The lack of knowledge regarding the virulence, persistence and ecology of these non-pandemic strains limits our possibilities to envision the present and future importance of these strains in terms of food safety and public health. Understanding an emerging disease requires the investigation of the microbe and its evolution at the gene, genome and metagenome levels; including basic and applied research in subjects such as ecology, evolution, molecular and cellular biology, biochemistry, bioinformatics, mathematics, and systems biology.
The objective of this event in March 2014 at the Ifremer Institute is to achieve collaboration within such a numerous and diverse scientific community through the participation of 60 invited speakers including senior, junior and student scientists. This will be achieved by bringing together fundamental and applied research teams in an EU consortium to investigate the emergence of pathogens in natural Vibrio populations but also to answer questions that meets societal needs. It will take place during a gathering of the EFOR network in co-ordination with EMBRC-France.
The expected outputs of the workshop are: a synthesis and perspective report working towards addressing future EU research needs for Vibrio populations in the context of the H2020 call; strengthening the web communication network to foster knowledge sharing between the vibrio community including data and material sharing; and organising training for junior and senior researchers and technicians.