I was thinking about how to start this post and simply decided to open with the congress itself. This year me and my two lab mates attended the 48th FEBS Congress and had the great opportunity to present our work during the poster sessions. We are coming from a biochemistry lab and thought this year FEBS was a good place not only to present our science but also to have the opportunity to join the network of many other scientists and potentially establish new connections.

The congress itself turned out to be very interactive, despite the vast number of people attending. It had a great number of seminars, especially key-note speakers with inspiring talks, including Jennifer Lippincott-Schwartz and Elena Conti, whose talks were on my highlights list. All in all, I had a very nice and productive experience at the congress. I find this type of event a good place to exchange science but also a potential stepping stone for young scientists in their future careers. One can meet potential collaborators or even get new ideas for ongoing projects.

Now I will switch the gears and write a few lines about myself. Currently, I am doing my postdoc at DZNE (German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases in Berlin) in Milovanovic's lab. My main research focus is to understand the RNA contribution in the presynaptic organization, as well as its potential interplay with synapsin, one of the most abundant proteins at the synapse. In our work we focus on the mechanisms of liquid-liquid phase separation to understand molecular grammar of the synapse employing minimal in vitro systems as well as work in mammalian cells and primary neurons.

My interest in RNA molecules had already developed during my PhD in Anne Ephrussi’s lab in EMBL (Heidelberg) where I dissected the role of oskar mRNA in oskar RNP granule assembly in the Drosophila germline. Afterwards, moving to my postdoc, I decided to continue studying RNA and its function in organizing cellular compartments, but now in for me the most amazing cells – neurons.

I am also really pleased to have won the  FEBS Letters overall poster prize at the congress, an award that is very dear to me. It’s not only an acknowledgment of the dedication and efforts me and my colleagues put into our research work, but also a motivation to keep science going and keep pursuing our understanding of the beautiful world of biology we are surrounded by every day. Of course, every scientific work is a teamwork of many people and I feel the same about this award, too!

Top photo of the FEBS Letters overall poster prize awarded at the 48th FEBS Congress, with Miguel A. De la Rosa, FEBS Secretary General (left), Branislava Rankovic (awardee), and Johannes Buchner, FEBS Publications Committee Chair.