IOM 2016

The first congress of the International Organization for Mycoplasmology (IOM) was held in 1976 at the University of Glasgow, the fourth-oldest university in the English-speaking world, founded in 1451. The first symposium was presented by Professor Shmuel Razin, one of the eight founders of the IOM.

We now invite everyone to join us in Brisbane for the 21^st Congress. It will be held at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT); a comparatively young institution, that became a university just 26 years ago. The Congress will be held in the innovative Science and Engineering Centre (SEC), QUT and we will celebrate the remarkable achievements of all members, our students, mycoplasmologists, and our IOM award winners and we will acknowledge the most recent advances within the field of mycoplasmology.

This will be the third time that an IOM congress has been held in the Southern Hemisphere; Sydney in 1998, Blumenau in 2014 and Brisbane for 2016, and the Local Organizing Committee is particularly keen to attract the interest of researchers from the 47 local biotechnology-related research institutes to the Congress. In recent years, Australia has experienced dramatic growth within the life sciences, with life science industries employing over 14,000 people in Queensland alone. We encourage you to show case your research to our local Queensland researchers. Delegates may also wish to visit local researchers and their institutions.

Our colleague, Glen Browning has assembled an international team for the IOM 2016 Scientific Committee. During these next few months symposium topics will be formulated and key note speakers finalized. The important dates now appear on the IOM 2016 homepage. We will be calling for abstract submissions for oral presentations, posters and for the first time, for electronic posters. These will be presented within ‘The Cube’, in the SEC conference venue.

Brisbane (27° 30′ 0″ S / 153° 1′ 0″ E), surprisingly, is located at a latitude similar to that of Blumenau (26° 56′ 0″ S / 49° 3′ 0″ W), so we are expecting similar spectacular weather and we know we can emulate the warm hospitality of our Brazilian friends. Brisbane has been named recently as one of the ‘top livable cities’ in the world and so delegates should plan to take some time out to enjoy the city, the wonderful parks, visit the museums and art galleries, tour the river on the City Cats, Southbank – which was the site of Expo 88 and also to visit the northern Sunshine Coast or the southern Gold Coast and their many attractions. Brisbane is a wonderful family city so bring your family and add on a holiday.

To me the IOM congress has always been a time of great science, robust discussion, for forming many friendships and enjoying good company.

On behalf of the Local Organizing Committee, I invite you to Australia, to attend IOM 2016 to experience excellent science, meet old friends and make new ones, bask in our wonderful Brisbane sunshine and most of all to enjoy our unique Australian hospitality.