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SIMB NEWSNews magazine of the Society for Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology . May / June 2013 / V.63 N.3 . www.simbhq.org

Tags, blogs, tweets: Social media as science tool?

Plus: 2013 SIMB Board of Directors Election Results

Job Fair

Sunday, August 12, 20138am - 4pmSheraton San DiegoSan Diego

A job fair will be held in conjunction with the 2013 SIMB Annual Meeting. The fair will run 8am - 4pm at the Sheraton San Diego. Set up will begin at 7am.

Cost for corporate participation$275 SIMB Corporate Member $400 Non-Corporate Member

Includes:• One 2’ x 6’ table in the Job Fair location,

company sign, two chairs

• Access to private interview room through-out the dates of the SIMB Annual Meeting (August 11 - 15)

• Access to resumes

• Announcement of participation on the SBFC / SIMB website including company link

• Discount on 30-day job posting on the SIMB career center site

• Lunch ticket and breaks

Questions? Christine Lowe3929 Old Lee Highway, Suite 92AFairfax, VA 22030www.simbhq.orgemail: [email protected]: 703-691-3357, x 26fax: 703-691-7991

May / June 2013 SIMB NEWS 83

SIMB NewsElisabeth Elder | Editor-in-ChiefDebra Chadick | Associate EditorMelanie Mormile | Associate EditorKristien Mortelmans | Associate Editor

CONTRIBUTING EDITORSPaul Cino | Local SectionsStephanie Groves | Calendar and Book Reviews

DESIGN & PRODUCTION STAFFMaura Loughney | Production Manager and Editor

BOARD OF DIRECTORSPresident: Thomas JeffriesPresident-Elect: Leonard KatzPast President: Neal ConnorsSecretary: Rob DonofrioTreasurer: Janet WestphelingDirectors: Scott Baker E. Timothy Davies Jonathan Mielenz Erick VandammeExecutive Director: Christine Lowe

HEADQUARTERS STAFFChristine Lowe | Executive DirectorJennifer Johnson | Director of Member ServicesSuzannah Citrenbaum | Web ManagerNancy Gorell | Meetings CoordinatorEsperanza Montesa | Accountant

EDITORIAL CORRESPONDENCEElisabeth Elder, Louisiana State University, Alex-andria, Biology Department, 8100 Highway 71 South, Alexandria, LA 71302-9121; Tel: 318-473-6518; Fax: 318-473-6563; E-mail: [email protected]

ADVERTISINGFor information regarding rates, contact SIMB News, 3929 Old Lee Highway, Suite 92A, Fairfax, VA 22030-2421. Tel: 703-691-3357 ext 27; Fax: 703-691-7991 E-mail: [email protected]; Web: www.simhq.org.

SIMB News (ISSN 1043-4976), is published bi-monthly, one volume per year, by the Society for Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology and is mailed to all SIMB members.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to SIMB News, 3929 Old Lee Highway, Suite 92A, Fairfax, VA 22030-2421

Copyright © 2013, Society for Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology. All rights reserved.

On the cover: Icon for a created science app interspersed with established icons for Facebook, Pinterest, Digg, Twitter, Blogger, Share This, RSS feed, and Share This.

features86 2013 Board election results91 Tags, blogs, tweets: Social media as science tool?

news94 Congress maintains spending cuts in FY 201395 President Obama’s budget request would boost science funding in FY 201496 Short takes 97 House panel considers immigration reform for skilled workers

members98 Member birthdays99 Quarter Century Club members100 Montgomery County (PA) science fair winners

meetings101 35th Symposium on Biotechnology for Fuels and Chemicals103 2013 SIMB Annual Meeting 114 Recent Advances in Fermentation Technology (RAFT 10)

book review116 Review of Desk Encyclopedia of Microbiology: 2nd ed.

in every issue84 Corporate members84 Advertisers index117 Calendar of events119 Corporate application

Contact SIMB(703) 691-3357

Executive DirectorChristine Lowe, Ext. 26

Director of Member ServicesJennifer Johnson, Ext. 23

Web ManagerSuzannah Citrenbaum, Ext. 27

Meeting CoordinatorNancy Gorell, Ext. 24

AccountantEsperanza Montesa, Ext. 22

contents SIMB News | May / June 2013 | Vol 63 No 3

corporate members

84 SIMB NEWS www.simbhq.org

Diamond Alberta Innovates Technology Futures Angel Yeast Co., Ltd.Dow Microbial ControlMarcor Development CorporationNovozymes, Inc.Pall Life Sciences

Gold Amgen, Inc.Appropriate Technical Recourses (ATR, Inc.)Archer Daniels Midland Co.Bio SpringerBioengineering, Inc.Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO)Blue Sens gas sensor GmbHBroadley-James CorporationBugLab, LLCCG Life SciencesDCI-Biolafitte FlownamicsFrieslandCampina Domo Genesis Biosciences, Inc.Golden Leaf Biomanufacturing Training

and Education Center – North Carolina State University

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feature

Board Election Results

SIMB would like to thank all candidates who participated in the 2013 SIMB election. We congratulate the winners who will begin their terms of office at the Annual Business Meeting, August 14:

President-elect: Tim Davies, Green Biologics

Directors: Ramon Gonzalez, Rice University and Debbie Yaver, Novozymes

Find the winners’ biographies on the following pages.

2013


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President-elect Tim Davies

Throughout my career in science I have been fortunate to experience many as-pects of industrial microbiology and biotechnology. My early training came through an undergraduate degree in mi-crobiology from the University of London with a dissertation on whisky fermenta-tions with brewing industry veteran Dr. Derek Springham. A love for industrial fermentation processes was born. My PhD in Chemical Engineering allowed me to explore the other side of fermentation science - from the engineering as well as microbiological angle. The next 15 years were spent at the University of Georgia, but working very much on industrial pro-cesses – first with Prof. Lars Ljungdahl on acetogenic bacteria, extremophiles and hydrolytic enzymes, and then run-ning a contract biomanufacturing facility where I worked with some 150 different academic establishments, research cen-tres, and companies. During this time I worked on projects ranging from phar-maceuticals to biofuels to reagents to en-vironmental products and gained insight and understanding of the entire sector and into the issues and drivers that affect industrial microbiologists.

Membership in SIM (and then SIMB)

was natural for someone with my back-ground and interests. My first event was the 1999 RAFT meeting. I immediately felt that I had found my niche. My first an-nual meeting was in 2000, and in 2001 in St. Louis I chaired my first session. More session chairing responsibilities followed and I joined the Annual Meeting Program Committee in 2007. In 2009 I was pro-gram chair for the annual meeting in To-ronto. This position allowed me to attend board meetings, learning more about society operations and the challenges of running SIM. In 2011 I chaired the RAFT meeting for the first time. I will chair RAFT again in 2013. My conference responsibil-ities and board experience encouraged me to stand as a director of the Society. In 2013 my three-year term as director will end. Given my experience, this will be the perfect time for me to extend my service to the Society as president.

The Society has been through some challenging years, but it has been reinvig-orated with a name change; is on more sound financial footing; has a flourishing journal; and membership numbers have increased. My challenge as president will be to hold this course, strengthen-ing the Society while increasing its vis-

ibility to potential members and other stakeholders in academia, industry, and government. The society should have a stronger voice and more influence in is-sues surrounding industrial microbiology and biotechnology. To do so it needs a vibrant and engaged membership. As a European, industry based scientist with a US, academic background I will seek to develop the international footprint of the Society. Many of our conference dele-gates come from Europe, South America, and Asia. Many of the submissions to our journal are also international. We need to strengthen ties with individuals and or-ganisations in those areas, and work on representing them and assisting them in their careers. SIMB has always been a welcoming society and we should work on welcoming all industrial microbiolo-gists to the society, providing them with sound reasons to become involved.

It has been a joy to be a part of SIMB for the past decade and a half, and an honour to represent the membership in conferences and on the board. I look forward to having the opportunity to continuing this service to the Society as president.


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Director Ramon Gonzalez

Ramon Gonzalez is an Associate Profes-sor in the Departments of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering and Bioengi-neering at Rice University, where he leads the Metabolic Engineering and Synthetic & Systems Biology Laboratory with the long-term goal of understanding and harnessing microbial and cellular metab-olism. The lab’s discovery that Escherichia coli can anaerobically ferment glycerol laid the foundation for the development of technologies to convert glycerol to higher-value products. Dr. Gonzalez re-ceived the prestigious National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career (CAREER) award to conduct research in this area and the 2010 SDA/NBB Glycerine Innova-tion Research Award from the American Oil Chemists’ Society. In 2007, Dr. Gonza-lez co-founded Glycos Biotechnologies, Inc., with the goal of commercializing sustainable chemicals produced from di-verse renewable feedstocks. Dr. Gonzalez

has published over 50 articles in leading scientific journals and is the lead inventor in four patents or patent applications. He is also Senior Editor of the Journal of In-dustrial Microbiology & Biotechnology and member of the editorial board of Applied & Environmental Microbiology, Applied Biochemistry & Biotechnology, and Food Biotechnology. He served as Program Chair of the 2011 Annual Meeting of the Society for Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology.

Dr. Ramon Gonzalez currently serves as a Program Director at the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) of the US Department of Energy. His areas of technical focus include biologi-cal conversion of natural gas and other sources of methane to liquid fuels as well as direct synthesis of liquid fuels from carbon dioxide and energy sources (such as electricity and hydrogen).

Dr. Gonzalez received a PhD in

Chemical Engineering from the Univer-sity of Chile, an MS in Biochemical En-gineering from the Pontificial Catholic University of Valparaíso (Chile), and a BS in Chemical Engineering from the Central University of Las Villas (Cuba).

Past SIMB experience and future contributions

• Program Chair of 61st SIMB Annual Meeting (2011, New Orleans, LA)

• Senior Editor, JIMB (2010-Present)• Organized and chaired several ses-

sions at SIMB annual meetings (2009-Present)

• Chaired sessions at SBFC• Plans to strengthen relationship be-

tween SIMB and other professional societies, increase corporate and in-dividual membership, and increase SIMB visibility in the broader scien-tific and industrial communities.


