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  Third John Innes-Rudjer Bošković summer school in Applied Molecular MicrobiologyThe first in this series of summer schools was held in 2007 at the Mediterranean Institute for Life Sciences (MedILS) in Split and the second in 2008 was at the Inter-University Centre (IUC) in Dubrovnik. An account of the origin of the series and of the first two courses can be found here: The venue
The 2010 course was again at the IUC (http://www.iuc.hr/). Founded in 1971, the IUC has a long experience of hosting meetings and courses on a wide range of subjects from engineering to theology. As last year, Duška Vujaklija of the Rudjer Bošković Institute was the faculty organiser, and the co-directors of the course were David Hopwood from the John Innes Centre and Julian Davies of the University of British Columbia. Dorothy Davies handled local administrative matters. The IUC has all the facilities needed to run courses, including air-conditioned bedrooms for 56 people, classrooms, computer rooms, and space for social, breakout and poster sessions. A couple of restaurants within a few minutes walk from the IUC provide convenient venues for meals. Course content, participants and facultyThe driving force for these summer schools is to help to develop a cadre of young scientists able to exploit the huge scientific and biotechnological opportunities presented by new knowledge and techniques in the isolation and development of novel microbial metabolites. This is urgently needed to fight emerging antibiotic-resistant pathogens as well as to find key applications as pharmacologically active drugs. The content of this year’s summer school was chosen to bring together studies of metabolites as triggers in the developmental biology of microbes and as signalling agents in communities with understanding the genetics and chemistry of natural product formation with a view to developing new drugs, including by the "waking up" the innumerable "sleeping" gene clusters for small molecule biosynthesis revealed in the genomes of sequenced microorganisms. Topics covered included: isolation and screening of metabolite-producing microorganisms; small molecules and polysaccharides in microbial communities and cell-cell interactions; regulation of metabolism and intracellular signalling; metagenomics and heterologous pathway expression; genome sequencing, annotation and comparative genomics; characterisation of biosynthetic pathways in silico and experimentally; pathway engineering and combinatorial biosynthesis; antibiotic resistance; and plant natural products.
This year we selected 41 applicants from 18 countries, representing 23 nationalities, facilitated by a grant from the Federation of European Microbiological Societies (FEMS) through the Croatian Microbiological Society to contribute to the costs for 11 European applicants. Summer school funds covered the expenses of six participants from less developed countries. The IUC generously covered the costs of the three Croatian participants as well as those of Dr Vujaklija. Twenty-seven of the group were PhD students, seven were post-docs, six had university positions and one came from industry. The teaching faculty consisted of Mervyn Bibb and Govind Chandra from the John Innes Centre in Norwich, Greg Challis from Warwick University, Roberto Kolter from Harvard, Flavia Marinelli from the University of Insubria, Varese, Kenji Ueda from Nihon University and Lutz Heide from the University of Tübingen, together with David Hopwood, Julian Davies and Duška Vujaklija. Hildgund Schrempf from the University of Osnabrück, Alison Foster from the Oxford University Botanic Garden and Mechas Zambrano from Corpogen, Bogotá gave guest seminars, as well as contributing to the small-group discussions. Computer workshops
Lively poster sessions
Free time
The next summer schoolThe fourth summer school in the series will again be at the IUC, with the title "Microbial Metabolites in Nature and Medicine". The dates will be 25 August – 2 September 2012. Please watch the web site at
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As in previous years, hands-on computer workshops run by Govind Chandra, Greg Challis and Mervyn Bibb were a feature of the course. They covered genome analysis and annotation and the prediction of metabolite structure from sequence information.
All participants brought posters, which were displayed throughout the period of the summer school and discussed at two poster sessions. The full content of nearly all the posters was made available digitally to all participants, helping to catalyze lasting collaborations on topics of mutual interest.
The afternoon of each working day included a 2.5-hour period of free time, and evenings after dinner were also free. Swimming from a pebble beach or from rocks can be found a few minutes away from the IUC and the Old City of Dubrovnik is only a five minute walk, so participants could enjoy breaks from intellectual activity even during short periods of free time.
On the middle day of the summer school we embarked on a private boat from the old harbour of Dubrovnik for an all-day excursion, first to Cavtat on the coast south of Dubrovnik and then to the private island of Supeter for a fish barbeque, swimming, volleyball and other enjoyment. The return trip to Dubrovnik was timed perfectly to enjoy the sunset over the Old City as we neared port. 
