Dear ISME Members,

We wish to thank you for a fantastic week of science and interactions at ISME18 in Lausanne. As our first in person event, arranged at relatively short notice, the level of engagement and quality of the science on display was impressive. We thank the Swiss Local Organizing Committee (LOC), keynote speakers, invited talks and poster presenters for helping to make ISME18 a success.
We recognise that there has been some controversy surrounding the handling of COVID-19 at ISME18. First and foremost, we want to clarify that none of the ISME executives or LOC attended the conference while knowingly COVID-positive.
Secondly, while following the COVID-19 guidelines currently in effect in Switzerland, we acknowledge that improving safety measures will be important moving forward, and are bearing this in mind for ISME19 in Cape Town.

As always, we welcome your input and suggestions on how we can improve our society/meetings. Please send your comments/suggestions to office@isme-microbes.org.