Chair

Professor of Microbiology in the Faculty of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, at the University of Salamanca, Spain. She obtained her PhD in Microbial Systematics at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne (UK). Following this time, she held a postdoctoral research post at Novartis, A.G. in the Microbiology Department in Basel, Switzerland. Professor Trujillo is leader of the research Group Microbial Ecology and Biotechnology with main research areas in actinobacterial systematics and ecology of plant-bacteria interactions. In addition, current research is focused on plant microbiomes and their modulation to improve agricultural practices under the impact of climate change. Since 2017, she is Editor in Chief of the International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology.

Her main field of research is the microbiology of northern wetlands. Areas of research expertise are biology & ecology of methanotrophic bacteria and microbial diversity in Sphagnum-dominated wetlands. Current research is focused on exploring the uncultured diversity, genome-encoded traits and the range of potentially valuable metabolites (enzymes, antibiotics and other bioactive molecules) of bacteria from two poorly studied phyla - Acidobacteria and Planctomycetes.

Area of interest: microbial ecology, taxonomy and evolution

Reasearch interests: From a PhD in 1994 at the University of Queensland, I have developed a career in microbiology and genomics in the USA and in Australia. My last position in the USA was as Staff Scientist (2004-2010) at the DOE Joint Genome Institute. In late 2010 I returned home to establish the Australian Centre for Ecogenomics (ACE) at the University of Queensland together with Gene Tyson. I have contributed to the field of culture-independent analysis of microorganisms through the discovery and characterization of numerous previously unrecognized major bacterial and archaeal lineages each with greater evolutionary divergence than animals and plants combined. I have a long-term interest in the development and application of metagenomics, the genome-based characterization of microbiomes, which has revolutionized our understanding of microbial ecology and evolution. This has resulted in several discoveries in environmental and clinical microbiology, sometimes overturning decades of misdirected culture-based studies. Most recently I have applied my interest in comparative genomics and metagenomics to develop a systematic genome-based taxonomy for bacteria and archaea, which is facilitating scientific communication and endeavor.

Secretary

I am a biologist with a doctoral degree in Molecular Microbiology from the University of Grenoble (France) and the Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute (Russia). After completing my PhD on snow microbial diversity, I moved to the University of Queensland (Brisbane, Australia) where I continued my research on microbial diversity in natural ecosystems. Subsequently, I joined the Genome Taxonomy Database (GTDB) project as a principal taxonomy curator. My primary interests revolve around the taxonomy and nomenclature of organisms classified as Bacteria and Archaea. I am deeply passionate about serving the scientific community and sharing my knowledge regarding the art of scientific naming and the regulations governing the formation and application of taxonomic names. I have made significant contributions to the field of prokaryotic taxonomy and nomenclature through various roles and activities. These include serving as a taxonomy curator of GTDB, working as a nomenclature editor at the International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology (IJSEM), being a member of the Judicial Commission of the International Committee on Systematics of Prokaryotes (ICSP), actively involved in the development of the Code of Nomenclature of Prokaryotes Described from Sequence Data (SeqCode) and currently chairing it’s Reconciliation Commission, and publishing papers that focus on the naming and classification of Bacteria and Archaea.

Professor of Microbiology in the Faculty of Biological Sciences, at the University of Valencia, Spain. I obtained my PhD in Pharmacy at the University of Seville (Spain) and then I held a postdoctoral research post at the Technical University of Munich (Germany). My research has covered a broad number of culturable microorganisms including marine bacteria, halophilic archaea and bacteria, and several major groups of soil, plant and food bacteria. From the methodological point of view, I have been active in the introduction of comparative genomics as routine method for a better classification and characterization of prokaryotes. I have been participating in the activities of the ICSP, International Committee on Systematics of Prokaryotes, since 2002 in several roles including being the Chair of the Judicial Commission since 2019.

Vice-Chair

Area of interest: Plant associated bacteria, Enterobacteriaceae

Research interests: My primary research interests are bacterial evolution, systematics and diversity. I am specifically interested in how knowledge of these aspects of bacteriology can be applied to answer specific research questions related to the evolution and functioning of bacteria and bacterial communities in different environments. During the past few years my research group have focused on two main type of areas: 1) Bacteria associated with plants (rhizobia); 2) Aquatic environments (drinking water and salterns). I am currently also focusing on the descriptions of a large collection of nitrogen fixing Paraburkholderia and Mesorhizobium strains isolated from indigenous papilionoid legume species.

I serve as an associate editor of the International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology (2017-present) as well as Systematic and Applied Microbiology (2015 - ). I am also the South African ambassador of the International Society for Microbial Ecology (ISME), a Council member of the Southern African Society for Systematic Biology, member of the International Committee on Systematics of Prokaryotes (ICSP) and Secretary of the Executive Board of the SeqCode Committee.

Treasury Assistant

Dr. Kostas Konstantinidis is the Richard C. Tucker Professor in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the School of Biological Sciences (adjunct) at Georgia Tech and Program Faculty for the Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University. He earned his BS (1999) in Agricultural Sciences from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece and his PhD (2004) from the Center for Microbial Ecology at Michigan State University. Dr. Konstantinidis is an expert in environmental microbiology and microbial ecology, and the development of associated omics and bioinformatics techniques. Specifically for taxonomy and systematics, he has developed novel genome-based methods to advance the species concept and catalogue the diversity among prokaryotic isolate genomes and metagenomes such as the Average Nucleotide Identity (ANI) of all shared genes between two organisms (Konstantinidis and Tiedje, PNAS 2005). His bioinformatic tools are available for online analysis of microbial genome and metagenome data through the lab webserver, which is currently used by >3,000 users per month. Dr. Konstantinidis is in the top 1% of world's Highly Cited scientists and engineers by Clarivate/Web of Science since 2020, and an elected member of the honorary American Academy of Microbiology.

