The 33rd Annual Scientific Meeting of the British Society for Microbial Technology (BSMT), held recently at PHE, Colindale, proved to be yet another resounding success. The focus of the meeting was Rapid Diagnostics – Time is Relative. Later in the year (Friday 19 October 2018), the BSMT will hold its Autumn Symposium at the Merseyside Maritime Museum in Liverpool, the theme being Going Overboard with Microbiology – Women and Children First.
For those unable to attend, the recent BSMT meeting, chaired by Professor Brian Duerden CBE and Professor Eric Bolton (BSMT President, pictured left) covered topical issues such as Optimising the recovery of bacteria from blood cultures; Device-related orthopaedic infections and the potential place of new technologies; Tracking Staphylococcus aureus around the intensive care unit; and Increased efficiency to meet winter demands for rapid detection of respiratory viruses. Molecular diagnostics also featured on the programme, with a look at enteric infections and hospital-acquired pneumonia. A report of this meeting will appear in a future issue of Pathology in Practice.
The Autumn Symposium will include an overview of the topic by Dr Andrew Riordan from Alder Hey Hospital; Lung infection microbiota in cystic fibrosis by Professor Chris van der Gast from Manchester Metropolitan University; Group B streptococci and other neonatal infections by Dr Jim Gray from Birmingham Children’s Hospital; Urinary tract infection and the urinary microbiome by Dr Robin Howe from Public Health Wales; Evaluation of the Pertussis Immunisation Programme for pregnant women by Dr Gayatri Amirthalingam, PHE Colindale; and The vaginal microbiome and sexually transmitted infections by Professor Janneke van de Wijgert from the University of Liverpool.
Full details of the May conference and further details about the Autumn Symposium may be found on the BSMT website.