It has been a busy early 2019 at the ISME office with several regional workshops ongoing (in South Africa and South America), and planning in full swing for ISME18 August 2020 in Cape Town. The South Africa ISME18 Local Organizing Committee (LOC) is planning a very exciting agenda, that mirrors the vibrant state and trajectory of our discipline.  In April, the ISME Executive Board will meet with the South African LOC to survey the Cape Town venues, as together we continue to forge the ISME18 agenda.

Under the leadership of ISME Vice President Nicole Dubilier (who also serves as the Awards Committee Chair), news is now on the ISME18 winners of the Tiedje Award, and the ISME Young Investigators Award!  

The ISME18 Tiedje Award will be awarded to Professor Kenneth Nealson of the University of Southern California for his outstanding contributions. These include Ken’s original pioneering discovery of cell density dependent regulation of gene expression in bacteria (originally dubbed autoinduction, now often referred to as quorum sensing), in addition to Ken’s foundational efforts in establishing the field of geobiology. 

The ISME18 Young Investigator Award will be awarded to Professor Kelly Wrighton of Colorado State University, for her outstanding success in studying the genomics and biogeochemistry of soil and deep subsurface microbiomes. Kelly’s work combines a broad range of omic methods with geochemical analyses to reveal new insights into our understanding of microbial diversity and interactions, in environments as diverse as hydraulically fractured shales and the guts of humans and ruminants.

Congratulations Ken and Kelly!

Ed DeLong - ISME President

The first Ambassador report for 2019 starts with an expression of heartfelt thanks to the following Ambassadors who concluded their ISME Ambassador terms at the end of 2018: Jianzhong He (Singapore), Iswandi Anas (Indonesia), Esperanza Martinez-Romero (Mexico) and Mya Breitbart (USA).

Many of these Ambassadors served consecutive terms and their dedication and hard work has contributed to the growth of the society and the development of ISME J as the premier journal in microbial ecology! Following the ISME meeting in Leipzig we also received numerous requests from members wanting to become more actively involved in the Ambassador program.

This enthusiasm led to the appointment of numerous additional senior and early career Ambassadors for the society:

Dianne McDougald (Singapore), Vanny Narita (Indonesia), Luisa Falcon and Jose Garcia-Mazcorro (Mexico), Dev Raj Joshi (Nepal), Kosala Sirisena (Sri Lanka), Shahida Hasnain and Anwar Hussain (Pakistan), Ruth Schmidt (Canada), Yu-Ting Wu (Taiwan), Silvija Černi (Croatia), Jennifer Brum (USA) and Robert Czajkowski (Poland). Welcome all!

A complete list of Ambassadors is available on the ISME website so please take a moment to familiarise yourself with the Ambassador for your region as they are the first point of contact for ISME support of local initiatives.

The first quarter of 2019 also saw a lot of activity within the ISME Ambassador program, with funding approved for meetings, training workshops, invited speakers and student symposia.  With support from the ISME Ambassador program, the Nigerian Society for Microbial Ecology was established and ran its first successful meeting, microbial ecology initiatives were established in Côte d'Ivoire and Nepal, and research symposia were supported in locations ranging from NZ to the UK. 

The ISME Ambassador program exists to help our diverse membership grow the field of microbial ecology and reach of the ISME society in their regions. We therefore urge all members to contact their local Ambassador’s to discuss relevant opportunities and how ISME can best support your local microbial ecology initiatives.

ISME Supported Activities in Nepal (above)
8^th International Conference on Polar & Alpine Microbiology, NZ (bottom left)
Molecular Microbial Ecology Group Meeting, Wales (bottom right)

Nicole Webster - ISME Board Member

We are very pleased that we were able to fund some many great events in microbial ecology last year. Reports can be found on our website  For 2019 we have almost reached the limit of our budget so if you have a sponsorship request for 2019 then please submit it as soon as possible. 

Curious what we can sponsor?
Please have a look at this 1 minute video!

Message from GBMF

The Symbiosis in Aquatic Systems Initiative of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation is soliciting pre-applications for investigator awards. Investigators will be selected based on their potential to conduct research that illuminates how aquatic symbioses involving microbes function, and how these interactions shape ecology and evolution in marine and freshwater habitats. The deadline for submitting a pre-application is June 3, 2019 at 23:59 PDT. To learn more about this funding opportunity, including FAQs and eligibility information and to apply, please follow this link: https://symbiosis.smapply.io.