Stronger resistance to drugs and increased tourism which puts people at greater risk of acquiring local diseases are just a couple of factors that play havoc on public health worldwide, and humans are under the constant threat of infections with pathogenic microorganisms. Enter the ERA-NET PATHOGENOMICS ('Trans-European cooperation and coordination of genome sequencing and functional genomics of human-pathogenic microorganisms') project, an initiative of the EU targeting more advanced transnational genome-based research programmes on human-pathogenic microorganisms. ERA-NET PATHOGENOMICS recently announced the winners of the PhD Award 2010 for the most outstanding doctoral theses in this field. http://cordis.europa.eu/search/index.cfm?fuseaction=news.document&N_RCN=32084