Society for General Microbiology
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The Society for General Microbiology (SGM) is a learned society based in the United Kingdom but with members in more than 60 countries.[citation needed] With approximately 5000 members, it is the largest microbiological society in Europe. [1] Interests of its members include basic and applied aspects of viruses, prions, bacteria, rickettsiae, mycoplasma, fungi, algae and protozoa, and all other aspects of microbiology. Its headquarters are near Reading, Berkshire. The society's current president is Hilary Lappin-Scott.
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[edit] History
The society was founded on 16 February 1945; its first president was Alexander Fleming.[1][2] The SGM's first academic meeting was in July of that year[3] and its first journal, the Journal of General Microbiology (later renamed Microbiology), came out in 1947.[1][2] A symposium series followed in 1949, and a sister journal, the Journal of General Virology, in 1967.[2] The society purchased its own headquarters in Reading in 1971, after sharing accommodation with the Biochemical Society in London, moving to its present location just outside Reading in 1991.[1]
The SGM's stable of journals later increased to four, with the acquisitions of the International Journal of Systematic Bacteriology (later renamed International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology) from the American Society for Microbiology (1998) and the Journal of Medical Microbiology from the Pathological Society (2001–2004).[1]
[edit] Activities
The SGM currently organises two academic meetings a year. It publishes a magazine, Microbiology Today (formerly SGM Quarterly),[1] and four academic journals in virology and microbiology:
- International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology
- Journal of General Virology
- Journal of Medical Microbiology
- Microbiology
[edit] Marjory Stephenson Prize
The Society's principal prize is the Marjory Stephenson Prize, awarded biennially for an outstanding contribution of current importance in microbiology. The winner receives £1000 and gives a lecture on his/her work at a Society meeting. The lecture is usually published in a society journal. Marjory Stephenson was the second president of the SGM (1947–1949) and a distinguished pioneer of chemical microbiology.[4]
[edit] Sir Howard Dalton Award for Young Microbiologist of the Year
The SGM organises a competition each year in which Ph.D students and postdoctoral researchers who have completed their Ph.D within the last 2 years are nominated to enter based on their performance at oral and poster presentations during recent SGM conferences. All finalists receive one year's free membership of the SGM along with transport costs to and from the conference at which the finals are held. Three cash prizes of £500, £200 and £100 are awarded to the winner and two runners up.[5] The prize was renamed in 2009 in honour of the late Howard Dalton.
[edit] List of SGM Young Microbiologists of the Year
- 2010 Nabil Wilf, University of Cambridge
- 2009 Tim Blower, University of Cambridge (The toxIN abortive infection and Erwinia carotovora subspecies atroseptica)
- 2008 Rich Boden, University of Warwick (Dimethylsulfide metabolism in Methylophaga thiooxidans sp. nov.)
- 2007 Ed Hutchinson, University of Cambridge (Packaging of the influenza A genome)
- 2006 Josh D. Neufeld, University of Warwick (marine methylotrophs)
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d e f "SGM : About SGM : History". Homepage. Society for General Microbiology. http://www.socgenmicrobiol.org.uk/about/history.cfm. Retrieved 2011-07-19.
- ^ a b c Postgate J (July 1995). "Fifty years of the SGM". Trends in Microbiology 3 (7): 249–50. doi:10.1016/S0966-842X(00)88935-0. PMID 7551634. http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0966-842X(00)88935-0. Retrieved 2011-07-19.
- ^ "SGM : About SGM : Introduction". Society for General Microbiology. http://www.sgm.ac.uk/about/. Retrieved 18 August 2011.
- ^ "SGM : About SGM : Prize Lectures". Homepage. Society for General Microbiology. http://www.sgm.ac.uk/about/prize_lectures.cfm. Retrieved 2011-07-19.
- ^ "SGM : Meetings : SGM Prize". Homepage. Society for General Microbiology. http://www.socgenmicrobiol.org.uk/meetings/SgmPrize.cfm. Retrieved 2011-07-19.
