Importance & Scope

Microbes are useful for us in many ways in various industries.
Production of Foods -
Microbes are a key component in both home and industrial food preparation. Lactic acid bacteria are used to make yogurt, cheese, sour cream, buttermilk and other fermented milk products. Vinegars are produced by bacterial acetic acid fermentation. Yeast is used in the manufacture of beer and wine and for the leavening of breads. It is also involved in fermentations to convert corn and other vegetable carbohydrates into ethanol to make beer, wine, or gasohol; but bacteria are the agents of most other food fermentations. Other fermented foods include soy sauce, sauerkraut, dill pickles, olives, salami, cocoa and black teas.

Medical, Pharmaceutical and Biotechnological Applications-
Certain microbes can help us in the fight against other microbes. In human and veterinary medicine, that is used to treat and prevent infectious diseases, microbes are a source of antibiotics and vaccines.

Antibiotics are substances produced by microorganisms that kill or inhibit other microbes. They are used in the treatment of infectious disease. Antibiotics are produced in nature by molds such as Penicillium and bacteria such as Streptomyces and Bacillus.

Vaccines are substances derived from microorganisms and are used to immunize against disease. The microbes that are the cause of infectious disease are usually the ultimate source of vaccines.

Biotechnology Microbiology makes a significant contribution to biotechnology, an area of science that applies microbial genetics to biological processes for the production of useful substances. Microorganisms play a central role in recombinant DNA technology and genetic engineering. Important tools of biotechnology are microbial cells, microbial genes and microbial enzymes.

Other benefits of microbes-
The microbes that normally live in association with humans on the various surfaces of the body (called the normal flora), such as Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium, are known to protect their hosts from infections and otherwise promote nutrition and health. They help purify waste water in waste water treatment facilities. They help reduce atmospheric nitrogen and transform it to ammonia important for agriculture.                                              

Current Research-
Recent benefits / advantages of bacteria-
Gulf Oil Spill Gases Eaten by Bacteria-Certain types of bacteria can actually clean up troublesome environmental pollutants like spilled petroleum. In fact, a specific strain called Alcanivorax drastically increases in population when an oil spill provides them with large amounts of food, so that they’re able to remove much of the oil. They’re at work on the Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico right now, and while they certainly can’t undo the vast damage that has been done to this region as a result, they definitely provide a beneficial effect.

Bacteria Eat Pollution and Generate Electricity-Bacteria with tiny wire-like appendages called nanowires not only digest toxic waste – including PCBs and chemical solvents – they produce electricity while they’re at it. One type in particular, called Shewanella, is a deep-sea bacteria that grows these oxygen-seeking nanowires when placed in low-oxygen environments. Researchers discovered that when the microbes’ nanowires are pricked with platinum electrodes, they can carry a current. If these capabilities can be harnessed effectively, they could one day be used in sewage treatment plants to simultaneously digest waste and power the facilities.

Geobacter Consume Radioactive Contamination-The nanowires grown by certain types of bacteria can also be used to immobilize harmful materials – like uranium – and keep them from spreading. A research team at Michigan State University has learned that Geobacter bacteria, which is found naturally in soil, essentially electroplates uranium, rendering it insoluble so it can’t dissolve and contaminate groundwater. These bacteria can be brought into uranium contamination sites like mines and nuclear plants in order to contain the radiation, potentially limiting the disastrous consequences of these types of spills.      

Members Associated with Microbial Research-

City Statistics - Microbiology department of university of Valencia. There are 50 researchers working in the field of microbiology in university of Valencia.
Country Statistics- There is total 78 universities in Spain.
Worldwide statistics – Approximately 20000-30000 researchers working in the field of microbiology.

Societies Associated with Microbial Research in Europe-
Country Statistics- Spanish Society for Microbiology
European statistics-52

1.   Armenian Microbiological Association
2.   Austrian Society for Hygiene, Microbiology and Preventive Medicine
3.   Belgian Society for Microbiology
4.   Bulgarian Society for Microbiology (Union of Scientists in Bulgaria)
5.   Microbiology Society of BiH
6.   Belarussian Non-governmental Association of Microbiologists
7.   Swiss Society for Microbiology
8.   Czechoslovak Society for Microbiology
9.   German Society of Hygiene and Microbiology
10. Association for General and Applied Microbiology
11. Danish Microbiological Society
12. Estonian Society for Microbiology
13. Spanish Society for Microbiology
14. Spanish Society for Virology
15. European Culture Collections' Organisation
16. Finnish Biochemical, Biophysical, and Microbiological Society
17. French Society for Microbiology
18. International Biodeterioration and Biodegradation Society
19. Society for Anaerobic Microbiology
20. Greek Society for Microbiology
21. Croatian Microbiological Society
22. Hungarian Society for Microbiology
23. Israel Society for Microbiology
24. Microbiological Society of Iceland
25. Italian Association for Clinical Microbiology
26. Italian Society of Microbiology
27. Italian Society of General Microbiology and Microbial Biotechnologies
28. Italian Society of Agro-Food and Environmental Microbiology
29. Italian Society for Virology
30. Latvian Society for Microbiology
31. Society for Microbiology of Moldova
32. Macedonian Microbiological Society
33. Royal Netherlands Society for Microbiology
34. Norwegian Society for Microbiology
35. Polish Society of Microbiologists
36. Portuguese Society of Microbiology
37. Society for Virology
38. Romanian Society for Microbiology
39. Serbian Society for Microbiology
40. Interregional Association for Clinical Microbiology and Antimicrobial Chemotherapy
41. Interregional Russian Microbiological Society
42. Swedish Society for Microbiology
43. Slovenian Microbiological Society
44. Turkish Microbiological Society
45. Society of Microbiologists of Ukraine
46. British Mycological Society
47. British Phycological Society
48. Society for Applied Microbiology
49. Society for General Microbiology
50. Scottish Microbiology Society

