The international conference “VOM2023“ was held on July 3 -7th in Tbilisi. Viruses of microbes – the most numerous and mysterious part of the world of viruses was the main topic of the conference.

Among the more than five hundred foreign participants of the conference, there were outstanding international scientific community representatives from 54 countries of all 5 continents.

The conference was organized by the Association of General and Applied Microbiology of Georgia, George Eliava Institute of Bacteriophages, Microbiology and Virology and Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University.

Professor Nina Chanishvili and honorary professor of Institut Pasteur in Paris ‘David Prangishvili were the main organizers of the conference.

Different topics of the conference covered evolution, diversity of viruses of microorganisms, their role in environment and human body, and other fundamental issues.

At the opening, first session of the conference, dedicated to the phage therapy, the century-old experience and activities of the Eliava Institute in the phage study and application was especially presented.

A special session was held at the Eliava Institute on the current and future regulatory pathways of phage therapy in the world, where reports were presented by scientists from Georgia, Israel, Belgium, Australia, Canada and Germany, as well as by a representative of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).