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Browse our collections – bringing together peer-reviewed content from across the Society’s publishing platform on a range of hot topics and subject areas.

41 - 60 of 68 results

    • Microbial Evolution


      Microbes are everywhere, living inside and around us, often within complex and dynamic communities that underpin the health of our bodies and of natural ecosystems. The need to understand and predict microbial evolutionary dynamics has never been more urgent. The rise of antimicrobial resistance is a crisis caused by the evolutionary adaptation of microbes to our use of antibiotics. How microbes respond to global change will shape critical biogeochemical processes in oceans and soils. Solutions to these and many other emerging issues will require an in-depth understanding of the evolutionary dynamics of microbial communities, to enable us to predict and manage their responses to selective pressures and to design robust biotechnological solutions. This collection will highlight microbial evolution research papers from the Microbiology archives and feature new primary research and review articles arising from the “Understanding and Predicting Microbial Evolutionary Dynamics” Meetings held in Manchester 22-23 November 2022 and Liverpool 26-27 November 2025.

      This collection is open for new submissions from all researchers across the full breadth of the microbial evolution field and is guest edited by Michael Brockhurst (University of Manchester, UK), Jenna Gallie (Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology, Germany), James Hall (University of Liverpool, UK), and Stineke Van Houte (University of Exeter, UK).

      The collection will be extended to also encompass new articles arising from Microbial Ecology and Evolution Hub-based Conference 2024 (MEEhubs2024), and submissions related to this meeting will be guest edited by Wolfram Moebius (University of Exeter, UK).


      Image credit: Science Photo Library/KuLouKu

    • Microbial Genomics of Eukaryotes

      Group of eukaryotic cells on a blue background

      With technological advances like single-cell sequencing and long-read sequence techniques continually improving, allowing the full resolution of increasingly complex highly repetitive genomes, and with increasing knowledge of their importance in microbiomes and as part of the microbial ecosystem, the Microbial Genomics of Eukaryotes meeting celebrates and showcases the excellent and diverse scientific achievements around genome research on eukaryotic microbes. In conjunction with the event, we are launching the Microbial Genomics of Eukaryotes collection in Microbial Genomics, to further highlight this area of research amongst the microbial genomics communities.

      This collection is open for submissions and will feature new primary research, opinion pieces, and review articles. We welcome submissions of genomic research spanning the full diversity of eukaryotic life, including animals, plants, fungi, and protists.

      Guest Editors: Eva Heinz (University of Strathclyde, UK), Maria Rosa Domingo Sananes (Nottingham Trent University, UK).

      Deadline for submissions: 31st July 2026

      Journals submission link: Microbial Genomics

      Image credit: iStock/Christoph Burgstedt

    • Microbial Genomics of Sexually Transmitted Infections


      Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) remain a major global public health threat. Often disproportionately impacting specific groups of people, significant morbidity and mortality is caused by common diseases including gonorrhoea, chlamydia, syphilis, HIV infection, Hepatitis B, and disease linked to Human Papilloma Virus.  STI Control can be difficult and challenges range from practical obstacles around the distribution of effective antivirals and vaccines to the emergence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) among bacterial pathogens. Undoubtedly, effective interventions depend upon detailed understanding of the pathogens and whole genome sequencing (WGS) provides a solution to this. With improved access to resources and decreasing sequencing costs, WGS has dramatically changed the research landscape revealing the genetic basis of important phenotypes such as virulence and AMR, underpinning local and national surveillance programs to understand disease epidemiology, emergence and spread, and accelerating vaccine development.

      Guest-edited by Dr Odile Harrison and Dr Janet Wilson (President of IUSTI) this collection gathers original research articles, reviews and methods that use WGS approaches for the analysis of sexually transmitted pathogens. The goal of this collection is to provide to the community a comprehensive suite of articles that consolidate recent advances made in the field and provide tools for the community for further research.

      This collection is now open for submissions in Microbial Genomics. If you’d be interested in being included in the collection, please submit to our peer review system and state that your submission is intended for the ‘Microbial Genomics of Sexually Transmitted Infections’ collection.

