25th ESAB Newsletter

The Scientific Committee of the EFB Section on Applied Biocatalysis (ESAB) had her 59th Meeting in Oviedo/Spain on 8 July 2007. A short report of this meeting is given below.

1. Brussels Affairs

The calls are announced on the EU webpage for FP7 http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7 and the last call (e.g. Novel Enzymes) has been opened for proposals.

Identifier: FP7-KBBE-2007-2A
Publication date: 15 June 2007
Budget: € 110 000 000
Deadline(s): 11 September 2007 at 17:00:00 (Brussels local time)
19 February 2008 at 17:00:00 (Brussels local time) - Stage 2 (only for proposals retained at stage 1)

Attention has to be given to the reach-out events in member countries, as this could positively influence complementary national initiatives and create more links to the national ministries of science and education. This will stimulate additional resources required from all stakeholders to keep the drive in the key science and technology area of biocatalysis.

2. Events

2.1 Reports from Past Events

The International Conference on Synthetic Biology
24-27 June 2007 at the ETH Zurich/Switzerland

7th International Conference on Protein Stabilization
Exeter/UK, 11-14 April 2007

7th Carbohydrate Bioengineering Symposium
Braunschweig/DE, 22-25 April 2007

Third International Conference on Renewable Resources and Biorefineries - RRB3
accompanied by an exhibition, has taken place in a monastery in Ghent (Belgium) from 4 - 6 June 2007

Biotrans 2007
8-13 July 2007 in Oviedo, Spain
8th International Symposium on Biocatalysis and Biotransformations

More than 500 scientists gathered in the Auditorio – Palacio de Congresos Principe Felipe Conference Center of the lovely city of Oviedo, capital of Asturias, Spain for this 8th conference in this series.
The 8th edition of Biotrans Symposium took place from 8 to 13 July 2007 in Oviedo (Spain). This International Conference involved the participation of experts in different areas of Biocatalysis and created a multidisciplinary atmosphere stimulating the exchange of knowledge between participants. The Congress aimed at updating on recent achievements and future tendencies in the field of biotransformations having especial attention the following topics:

• Enzymes in Organic Synthesis: Applied Biocatalysis.
• Industrial Application: Scale Processes and Development.
• Enzyme Sources and Evolution: Actual Strategies and Tools in Directed Evolution.
• Biochemical Engineering and Downstream Processing.
• Mechanistic Enzymology, Protein Structure, and Modeling.
• Pathway Engineering, Genomics, and Proteomics.

More than 50 lectures and 300 poster communications were presented.
A workshop on Biocatalysis – Quo vadis in memory of Dr.Andreas Kiener
was held and the 5 Horizons which were discussed can be found at the
conference website.

2.2 Outlook to future events

ECB13
16-19 September 2007, Barcelona, Spain
13th European Congress on Biotechnology

The 13th European Congress on Biotechnology, 16 – 19 Sept 2007
Venue: Fira de Barcelona – Montjuic, Barcelona, Spain has an attractive
program and a great increase in the number of registrations.

1. Symbiosis (Science, Industry & Society) – The central theme of the European Congress on Biotechnology. Analysing the crucial impact the life sciences industry has had in addressing humanity’s great challenges,looking to society to see the remaining and emerging needs, and presenting the cutting-edge science that will address these new challenges.
2. Industrial Biotechnology , a multidisciplinary approach including applied biocatalysis, biochemical engineering, microbial physiology and systems biology – all focused on innovation in industrial biotechnology and the development of the Knowledge-Based Bio-Economy.
3. Health & Medicine , including the latest achievements in biotechnology to improve existing treatments and bring forward novel approaches, with a special focus on the development of new innovative and targeted medicines that will impact future medicines and therapies.
4. Green Biotechnology – Exploring the benefits and challenges derived from the application of biotechnologies in agriculture, including sessions on the latest developments in the fields of environmental biotechnology and biodiversity.
5. Functional Genomics & Systems Biology – Connecting the most promising developments in functional studies of genes and their protein products with the expanding concept of systems biology. The focus will be on technologies and their applications in biomedicine, industry and the environ- ment, together with data integration into systems level understanding.

The abstracts will be published in a special issue of Journal of Biotechnology.
Please watch for the latest update on URL: http://www.ecb13.eu

Enzyme Engineering XIX
23-28 September 2007 in Harrison Hot Springs,
British Columbia, Canada

The International Symposium on Catalysis and Fine Chemicals 2007
will be held 17-21 December 2007 at the Nanyang Technological University campus Singapore.
Abstract Deadline: 15 august 2007

EUROPACAT VIII
26-31 August 2007, Turku/Abo, Finland

3rd European Conference on Prokaryotic Genomics
7-10 October 2007 Göttingen,Germany

Pacific Rim Summit on Industrial Biotechnology and Bioenergy ,
14-16 November 2007, Honolulu, Hawai,
The call for posters will close on August 31, 2007.

European Conference on Synthetic Biology: Design, Programming and Optimisation of Biological Systems
November 24-29, 2007, Sant Feliu de Guixols (Spain, close to Barcelona).
Closing Date for Application 7 September 2007

Protein Design and Evolution in Biocatalysis
2008, Sant Feliu, Spain

Symposium on Nonconventional Media
Moscow/RU, June 2008,

Gordon Research Conference on Biocatalysis
6-11 July 2008
Bryant University, Smithfield, RI

4th International Symposium on Biocatalysis in the Food and Drinks
Industries
2nd half of September 2008, Toulouse, France

Screening for novel biocatalysts 2008
Exeter, UK

Biocat 2008
31.08.- 04.09.2008, Hamburg, Germany

7th European Symposium on Biochemical Engineering Science
7 – 10 September 2008 in Ljubljana/Slowenia

3. ESAB-Meeting SciCom

The 60th SciCom Meeting (Anniversary!) will take place on Saturday,
15 September 2007 10.00 – 16.00 in Barcelona (Spain) , preceding the
European Congress on Biotechnology ECB13 in Barcelona.

4. Varia

ESAB Support of European COST Actions in Biocatalysis
The future support of European COST Action in Biocatalysis by ESAB was approved in a voting with hand signs by the majority of the present delegates of the 59th Scientific Committee Meeting with no dissenting vote.
Roland Wohlgemuth has written and signed an official ESAB statement supporting the new COST Action in Biocatalysis.

Biocatalysis Course in Siena
The support of future Courses with ESAB logo was approved in a voting with hand signs by the majority of the present delegates of the 59th Scientific Committee Meeting with no dissenting vote.

Chairman: Roland Wohlgemuth