St Petersburg 2013: 38th FEBS Congress

ISSUE 1 (JANUARY) 2013 

St Petersburg 

2013: 

38th 

FEBS Congress 

Mechanisms 

in 

Biology

Contents: 

Preface 3 

The 38th FEBS Congress 4 

FEBS Programmes: updates 

FEBS Fellowships news 7 

FEBS Advanced Courses 2013 8 

FEBS Education: recent workshops 11 

Other upcoming events 13 

FEBS Community News 

National Lectures 14 

Hungarian Biochemical Society: 50 years 16 

Obituary 19 

FEBS Publications 

FEBS Journal 20 

FEBS Letters 22 

Molecular Oncology 23 

FEBS Open Bio 23 

Scientific Events Calendar 24 

Career Opportunities 25 

CONTENTS 

Cover: St Petersburg, Russia, is the interesting location for the 38th FEBS Congress ’Mechanisms in Biology’, 

taking place from 6th to 11th July 2013. The cover photo shows the ‘Church of the Savior on Blood’, built 

from 1883 to 1907 in the style of medieval Russian architecture on the site where Tsar Alexander II was 

assassinated. Read more about the 2013 FEBS Congress on pages 4–7. 

About FEBS News: 

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Federation of European Biochemical Societies (FEBS): www.febs.org. 

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A Company Limited by Guarantee (Number 08239097); A Registered Charity (Number 1149638); 

Registered in England and Wales; Registered office: 98 Regent Street, Cambridge, CB2 1DP, UK. 

2 

FEBS News January 2013 

Key 2013 FEBS dates: 

Fellowships applications deadline 

1 April and 1 October 2013 (page 7) 

Advanced Courses applications deadline 

(for funding of 2014 courses) 

1 April 2013 (page 8) 

Young Scientists’ Forum applications deadline 

1 February 2013 (page 5 ) 

Congress Bursary applications deadline 

10 March 2013 (page 5) 

Congress early registration deadline 


Congress registration deadline 

1 June 2013 (page 6) 

38th FEBS Congress 

6–11 July 2013 (pages 4–6) 

FEBS Advanced Courses 

February–October 2013 (pages 8–10) 

(Registration deadlines are well ahead of course dates) 

Crick Memorial Meeting – 60th Anniversary 

of DNA Structure 


Education Workshops and FEBS 3+ Meeting 

July and autumn 2013 (page 13)

Dear Colleagues, 

2012 was a year for FEBS to take stock of its 

governance and finances, and as a result FEBS now 

enters 2013 in better shape for achieving long-term 

contributions to the advancement of molecular 

bioscience research and education. 

Restructuring of FEBS 

FEBS has been an unincorporated charity, which is an 

outmoded form of governance for a large charity with 

financial, contractual and legal obligations. During 

2012, FEBS updated its structure to become a 

company limited by guarantee (registered company 

number 08239097) and registered as a charity 

(registered charity number 1149638) – a model used by 

other significant UK-registered charities such as the 

Biochemical Society. FEBS is still a charity but is 

now a legal entity with financial safeguards. 

It is important to emphasize that the name, aims 

and activities of FEBS remain unchanged by the 

restructure. The organization’s overall objective is 

formally stated as ‘to contribute to and promote the 

advancement of research and education for the 

public benefit in the sciences of biochemistry and 

molecular biology and related disciplines…by all 

suitable means…’. More details on FEBS’ 

objectives, the restructuring and links to FEBS’ 

governing documents can be found on the FEBS 

website under ‘FEBS as a charity’. 

Publishing changes and FEBS finances 

FEBS has recognized the value of and demand for 

open access publishing in the bioscience and wider 

community over recent years, and as a result its 

established journals offer open access publication 

options, and indeed FEBS recently launched the 

entirely open access journal FEBS Open Bio. 

At the same time, FEBS is very aware of how 

traditional journal subscription publishing models 

have enabled investment in and development of 

high-quality science publishing by its journals. 

Furthermore, as FEBS wholly owns these, this mode 

of publishing has generated significant income for 

FEBS to use to support and advance the molecular 

life sciences cross Europe and further afield, 

through research fellowships, conferences, travel 

grants and so on. The established journals of FEBS 

currently have a strong subscription base, but we 

must face the reality that the trend towards open 

access publishing will continue, and that current 

pricing structures for open access publication will 

PREFACE 

3 


ultimately result in a drastic reduction in FEBS’ 

income – a problem FEBS shares with many other 

learned societies. 

A new financial strategy for FEBS is therefore 

needed. FEBS will now try to develop its current 

financial reserves as an endowment, with future 

income derived largely from that. As a result, FEBS 

is reassessing and reducing some of its recent high 

expenditure levels, with any excess income over 

expenditure for the next two or three years of 

guaranteed income to be used both to cover its current 

commitments and to build up the endowment. 

A key area of FEBS spending that has increased 

dramatically in recent years is Long-Term Fellowships 

(~€2.3 million in 2012), followed by Advanced 

Courses (~€0.9 million in 2012). Unfortunately, 

these high levels of spending are now unsustainable 

and both areas will be making fewer awards in 2013. 

Although clearly regrettable, this is unavoidable if 

FEBS is going to be able to continue to support 

biochemistry and molecular biology in the longterm. 

The changes mean that funding in these 

programmes in 2013 and 2014 will need to be 

focused on the most outstanding applications. 

FEBS programmes in 2013 

Despite these concerns, there is much for FEBS to 

be positive about as 2013 begins. Congress funding 

is maintained and we look forward to a spectacular 

and unique event in St Petersburg in July (see pages 

4–6). FEBS has an excellent range of Advanced 

Courses lined up for the year (pages 8–10), with 

many bridging pure biochemistry/molecularbiology 

studies and medical/industrial applications 

– and all at exciting locations across Europe. FEBS 

continues to offer Youth Travel Fund grants for 

most of these events. Although competition for 

Long-Term Fellowships will become fiercer, the full 

range of FEBS Fellowships are also still on offer. 

For Constituent Societies, FEBS will be funding 

National Lectures (e.g. see pages 14–15), a FEBS3+ 

meeting, and education workshops (see pages 11– 

13). All members of the FEBS Executive and other 

Committees (elected to posts by FEBS Council) 

continue to devote their time and energy to FEBS 

and the bioscience community on a pro bono basis, 

with some administrative support only for the 

busier areas of FEBS work. 

On behalf of the FEBS Executive Committee, I 

wish you all the best in your scientific endeavours in 

2013. 

Alan Fersht, FEBS Honorary Treasurer

FEBS CONGRESS 

The 38th FEBS Congress: 

St Petersburg, 6–11 July 2013 

TEN REASONS TO BE PART OF IT 

1. The Congress Advisory Board and the Program 

Committee have built AN OUTSTANDING SCIENTIFIC 

PROGRAM under the motto ‘Mechanisms in Biology’. 

A central attraction is the series of Plenary Lectures 

delivered by distinguished speakers, including ten 

Nobel Laureates, and encompassing a wide spectrum 

of ground-breaking achievement in molecular life 

science research. 

The core of the Congress comprises 38 Symposia 

chaired by internationally renowned scientists. These 

will span all key areas of biochemistry, molecular 

biology, biotechnology and related fields, allowing 

every Congress 

participant to stay on top 

of the latest research in 

his or her area. Programs 

are currently being 

developed with keynote 

and symposium speakers 

from Europe, USA, Japan 

and beyond. To learn 

more on the scope of 

topics and lectures, visit 

the Congress website at 

http://www.febs- 

2013.org/ 

A White Night view of the Peter-and-Paul Fortress, a small island on the River Neva where 

Tsar Peter the Great founded St Petersburg in 1703. 

Plenary Lectures 

Aaron Ciechanover (Israel) The end of the polyubiquitin chain as the 

hallmark proteasomal signal ● Pavel Georgiev (Russia) Chromatin 

insulators and long-distance interactions ● Jules Hoffmann (France) 

Evolutionary perspectives of innate immunity ● Robert Huber (Germany) 

Proteases and their control in health and disease ● Roger D. Kornberg 

(USA) The molecular basis of eukaryotic transcription ● Jean-Marie Lehn 

(France) Perspectives in chemistry: from supramolecular chemistry 

towards adaptive chemistry ● Richard Roberts (USA) Bacterial 

methylomes ● Gottfried Schatz (Switzerland) What it takes to succeed in 

science – and what Europe should do for its young scientists ● Jack W. 

Szostak (USA) The origin of cellular life and the emergence of Darwinian 

evolution ● John E. Walker (UK ) Lecture to be announced ● Chris Walsh 

(USA) The chemical logic and enzymatic machinery of natural product 

assembly lines ● Kurt Wüthrich (USA) Structural genomics with soluble 

and membrane proteins ● Ada E. Yonath (Israel) An ancient chemical 

bonding machine functioning nowadays 

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2. The Congress offers a 

unique chance to visit 

ST PETERSBURG, one of the 

most beautiful European 

cities, in the high season of 

the famous WHITE NIGHTS. 

St Petersburg is located on 

the delta of the River Neva on 

a series of islands, and its 

many waterways have led to 

the title ‘Venice of the North’. 

The city is renowned for its 

culture, beauty, splendour and 

rich history, with numerous 

palaces, cathedrals, 

museums, monuments and 

parks. As a result of the 

northerly location of 

St Petersburg, the nights at the time of the Congress will be barely dark. This time coincides with the international 

White Nights festival, during which one highlight is the raising of illuminated drawbridges across the River Neva.

4. The Congress will bring together distinguished 

researchers and young scientists from academic 

institutions and industry across the fields of 

biochemistry, molecular biology and related disciplines, 

and from Europe and beyond – providing an EXCELLENT 

FORUM FOR INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC EXCHANGE. 

Alongside the plenary lectures and symposia, poster 

sessions at the 38th FEBS Congress will offer a great 

opportunity for presentation of research results and 

sharing of novel ideas, and will be enhanced by guided 

poster tours. In the Congress venue, the poster area is 

adjacent to the exhibition hall, with displays of 

equipment, products and services of exhibitors and 

sponsors. Tea and coffee served in the same area will 

help provide a pleasant and relaxing backdrop for 

continued informal discussion in small groups of those 

interested in a specific subject. 

6. In addition to its financial 

support for participants of the 

Young Scientists’ Forum at the 

Congress, FEBS will also be 

supporting the attendance of up to 

300 young scientists through FEBS 

CONGRESS BURSARIES. 