Area of interest: Pasteurellaceae, Enterobacteriaceae, Fusobacteriaceae, Riemerella

Research interests: I have been investigating evolution and systematics of prokaryotes since 1991. The main part of my research has dealt with prokaryotic systematics and other areas have been within population genetics, soil microbiology and veterinary microbiology. The taxonomic focus has mainly been on members of Pasteurellaceae and other bacteria of clinical importance. As the chair of the International Committee of Systematics of Prokaryotes Subcommittee ICSP) on Pasteurellaceae, member of Judicial Commission of ICSP and editor of International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology I have already gained a lot of experience with prokaryotic systematics and hope to learn more in the future

Area of interest: Members of the Class Mollicutes with a focus on the genera Spiroplasma, Entomoplasma, and Mesoplasma

Research interests: Our research focus is in the area of several genera within the Class Mollicutes, with a focus on the identification and taxonomic classification of novel isolates and phylogenetic studies into the evolutionary relationships among the various strains within the genus Spiroplasma. This group of organisms are generally associated with insect hosts and are of agricultural importance as they can cause insect host and plant diseases. Comparative genome analyses have provided information into the evolution of the genus as well as its relationship to the type-strain for the genus Mycoplasma which are normally restricted to ruminant hosts. Recent studies have explored the genome-based analysis of the genera Mesoplasma and Entomoplasma and their potential need to be integrated.

Area of interests: proteobacteria, marine bacteria, Vibrionaceae, Alteromonadaceae

Research interests: Jesús L. Romalde is a Professor of Microbiology at the University of Santiago de Compostela (Spain) and Dean of the Faculty of Biology. His main research areas are bacterial systematics and microbial ecology with special interest in marine bacteria, microbiota associated to fish and shellfish and the interactions host-bacteria. He is editor for IJSEM and Systematic and Applied Microbiology Journals.

Area of interests: Gram-stain-negative, non-fermenting bacteria

Research interests: I received my Ph.D from Ghent University studying diversity and identification of Campylobacter-like organisms in 1990. Since then, my research has focused on systematics and unravelling microbial diversity in various disciplines and ecosystems, with a focus on high-throughput isolation and identification of cultivable microbiota. My main research interests today include diagnosis and systematics of unusual infectious agents in humans, diversity, systematics and function of insect (particularly pollinator) microbiota, and diversity and systematics of fermented food microbiota. I am director of the BCCM/LMG Bacteria Collection (http://bccm.belspo.be/), which is an ISO9001 certified Biological Resource center that acquires, controls, preserves, stores, and distributes biological material and associated information, in the frame of public deposits, safe deposits and patent deposits, and co-director of the Belgian National Reference Center (NRC) for Human Microbiology: Burkholderia cepacia complex (cfr. https://nrchm.wiv-isp.be/nl/default.aspx).

Area of interest: methanogenic archaea, archaea

Research interests: I received my Ph.D from The University of Texas at Austin studying autotrophy in phototrophic bacteria in 1978. Since then, my research has focused on the physiology, systematics and ecology of environmentally important microorganisms. Of special interest is to understand the complete organism, from the biochemical mechanisms it uses to accomplish its day-to-day tasks of living to its interactions with other organisms and its environment. In this context, my work has focused on the methane-producing archaeon Methanococcus, DMSP metabolism in the marine bacterium Ruegeria, and the soil microbiome. I also served as an associate editor of the International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology, 1995-2001; Supervising Editor of Bergey’s Manual of Systematics of Archaea and Bacteria, 2006-2019; Treasurer of International Committee for Systematics of Prokaryotes, 2014-2000; and Treasurer of Bergey’s International Society for Microbial Systematics, 2010-present.

Area of interest: marine bacteria, Pseudomonadota

Research interests: I received my Ph.D from Zhejiang University studying taxonomy of Haloarchaea in 2005. Since then, my research has focused on the systematics and taxonomy of marine bacteria, biodiversity and hydrolytic enzyme from deep sea, and marine environmental management of deep-sea mining. Currently, we examine the reclassifying the order Sphingomonadales that is globally distributed and metabolically versatile, which means it can utilize a wide range of naturally occurring compounds as well as some types of environmental contaminants, and understanding their evolutionary history. I also served as an associate editor of the International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology, 2013-present; associate editor of Frontiers in Marine Science, 2014-present, section board member of Journal of Marine Science and Engineering, 2021-present; and steering committee member of NSFC (National Natural Science Foundation of China) Open Research Cruise, 2021-present.

Professor of Microbiology at the Department of Microbiology and Parasitology of the University of Sevilla, Spain. His research activities are focused on the study of extremophilic microorganisms, mainly halophilic archaea and bacteria, their biodiversity, taxonomy, comparative genomics and metagenomics. In 2010 received the Bergey’s Manual Award on Systematics of Prokaryotes. He received the Top Ten 2011 New Species Award, by The International Institute for Species Exploration at Arizona State University, USA, “for the discovery of the remarkable new species Halomonas titanicae”. He has been involved on several activities of the International Committee of Systematics of Prokaryotes (ICSP), as Secretary for Subcommittees, Member-at-large, and currently of its Judicial Commission and as member of four ICSP-Subcommittees on Taxonomy. Vicepresident of the International Union of Microbiological Societies (IUMS) and President of the Federation of European Microbiological Societies (FEMS).