The FEBS Junior Section is organised by students and young researchers from some FEBS Constituent Societies. They develop joint activities, such as online talks and other events, and share resources, as well as open doors for young European scientists to opportunities outside their home countries by providing the relevant contacts and fostering communication within the network.

I've long been inspired by the life sciences and have a background in scientific editorial work. At FEBS, my roles have spanned communications, website development, event organization and more – all aimed at improving the services FEBS offers the molecular life science community.

I am the FEBS Events Associate – Advanced Courses, Congress, 3+ at FEBS, supporting the delivery of those events. Previously I was the Communications and Digital Platforms Associate, also at FEBS, and worked on platforms such as the FEBS Network and FEBS website. Before joining FEBS I managed the grant programmes of a number of UK research charities, mainly in the field of cancer, as well as supported the fundraising at those organisations. I also developed e-learning resources at the Institute of Cancer Research. I have a BSc in Biochemistry and an MSc in Nutrition. After years in London I have now moved back to Spain.

The FEBS-IUBMB-ENABLE Conference is a joint initiative of FEBS, IUBMB, and several leading European biomedical research institutes (the ENABLE partners), building on a successful project originally funded by the EU Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme (2017–2020). These interdisciplinary, international, three-day events are organized by and for young researchers in the molecular life sciences and attract up to 300 participants from around the world. Each conference features a scientific symposium, a career day, and outreach activities. ENABLE (the European Academy for Biomedical Science) was launched in 2017 through the collaboration of four renowned European institutes: the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona, Spain), the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Protein Research (NNF-CPR, Denmark), the Radboud Institute for Molecular Life Sciences at Radboudumc (Netherlands), and the European School of Molecular Medicine (SEMM, Italy). These core institutions hosted the first four conferences from 2017 to 2021. In 2022, FEBS and IUBMB joined forces with the ENABLE founders to relaunch the initiative as FEBS-IUBMB-ENABLE, expanding its reach and impact. In this new cycle, institutions can apply to become associated centres and host one of the events. 

Our work has centered in the characterization of metabolic pathways in protozoan parasites. We currently work with Trypanosoma cruzi, the etiologic agent of Chagas disease, and Trypanosoma brucei, which belongs to the group of parasites that cause sleeping sickness and Nagana. Our ultimate goal is to discover metabolic pathways in these parasites that may be essential for their survival but may not find an equivalent counterpart in their host. Thus, it would be possible to look for specific inhibitors of such metabolic activities as possible means of controlling the parasites without damaging the hosts. We study calcium homeostasis, and polyphosphate metabolism, and their importance for parasite physiology. We are also interested in signaling pathways since there is evidence that these pathways have important roles during the developmental cycle of these parasites. In particular, we became interested in the study of mitochondrial calcium transport and the role of mitochondria in autophagy and cell death. During the last several years, results from our laboratory led to the discovery of a novel organelle that we named the acidocalcisome, because it is acidic and contains a high calcium concentrations. We found this organelle in trypanosomes, Apicomplexan parasites, other unicellular eukaryotes, bacteria, and human cells. In addition, we later found that these organelles contain large amounts of phosphate in the form of polyphosphate (polyP). This led us to start projects to study the metabolism of polyP. Considering that these organelles contain high levels of polyP, understanding the function of this polymer will lead us to understand the function of the acidocalcisome. 

Veronica Falconieri Hays is a Certified Medical Illustrator and animator specializing in medical, molecular, cellular, and biological visualization. She founded Falconieri Visuals in 2017 and works with clients in academia, biotech and pharma, and publishing.  Prior to founding Falconieri Visuals, Veronica earned her Master of Arts in Medical and Biological Illustration from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland, where she studied medical subjects such as anatomy alongside medical students, as well as completing coursework in illustration and animation. After graduating, Veronica worked within a cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) lab at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland. She collaborated extensively with researchers as they discovered structures of biological molecules, and is a published author in several journals including Science and Cell. You can follow Veronica's work on: LinkedIn Twitter Instagram