Candidates should be PhD students or junior postdoctoral 

fellows (within 5 years of completion of a PhD) 

and under 35 years of age, and present a 

communication at the Congress as a first author. Full 

eligibility criteria and other details are given in the 

Bursaries section of the Congress website. The bursary 

application deadline is 10 March 2013. 


8. RUSSIAN BALLET has played an important part in the cultural life of 

St Petersburg, and will feature in the 38th FEBS Congress Opening 

Ceremony. 

For those who are interested, there is also the chance to join a 

unique excursion to Mariinsky Theatre, one of the oldest in Russia and at 

various times in the past the place of work for composers Tchaikovsky 

and Stravinsky, and renowned dancers including Vaslav Nijinsky, Rudolf 

Nureyev and Mikhail Baryshnikov. 

3. The Congress will be preceded by the 13th FEBS YOUNG SCIENTISTS’ 

FORUM (YSF). This event provides an excellent opportunity for young 

scientists from across the FEBS area to get together, present their 

scientific results, and critically discuss novel ideas, trends and features, 

achievements and hypotheses. 

Grants for over 100 of the most outstanding young scientists will cover 

accommodation and participation in both the YSF and the FEBS Congress. 

For more details go to the YSF section of the Congress website. The YSF 

application deadline is 1 February 2013. 

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5. Be inspired by RUSSIAN 

NOBEL LAUREATES: St Petersburg 

is an alma mater for them. Ivan 

Pavlov (conditioned reflex), Ilia 

Mechnikov (phagocytosis), 

Nikolay Semenov (chemical 

transformation) and Peter 

Kapitza (low-temperature physics) worked here, and 

the father of the periodic table of elements, Dmitry 

Mendeleev, was a Professor at St Petersburg University. 

The physicist Professor Zhores Alferov, one of the latest 

Russian Nobel Laureates, is among the Congress 

organizers. 

To learn more about Russian Nobel Laureates and 

about Alfred Nobel, the Nobel Prize founder, join the 

’Nobels in St Petersburg’ Congress Tour. 

7. As a complement to the core 

scientific program, FEBS will be 

organizing workshops on topics of 

more general interest to students, 

researchers and educators. 

A special SCIENCE & SOCIETY 

SESSION is devoted to the emerging 

area of personalized cancer 

medicine; an EDUCATION 

WORKSHOP will look at molecular 

life sciences education for the needs 

of industry; and WOMEN IN SCIENCE EVENTS will 

include a lunch, a seminar on career issues, and 

presentation of the 2013 FEBS/EMBO Women in 

Science Award.

9. The Congress Organizers have arranged FREE ENTRY 

VISAs and pre-booked A VARIETY OF HOTELS to 

facilitate particpants’ arrangements for the Congress. 

Most foreign visitors would need a Russian entry visa 

to travel to St Petersburg, but special instructions have 

been issued to all Russian Embassies/Consulates, so that 

Congress participants can apply for an entry visa to 

Russia free of charge. Participants will receive 


6 


documents from the Congress Secretariat to accompany 

their visa application after registration. 

For accommodation at the Congress, participants can 

choose from hotels ranging from budget to luxury, as 

listed in the accommodation section of the Congress 

website. The main Congress hotel, Park Inn by Radisson 

Pribaltiyskaya, gives wonderful views of the Gulf of 

Finland and is also conveniently located near the 

Congress venue: LENEXPO Congress Center. 

10. There is a rich program of 

CONGRESS TOURS available for 

Congress participants, from a traditional 

city bus tour to special interest trips and 

tours further afield. For details, go to 

the Social Program section of the 

Congress website. 

For example, there are tours to the 

nearby imperial palaces and parks of 

Peterhof and Tsarskoye Selo – among 

St Petersburg’s greatest visitor 

attractions. By contrast, a tour to the 

Shuvalovka folk village offers a step 

back in time to peasant houses and 

traditional Russian crafts. 

All Congress participants are invited 

to an exclusive guided excursion to the 

majestic Hermitage Museum at night – 

it will open its doors for Congress 

participants only for a rare opportunity 

to enjoy masterpieces of European art 

and imperial interiors in a quiet 

atmosphere without crowds of people. 

WELCOME TO ST PETERSBURG! 

From the Russian Society of Biochemistry 

Marina Tretyak 

Program Committee Secretary 

http://www.febs-2013.org Program_Com@febs-2013.org 

Congress Bursary Application deadline: 10 March 2013 

Early Registration deadline: 5 April 2013 

KEY CONGRESS DATES 

Congress: 6–11 July 2013 

Online Registration: opens 5 January 2013 

KEY YSF DATES 

Young Scientists’ Forum (YSF): 3–6 July 2013 

YSF Application deadline: 1 February 2013 

(top) Winter Palace and Palace Square with 

Alexander Column – White Night view; 

(bottom) Peterhof, a grand summer palace of 

Peter the Great, inspired by Versailles and other 

European palaces. 

Abstract Submission deadline: 15 April 2013 

Regular Registration deadline: 1 June 2013

The number of FEBS Fellowships awarded in 

recent years has increased markedly, and in 2012 

total FEBS Fellowship expenditure was over €2.8 

million, with the majority of that arising from the 

~70 post-doctoral scientists supported as Long- 

Term Fellows in host laboratories across the FEBS 

area during the year. As explained in the Preface of 

this issue of FEBS News (page 3), in the light of an 

anticipated fall in income from its journals, FEBS is 

now downsizing its Fellowships programme, and 

particularly the awarding of new Long-Term 

Fellowships, where FEBS is committed to stipends 

for up to 3 years. Nevertheless, the full range of 

Fellowships continues to be offered by FEBS, with 

new funding in 2013 to be focused on the most 

outstanding applications. 

In 2012, applications for Long-Term Fellowships 

(awarded for 1 year in the first instance and 

renewable for up to 3 years) continued to increase 

(up 42% compared with 2008). In the spring call of 

2012 there were 86 applications and six were 

awarded (7%), whereas in the autumn call of 2012 

the number of eligible applications was 133 but the 

number to be awarded has been decreased to no 

more than four (3%). These figures are significantly 

down on the success rate of around 16% before 

2012. The Fellowships Committee is seeking cofunding 

support for its Fellowships Programme 

from 2014, but a single (autumn) applications 

Pre-doctoral Fellowships 

• FEBS Summer Fellowships: awarded to promising 

graduate students in a FEBS country wishing to gain 

practical scientific experience in an institution located 

in another country within the FEBS area. 

• FEBS Collaborative Experimental Scholarships for 

Central and Eastern Europe: awarded to PhD students 

from Central and Eastern Europe to support experimental 

work in a laboratory in Western Europe; usually for 2 or 

3 months. 

Pre-/post-doctoral Fellowships 

• FEBS Short-Term Fellowships: awarded to postdoctoral 

researchers or advanced pre-doctoral students 

for the purpose of scientific collaboration, advanced 

training or employment of techniques not available at 

the candidates’ usual place of work; usually for up to 2 

months. 

FEBS PROGRAMMES: UPDATES 

FEBS Fellowships news 

7 


deadline is nevertheless anticipated in 2014. Despite 

the cutbacks in the award of new Fellowships, the 

standards expected from FEBS Fellows for the 

award of extensions of Long-Term Fellowships into 

a second and third year of research will remain as 

before for existing and new FEBS Fellows. 

Return-To-Europe Fellowships (awarded for 2 

years to support outstanding postdoctoral scientists 

returning to the European area) are also becoming 

increasingly competitive. In 2012 there were 18 

eligible applications, of which two were awarded. 

This scheme was added to the FEBS Fellowships 

portfolio in 2008 on a trial basis and was due for 

assessment by FEBS Council in 2012. It has passed 

this initial scrutiny and will now continue for another 

two years before re-examination in 2014. 

In 2013, the FEBS Fellowships Committee 

expects to award 10 new Long-Term plus Return- 

To-Europe Fellowships (in total), 25 Short-Term 

Fellowships, 4 Collaborative Experimental 

Scholarships for Central & Eastern Europe, and 4 

Summer Fellowships. There will be two calls for 

Long-Term and Return-to-Europe Fellowships 

(April 1 and October 1). Summer Fellowships 

applications are also due by April 1, while those for 

Short-Term and Collaborative Experimental 

Scholarships can arrive throughout the year. 

Vicente Rubio 

Chair, FEBS Fellowships Committee 

An Overview of FEBS Fellowships 

Post-doctoral Fellowships 

• FEBS Long-Term Fellowships: awarded to support 

long-term visits for scientific collaboration or advanced 

training; originally granted for 1 year and may be 

renewed for a further year up to a maximum of 3 years. 

FEBS Long-Term Fellows are eligible for the 

FEBS Distinguished Young Investigator Award for 

excellence in research, and FEBS Fellowship 

Follow-up Research Fund grants towards research 

costs on return to work in their country of origin. 

• FEBS Return-to-Europe Fellowships: awarded to 

support outstanding scientists who left the European 

area for post-doctoral training elsewhere but now wish 

to return to Europe for a post-doctoral position with a 

view to pursuing an independent research career; 

granted for 2 years. 

For full details, see the Fellowships section of the FEBS website.

2013 Advanced Courses 

In 2013, FEBS is providing financial support for an 

extensive range of courses and meetings on 

contemporary topics in biochemistry, molecular 

biology and related biosciences, taking place at 

attractive locations throughout Europe. The full 

list of events – spanning Advanced Lecture 

Courses, Practical Courses, Workshops, Joint 

FEBS/EMBO Lecture Courses, Joint FEBS/ 

Biochemical Society events, and Special Meetings – 

is set out over the following pages. As well as 

providing updates on the latest research, and 

excellent opportunities for collaborations and 

networking, most events have a strong educational 

emphasis and are particularly valuable for early-career 

post-doctoral scientists and PhD students. A limited 

number of FEBS Youth Travel Fund grants are 

available for most courses to assist attendance of 

young scientists. Further details are available from 

the individual course websites or course organizers. 

News for prospective organizers of future 

courses 

Applications to organize future FEBS courses are 

invited from all scientists who have an international 

reputation and merits in teaching, and who are keen 

to distribute the knowledge of their field to young 

people starting their careers in science. Full 

guidelines about submitting an application can be 

found on the Courses section of the FEBS website. 

Differently from previous years, and reflecting the 

need to reduce the recent high levels of 

expenditure on FEBS Advanced Courses (see 

Preface, page 3), we will have only one call in 2013, 

and so the applications deadline for funding of 

2014 courses has been shifted to 1 April 2013. 

