2009 Sino-German Symposium on Streptococcus Infectious Diseases and Beyond was held in Guangzhou on December 2-3.

　　This Symposium was co-organized by Beijing Institutes of Life Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences (BIOLS, CAS) and Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI), and sponsored by Sino-German Centre for Research Promotion. More than 40 scientists from China and Germany attended the symposium. The main topics of the symposium were molecular epidemiology of streptococci in China and Germany, virulence factors and pathogenesis of Streptococci, bacterial infection, host and pathogen interaction and zoonotic Streptococci. After the presentations, Prof. Gursharan S. CHHATWAL from HZI summarized the symposium and led the discussion among all participants regarding future cooperation.