes work in diverse environments. Or you are a fan of big data and want to discuss your latest results from your ecophysiology, ecogenomics or meta-omics study.

Also, infectious disease physicians, clinical microbiologists, epidemiologists, public health officials and pharmacists will have the opportunities to learn about the latest advances in clinical and basic science. Another focus of the World Microbe Forum will be on research on anti-infective therapy and prophylaxis providing laboratory directors, medical technologists, clinicians, infection preventionists with the most recent developments and cutting-edge findings in the field.

Altogether, you can choose from more than 500 scientific sessions to learn about your favourite microbial topic.

 

overcome the time zone challenge

Such a huge global event is obviously also suffering from the fact that its attendees live in different time zones. While we cannot completely overcome this challenge, we are trying our best to accommodate everyone and their timely availabilities. This is why the World Microbe Forum offers two main format types: on-demand and live sessions.

Live sessions will happen completely in real-time. Speakers will present live during the date and time listed in their invitations and you can ask questions to the speaker via video or chat. Interactive sessions will have a live component, including video or text Q&A with presenters and text chatting with other attendees. These interactive sessions will have a scheduled start time so that you will have access to the speaker during the entirety of the sessions.

On-demand sessions will be released each day, so you can watch them whenever it suits you best. Both FEMS and ASM will release their on-demand videos at specific times of the conference days. There won’t be any live components during-demand sessions, but you can still contact the speaker through the interactive platform.

 

Interact with the scientific community

Throughout the last year, you were probably missing the interactions with other scientists outside of your own lab or group. The World Microbe Forum will help overcome the social shortage of the pandemic by providing advanced technology to support interactions between attendees.

The World Microbe Forum wants to overcome the isolating challenges of the pandemic by providing technology to support interactions between attendees.

In the interactive format sessions, you will be able to live chat with peers worldwide. During these sessions, you will have access to easy-to-use video, chat and text functionality to make meaningful connections with speakers and colleagues with diverse backgrounds, knowledge and insights. This aims to resemble in-person meetings so that you can share your scientific focus and interest with scientists that you otherwise would not meet in person.

Also, new partner societies join every day from around the world. The following collaborating societies are dedicated to furthering science within their communities:

• American Society for Microbiology (ASM)
• American Society for Virology (ASV)
• African Society for Laboratory Medicine (ASLM)
• Microbiological Society of Korea (MSK)
• Latin American Microbiology Association (ALAM)
• Latin American Association of Clinical Pathology (ALAPAC)
• Federation of Microbiological Societies of Japan
• Australian Society for Microbiology
• Pan American Health Organization (PAHO)

Hence, through the collaboration of these scientific societies, your research will reach an even broader audience.

 

Share your research with thousands worldwide

Join the nearly 3,000 of your peers worldwide who submitted an abstract to the World Microbe Forum. You can still submit your abstract until May 7 and register as an Early Bird until May 12.

Ready to share your research globally?

About the author of this blog

Dr Sarah Wettstadt is a microbiologist-turned science writer and communicator working on various outreach projects and helping researchers talk and write about their scientific results. Her overall vision is to empower through learning: she shares scientific knowledge with both scientists and non-scientists and coaches scientists in writing about their research. Sarah is blog commissioner for the FEMSmicroBlog and was a social media editor for FEMS for 1.5 years. Previous to her science communication career, she worked as a postdoc in Marían Llamas’ lab on Pseudomonas aeruginosa’s ability to use heterologous iron sources and completed her PhD with Alain Filloux investigating the type 6 secretion system in Pseudomonas aeruginosa.