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Director Debbie Yaver

Debbie received her PhD in Microbiology from UC Davis. Prior to her graduate work Debbie worked for two years at SRI Inter-national in the microbiology department on oil field microbiology. Debbie has been with Novozymes, the world’s largest supplier of industrial enzymes and micro-organisms, for 20 years. At Novozymes Debbie directs research departments that focus on engineering microbial strains for production of enzymes, other proteins, and small molecules as well as genom-ics and bioinformatics. She is an inventor on many patents and author of several publications. Debbie has remained ac-tive at UC Davis where she has taught for many years a graduate level seminar on industrial biotechnology from discovery to product, which is part of the Designat-ed Emphasis in Biotechnology program.

Debbie is also a member of the Executive Committee for the UC Davis NIH Train-ing Grant for Biomolecular Technology, the Advisory Committee of the UC Davis CREATE-IGERT Training program, and the Advisory Board for the Center for Bioca-talysis and Bioprocessing at University of Iowa. Outside of work Debbie enjoys run-ning, gardening, reading, and spending time with her family.

Debbie has been active in SIMB for many years. She has been a member since 2006. Novozymes has been a Dia-mond Corporate Member of SIMB since 1979 and has been a consistent sponsor of the SIMB Annual Meeting as well as the Symposium on Biotechnology for Fuels and Chemicals. Debbie has been a speak-er as well as chaired sessions at SIMB an-nual meetings and is currently a member

of the Annual Meeting Program Commit-tee for the Biocatalysis track. She was also on the Organizing Committee for SIMB’s 2012 Recent Advances in Microbial Con-trol meeting.

Debbie’s vision for SIMB is that the Society continues to organize high quali-ty meetings that bring together scientists from around the world to share recent results, forge collaborations, and discuss important issues and trends in industrial microbiology and biotechnology. She would also like to see the Society’s jour-nal JIMB continue to increase its impact factor and citation index so that it be-comes a top journal for industrial micro-biology and biotechnology.

Call for Nominations 2014 SIMB Officer Nominations

The SIMB Nominations Committee is seeking input from the SIMB member-ship on potential nominees for President-elect, Treasurer and Director. This election will be held in 2014 for terms starting during the 2014 Annual Meeting.

All candidates for Officers and Direc-tors must:

• Be regular members of SIMB at the time of nomination by the Nominating Committee.

• Agree to perform duties of the specific position, as set forth in the SIMB Constitution, By-laws and Policy Manual.

• Be familiar with SIMB opera-tions through prior service in

areas such as Committee mem-ber/chair and meeting session presenter/organizer, editor for SIMB News or JIMB.

• Agree to maintain continuous SIMB membership during the term of office.

In addition to the qualifications for Officers and Directors, candidates for President-elect should:

• Have specific experience with SIMB operations, for example as chair of one or more SIMB com-mittees, Annual Meeting Program Chair and/or prior experience as a Director or other Officer.

• Be widely recognized within his/her specific area of expertise.

Additional information can be found in the SIMB Constitution online. The names and contact information for potential candidates must be received by May 20, 2013. To submit nomina-tions, please use the form found at: www.simbhq.org/docs/SIMBBoardNominee-Form_fillable.pdf. Forms should be sent to [email protected].


feature

Tags, blogs, tweets: Social media as science tool?By Lesley Evans Ogden


feature

Is social media changing the way we do science—even speeding it up? Preliminary data, and a growing number of cases, sug-gest that the answer is yes.

One now-famous example of its growing ubiquity is the social media storm that followed the publication of a NASA-funded paper in the journal Sci-ence, on 2 December 2010 (doi:10.1126/science.1197258). The authors of the paper claimed to have discovered a bacterium that could substitute arsenic in place of phosphate as a key nutrient necessary to support life.

Rosie Redfield, zoology professor at the University of British Columbia (UBC), wasn’t buying it, and said so on her blog. Ironically, this was a communication

platform that UBC graduate students chose to parody, along with Redfield, at their Christmas party. Asking the fake Redfield, “What’s a blog?” the reply was, “it’s a publication that nobody reads, not even reviewers.” Their mockery was to be quickly proved wrong.

Redfield’s blog post on 4 December articulated her criticisms of the arsenic paper. The post was intended mainly to clarify her own thinking; “I didn’t ex-pect anyone other than a few researchers to ever read it,” she later blogged. But by the following day, her blog had catapulted from a readership of less than 100 to over 20,000.

The ensuing discussion on Twitter and across the blogosphere suggested a

problem with the study’s methodology. That online explosion sparked a collabo-ration encompassing the suite of skills necessary for Redfield and her colleagues to repeat the experiment. And so they did, publishing their results in Science on 27 July 2012 (doi:10.1126/science.1219861).

This social media–facilitated “peer review” is not the only way in which so-cial networks are fueling advancements in science. Social media literally came to the rescue for Oregon State University ichthyologist Brian Sidlauskas during a trip to Guyana to catalog fish biodiversity. Traveling 200 kilometers up the remote Cuyuni River, his field expedition team collected over 5000 specimens, some sus-pected to be new to science. Sidlauskas had assumed that they would assign their preliminary identifications to a family or genus while in Guyana, then bring the specimens home for more precise identifi-cation. But after arriving in Guyana, Sid-lauskas learned that Guyanese export law required the specimens to first be identi-fied to the level of species—a daunting task that could have taken months.

“I should probably have asked more questions before I got there,” admits Si-dlauskas. The situation intensified when

Copyright Notice

This article text was originally published in BioScience, Vol. 63, No. 2 (Febru-ary 2013) (pp. 148). © 2013 American Institute of Biological Science. All rights reserved.

The article has been reprinted by SIMB with permission from the publisher, the University of California Press Journals (www.ucpress.edu/journals).

#35sbfc

@biotechcalendar

#Microbio

@@SIM_Microbio

#biotech


feature

Box 1. Microbiology and biotechnology blogs abound. Jonathan Eisen, professor at UC Davis and writer of The Tree of Life blog, has compiled a list of 100 microbiology blogs (http://phylogenomics.blogspot.dk/2012/06/collecting-links-to-blogs-that-focus.html), which may serve as a valuable starting point for those looking to discover new microbiology blogs.

a team member, Devin Bloom, had to leave unexpectedly early. The University of Toronto doctoral student, asked along because of his previous Guyanese expe-rience, suggested before departing that Sidlauskas photograph each fish species and upload the images to Facebook, tag-ging fish photos to Sidlauskas’s research-er “friends” from around the world. In about 24 hours, the flood of responses had identified nearly all of the specimens. (For the uninitiated, tagging is Facebook speak for attaching names to photographs, which generates an automatic alert to that person.)

Social media is also a boon for citi-zen science programs like eButterfly, a Canadian project that may help scientists to understand and mitigate the impacts of global change on butterfly diversity. eBut-terfly crowdsources data, allowing people to upload their observations and butterfly photographs through a data-input system.

Is there a downside to social media science? “As with any communication, one needs [to] consider who is doing the communicating,” says Sidlauskas, who cautions that he already knew most in his social network as reputable experts.

There is a valid concern with social media about being scooped, Redfield says. “But the other side of that argument is that

when you blog about your ideas, they are effectively time stamped as yours.”

Asked what it will take for less formal science communications to become more recognized in academia, Redfield quips that it probably requires “waiting for the old guard to die off.” She suggests that aca-demics who use social media to communi-cate science should speed this recognition by including these contributions in their curriculum vitae and tenure packages.

Academics recently discussed the im-pact of social media and networks on re-search at a conference in Berlin, Germany, hosted by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, and studies such as those by Anatoliy Gruzd and his colleagues at Dalhousie University are beginning to track the use of social media in different academic fields. This embryonic research area is revealing that wikis, social network sites, listservs, blogs, microblogs, video, and teleconferencing tools are increas-ingly used by scholars across many disci-plines to form new peer connections and collaborations, to both assimilate and dis-seminate research.

“Our studies confirm that most in-stitutions don’t [yet] recognize social me-dia use as part of tenure and promotions activities,” says Gruzd. In contrast, its users— particularly junior faculty mem-

bers—already note both its direct and in-direct benefits.

Every week or so, Sidlauskas gets tagged on Facebook as a fish someone is attempting to identify. Does he mind being tagged as a fish? To my tongue-in-cheek question, he responds that “most of the fish I study are very pretty fish.” So no, he doesn’t mind.

About the authorLesley Evans Ogden

Lesley Evans Ogden is a freelance jour-nalist based in Vancouver, Canada, with a passion for finding quirky and unique angles on science news. Find her on the Web at lesleyevansogden.com and on Twitter@ljevanso.

news


Lawmakers have avoided a government shutdown with passage of a Continuing Resolution for fiscal year (FY) 2013. The legisla-tion, H.R. 933, will fund the federal government for the remainder of the fiscal year, which ends on 30 September 2013. The House and Senate have passed the bill with bipartisan support, and it has been sent to President Obama for his signature.

Since the legislation maintains the $85 billion sequestration cuts, the net impact for most federal agencies is a budget decrease.

Although the original House bill only granted fiscal flex-ibility to defense programs, the Senate amended the legislation to provide more flexibility to the Departments of Agriculture, Com-merce, Homeland Security, and Justice, among other agencies.

A few science agencies were among the entities granted bud-get increases under a Senate-adopted amendment to the legisla-tion. Although these are increases relative to FY 2012, after the effects of sequestration, these agencies will receive a budget cut.

The Senate gave an additional $221 million to the National Science Foundation (NSF); accounting for sequestration, the agency will be cut by about two percent relative to FY 2012.

The increase for NSF was largely due to the efforts of Ap-propriations Chairwoman Barbara Mikulski (D-MD). Her figure for NSF’s research account was $50 million higher than an ear-lier Senate mark and $100 million more than the House number. NSF’s education directorate was marked for an additional $20 million more than the President’s budget request.

The National Institutes of Health received an extra $71 mil-lion, which will partly offset the $1.5 billion cut resulting from budget sequestration. At $5 billion, the National Oceanic and At-mospheric Administration also received a slight increase relative to last year, prior to the effects of sequestration. The Agriculture and Food Research Initiative received a ten percent boost, which means that it will be one of a handful of programs that comes out ahead financially even after accounting for the five percent cut from sequester.

The legislation maintains a pay freeze for federal workers, which means that employees will go three years without a pay increase.

The Senate considered many amendments before a deal was struck for final passage of the legislation. Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) successfully offered an amendment that bars NSF from awarding any grants on political science research unless the agen-cy’s director can explain how the research promotes “national se-curity or the economic interests of the United States.”