      Image credit: Odile Harrison

    • Microbial Primers


      In the constantly evolving world of microbiology, new research and discoveries can often be overwhelming. ‘Microbial Primers’ is a series of short articles designed to simplify and illuminate intricate microbiological concepts, making them easily digestible and accessible. Each article in the series focuses on a specific subject, distilling it to the most fundamental points, and explaining its importance in the wider scientific context. The series serves as a starting point, to encourage further exploration and discovery in the fascinating world of microbes. Whether you're an early career researcher or an established scientist looking to broaden your horizons, ‘Microbial Primers’ is your first-step navigational tool in the expansive landscape of microbiology.

      Photo credit: iStock/SpicyTruffel


    • Unlocking the world of microbiomes


      In 2020 we celebrate 75 years of the anniversary of our founding with a year of activities dedicated to demonstrating the impact of microbiologists’ past, present and future – bringing together and empowering communities that help shape the future of microbiology. We are launching new collections of digital content throughout the anniversary year. The first digital hub is Unlocking the world of microbiomes: exploring microbial communities, which will examine the microbiome and human health, agriculture and food microbiomes and environmental and industrial microbiomes.


      The ‘Unlocking the world of microbiomes’ collection brings together articles from across our journals exploring microbial communities and examining the microbiome and human health. This collection is an update of a collection by the Microbiology Society and the British Society for Immunology launched for World Microbiome Day; the ‘Microbiome’ collection can be viewed on Science Open.

    • Microreact


      Microbial Genomics is partnered with Microreact, a free data visualisation and sharing platform that allows scientists and health professionals worldwide to better collaborate to understand disease outbreaks. The journal encourages authors to upload their data files to Microreact, which can then provide interactive querying of the data via trees, maps, timelines and tables, and will be published in Microbial Genomics via a permanent web link. This collection brings together articles that have data sets generated by this software.

      If you would like to see your work included in this collection, please click here for more information, or submit your article here.


    • Mpox


      In light of its recent resurgence and emergency declaration by the World Health Organization (WHO), the Microbiology Society is bringing together research on mpox.

      Mpox is a zoonotic viral infectious disease, a double-stranded DNA virus species belonging to the genus Orthopoxvirus, which includes two distinct clades: clade 1 and clade 2. Mpox infection is transmitted by close skin contacts or breathing, and results in skin lesions, flu-like symptoms and can result in fatal outcomes. Clade 1 has been historically linked to the Congo Basin while Clade 2 is associated with West Africa and caused the global outbreak that occurred from 2022 to 2023, classed at the time as public health emergency by the WHO. Mpox is classified within the genus Orthopoxvirus and is a member of the Poxviridae family, which the WHO has identified as having the potential for epidemic or pandemic outbreaks. Significant concerns arose in recent weeks due to the spread of a new outbreak linked to Clade 1b displaying increased mortality when compared to previous cases, which prompted an upped response from the WHO.

      Image credit: iStock/Gilnature

    • Mycobacteria


      Mycobacteria are a vast group of microorganisms characterized by a unique thick, hydrophobic cell wall rich in mycolic acids, which makes them highly resistant to environmental stresses. Even if most of them are innocuous environmental saprophytes, some of them, such as Mycobacterium leprae or Mycobacterium tuberculosis, have evolved to become formidable human pathogens with a very complex and still not well-characterized relationship with their host, while others, such as Mycobacterium avium, represent important emerging or opportunistic pathogens.

      Guest-edited by Dr. Riccardo Manganelli, this collection of keynote research articles will highlight all aspects of mycobacterial biology, with particular focus on physiological aspects, such as stress response mechanisms, regulatory networks, and metabolic pathways, that might lead to a better understanding of the intriguing aspects of mycobacterial host-pathogen interaction and lead to the design of new strategies to fight these important pathogens.


    • Negative Results


      Access Microbiology provides a platform to publish sound science across the entire field of microbiology. Negative results are an integral part of sound science and research integrity, adding value to the scientific literature that is often overlooked. In line with the platform’s mission, we have collated impactful negative results studies published since Access Microbiology’s launch in 2019. Science integrity consultant Elisabeth Bik provides an editorial for this collection, on the importance and value of negative data.

      With ongoing debate in the scientific community about research integrity and the pressure to publish novel results, we want to highlight the high quality negative results studies published on the platform. New papers will be added to the collection as these are published.

    • New Frontiers in Microbiology


      In 2020 we celebrate 75 years of the anniversary of our founding with a year of activities dedicated to demonstrating the impact of microbiologists past, present and future – bringing together and empowering communities that help shape the future of microbiology. We are launching new collections of digital content throughout the anniversary year.