FEBS is seeking to extend its cooperation with 

other societies and organizations in the life sciences 

for the joint organization of meetings, as in the 

‘Joint FEBS/EMBO Lecture Courses’. In addition, 

co-funding/sponsorship of FEBS events by other 

relevant funding bodies, commercial organizations 

and industry is welcomed, as before – not only to 

enhance financial support but also to emphasize 

the wider scientific and technological importance 

of the proposed topics (assuming that the terms 

and conditions of co-funding are in agreement with 

the FEBS policy). 

Jaak Järv 

Chair, FEBS Advanced Courses Committee 


FEBS Advanced Courses 2013 

8 


Past FEBS Advanced Courses, bringing together experts and 

young scientists working in specific fields. The three courses 

pictured have new gatherings in 2013: (from top) cancer 

signal transduction, Spetses (J. Bos); matrix pathobiology, 

signaling and targets, Kos (N. Karamanos); and 

fungal pathogens, La Colle-sur-Loup (C. d’Enfert). 

FEBS Advanced Lecture Courses 

HFP2013: Molecular mechanisms of host– 

pathogen interactions and virulence in human 

fungal pathogens 

La Colle-sur-Loup, France; May 25–31, 2013 

Course website: www.pasteur.fr/hfp2013 

The course has been designed to provide students with both 

an overview of current knowledge and an update on the most 

recent advancements in molecular research on fungal pathogens. 

Symposia topics include: comparative and evolutionary genomics, 

signalling and morphogenesis, mating, host–fungus interactions, 

cell wall dynamics, antifungal resistance and development, animal 

models of fungal infections. Workshops and poster sessions will 

provide participants with the opportunity to present their results. 

Applications deadline: February 15, 2013 

(continued)

FEBS Advanced Lecture Courses 

(continued) 

Molecular mechanisms in signal transduction and 

cancer 

Spetses, Greece; August 16–24, 2013 

http://cgc.umcutrecht.nl/upcoming-events/spetses- 

2013/ 

The course will focus on the importance of targeting signaling 

pathways in cancer. Leaders in the fields will go back to 

basics but also bring participants into the future of this timely 

topic. Social interactions are an important aspect of the 

meeting. 

Applications deadline: April 1, 2013 

Nuclear receptor signaling in physiology and 

disease 

Spetses, Greece; August 25–30, 201 

http://ki.se/ki/jsp/polopoly.jsp? 

d=26760&a=153644&l=en 

The course will emphasize how nuclear receptors, a 

paradigm for signal-regulated transcription factors, control 

development and physiology, how dysregulation of nuclear 

receptor signaling contributes to human diseases, and how 

nuclear receptors have emerged as significant drug targets. 

Applications deadline: May 20, 2013 

Immune system: genes, receptors and regulation 

Rabac, Croatia; September 14–22, 2013 

Organizer: Dr Hans-Reimer Rodewald, Email 

This course will cover all aspects of modern cellular and 

molecular immunology. Special emphasis will be placed on 

tolerance and immune regulation, regulatory T cell 

differentiation, the differentiation and functions of innate 

lymphoid cells, mucosal immunity, host–commensal 

interactions, dendritic cells, inflammation and metabolism, 

epigenetic control of virus spreading and tropism, HIV 

infection, and the origins of lymphocyte malignancies. 

Applications deadline: July 1, 2013 

Matrix pathobiology, signaling and molecular 

targets 

Kos, Greece; September 26 – October 1, 2013 

http://www.febs-mpst2013.upatras.gr/ 

General lectures/tutorials: glycobiology, proteoglycans, 

metalloproteinases, cell surface receptors, matrix 

mediators. Plenary symposia: matrix pathobiology, 

interactions and functions of matrix macromolecules, 

glycobiology and metabolic regulation of ECM molecules, 

cell receptor signaling and ECM-based nanotechnology, 

signaling and disease molecular targeting, matrix regulation 

in health and disease, cancer stem cell biology and 

biomarkers. 



9 


FEBS Joint Lecture Courses 

A Joint FEBS / Biochemical Society Focused Meeting 

Exploring kinomes: pseudokinases and beyond 

Cambridge, UK; March 24–26, 2013 

www.biochemistry.org/tabid/379/MeetingNo/SA147/view/ 

Conference/default.aspxconferences@biochemistry.org 

Topics: Pseudokinases: definition and experimental 

challenges; structural, biochemical and chemical biology 

approaches to studying the kinome/pseudokinome; unusual 

and atypical protein kinases; pseudokinases in human 

disease; non-mammalian pseudokinases; pseudokinases as 

drug targets; histidine kinases and protein kinase evolution; 

hot topics in pseudokinase research 

Applications deadline: January 18, 2013 

A joint FEBS/EMBO Lecture Course 

Biomembranes: molecular architecture, dynamics 

and function 

Cargèse, Corsica, France; June 10–20, 2013 

testweb.science.uu.nl/cargese2013 

This is an excellent opportunity to acquire an integrated 

overview of the structure, function and genesis of biological 

membranes, to gain more insight into the possibilities offered 

by different disciplines, and to learn about the multiple 

approaches, techniques and specialties in membrane research. 

Applications deadline: March 30, 2013 


Host–microbes interactions 

Spetses, Greece; August 30 – September 7, 2013 

http://events.embo.org/13-host-microbe/index.html 

The course will provide a timely update on critical 

microbiology themes (bacterial communities, meta-genomics, 

microbial diversity, cellular microbiology, etc.), while 

encouraging interactions between lecturers and students 

within a unique environment. 



Protein interactions, assemblies and human disease 

Spetses, Greece; September 16–26, 2013 

www.spetsai.org 

The course aims to link a system-oriented view of protein– 

protein interactions with the underlying molecular principles 

and their implications in human disease. The course will 

integrate robust experimental approaches with a more global 

understanding of the many interactions that proteins are 

involved in. Topics: interactomes, networks and disease, 

whole-cell structural studies, proteostasis, biophysics in the 

cellular environment, protein folding/misfolding/aggregation, 

proteins in therapy, membrane protein folding, telomere 

biology and structure. 


(continued)

FEBS Joint Lecture Courses (continued) 

A joint FEBS / Biochemical Society Lecture Course 

Cell-penetrating peptides: design, synthesis and 

applications 

London, UK; October 7–10, 2013 

Course website: www.biochemistry.org/Conferences/ 

AllConferences/tabid/379/View/Conference/MeetingNo/ 

IND106/Default.aspx 

Topics: Applications of CPP for drug delivery; cell-selective 

targeting of CPP; CPP as signal transduction modulators; decoy 

and siRNA oligonucleotide delivery strategies; homeoproteins 

and gene expression; intracellular delivery of nanoparticles; 

prediction of CPP and prodrugs; toxicity and transport of CPP 

Applications deadline: August 31, 2013 

FEBS Workshops 

Nucleotide excision repair and interstrand 

crosslink repair – from molecules to man 

Smolenice, Slovakia; June 9–13, 2013 

www.exon.sk/smolenice2013 

EU and US scientists will discuss how protein machines 

assemble and sort through genomic DNA to identify specific 

damaged sites that are repaired through the two repair 

pathways critical for normal human health and development: 

nucleotide excision repair or interstrand crosslink repair. 

Applications deadline: April 1, 2013 

Biological surfaces and interfaces 

Sant Feliu de Guixols, Spain; June 30 – July 5, 2013 

Organizer: Dr Ralf Richter, Email 

The workshop aims to stimulate exchange of ideas between 

biologists, chemists, physicists, engineers and physicians in 

this rapidly growing field, whose applications include 

biosensors, biochips, tissue engineering, medical implants, 

stem cell therapies, nanomedicine and drug delivery. Topics 

will include: biomimetic surface platforms; biomembrane and 

supramolecular materials; controlling cellular responses by 

designed and intelligent surfaces; soft matter science; 

nanotechnology; optical, magnetic and mechanical detection 

systems with down to single-molecule sensitivity; bioarrays. 


Translating epigenomes into function: a nextgeneration 

challenge for human disease 

Capri (Napoli), Italy; October 13–16, 2013 

Organizer: Dr Sandro de Falco, Email 

The meeting will focus on key aspects of epigenetic inheritance, 

looking at emerging strategies for data integration in the era 

of next-generation genomics. It will highlight advances in the 

dynamic cross-talk of epigenetic regulators within genomes, 

and how it controls complex processes and disease states. 

Applications deadline: July 15, 2013 


10 


FEBS Practical Courses 

State-of the-art infection models for human 

pathogenic fungi 

Jena, Germany; February 17 – March 2, 2013 

www.hki-jena.de/mpm 

Human pathogenic fungi frequently cause superficial or 

invasive infections. In this course, hands-on training on fungal 

infection models will be provided, and expert lectures will 

provide state-of-the-art scientific background and cover 

further scientific aspects of host–fungal interactions. 

Applications deadline: now closed 

Yeast systems biology 

Gothenburg, Sweden; June 3–10, 2013 

Organizer: Dr Stefan Hohmann, Email 

The course goal is to enable PhD students and young postdoctoral 

scientists, with a background in experimental biology 

or medicine and/or in the theoretical sciences (physics, 

mathematics, engineering), to integrate mathematical 

modelling and simulation with experimental research for 

solving biological or medical questions. Particular emphasis 

will be on dynamic modelling of cellular pathways and 

analyses at single-cell level. Yeast is used as the experimental 

organism but the principles taught apply to any organism, 

including humans. 


FEBS Special Meetings 

Eurobiofilms 2013 

Ghent, Belgium; September 9–12, 2013 

www.eurobiofilms2013.ics.dk 

This third European congress on microbial biofilms will 

provide a platform for all scientists studying basic and clinical 

aspects of bacterial and fungal biofilms to present novel data 

and exchange new information. The multidisciplinary and 

diverse program will be delivered through various plenary 

sessions and symposia, with leading scientists in the field as 

speakers and/or chairpersons. Several educational preconference 

workshops will take place on 9 September. 

Abstract submission deadline: March 15, 2013 

JAK/STAT signalling: model systems and beyond 

Sheffield, UK; September 12–15, 2013 

www.bms.dept.shef.ac.uk/jakstat/ 

This meeting brings together world leaders in the field of JAK/ 

STAT pathway research in state of the art conference facilities 

on the edge of the Peak District in Sheffield. Latest 

developments in the field and an emphasis on recent insights 

gained from fish and insect model systems promise to provide 

an interactive meeting with many opportunities to forge 

interdisciplinary links. 

Applications deadline: August 2, 2013


FEBS Education: recent workshops 

The FEBS Education Committee organized two 

workshops in the last quarter of 2012 with the aim 

of promoting biochemistry and molecular biology 

education at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. 