Industries Associated with Microbes In Spain-

Figure 1: Market Analysis of Food and beverages Industries companies in Spain

Figure 2: Market Analysis of Pharmaceutical companies in Spain

Figure 3: Market Analysis of Aquaculture companies in Spain

Aquaculture companies in Europe –

Total no of companies=738
Total turnover=1982.2 million euros                                                                                                    (4)

Figure 4: World-wide Probiotics Market Analysis

Figure 5: World-wide Food Product production Analysis

Figure 6: Pharmaceutical Industries Market Analysis-

Associations/ societies-
Spain –
•          Spanish Society for Microbiology
•          Spanish Aquaculture Society
•          The National Association of the Pharmaceutical Industry in Spain

World data-
Approx. no of major associations and societies in world-
•          Aquaculture societies- 100
•          Pharmaceutical societies-160
•          Microbiology societies -170

Target Audience-
From Academics
•          Directors
•          Professors
•          Visiting professors
•          Senior scientists
•          Lectures
•          Associate professors
•          Assistant professors
•          Post doc fellows
•          Ph.D students

From industries-
•          Directors
•          President
•          CEOs
•          Vice presidents
•          Chairman
•          R&D heads
•          Research scientist of Bio firms
•          Board of directors of Biotech firms
•          Food industry
•          Pharmaceutical firms
•          Aquaculture firms and Beverage industry
•          Experts in microbiology
•          Experts in microbial fermentation
•          Experts in pharmaceutical industry

Fund Allotment to beneficial microbes Research

Funding agency in Europe-

1.         The European Research Council
2.         European Commission.
3.         European Science Foundation.       

                                                                                                                                                                        (5)

Reference-

Figures
1-        Borges Mediterranean Group -http://www.borgesmediterraneangroup.com/en/
•          Ebro food-http://www.ebrofoods.es/en/
•          Grupo calvo-http://www.grupocalvo.com/en/
•          Monteloeder-http://www.monteloeder.com/
•          Kalise Menorquina-http://www.gkm.es/

2         Almirall-http://www.almirall.com/en/
•          Cinfa laborattories-http://www.cinfa.com/cinfa/home/inicio.aspx
•          Curaxys-http://curaxys.com/
•          Esteve-http://www.esteve.es/EsteveFront/EST.do
•          Grifols

3          SRS crisafulli, Inc-http://www.crisafullipumps.com/
•          Mettler - Toledo Int. Inc -http://in.mt.com/in/en/home.html
•          Analytik Jena AG-http://www.analytik-jena.de/fr/entreprise/press/press-releases/latest-news/article/detail/analytik-jena-ag-announces-group-figures-for-the-first-half-of-the-financial-year-2012-2013.html

4          http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/PressReleases/probiotics.asp

5          http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/cold-chains-frozen-food-market-811.html

6          http://www.rapidmicrobiology.com/archived-news/?id=1269h5&item=rapid-micro-methods-are-growing-at-twice-the-rate-of-market-growth&nid=568

Material reference-

 1         http://www.life-materials.com/microbes-and-human-life.html

 2         http://webecoist.momtastic.com/2011/09/26/beneficial-bacteria-12-ways-microbes-help-the-environment/

 3         http://www.fems-microbiology.org/member-societies.html

 4         https://dspace.stir.ac.uk/bitstream/1893/9142/1/EP177CompetitivenessFinal.pdf

 5         European commission-
 •        url-http://www.europski-fondovi.eu/sites/default/files/dokumenti/h2020_september_2013_issue.pdf
 •        Annual Budget-2014-62 billion euros

 •        http://ec.europa.eu/budget/figures/2014/2014_en.cfm
 •        European Science Foundation-
 •        Url-http://www.esf.org/
 •        European research council-
 •        Spain- ERC granted EURO 1.8 million for 5 years for Universidad de Oviedo
 •        Funding Agencies in Spain-
 •        Spanish National Research Council
 •        Url-http://www.nsf.gov/od/iia/ise/europe/nsf-europe-ofc-sci-fundg.jsp
 •        Budget Url-http://erawatch.jrc.ec.europa.eu/erawatch/opencms/information/country_pages/es/organisation/organisation_mig_0005