Microbial Engineering IV – Natural to Synthetic: How Will Future Bio-Factories Produce?

An ECI Conference Series

February 14-18, 2027
Hilton Hotel Malta
Malta

About This Conference

We announce our fourth, in-person, ECI Conference on “Microbial Engineering” taking place in St. Julians, Malta, 15-18 February 2027.  After an inspiring conference in early 2025, where the strong drive for innovation in the field of microbial engineering became evident, we are pleased to be able to connect again with our colleagues from academia, industry and government to capture the latest progress in microbial engineering space.

While new microbial technologies impact a wide range of applications across various industrial fields, “synthetic” elements expand the boundaries of microbial applications.

We invite all researchers and practitioners in academia and industry to submit abstracts for oral or poster sessions. Your contribution will inform key stake holders in microbial bioprocessing, allows you to share your insights with a diverse audience and network with peers and leaders in your field.

We look forward to your participation.

Eli Keshavarz-Moore and Thomas Sauer

Conference Co-Chairs – Microbial Engineering IV

Barry Buckland
Chair, Organizing Committee – Microbial Engineering IV

Duygu Dikiicoglu
Chair, Poster Sessions – Microbial Engineering IV

Conference Topics

Please note that only proposals with relevance relevance to microbial engineering and its application will be considered.

Healthcare

• Proteins and Peptides
• Vaccines
• Natural Products
• Secondary Metabolites
• Microbiomes

 Modern tools and their application in microbial engineering

• Nucleotides
• RNA applications
• Adaptive evolution 

Industrial Biotechnology

• Environmental engineering: bioremediation; polymer (plastic and textiles) recycling; biofuels
• Innovation in microbial mining technologies
• Agricultural engineering: biofertilizers / biopesticides / food biotechnology

Complementary technologies

• Synthetic/minimal cells
• Cell-free Technology

Conference Organization

Conference Chairs

Poster Chair

Organizing Committee

Barry Buckland (NIIMBL, USA), Organizing Committee Chair

Arindam Bose (AbiologicB, USA)
Jason Brown (Thermofisher, USA) 
Manuel Carrondo (iBET, Portugal)
Charlie Cooney (MIT, USA)
Dominique Garnier (Sanofi, France)
Brigitte Gasser (BOKU, Austria)
Anthony Grippe (Merck and Co., Inc., USA)
Peter Gray (The University of Queensland, Australia)
Beth Junker (Bioprocess Advantage, USA)
Jay Keasling (University of California, Berkeley, USA)
Diethard Mattanovich (BOKU, Austria)
Chris McChalicher (Seres Therapeutics, USA)
Kristala Prather (MIT, USA)
Hari Pujar (Flagship Pioneering, USA)
Tiffany Rau (University College Cork, Ireland)
António Roldão (iBET, Portugal)
Jonathan Sheridan, Consultant (USA)
Rahul Singhvi (USA)
Jim Swartz (Stanford University, USA)
Behnam Taidi (University of Paris-Saclay, France)
Vijay Yabannavar (Gates Foundation, USA)
Sam Zhang (Wuxi, USA)
Sierin Lam (NTU, Singapore)
Robert Harris (Syngenta, UK)

2025 Conference Program

Previous Conferences in this Series

Microbial Engineering III
March 30 – April 3, 2025
Porto, Portugal

Microbial Engineering II
April 3 – 7, 2022
Albufeira, Portugal

Microbial Engineering I
March 4-8, 2018
LaFonda on the Plaza
Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA

General Information About ECI

Engineering Conferences International (ECI) is a not-for-profit, global engineering conferences program, originally established in 1962 that provides opportunities for the exploration of problems and issues of concern to engineers and scientists from many disciplines.

The format of the conference provides morning and late afternoon or evening sessions in which major presentations are made. Poster sessions will be scheduled for evening discussion as well. Available time is included during the afternoons for ad hoc meetings, informal discussions, and/or recreation. This format is designed to enhance rapport among participants and promote dialogue on the development of the meeting. We believe the conferences have been instrumental in generating ideas and disseminating information to a greater extent than is possible through more conventional forums.

All participants are expected both to attend the entire conference and to contribute actively to the discussions. The recording/photographing of lectures and presentations is forbidden. As ECI conferences take place in an informal atmosphere, casual clothing is the usual attire.

Smoking is prohibited at ECI conferences and conference functions.