Hellenic Scientific Society MIKROBIOKOSMOS
Mikrobiokosmos (microbial world in Greek) is an Hellenic Scientific Society established in 2007 with mission the research, exploration and exploitation of the microbial national resources. Its primary focus is to be the national forum for new knowledge and advanced research in the areas of environmental microbiology, microbial ecology of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, food microbiology, microbial biotechnology, synthetic biology and synthetic microbial ecology, host-microbiome interactions, bioenergy and cell factories for production of novel bioproducts but also addresses fundamental research in microbiology using model microorganisms. Mikrobiokosmos tries to bring together fundamental research on microbiome with applications in agriculture (plant microbiome), food production and safety, environmental clean up and biodepuration of effluents.
The Society of Mikrobiokosmos has more than 150 members and associated members from all Universities, all National Public Research Centers and main Industrial actors from Greece and Cyprus and it aspires to become an international hub for Microbiologists from the Balkan and Eastern Mediterranean Region.
The role of the Society is to facilitate the collaboration and exchange of ideas between its members, to inspire students and young professionals in microbiology, to support them with grants and to promote scientific actions through the organization of seminars, meetings, summer schools, workshops and its biannual international conference in Greece.
The Hellenic Scientific Society of Microbiokosmos is a member of the Federation of European Microbiological Societies (FEMS) and of the International Union of Microbiological Societies (IUMS) and its members act as national ambassadors for the International Society for Microbial Ecology (ISME) and the American Society of Microbiology (ASM). The Society organizes webinars, annual summer schools and other training events, offers benefits and scholarships to young members and acts as a national hub to support and promote microbiome research in Greece.
Society
Board of Directors
Dr Chrysoula Tassou
President
Dr. Chrysoula Tassou is Research Director in Food Microbiology in the Institute of Technology of Agricultural Products (ITAP) of the Hellenic Agricultural Organization (HAO) – DIMITRA, Deputy Director, President of the Scientific Council of ITAP and deputy member of the Scientific Council of HAO-DIMITRA. Since 2019 she is President of Mikrobiokosmos. Her research interests are: Food Microbiology-Safety, Microbial diversity in foods, Fermented Functional foods – Probiotics, Food Bio-preservation, Rapid methods in food spoilage assessment. She has implemented successfully as Coordinator or as Scientific Leader, more than 50 competitive EU and national research projects, attracting significant funding for ITAP up to 3Μ Euros. She is editor (PLOS ONE, Frontiers in Microbiology, Foods, Fermentation) and peer-reviewer in international scientific journals, member of scientific societies and Expert evaluator/reviewer for national and European research projects. She is member of the working groups of “Food Safety”, “Food Processing and Packaging” and “Nutrition, Health, Consumers” of the Greek Technological Platform “Food for Life”, member of the European platform. She has educational experience teaching in undergraduate and postgraduate level at the University of Patras and Univ. of West Attica and being Supervisor or Committee member for PhD and MSc students of Cranfield University (UK), Reading University (UK), Agricultural University of Athens, Democritus University of Thrace and Aegean University.
Evangelos Topakas
Vice-President
Evangelos Topakas is an Associate Professor in the School of Chemical Engineering, National Technical University of Athens and Associate visiting Professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental and Natural Resources Engineering of Luleå University of Technology in the field of Industrial Biotechnology. He leads the Industrial Biotechnology and Biocatalysis (IndBioCat) group. His main research interests focus on (i) Discovery and recombinant expression of novel biocatalysts for the modification of plant cell wall material, (ii) Biocatalysis: discovery of novel reaction systems and biocatalysts for the synthesis and modification of bioactive compounds, (iii) Industrial Biorefinery: production of biopolymers and bioactive compounds from residual agroindustrial biomass, (iv) Molecular mechanisms and kinetics in enzyme processes based on complex carbohydrate substrates, (v) Study of the function/structure of novel biocatalysts. He is a Chief Editor of the Catalyst journal, Section of Biocatalysis (MDPI) and Associate Editor in Frontiers of Biotechnology and Bioengineering, Frontiers in Microbiology and Biotechnology for Biofuels and Bioproducts
Konstantinos Kormas
Member
Prof. Kostas Kormas leads The Microbial Communities and Habitats in Aquatic Environments Laboratory (MiCHAEL) at the University of Thessaly. MiCHAEL focuses on freshwater/marine microbial ecology and aquatic animals-microbe interactions. K. Kormas is a founding member of MikroBioKosmos. Currently, he is an Academic Editor of the journal PeerJ and currently serves as the Greek Ambassador for the International Society for Microbial Ecology.
