Vertical Transmission

Greetings everyone for my first Vertical Transmission of 2025. I hope you enjoyed a well-earned break over the summer months and are now fully into the swing of your activities.

Some important news I would like to share with you relates to the delivery of our journal, Microbiology Australia. After supporting both print and digital formats over many years, and after careful consideration, our Executive Committee has made the decision to discontinue the print version of our journal. Although we know some of you are accustomed to receiving the print copy, I want to assure you that the online usage of the journal has been increasing for several years, including the archive back to 2002. The online version of the journal will remain unchanged and, for those who prefer, we will continue to offer a combined PDF of the complete issue (including cover) for easy download. As I mentioned at our AGM last year, this change has been driven primarily by financial reasons.

You will be able to access the journal content of Microbiology Australia through the ‘Members Section’ of our website at https://www.theasm.org.au or directly from the journal home page at https://www.publish.csiro.au/ma. Additionally, to stay up to date with each new issue, I strongly encourage you to sign up for our journal’s Early Alert email list (scroll down to the ‘Journals Content and News Section’ and select the Microbiology Australia option). This service will notify you by email whenever a new issue is published, allowing you to click through and access the full content. The decision to move to an online-only format offers several benefits, including significant cost savings from rising printing and postage expenses and reduced environmental impact associated with print production and delivery. I understand that this change may take some adjustment but I believe this move will help to ensure the sustainability and accessibility of Microbiology Australia for years to come. Our Executive Committee will work closely with CSIRO Publishing over the coming months to smooth out any issues and ensure a seamless transition. Please contact me if you have any concerns or difficulty accessing the online journal (admin@theasm.com.au). The content of Microbiology Australia will not change, and will feature research articles and reviews, as well as ASM Affairs such as my Vertical Transmission, and announcements on work by ASM Summer Student Research awardees, updates on future ASM conferences as well as what happened at ASM conferences, major achievements by ASM members, news from our Special Interest Groups (SIGs) and State Branches, and where pertinent acknowledge the passing of ASM members who have made substantial contributions to The ASM. More time sensitive information will continue to appear in our ASM e-news, The ASM website and occasionally in direct emails from The ASM.

The year is moving fast, and we have already run the first session of ASM Hour, which was hosted by our Education SIG and featured a discussion on ‘Navigating the Minefield of Student Feedback’. It was refreshing to see this alternative format in action and hear the wide-ranging discussion that followed. Our next ASM Hour on 1 April will be run by our Public Health Microbiology theme, and chaired by Assoc. Prof. Robyn Marsh. The topic will be ‘Antimicrobial Resistance – Meeting the Challenge of an Ongoing Public Health Emergency’, and I’m sure will be of interest to many of you. As other highlights on our event calendar, our Mobile Genetic Elements and Mycobacteria SIGs have already hosted events this year, and our Phage Bites SIG has an event coming up soon on 1 April. Details are on our ASM website (see https://www.theasm.org.au/asm-conferences-and-events).

This year’s ASM national conference in Adelaide is also fast approaching (14–17 July 2025). Registrations are open (see https://www.theasmmeeting.org.au/registration) with early-bird rates available until Monday 28 April. I encourage everyone planning to attend the conference to book your travel early, as the cost of flights may rise quickly. We have a fantastic list of international Plenary speakers, as well as a feature presentation from our own Prof. Tim Stinear (ASM Distinguished Orator award winner). Another highlight of the conference will be a presentation from Jessica Thompson, a senior editor of Nature Microbiology. Jessica will be at the whole conference, and I strongly encourage all of you to take the opportunity to talk with Jessica about any exciting new research that you think could be considered for publication in Nature Microbiology. Jessica will also visit Perth, Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne after the conference, and we are working with her to put together an itinerary. There is a link on The ASM homepage that will take you directly to the conference website (see https://www.theasmmeeting.org.au/). I hope to see you in Adelaide!