An international conference “Viruses of Microbes”

The Georgian Association for General and Applied Microbiology (GAGAM) on July 3-7, 2023 is organizing an international conference “Viruses of Microbes”. Co-organizers of the conference are: Giorgi Eliava  Institute of Bacteriophages, Microbiology and Virology and Ivane Javakhishvili  Tbilisi State University. The conference partner organizations are: Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation, Federation of European Microbiological Societies (FEMS), International Science and Technology Center (ISTC), French Embassy in Georgia and others.

The Viruses of Microbes conference series was founded in 2010 in Paris at the Pasteur Institute due to the initiative of academician David Prangishvili, who was working in France at that time. Subsequently, this conference became traditional and was regularly held bi-annually in different European cities, namely in Brussels (2012), Zurich (2014), Liverpool (2016), Wroclaw (2018), and the conference planned for 2020 was postponed due to the pandemic and was held in Guimarães (2022).

In 2023, Viruses of Microbes for the first time will be held in Georgia and lead by academician David Prangishvili. Conferences of this series usually gather about 500 participants from all of the world. The  conference goal is to provide a comprehensive presentation of current research in the area of microbial viruses, in particular on bacterial viruses (bacteriophages), archaeal and eukaryotic viruses and to promote new research directions. The Tbilisi conference will be dedicated to the centennial anniversary of the Eliava Institute of Bacteriophages, Microbiology & Virology.

Special attention will be given to the Institute’ს recent achievements in traditional bacteriophage research areas, such as: diagnosis, prevention and therapy of human, animal and plant diseases. Special sessions will also be devoted to: a) environmental virology, the role of viruses in different microbial communities, viral metagenomes; b) enzymes coded by microbial viruses; c) obstacles and regulatory problems related to the use of microbial viruses; d) evolution of viruses; e) bacterial and archaeal mobilomes; f) fungal, algal, protozoan viruses and virophages.   

Poster sessions, round tables, discussions, awards and various social activities will also be held in the scope of the conference.

Currently, the conference registration and abstract submission is already underway. For more information, visit: www.vom2023.org