The European Academy of Microbiology, generally abbreviated as EAM, is a European institution made up of about 150 microbiology scientists, founded in 2009. The main objective of the Academy is to be the authoritative voice of

microbiology Microbiology () is the scientific study of microorganisms, those being unicellular (single cell), multicellular (cell colony), or acellular (lacking cells). Microbiology encompasses numerous sub-disciplines including virology, bacteriology, prot ...

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

and thus enhance the potential of microbiology and microbiologists in Europe and globally. The

Federation of European Microbiology Societies Federation of European Microbiological Societies (FEMS) is an international European scientific organization, formed by the union of a number of national organizations; there are now 57 members from 41 European countries, regular and provisional. ...

(FEMS) founded and supports the EAM, and many EAM members collaborate with FEMS in various capacities (e.g. directors, editors in chief of FEMS journals, etc.). The President of the EAM as of 1 January 2021 is Jörg Vogel.

Origins

The idea of establishing an “Academy” of senior microbiologists within Europe, aimed to be an advisory source both for the Federation and governmental/other bodies, was strongly supported by FEMS executives. For this purpose, an ad-hoc committee for the admission of new member societies was set up to discuss and support this initiative, that was brought to the attention of the FEMS Council in 2007. The European Academy of Microbiology was established in June 2009 in

Gothenburg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...

(Sweden), with the goal of promoting excellence in microbiology across Europe.

Members

The members of the European Academy of Microbiology are experts in microbiology with a notable record of publications,

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A p ...

s or inventions and important results and contributions to the microbiological community. The recruitment process is highly selective and based on a

peer-review Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work (peers). It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the relevant field. Peer review ...

evaluation by the current members to uphold the high scientific standards of the EAM. Members of the EAM include Cecilia Arraiano, Frédéric Barras, Melanie Blokesch,

Emmanuelle Charpentier Emmanuelle Marie Charpentier (; born 11 December 1968) is a French professor and researcher in microbiology, genetics, and biochemistry. As of 2015, she has been a director at the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology in Berlin. In 2018, sh ...

, Petra Dersch, Alain Filloux, Geoff Gadd, David Holden, Stipan Jonjić,

Hilary Lappin-Scott Hilary Margaret Lappin-Scott FLS FLSW PFHEA FAAM FRSB (born 1955) is a British microbiologist whose field of research is microbial biofilms. In 2009 Hilary was elected as the second female President of the Society for General Microbiology ...

Tracy Palmer Tracy Palmer is a Professor of Microbiology in the Biosciences Institute at Newcastle University in Tyne & Wear, England. She is known for her work on the twin-arginine translocation (Tat) pathway. Early life and education Palmer was born in ...

Philippe Sansonetti Philippe J. Sansonetti (born 9 April 1949) is a French microbiologist, professor at the Pasteur Institute and the Collège de France in Paris. He is the director of the Inserm Unit 786 (Microbial colonisation and invasion of mucosa) and of the Ins ...

, Geoffrey L Smith, Victor Sourjik and many more prominent microbiologists.

Activities

In collaboration with other institutions and societies (e.g. FEMS) the Academy is involved in: * the organization of high standard meetings and colloquia to discuss critical issues in microbiology; * the publication of recommendations on critical issues in microbiology; * the promotion of microbiology education; * the establishment of special awards/prizes for microbiological achievements; * supporting FEMS activities. Examples of recent EAM activities are the 2011 meeting ‘''EHEC infection and control''’ following the European outbreak of the

enterohemorrhagic Shigatoxigenic ''Escherichia coli'' (STEC) and verotoxigenic ''E. coli'' (VTEC) are strains of the bacterium ''Escherichia coli'' that produce Shiga toxin (or verotoxin). Only a minority of the strains cause illness in humans. The ones that do ...

''Escherichia coli'' strain O104:H4, which was attended by world renowned experts in pathogenic ''E. coli'' and resulted in an authoritative case report. In May 2019, EAM and

FEMS Federation of European Microbiological Societies (FEMS) is an international European scientific organization, formed by the union of a number of national organizations; there are now 57 members from 41 European countries, regular and provisional. ...

organized at the

Pasteur Institute The Pasteur Institute (french: Institut Pasteur) is a French non-profit private foundation dedicated to the study of biology, micro-organisms, diseases, and vaccines. It is named after Louis Pasteur, who invented pasteurization and vaccines f ...

in Paris, France, a tribute to the life and work of

Stanley Falkow Stanley "Stan" Falkow (January 24, 1934 – May 5, 2018) was an American microbiologist and a professor of microbiology at Georgetown University, University of Washington, and Stanford University School of Medicine. Falkow is known as the father ...

(1934-2018) the founder of molecular microbial pathogenesis.

References

External links

* https://www.simgbm.it/notizie-eam/90-the-european-academy-for-microbiology.html {{Authority control Biology in Europe Microbiology organizations Pan-European scientific societies