Around 2200 congresses from all parts of the world gathered at the Palais des Congrès in Montréal for the 16th International Symposium on Microbial Ecology (ISME16), August 21 to 26 2016, organized by the International Society for Microbial Ecology.

We had an impressive scientific program that covered all aspects of Microbial Ecology as of today. The scientific program had 29 sessions include last advances in the diversity and evolution of bacteria, archaea, microeukaryotes and viruses in diverse environments such as polar, ocean, soils, fresh water and extreme environments; the interactions between microorganisms and their environment such as with plants, the symbiotic associations, the human and mammalian microbiome, the communication and networks in biofilm communities; also their involvement in different pathways such as in the microbial cycling of one carbon compounds, the metal cycling, the dissimilation of nitrogen compounds and the bioremediation. The meeting explored cutting-edge methods in microbial ecology, applying -omics approaches to understand microbial functioning, the genomics and ecophysiology of single microbial cells, and cultivating elusive microbes. Finally, we continued to see microbial ecology in their application in environmental biotechnology. We had excellent keynote speakers such as Emma Allen-Vercoe, University of Guelph, Canada (human gut microbiome), Charles Greer, National Research Council Canada (hydrocarbon biodegradation in the cold), Roman Stocker, ETH Zurich, Switzerland (the microscale ocean), Richard Lenski, Michigan State University, United States (adaptation and evolution of microbial populations), Sallie W. Chisholm, MIT, United States (The Prochlorococcus story), Siv Andersson, Uppsala University, Sweden (bacterial symbionts and mitochondria) and Gerry Wright, McMaster University, Canada (antibiotique resistance). The symposium also included a well attended Early Career Scientist Professional Development Workshop (Hosted by Professor Hilary Lappin-Scott, Professor Richard Villemur & Dr Sara Burton), Bird’s Eye View Presentation (Tom Curtis, Newcastle University, United Kingdom) and 9 roundtables. More than 1700 posters were presented over 4 days. Furthermore, the ISME Social Gathering on Tuesday evening at the New City Gas venue was fantastic with great, food, music and dance attended by more than 1700 persons. Further details can be see at http://www.isme-microbes.org/isme16/. The next symposium (ISME17) will be held in Leipzig (Germany) in two years and in Cape Town (South Africa) in 2020.

The CSM had a booth to promote the Society at the Symposium and also sponsored three travel awards, which was awarded to Preshita Gadkari, Rutgers University, United States, Ben Oyserman, University of Wisconsin, United States, and Christine Sharp, University of Calgary, Canada.
I would like to deeply thank the CSM in supporting the event.

Prof. Richard Villemur, Ph.D.                                                    Prof. Lyle Whyte, Ph.D.
INRS Institut Armand-Frappier, Ville de Laval, QC               McGill University, Montréal, QC
Chair of the Local Organizing committee                               Co-Chair