'FEBS Communications' posts general items from the FEBS Network Team as well as news on FEBS events and other activities.

My research interests focus on the roles mitochondria play in aspects of eukaryotic life, ranging from their origin, metabolism, biogenesis and role they play in cell death pathways. These are interrogated using biochemical, molecular biology, genetic and cell biology techniques. I incorporate these interests into classes I teach to provide an understanding of practical techniques and also the current literature in the field. I studied biochemistry at the University of Leeds, with an industrial placement at Astra Charnwood, followed by a PhD at the University of Bristol, supervised by Professor Andrew Halestrap, to characterise the molecular composition of the mitochondrial permeability transition pore, with support from MitoKor. My post-doctoral training on the mitochondrial pathway of apoptosis supervised by Dr Doug Green was at the La Jolla Institute of Allergy and Immunology in San Diego, California and St Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. I then was an associate research scientist working in the laboratory of Professor Alexander Tzagoloff at Columbia University in New York to study biogenesis of mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase in budding yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae. I held independent positions as assistant professor at the New York Institute of Technology in New York and Staffordshire University in Stoke-on-Trent where I continued my research and taught subjects related to biochemistry, cell biology, genetics and molecular biology. I am now a senior lecturer in biotechnology at Liverpool John Moores University. I am a strong supporter of scientific communications and outreach to disseminate scientific developments and knowledge to a broader audience with the goal of increasing the general support of the scientific process. I also direct Biomed News, a free biomedical research literature discovery platform that uses machine learning.

Head of Department of Molecular Diagnostics and Genetics at Dubrava University Hospital Assistant Professor at University of Zagreb Faculty of Pharmacy and Biochemistry

I am a molecular biophysicist applying single-molecule fluorescence spectroscopy and advanced fluorescence microscopy techniques as well as tailoring new techniques and integrating with other experimental and theoretical techniques to study biomolecular interactions, structure, and dynamics in solution and the cell. I have been implementing my knowledge and experience in performing experiments to answer questions regarding various biomolecular systems, such as Adenylate Kinase, the bacterial transcription initiation complex, p53, the amyloid-beta peptide, alpha-synuclein, and more. Since I opened my lab in 2018, I have been interested in the molecular etiology of a group of diseases called Synucleinopathies (e.g., Parkinson's disease). My interests include, but are not limited to (i) the structure-dynamics-function relationship in intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs); (ii) phase-separated bio-condensates in health and disease; (iii) sensitive detection of bio-nanoparticles, such as viruses, exosomes, and IDP-based oligomers/aggregates.

Nanotechnology, drug delivery systems, biosensors, chromatography, advanced materials characterization

Dr. Isabel Varela-Nieto graduated and earned her doctorate in Chemistry, Biochemistry Section, at the University Complutense of Madrid (Spain). She has been a visiting guest scientist at the Medical Schools of Uppsala (FEBS Fellow, Sweden) and San Diego (MEC Sabbatical, USA). She is Professor of Research at the CSIC and group leader at the CIBER of rare diseases (CIBERER, ISCIII) in Madrid. From the early 1990s she has been studying hearing neurobiology and IGF-1 actions. She was the first Chair of the SEBBM Science for Society working group with which she actively collaborates, and member of the FEBS Network working group. She is currently the president of the SEBBM, a member of the FEBS Science and Society Committee and of the ISC Finances Committee.

I am an Associate Professor at the Department of Biochemistry and Clinical Analysis at the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Sarajevo. My research interest in general is the area of genetics of type 2 diabetes, obesity and metabolic syndrome, pharmacogenetics of diabetes, association of inflammatory biomarkers and free fatty acids with diabetes, obesity and metabolic syndrome.

Dr. Petar Ozretić is a Senior Research Associate and Head of the Laboratory for Hereditary Cancer at the Ruđer Bošković Institute (RBI) in Zagreb, Croatia. After receiving a Diploma degree in Molecular Biology at the Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb in 2005, he was employed as a Professional Associate at the RBI in 2006. Under the mentorship of Prof. Sonja Levanat and Prof. Alberto Inga, he obtained a PhD degree in Biomedicine and Health in 2013. He was a Senior Assistant at the RBI until 2017 when he was promoted to a Research Associate. He is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the JJ Strossmayer University of Osijek from 2018. He mentored one PhD and seven Diploma theses. He was participating in 25 projects as an associate or PI. His research interests include regulation of the Hedgehog signaling pathway by ncRNAs, interaction between SHH protein and sex hormone receptors, and the role of m1A RNA modification in head and neck tumors. He is a member of the Editorial Council of Libri Oncologioci Croatian Journal of Oncology, a Technical Editor of Periodicum biologoum journal, reviewer for numerous journals (reviewed more than 700 manuscripts). He has published 58 scientific articles, which have been cited ~1500 times (Google Scholar's H-index 20). He is a member of 10 professional associations, and from 2009 he is a Secretary of the Croatian Association for Cancer Research (HDIR), national society affiliated to the European Association for Cancer Research (EACR).