11-13 Novembre 2024, Trieste

L’Ente Nazionale di Ricerca Area Science Park, con la collaborazione dell’International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology - ICGEB, organizza la Conferenza Scientifica Internazionale “Pandemic preparedness: Achievements, current challenges, and new frontiers”, in programma dall’11 al 13 novembre 2024 a Trieste.

L’evento scientifico è parte integrante del progetto “Pathogen Readiness Platform for CERIC-ERIC upgrade” - PRP@CERIC finanziato da fondi PNRR Next Generation EU, dedicati alle Infrastrutture di Ricerca, e finalizzato a potenziare l'Infrastruttura di Ricerca distribuita CERIC-ERIC con l'integrazione di una piattaforma dedicata allo studio dei patogeni.

L’obiettivo della Conferenza è quello di fornire una panoramica dei virus conosciuti ed emergenti e del loro potenziale rischio epidemico nonché di favorire la condivisione delle conoscenze e il networking, incoraggiando lo sviluppo di ampie sinergie e la cooperazione multidisciplinare. Si parlerà di diagnostica, epidemiologia, sorveglianza, scoperta di farmaci e approcci preventivi, con l’intento ultimo di implementare strategie di risposta sinergiche, innovative ed efficaci per affrontare le sfide delle malattie infettive (ri)emergenti e rispondere a future pandemie.

La Conferenza vedrà la partecipazione di esperti internazionali in differenti discipline applicate allo studio dei patogeni, quali la virologia, la biologia strutturale, la genomica, l’Intelligenza Artificiale, la gestione dei dati, la diagnostica clinica, le patologie infettive, le zoonosi, e prevede un ricco programma comprendente sessioni plenarie tematiche, presentazioni orali e sessioni poster.

Considerando lo scopo della SIMGBM, impegnata nel favorire studi e ricerche in microbiologia generale e biotecnologie microbiche in molteplici campi, quali quelli della batteriologia, della virologia, della micologia, della ficologia, della protozoologia e delle tecnologie in cui i suddetti organismi e i loro prodotti vengono impiegati per la produzione di beni e servizi, nonché nel divulgare la conoscenza microbiologica nella società civile, a tutti i livelli, saremmo lieti di poter ricevere il vostro patrocinio. Tale forma di supporto, senza alcun impegno finanziario, rappresenterebbe, a nostro parere, un notevole valore aggiunto per la Conferenza e potrebbe favorire l’accesso a quest’opportunità di un’ampia platea di ricercatori esperti, docenti universitari, medici, professionisti sanitari, attivi nel campo della microbiologia e delle biotecnologie dei microrganismi, ma anche di giovani ricercatori che muovono i primi passi nella ricerca sui patogeni a vari livelli.

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7-11 October, 2024
University of Palermo, Italy

Dear Colleagues,
We are pleased to announce the upcoming 4th STEM-CPD Summer School, an exceptional opportunity for university lecturers in STEM disciplines (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) who are committed to student-centered teaching, and who aim to develop their university teaching competences with an international dimension and promote continuous professional development (CPD) in teaching and learning at their home universities. The intensive summer school program enables participants to implement professional development activities for lecturers at their respective universities, thereby enhancing the quality of STEM education. Upon successful completion of the 4th STEM-CPD Summer School, participants will be awarded the CPD Ambassador certificate and gain the opportunity to join the international CPD Ambassadors community.

Early Bird application is available from 15 December, 2023 to March 1, 2024

See more at: https://ectn.eu/summer-school

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The Organizing committee of MARIFUNDIVE 2024, the first international workshop in “Marine Fungi: Diversity and Applications”, invites scientists working on marine fungi to present their advanced research of this important topic.

The workshop is scheduled in the frame of the project “Production and characterization of new bioactive molecules against emerging and/or multidrug-resistant pathogens by neglected poly-extremophilic marine fungi (MYCOSEAS)” financed by the E.U “Next Generation EU” by the PRIN 2022 framework (Project n°: 2022MPTT35).

Contributions, which will be selected for oral or poster presentations, can regard the following topics: taxonomy & phylogenesis; mycobiota composition, structure & functionality; enzymes & metabolites; biotechnological applications.

All selected contributions will be published on the extended abstrac.

For further information: https://sites.google.com/unitus.it/marfundive-2025/home-page

Piero Cammarano, an excellent scientist and a remarkable person, passed away during the night of April 8th.

After receiving the title of MD from the University of Rome La Sapienza in 1959, Piero worked for three years at the Institute of General Pathology in the Medical School of the University of Milan before moving to the Department of Enzymology of the Biology Division at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (Tennesee, USA). In 1965 Piero returned to Italy, first working one year as a guest scientist at the CNR International Institute of Genetics and Biophysics in Naples, then as a researcher in the CNEN (Comitato Nazionale Energia Nucleare) division of Animal Radiobiology near Rome (La Casaccia) where he organized and equipped a Laboratory of Molecular Biology. In 1980 he obtained a chair of “General Biology and Zoology” (later “Applied Biology”) at the Medical Faculty of the University of Rome La Sapienza, a position which he held until his retirement in 2007.

Piero was one of the first to “practice biochemistry without a license”, in a period when “Molecular Biology” was considered a blasphemous term by conservative, narrow-minded members of Italian academia. He was a pioneer in the study of ribosomes and protein synthesis in Italy and can be considered the founder of a school which now comprises different groups active in different parts of the country.

Of particular relevance is his physical and chemical characterization of chloroplast and mitochondrial ribosomes, which provided support for the hypothesis of the endosymbiotic origin of eukaryotic cell organelles. He was also the first to describe the unique properties of mitochondrial miniribosomes (55S) which contain a large proportion of proteins, unlike other ribosomes, 2/3 of whose mass is constituted by rRNA. Piero was interested in the evolution of the translational apparatus and his success in obtaining translationally active hybrid ribosomes constituted by heterologous subunits of plant and animal origin demonstrated the high degree of conservation of ribosomal structure. Furthermore, he was interested in understanding the molecular basis of thermal stability and studied the temperature dependence of ribosomal subunit reconstitution. Through comparison between ribosomes of hyperthermophilic bacteria and archaea and the finding that the translational apparatus of eukaryotic, bacterial and archaeal cells displays different antibiotic sensitivity, Piero demonstrated that archaea constitute a third domain of life, distinct from bacteria and eukarya. Through comparison of the sequences encoding universal translational factors such as procaryotic EF-Tu and EF-G and eukaryotic EF-1 and EF-2, he was able to reconstruct the initial events of cellular evolution.

Piero mastered the scientific method and spent a lot of time advising and tutoring his associates, following their work to make sure that the experiments were sound from the epistemological viewpoint and, whenever possible, “elegant”.

Aside from his scientific merits and accomplishments, Piero must be remembered for being a remarkable person. He despised the power, the short-sightedness and the arrogance of academic establishment, being thoroughly open-minded, progessive and exclusively driven by his intellectual curiosity and his quest for merit. Finally, it should be mentioned that Piero possessed a vast and deep-rooted culture, was an art lover and gifted with a remarkable sense of humor so that it was impossible not to remain fascinated by his conversation.