To bring together students and young researchers in the molecular life sciences from all over Europe, the junior sections of the ÖGMBT (Austria), HDBMB (Croatia), CSBMB (Czech Republic), GBM (Germany), MBKE (Hungary), SIB (Italy), NVBMB (the Netherlands), SEBBM (Spain), the Biochemical Society (UK), have collaborated with FEBS to establish the FEBS Junior Section. We want to encourage junior sections of other national Societies to join us, and for Societies without a formal junior section, to consider setting one up (we have written a post with ideas for how to do this).

We want to develop joint activities and share resources, as well as open doors for young scientists to opportunities outside their home countries, by providing the relevant contacts and by fostering communication within the network. Importantly, the FEBS Junior Section is still very dynamic and lives on the ideas that you and your society’s members are all welcome to contribute.

Join us!

To support the initiative, FEBS has created an open Room for the FEBS Junior Section as a platform for exchange and collaboration within the FEBS Network. All young members from the FEBS national Societies (as well as other students and young scientists) are welcome to sign up to the FEBS Network and become a member of the Room. You can also follow the FEBS Junior Section on social media. In addition, if you are interested in joining the FEBS Junior Section, or want to create a junior section in your own Society and want to find out how, contact us to join one of our online monthly meetings.

Planned and organized events

We organize events of interest to students and young researchers in the molecular life sciences across Europe. See below for details and for links to recordings of past talks from the Talk Series 2023 and 2022.  Get in touch if you have a suggestion for an activity and please help us share our activities with your peers.

Next FEBS Junior Section Talk Series 2023:

Speaker: Prof. Loris Rizzello, University of Milan, Italy
Topic: “Towards an evolutionary-driven universal therapy against (intracellular) pathogens”
Time: 15 June, 18:00 (CET)
Visit the event post for more information and to register for the talk.

Past talks from the 2023 series and other activities:

19 January 2023. Academic talk. Organized by Junior-GBM (the Junior Section of the German Society, GBM). An academic talk by Dr. Jonas Schlüter, from New York University, USA, titled “Evolutionary Medicine for the Microbiome, or how to turn the gut microbiome into a novel therapeutic target". This talk was not recorded.

9 February 2023. Careers talk. Organized  by Biochemistry in Motion (BeM)/SEBBM Junior Consuls, (the junior section of the Spanish Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology). A careers talk by Dr. Rodrigo Hernando Llorente, founder and CEO of "Libertad Con Ciencia", in Spain, titled “How to land your ideal job in the Industry". Watch the recording of this talk.

9 March 2023. Careers talk. Organized by the FEBS Junior Section. A careers talk by the Green Laboratory Work initiative, titled "The Science of Sustainability: How a Sustainable Mindset Can Enhance Your Research & Life". Watch the recording of this talk.

13 April 2023. Academic talk. Organized by HDBMB Junior Section (the junior section of HDBMB). An academic talk by Dr. Vanda Juranić Lisnić, Faculty of Medicine University of Rijeka, Croatia, titled “Viruses, immunity and fertility: Why are we not extinct yet?”. Watch the recording of this talk.

11 May 2023. Careers talk. Organized by ÖGMBT-YLSA (the junior section of the Austrian Society ÖGMBT). A careers talk by Mag. Christine Hudetz, MA, from LBG Career Center, in Austria, titled "Plan your Career & Boost your Vita".

18 May 2023. The FEBS Junior Section have organised an online speed-dating activity for students and young researchers in the molecular life sciences all over Europe to connect online and share experiences, career tips, and much more. Join them at future networking activities by following the FEBS Junior Section on social media and by visiting this post.

FEBS Junior Section Talk Series 2022:

13 January 2022. Academic. Organized by Junior-GBM (the Junior Section of the German Society, GBM). An academic talk by Dr Andreas Schlundt, from Goethe University Frankfurt, on “The roles of sequence, structure and dynamics for specific RNA-recognition by proteins". Watch the recording of the talk (edited to remove unpublished data).

