Foundation of the Belgian Society for Viruses of Microbes and Meeting Report of Its Inaugural Symposium

Agnieszka Latka; Abram Aertsen; Dimitri Boeckaerts; Bob Blasdel; Pieter-Jan Ceyssens; Abel Garcia-Pino; Annika Gillis; Rob Lavigne; Gipsi Lima-Mendez; Jelle Matthijnssens; Jolien Onsea; Eveline Peeters; Jean-Paul Pirnay; Damien Thiry; Dieter Vandenheuvel; Els Van Mechelen; Jolien Venneman; Gilbert Verbeken; Jeroen Wagemans; Yves Briers

doi:10.3390/v15051213

Foundation of the Belgian Society for Viruses of Microbes and Meeting Report of Its Inaugural Symposium

Viruses. 2023 May 22;15(5):1213. doi: 10.3390/v15051213.

Authors

Agnieszka Latka^{1

2}, Abram Aertsen³, Dimitri Boeckaerts^{1

4}, Bob Blasdel⁵, Pieter-Jan Ceyssens⁶, Abel Garcia-Pino⁷, Annika Gillis⁸, Rob Lavigne⁹, Gipsi Lima-Mendez¹⁰, Jelle Matthijnssens¹¹, Jolien Onsea^{12

13}, Eveline Peeters¹⁴, Jean-Paul Pirnay¹⁵, Damien Thiry¹⁶, Dieter Vandenheuvel¹⁷, Els Van Mechelen¹⁸, Jolien Venneman¹⁹, Gilbert Verbeken¹⁵, Jeroen Wagemans⁹, Yves Briers¹

Affiliations

¹ Laboratory of Applied Biotechnology, Department of Biotechnology, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, 9000 Gent, Belgium.
² Department of Pathogen Biology and Immunology, University of Wroclaw, 51-148 Wroclaw, Poland.
³ Laboratory of Food Microbiology, Department of Microbial and Molecular Systems, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, KU Leuven, 3001 Leuven, Belgium.
⁴ KERMIT, Department of Data Analysis and Mathematical Modelling, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium.
⁵ Vésale Bioscience, Vésale Pharmaceutica, 5310 Noville-sur-Mehaigne, Belgium.
⁶ Division of Human Bacterial Diseases, Sciensano, 1050 Brussels, Belgium.
⁷ Cellular and Molecular Microbiology, Faculté des Sciences, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Campus La Plaine, 1050 Brussels, Belgium.
⁸ Laboratory of Food and Environmental Microbiology, Earth and Life Institute, Université Catholique de Louvain, 1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium.
⁹ Laboratory of Gene Technology, Department of Biosystems, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, KU Leuven, 3001 Leuven, Belgium.
¹⁰ Biology of Microorganisms Research Unit (URBM), Namur Research Institute for Life Sciences (NARILIS), Université de Namur ASBL, 5000 Namur, Belgium.
¹¹ Laboratory of Viral Metagenomics, Rega Institute, Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Transplantation, KU Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium.
¹² Department of Trauma Surgery, University Hospitals Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium.
¹³ Department of Development and Regeneration, KU Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium.
¹⁴ Research Group of Microbiology, Department of Bioengineering Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, 1050 Brussels, Belgium.
¹⁵ Laboratory for Molecular and Cellular Technology, Queen Astrid Military Hospital, 1120 Brussels, Belgium.
¹⁶ Veterinary Bacteriology, Department of Infectious and Parasitic Diseases, Fundamental and Applied Research for Animals and Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Liège, 4000 Liège, Belgium.
¹⁷ Department of Bioscience Engineering, University of Antwerp, 2020 Antwerp, Belgium.
¹⁸ Research Centre Health & Water Technology, University of Applied Sciences, 9000 Gent, Belgium.
¹⁹ Flanders Research Institute for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (ILVO), 9820 Merelbeke, Belgium.

Abstract

The Belgian Society for Viruses of Microbes (BSVoM) was founded on 9 June 2022 to capture and enhance the collaborative spirit among the expanding community of microbial virus researchers in Belgium. The sixteen founders are affiliated to fourteen different research entities across academia, industry and government. Its inaugural symposium was held on 23 September 2022 in the Thermotechnical Institute at KU Leuven. The meeting program covered three thematic sessions launched by international keynote speakers: (1) virus-host interactions, (2) viral ecology, evolution and diversity and (3) present and future applications. During the one-day symposium, four invited keynote lectures, ten selected talks and eight student pitches were given along with 41 presented posters. The meeting hosted 155 participants from twelve countries.

Keywords: Belgian Society for Viruses of Microbes; bacteriophages; triple helix model.

Publication types

Congress
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Belgium
Host Microbial Interactions*
Humans
Viruses*

Grants and funding

The BSVoM symposium was funded by National Fund for Scientific Research [grant number FNRS 40013037] and Research Foundation Flanders, FWO “Phagebiotics” research community [grant number FWO WOG W001119N].