The National Phage Forum was founded in 2017 to provide a platform for all experts in Germany working on bacteriophages and their application.

Many goals have been achieved during the last five years. From 2017-2021 networking resulted in numerous collaborative research projects and the foundation of the VAAM/DGHM Expert Group „Microbial Viruses". The latter now is home and new forum for the phage research community under the roof of the expert associations DGHM and VAAM.

Goals

  • Creating interdisciplinary links across natural and environmental sciences, health and nutrition science, medicine, pharmacy, agriculture, as well as social sciences and economics
  • Networking and communication among different stakeholders, i.e. consumers, researchers, industry, regulatory agencies, funding organizations, as well as social groups in order to develop and promote the application of phages and phage proteins in different settings
  • Promoting partnerships between German and international phage experts
  • Providing overview of all relevant actors in Germany
  • Supporting joint research activities and early career researchers.

DGHM Fachgruppe (Viruses of Microbes): Christiane Wolz (christiane.wolz@med.uni-tuebingen.de

VAAM Fachgruppe (Viruses of Microbes: Stefanie Barbirz (stefanie.barbirz@medicalschool-berlin.de) und Tessa Quax (t.e.f.quax@rug.nl)

DFG-SPP 2330

New concepts in prokaryotic virus-host interactions - from single cells to microbial communities