10 February 2022. Careers. Organized by SEBBM Junior Consuls (the Junior Section of the Spanish Society, SEBBM). A careers talk by Prof. Andreas Hougaard Laustsen, from the Technical University of Denmark (DTU), on “Bridging academia and bioentrepreneurship”. Watch the recording of the talk.

10 March 2022.  Academic. Organized by Young NVBMB (the Junior Section of the Dutch Society, NVBMB). An academic talk by Dr Tessa Sinnige, from Utrecht University, on “Elucidating the molecular mechanisms of protein aggregation in C. elegans as a living model system”. Watch the recording of the talk.

14 April 2022. Careers. Organized by HDBMB Young Scientists' Forum (the Junior Section of the Croatian Society, HDBMB). A careers talk by Prof. Igor Stagljar, University of Toronto, Canada, on success in the life sciences, with a focus on his work developing high-throughput technologies to facilitate the study of the protein-protein interactions of human membrane proteins involved in cancer. Watch a recording of the talk.

12 May 2022. Academic. Organized by ÖGMBT/YLSA (the Junior Section of the Austrian Society. ÖGMBT). An academic talk by Prof. Florian Rüker, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU), Vienna, on circumventing immunization by in vitro directed evolution and selection of human antibodies from large surface display libraries. The recording of this talk was only available online until the end of September 2022.

9 June 2022. Careers. Organized by SIB Sezione Giovani (the Junior Section of the Italian Society, SIB). A careers talk by Prof. Loredano Pollegioni, Università degli Studi dell’Insubria, Italy, on the research path that led D-Serine from unnatural (and negligible) amino acid to (main) neuromodulator involved in relevant human pathologies. This talk was not recorded.

21 July 2022. Academic. Organized by SEBBM Junior Consuls (the Junior Section of the Spanish Society, SEBBM) and the student association Biochemistry in Movement. An academic talk by Prof. Mara Dierssen, Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG), Barcelona, Spain, on the emerging scenario of epigenetic regulation in Down syndrome. The recording of this talk is not available.

11 August 2022. Careers. Organized  by Junior-GBM (the Junior Section of the German Society, GBM). A careers talk, by Dr. Anna McConnell, Otto-Diels-Institute, University of Kiel, Germany, on how she combined her research with supporting equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in supramolecular chemistry. This talk was not recorded.

8 September 2022. Academic. Organized by HDBMB Young Scientists' Forum (the Junior Section of the Croatian Society, HDBMB). An academic talk by Dr. Iva Tolic, Ruđer Bošković Institute, Zagreb, Croatia, on the mechanobiology of mitosis and its role in mitotic fidelity. Watch a recording of the talk.

13 October 2022. Careers. Organized by Young NVBMB (the Junior Section of the Dutch Society, NVBMB). A careers talk by Dr. Marco de Boer, Predica Diagnostics, the Netherlands, on the early steps of entrepreneurship. Watch a recording of this talk.

10 November 2022. Academic. Organized by SIB Sezione Giovani (the Junior Section of the Italian Society, SIB). An academic talk by Prof. Federico Fornerisa, Armenise-Harvard Laboratory of Structural Biology, University of Pavia, Italy, on the molecular diversity of collagen lysine post-translational modification enzymes. Watch a recording of the talk.

8 December 2022. Careers. Organized by ÖGMBT/YLSA (the Junior Section of the Austrian Society ÖGMBT). A careers talk by Dr. Boton Cseh, Vienna, on career mobility and alternative options for researchers. The recording of this talk is not available.

Talks delivered in 2021:

We delivered two events in 2021, listed below.

1) Working at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, UK. With Dr Roser Vento-Tormo, Group Leader on Cellular Genetics at the Sanger. This event took place on the 19 October 2021.

2) The AlphaFold Database, co-developed by DeepMind and EMBL-EBI. With Prof. Gerard Kleywegt and Dr Sameer Velankar, at EMBL-EBI. You can watch a recording of the webinar here. This event took place on the 26 October 2021.

Spread the word!

Please share this post with your FEBS Constituent Society to help promote the exchange between young scientists across Europe. Thank you!