Congress could still act to adjust the terms of sequestration. Barring that action, the Continuing Resolution will likely be the final instructions to federal agencies on FY 2013 spending, which lasts through September.

This article is reproduced with permission from the AIBS Public Policy Report, Vol. 14, Issue 6, March 25, 2013. © American Institute of Biological Sciences, 2013.

PPR

Congress maintains spending cuts in FY 2013

Join SIMB in San DiegoAugust 11-15, 2013

for the 2013 SIMB Annual Meeting at the Sheraton San Diego Hotel and Marina.

Five meeting tracks, special topic sessions, three premeeting workshops, student contributed paper sessions, and poster sessions. Registration and housing now open.

www.simbhq.org/annual

news


Above text is reproduced with permission from the AIBS Public Policy Report, Volume 14, Issue 8, April 22, 2013. © American Institute of Biological Sciences, 2013.

President Obama released a $3.77 tril-lion budget plan for fiscal year (FY) 2014 on 10 April 2013. According to the White House, the budget proposal would cut def-icits by increasing revenues and reducing spending. The proposal would replace se-questration, the $1.2 trillion in automatic spending cuts mandated by the Budget Control Act.

Science is once again a priority in the President’s budget request. The Adminis-tration proposed $143 billion for federal research and development (R&D), an in-crease of 1.3 percent over the 2012 level. Although defense R&D would be cut by 5.2 percent, non-defense R&D would in-crease by 9.2 percent to almost $70 billion, with much of the increase going to basic and applied research.

Science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education programs would be consolidated across the federal gov-ernment. The total number of programs would decrease from 226 to 112. Nearly $180 million would be redirected from 11 agencies to the Department of Education, National Science Foundation, and Smith-

President Obama’s budget request would boost science funding in FY 2014

sonian Institution. K-12 STEM programs would be reorganized at the Department of Education, with NSF taking the lead on graduate and undergraduate education programs. Smithsonian would be the lead agency on informal science education.

A summary of proposed funding for select science agencies follows:

• Department of Energy Office of Sci-ence: $5.2 billion (+$217.8 million)• Biological and Environmen-

tal Research: $625.3 million (+$32.9 million)

• Environmental Protection Agency Science and Technology: $783.9 mil-lion (-$9.8 million)

• NASA Earth Science: $1.8 billion (+$80.4 million)

• National Institutes of Health: $31.2 billion (+$471.0 million)

• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: $5.4 billion (+$541 million)

• National Science Foundation: $7.6 billion (+$592.7 million)

• Biological Sciences Directorate: $760.6 million (+$48.2 million)

• Smithsonian Institution: $869.2 million (+$59.0 million)

• U.S. Department of Agriculture• Agricultural Research Service:

$1.3 billion (+$184 million)• National Institute of Food and

Agriculture: $1.3 billion (+$86 million)

• U.S. Forest Service Forest and Rangeland Research: $308.7 million (+$11.5 million)

• U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service: $1.6 billion (+$76.4 million)

• U.S. Geological Survey: $1.2 billion (+$98.8 million)• Ecosystems Activity: $180.8

million (+$18.0 million)

A more detailed analysis of the budget request will be released in a forthcoming report by the American Institute of Bio-logical Sciences.

news


Short takes

• The Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative has announced the timeline for future research funding on the impacts of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. In mid-November 2013, a request for proposals for research consortia will be re-leased. Learn more at http://gulfresearchinitiative.org/2013/save-the-date-gomri-rfp-for-2015-2017-research-consortia/.

• The National Science Foundation and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation are offering $10,000 for ideas from re-searchers in the agricultural sciences about the most pressing issues facing smallholder farmers in the developing world. Up to 25 winners will be selected for their 100 word entry. Learn more at http://www.nsf.gov/bio/bread/index.jsp.

• The United States Geological Survey is making progress to-wards the development of a national water census. The effort will eventually provide online access to real-time flow data for waterways in 103,000 watersheds nationwide.

• A dear colleague letter circulated in the House of Representa-tives in support of the President’s budget request for the Na-tional Science Foundation garnered 94 signatures. The letter, authored by Congressman G.K. Butterfield (D-NC), supports an appropriation of $7.626 billion in fiscal year 2014.

• The American Institute of Biological Sciences has asked the Senate to sustain investments for the National Science Foun-dation (NSF) in fiscal year 2014. In testimony to the Senate Appropriations Committee, AIBS highlighted the important role that the NSF plays in supporting basic research, which helps drive innovation and power our nation’s economic

growth. Read the AIBS testimony at http://www.aibs.org/position-statements/20130419_senate_nsf_testimony.html.

• The House Science, Space, and Technology Committee has passed legislation that would change requirements for sci-ence considered by the Environmental Protection Agency’s Science Advisory Board. HR 1422 would add new peer review requirements and disclosure of potential conflicts of interest.

• The National Science Foundation is accepting nominations for people to serve on the Advisory Committee for Biologi-cal Sciences and the Advisory Committee for Environmental Research and Education. Learn more at http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2013-04-15/html/2013-08698.htm.

• The Environmental Protection Agency seeks nominations for candidates for the Science Advisory Board (SAB) and the SAB Ecological Processes and Effects Committee. Learn more at http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2013-04-12/html/2013-08690.htm.

• Current, past, or future principal investigators funded by NSF’s Division of Environmental Biology are asked to com-plete a survey on the division’s new proposal review pro-cess. Access the survey at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/DEB_IOS_program_feedback.

Above text is reproduced with permission from AIBS Public Policy Reports, Vol. 14, Issues 7 and 8, April 8 and April 22, 2013 © American Institute of Biological Sciences, 2013.

news


Newsworthy

House panel considers immigration reform for skilled workers

Immigration reform continues to be a topic of interest in Congress. Last week, the House Immigration and Border Se-curity Subcommittee held a hearing on “Enhancing American Competitiveness through Skilled Immigration.” The focus of the hearing was foreign born workers with skills in science, technology, engi-neering, or mathematics (STEM).

Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) voiced his support for immigra-tion reform for skilled workers. “In this new Congress, we can rechart our na-tion’s course anew. We should look at all aspects of high-skilled immigration policy. We can look for ways to improve our temporary visa programs for skilled workers – such as H-1B and L visas. We can look for ways to improve our tempo-rary visa program for entrepreneurs – the E-2 program. We can look for ways to of-fer green cards to aspiring entrepreneurs that don’t demand that they themselves be rich but that instead rely on the judgment of the venture capitalists who have funded them. We can look for ways to reduce the backlogs for second and third preference employment-based green cards. And we can seek to help the United States retain more of the foreign students who graduate from our universities.”

Echoing President Barack Obama’s call to “staple green cards to advanced STEM diplomas,” Bruce Morrison testi-fied on behalf of IEEE-USA in favor of reforming the current immigration sys-tem to increase the number green cards available to foreign-born STEM graduates from U.S. institutions.

Citing the deficit of skilled American workers in the STEM industries and the strength of foreign-born workers in these fields, Benjamin Johnson, director of the American Immigration Council, provided insights on the positive economic impact and enhanced American competitive-ness that increasing skilled immigration can bring. “A 2012 report found that each foreign-born graduate from a U.S. univer-sity with an advanced degree who remains in the U.S. to work in a STEM occupation creates an average of 2.62 jobs for Ameri-can workers,” said Johnson, referring to a study by the Information Technology In-dustry Council, the Partnership for a New American Economy, and the U.S. Cham-ber of Commerce.

The proposed reform would elimi-nate backlogs that leave some foreign-born STEM graduates waiting more than a decade for green cards, prompting John-son to label America’s failure to reform its immigration system as “national suicide.”

Dean Garfield, president and CEO of the Information Technology Industry Council testified that “it’s time we up-graded our skilled immigration system to serve our national interest, and anticipate and meet the demands of the U.S. econo-my – now and in the future.”

In 2012, the House of Representa-tives passed legislation that would have made it easier for STEM graduates to stay in the United States after graduate school. The bill would have taken 55,000 visas currently awarded lottery-style by the diversity immigrant program and re-directed them to foreign graduates who have earned advanced science degrees at U.S. universities, thereby eliminating the diversity program. Preference would have been given to those holding a doctoral de-gree in STEM fields, and remaining visas would have gone to Master’s degree-hold-ers. The bill died at the close of the second session of the 112th Congress.

This article is reproduced with permission from the AIBS Public Policy Report, Volume 14, Issue 5, March 11, 2013. © American Institute of Biological Sciences, 2013.

members


Emeritus membership

Retiring members of SIMB who have been members for at least 20 years can apply for emeritus membership in the Society. Emeritus members can choose to receive SIMB News at no charge for the year or both SIMB News and JIMB for just $35 per year.

Requests for emeritus status are reviewed by the board of directors at spring, summer and fall board meetings.

To check your join date, please contact SIMB at 703.691.3357 ext. 23 or [email protected].

Local Section ContactNew England Sanjay [email protected]

May BirthdaysWilliam AdneyPeter AlexanderMervyn BibbMatt ChasePeter CheplickShu-Jen ChiangChanghao CuiJed EberlyDawn EriksenHeather HallRajasi JoshiDavid NewmanCarlos ParedesHemant PatelThomas PhillipsAkshita PuriHelia RadianingtyasJoseph RollinSupaporn Sophonputtana-phocaHassan SreenathStephen VanderBloomerJin WangLaura WillisBranden WolnerJianjun YangYulin YeKelsey Yee

June BirthdaysF C Thomas AllnuttShawn BachanAlan BakalinskyGerald BillsPetrus J.M. BrockenAdam BurjaThomas BurkettLars ChristensenJohn EvansWilliam FenicalMeghal GandhiRay GladueElisa Hermoso BernabeuRussell HillJeffrey JansoRobert JinkersonAkanksha KanitkarPiyum KhatibiNancy KravitNatasha MalletteJanice PeroGeorge PierceResmi Radhamony CapronMiguel RodriguezHiro SatoRichard SchneebergerDavid ShermanVinod Srinivasan

Ning SunFusao TomitaRichard WalesJaclyn WolfeDebbie Yaver

SIMB wishes the following members a Happy Birthday!


