104th Event of the European Federation of Biotechnology “Physiology of Yeasts and Filamentous Fungi”

Abstract

In the first week of July 2001, some 150 scientists working on the physiology of yeasts and filamentous fungi convened for a 3-day symposium at Hindsgavl Castle in Denmark. The relevance of yeasts and filamentous fungi as industrial microorganisms was evident from the extensive participation of industrial scientists (over one quarter of the participants). The meeting was held under the auspices of the European Federation of Biotechnology and the Federation of European Microbiological Societies and organized by Lisbeth Olsson and her colleagues at the Center for Process Biotechnology (Technical University, Lyngby, Denmark). Participants will remember the symposium for the tropical Danish weather, the scenic location, the delicious food and the excellent organization. Even more strongly, this meeting will be remembered as a high-quality scientific event at a pivotal moment in the history of yeast and fungal physiology. The stage was set by Jens Nielsen who, in his introductory keynote lecture, eloquently described the state of flux in which present-day microbial physiology finds itself. Although the central mission of microbial physiology has always been the understanding of overall cellular function, the field has for several decades been dominated by a reductionist approach. Molecular aspects of growth, catalysis and regulation were studied in ever greater detail, with an inherent danger …