Brief reports are given here; more detailed 

information will be available from the Education 

Committee page of the FEBS website. 

Armenia (Yerevan): 8–9 October 2012 

This workshop, arising from discussions during the 

visit of the FEBS Working Group on Integration to 

Yerevan in October 2011, focused on ‘Student- 

Centred Learning (Biomolecular Education and 

Scientific Skills) for Postgraduate Students and 

Young Scientists’. The event was organized by the 

FEBS Education Committee in collaboration with 

the Armenian Association of Biochemists (AAB), 

chaired by Prof. Guevork Kevorkian, and the 

Armenian Young Biologists Association (YBA), 

chaired by Arsen Gasparyan. 

There were around 70 participants from mostly 

Yerevan (with registration fees kindly taken care of 

by the AAB); in addition, FEBS provided a 

fellowship to support attendance of a young 

participant from outside of Yerevan. 

Introductory talks from FEBS and from the AAB 

(in which we learned of 

the recent sad loss of 

the late President Prof. 

Armen Galoyan) were 

followed by a key 

presentation by Dr N. 

Hovhannisyan (Yerevan 

State University) on 

‘Integrated Learning 

Curriculum in 

Biosciences’. The 

ensuing student-centred 

learning sessions then 

focused on ‘Problem- 

Based Learning’ and 

‘Tools in Basic Science 

Education – New 

Educational 

Technologies’. Next, 

the participants were 

divided into small 

groups for structured 

round-table discussions 

on various topics, as 

11 


selected by the participants: ‘Problem-based 

learning (PBL)’, ‘Educational technologies’, ‘Science 

for the public’, ‘Funds & programmes’, and ‘Critical 

Reading of Scientific Literature’. 

The second day of the workshop included 

sessions on ‘Trends in PhD education’ and 

‘Scientific skills’ (Finding one’s way in the internet; 

Tips for reading and writing a scientific article; 

Tips for writing a research project proposal). A 

session on ‘Professional development of young 

scientists’ (Preparing a CV; Student selforganization; 

Best-practice example from Armenia) 

was particularly well appreciated by the young 

scientists. Again, at the end of the day, small-group 

structured round-table discussions were held, where 

each participant had the opportunity to attend a 

different topic. 

In feedback on the event, over 95% of the 

participants rated the workshop as ‘excellent’. All 

slides, and reading material from selected Wiley– 

Blackwell book chapters, were uploaded on the 

FEBS education platform. 

Our appreciation goes to our Armenian hosts 

and the participants in addition to FEBS, the AAB 

and the YBA for making this exciting event 

possible. 

FEBS Yerevan education workshop participants with FEBS trainers (Keith Elliott, UK; Angel 

Herráez, ES; Tomáš Zima, CZ; Wolfgang Nellen, DE; and Gül Güner Akdogan TR; supported by 

Mathias Sprinzl, DE). The arrangements in the splendid Youth Centre of Yerevan (supported by 

the Youth Foundation of Armenia) were well organized by the Assistant to Secretary of the AAB, 

Flora Sarukhanyan, PhD, and coordinated by Hovakim Zakaryan (Secretary of External 

Communications Committee of the YBA).

UK (Cambridge): 17–18 December 2012 

The Cambridge workshop, held jointly with the UK 

Biochemical Society, focused on improving the 

student experience and the teaching of transferable 

employment skills. It was hosted in the historic 

surroundings of Gonville and Caius College, 

Cambridge University, thanks to Prof. Sir Alan 

Fersht, FEBS Treasurer (and the college Master). 

The workshop was the first to be jointly organized 

by the FEBS and the Biochemical Society’s 

Education Committees. It was dedicated to the 

memory of Prof. Edward J. Wood (1941–2008), who 

was the founding 

chair of the Education 

Committees of both 

the Biochemical 

Society and FEBS. 

The event included a 

heartfelt tribute to his 

accomplishments in 

science and 

education, given by 

Gül Güner Akdogan 

and attended by his 

family in addition to 

the workshop 

participants. 

Participation in the workshop was from across 

Prof. Edward J. Wood during the 

2007 FEBS Congress, Vienna, AT. 

the educational establishment, encompassing 

probationary lecturers, postgraduate students, postdoctoral 

fellows, teaching fellows and academics. 

Together with the invited speakers and the 

administrative staff, there were around 70 

participants. A third of the participants were from 

the FEBS region outside of the UK, including 

Armenia, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, 

Estonia, Germany, Georgia, Hungary, Ireland, 

Poland, Spain, Sweden, Turkey and Ukraine, and 

there was also one participant from Nigeria. FEBS 

allocated bursaries for partial support of two PhD 

students from Armenia, one young scientist from 

Turkey, and one young scientist from Georgia. This 

event was approved by the Society of Biology (UK) 

for the purpose of Continuing Professional 

Development (CPD) and is counted as 45 CPD 

credits. 

The two-day workshop was divided into four 

main sessions. ‘Session 1: Improving student 

engagement’ included talks on the use of enquiry 

(Natalie Rowley, Birmingham, UK), technology 

(Neil Morris, Leeds, UK) and shadow modules 

(Sheila Dargan, Cardiff, UK). Talks in ‘Session 2: 


12 


The acquisition of key generic and scientific 

skills’ encompassed ‘Virtual practical classes’ (Gus 

Cameron, Bristol, UK), ‘Bridging the gap between 

practical classes and research projects’ (Francesco 

Michelangeli, Birmingham, UK), ‘Using podcasts 

to aid communication’ (Jeremy Pritchard, 

Birmingham, UK), and ‘Bioscience Horizons, an 

undergraduate journal’ (Neil Morris). ‘Session 3: 

Assessments and feedback’ included stimulating 

talks from Erica Morris (The Higher Education 

Academy, UK), Jon Scott (Leicester, UK; student 

and staff engagement with feedback) and Julian 

Park (Reading, UK; different methods for giving 

feedback). In ‘Session 4: Careers and improving 

employability’ Detlev Riesner (Düsseldorf, DE) 

described what employers want from bioscience 

graduates, Wolfgang Nellen (Kassel, DE) focused 

on communication with a nonscience audience as a 

key employment skill, Chris Willmott (Leicester, 

UK) gave interesting information on careers and 

careers fairs, and Richard Reece (Manchester, UK) 

discussed accreditation of bioscience degrees. 

In addition to learning from these presentations, 

attendees participated in discussion groups each day 

and benefited from a poster session. The publishers 

Wiley-Blackwell and Portland Press also gave 

informative and helpful presentations. 

Excellent feedback was received from the 

participants in general, as well as good suggestions 

for improvement, such as more time for discussion 

and posters, and providing a summary of the smallgroup 

discussions to the whole group. 

The FEBS education platform has been uploaded 

with slides from the presentations as well as the 

relevant book chapters from Wiley-Blackwell (the 

latter for a period of six weeks after the workshop). 

In conclusion, this workshop was successful in 

many ways: in providing an excellent platform for 

the sharing of innovations in molecular bioscience 

education, in presenting ‘tips’ for the careers of 

young scientists, in helping young interested 

academics to promote their educational skills, and 

in bringing together those interested in molecular 

bioscience education not only from all over the UK 

but from the entire FEBS area. 

I thank everyone who made this workshop a 

memorable one, and particularly Francesco 

Michelangeli, Sheila Dargan and Frances van 

Klaveren from the Biochemical Society. 

Gül Güner Akdoğan 

Chair, FEBS Education Committee


Crick Memorial Meeting – 60th Anniversary of DNA Structure 

Cambridge, UK 

25th April 2013 

To commemorate the 60th anniversary of the publication of the 

structure of DNA, and the approaching centenary of the birth of 

Francis Crick, FEBS and the Agouron Institute are sponsoring a 

unique and historic meeting to be given by colleagues who were 

present at the time and by historians of science. This will be the last 

decennial meeting in which those colleagues are likely to be able to 

present lectures. 

The meeting will take place in Cambridge, UK (Babbage Lecture 

Theatre, New Museums Site, Pembroke Street) on 25th April 2013. 

Tickets must be obtained in advance from www.cambridge.gov.uk/ 

boxoffice (booking opens 1 February 2013; booking fee £1). 

Preliminary Programme 

1.30–2.00 pm Matt Ridley (Crick, the early years and work at the Admiralty) 

2.00–2.15 pm Ray Gosling (Photo 51) 

2.15–2.45 pm James Watson (Eureka moments from 28th February) 

2.45–3.00 pm Jack Dunitz (April 1953: Oxford to Cambridge with Sydney Brenner, 

Dorothy Hodgkin and Leslie Orgel) 

3.00–4.00 pm Tea 

4.00–4.45 pm Sydney Brenner (Triplet code) 

4.45–5.15 pm Matthew Meselson (Semi-conservative DNA replication) 

5.15–5.45 pm Robert Olby (Speaking out on controversial subjects) 

5.45–6.00 pm John Mollon (Crick and Caius College, and the Crick Memorial) 

FEBS Education Events 2013 

Molecular Life Sciences Education for the Needs of Industry 

8 July 2013; St Petersburg, Russia (38th FEBS Congress) 

Teaching Molecular Evolution 

13 July 2013; Gdansk, Poland 

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education 

October 2013 (provisional date); Tbilisi, Georgia 

For all enquiries on education events, please contact: 

Gül Güner Akdogan (gul.guner@deu.edu.tr), 

Chair, FEBS Education Committee 

13 


Babbage Lecture Theatre: map and disability access information 

The Agouron Institute: www.agi.org 

FEBS 3+ Meeting 2013 

IX Parnas Conference: 

Proteins from Birth to Death 

29 September – 2 October 2013 

Jerusalem, Israel 

Co-organized by the Israel Society for 

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, the 

Ukrainian Biochemical Society and the Polish 

Biochemical Society 

For further details, please contact: 

Abdussalam Azem (azema@tauex.tau.ac.il), 

Organizing Committee

FEBS COMMUNITY NEWS 

Constituent Societies’ meetings: FEBS National Lecture Awards 

FEBS supports plenary lectures to enhance the 

scientific meetings of its Constituent Societies, 

through FEBS National Lecture Awards. These 

enable a distinguished scientist working in a 

different FEBS country to the one hosting the event 

to present a lecture at the meeting, by supporting 

the speaker’s travel and accommodation costs. Full 

details of the scheme are given on the National 

Lectures sections of the FEBS website. 