SIMB congratulates the Society members who are eligible for induction into the Quarter Cen-tury Club this year. To be eligible, individuals must have been Society members for 25 consecu-tive years. New members of the Quarter Century Club will be welcomed at a luncheon to be held on Monday, August 12 during the 2013 Annual Meeting in San Diego.

Tony D'AmoreJulian DaviesRichard Degre

Barbara ButlerGraham ByngChristine CaseDebra ChadickMarvin CharlesRobert CharlesAngelo ChiulliPaul CinoNels ConeRobert CoonCharles CooneyMichael DaltoArnold DemainAnne DombrowskiAlan EachusHenry EhrlichElisabeth ElderRodolfo ErtolaDouglas EveleighAmedeo FantiniDennis FentonMark FinkelsteinNoel FongCynthia Gant

Quarter Century Club

Donald EnglishSusan JensenAbbie More

Current members of the Quarter Century Club

Robert AckerPaul ActorDonald AhearnCavit AkinCarol BakerDwight BakerRichard BaltzStanley BarnettJoan BennettRonald BergRobert BergerRamunas BigelisJerome BirnbaumGary BissonnetteLaVerne BoeckThomas BorkmanAllen BorowskyRodney BothastDon BoudreauxLew BowmanErnest BoyerS. Gaylen BradleyLewis BrownCarl BruchDavid Brunner

Charles GarbariniLouis GoldsmithAndrew GouldNathaniel GrierWilliam GriffithVincent GulloKris HansenCheryl HermerathDonald HitzmanC. George HollisAnn HoranRobert HuddlestonJennie Hunter-CeveraEugene IannottiLonnie IngramDavid IsaacsonMarianna JacksonDouglas JaegerHoward JarolmenThomas JeffriesLeonard KatzFred KellerWilliam KenealyHerbert Kirst

James KruegerAnn KulbackDavid LabedaAllen LaskinHung LeeJohn LitchfieldRene LohserGregory LuliRichard LuteyNeal MachtigerLawrence MagierFrank MallakStanley MartinsAmanda MeitzJoseph MelloArthur MeyersJonathan MielenzGeorge MillerJames MillerPhilip MillerDaniel MonticelloKristien MortelmansDuen-Gang MouT.Timothy Myoda

Nhuan NghiemSatoshi OmuraDaniel Price

John RosazzaDave Severson

Paul SwansonBruce Zamost

Claude NashSteve NelsonDavid NewmanPeter NielsenFrederick PassmanArthur PetersonJohn PetersonGeorge PierceJoseph PopeWilliam PrevattS.N. RajagopalRichard RaymondSamuel RingelMorris RogersSima SariaslaniRobert SchwartzStuart ShapiroMarcia ShearerNeil SikoraMorey SlodkiNorman SmithLloyd SnokeGeorge SomkutiMichael Sprague

Richard SwansonWillard TaberWilbur TaylorJennifer TonSusan TruesdellErick VandammeLawrence WackettC. Herb WardJohn WasileskiH. Boyd Woodruff

members


SIMB congratulates science fair winnersSIMB member Deborah Graves of Dow Coating Materials, The Dow Chemical Company recently judged the Montgomery County (PA) Science Research Competition, a county-wide science fair for middle and high school students. Judging took place on Friday, 22 March and awards were announced and presented on Sunday, 24 March 24.

SIMB provided a total of $250 in cash awards to the winning students, whose schools and projects are listed below. The Society also provided certificates to three runners-up in the microbiology and biotechnology divisions for middle school, 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th grades.

We congratulate the 2013 Montgomery County Science Research Competition award winners in microbiology and biotechnology:

High School Best in Show Project Title: Does toothbrush bristle size affect bacterial growth?; School: Germantown Academy (10th Grade), Fort Washington, PA

High School Honorable Mention Project Title: The effect of the amount of yeast on fermentationSchool: Wissahickon High School (10th Grade), Ambler, PA

Middle School Best in Show Project Title: Antibacterial effects of oral rinses on Streptococcus mutansSchool: Arcola Intermediate School, Eagleville, PA

Do you judge Science Fairs?SIMB offers science fair certificates

Most Science Fairs have a section on microbiology and/or molecular biology, and many SIMB members assist local schools by judging in those categories. The SIMB Board of Directors authorized the Education Committee to provide

certificates to be presented to students in Science Fairs.

The criteria for receipt of a certificate are that an SIMB Member must be judging in the fair. Certificates will be available to the first, second, and third place winners if there are a sufficient number of entries. Email to the Education Committee the names, addresses of the schools, and judges’ names and addresses, and we will send the certificates already filled out for presentation. This will give the judges a second opportunity to interact with the students and encourage more interest in microbiology.

CONTACT Michael Flickinger ([email protected])

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35th Symposium on Biotechnology for Fuels and ChemicalsApril 29 - May 2, 2013Hilton Portland Portland, OR, USA

Website: www.simbhq.org/sbfc

Interest in producing greater amounts and a wider array of bio-based fuels and chemicals products from non-traditional renewable feedstocks such as algal and ter-restrial biomass continues to surge, driven by higher prices for traditional commodity feedstocks such as petroleum and sugar coupled with increasing recognition of the threat rising atmospheric greenhouse gas levels pose to global climate stability. The number of scientific journals covering the renewable fuels and chemicals field has ex-panded significantly over the past decade and public and private investment in re-search and development and commercial-ization of bio-based technologies remain at all time highs. Biotechnologies offer to provide solutions that can help society move towards a more sustainable fuels and

chemicals resource base. This year’s Sympo-sium will provide an exceptional forum for industrial, academic and government ex-perts from around the world to learn about and discuss the latest progress and break-throughs in bio-based fuels and chemicals research, development and deployment.

This year’s 35th Symposium was held April 29 – May 2, 2013 in Portland, Oregon, hosted by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

This year’s technical program enabled effective exchange of new scientific infor-mation among attendees. A total of 18 oral presentation sessions, 2 poster sessions as well as multiple special topics sessions were held over three and a half days, with techni-cal topics spanning feedstocks and conver-sion sciences to process development and

biorefinery commercialization and sustain-ability.

A review of conference sessions, an attendance overview, and biographies of award winners will be included in the next issue of SIMB News.

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Sponsors Exhibitors

Andritz, Ltd.

Applied Instrument

Technologies

Applikon Biotechnology,

Inc.

Benz Technology Interna-

tional, Inc.

Bioengingineering, Inc.

BIOMED Central

Chemglass Life Science

DOE - Office of the Biomass

Program

Eppendorf

Hamilton Company

Labman Automation LTD

m2p-labs, Inc.

Megazyme International

Metabolon, Inc.

NREL

Pall Life Sciences

Tecan US, Inc.

Teknova

Thermo Scienctific

Megazyme Tecan

Gevo

Thank you to the Symposium sponsors and exhibitors

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2013 SIMB Annual MeetingAugust 11 - 15, 2013 (Sunday-Thursday)Sheraton San DiegoSan Diego, CA, USA

Web site: www.simbhq.org/annual

Abstract Deadlines Contributed and invited speakers May 15, 2013

Registration and HousingOpen

Welcome from the Program ChairDear Colleagues,On behalf of the organizing committee, it is my pleasure to invite you to the 63rd Annual Meeting of the Society for Industrial Mi-crobiology and Biotechnology to be held August 11 to 15, 2013 at the Sheraton San Diego in San Diego, California. This year’s theme is “The Evolution of Microbial Biotechnology throughout the Ages”.

Sessions discussing classic and well known microbial tech-nology such as Beer and Wine Fermentation, Biopharmaceutical Production, Natural Products development, and Bioremediation will be featured, as well as modern cross-functional techniques and applications like Computational Design, Functional Metage-nomics, Microbial Consortia Synergies, Biofuels and Biochemi-cals. Furthermore, novel tools and approaches will be presented, which cover advances in High throughput Microbioreactor tech-niques, Systems Biology and Synthetic Biology for both well-known and non-conventional microorganisms, complete with examples of their application in various fields, such as Biocataly-

sis, Natural products, and Biochemicals development. As in previous years, this meeting will also provide an excellent opportunity for networking with a diverse group of world-lead-ing experts and fellow scientists from industries, academics and government organizations. Likewise, it also represents an excel-lent venue for student participations, with many student centric oral and poster presentation opportunities.

The 2013 Annual Meeting will have something for every-one, from experts to novices within industries, academics and re-search organizations from around the world, and I look forward to enjoying a fruitful scientific gathering with you.Join us for this wonderful event in sunny Southern California.

Sincerely,Helia Radianingtyas, Synthetic GenomicsProgram Chair

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Program CommitteeProgram ChairHelia RadianingtyasSynthetic GenomicsHelia.radianingtyas@synthetic genomics.com

Organizing CommitteeBiocatalysis Patrick Cirino Univ. of [email protected]

Shelley CopleyUniv. of [email protected]

Debbie [email protected]

EnvironmentalMelanie MormileMissouri M&[email protected]

Enrico MarsiliDublin City Univ., [email protected]

Don CowanUniv. of Pretoria, South [email protected]

Fermentation/Cell Culture

Noel [email protected]

David HogsettOPX

Goutham [email protected]

Metabolic EngineeringKristala Jones [email protected]

Brian PflegerUniv. of [email protected]

Steve van [email protected]

Hal AlperUniv. of Texas at [email protected]

Natural Products

Paul JensenUniv. of California, San [email protected]

Huimin ZhaoUniv. of [email protected]

Brian [email protected]

Dates and DeadlinesApril 30, 2013: Posters and student ab-stracts deadline

May 15, 2013: Contributed and invited oral abstracts deadline

March 29, 2013: Deadline to submit Society award nominations

Hotel and travelSheraton San Diego Hotel and MarinaSan Diego, CA

Reservations starting March 1, 2013.

Room rate: $159 single/double + tax; rate includes complimentary internet in sleep-ing rooms and complimentary fitness cen-ter when booking through the SIMB link (available 3/1/2013). A balcony is included with each room. Limited number of per diem rooms available. Located on San Diego Bay, enjoy the beautiful San Diego city skyline, bay and marina views at Sheraton San Diego Hotel and Marina. We are just minutes from the historic Gaslamp District, Seaport Village, the San Diego Convention Center, the San Diego Zoo and many other great attractions.

