Do you want to use illustrations as an effective communication tool? Learn the essentials of graphic design and visual communication theory, drawing by hand and drawing digitally during this one week course with Pina Kingman. To join the course 11-15 February 2019 in Bergen, apply within 16 December 2018. More information on the course you can find on our course list or here. 

Time and place: Feb. 11, 2019 11:00 AM – Feb. 15, 2019 1:00 PM, University of Bergen

We would like to thank all the speakers and participants for contributing to a great annual IBA meeting in Tromsø! The scientific presentations were inspiring, the weather was perfect, and the food at Ishavshotel was delicious. We hope that you were able to get to know each other, mingle around and establish a long-lasting collaborations with fellow scientists. After all, this is what IBA is all about!

IBA student and the recipient of the IBA travel grant for research stays abroad, Erik Paulshus, has spent two months in the US working on his PhD (he is currently enrolled at NMBU, Ås). This is what he had to say about it!

My PhD project aims at identifying the major sources of antibiotic resistance in urban wastewaters. Approaching this issue, we have looked at phenotypic and resistance profiles in bacterial isolates cultivated from wastewater samples and measured the levels of antibiotics. The third approach was to look at the prevalence of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in the corresponding samples. The project was initially run in parallel to a European project in which the same method for detecting ARGs was used. The European counterpart was however finished before my sampling campaign was ready, and the plan of shipping my samples alongside the European ones to MSU had to be altered. Since I had many samples to analyze, the research group at MSU offered to host me at their labs so that I could assist with the analysis to reduce the time needed as well as learn the methods.

IBA was very generous in accepting my application for a travel grant to stay the two months in Michigan to do the intended work. James Tiedje is a University Distinguished Professor and Director at MSU and has vast experience in the field of environmental microbiology. The method I would be using to analyze my samples involves a very large array of qPCR reactions that are run in parallel at the Research Technology Support Facility (RTSF). A very big thanks to Professor Syed Hashsham who leads the environmental engineering lab where the preparation of samples was performed and his colleagues for help with the lab work. Some thanks are also allotted to James Cole, director of the ribosomal database project for allowing me a desk space in his computer labs at times when my designated office area was completely uninhabited.

Several complications leading up to my stay at MSU and during my stay did make the whole experience a little bit less successful then we would have hoped, but I did learn a great deal about American bureaucracy! I was lucky enough to find a student housing options that relieved some of the strain on the IBA grant budget, and I was also able to travel a bit and see several places in Michigan, including a two-night stay in Chicago and a visit to my American second cousin Krista near Grand Rapids, whom I’ve not met in person until now.

I am very thankful for meeting so many positive and encouraging researchers in a country that has recently been given a very harsh reputation, and even though things don't always work out as planned, I am also forever grateful to IBA for granting me this opportunity.

Just before the summer holidays, Oslo node of IBA had its first social meeting of the year!
We enjoyed good company, discussions, and planned future collaborations over good food in the beautiful Oslo fjord.

We are looking forward to future meetings!

A unique intensive course on “Antibiotics and Antibiotic Resistance” is jointly organised by IBA and the National Doctoral Programme in Infections and Antibiotics (NDPIA) 26-30 November, 2018, at Hjortviken Konferens outside Gothenburg. The course features lectures by internationally leading scientists, opportunities for participants to present research in poster walks and ample time for networking. Scientific lectures describing antibiotic resistance from other perspectives focusing on ethics, public awareness and media are also included. The preliminary program is available here Preliminary Programme Antibiotics and Antibiotic Resistance NDPIA IBA

Registration deadline: 17 September 2018

For more details and information on how to apply see the course page.