Prof. Dr Rita Gerardy-Schahn (Institute for Cellular 

Chemistry, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, 

Germany) received a FEBS National Lecture 

Award at the recent SFBBM–SFB 2012 Congress, 

which was co-organized by the French Society of 

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and the 

French Society of Biophysics, in partnership with 

the French Society of Photobiology, several 

thematic groups [Archaea, Biostruc, GGMM 

(modelling)] and the Grenoble Alliance for 

Integrated Structural and Cellular Biology (GRAL). 

Rita Gerardy-Schahn gave an outstanding 

presentation entitled ‘Brain development needs 

sugar: a view on the role of (poly)sialo-glycotopes’. 

She has used a variety of experimental approaches – 

genetic mouse models, genome analyses, cell and in 

vitro biochemical experiments – to demonstrate the 

importance of polysialic acid postranslational 

modifications for creating cellular plasticity during 

mouse ontogeny, and of enzymes of the sialylation 

pathway in human brain development and the 

acquisition of higher cognitive functions. The Congress 

aimed to show the success of multi-level approaches, 

and this was brilliantly demonstrated here in the 

wide fields of glycobiology and neurobiology. 

The Congress, which took place in Grenoble, 

France, from 21st to 23rd November 2012, was a 

real success, with 300 participants and a rich 

scientific program. Under the heading ‘From 

molecular mechanisms to integrated life processes’ 

the Congress covered both new methods and 

discoveries in the fields of host–pathogen 

interactions, compartmentalization, signalling, 

regulation, genomic integrity and proteome 

plasticity – across 13 sessions comprising no less 

14 


Two recent awardees were plenary speakers at a 

meeting of the French Biochemical and Molecular 

Biology Society (held with the French Society of 

Biophysics) and at a joint meeting of the Polish 

Biochemical Society and the German Society for 

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. The 

summaries below provide brief details of the 

awards and give some insight into the Societies’ 

meetings. 

Presentation of FEBS National Lecture award to Prof. Dr Rita 

Gerardy-Schahn (left) by Dr Christine Ebel. 

than 82 speakers, and with more than 100 poster 

presentations. Specific sessions included the 

Teaching and Technology Transfer round-tables, 

the Young Investigator session, and a special 

lecture dedicated to Turing. Eight laureates of the 

organizing societies presented their work, and 12 

poster prizes were awarded. Bursaries supported 

the attendance of 11 young scientists. All 

participants enjoyed the visit and cocktail dinner in 

Grenoble museum. The organizers are grateful to 

Jules Hoffmann (University of Strasbourg) and 

Ernst Bamberg (University of Frankfurt), who 

opened and closed the Congress, respectively. 

For more details on this event, see: 

http://sfbbm-sfb2012.org 

Christine Ebel, Organizer 

Institut de Biologie Structurale, Grenoble, France 

Bruno Kieffer, Organizer 

Institut de Génétique et de Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire, 

Strasbourg, France

A first joint meeting between the Polish 

Biochemical Society (PTBioch) and the German 

Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology 

(GBM) was held from 11th to 14th September 2012 

in Poznań, Poland, organized by the Poznan Branch 

of the Polish Biochemical Society. The meeting was 

also the 47th Congress of the Polish Biochemical 

Society. 

Under the main theme ‘Biochemistry for Health 

and Environment’ the meeting covered important 

and diverse aspects of human, animal and plant 

function at the level of gene expression, metabolism 

and cell motility, and their sensitivity to intracellular 

and environmental signals under conditions of 

health and pathology. 

The meeting brought together leading 

biochemists, medicinal chemists, pharmacologists, 

biotechnologists, molecular biologists and cell 

biologists to discuss and present the latest important 

developments, including the challenges involved in 

the dynamic and fast-moving fields of drug 

discovery and therapy. The 66 lectures and 59 oral 

presentations were given by excellent speakers from 

Poland and Germany, and the meeting offered its 

600 participants a great opportunity to open new 

avenues, establish new contacts and start new 

collaborations. 300 young scientists attended the 

meeting, and a Mozolowski Award was given for 

the most interesting results presented in poster form 

from a young scientist. 

During the meeting, the FEBS National Lecture 

Award was presented to Prof. Dr Volker A. 

Erdmann (Institute of Chemistry/Biochemistry, 

Free University of Berlin, Germany), who gave an 

outstanding presentation entitled ‘The discovery of 

Spiegelzymes and their potentials in molecular 

biology and medicine’. Prof. Erdmann and his 

co-workers designed ‘Spiegelmers’ in the 1990s, 

which are mirror image (L-form) high-affinity 

nucleic acids that can bind target molecules of 

diverse size. They are similar to aptamers and, given 

their specific binding and ease of synthesis, are of 

great interest for molecular medicine as diagnostic 

or therapeutic tools. One advantage of Spiegelmers 

is that they are very stable in human sera or living 


15 


cells, since there are 

no naturally 

occurring nucleases 

that can hydrolyse 

them. 

In his talk, Prof. 

Erdmann described 

for the first time 

mirror image 

catalytic nucleic 

acids, which he 

calls ‘Spiegelzymes’, 

that hydrolyse L- 

RNA molecules in 

a sequence-specific 

manner. The mirror 

image nucleic acid 

zymes are based 

upon the known hammerhead ribozyme and 

Prof. Dr Volker A. Erdmann, delivering 

his FEBS National Lecture 

DNAzyme structures, but contain L-ribose or Ldeoxyribose 

instead of the naturally occurring Dribose 

or D-deoxyribose, respectively. The 

Spiegelzymes showed similar hydrolytic activities 

with the same L-RNA target molecules in vitro and 

in vivo. Thus, these Spiegelzymes have potential as 

perfect antidotes against Spiegelmers – for example, 

to counter drug side effects. Spiegelzymes are of 

much interest to a range of disciplines – from 

astrobiology, to chirality research to molecular 

evolution. 

Prof. Erdmann also presented findings from 

X-ray analysis of crystallized Spiegelmer structures 

under microgravity conditions at the International 

Space Station, which uncovered interesting 

differences between the binding of Mg 2+ and water 

by the D- and L- form of the nucleic acids. 

The FEBS National Lecture was not only unique 

because of its scientific content, but also because it 

demonstrated a long-lasting collaboration between 

Prof. Erdmann’s group in Berlin and the Bioorganic 

Chemistry Institute of the Polish Academy of 

Science in Poznan. It therefore highlighted very well 

the potential of Polish–German collaborations, 

which was particularly fitting for this first joint 

meeting of the Polish and German societies. 

For more details on this event, including links to 

the abstract book and photos see: 

www.biochemistry-poznan2012.pl/ 

Maria Rybczyńska 

Chair of Organizing Committee 

Poznan University of Medical Sciences, 

Poland


Golden jubilee of the Hungarian Biochemical Society 

The Hungarian Biochemical Society 

celebrated the 50th anniversary of 

its foundation on 9th November 

2012 at the building of the 

Hungarian Academy of Sciences. The Society was 

established as the Hungarian Biochemical 

Association by the Section of Biology of the 

Hungarian Academy on 30th June 1962. For the 

golden jubilee the Society prepared a special issue of 

its journal BIOKÉMIA (‘Biochemistry’), summarizing 

a 50-year history of Hungarian biochemistry and 

molecular biology, as well as the involvement of the 

Society with FEBS (including the organization of 

three successful FEBS Congresses in Hungary). At 

the anniversary meeting the FEBS Executive 

Committee was represented by Mathias Sprinzl, 

who greeted the audience in the Hungarian 

language. The founding Hungarian Academy of 

Sciences was represented by Péter Závodszky, 

Chairperson of the Section of Biology. 

The 50th anniversary of the Hungarian 

Biochemical Society falls within a series of 

anniversary events around now, including the 

centennial celebrations of the British and French 

Biochemical Societies in 2011 and 2014, 

respectively, as well as the 50th anniversaries of 

FEBS and EMBO in 2014. Béla Tankó was the 

founding President of the Hungarian Biochemical 

Society, who was followed by Ferenc Guba, 

Gertrúd Szabolcsi, Géza Dénes, Péter Friedrich and 

László Fésüs. In May 1981, the membership of the 

Hungarian Biochemical Association was extended 

to the biochemistry section of the Hungarian 

Association of Chemists, and as the renamed 

Hungarian Biochemical Society has continued to 

serve the Hungarian biochemical and molecular 

biological community over the past three decades 

(www.mbkegy.hu). 

Society life 

Meetings of the Society have had rather variable 

forms over the years. In the early years, an annual 

‘grand assembly’ was held, and between the first and 

second Hungarian FEBS Congresses (1974–1990), 

Society conferences had different locations – usually 

in major university cities of the country. Between 

the second and third Hungarian FEBS Congresses 

(1990–2005) three very successful ‘International 

Conferences of the Hungarian Biochemical Society’ 

were organized, showing the increased need for and 

16 


volume of international contacts after the regime 

change in 1989. Between 1995 and 2005 the 

molecular biology section of the Society led by 

László Patthy (a member of the FEBS Publications 

Committee) organized highly successful annual 

meetings, and in recent years the signalling and drug 

biochemistry sections were also very active in 

organizing popular meetings in their fields. Since 

the 2005 FEBS Congress, annual meetings have been 

organized, concluding with the FEBS3+ meeting coorganized 

with Croatian and Slovenian colleagues, 

in Opatija, Croatia in 2012. In 2013 we will have the 

first Hungarian meeting fully in English, together 

with Hungarian geneticists and cell biologists. The 

variability of Society meetings, and the adoption of 

novel initiatives such as the symposium on epigenetics 

in 2012, shows how the Society has adapted well to 

the changing needs of its membership. 

Then and now. (top) Albert Szent-Györgyi becoming an honorary 

member of the Hungarian Biochemical Society in 1973; on the 

left of Szent-Györgyi is Béla Tankó, the founding President of 

the Hungarian Biochemical Society. (bottom) The 50th 

anniversary meeting in 2012: Péter Závodszky, Chairperson of 

the Section of Biology of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences 

(left); László Fésüs, President of the Hungarian Biochemical 

Society (middle); and Matthias Sprinzl, representative of FEBS 

Executive Committee (right).

Like other scientific societies, the 

Hungarian Biochemical Society 

recognizes high-quality research of young 

scientists and lifetime achievements, by 

presenting various awards. The most 

prestigious award of the Society is the 

Béla Tankó Award named after the 

founding President. The 2012 awardees 

were László Buday (young scientist 

category) and László Gráf (lifetime 

achievement award). Besides best poster 

awards, the best publication of the year is 

recognized by the Bio-Science Award, 

giving a plenary lecture opportunity to 

the awardee at the Society meeting. 

