A new editorial board for a new editorial period

Two years after launch, Microbial Cell Factories has completed the first period of its editorial life as an Open Access journal, by publishing scientifically sound Research papers and Reviews. To start a new and more dynamic stage, a new editorial board http://www.microbialcellfactories.com/edboard/ has been configured by joining thirty-one experts from twelve different countries, with different but complementing scientific skills. With editorial experience reflecting the plentiful diversity of the cell factory concept, internationally recognised microbiologists, biochemists, chemists, chemical and genetic engineers, molecular biologists, biotechnologists and environmentalists will work together to push the Journal into a well established position.

Microbial cells, when tailored to perform as biofactories for the production of recombinant proteins or natural substances, or as efficient transformers in environmental, food or pharmaceutical industry contexts, can be regarded from different multifaceted angles that include the tailoring process itself, the technical framework for production process, and also the genetic, proteomic and metabolic aspects of the production-transformation event. This fertile scientific field is also sustained by the vast biological diversity of the microbial cells used in industry and industry-focused research, including bacteria, archae, yeast and filamentous fungi. Therefore, the scope of the journal covers recombinant DNA technologies, genetic engineering, plasmid construction and maintenance, gene cloning and expression, development of new expression systems, protein engineering, protein production, proteolysis and aggregation of recombinant proteins, cell stress responses, bioreactor design and operation, process control and monitoring, scale-up, downstream procedures, protein folding and refolding, biocatalysis, production of natural substances, antibiotics, mutagenesis, strain improvement and screening, metabolic engineering, microbial transformations, bioremediation, food microbiology, extremophile biology, new bioproducts and biosensors. Also, cell factories are crucial instruments in rising areas such as proteomics, structural genomics and nanotechnologies. The most intriguing aspects from these fields, as seen through the cell factory concept will be also well represented in the new period of the journal though the publication of accurate and focused Reviews, Review series and Commentaries.

Authors are invited to share their experimental research results on both basic and technical aspects of microbial or biochemical engineering for microbial production-transformation, though the submission of Research papers and Technical notes to Microbial Cell Factories. Proposals for Reviews and Commentaries are also welcome. Fast peer-review and editorial production procedures guarantee timely manuscript processing and immediate publication after acceptance. The inclusion into PubMed and other scientific databases takes place a few days after acceptance. Also, the Open Access nature of Microbial Cell Factories permits the barrierless, widespread dissemination of the published papers among the scientific community as not done by any other standard journal in the field.