The hotel also offers 4 restaurants and a Starbucks, 3 swimming pools, ten-nis courts, spa and a pedestrian path that runs from outside the hotel and around a portion of San Diego Bay. The lobby of-fers complimentary wireless and Link@Sheraton with complimentary work sta-tions and printers. The Sheraton provides complimentary shuttle service from the airport.

SponsorshipProvide visibility to your organization and promote your brand. There are a variety of sponsorship benefit packages and op-portunities for organizations of all sizes. Enhance your exposure and position your company as a leader in the industry with sponsorship. Download the sponsorship form at: www.simhq.org/docs/annual/AM2013sponsorship.pdf. For more information, contact Chris Lowe ([email protected]).

ExhibitsThe exhibit prospectus is now available. For information, contact Nancy Gorell ([email protected]).

AdvertisingAdvertising is available in the meeting program. Deadline for submission of ads is June 1, 2013. For information on rates, con-tact Chris Lowe ([email protected]).

Job FairAugust 12, 20138am – 4pm Sheraton San Diego

The 2013 SIMB Job Fair will be held in con-junction with the SIMB Annual Meeting . Set up will begin August 12 at 7am.

For more information, visit: http://www.simbhq.org/annual/job-fair/.

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Sponsors Exhibitors

Alberta Innovates Technology Futures BASF The Chemical CompanyBioexpression & Fermentation FacilityBioengineering, Inc.Bio-Springer Biolog, Inc.Bio-Technical Resources (BTR) Blue Sens gas sensor GmbH Broadley-James Corporation BugLab, LLC Chemglass Life Science DASGIP DCI-Biolafitte DNA 2.0 Eppendorf FrieslandCampina DomoGlobal BioIngredients, Inc. Hamilton Company Hiden Analytical, Inc.Kuhner Shaker, Inc. Lallemand, Inc. Life Technologies Corporation M2P Labs, Inc. Marcor Development Corp. Moubio, LLCoptek-Danulat, Inc. Pall Life Science Panlabs Biologics, Inc.Sensient Bio-Ingredients Society for Applied MicrobiologySolabia Group Thomson Instrument Co. Traders Protein

Would you like to exhibit at the annual meeting? Prospectus available online

ContactNancy Gorell, 793.691.3357 ext. [email protected]

Advertising

Advertising is available in the meeting program.

Advertising rate sheet and space reservation form available at:http://www.simbhq.org/docs/MPadrates2013_fillable.pdf.

Contact Suzannah Citrenbaum 703.691.3357 ext. [email protected]

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Biocatalysis

Modeling and Computational DesignSagar Khare (Rutgers Univ.)

Chemo Enzymatic Approaches to BiocatalysisSylvie Garneau-Tsodikova (Univ. of Michigan)

Novel TransformationsJon D. Stewart (Univ. of Florida)

Enzymes for Hydrolysis of LignocellulosicsDebbie Yaver (Novozymes), Regine Behr (Novozymes)

To enable second generation ethanol and chemical produc-tion from lignocellulosic biomass cost effective biocatalysts for hydrolysis are essential. This session will focus on recent discoveries in both enzymes and microorganisms for biomass hydrolysis including synergy between commercial cellulases and cellulosomes, bacteria that can metabolize lignin and enzymes that can degrade native lignin molecules. New in-sights into mechanisms and structures of cellulases will also be discussed.

Environmental

Microbial Ecology for Industrial SettingsMatthew Fields (Montana State University)

Functional Metagenomics and Gene DiscoveryDon Cowan (Univ. of Pretoria)

BioremediationMelanie Mormile (Missouri M&T)

BioelectrosynthesisEnrico Marsili (Dublin City Univ., Ireland)

Microbial Consortia / Population SynergiesCynthia Collins (Rensselaer Polytechnic)

The potential of microbial consortia for use in biotechnology, bioprocessing and other applications has reemerged as an active area of research. Like their natural counterparts, engi-neered microbial consortia can perform complex functions by distributing tasks. Combinations of microbes have also been observed to exhibit increased production rates and metabolic efficiency compared to monoculture systems. Challenges in this nascent field include our ability to reliably control com-munity composition and function. This session will highlight both novel approaches for coordinating microbial commu-nity behavior and application that use microbial communities. Topics of interest include, experimental and computational tools for screening and predicting community behavior, cell-

cell communication and synthetic biology approaches for understanding or controlling ecosystem behavior, and meta-bolic engineering at the community level.

Fermentation and Cell Culture

Miniature bioreactors in strain developmentGoutham Vemuri (BioAmber), Katy Kao (Texas A&M)

Rational design of proteins or metabolic network itself has not matured to enable targeted engineering of biological sys-tems. Therefore, there is a substantial amount of dependent on mutagenesis to create diversity. With the advancement of high throughput and miniature bioreactors, there is a ripe op-portunity to develop excellent screens and also test a broad variety of conditions. This session will focus on the role of miniature bioreactors in screening and strain development process. In addition, the application of small-scale bioreactors for use in evolutionary engineering will also be discussed. The engineering aspects of the miniature bioreactors, fabrication and validation are also within the scope of this session.

Fermentation of Non-Conventional Yeast & BacteriaQuinn Zhu (DuPont)

Genomic Stability in Fermentation ProcessesChandresh Thakker (Rice Univ.), Clementina Dellomonaco (DuPont)

Maintaining genome stability is crucial for the success of in-dustrial fermentation processes. This session will focus on the impact of fermentation modes and environmental condi-tions, metabolites, and stress on host and plasmid stability. Additionally, it will provide insights into new approaches and methodology for developing genetically robust strains to im-prove fermentation performance.

Beer and Wine FermentationTorben Bruck (Pfenex), Noel Fong (Nucelis)

Beer and winemaking are the oldest fermentations known. In this session, we will provide updates on strain characteriza-tion and modification, chemistry during the fermentation, substrate effects on flavor, and predictors of quality.

Production of BiopharmaceuticalsTom Kelleher (Amgen) & Tiffany Rau (Eli Lilly)

Changes in Regulatory Expectations, Production Systems, Safety Standards and Cost Structures are driving a much deeper understanding of Biopharmaceutical Manufacturing. Commercial production opportunities and issues, which di-rectly impact product quality, have emerged from these driv-ers. The exploration of quality is enabled by a revolution in communication, analytical science, and process monitoring.

Session Topics with selected session descriptions

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Our ability to discern and control more parameters is having wide-ranging impact as commercial biopharmaceutical man-ufacturing moves into a global future.

Production of BiochemicalsDan Solaiman (USDA/ARS) and Robert Fireovid (USDA/ARS)

Fermentative production of biochemicals in a biorefinery set-ting will be emphasized in this session. Biorefinery takes its root from the well-developed petroleum-refinery process in which every output-stream is efficiently utilized either “as-is” (fuels) or as feedstocks for petrochemicals (detergents, plas-tics, etc.). Thus, in a broad sense, a biorefinery feeds on renew-able plant- or animal-based biofeedstocks to produce multiple biobased products (which could include fuels) for industrial application. Within this context, presentations in this session will showcase various fermentation processes that can be or have potential to be incorporated into a biorefinery, so as to maximize the utilization of incoming biofeedstock materials for the production of value-added biobased products.

Metabolic Engineering

Biofuels I: Integrated Approaches for Sustainable and Cost-Efficient Biofuels ProductionAndreas Schirmer (LS9)

The major driver for future success of biofuels is the develop-ment of cost-efficient and scalable processes based on sus-tainable feedstocks. Rising feedstock costs, moderate crude oil prices and other macroeconomic factors have made this endeavor a formidable challenge. Overcoming the obstacles for sustainable and cost-efficient biofuels production will re-quire interdisciplinary and integrated approaches. This session focuses on contributions that aim at combining state-of-the art Metabolic Engineering with exploiting low-cost feedstocks and/or leveraging innovative production technologies to-wards biofuels.

Metabolic Engineering and Synthetic Biology Approaches for Advanced Biofuels SynthesisCong T. Trinh (Univ. of Tennessee)

Recent research has focused on engineering microbial bio-catalysts to synthesize “drop-in” advanced biofuels. The chal-lenges are that these biocatalysts have low yields, titers, and productivities and are engineered under conditions that are not practical for industrial scale-up processes (e.g., simple sugars, complex medium, aerobic condition, free of inhibi-tors). This section will focus on contributions that present the state-of-the-art metabolic engineering and synthetic biology approaches to address these challenges.

Metabolic Engineering for Basic and Intermediate Chemicals ProductionSteve van Dien (Genomatica)

Industrial chemicals are the building blocks for a multitude

of polymers that make up many of the products we use in our daily life, and are currently produced almost exclusively from petrochemical feedstocks. The use of microorganisms to convert biobased feedstocks to these same products is emerging as a transformational technology for sustainable chemical production. Rapid advances in metabolic engineer-ing, systems biology, and synthetic biology have contributed to recent success in this field. This session will cover develop-ment of microorganisms and fermentation processes for the production of commodity chemicals from sugars or other bio-based feedstocks, and the approaches used to develop them. Various stages of the research workflow will be covered, from proof-of-concept research to commercial success stories.

Metabolic Engineering for the Production of Fine Chemicals and Pharmaceutical PrecursorsDavid R. Nielsen (Arizona State Univ.)

Fine chemicals and pharmaceutical precursors are used as building blocks to produce many important specialty prod-ucts and drugs. Today, however, these products are produced almost exclusively from petrochemical feedstocks according to chemocatalytic production routes. Alternatively, microor-ganisms can be engineered and used as biocatalysts to con-vert biobased feedstocks to the same fine chemicals and phar-maceutical precursors. As the use of biocatalysts can reduce energy and solvent consumption while also offering higher chemo-, regio-, and stereo-specificity, this approach is emerg-ing as a transformational and sustainable technology. Rapid advances in metabolic engineering, systems biology, and synthetic biology have contributed to recent success in this field. This session will cover development of microorganisms and fermentation processes for the production of fine chemi-cals and pharmaceutical precursors from sugars or other bio-based feedstocks, and the approaches used to develop them. Various stages of the research workflow will be covered, from proof-of-concept research to commercial success stories.

Metabolic Engineering of Non-Traditional Host MicroorganismsChristie Peebles (Colorado State Univ.)

