Preface: The 2nd International Electronic Conference on Microbiology ^†

1. Introduction

Conference Introduction

This volume of the Biology and Life Sciences Forum assembles the articles presented at the 2nd International Electronic Conference on Microbiology (ECM 2023). The conference was held online from 1 to 15 December 2023, via the sciforum.net platform, developed by MDPI. ECM 2023, which offers a forum for engaged researchers and serves as a platform for advancing the state of the art in microbiology. This electronic conference allows participants to present their most up-to-date research results, fosters a direct exchange of ideas among colleagues, and facilitates online question-and-answer sessions.

This year’s event saw a continuously increased collaboration among the authors and the audience through live session presentations of a limited number of contributions selected among the 107 submissions, all formally reviewed and accepted by the chairs and/or by the conference committee members.

ECM 2023 received contributions concerning seven thematic areas related to microorganisms: gut microbiota and health disease, foodborne pathogens and food safety, antimicrobial agents and resistance, emerging infectious diseases, microbiome and soil science, microbial characterization and bioprocess, and microbe–plant interactions. Video recordings of the sessions and open access to papers and presentations can be found online at https://sciforum.net/event/ECM2023.

2. Committee Members

2.1. Conference Chair

Dr. Nico Jehmlich, Department of Molecular Systems Biology, UFZ-Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Germany.

2.2. Session Chairs

Prof. Dr. Konstantinos Triantafyllou, Hepatogastroenterology, 2nd Department of Internal Medicine-Propaedeutic, Attikon University General Hospital, Medical School, Athens University, Greece;

Prof. Dr. Gabriela Jorge Da Silva, Faculty of Pharmacy and Center for Neurosicences and Cell Biology, University of Coimbra, Portugal;

Dr. Paolo Calistri, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell’Abruzzo e del Molise “Giuseppe Caporale”, Italy;

Dr. Nico Jehmlich, Department of Molecular Systems Biology, UFZ-Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Germany;

Prof. Dr. Maurizio Ciani, Department of Life and Environmental Science, Polytechnic University of Marche, Italy;

Prof. Dr. James F. White, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, USA;

Prof. Dr. Theodoros Varzakas, Department of Food Science and Technology, University of Peloponnese, Greece.

2.3. Event Committee

Prof. Dr. Fabio Pace, Division of Gastroenterology, Bolognini Hospital, Italy;

Prof. Dr. Francesco Marotta, ReGenera R&D International for Aging Intervention and San Babila Clinic, Vitality Therapeutics, Italy;

Dr. Jean-Paul Motta, Institute of Digestive Health Research (IRSD), INSERM U1220, France;

Dr. Jorge Luis Espinoza, Department of Hematology and Rheumatology, Faculty of Medicine, Kindai University, Japan;

Prof. Dr. Glenn S. Tillotson, GST Micro LLC, 8356 Town Hall Court, USA;

Prof. Dr. Theodoros Varzakas, Department of Food Science and Technology, University of Peloponnese, Greece;

Dr. Adolfo J. Martinez-Rodriguez, The Institute of Food Science Research (CIAL) (CSIC-UAM), The Autonoma University of Madrid, Spain;

Prof. Dr. Cinzia Caggia, Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment (Di3A), University of Catania, Italy;

Dr. Rafael Rivilla, Departamento de Biología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain;

Prof. Dr. Laurent Dufossé, Laboratoire de Chimie des Substances Naturelles et des Sciences des Aliments, ESIROI Département Agroalimentaire, Université de La Réunion, France;

Dr. Marcell Nikolausz, Department of Environmental Microbiology, Helmholtz Zentrum für Umweltforschung, Germany;

Prof. Dr. Sisinthy Shivaji, Jhaveri Microbiology Centre, Brien Holden Eye Research Centre, L. V. Prasad Eye Institute, India;

Dr. Martin Filion, Science and Technology Branch, Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu Research and Development Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Government of Canada, Canada;

Prof. Dr. Essaid Ait Barka, Research Unit Induced Resistance and Plant Bioprotection, University of Reims, France;

Dr. Tim J. Dumonceaux, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Saskatoon Research and Development Centre, Canada;

Prof. Dr. Eric W. Triplett, Microbiology and Cell Science Department, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, USA;

Dr. Seong-Tshool Hong, Department of Biomedical Sciences and Institute for Medical Science, School of Medicine, Chonbuk National University, Republic of Korea;

Dr. Franca Rossi, Istituto Zooprofilattico dell’Abruzzo e del Molise “Giuseppe Caporale”, Italy;

Dr. Semih Esin, Department of Translational Research on New Technologies in Medicine and Surgery, Università di Pisa, Italy;

Prof. Dr. Anthony J. Sinskey, Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA;

Dr. Wolf-Rainer Abraham, Department of Chemical Microbiology, Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, Germany;

Prof. Dr. Mohammad Taherzadeh, Swedish Centre for Resource Recovery, University of Borås, Sweden;

Dr. Janet Cox-Singh, School of Medicine, University of St Andrews, Medical and Biological Sciences Building, UK;

Prof. Dr. Matthias Noll, Institute for Bioanalysis, Department of Applied Sciences, Coburg University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Germany;

Dr. Sofia Costa de Oliveira, Division of Microbiology, Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Porto, Portugal;

Dr. Benoit St Pierre, Department of Animal Science, South Dakota State University, Animal Science Complex, USA;

Dr. Assunta Bertaccini, Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, Alma Mater Studiorum—University of Bologna, Italy;

Dr. Marta Laranjo, MED-Mediterranean Institute for Agriculture, Environment and Development, Universidade de Évora, Portugal.

3. Keynote Presentations

Seed endophytic bacteria in crop plants. Dr. Satish Kumar Verma, Assistant Professor Department of Botany Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India;

Negative plant-soil feedback in Arabidopsis thaliana: disentangling the effects of soil chemistry, microbiome, and extracellular self-DNA. Dr. Mohamed Idbella, the Department of Soil and Water Sciences of the University of Florida/IFAS Southwest Florida Research and Education Center (SWFREC);

Microbial based inoculants for sustainable agriculture. Dr. Marika Pellegrini, Department of Life, Health and Environmental Sciences, University of L’Aquila, Italy.

4. Partners

The 2nd International Electronic Conference on Microbiology is supported by the following Journals and organizations (Figure 1):