Selected news related to the ICSP
This page attempts to highlight selected news items directly or indirectly related to the ICSP, including upcoming and past events, as well as obituaries. The page does not claim to be comprehensive. If you would like us to include something here, please let the site manager know. For talks in the BISMiS Live series, which often cover prokaryotic nomenclature or are given by members of the ICSP, please visit the BISMiS website.
2024
October 23-25
The next IUMS Congress and General Assembly will be in Florence, Italy.
June 22
BISMiS Live – 35th Session: E.R.B. Moore, H. Christensen, M. Göker; “Further integrating Candidatus names into the ICNP is the Best of Both Worlds”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HzzoKZMsgw
May 18
BISMiS Live – 34th Session: W. Whitman, L.M. Rodriguez-R, M. Chuvochina; “Proposed amendments to introduce Candidatus into the Code is not the best of both
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ot1DR65Tbg
March 16
BISMiS Live – 32th Session: P. Hugenholtz; “The Genome Taxonomy Database in 2024: challenges and opportunities”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6P_qtrzU6JY
March 08
The ICSP notes with great sadness the death of Professor Michal Goodfellow on 8 March 2024, following a short illness. Prof. Goodfellow, during his nearly six-decade-long career, was an innovator in microbiology, particularly in the systematics of Actinomycetota. As an exceptional educator and mentor, Prof. Goodfellow inspired countless students and research colleagues. Aside from his major contributions to microbiology, Prof. Goodfellow served the ICSP in many roles, including terms as Executive Secretary/Treasurer, terms as Secretary for Subcommittees and as a member of the Judicial Commission. Prof. Goodfellow's dedication, contributions, leadership and collegiality will be remembered and missed.
The ICSP is grateful for the information provided by Iain C. Sutcliffe and Martha E. Truillo.
Please see In Memoriam published in IJSEM:
https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/ijsem/10.1099/ijsem.0.006342
2023
November 05-08
The 5th Meeting of BISMiS 2023 is held in Guangzhou, China.
November 02-03
The World Data Center for Microorganisms is holding its Annual Meeting in Shenzhen, China.
2022
October 17
The ICSP is pleased to announce the appointment of the following Life Member:
- Professor George Garrity (Michigan State University) in recognition of his outstanding scholarship and service in supporting many different aspects of our work, not least as a former ICSP Chair and Editor of the 2008 Revision of the International Code of Nomenclature of Prokaryotes.
Note: The full list of ICSP Life Members is found on this website.
September 09
The ICSP is sad to report the passing from this life of Professor Kazuo Komagata.
Prof. Komagata was 93 years old. Prof. Komagata was Professor at the Institute of Applied Microbiology (IAM), the University of Tokyo since 1968. In 1981, Prof. Komagata was appointed Director of the Japan Collection of Microorganisms (JCM), RIKEN, Saitama, Japan, and at the Culture Collection of the IAM, the University of Tokyo. He served on the ICSB from 1974 – 1994. Prof. Komagata was a member of the Subcommittee on Corynebacterium and coryneform bacteria of the ICSB (1974 – 1994). He was a Commissioner for the Judicial Commission of the ICSB (1982 – 1994) and was Vice-Chairman of the ICSB (1986 – 1994). After retirement, he was elected a Life Member of the ICSB/ICSP in 1994. Prof. Komagata was recipient of a number of awards, including the 1999 Van Niel International Prize of the IUMS and the Bergey Medal from the Bergey’s Manual Trust in 2005. Prof. Komagata will be remembered by his colleagues and students as a great microbial taxonomist.
The ICSP is grateful for information provided by Mitsuo Sakamoto and Ken-ichiro Suzuki, JCM, RIKEN, Ibaraki, JP and Tokyo University of Agriculture, Tokyo, JP. See also the In Memoriam.
August 26
The ICSP sadly notes the passing of Professor Monique Gillis, in Ghent, Belgium.
Prof. Gillis was Professor of Microbiology in the Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology of Ghent University until her retirement in 2003. Prof. Gillis received her Ph.D. in 1973, working in the Laboratory of Microbiology in Ghent (LMG) with Prof. Jozef De Ley and was at the forefront of the early pioneering work on using nucleic acid-based methods for analysing the phylogenetic relationships of bacteria. Prof. Gillis’ research focused on diverse taxa of bacteria, working with numerous international collaborators. She served on the ICSB/ICSP and was a member of the Subcommittee on the taxonomy of Agrobacterium and Rhizobium until 2004. She was an Associate Editor of the International Journal of Systematic Bacteriology (and later, International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology). Prof. Gillis was recipient of a number of awards, including the 1976 Winkler Prins Prize for Biophysics and Biochemistry (Brussels, BE) and the Bergey Medal from the Bergey’s Manual Trust in 2003. Prof. Gillis will be fondly remembered for her friendly discussions and for her willingness to help her colleagues and collaborators. She is respected as a renowned microbial taxonomist who influenced her many co-workers and students. She will be missed.
The ICSP is grateful for information provided by Anne Willems, Paul De Vos, Jean Swings, Karel Kersters and Peter Vandamme, LMG, Ghent University, Ghent, BE. See also the In Memoriam.
February 18
The ICSP is sad to report the passing from this life of Professor Robert George Everitt Murray.
Prof. Murray was 103 years old. He was a member of the ICSB since 1962 and Chairman from 1982-1990; he was elected honorary member of ICSB in 1990. He was a on the Bergey’s Manual Board of Trustees (1964-1990). He was an Editor on the 8th (1974) Ed. of Bergey’s Manual of Determinative Bacteriology and the 1st Ed. (1984) of Bergey’s Manual of Systematic Bacteriology. He was son of E.G.D. Murray, who was an Editor on the 4th (1934), 5th (1939), 6th (1948), and 7th (1957) Eds. of Bergey’s Manual of Determinative Bacteriology. Prof. Murray was instrumental in the founding of the Canadian Society of Microbiologists and was an active Editor for several journals. Prof. Murray was a foundation in microbiology and particularly in microbial taxonomy and will be sorely missed.
2021
June 29
The recently released Journal Impact Factor List 2021 – JCR, Web of Science lists the International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology (IJSEM) with an IF of 2.747.
This is an increase from last year’s IF of 2.415. Congratulations to Prof. Martha Trujillo (Editor-in-Chief), Dr. Hilary Logan (Journal Development Editor), the IJSEM Editorial Board and the entire Microbiology Society publishing team!
Note: Journal Citation Report (JCR) was published earlier as Science Citation Index; now it is published by Clarivate Analytics, a Web of Science Group.
2020
September 21
The van Niel International Prize for Studies in Bacterial Systematics 2020 has been awarded to Dr Tanja Woyke from The DOE Joint Genome Institute, Berkeley, USA.
The van Niel International Prize, established in 1986 by Professor V.B.D. Skerman of the University of Queensland, to honour the contribution of scholarship in the field of microbiology by Professor Cornelis Bernardus van Niel.
July 30
The ICSP is pleased to announce the appointment of the following Life Members:
- Professor Jean Paul Euzéby (Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire, Toulouse, France) in recognition of his outstanding service in establishing and maintaining (1997-2013) the List of Prokaryotic names with Standing in Nomenclature and other contributions; see also his CV.
- Professor Karl-Heinz Schleifer (TUM Emeritus of Excellence, Technische Universität München, Germany) in recognition of his research and scholarly contributions to prokaryotic systematics; see also his CV.
Note: The full list of ICSP Life Members is found on this website.
January 7
The ICSP is sad to report the passing from this life of Professor Milton Simões da Costa (1948–2020).
Please see the In Memoriam published in the IJSEM.
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