      As we have progressed through the 21st century, we have expanded and developed our understanding of how microbes are related to and interact with each other. Microbiology research has been, and continues to be, central to meeting many of the current global aspirations and challenges, such as maintaining food, water and energy security for a healthy population on a habitable earth. The ‘New Frontiers in Microbiology’ collection brings together articles on the ever-growing tree of life and synthetic biology.

    • Pathogen Genomics in Clinical Practice


      Routine clinical use of pathogen genomics and metagenomics has great potential to improve diagnosis and management of infection. Standard clinical microbiology methods remain slow and frequently yield no results, leading to empirical use of antibiotics which can be inappropriate and thought to be a driver of the antimicrobial resistance pandemic. As evidence linking microbiomes to health also grows, investigating conditions such as bacterial vaginitis, linked to premature labour, bacterial respiratory infections such as HAP and VAP, as well as gastrointestinal infections would logically benefit from a genomics approach. Dysbiosis and reduced microbial diversity are often key features of these conditions. Use of pathogen sequencing and genomic epidemiology are now recognised as an essential part of public health microbiology and virology surveillance. However, in the complex environments of our health service we have not yet seen a similar transformation in routine diagnostic microbiology.

      Barriers to adoption of genomic methods in infection include limited sequencing capacity, high prices, complex logistics, and access to computing and bioinformatics resources. Clinical laboratory accreditation and regulatory measures developed for clinical chemistry services are also perceived as being a poorer fit for genomics in infectious disease diagnostics, and development of ethical frameworks around use of pathogen genomics has barely begun. There are clearly many challenges.

      The Journal of Medical Microbiology’s Pathogen Genomics in Clinical Practice collection aims to highlight the benefits of a genomics approach to infectious diseases. The collection is now open for new submissions from all researchers and practitioners working in applied public health and clinical pathogen genomics.

      Please indicate upon submission that you would like your paper to be considered for the collection.

      Editors: Derek Fairley, Peter Coyle, Kalai Mathee

      Status: Open for submissions

      Submit here.

      Image credit: burcu demir

    • Pedagogy


      Innovative teaching is now considered a crucial factor when designing and delivering high quality curricula and includes activities such as games, teamwork workshops and problem-solving sessions. In addition, higher education institutions are now expected to build strong bonds with the public via various outreach activities with schools or other community groups. In order to help modern microbiology educators stand up to these challenges, Access Microbiology provides a collection of pedagogical research in the field of microbiology, offering a handy database with all pedagogical papers published in Access Microbiology since 2019, updated regularly as new articles are published. This collection aims to help microbiology educators improve their teaching by introducing new innovative teaching and outreach ideas to their curricula, often generated by members and friends of the Microbiology Society.

    • Prokaryotic Stress Responses – their diversity and regulation


      Microorganisms encounter a wide range of stresses and environmental changes in diverse scenarios including infection, ecological and biotechnological scenarios. By definition, stress is a driver of diversity, evolution and phenotypic heterogeneity. There are a wide range of prokaryotic stress responses, including antibiotic, envelope, host-derived, metabolic, starvation, environmental, redox, temperature, solvent and DNA damage stress responses. Microbes are also able to sense chemical stress, either via sensors at the cell surface or by cytoplasmic transcriptional regulators. Systems that have been identified in stress response research have been exploited for new treatments or increased productivity are welcomed. This collection aims to celebrate the responses induced by various stresses on diverse microbial taxa and the enabling technologies allowing their investigation including transcriptomics, metabolomics, biophysics and imaging.
      This collection will feature new primary research and review articles arising from the “Prokaryotic Stress Responses – their diversity and regulation” symposium held at the Microbiology Society Annual Conference 2024 in Edinburgh, 8-11 April 2024.

      The collection is also open for new submissions from all researchers across the prokaryotic stress responses field. Please indicate within your submission that it is intended for the collection.

      Guest Editors: Nick Tucker (University of Suffolk, UK); Dany Beste (University of Surrey, UK)

      Status: Open for submissions
      Deadline for submissions: 31st January 2025
      Journal submissions link: Microbiology Editorial Manager

    • Pseudomonas


      This collection brings together original research articles, mini-reviews, and full-length reviews relating to Pseudomonas in conjunction with the International Biennial Pseudomonas Conference.