The Society journal BIOKÉMIA has 

served the membership continuously in 

the past 35 years, with four issues 

annually on scientific papers, news items, 

and papers on research policy and education. At the 

golden jubilee all issues were published in a digital 

form on the Society website, www.mbkegy.hu. 

The Hungarian Biochemical Society and 

FEBS 

The Hungarian Biochemical Society is one of the 

founding eight societies of FEBS, and has organized 

three FEBS Congresses. The 9th FEBS Meeting was 

organized at the Technical University of Budapest 

in 1974 by Bruno Straub and his team. The 20th FEBS 

Meeting was in 1990, right after Hungary changed 

to a democracy. Organization of an international 

meeting is rather difficult in ‘revolutionary times’. As 

the Secretary General of the Hungarian Biochemical 

Society, Pál Elődi, wrote in the Society journal: ‘there 

was no responsible government or city official with 

whom we might discuss the sponsorship of the 


The President (László Fésüs, right) and the Secretary General (Beáta 

Vértessy, left) of the Hungarian Biochemical Society with the 2012 Bio- 

Science awardee, Roland Csépányi-Kömi (middle) at the FEBS3+ meeting in 

Opatija (June 2012). 

17 


organization’. Péter Friedrich, the Chairperson of 

the Organizing Committee, showed his legendary 

humour describing another sign of changing times: 

‘the highly skilled Secretary of the organizing 

committee escaped from the sinking vessel of the 

Congress, and the dynamic, young person replacing 

him proved to be so over-dynamic that we had to 

say goodbye to him’. Despite the difficulties made 

by history, the 1990 Congress was a great success, 

hosting 60 scientific sessions. The 2005 FEBS 

Congress was combined with an IUBMB 

Conference, and had 2650 participants from 95 

countries. According to the slogan of the Congress, 

‘Science is fun!’, many accompanying events were 

organized, including ‘Pub Tours’, where Nobel 

Laureates and other 90 distinguished speakers spent 

an evening with groups of young participants of the 

Congress in a pub – making a memory for life. 

Opening session of the 2005 FEBS Congress and IUBMB Conference. Standing: Péter Friedrich, president of the Congress (who 

received the FEBS Diplôme d’Honneur at the meeting), delivering his opening speech. On his left, Janez Potoĉnik, EU 

Commissioner of Research, Innovation and Science; on his right, Israel Pecht (FEBS President), Mary Osborn (IUBMB President) 

and Julio Celis (FEBS Secretary General). On the far right and left, the young individuals in yellow T-shirts were representing 

the 100 high-school research students helping at the Congress as volunteers.

Hungarian biochemists were and are 

actively participating in the FEBS 

Executive Committee and other FEBS 

Committees. Ferenc Guba, Péter 

Friedrich and Balázs Sarkadi were 

Presidents of FEBS, while currently 

László Fésüs is the Chairperson of the 

Publications Committee and member of 

the Executive Committee. Fourteen 

FEBS Advanced Courses have been 

organized in Hungary, and several 

Hungarian young scientists have 

received a FEBS Fellowship. Gábor 

Farkas was an Editor for FEBS Letters in 

the 1970s and 1980s, while currently 

László Nagy and Judit Ovádi serve on 

the Editorial Board of the journal. It is 

noteworthy also that EMBO has 11 

Hungarian members and an additional 

10 members whose career started in Hungary. 

The history of Hungarian biochemistry – 

in a nutshell 

Hungarian biochemical research started more than 

100 years ago. The first real highlight was the school 

of Albert Szent-Györgyi, who received the Nobel 

Prize in 1937 ‘for his discoveries in connection with 

the biological combustion processes, with special 

reference to vitamin C and the catalysis of fumaric 

acid’. 

From Szent-Györgyi’s students, Bruno Straub, 

the discoverer of actin, had a decisive role in 

Hungarian biochemistry in the second half of the 

20th century. Prof. Straub established a high-level 

research institute at the Semmelweis University 

Medical School in Budapest, and he also founded 

and led the Institute of Enzymology in Budapest 

and the Szeged Biological Centre, which became a 

Centre of Excellence of the European Union. 

Kálmán Laki indirectly established a school in 

Debrecen by scholarships and involvement of the 

Debrecen Research Institute in the Szent-Györgyi 

research network in the USA. Ilona Banga was a 

founding member of the Hungarian Biochemical 

Society, while Ferenc Guba continued the Szent- 

Györgyi legacy in muscle research in Szeged. 

Currently, Hungary has 12 internationally 

renowned biochemical research/university 

institutes, demonstrating the strength of this 

scientific discipline in the country, and recently 

many of these have moved to new spacious research 

buildings. 


Research group of Albert Szent-Györgyi in Szeged in 1933. 1, Albert Szent- 

Györgyi; 2, Bruno F. Straub; 3, Kálmán Laki; 4, Ilona Banga. (Photo is a 

courtesy of Andreas Szent-Györgyi.) 

18 


Trends in Hungarian biochemistry 

In recent years Hungarian biochemistry has 

developed in several topical areas. Protein biochemistry 

is traditionally very strong in the country, and this 

has been extended by modern structural methods as 

well as by proteomics in recent years. Signalling 

studies began when this area came to the forefront 

internationally with the discovery of the importance 

of protein phosphorylation. A recent trend is 

lipidomics, which is becoming more and more 

established in Szeged and Debrecen. Molecular 

biological methods have been extended by 

genomics, epigenetics and next-generation 

sequencing. The billions of data increasingly require 

bioinformatics approaches and, related to this, 

network analysis is traditionally strong in Hungary. 

One very successful application of biochemistry and 

molecular biology is drug discovery, where 

Hungarian laboratories and pharmaceutical 

companies are also traditionally strong. Of course, 

in recent decades ‘biochemistry’ has been extended 

by molecular biology and the term ‘molecular life 

sciences’ is becoming more fashionable. However, 

biochemistry remains crucial in the establishment 

and understanding of the ‘omics-world’ – and 

Hungarian biochemists are looking forward to 

celebrate the 100th anniversary of their society. 

László Fésüs 

President, Hungarian Biochemical Society 

University of Debrecen, Hungary 

Péter Csermely, 

Vice-President, Hungarian Biochemical Society 

Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary

In Memoriam 

Marianne Grunberg-Manago 1921–2013 

Marianne Grunberg-Manago discovered the enzyme 

polynucleotide phosphorylase (PNPase), which was 

essential for deciphering the genetic code at the 

beginning of the 1960s. She also had a distinguished 

international career at a time when there were few 

women working as scientists. 

Marianne Grunberg-Manago was born into a 

family of artists on 6th January 1921 in Petrograd 

(St Petersburg) in Russia. She emigrated to France 

with her parents at the age of nine months. Later, she 

studied both Comparative Literature and Biology at 

the University of Paris, receiving her PhD in 1947. 

Marianne first worked on intermediary metabolism 

in bacteria at the Institut de Biologie Physico- 

Chimique (IBPC) in Paris. In 1953, she left for the 

USA, first to the University of Illinois at Urbana 

and later to New York University, where she joined 

the laboratory of Severo Ochoa in 1954. It was 

there that she discovered PNPase, an enzyme that 

catalysed the synthesis of polyribonucleotides. In 

1959, Ochoa and Arthur Kornberg were awarded the 

Nobel prize ‘for their discovery of the mechanisms 

in the biological synthesis of ribonucleic acid and 

deoxyribonucleic acid’. Later experiments showed 

that the major role of PNPase in vivo was RNA 

degradation rather than RNA synthesis. However, 

the capacity of PNPase to produce RNA played a 

key role in the experiments of Nirenberg and Matthaei 

in 1961, establishing that polyU (synthesized by 

PNPase) directed the synthesis of polyphenylalanine. 

Thus, the early steps in cracking the genetic code 

depended on the discovery of PNPase. 

Marianne returned to the IBPC in 1956, where 

she studied the biochemical properties of PNPase 

and those of the various polynucleotides it 

synthesized. She also used these polynucleotides in 

cell-free systems to define new codons. The first 

area of work led her to investigate the biological 

role of PNPase and RNA degradation in model 

bacteria, while the second led her to study the 

mechanism of mRNA translation initiation in 

collaboration with François Gros, at the IBPC at 

that time. Later, she studied how translation was 

regulated, mainly in collaboration with Sylvain 

Blanquet and later with Jean-Pierre Ebel and 

Bernard and Chantal Ehresmann in Strasbourg. 


19 


Marianne Grunberg-Manago was the first woman 

to be President of the International Union of 

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (1985–1988) 

and the only female President of the French 

Academy of Sciences (1995–1996). She was also a 

member of the American National Academy of 

Sciences and of numerous other Academies, won 

many French and international prizes and published 

more than 300 articles in peer-reviewed journals. 

Marianne was awarded the FEBS Diplôme 

d’Honneur in 1996. 

In addition to being a prominent scientist, 

Marianne Grunberg-Manago was a wonderful 

person, greatly loved by all her collaborators, 

colleagues and friends. On 18th March 2000, she 

suffered a terrible brain haemorrhage that kept her 

in hospital until her death on 4th January 2013, two 

days before her 92nd birthday. Despite these 13 

difficult years, Marianne will always be remembered 

as a vibrant person with a great sense of humour. 

After her election to the presidency of the French 

Academy of Sciences, many journalists came to 

interview her. One very admiring journalist 

confessed to her ‘I always dreamed of becoming a 

scientist, but only managed to become a journalist’ 

– to which Marianne replied ‘that’s funny, because I 

always wanted to be journalist, but only managed to 

become a scientist!’. 

Mathias Springer and Richard H. Buckingham 

Institut de Biologie Physico-Chimique, Paris, France 

Sylvain Blanquet 

École Polytechnique, Palaiseau, France. 

In addition to publishing news from its Constituent Societies in the ‘FEBS Community News’ section of FEBS News, FEBS can 

post announcements on its ‘News from FEBS Societies’ page of the FEBS website; please email brief details to elliss@febs.org

Dear Fellow Scientists, 

As of January 2013, FEBS 

Journal moves to online-only 

publication. Most users read 

the electronic version and we plan to make it ever 

more attractive, efficient and user-friendly. The 

move also conforms to our policy of energy 

conservation and contributing to a sustainable 

environment. 

