The power of microbial life for the transformation towards a sustainable planet: key messages from the 2024 IUMS Congress in Florence, the city of the Renaissance

Luisa Borgianni¹, Gianluigi Cardinali², Cristina Cassetti³, Duccio Cavalieri⁴, Carlotta De Filippo⁵, Rachele De Giuseppe⁶, Roberto Di Leonardo⁷, Irina S Druzhinina⁸, William Paul Duprex⁹, Dilfuza Egamberdieva¹⁰, Uri Gophna¹¹, D İpek Kurtböke¹², Luisa Lanfranco¹³, Diethard Mattanovich¹⁴, Edward R B Moore¹⁵, Nguyen K Nguyen¹⁶, Jörg Overmann¹⁷, Mariagrazia Pizza¹⁸, Antonia Ricci¹⁹, Eliora Z Ron¹¹, Amy Shurtleff²⁰, Lisa Stein²¹, Ursula Theuretzbacher²², Tone Tonjum²³, Marco Ventura²⁴, Iftach Yacoby¹¹, Paul Young²⁵, Andrey Yurkov¹⁷, Rino Rappuoli²⁶

Affiliations

¹ Sclavo Vaccines Association, 53100 Siena, Italy.
² Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Perugia, 06123 Perugia, Italy.
³ National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, United States.
⁴ Department of Biology, University of Florence, 50019 Florence, Italy.
⁵ National Research Council (CNR), 56124 Pisa, Italy.
⁶ Department of Public Health, University of Pavia, 27100 Pavia, Italy.
⁷ Department of Physics, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy.
⁸ The Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, London TW9 3AE, United Kingdom.
⁹ Centre for Vaccine Research, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, United States.
¹⁰ Institute of Fundamental and Apllied Research, National Research University TIIAME, Tashkent 100000, Uzbekistan.
¹¹ The Shmunis School of Biomedicine and Cancer Research, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 6997801, Israel.
¹² School of Science, Technology and Engineering, University of the Sunshine Coast, Sippy Downs, QLD 4000, Australia.
¹³ Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology University of Torino, 10125 Turin, Italy.
¹⁴ Department of Biotechnology and Food Science, BOKU University, Vienna 1190, Austria.
¹⁵ Department of Infectious Disease, Culture Collection University of Gothenburg (CCUG) Sahlgrenska University Hospital & University of Gothenburg, SE-402 34 Gothenburg, Sweden.
¹⁶ American Society for Microbiology, Washington DC 20036, United States.
¹⁷ Leibniz Institute DSMZ - German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures, Braunschweig 38124, Germany.
¹⁸ Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College, London SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom.
¹⁹ Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale delle Venezie, 35020 Legnano (PD), Italy.
²⁰ Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, Washington, DC 20006, United States.
²¹ Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2E9, Canada.
²² Center for Anti-Infective Agents, Vienna 1180, Austria.
²³ Departments of Microbiology, University of Oslo and Oslo University Hospital, Oslo 0424, Norway.
²⁴ Department of Chemistry, Life Sciences, and Environmental Sustainability, University of Parma, 43124 Parma, Italy.
²⁵ Scool of Chemistry and Molecular Biosceinces, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Queensland, QLD 4067, Australia.
²⁶ Fondazione Biotecnopolo di Siena, 53100 Siena, Italy.

PMID: 40896726
PMCID: PMC12392887
DOI: 10.1093/femsml/uqaf018

Review

The power of microbial life for the transformation towards a sustainable planet: key messages from the 2024 IUMS Congress in Florence, the city of the Renaissance

Luisa Borgianni et al. Microlife. 2025.