      Guest edited on the occasion of the 2024 Pseudomonas Conference in Copenhagen (Denmark) by Prof Pablo Ivan Nikel, Dr Varsha Singh and Prof Lars Dietrich, the collection will not only be relevant to scientists with an interest in Pseudomonas, but also, due to the widespread use of this genus as a model for studying multiple systems, it will be of general interest to other researchers active in areas such as evolutionary biology, communication systems, genomics and biofilm research. In addition, because P. aeruginosa is a key pathogen associated with both acute and chronic infections, and particularly important in the context of cystic fibrosis and antimicrobial resistance, the collection will be of interest to clinicians and clinical researchers.

      The collection was launched on the occasion of the 2019 Pseudomonas Conference in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) and past guest editors are Dr Joanna Goldberg and Prof Kalai Mathee.

    • Quorum Sensing and Beyond - new insights in cell-cell communication 


        
      The conference Cell-Cell Communication in Bacteria took place in Trieste, Italy, from 28–30 October 2025 and brought together researchers from all over the world working on multiple aspects of microbial communication. 
       
      This remains a growing area of research, and there is a clear need to identify additional quorum-sensing systems and examine their function in physiologically and clinically relevant conditions. The discussions in Trieste emphasized the importance of moving beyond model strains and simplified laboratory assays, towards experimental designs that capture the complexity of host environments and in natural microbial communities. The programme also explored translational opportunities, including quorum-sensing interference as an anti-virulence strategy, synthetic biology approaches to reprogramme communication pathways, and microbiome engineering. Together, the meeting provided a comprehensive overview of recent progress and pointed towards the future directions required to fully understand the role of cell–cell communication in microbiology. 
       
      Diverse topics were addressed, including inter-kingdom signaling, genetic approaches to studying quorum sensing cell-cell signaling, novel systems and the evolutionary drivers of communication networks. A significant part of the programme focused on quorum sensing in host–pathogen interactions, highlighting how pathogens detect host-derived cues, coordinate virulence factor expression, and interact with competing microbes in complex infection sites. Several contributions examined quorum sensing during chronic infection, its role in biofilm persistence, and potential strategies to interfere with these systems to reduce pathogenicity. 
        
      This thematic collection in Microbiology reflects these themes and presents a selection of contributions from the Trieste meeting. 
       
      Guest Editors: Vittorio Venturi (International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, Italy and African Genome Center, University Mohammed VI Polytechnic, Morocco), Martin Welch (University of Cambridge, UK) 
       
      Deadline for submissions: 30th April 2026
      Journal submission link: Microbiology 
            
      Image credit: Vittorio Venturi  

    • Streptomyces


      Over the last century, Streptomyces bacteria – and their metabolic products – have revolutionized modern medicine. These little pharmaceutical factories produce a vast array of natural products that have been co-opted for medical and agricultural therapies. In addition to their metabolic sophistication, Streptomyces also exhibit remarkable developmental and regulatory complexity.

      Guest-edited by Dr Marie Elliot, this collection of keynote research articles will highlight fascinating aspects of Streptomyces biology, and the advances that are providing us with newfound insight and appreciation for these extraordinary bacteria.

    • Symbiosis


      Symbiosis has played a key role in the evolution of life on Earth. Symbiotic mergers of once independent species drove the origin of eukaryotes. Moreover, symbiosis has enabled many species to gain novel functions and occupy new ecological niches, thus underpinning the functioning of diverse ecosystems. As endosymbionts, microbes provide their eukaryotic hosts with an array of ecological and physiological innovations, including new metabolic capabilities, such as autotrophy or nitrogen fixation, and protection against infections or environmental stressors. Microbial eukaryotes also commonly host their own endosymbionts, including bacteria and algae. Understanding the stability and resilience of symbioses is key to predicting the response of important ecosystems, such as coral reefs, to global change. Manipulating symbiotic associations also has far-reaching economic, environmental and medical implications, through the potential to improve crop productivity, reduce reliance on fertilisers, and control the insect vectors of infectious diseases.

      This collection, guest edited by Professor Michael Brockhurst (University of Manchester) and Dr. Rebecca J Hall (University of Birmingham), will feature microbe-focused studies of symbiosis, ranging from the molecular mechanisms of host-symbiont interactions, their genetic and genomic diversity, to understanding the impacts of symbioses in natural and manmade ecosystems.
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