The vast majority of our readers use the journal 

online mainly because of the simplicity of online 

searching, database linking, cross-referencing, saving 

and annotating. The online version is available 

(Early View) before the publication in a specific 

journal issue, it has unlimited use of colour free of 

charge, and is instantly accessible worldwide. Both 

authors and readers will benefit from future 

developments to add value and functionality to 

journal articles. 

Online-only publishing will eliminate the adverse 

environmental impact of printing and shipping 

journal copies around the world. The move will 

allow us to minimize future price increases and 

invest in a dynamic online presence that fully meets 

the evolving needs of the scientific research 

community. 

Read the first online-only 

issue of FEBS Journal 

(FEBS J. 280, 1) on the 

Wiley Online library: the 

issue includes two 

reviews – Regulation of 

glycogen synthase from 

mammalian skeletal 

muscle – a unifying view 

of allosteric and covalent 

regulation and Cryoelectron 

microscopy: A 

primer for the non-microscopist – together with a 

number of exciting original papers. 

Make sure you are signed up to receive content 

alerts from FEBS Journal on the Wiley Online 

Library. 

New Members of the Editorial Advisory 

Board 

We are very pleased to announce the appointment 

of three new members of the FEBS Journal Editorial 

Advisory Board with expertise in structural biology: 

K. Ravi Acharya, University of Bath, UK; Nicole 

FEBS PUBLICATIONS 

20 


LaRonde-LaBlanc, University of Maryland, MD, 

USA; and Toshiya Senda, University of Tokyo, 

Japan. More about our Editors and Editorial 

Board Members can be found on the FEBS Journal 

website. 

New Special Issue 

Look out for a new 

Special Issue on Protein 

Phosphatases: From 

Molecules to Networks that 

will be published in 

January (FEBS J. 280/2). 

This issue is compiled by 

our Reviews Editor, Nick 

Tonks (Cold Spring 

Harbor), and contains a 

mix of both primary 

papers and review articles 

that reflect the theme of specificity in protein 

phosphatase function and emphasize the critical role 

played by these enzymes in the regulation of signal 

transduction. 

New Virtual Issue 

A new FEBS Journal 

Virtual Issue on Structural 

Biology compiled by 

Editor Alex Wlodawer 

was published in 

December 2012, 

accompanied by a 

podcast. The journal 

traditionally publishes 

many structural papers 

and this Virtual Issue 

highlights the excellent 

original work published in 2012. 

FEBS Journal top 10 downloaded articles 

2012 

The top-downloaded papers in 2012, listed on the 

next page, are all review articles, which can be read 

online and downloaded free of charge from the time 

of publication via a hotlink from the FEBS Journal 

website. 

New member of the FEBS Journal 

Editorial Office 

We welcome Dr Alison Murray, our new Deputy 

Editorial Manager, to the FEBS Journal team in

January. Alison has a background in biochemistry 

and the media and will be a great asset in maintaining 

and improving the visibility of the journal. Dr Mary 

Purton, Executive Editor of FEBS Open Bio, has been 

Acting Deputy Editorial Manager for some time and 

we are very grateful for all her help. 


21 


With best wishes from us all at FEBS Journal for a 

happy and successful New Year, 

Richard Perham, Editor-in-Chief 

Vanessa Wilkinson, Editorial Manager 

Giannina Bartlett, Editorial Assistant 

Juanita Goossens-Roach, Editorial Assistant 

Top 10 most downloaded articles in 2012 in FEBS Journal 

Cellular models to investigate biochemical pathways in Parkinson’s disease 

Alberio, T., Lopiano, L. and Fasano, M. (2012) FEBS Journal, 279: 1146–1155 

Molecular chaperones in targeting misfolded proteins for ubiquitin-dependent degradation 

Kriegenburg, F., Ellgaard, L. and Hartmann-Petersen, R. (2012), FEBS Journal, 279: 532–542 

Animal models of Parkinson’s disease 

Blandini, F. and Armentero, M.-T. (2012), FEBS Journal, 279: 1156–1166 

Lipid metabolism in cancer 

Santos, C. R. and Schulze, A. (2012) FEBS Journal, 279: 2610–2623. 

Computational approaches to disease-gene prediction: rationale, classification and successes 

Piro, R. M. and Di Cunto, F. (2012), FEBS Journal, 279: 678–696 

Glycosaminoglycans: key players in cancer cell biology and treatment 

Afratis, N., Gialeli, C., Nikitovic, D., Tsegenidis, T., Karousou, E., Theocharis, A. D., Pavão, M. S., Tzanakakis, G. N. and 

Karamanos, N. K. (2012) FEBS Journal, 279: 1177–1197. 

Cytochrome P450s in the synthesis of cholesterol and bile acids – from mouse models to human diseases 

Lorbek, G., Lewinska, M. and Rozman, D. (2012) FEBS Journal, 279: 1516–1533 

Insights into the structure and assembly of Escherichia coli outer membrane protein A 

Reusch, R. N. (2012), FEBS Journal, 279: 894–909 

Finding the right balance – a personal journey from individual proteins to membrane-embedded motors 

Robinson, C. V. (2012), FEBS Journal, 279: 663–677 

Regulation of NMDA receptors by the tyrosine kinase Fyn 

Trepanier, C. H., Jackson, M. F. and MacDonald, J. F. (2012), FEBS Journal, 279: 12–19 

FEBS PUBLICATIONS ANNUAL AWARDS FOR YOUNG SCIENTISTS 

FEBS Journal Prize for 

Young Scientists 

The FEBS Journal prize is awarded to the graduate 

student or young post-doctoral research worker (no 

more than 3 years from the time of award of the PhD 

degree when the paper is submitted) who is the first 

author of a paper that is judged to be the best in 

FEBS Journal during the calendar year. 

Details at: 

www.febsjournal.org/young.asp 

FEBS Letters Young 

Group Leader Award 

The FEBS Letters prize is given to a young group 

leader who is the author of the most outstanding 

research letter published in FEBS Letters in the previous 

calendar year. The awardee must be the corresponding 

author of the letter and be aged 40 years or younger 

at the time of manuscript acceptance. 

Details at: 

www.febsletters.org/content/younggroupleader

Dear Fellow 

Scientists, 

Happy New Year! All 

of us at the FEBS Letters Editorial Office would like 

to wish you happiness and success in 2013. We 

would also like to thank all of you who submitted 

your work to our journal in 2012, and all the 

reviewers who contributed with their expertise and 

time in evaluating manuscripts. 

We were very pleased to receive a steady inflow 

of submissions in 2012 (more than 2000!) and to 

have been able to publish five Special Issues with 

excellent contributions from leading scientists in 

their respective fields. You can find current and past 

Special Issues here: www.journals.elsevier.com/febs 

-letters/special-issues/. We hope that all the 

published manuscripts will be well received by the 

community and reaffirm FEBS Letters’ popularity in 

the field of molecular life sciences. 

FEBS Letters Special Issues in 2012 

Hydrogen, metals, bifurcating electrons, and proton 

gradients: The early evolution of biological energy 

conservation 

Martin, W.F. 

FEBS Letters 586(5), 485-493 

Proteostasis of tau. Tau overexpression results in its 

secretion via membrane vesicles 

Simón, D., García-García, E., Royo, F., Falcón-Pérez, J.M., 

Avila, J. 



22 


Driven by a dynamic 

scientific environment, we 

expanded our Editorial 

Board in 2012. The latest 

addition was Prof. Amitabha 

Chattopadhyay, our first 

Academic Editor based in 

India. Amitabha is a 

Professor at the Centre for 

Cellular and Molecular 

Biology in Hyderabad and holds several active and 

honorary positions at various academic institutions 

throughout India. His main areas of expertise are 

membrane organization and dynamics, and the 

interplay between membrane lipids and proteins, 

especially in neuronal membranes. Being a 

renowned scientist in India and beyond, we are 

honoured to welcome Amitabha to FEBS Letters. 

The end of the year also brought a pleasant 

novelty for all potential authors submitting their 

manuscripts to FEBS Letters. In collaboration with 

Elsevier, we introduced a simplified submission 

process, called ‘Simpler submission’. Now, authors 

can submit their manuscript as single Word or PDF 

files, in any layout, including all figures, figure 

legends, and references, which also can be in any 

style or format. We are confident that Simpler 

submission will facilitate the usually cumbersome 

submission process and attract even more potential 

authors to submit their work to FEBS Letters. 

As always, we look forward to receiving your 

(Simpler submission) manuscripts. 

Best wishes, 

Felix Wieland, Managing Editor 

Aleksander Benjak, Editorial Manager 

Daniela Ruffell, Editor 

Anne Rougeaux, Editorial Assistant 

Top 5 most cited articles published in 2012 in FEBS Letters 

(retrieved 12 December 2012) 

The enigmatic role of H2Bub1 in cancer 

Johnsen, S.A. 


Mdm2 and MdmX partner to regulate p53 

Wang, X., Jiang, X. 


Scaling up synthetic biology: Do not forget the chassis 

Danchin, A. 


For complete and up-to-date lists, go to the FEBS Letters website Recent articles and Most cited articles links.

Dear Fellow 

Scientists, 

Now is a good time to 

look back at the past year. 

In 2012, Molecular Oncology surpassed the 5-year 

mark from issue 1 dated June 2007, and what better 

way to mark it than with the publication of a 

thematic issue on ‘Cancer Epigenetics’. 

This special issue, edited by Dr Manel Esteller, 

addresses a cancer research field that, although 

young, has gained tremendous momentum in the 

past few years, as the mechanisms underlying 

epigenetic changes in cancer cells are unravelled. 

The issue covers emerging areas of research, such as 

the contribution of microRNA disruption to 

carcinogenesis and understanding of the impact of 

DNA methylation in microRNA transcriptional 

silencing in human tumours (reviewed in Jansson 

Special Issue: 

Cancer Epigenetics 

edited by Manel Esteller 

Mol. Oncol. (2012) Vol. 6, 

Issue 6 

Contents: 

Cancer, epigenetics and the 

Nobel Prizes 

Manel Esteller 

DNA methylation and microRNA dysregulation in cancer 

Hiromu Suzuki, Reo Maruyama, Eiichiro Yamamoto, Masahiro Kai 

Histone deacetylases and cancer 

Bruna Barneda-Zahonero, Maribel Parra 

MicroRNA and cancer 

Martin D. Jansson, Anders H. Lund 

Dear Fellow Scientists, 

FEBS Open Bio has had an 

excellent first year, with over 

60 articles published and 

submissions received from 27 

different countries around the 

world. Thanks to the hard work of our Editors, the 

average time to a first decision in 2012 was just 19 

days. We would like to thank the 153 reviewers who 

agreed to review for this new journal in 2012. We 

wish you all happiness and success in 2013. 


