Antimicrobials 2012 bioMerieux ASA Identifying Resistance Travel Award Recipient

This is awarded to an individual on the basis of a proffered paper (oral or poster) presented during the ASA's Annual Scientific Meeting dealing with the identification of antimicrobial resistance in a routine clinical setting. The award consists of AU$1000 cash prize, a commemorative plaque, and the provisions of flights, accommodation and registration for the recipient to attend Antimicrobials 2013. The award committee will consist of three ASA committee members.

Recipient:
Hanna Sidjabat, University of Queensland Centre for Clinical Research, Queensland.
Development of Multiplex PCR: B-lactamase Genes and Viruelence Determinants in E.coli

World Health Organization. (2012).The evolving threat of antimicrobial resistance - Options for action. Geneva, SW. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/patientsafety/implementation/amr/publication/en

"Overview: Antibiotic resistance development is a natural process of adaption leading to a limited lifespan of antibiotics. Unnecessary and inappropriate use of antibiotics favours the emergence and spread of resistant bacteria. A crisis has been building up over decades, so that today common and life-threatening infections are becoming difficult or even impossible to treat. It is time to take much stronger action worldwide to avert an ever increasing health and economic burden. A new WHO publication "The evolving threat of antimicrobial resistance - Options for action" describes examples of policy activities that have addressed AMR in different parts of the world. The aim is to raise awareness and to stimulate further coordinated efforts."

15th International Congress on Infectious Diseases in Bangkok http://www.isid.org/icid/

The Scientific Program for the Congress is complete and available on the ISID website at http://www.isid.org/icid/symposia.shtml. There will be six state of the art plenary lectures, 26 symposia as well as meet the expert sessions, oral sessions and poster sessions. The topics will cover the most timely and important clinical, scientific and public health aspects of infectious diseases. I hope that you can join us and your colleagues from more than 100 countries from around the world to share your experience, learn from others and enjoy the fantastic city of Bangkok.

NOTE: THE EARLY REGISTRATION DEADLINE. Register now and don't lose out on the sizable discount. You can register at: http://www.asiacongress.net/iEBMS1920/reg/reg_p1_form.aspx?oc=10&ct=CONF&eventid=5073

We look forward to seeing you in Bangkok!

Norman R. Stein
Executive Director
International Society for Infectious Diseases

ASA has made funds available for a travel scholarship to assist ASA Members who are preferably a PhD student or an advanced trainee who will be presenting at the 15th International Symposium on Staphylococci and Staphylococcal Infections (ISSSI) in Lyon France (Sunday 26 to Thursday 30 August 2012).

Meeting Website: http://isssi2012.univ-lyon1.fr/en
Deadline for submission of abstracts: April 15th, 2012

The scholarship consists of return economy airfare, accommodation and conference registration up to the value of AU$5,000.

Applicants must have current ASA membership and must have been a member for at least the last 12 months. The scholarship is restricted to Australian and New Zealand ASA financial members and is conditional upon the abstract being accepted by the ISSSI program committee for presentation (oral or poster). In addition the recipient of the scholarship is required to write a report on the meeting for the ASA Newsletter.

Eligible ASA members who wish to apply for this scholarship are invited to submit their application to the ASA Secretary Despina Kotsanas at info@asainc.net.au. The application should include a copy of their abstract and for abstracts with more than one author, a letter stating the relative contribution of the applicant towards the research.

The Australasian Society for Infectious Diseases (ASID), in collaboration with the Australian Veterinary Association (AVA) and Sydney Emerging Infections and Biosecurity Institute (SEIB), is holding a 2 day meeting Friday-Saturday 27/28 July 2012.

The venue is the Eastern Avenue Complex at the University of Sydney.

The meeting aims to bring together veterinarians, medical practitioners and laboratory scientists around the theme of zoonoses in Australia.

Further Information: http://www.asid.net.au/zoonoses

The Australian Society for Antimicrobials wishes to acknowledge the following companies for becoming Foundation (Sustaining) Members of the Society

Pfizer Australia

Novartis
Diagnostic Technology

AstraZeneca
Becton Dickinson
bioMerieux Australia
GlaxoSmithKline
Immuno
Merck Sharp and Dohme
ThermoFisher Scientific Products

Foundation Members websites can be located in the Foundation (Sustaining) Members section of the ASA webpage

The ASA Committee congratulate the following Members for receiving an ASA Travel Award to attend "Antimicrobials 2012"

Natasha Holmes
Searching for Organism Factors that may Explain the Association between Elevated Vancomycin Minimum Inhibitory Concentration and Mortality in Staphylococcus aureus Bacteraemia.
Austin Centre for Infection Research, Austin Health, Victoria

Kyra Chua
Why is Australian Community-Associated Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) ST93-IV [2B] Highly Virulent?
University of Melbourne, Victoria

Deborah Williamson
Sequence Type (ST) 131 Escherichia coli as a Major Cause of Bacteraemia Following Transrectal Ultrasound-guided Prostate Biopsy
Auckland District Health Board, New Zealand

Antimicrobials 2012
23 - 25 February 2012
Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre, Brisbane
www.antimicrobials2012.com

Venue:
Domaine de Rockefeller, University of Lyon, France
Date:
Sunday 26th to Thursday day 30th August 2012
Website:
http://isssi2012.univ-lyon1.fr/en

Hosted by the University of Lyon, this will be the second International Symposium on Staphylococci and Staphylococcal Infections to be held in the Lyon area, after the ISSSI organized in Aix-les-Bains in 1996. Meanwhile these highly successful meetings have been organized all over the world including the USA, Japan, Germany, Australia and United Kingdom.

The meeting's program will cover a diverse range of subjects on staphylococcal research including pathophysiology, omics, regulation, resistance, therapeutic and prophylactic interventions. The plenary and symposium sessions will be presented by the world's leading experts in each of these fields. In addition, proffered oral and poster sessions will be an integral part of the program and all delegates are invited to submit abstracts. Workshops, Industry breakfast as well as lunch symposia are also planned.

To promote discussion and interaction between delegates and the invited speakers the meeting's registration includes lunches, morning and afternoon pauses and admission to the Welcome Reception on Sunday. In addition, to experience the Lyon culinary prize, a dinner is planned on the Tuesday evening at one the famous restaurant in Lyon and to have some flavor of the architectural treasures, a farewell diner will be organized downtown of the old city.