The course will involve 24 participants, 12 from US and 12 from EU. Applicants should be PhD students or early Post Docs. Eligible applicants should be working in the USA or one of the European Member States and Associated Countries at the time of application, or should have a citizenship of one of those countries.

PhD students and early Post Docs with background in microbiology, microbial and molecular ecology and environmental sciences are kindly invited to apply for the course participation following the instructions on the APPLICATIONS page in the FACILIS-2014 website. The course has been advertised in the websites of i) international scientific journals ii) microbiology societies (FEMS, ASM), iii) EU general site and specific projects (Cordis, ULIXES, etc.).

The course will cover the topics of i) microbial ecology, especially applied to the study of phylogenetic and functional diversity of natural bacterial assemblages by the application of molecular and metagenomic methodologies, ii) host-bacteria relationships, in particular related to the microbial communities associated with plant roots and biodegradation of pollutants, iii) the biotechnological exploitation of plant symbionts for promoting plant growth in land requalification and phytoremediation practices. The laboratory activity will be supported and complemented by lectures given by internationally recognized experts from academia and industry, that will cover all the above mentioned research topics with the addition of a lesson about scientific writing. Field trips to i) polluted sites of national interest and/or laboratories working in pollution monitoring and a visit to ii) the molecular ecology laboratory of the European Commission, the laboratory headed by Dr. Teresa Lettieri at the JRC in Ispra, Italy will complete the scientific program.

The course will consist of daily lectures held by experts in the field of biodegradation, bioremediation and phytoremediation and of intensive laboratory work. Such a laboratory work is organized by dividing the course participants in working groups of three scientists with mixed scientific backgrounds. Each student will have the possibility to present his/her own research during evening lectures, promoting exchange of experience and multidisciplinary discussion. The final sessions of the course will be dedicated to discuss the scientific results obtained during the practical experiments by the different working groups. In the final session will be discussed the possibility to prepare a paper summarizing the course experimental results to be submitted to an international scientific journal for presenting and discussing the course experience.

Finally, several recreational events will be organized in the city and in its surroundings to let the students interact and freely exchange their own experiences, and profit by the social and cultural offer that Milan and Italy can provide to foreigners.