On 3-7 July the International Science and Technology Center co-sponsored an international conference in Tbilisi, Georgia addressing microorganism viruses, considered to be the most numerous and mysterious of all worldwide viruses. The conference was titled “Viruses of Microbes”, and focused on the evolution and diversity of microorganism viruses and their role in the environment and human beings.

Presentations and discussions centered on using viruses of microorganisms with new nanotechnologies and biotechnologies and applying bacterial viruses, or bacteriophages, in medical practice. The Tbilisi Giorgi Eliava Bacteriophage Institute, celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, is a pioneer and recognized leader in using bacteriophages and Georgian scientists occupy leading positions in research of bacteriophages and another type of microorganism – archaea viruses. By conducting this conference in Georgia, the international scientific community honors the contribution of Georgian scientists to the research of microorganism viruses. Forty oral presentations were delivered at the conference to an audience of 500 participants representing 54 countries and five continents. Presenters included professionals from scientific academies and universities in the Americas, Europe and Asia.

In addition to the ISTC, conference partners included the Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundations; the Federation of European Microbiology Societies; the journal, Viruses; the Institut Francais in Georgia; and, Tbilisi’s City Hall. International and Georgian businesses sponsored the event as well. Conference organizers were Professor Nina Chanishvili and Honorary Professor Davit Prangishvili of the Paris Pasteur Institute on whose initiative this series of conferences, “Viruses of Microbes”, was established in 2010 at the Pasteur Institute. This conference was conducted in past years in different countries throughout Europe: Belgium, Poland, Portugal, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.