23 


and Lund, 2012; Suzuki et al., 2012, respectively), as 

well as more established areas in the field of 

epigenetics, such as DNA methylation or histone 

acetylation (Muñoz et al., 2012; Barneda-Zahonero 

and Parra, 2012). The reviews in this special issue 

address not only the role that epigenetic processes 

play in tumour formation and progression (Nair and 

Kumar, 2012) but also the application of such 

discoveries in a clinically relevant setting, such as 

biomarkers (Nogueira da Costa and Herceg, 2012), 

improved molecular selection of patients for 

therapy or even providing novel molecular targets 

for therapy (Nebbioso et al., 2012; New et al., 2012). 

We look forward to receiving your manuscripts 

in 2013. 

Best wishes, 

Julio E. Celis, Editor-in-Chief 

José Moreira, Managing Editor 

Dorte Perdersen, Editorial Assistant 

Chromatin remodeling in Cancer: A Gateway to regulate gene 

transcription 

Sujit S. Nair, Rakesh Kumar 

Epigenetic alterations involved in cancer stem cell 

reprogramming 

Purificación Muñoz, Maria S. Iliou, Manel Esteller 

HDAC inhibitor-based therapies: Can we interpret the code? 

Maria New, Heidi Olzscha, Nicholas B. La Thangue 

Trials with ‘epigenetic’ drugs: An update 

Angela Nebbioso, Vincenzo Carafa, Rosaria Benedetti, Lucia 

Altucci 

The role of histone demethylases in cancer therapy 

Inga Hoffmann, Martin Roatsch, Martin L. Schmitt, Luca 

Carlino, et al. 

Detection of cancer-specific epigenomic changes in biofluids: 

Powerful tools in biomarker discovery and application 

André Nogueira da Costa, Zdenko Herceg 

FEBS Open Bio has now introduced Creative 

Commons licenses. Authors retain copyright of 

their articles in the journal, and can choose between 

two types of license: the unrestricted CC BY or the 

more restrictive CC BY-NC-ND. 

The Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) lets 

others distribute, remix, tweak and build upon your 

work, even commercially, as long as they credit you 

for the original creation. Creative Commons

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (CC BY- 

NC-ND) allows others to download your works 

and share them with others as long as they credit 

you, but they can’t change them in any way or use 

them commercially. 

Selecting CC BY will enable authors to fully 

comply with the Research Councils UK mandate 

due to come into effect on 1 April 2013. 

All papers published in FEBS Open Bio will now 

bear the CrossMark logo, which enables readers to 

Nutrient mechanisms in inflammation, 

infection and immunity 

24 January 2013 

London, UK 

www.biochemistry.org/MeetingNo/ 

HT005/view/Conference/ 

New Frontiers in Plant Biology 

31 January – 1 February 2013 

Madrid, Spain 

www.cbgp.upm.es/frontiers/ 

Beating the Blood–Brain and other 

Blood Barriers 

6–8 February 2013 

Lisbon, Portugal 

www.beatbarrier.com 

FEBS Practical Course 

State-of the-art infection models for 

human pathogenic fungi 

17 February – 2 March 2013 

Jena, Germany 

www.hki-jena.de/mpm 

23rd Annual Meeting of the Society for 

Virology 2013 

6–9 March 2013 

Kiel, Germany 

www.virology-meeting.de 

Annual Conference of the Association 

for General and Applied Microbiology 

(VAAM) in collaboration with the Royal 

Netherlands Society for Microbiology 

(KNVM) 2013 


Bremen, Germany 

www.vaam-kongress.de 

CAREER OPPORTUNITIES 

Scientific Events Calendar 

A Biochemical Society Focused 

Meeting: Talks about TORCs, recent 

advances in target of rapamycin 

signalling 


London, UK 


SA145/view/Conference/ 

Proteomic Forum 2013 


Berlin, Germany 

https://proteomic-forum.de/ 

11th German Peptide Symposium 2013 


Munich Germany 

www.gps2013.de 

A Joint FEBS / Biochemical Society 

Focused Meeting 

Exploring kinomes: pseudokinases and 

beyond 


Robinson College, Cambridge, UK 



Society for General Microbiology Spring 

Conference, including session on 

Bacterial-Fungal Interactions 


Manchester, UK 

www.sgm.ac.uk/meetings/MTGPAGES/ 

Manchester2013.cfm 

www.sgm.ac.uk/meetings/MTGPAGES/ 

MA07.cfm 

24 


check for any updates to the original manuscript 

published on Elsevier’s website. This will 

enable us to deposit copies of all articles in 

PubMedCentral, making FEBS Open Bio content 

easier to find. 

We are in the process of expanding the Editorial 

Board and will announce a full list of new members 

in the next edition of FEBS News. 

For FEBS Open Bio’s recent articles and most 

cited papers, take a look at the journal home page. 

With best wishes, 

Mary Purton, Executive Editor 

A Biochemical Society Focused 

Meeting: Bioenergetics in 

mitochondria, bacteria and chloroplasts 

10–13 April 2013 

Schloss Rauischholzhausen, 

Ebsdorfergrund, Germany 



Joint Conference of HGM 2013 and 21st 

International Congress of Genetics 

13–18 April 2013 

Marina Bay Sands, Singapore 

www.hgm2013-icg.org 

FEBS Advanced Lecture Course 

HFP2013: Molecular mechanisms of 

host–pathogen interactions and 

virulence in human fungal pathogens 

25–31 May2013 

La Colle-sur-Loup, France 

www.pasteur.fr/hfp2013 

Chromosome instability and aneuploidy 

in cancer: from mechanisms to 

therapeutics 

27–29 May 2013 

Madrid, Spain 

www.cnio.es/eventos/index.asp 

FEBS Workshop 

Nucleotide excision repair and 

interstrand crosslink repair – from 

molecules to man 

9–13 June 2013 

Smolenice, Slovakia 

www.exon.sk/smolenice2013

12th Symposium on Bacterial Genetics 

and Ecology (BAGECO 12) 


Ljubljana, Slovenia 

www.bageco2013.org 

Joint FEBS/EMBO Lecture Course 

Biomembranes: molecular architecture, 

dynamics and function 


Cargèse, Corsica, France 

http://testweb.science.uu.nl/cargese2013/ 

The FEBS CONGRESS 2013 

Mechanisms in Biology 

6–11 July 2013 

St Petersburg, Russia 

www.febs-2013.org/eng/default.aspx 


Molecular mechanisms in signal 

transduction and cancer 

16–24 August 2013 

Spetses, Greece 

http://cgc.umcutrecht.nl/upcomingevents/spetses-2013/ 


Nuclear receptor signaling in 

physiology and disease 

25–30 August 2013 


http://ki.se/ki/jsp/polopoly.jsp? 

d=26760&a=153644&l=en 

PhD FELLOWSHIP POSITIONS: European Union – Marie 

Curie Actions - Initial Training Network (ITN) 

CAREER OPPORTUNITIES 


Host–microbes interactions 

August 30 – September 7, 2013 


http://events.embo.org/13-hostmicrobe/index.html 

Thermophiles 2013 – 12th International 

Meeting at the University of 

Regensburg 

8–13 September 2013 

Regensburg, Germany 

www.thermophiles2013.de 

FEBS Special Meeting 

Eurobiofilms 2013 


Ghent, Belgium 

www.eurobiofilms2013.ics.dk 

43rd Annual Meeting of German 

Society for Immunology 2013 


Mainz, Germany 

www.immunology-conference.de 

HOMIN: ‘Host-microbe interactions in health and disease – 

Interface with the immune system’ 

(1) PhD FELLOWSHIP at the UNIVERSITY OF SIENA, ITALY 

Project title: Targeting the immune synapse as a strategy of 

immune subversion by bacterial adenylate cyclase toxins 

Supervisor: Prof. Cosima T Baldari 

(2) Three PhD FELLOWSHIPs at Novartis Vaccine and 

Diagnostics, SIENA, ITALY 

Project 1: Dissecting TLR7 activation cascade by low 

molecular weight agonists 

Supervisor: Dr Ugo D’Oro 

Project 2: Analysis of vaccine adjuvants effects on long-term 

immune response 

Supervisor: Dr Diego Piccioli 

Project 3: Novel delivery of vaccines: characterization of 

protective adaptive immune responses in animal models 

Supervisor: Dr Sylvie Bertholet 

See the Careers section of the FEBS website for further 

details. Applications deadline: 13 January 2013. 

FEBS Special Meeting 

JAK/STAT signalling: model systems 

and beyond 


Sheffield, UK 

www.bms.dept.shef.ac.uk/jakstat/ 

Career Opportunities 

25 



Protein interactions, assemblies and 

human disease 


Spetses Island, Greece 

www.spetsai.org 


Matrix pathobiology, signaling and 

molecular targets 

Kos Island, Greece 

26 September – 1 October 2013 

www.febs-mpst2013.upatras.gr 

Molecular Life Sciences 2013 (German 

Society for Biochemistry and Molecular 

Biology) 

3–6 October 2013 

Frankfurt, Germany 

www.molecular-life-sciences.de 

A joint FEBS / Biochemical Society 

Lecture Course 

Cell-penetrating peptides: design, 

synthesis and applications 

October 7–10, 2013 

London, UK 

www.biochemistry.org/Conferences/ 

AllConferences/tabid/379/View/ 

Conference/MeetingNo/IND106/ 

Default.aspx 

POSTDOCTORAL POSITION in BIOCHEMISTRY, MOLECULAR 

and CELL BIOLOGY 

INSTITUTE OF LIFE SCIENCES, UNIVERSITY OF LOUVAIN, 

BELGIUM 

See the Careers section of the FEBS website for further 

details. Applications deadline: 18 January 2013. 

PhD POSITION at CERM: Structural biology of iron-sulfur 

protein biogenesis in eukaryotes 

MAGNETIC RESONANCE CENTER – UNIVERSITY OF 

FLORENCE 

The project will address biological and structural biology 

questions regarding the molecular mechanisms responsible for 

the maturation of iron-sulfur proteins. The student will employ 

molecular, biochemical approaches to identify soluble domains 

and complexes for structural biology investigation, and will also 

be involved in the structural characterization of these domains 

and complexes either with or without prior knowledge of the 

structure. This can include a wide range of tools from 

bioinformatic and biophysical characterization to NMR and X-ray 

structural techniques. 

See the Careers section of the FEBS website for further

St Petersburg 2013: 38th FEBS Congress - GBM

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