May 14 – 17, 2024
Smolenice, Slovakia
The First International Symposium on Yeasts in Smolenice was organized by Anna Kocková-Kratochvílová, chairperson, and Erich Minárik, secretary, and took place from June 1st to 2nd, 1964. About 60 researchers from Czechoslovakia and neighbouring countries, who cooperated in various fields of yeast research, attended a meeting of friends. The symposium was very succesful and, thus, it was decided to organise a second symposium, to be held in Bratislava in 1966. About 150 participants from 27 countries took part in the conference. The Resolution of the Second International Symposium on Yeasts was adopted by the participants:
„We have all observed that the importance of yeasts have been increasing more and more in the last years. The great importance of yeasts and yeast-like organisms according to their purpose is seen in various spheres, e. g. in the classical fermentation of beer, wine, sake, baker's yeast production, etc, in the preparion of fine biochemical compounds and medical preparations, e. g. enzymes, nucleic acids, vitamins, antigens, etc, in agricultural production of the fodder basis for animals, in the scientific research as models for investigations of the biological processes, in sanitary matters as causes of human and animal diseases, etc.”
It was also decided to organize conferences on a regular basis. Moreover, the Council for Yeast Research, composed of prominent yeast researchers, was created under the sponsorship of the International Association of Microbial Societies (IAMS):
The „Yeast Newsletter“, edited by H. J. Phaff of the University of California started to serve as a communication tool for the decisions of the Council.
H. J. Phaff edited the Yeast Newsletter until 1987, when he was replaced by M. A. Lachance.
In 1967, the Commission on Yeasts (formerly the Section of Yeasts) of the Czechoslovak Society of Microbiology was established with the aim of organizing annual conferences and presenting the results of yeast research. Although Czechoslovakia was divided into the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1993, the activities of the Czechoslovak Society for Microbiology, as well as the Yeast Commission, remained unchanged.
Since 1964, the Commission on Yeasts of the Czechoslovak Society of Microbiology has organized 45 annual conferences and five specialized symposia in Slovakia: (I. Specialized Symposium on Yeasts - Yeasts as models in science and technics, 1971; IX. International symposium on Yeasts - Yeasts in human environment, 1983; XIV. ISSY Yeast Taxonomy, Theoretical and Practical Aspect, 1990; XX. ISSY Surface structure and membrane phenomena, 1999; XXX. ISSY Cell Surface and Organelles in Yeasts: from Basics to Applications - Stará Lesná, 2013).
Over the years, a few things changed - name International Symposium on Yeasts was changed to International Yeast Congress, the Yeast Newsletter changed its appearance, and the Council for Yeast Research was renamed as International Commission on Yeasts - however, the main idea of the First International Symposium on Yeasts “to organise symposia on yeasts on a regular basis” remains.