Dear Colleagues,

please be invited to attend the 4^th International Symposium on Microbial Lipids in Graz, Austria, from 11 to 14 February 2024.

The International Symposium on Microbial Lipids started as an international conference in Vienna in 2010. It brings together 80–100 international scientists, including PhD students and postdocs, for scientific exchange in the field of microbial lipids. The conference covers key topics ranging from fundamental research on microbial lipids and their modification to exciting biotechnological applications. Topics include microbial lipid biosynthesis, membrane-associated processes, lipidomics, and enzymatic lipid modification.

While the supply of fats and oils for food and feed applications is covered well from plant sources, microbial lipid production is of high interest if very specific lipid structures such as poly-unsaturated fatty acids or low-availability terpenoids are required. Moreover, the application of oleaginous yeasts or the production of algal lipids pave new ways in upcycling agricultural side streams and even propose to lower the CO₂ load in our environment.

The session ‘Biomembranes and Membrane-associated processes’ will focus on processes in and at biomembranes, with a special focus on the roles of membrane proteins and enzymes. Particular attention will be given to groundbreaking new approaches that enable control over cellular functions by modulating microbial lipid compositions, help unravel the essence of life by engineering minimal cells from lipid-based membrane compartments, and allow the analysis of lipid metabolism by cutting-edge lipidomics and functional proteomics.

Microbial lipids impacting higher eukaryotic cells are of high interest. Although microbial lipid membranes have been in the focus of experimental and theoretical biophysics for decades, many molecular details of membrane transport, membrane signaling, and membrane-based biocatalysis remain poorly understood. This session will highlight recent breakthroughs that provide unprecedented molecular level insights into these key physiological processes.

Enzymatic lipid modification has been a highly dynamic field in the last years. While lipases have already found broad application, enzyme discovery and enzyme engineering led to the development of highly efficient biocatalysts for the modification of fatty acids and other biobased hydrophobic molecules, which is expected to lead to various new processes. In particular, enzymatic lipid modification holds great potential for the utilization of lipids as renewable resources.

After the corona break, we aim to establish the International Symposium on Microbial Lipids as a regular platform for the global networking of scientists in the field of microbial lipids. We are looking forward to welcoming you to Graz!

Robert Kourist (on behalf of the organizing committee)

The ISML Organizing Committee:

Robert Kourist

Anita Emmerstorfer-Augustin

Harald Pichler

Ruth Birner-Grünberger

Sandro Keller

Pierre Villeneuve


Confirmed Speaker:

Aurelien Roux, University of Geneva

Jin-Byung Park, Ewha Women’s University, Seoul

Frank Hollmann, TU Delft

James Saenz, TU Dresden

Imogen Foubert, KU Leuven

Thomas Brück, TU München

Hana Sychrova, Institute of Physiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences

Anant K. Menon, Weill Cornell Medical College