ProkaGENOMICS 2020

Welcome note

Dear friends and colleagues,
We are pleased to announce that the ProkaGENOMICS conference is back in 2020 and is devoted to the motto "From Small Viruses to Complex Communities".

Our three main topics are as follows:

• Structure & Function of Microbiomes
• Bacterial & Archaeal Viruses
• Biocatalysts & Molecules from Microbes or Microbial Assemblages

One of the most revolutionary advances in the biological sciences in recent years has been the realization of the importance of microbiomes. Microbiomes could be key to health and disease of their hosts, and play central roles in the biogeochemical processes that sustain life on our planet. At present, one of the main goals is to elucidate the composition and functions of the microbiota, and the complex interplay between the microbiota and the environment.
In the past, microbiomes have mainly been defined by their bacterial, archaeal as well as their fungal members, but also viruses play pivotal roles in microbial communities. Unraveling the biology of bacterial and archaeal viruses and their relationship with their hosts is key to understanding microbial systems, their exploitation and how our microbial driven world is tempered by them.
Our rapidly increasing understanding of microbes and microbial communities also offers new horizons for white biotechnology. Being applied to the industry to replace polluting technologies for clean ones white biotechnology provides large benefits - both environmentally and economically.

All these above mentioned hot topics in microbial research are covered by ProkaGENOMICS 2020. A panel of nationally and internationally well-recognized scientists, both from Europe and abroad, will present and discuss the latest developments in these exciting research fields.

The conference will be accompanied by a Minisymposium on Big Data providing the opportunity to learn about techniques to deal with the huge amount of data generated in functional (meta-)genomic analyses.

You are cordially invited to participate and to bring your scientific expertise to this conference to make it an outstanding scientific event.

Save the date from 20 - 23 September 2020 and join us in Goettingen!

The conference chairs
Rolf Daniel                         
University of Göttingen

Katharina Riedel
University of Greifswald