A new collaboration between FAOBMB and FEBS has been initiated whereby, every two years, a FEBS Lecture will be delivered at an FAOBMB Congress or Conference and, in turn, an FAOBMB Lecture will be delivered during the same year at a FEBS Congress.
The first of these lectures took place in 2025, with a FEBS Lecture delivered by Professor Irene Diaz-Moreno (Seville, Spain) at the 31st FAOBMB Conference held in Busan Korea, during 20-23 May 2025. This lecture was co-chaired by Secretary General of FAOBMB, Professor Terry Piva (Melbourne, Australia), and a representative of FEBS, Dr Jerka Dumic (Zagreb, Croatia). The FEBS Lecture was entitled: “Biomolecular condensates and the hidden architecture of cells: from chaos to molecular order in health and disease”.
The FEBS Lecture at the FAOBMB Conference in Busan, Korea
From Left: Terry Piva, Irene Diaz-Moreno, Jerka Dumic
Correspondingly, at the 49th FEBS Congress held in Istanbul, Turkiye, during 4-9 July 2025, an FAOBMB Lecture was delivered by Professor Barry Halliwell (Singapore) on the topic: “Understanding antioxidants in health and disease: the special case of ergothioneine”. This lecture was co-chaired by Professor Joon Kim (Seoul, Korea), President of FAOBMB and Professor Irene Diaz-Moreno (Seville, Spain). Professor Piotr Laidler (Krakow, Poland) was also in attendance as the FEBS Congress Counsellor.
The FAOBMB Lecture at the FEBS Congress in Istanbul, Turkiye
From Left: Irene Diaz-Moreno, Piotr Laidler, Barry Halliwell, Joon Kim
It is planned to hold the next pair of co-sponsored lectures in 2027, with the FEBS Lecture at the 18th FAOBMB Congress to be held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, during 24–27 August 2027. Correspondingly, the 51st FEBS Congress to be held in Riga, Latvia during summer 2027 (dates to be advised) will host the next FAOBMB Lecture.
During his visit to Istanbul for the FEBS Congress in July 2025, the FAOBMB President, Professor Joon Kim, met with members of the FEBS Executive Committee to discuss many aspects of the possible ways in which FAOBMB and FEBS could collaborate for the mutual benefit of the two regional federations. A news item covering these discussions, entitled “FEBS and FAOBMB: A renewed commitment to fostering the mutual exchange of scientific knowledge“, can be found on the FEBS website.
Members of the FEBS Executive Committee with the President of FAOBMB
Sitting from left to right: Frank Michelangeli (FEBS Treasurer), Miguel A. De la Rosa (FEBS Secretary General), Joon Kim (FAOBMB President), Piotr Laidler (FEBS Congress Counsellor)
Standing from left to right: Irene Díaz-Moreno (FEBS Careers of Young Scientists Committee Chair), Johannes Buchner (FEBS Publications Committee Chair), Mauro Magnani (FEBS Vice-Chair), Alain Krol (FEBS Chair, and FEBS Excellence Awards & Fellowships Committee Chair), Jerka Dumic (FEBS Integration & Networking Committee Chair), Ferhan Sagin (FEBS Education & Training Committee Chair)