Natural Products

New Development in Natural Product BiosynthesisBrian Bachmann (Vanderbilt)

A renaissance is underway in the field of natural product bio-synthesis. The combination of the sudden availability of stag-gering amounts of secondary metabolic genomic sequence data, breakthroughs in structural biology of long intractable biosynthetic systems, advances in analytical methodologies, and an explosion of powerful methods in synthetic biology have converged to underline the centrality of natural prod-uct biosynthetic studies in such chemical biological research. Remarkably, these breakthroughs are completely synergistic and it is becoming commonplace for research programs to

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integrate biosynthetic studies with synthetic biology, natural product discovery (new and unnatural), evolutionary biology, ecological chemistry and structural biology. This session ex-emplifies interdisciplinary research programs representative of this renaissance period in secondary metabolite research.

New Methods for Natural Product ChemistryPaul Jensen (Scripps Institute of Oceanography/UCSD), Eric Schmidt (Univ. Utah)

The National Institutes of Health have long supported the field of natural products research. This has proven particularly im-portant in an era where large pharma has moved away from natural products as a drug discovery platform. This session de-rives its name from an ongoing NIH-supported program de-signed to “reinvigorate the investigation of nature as a prolific source of small-molecules” and to “stimulate the development of a new generation of methods for natural products chemis-try”. This session will feature new approaches to natural prod-ucts research, ranging from genomics to mass spectroscopy, that are being explored as part of this NIH funded program.

Cyanobacterial Natural Products and Metabolic EngineeringWilliam Gerwick (Scripps Institute of Oceanography/UCSD)

Marine cyanobacteria have been revealed to be extraordi-narily rich sources of novel organic molecules with utility to both drug discovery and biofuel applications. In the drug discovery area, the metabolites of these organisms have an amazing diversity of molecular architectures that are largely created from the modular Polyketide Synthase (PKS) and Non-Ribosomal Peptide Synthetase (NRPS) biosynthetic pathways. As a result, these metabolites possess novel pharmacological properties with potential biomedical utility to many human diseases, including cancer, inflammation and infectious dis-eases. Moreover, as modular pathways, they are amenable to genetic manipulation and pathway engineering. On the biofu-els focus, cyanobacteria have been revealed to produce a wide range of hydrocarbon oils with drop-in-ready fuel character-istics. At least two distinct biosynthetic pathways are utilized by cyanobacteria to make these distinctive molecular species, and these also are amenable to manipulation through genetic engineering. Hence, this session will explore through six ex-ceptional presentations the chemistry, biosynthesis and meta-bolic engineering of marine cyanobacterial metabolites with applications in medicine and next-generation biofuels.

Synthetic Biology for Natural Product Discovery and DevelopmentHuimin Zhao (Univ. of Illinois)

The Future of Natural Products in Drug Discovery: RoundtableWilliam Fenical (Scripps Institute of Oceanography/UCSD)

This session will focus on the changing dynamics of microbial drug discovery in the “Omics Era.” This session will be com-

posed of four 30 minute presentations from experts in the field of microbial drug discovery. Topics will encompass inno-vations in the cultivation of “uncultured” strains, the increasing role of genomic mining and using genomic probes in the dis-covery of novel bioactives, and innovative ways in which natu-ral products can be translated into drugs. The presentations will be followed by a Round Table discussion with audience participation to amplify and probe aspects of these topics.

Special Topics

Intellectual PropertySarah Lau (Kilburn & Strode LLP)

Synthetic Biology I ToolsHoward Salis (Penn State)

Synthetic Biology II ApplicationsKirsten Benjamin (Amyris)

This session will highlight diverse recent applications of syn-thetic biology for industrial and biomedical solutions. In-dustrial applications include novel microbial production of chemicals and materials. Biomedical applications include drug production and delivery, environmental sensors, biofilm modulation, and more.

Algae: Engineered Strains/Engineered Production SystemsPhilip Pienkos (NREL)

System Biology: ApplicationsGoutham Vemuri (BioAmber)

Premeeting Workshops

Student contributed papers

Two poster sessions

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Workshop 1Fermentation BasicsOrganizer: Mark Berge, Medimmune

This workshop’s focus is to provide individuals with an introduc-tion to fermentation concepts in industrial settings. The work-shop will be lecture-based with visual aids to help the attendees understand the fermentation principles discussed. The work-shop will be broken into sections based upon the topics that are being presented. After each section has been completed, the attendees will be given real life fermentation case studies that they will work through to reinforce the just discussed topics. The first section of the workshop will include topics on fermenter de-sign including aspect ratios, agitator design, sparger design and sterilization of equipment and media. The second section will deal with actual operational issues of fermentation processes. Included will be discussions about media considerations, foam control strategies, shear, mixing, aeration, feeds and different types of fermentations and the controls involved. The workshop will finish with a section that covers issues involved in scale-up to production size fermentors. See the full workshop schedule and problem sets at www.simbhq.org/annual/annual-meeting-workshops/.

About the organizerSince 2010 Mark Berge has been Sr. Scientist at MedImmune, Inc. in the Process Cell Culture & Fermentation group leading a team responsible for fermentation and cell culture process develop-ment activities. From 2006 to 2010, he was Sr. Scientist at Amgen Inc. in the Cell Science & Technology group developing process-es for therapeutic protein production using fermentation. From 1999 to 2005, Mark was Sr. Scientist at Pfizer Inc. in the Global Biologics division, developing processes for therapeutic protein production using cell culture. From 1995 to 1999, he was Process Engineer at FermPro Manufacturing in deep tank toll manufac-turing for varied customers of food grade materials. Mark holds a BS and MS in chemical engineering from the University of New Hampshire.

Three pre-meeting workshops at SIMB 2013All-day workshops will be held Sunday, August 11, 8am-4pm, at the Sheraton San Diego.

Workshop 2Shake Flask Fermentation EngineeringOrganizer: Duen Gang Mou, Moubio Fermentor Shop

This one day workshop covers small fund hands-on fermentation laboratory basics from flask shaker’s to jar fermentors assembling, cleaning, maintenance, autoclaving, instrumentation for monitor-ing and control, to basic process calculations & diagnostics, novel flask-fermentor hybrid vessel and high experiment turnover for fermentation microbiologist of all trades. Lecture and Powerpoint slides will aid discussions on fundamentals of microbial fermen-tation from flask to jar fermentor and pilot to production plant. This workshop is also about practical lab culture revolution where small and simple are transformed into speed and smart, hundreds and thousands of dollars in expenses can respectively par the har-vest of thousands and tens of thousands of dollars. See the full workshop schedule and items to bring to the work-shop at www.simbhq.org/annual/annual-meeting-workshops/.

About the organizer Duen Gang Mou has worked with the Bristol-Myers Industrial Division Plant in Syracuse, NY (1979-1980); Eastman Kodak Biosciences Research Laboratories in Rochester, NY (1980-1986); Development Center for Biotechnology in Taiwan (1986-2001); and as a visiting professor of the MIT Bioprocess Engineering Program at the Malaysia University of Sciences and Technology (2002-2005). He has broad experience in bio/pharma R/D and fer-mentation consulting; research management support; advising in government science and technology programs; providing mar-ket/industrial information services; adjunct teaching of under-graduate and graduate students; developing biotech businesses; developing industrial liaisons; and networking governmental-in-dustrial-educational entities. His publications include 2 books on Chinese biotechnical businesses; 10+ US/international patents; and 50+ publications in technical journals, conference poster ses-sions, and conference presentations. Since founding MOUBIO in 2001 Dr. Mou has focused on developing, patenting, and manu-facturing palm-size, tabletop, plug-and-play stirred engineering vessel systems for microbiological and everyday lab use. Dr. Mou is a 30+ year member of the American Chemical Society and SIMB.

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Workshop 3Introduction to Design of Experiments (DoE) for Bioprocess Analysis and OptimizationOrganizer: Marcello Fidaleo, Biomanufacturing Training and Education Center (BTEC) (Raleigh, NC, USA), Univ. of Tuscia (Italy)

The aim of this workshop is to provide the attendees with an in-troduction to the Design of Experiments (DoE) methods applied to analysis and optimization of bioprocesses. The workshop fo-cuses on the practical application of DoE methods through the use of lectures, JMP statistical software (SAS Institute) and bio-process case studies. The case studies, which focus on microbial fermentation and provide real data, look at the effects of factors such as medium components, induction temperature, and time on protein (product) production. Attendees will receive a practi-cal overview of the following topics: basic statistical concepts re-quired for DoE (hypothesis testing, confidence intervals, statistical models and Analysis of Variance – ANOVA); how to use factorial, fractional factorial, and response surface designs for the charac-terization and optimization of bioprocesses; how to interpret the output of experimental design software (normal probability, in-teraction, contour and residual analysis plots or ANOVA tables for factorial or surface response models). The workshop is targeted at all those interested in bioprocess development and optimization, particularly those new to DoE techniques. See the full workshop schedule and items to bring to the work-shop at www.simbhq.org/annual/annual-meeting-workshops/.

About the organizer Dr. Marcello Fidaleo is an assistant professor at the University of Tuscia, where he teaches unit operations and design and analysis of experiments for the food industry. He also holds an appoint-ment as a teaching fellow at BTEC. His research interests include modeling of membrane processes and enzymatic and micro-bial processes in the area of food biotechnology. He has carried out research as a visiting scholar at the Biotechnology Institute of the University of Minnesota and as a Fulbright scholar at the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering of North Carolina State University. Dr. Fidaleo holds a master’s degree in chemical engineering from the Sapienza University of Rome and a doctorate in food biotechnology from the University of Tuscia.

SIMB Annual MeetingJob Fair

August 12, 20138am – 4pmSheraton San Diego

Job seekersBring your resume to the Job Fair and meet one-on-one with company repre-sentatives. Send resumes to [email protected] (Jennifer Johnson) by April 22. Private interview room available all week during the meeting.

Corporate tablesDownload an application to register a corporate table (PDF) at www.simbhq.org/annual/job-fair/. For more informa-tion on setting up your corporate table or providing a resume for the fair, contact: Bob Berger, SIMB Placement Chair ([email protected]).

Cost for corporate participation$275 SIMB Corporate Members$400 Non-Corporate Member.

