Microbes at the Frontiers of Microbiology

09:00 – Welcome address

09:10 – A drop in the ocean: diatom diversity through the lense of genomics
Eveline Pinseel – Laboratory of Protistology & Aquatic Ecology, UGent

09:40 – The hypho-sphere of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi: a microbial hub for plant nutrition,
health, and pathogen controland pathogen control
Stephan Declerck – Laboratory of Mycology, UCLouvain, Louvain-la-Neuve

10:10 – Freeing the Yeast, Fueling Protein Production Innovation – introducing OPENPichia
Katrien Claes – Center for Medical Biotechnology, VIB-UGent

10:40 – Coffee Break

11:00 – Cyanobacteria
Dail Laughinghouse – University of Florida, Davie West, Davie, Florida, USA

11:30 – From nuclear applications to deep space travel: Microbes taking us beyond the known limits of life
Natalie Leys – Microbial Biotechnology Research Unit, SCK-CEN, Mol

12:00 – Bio-Art: Making art with microorganism
Matthijs De Block – Independent artist / Lecturer & researcher at LUCA School of Arts Ghent

12:30 – Lunch & Group Picture

14:00 – Evolving without males, while having adapted to extreme stresses
Karine Van Doninck – Laboratory of Molecular Biology & Evolution, ULB, Brussels

14:30 – Chytridiomycosis, a fungal disease driving global loss of amphibian diversity
Frank Pasmans – Laboratory of Veterinary Bacteriology and Mycology, UGent

15:00 – Twenty years of research on giant viruses
Chantal Abergel – Information Génomique & Structurale, Université Aix-Marseille, France

15:30 – Coffee Break

15:50 – PVC bacteria: microbiology's Platypus, divergent biology and the Tree of Lifea
Damien Devos – Institut Pasteur Lille, Univ. Lille, CNRS, Inserm, CHU Lille, France

16:20 – Archaea
Eveline Peeters – VUB, Brussels, Belgium

16:50 – Concluding remarks