Marine microbes are very abundant and diverse. They play significant roles in all element cycles, both quantitatively and qualitatively. However, they are little known, as the continuous series of surprising discoveries in the last few years shows. In the present conference the main focus will be on how these microbes interact: with other cells of their own species, with other microbes and with large living beings, from biofilms to symbiants. Another important topic will be the exploration of marine microbial diversity based on the recently developed sequencing approaches and on efforts to obtain marine organisms in pure cultures.

This conference will be the third in the Marine Microorganisms series. We hope it will contribute to enlarge the community of marine microbiologists and help in pointing the future directions of research even more than the two previous meetings.