Includes: • One 2’ x 6’ table in the Job Fair

location, company sign, two chairs• Access to private interview room

throughout the dates of the SIMB annual meeting (August 11 – 15)

• Searchable resumes available• Announcement of participation

on the SIMB website including company link

• Discount on 30-day job posting on the SIMB career center site

• Lunch ticket and breaks

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SIMB is pleased to announce that Amgen has been awarded the 2013 SIMB Industry Award for Discovery, Innovation, and Develop-ment in Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology. The Industry Award lecture will be presented Monday, August 12 at 4:30 pm dur-ing the SIMB annual meeting. The award lecture will be presented at this time by Jim Thomas, VP, Process and Product Development, Amgen. A plaque will be presented to Amgen at the evening banquet on Tuesday, August 13.

About AmgenAmgen discovers, develops, and delivers innovative human therapeutics. A biotechnology pioneer since 1980, Amgen was one of the first companies to realize the new science’s promise by bringing novel medicines from lab to manufacturing plant to patient. Amgen therapeutics have changed the practice of medicine, helping millions of people in the fight against cancer, kidney disease, rheumatoid arthritis, bone disease, and other se-rious illnesses. With a broad and deep pipeline of potential new medicines, Amgen is committed to advancing science to dra-matically improve people’s lives.

For more information, visit www.amgen.com.

An interdisciplinary approach to R&DFor more than 30 years, Amgen has been a leading innovator in the identification, isolation, production, and use of human pro-teins as therapeutic agents. We focus on pioneering treatmentsfor serious illness. Our R&D organization has cultivated exper-tise in multiple treatment modalities—large-molecule proteins, small molecules, and antibodies—allowing us to choose the best target for attacking disease and to use the modality most likely to affect that target.

A pioneer in biotechnology manufacturingWorking from deep experience and expertise, Amgen’s manu-facturing, process development, quality and distribution teams ensure the quality and supply of Amgen’s medicines to patientsaround the world. Manufacturing therapies based on proteins found in the human body is a complex and highly specialized ac-tivity. From process development and clinical manufacturing tofull-scale therapeutic protein production, Amgen has built one of the industry’s largest and most reliable operations. Amgen operates manufacturing facilities in California, Colorado, Ireland, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, and the Netherlands.

Advancing science through strategic partnershipsWith more than 100 active collaborations and growing, Amgen seeks to jointly unlock the potential of the world’s best science by bringing together our collaborators’ innovation with Amgen’ssubstantial experience, capabilities, financial resources, and track record of success in pursuing breakthrough medicines that serves patients with serious illnesses. Amgen embraces a culture that rewards and fosters a collaborative mindset and has evolved our capabilities to enable the success of our strategic partnerships that start with aligning around a shared vision with our partner and ends with the seamless execution of the pro-gram plan that oftentimes includes joint execution of activities throughout the collaboration lifecycle.

Philanthropy that makes a positive differenceThe causes Amgen supports, through the Amgen Foundation and other channels, reflect the company’s efforts to elevate sci-ence, help patients, and improve lives.

The Amgen FoundationThe Amgen Foundation (www.amgen.com/citizenship/over-view.html) seeks to advance science education; improve patient access to quality care; and strengthen the communities where Amgen staff members live and work. To date, the Foundation has donated over $200 million in grants to local, regional, and inter-national nonprofit organizations that impact society in inspiring and innovative ways. It has also supported disaster relief efforts both domestically and internationally.

Amgen is inspiring and preparing the scientists of tomorrow through several signature science education programs, includ-ing Amgen Scholars, an eight-year, $34 million program for un-dergraduates; the Teach For America Amgen Fellows Program; the Amgen Bruce Wallace Biotechnology Lab Program; and the Amgen Award for Science Teaching Excellence.

Winner of the 2013 SIMB Industry Award for Discovery, Innovation, and Development in Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology

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Jim ThomasVice President ResearchProcess & Product Development Amgen

Jim Thomas currently leads Amgen’s large molecule Process and Product Development (P&PD) organization within Research & Development. His responsibilities include the de-velopment and application of all process, analytical and formulation technologies used to manufacture both clinical and commercial large molecule products for Amgen. He began his biotechnology industry career at Genentech in 1983 as a scientist in Cell Culture R&D before joining the department of Molecular Biology at Immunex Corporation in 1990. At Immunex, Jim initiated the effort to produce recombinant proteins, including Enbrel®, using mammalian cells as the host cell system. As director of Cell Sciences and then vice president of Process Sciences, he oversaw investment in technologies that are the foundation for large scale processes used at Amgen to produce molecules including Vectibix® and Prolia®. Jim received his PhD from Purdue University and completed a post-doctoral fellowship at MIT in biochemistry, nutrition and cell physiology.

The award lecture for the 2013 SIMB Industry Award for Discovery, Innovation, and Development in Industrial Microbiology and Bio-technology will be presented on Monday, August 12 at 4:30 pm by Jim Thomas, vice president of Process and Product Development, Amgen. A plaque will be presented to Amgen at the evening banquet on Tuesday, August 13.

Dennis FentonCEOFenton & Associates, LLC

After receiving a BS in Biology from Manhattan College and a PHD from Rutgers in Microbi-ology I began my career at Pfizer working the fermentation and recovery of industrial en-zymes. Excited by the possibilities of developing new therapies through the use of recom-binant DNA technology and the charisma of George Rathman, Amgens founding CEO, I was recruited to join Amgen as one of its first employees. During my 25 years at Amgen I held numerous positions of increasing responsibility including the Vice presidencies of Research, Process Development, Manufacturing, Human Resources and Sales and Marketing. I retired from Amgen in 2007 as the Executive Vice President of Operations. While enjoying all the benefits of early retirement I remain involved in the Biotechnology industry by sitting on the board of four public companies, Kythera, Xenoport, Dendreon and Hospira, two private companies Napo and Genelux as well as the Keck Graduate institute.

The keynote address entitled " The Evolving Role of Applied Microbiology in the Biotechnology Industry" will be presented on Sun-day, August 11 at 5 pm by Dr. Dennis Fenton, at Fenton & Associates, LLC.

Featured speakers

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BTEC workshops offered in 2013In 2013, SIMB will continue its partnership with North Carolina State University’s Bio-manufacturing Training and Education Center (BTEC) to offer discount to SIMB mem-bers on BTEC professional development short courses.

Several tracks are featured including Biomanufacturing, Bioprocess Development, Bio-process Engineering and Analytical Technologies.

In addition, special course offerings in 2013 include Navigating the European Regula-tory System and Process Architecture: Integrating the Process to Deliver Successful Facility Solutions.

Members should visit the SIMB website for a list of upcoming workshops in 2013 or to download the BTEC 2013 brochure. BTEC is located in Raleigh, North Carolina and is within driving distance of many east coast locations or via the Raleigh-Durham Inter-national Airport.

Discounts range from 20% to 50% depending on the workshop and member field of employment.

www.simbhq.org/education/

Best Student Poster Presentation Awards

Students participating in the Best Stu-dent Poster Presentation competition will be judged onsite during the hours of presentation, either Sunday or Mon-day. Each 3-hour poster session will be divided into two 1-1/2 hour periods, depending upon topic.

Students are required to stand by their posters and be ready to discuss

their posters during the specified 1-1/2 hour time period in order to be eligible for the cash award.

Poster slots are limited and no-shows registered for the meeting will be disqualified from the competition and may not be invited to present in the future.

Winners will be notified either via

a phone message to the student’s hotel room or via text or voice message.

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Recent Advances in Fermentation Technology (RAFT 10)November 3 - 6, 2013Marriott Marco IslandMarco Island, FL

Web site: www.simbhq.org/raft

Contact SIMBSponsorship [email protected]

Exhibits [email protected]

[email protected]

Dates and DeadlinesJuly 2013: Registration and housing open

September 9, 2013: Oral and contributed paper abstracts due

September 15, 2013: Poster abstracts due

Call for Papers and PostersAbstract submission is OPEN: http://sim.confex.com/sim/raft10/cfp.cgi.

Poster presentersSubmit your final abstract no later than September 15, 2013. The RAFT Poster Session will be held Monday evening, November 4. All posters displayed must have one author available during the pre-scribed time period to discuss the poster. In addition to invited papers, a number

of contributed abstracts will be accepted for oral presentations. Oral presenters should plan to upload their presentations to the conference website shortly before or just after conclusion of the conference. SIMB will send information via email. Presentations will be viewable only to RAFT 10 attendees via password.IMPORTANT: You will be notified by email of acceptance of your poster abstract. All accepted Poster Presenters should be reg-istered and paid in full by the early bird deadline of October 3, 2013.

Sponsors

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Program TopicsAdvances in microbial expressionConveners: M. DeLisa, Cornell University and G. Barnard, Lilly and Co.

Advancements in the tools for adoption of Quality by Design: DoE and PATConveners: J. McCool, Lonza and R. Dominguez, Green Biologics

Building for the future – educating fermentation scientistsConvener: T. Davies, Green Biologics

Poster Session/receptionConveners: A. Mohagheghi, NREL and C. Dellomonaco, USA DuPont

Novel process and reactor designConveners: D. Laidlaw, Kuhner and M.C. Flickinger, North Carolina State University

From lab to market: Overcoming challenges to commercialization of bioprocessesConvener: S. VanDien, Genomatica

Process excellence and high quality manufacturingConveners: T. Rau, Lilly and Co. and Stuart Stooks, Novozymes

VenueMarriott Marco Island400 S. Collier BlvdMarco Island, FL 34145

Housing opens in July. Room rate: $209 including guest room internet.

The Marriott Marco Island Resort Golf Club and Spa allows you to kick off your shoes and explore paradise, now celebrating the completion of a $225 mil-lion renovation and redesign. This one-of-a-kind, acclaimed resort was recently voted onto the Conde Nast Traveler Read-ers’ Choice Top 100 list of large resorts on the U.S. mainland and onto the list of top 20 Florida Golf Resorts.

Nestled on three miles of pristine Southwest Florida beaches, the Marco Island Marriott is infused with Balinese beauty and offers on its property sev-eral renowned restaurants, champion-ship golf, a world-class spa and a wide range of activities and amenities as well as upscale shops for men and women, a spectacular free-form pool with views of the Florida Gulf, and completely re-designed and redecorated guest rooms.

For more information, visit www.marcoislandmarriott.com/.

SponsorshipProvide visibility to your organization and promote your brand. There are a variety of sponsorship benefit packages and op-portunities for organizations of all sizes. Enhance your exposure and position your company as a leader in the industry with sponsorship. For more information, contact Chris Lowe ([email protected]).