Danae Venieri
Secretary
Danae Venieri is Associate Professor in Environmental Microbiology in the School of Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Crete. She leads the lab of Environmental Microbiology and her main research interests focus on a) the application of novel disinfection techniques for the inactivation of various pathogenic microorganisms contained in water and wastewater, including bacteria, viruses and parasites. Recent research studies deal with Advanced Oxidation Processes (heterogeneous photocatalysis/solar photocatalysis, photoelectrocatalysis etc.) and the application of novel photocatalytic materials in lab- and pilot-scale applications; b) the dispersion of antibiotic resistant bacteria and antibiotic resistance genes into the aquatic environment and their elimination rates during disinfection techniques and wastewater treatment methods; c) the biodegradation of pollutants using various microorganisms; d) the investigation of ecotoxicity of emerging micro-contaminants, including antibiotics and estrogens, and the effect of their by-products towards microbial consortia and e) the assessment of microbiological quality of the aquatic environment through the monitoring of pathogenic microorganisms and the risk assessment for public health. She is Associate Editor of the Journal of Chemical Technology and Biotechnology (Publisher: John Wiley & Sons on behalf of the Society of Chemical Industry) and Editorial Board member of Catalysts (MDPI).
Agapi Doulgeraki
Member
Dr Agapi Doulgeraki is Assistant Researcher in Food Microbiology in the Institute of Technology of Agricultural Products (ITAP) of the Hellenic Agricultural Organization – DIMITRA. Her research interests are: Food microbiology, Food molecular microbiology, Microbial diversity, Microbial behavior in foods, Enhancement of foods’ safety and quality (use of natural antimicrobials, fermentation, packaging, probiotics etc.), Probiotics-Functional microorganisms-starter cultures and their use in foods, Biofilm formation on biotic and abiotic surfaces, Biofilm decontamination, Application of standard, modern and molecular techniques in Food Microbiology. She was a substitute member in CA18113 (EuroMicropH) and FA1202 (ΒacFoodNet) Cost Actions. She has taught in University of the Aegean (2012-2013) and Agricultural University of Athens (2017) and is/was co-supervisor or Committee member for MSc and PhD students of Agricultural University of Athens and University of Malta.
Alexandra Meziti
Member
Alexandra Meziti is a Biologist and founder of Smallomics LP., that is focused in analysing microbiomes from different aquatic and terrestrial environments using NGS techniques and modern bioinformatic tools.She is also a postDoc at the International Hellenic University working on the microbial diversity of human gut biopsies. She is a reviewer in several academic journals and member of scientific societies. Her main interests lie on aquatic microbes ecology and their interactions with aquatic animals as well as with their environment.
Savvas Genitsaris
Treasurer
Savvas Genitsaris is an Assistant Professor in Aquatic Microbial Ecology in the Faculty of Biology, School of Sciences, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. His main research focus is the investigation of molecular and functional diversity of microbes from various environments, e.g. marine, freshwater, air, wastewaters, using classical microscopy tools and modern high-throughput sequencing technologies. Currently, he is member of the editorial board of the journal Diversity.
Affiliated Societies
Aims:
Microorganisms (ISSN 2076-2607; https://www.mdpi.com/journal/microorganisms) is a scientific, international, peer-reviewed, open access journal of microbiology, published monthly online by MDPI.
Microorganisms provides an advanced forum for studies related to prokaryotic and eukaryotic microorganisms, viruses and prions. It publishes original scientific research articles, comprehensive reviews, comments, commentaries, perspectives, etc. Our aim is to encourage scientists to publish their experimental and theoretical results in as much detail as possible.
Scope:
- Microbial physiology
- Microbial ecology
- Microbial genetics
- Evolutionary microbiology
- Systems microbiology
- Medical microbiology
- Pharmaceutical microbiology
- Industrial microbiology
- Agricultural microbiology
- Microbial biotechnology
- Food microbiology
- Environmental microbiology
More detailed information of topics and subject areas can be found at https://www.mdpi.com/journal/microorganisms/sections
The Hellenic Society Mikrobiokosmos (MBK), the Spanish Society for Nitrogen Fixation (SEFIN) and the Society for Microbial Ecology and Disease (SOMED) are affiliated with Microorganisms