In 2014, the Journal of Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology (JIMB) began publishing a yearly special issue devoted to advances in industrial microbiology and biotechnology, with particular emphasis on the core areas of the Society for Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology (SIMB), our sponsoring society. The topic for 2014 was “Microbial Genome Mining”, followed by “Metabolic Engineering” in 2015. In 2016, we published a special issue on “Natural Product Discovery and Development in the Genomic Era” based on presentations at the International Conference in San Diego sponsored by SIMB, the Korean Society for Microbiology and Biotechnology (KMB), and the Society for Actinomycetes Japan (SAJ). In 2017, we published a special issue honoring “Arny Demain, Industrial Microbiologist Extraordinaire”. Many of “Arny’s Army and Friends” contributed to this issue. In 2018, we published a special issue on “Synthetic Biology”, a key technological area highly relevant to current and future advances in biotechnology. In 2019, we published a second special issue on “Natural Product Discovery and Development in the Genomic Era” based upon presentations from the 2nd International Conference on this subject sponsored by SIMB, KMB, and SAJ in Clearwater, Florida.

In 2019, we are publishing this inaugural special issue on “Frontiers in Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology 2019”, to highlight the work of selected authors that participated as speakers in the 2018 SIMB Annual Meeting held in Chicago, IL. This special issue recognizes that outstanding work on all core areas of SIMB is not only of high interest to SIMB members, but also to the broader biotechnology community and readership of JIMB. It is our hope that publishing “Frontiers” special issues on a yearly basis will not only add to the current momentum in growing the reputation and impact of JIMB, but also will lead to a much closer relationship between scientists attending SIMB-sponsored meetings and submissions of their important work in JIMB.