Vertical Transmission, September 2010

Abstract

After a very successful scientific meeting in Sydney, it is good to reflect that the world of microbes is anything but dull and boring! The quality and diversity of the speakers and the material presented is a credit to the National Scientific Advisory Committee and the Local Organising Committee. You may have noticed (in a way we hope you didn’t) but we went into the meeting without our in-house conference organiser, Janette Sofronidis. Sadly for us, Janette left the ASM in May after 10 years of outstanding service. The Society would like to thank her for the great contribution she made to our meetings over this period and wish her well in her future endeavours. Because the professional conference organiser (PCO) industry in Australia is now mature and highly competitive, the Executive has elected not to replace Janette, but rather to outsource the organisational aspects of our annual meeting to a PCO, and in the not too distant future, through a tendering process.