They are important for a sustainable agriculture, as microbial pesticides, biofertilisers or bioremediating agents, and mediate in environmental cleanup and biodepuration. They support life in lakes and oceans affecting all aquatic organism yields, and have an overall impact on the climate; they indeed regulate climate change. They contribute to food production, preservation and safety, and thus in animal and human health and nutrition. They constitute an invaluable source of cellular and molecular materials for exploitation in biotechnology and bioenergy production. Last but not least, they constitute an important and integral part of all other living organisms: the microbiome.

Thus, the role of the microbial world – ‘mikrobiokosmos’ in Greek – is considered more than ever crucial in the ‘One Health’ and ‘One Planet’ schools of thought; i.e., the emerging concepts advocating the intertwining of healthy global ecosystems with healthy living beings.

With a vision of the above, the Hellenic Scientific Society MIKROBIOKOSMOS invites its members and all those involved in research in the field of Microbiology, especially young researchers, to participate in the 10th International Conference of MIKROBIOKOSMOS which will be held in Larissa from 30 Novewmber to 2 December 2023. The aim of the conference is to bring together a multidisciplinary audience of leading academic scientists, researchers and research scholars to exchange and share their experiences and research results in the field of Microbiology.

The 1st day of the conference coincides with the “International Microorganism day” (https://www.internationalmicroorganismday.org/whoarewe)  the date that Antonie van Leeuwenhoek – a Dutch merchant with no fortune or university degree - sent a letter to the Royal Society of London in 1683, with the first description of a single-celled organism. For this reason parallel activities will be organized for students and the general public.

The theme of the conference is “All microbes for a sustainable future” to highlight the significant role of microorganisms in the following fields/sessions: Agriculture/Fisheries/Aquaculture, One Health, Food/Nutrition, Environment, Bioengineering, Biotechnology/Bioenergy, thus ensuring the sustainability of our planet. Advances in Molecular mechanisms, Model organisms, Microbiome studies, Omics approaches and bioinformatics tools, mechanisms of action, host-microbe association and interaction, are also included.

Distinguished scientists from Greece and abroad have been invited as speakers at the conference, to present research developments in the above fields.

The conference will take place in the capital and the largest city of the Thessaly region in Greece, Larissa, at the Divani Larissa Hotel and we hope to attract a broad European, International and Mediterranean participation.

The project “FunShield4Med” (https://funshield4med.eu/) contributes in the conference organisation. This project is funded from the European Union’s Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Programme under Grant Agreement No 101079173 and is implemented by the Hellenic Agricultural Organisation DIMITRA.

The conference is supported by the Federation of European Microbiological Societies (FEMS) (https://fems-microbiology.org/)