ExhibitsExhibit prospectus available in June.

Prices: $1,100 SIMB corporate member, $1,400 noncorporate memberIncludes one 2' x 6' draped table, 2 chairs, company sign.Setup: Sunday, November 3Show dates: November 3-5

For information, contact Nancy Gorell ([email protected]).

AdvertisingAdvertising is available in the meeting program. Deadline for submission of ads is June 1, 2013. For information on rates, contact Suzannah Citrenbaum ([email protected]).

Interested in advertising with SIMB?

SIMB offers several opportunities to advertise in both SIMB News and meeting programs. For information, please visit:

SIMB News: http://www.simbhq.org/docs/SNadrates2013_fillable.pdfMeeting programs: http://www.simbhq.org/docs/MPadrates2013_fillable.pdf

Questions? Contact Suzannah Citrenbaum ([email protected]).


book review

Book ReviewBy Stephanie Groves

Desk Encyclopedia of Microbiology, 2nd ed. Moselio Schaechter2009, 300 pagesISBN 978-0-12-374980-2Elsevier Science, Oxford, UKwww.elsevier.com

Moselio Schaechter, a former ASM presi-dent and author of several texts, brings us a reference guide geared toward the professional microbiologist working in a range of fields. According to the pub-lisher, Desk Encyclopedia of Microbiology, 2nd Edition is a hard-copy “single-volume comprehensive guide to microbiology” that covers everything from actinobac-teria to yeast. Even though each topic was authored by different contributors they all follow the same general flow. Each topic has a defining statement, brief introduction, conclusion, and sugges-tions for further reading that allow it to be read independent of the whole text. This is a both a convenient and essential feature to a reference guide. In addition to the text, pages are littered with small

but effective figures and tables. The vast range of microbiology topics covered in this book are discussed at the level be-tween material found in other texts that just touch the surface of a topic and that found in specialized reviews. The book reads like a standard encyclopedia and is easy to navigate. It can be used to ini-tiate further reading and/or as in-depth introduction to a specific topic. While this book may not be suitable for a microbi-ology novice, it is an excellent intermedi-ate-level reference for people in research or teaching.

calendar


SIMB MeetingsFor further information on SIMB meetings, contact: SIMB, 3929 Old Lee Highway, Suite 92A, Fairfax, VA 22030-2421; T: 703-691-3357; F: 703-691-7991; E: [email protected]; W: www.simbhq.org.

August 11-15, 2013 2013 Annual Meeting and Exhibition

Sheraton San Diego San Diego, CA

November 3-6, 2013

RAFT 10 Marriott Marco Island Marco Island, FL

April 28-May 1, 2014

36th Symposium on Biotechnology for Fuels and Chemicals

Hilton Clearwater BeachClearwater, FL

July 20-24, 2014 SIMB Annual Meeting and Exhibition

Hyatt Regency St. LouisSt. Louis, MO

Non-SIMB Meetings

May 18 - 21, 2013 ASM 113th General Meeting Denver, Coloradohttp://gm.asm.org/

May 31-June 1, 2013

Probiotics and their applications

Hanoi, Vietnamhttp://probioticsconference.com/

June 11-13, 2013 International Scientific Conference on Probiotics and Prebiotics IPC2013

Kosice, Slovakiawww.probiotic-conference.net/Conference#.UXU6rZWOvjQ

June 16-19, 2013 BIO World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology

Montreal, Canadawww.bio.org/worldcongress

June 17-20, 2013 63rd Annual Conference of the Canadian Society of Microbiologists

Ottawa, Canadawww.csm-scm.org/english/conf_upcoming.asp

July 1-3, 2013 Microbial Spoilers in Food 2013

Quimper, Francewww.spoilers2013.com

July 7-12, 2013 Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, MA, USAwww.grc.org/programs.aspx?year=2013&program=applied

July 8-10, 2013 11th Vaccines Research & Development Conference: All Things Considered

Boston, MAwww.gtcbio.com/index.php?option=com_conference

July 21-25, 2013 5th Congress of European Microbiologists (FEMS 2013)

Congress Center Leipzig, Messe-Allee 1, Leipzig, Germany http://fems.kenes.com/

July 28-August 2, 2013

Archaea: Ecology, Metabolism and Molecular Biology

Renaissance Tuscany Il Ciocco Resort, Lucca (Barga), Italywww.grc.org/programs.aspx?year=2013&program=archaea

July 31-August 1, 2013

Biomass 2013: How the Advanced Bioindustry is Reshaping American Energy

Co-hosted by U.S. DOE's Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) and Advanced Biofuels Washington, D.C. Convention Centerwww1.eere.energy.gov/biomass/biomass_2013.html

September 2-4, 2013

SGM Autumn 2013 Conference Sussex, UK www.sgm.ac.uk/en/events/conferences/index.cfm/autumn-2013-conference

calendar


Don’t forget to sign up for SIMB’s E-Newsletter and to visit our blog!

www.simbhq.org/blog

Check out SIMB’s online resources for current events and member news.

Workshops and Short Courses

NOTE: SIMB has partnered with North Carolina State University’s Biomanufacturing Training and Education Center (BTEC) to offer discounted professional short courses to SIMB members.• SIMBmembersfromindustryreceivea20%discountoncourseregistration.• SIMBmembersfromacademiareceivea50%discountonregistration.To receive your discount, you must register for BTEC short courses through the SIMB website member login.

June 10-13, 2013 2013 Cellular Bioprocess Technology Course

University of Minnesota http://cbt.umn.edu/

June 19-28, 2013 Functional Genomics and Systems Biology

Hinxton, Cambridge, UKhttp://www.wellcome.ac.uk/Education-resources/Courses-and-conferences/Advanced-Courses-and-Scientific-Conferences/Advanced-Courses/WTX026850.htm

Varies BioBrainz Life Sciences – Courses in Bioinformatics and Biotechnology

Visit web site for details on courses offered: www.biobrainz.com/

Varies NSF International Visit web site for details on courses offered: www.nsf.org/cphe/.

Varies ASM - Teleconferences and Webinars

Visit web site for locations and details on courses offered.: www.asmaudio.org/

Varies Penn State – Food Microbiology Short Courses

Visit web site for details on courses offered: http://foodscience.psu.edu/workshops/food-microbiology

Varies Rutgers University – Food Safety Courses

Visit web site for details on courses offered: www.cpe.rutgers.edu/programs/food_science_food_safety.html

Varies Silliker Laboratories Call for details and a list of courses offered: 800-829-7879 or 708-957-7878.

Anyone wishing to publicize a meeting or have it included in the calendar is asked to send the information to: SIMB, 3929 Old Lee Hwy, Suite 92A Fairfax, VA 22030-2421; E: [email protected]. All entries will be listed on a space-available basis.

SIMB offers three levels of corporate membership. Bronze level at $700, provides the following benefits:

• Discount on exhibit space for your company.• One regular SIMB membership for a representative with subscriptions to SIMB News and JIMB.• Reduced rates on advertising in SIMB News, plus a free corporate profile in one issue.• Availability of the SIMB membership mailing list at a reduced cost (20% off).• Free announcements of contracts awarded, new products or publications & personnel changes listed in SIMB News.• Recognition in every issue of SIMB News and JIMB.• Company link and description included on the corporate membership page of SIMB’s website (50 words or less).• Discounts on job postings in SIMB’s online career center.

Gold - $1200, includes Bronze level benefits, plus • Two additional full exhibitor Annual Meeting registrations with banquet ticket (total 3). • One additional regular SIMB membership (total 2). • Company logo included on the corporate membership page of SIMB’s website. • Three free uses of the SIMB membership mailing list (and 20% discount on additional mailing lists).

Diamond - $2000, includes Gold level benefits, plus • One additional full exhibitor Annual Meeting registration with banquet ticket (total 4). • One free Exhibitor Showcase (10 minutes) at Annual Meeting. • One $500 credit toward an ad placement (Ad placement cost must be at least $500 before credit can be applied). • Company logo and link added to rolling display on SIMB’s homepage.

Method of payment (SIMB Fed ID: 35-6026-526) Check (Payable to SIMB) Charge: MC Visa AMEXCard #: Exp. date:Name on Card/Signature: Total amount enclosed: $

Our company will join SIMB as a corporate member in the following category:

Bronze, $700 Gold, $1200 Diamond, $2000

Name of Company:Company website:**send company description (all levels) & logo (Gold and Diamond Only) to [email protected]

Authorizing officer who is to receive all billing information:

Name ____________________________

Title _____________________________

Address __________________________

_________________________________

City, State, ZIP_____________________

Country___________________________

Tel _______________________________

Fax _______________________________

E-mail ____________________________

Company representative who will receive membership including publications:

Name ____________________________

Title _____________________________

Address __________________________

_________________________________

City, State, ZIP_____________________

Country___________________________

Tel _______________________________

Fax _______________________________

E-mail ____________________________

Additional company representative (Gold and Diamond Only):

Name ____________________________

Title _____________________________

Address __________________________

_________________________________

City, State, ZIP_____________________

Country___________________________

Tel _______________________________

Fax _______________________________

E-mail ____________________________

2013 SIMB Corporate Membership ApplicationSIMB • 3929 Old Lee Hwy, Ste 92A • Fairfax, VA 22030 • T: 703-691-3357 ext. 23 • F: 703-691-7991 • www.simhq.org

Please do not send me SIMB Information via e-mail. Please do not include me on any SIMB mailing lists.Please do not include my information in the SIMB onlinemembership directory

Please select a delivery method for JIMB.Note: SIMB News is available online only. Print copy delivery via postal service Print copy Online only access

Dedicated to the industrial application of microbiology and biotechnology

Corporate Member Benefits

•Three levels available

•Complimentary membership for corporate representative(s)

•Discounts on exhibit space, advertising, and mailing lists

•Company logo, description, and link to corporate member web site

•Free announcements of contracts awarded, new products, and personnel changes in SIMB News

•Recognition in every issue of SIMB News, JIMB, and on SIMB web site

www.simbhq.org

Job Fair

SIMB Career CenterSIMB has launched an improved career center.

With the career center, job seekers can search for jobs, post their resumes and set up automated alerts, notifying them when new jobs become available.

Employers can now post a job opening instantly, and are able to search through resumes to find qualified employees.

http://careers.simhq.org

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