Applied and Environmental Microbiology (AEM) is one of the longest running of all Gordon Research Conferences. Its success and resilience results from the profound influence that microorganisms have on life on Earth, sustaining our environment, influencing our health and driving many industrial biotechnology processes. Research areas that are central to this GRC include terrestrial, marine and freshwater biogeochemical cycles and the influence of microbes on climate change through consumption and production of greenhouse gases, bioremediation of contaminated land and water, production of biofuels and use as biocatalysts, the importance of microbes in human health, interactions of microbes with animals and plants. Areas of microbiological research covered have an immense impact on the environment and mankind and thus AEM remains a very vibrant and highly topical research field. The Conference will provide an open forum for the presentation and discussion of latest research findings on the ecology and industrial applications of microorganisms from the single cell to ecosystems level, embracing a diverse range of research areas, including the ecophysiology of microbes, molecular ecology, genomics, metagenomics and postgenomic technologies, evolutionary diversity of microbial life, the complex roles that microorganisms play in life on Earth, and the many important applications of microbes in medicine, agriculture, biotechnology and the food industry. Scientific sessions include biogeochemical cycles of carbon, nitrogen, sulfur in the environment, interactions between microbes, animals and plants, virus-host interactions, microbial communication and signalling, electromicrobiology, application of new methods in microbial ecology, single cell technologies, use of genomics/postgenomics in environmental and industrial microbiology, bioremediation, biocatalysis and natural product formation. Thus AEM will provide opportunities for established and newer researchers in the field to discuss a wide variety of aspects of the fundamental and applied aspects of environmental microbiology.