What enables bacterial pathogens to grow within their host organisms? Despite our detailed knowledge on molecular function of microbial virulence factors, the understanding of the nutrition of bacteria during infection and their metabolic adaptation to eukaryotic hosts is at its beginning. This symposium will bring together researchers with interest in pathogenic bacteria, bacterial physiology, global regulation, metabolome analysis and symbiotic host-microbe interactions. Sessions will also cover new approaches for the analyses of metabolic fluxes during infection and the in silico modelling of metabolic networks.