Welcome to the 7^th European Spores Conference

18th - 20th of April 2016

The European Spores Conference (ESC) has rapidly become one of the leading ‘focused’ microbiology conferences with a reputation for outstanding speakers, a beautiful venue and excellent social events. The ESC provides the only worldwide forum for scientists with an interest in spore-forming microbes and now attracts participants (academic and industry) from across the globe. The conference has followed earlier meetings in Slovakia and Italy and with the last two being held at Royal Holloway, University of London in April 2012 and April 2014. The 7th ESC is once again sponsored by FEMS who have generously provided grants for early stage researchers. Following the 2014 conference, a selection of presentations were published in a special spores-themed issue of FEMS Microbiology Letters.

We are very much interested in talks that cover the spectrum of spore formers, including:

• Bacillus as a model for studying cell differentiation
• Spore structure and function
• The impact of spores in the food industry
• Clostridium difficile and the role of the spores in disease and dissemination
• Bacillus anthracis
• The use of spores in food as human dietary supplements and animal feed products including aquaculture
• Applied uses of spores including bioremediation and biosensors

The 7th ESC offers a number of invited speaker presentations as well as the opportunity for early stage researchers to present. Networking is encouraged and we offer:

• extended (40 min) breaks between sessions
• poster sessions
• trade stands and exhibits

Invited speakers include:

Kumaran Ramamurthi – Keynote (NIH, USA)

Peter Setlow (University of Connecticut Health Center, USA)

Lee Kroos (Michigan State University, USA)

Patrick Eichenberger (New York University, USA)

Daniel Paredes-Sabja (Universidad Andrés Bello, Chile)

Shonna McBride (Emory University, USA)

Sarah Kuehne (University of Nottingham, UK)

Anthony Wilkinson (University of York, UK)

Becoming a speaker

Oral presentations will be chosen from abstracts submitted before 19th February 2016. Those interested in giving an oral presentation should send an abstract as soon as possible to s.cutting@rhul.ac.uk. Registration is not necessary for abstract submission and can be completed later.

Important Dates:

Online registration opens October 2015

Early-­bird registration closes February 1st 2016

Deadline for abstract submission March 1st 2016

Registration closes March 31st 2016