. 2025 Aug 21:6:uqaf018.

doi: 10.1093/femsml/uqaf018. eCollection 2025.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Sclavo Vaccines Association, 53100 Siena, Italy.
² Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Perugia, 06123 Perugia, Italy.
³ National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, United States.
⁴ Department of Biology, University of Florence, 50019 Florence, Italy.
⁵ National Research Council (CNR), 56124 Pisa, Italy.
⁶ Department of Public Health, University of Pavia, 27100 Pavia, Italy.
⁷ Department of Physics, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy.
⁸ The Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, London TW9 3AE, United Kingdom.
⁹ Centre for Vaccine Research, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, United States.
¹⁰ Institute of Fundamental and Apllied Research, National Research University TIIAME, Tashkent 100000, Uzbekistan.
¹¹ The Shmunis School of Biomedicine and Cancer Research, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 6997801, Israel.
¹² School of Science, Technology and Engineering, University of the Sunshine Coast, Sippy Downs, QLD 4000, Australia.
¹³ Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology University of Torino, 10125 Turin, Italy.
¹⁴ Department of Biotechnology and Food Science, BOKU University, Vienna 1190, Austria.
¹⁵ Department of Infectious Disease, Culture Collection University of Gothenburg (CCUG) Sahlgrenska University Hospital & University of Gothenburg, SE-402 34 Gothenburg, Sweden.
¹⁶ American Society for Microbiology, Washington DC 20036, United States.
¹⁷ Leibniz Institute DSMZ - German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures, Braunschweig 38124, Germany.
¹⁸ Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College, London SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom.
¹⁹ Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale delle Venezie, 35020 Legnano (PD), Italy.
²⁰ Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, Washington, DC 20006, United States.
²¹ Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2E9, Canada.
²² Center for Anti-Infective Agents, Vienna 1180, Austria.
²³ Departments of Microbiology, University of Oslo and Oslo University Hospital, Oslo 0424, Norway.
²⁴ Department of Chemistry, Life Sciences, and Environmental Sustainability, University of Parma, 43124 Parma, Italy.
²⁵ Scool of Chemistry and Molecular Biosceinces, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Queensland, QLD 4067, Australia.
²⁶ Fondazione Biotecnopolo di Siena, 53100 Siena, Italy.

PMID: 40896726
PMCID: PMC12392887
DOI: 10.1093/femsml/uqaf018

Abstract

The 2024 International Union of Microbiological Societies Congress was held in Florence, the city of Renaissance. The theme was to increase the awareness of the power of microbial life, recognizing that it can lead the transformation towards a sustainable planet. The meeting gathered over 1400 experts from more than 90 countries and focused on the transformative potential of microbiology in addressing global challenges and aligning microbial science with the Sustainable Development Goals. Six roundtable discussions explored the pivotal role of microbiology in mitigating climate change, preparing for pandemics, producing sustainable energy, promoting a One Health approach, understanding microbiome dynamics, and developing data infrastructure. The discussions revealed that microbes are still overlooked agents in sustainable solutions. Expert panellists at the roundtables discussed microbial innovations in hydrogen and biofuel production, conversion of greenhouse gases, biomanufacturing, and soil restoration, the role of microbiome in immune health, the importance of cross-kingdom interactions, and the integration of food, environmental, and microbiomes under the One Health framework. Panels stressed the need for equitable access to vaccines, diagnostics, and data sharing, especially in the face of antimicrobial resistance. The importance of global collaboration, data repositories, and regulatory alignment, was repeatedly emphasized. The congress invited calls for the formation of an international microbiology coalition, need for interdisciplinary partnerships, increased investment in microbial technologies, updating of regulatory frameworks, and integration of microbiome science into public health and environmental policy. Microorganisms are the oldest architects of nature, able to build a sustainable future for the planet.

Keywords: IUMS; One Health; SDGs; microbial innovations; microbial life; sustainable planet.

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Conflict of interest statement

None declared.

Figures

**Figure 1.**
Schematic representation of the potential solutions that microbes can provide for a sustainable future of our planet.

See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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The power of microbial life for the transformation towards a sustainable planet: key messages from the 2024 IUMS Congress in Florence, the city of the Renaissance

Affiliations

The power of microbial life for the transformation towards a sustainable planet: key messages from the 2024 IUMS Congress in Florence, the city of the Renaissance

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Conflict of interest statement

Figures

References

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources