Special Issue of AvL on the first PVC meeting

And the Special issue of Antonie van Leeuwenhoek entirely dedicated to the 1st PVC conference is now online at the AvL web site. It includes, an introduction by the organisers, a review and historical perspective, contributions by some keynote speakers and original contributions from the talks. Very nice way to wrap up the first PVC conference and a great way to keep on track if you missed it.

Articles from the first PVC workshop

Most of the article from Special Issue of the publication Antonie van Leeuwenhoek dedicated to the first PVC workshop are now available on the pre-publication page of the AvL. Articles are available freely for a short time, so get them while you can. I have just been told that the SI will be freely available for the rest of the year. That is a very good news. Summary of the workshop and of the articles in the SI can be found in Introduction article by Devos, Jogler and Fuerst. The whole special issue is in production phase and should be available soon. Stay tuned.

1st PVC metting (I)

What a great conference.

Excellent, amazing. Great talks by all speakers, great science. We have seen a very broad coverage of the best science that is done right now on those fascinating bacteria. Due to the amazing intracellular organization, lots of electron microscopy, tomography, and the likes, that gave us an impressive view of the diversity in this bacterial super group. Diversity that we are only glimpsing at so far, with many analysing aiming at broadening our coverage of this diversity, at the DNA level, selection and cultivation level, and at the cellular biology, microscopy level. Great coverage of this diversity has been presented.

Due to the small scale of the community, the conference was attended by a small number of participants, 40-45, which allowed for lots of interactions. The social part of the meeting also greatly helped, with an amazing visit to the botanical garden (including a Gregorian singer guide), and a dinner at the beautiful Heidelberg castle (that holds the big wine barrel). Interesting presentation of the artist Eveline Kolijn that presented her work based on science images, bringing a refreshing and colorful side to the conference.

A special issue of the Antonie van Leeuwenhoek publication will be dedicated to this conference, with articles by most of the keynote speakers and some participants. And hopefully a meeting report. If you have missed the conference that would be the best way to catch up. Coming up soon.

Thanks you very much to the EMBO for a generous grant that allowed us to organize this great event and keep the prices low.
All in all, a very good first conference entirely dedicated to the PVC bacteria. The decision was taken to attempt to have another PVC conference in two years. See you then in 2015.

First PVC meeting coming up

The time of the first workshop entirely dedicated to PVC bacteria is coming up soon. The (almost) final program is available on the EMBO web site but also here.

The program looks really exciting, with key players in the field given keynote or small talks, but also most posters being presented as small talks. Lots of interaction being expected from this. There is also a whole section dedicated to Chlamydiae. We will provide here continuous coverage of this exciting meeting.

Stay tuned.

EMBO PVC workshop

It is my pleasure to announce the very first meeting exclusively dedicated to the bacterial PVC superphylum. The EMBO PVC workshop will take place from Feb. 28th to March 2nd 2013, in Heidelberg, Germany. It promises to be a very interesting conference with fascinating talks about those peculiar bacteria. In order to promote interaction between biologists, we recommend all participants to at least present a poster and if possible a short talk. This EMBO workshop will be the first one to focus on the characterization and fundamental understanding of the PVC members. The Workshop will bring together researchers working on such bacteria and provide a broad coverage of those exceptional bacterial features and evolutionary scenarios. The scope of the symposium is to facilitate discussion among researchers who recently advanced the field by investigating particular features in PVC-bacteria and scientists who hypothesize on the impact PVC-bacteria had on eukaryotic or archaeal cell evolution. Addressing the current controversy is encouraged. I am looking forward to meet you there.

First PVC meeting

Hip hip hourra!!

That is it, we obtained a grant from the EMBO workshop and course program to organize the first meeting entirely dedicated to the PVCs. This event will be entitled: "EMBO workshop on Planctomycetes, Verrucomicrobia, Chlamydiae superphylum: exceptions to the bacterial definition?"  It will be organized by DP Devos (COS, Heidelberg Uni., Germany) with the help of co-organizers C Jogler (Harvard, Massachusetts, USA) and JA Fuerst (Brisbane Uni., Australia) and will be held in Heidelberg, Germany from the 28th of Feb. to the 2nd of March 2013. It will be the first time that scientists working on so different organisms will assemble together in the same room. Fascinating keynote talks have been secured and both tenants of the controversy about PVC phylogenetic link to eukaryotes will be invited. This promise to be a very exciting meeting. More details will come soon, but I want to share this excellent news with you. So mark you calendar for the 28th of Feb. 2013.

Please send me an email if you are interested, intend to come or just are thinking about it at microplatypus@gmail.com. Thanks.