News From FEBSPrakash DattaProfessor S. Prakash Datta died peacefully at his home in Chiswick on 12th May a few days after he had celebrated his 90th birthday in fine style with a group of family and friends. The son of a Scottish mother and Indian father, he was born in Culcutta in 1920 and received much of his schooling in Geneva where his father was the Indian High Commissioner to The League of Nations. Prakash read first chemistry at University College London and then medicine at University College Hospital Medical School in the early 1940s. He subsequently joined the academic staff of the Department of Biochemistry at UCL, becoming Professor of Medical Biochemistry in 1966. At the founding of FEBS in 1964 Prakash became the first Treasurer, a post he held without a break until 1990. It is largely due to his astute management that FEBS began to prosper financially in its early years. He was able to persuade Springer Verlag and its then Managing Editor, Theodore Bücher, that Biochemische Zeitschrift could not only be rescued as the European Journal of Biochemistry but that the copyright should belong to FEBS. Further spotting a gap in the publications market for a “letters” journal, against opposition within FEBS he assembled an impressive editorial board and became the founding Managing Editor of FEBS Letters, a project he nursed to great success between its founding in 1968 and his retirement from the post in 1985. The scientific and commercial success of FEBS letters was recognized by the endowment by Elsevier Science Publishers in 1986 of the Datta Medal and Plenary Lectureship at a FEBS Congress. Prakash was held in great affection by a very wide spectrum of colleagues across the European area and he is remembered for always being supportive of and generous to younger colleagues. On leaving office as Treasurer he was appointed a Life Member of FEBS Executive Committee by the 29th Council in Rome on July 5th 1989. A more extensive obituary will be published in a future FEBS News. J. Mowbray. May 2010. Executive Summary of the FEBS Executive Committee Meeting 2009 March 14, 2009, Strasbourg, France A new initiative of the YSF. The EMBO Laboratory Management Course is now sponsored by FEBS for the recipients of FEBS Long-Term Fellowships!Daniela Corda, Chair of the Working Group on the Careers of Young Scientists FEBS and EMBO have again joint forces to address the needs of the scientific community and of young scientists in particular. A crucial step in the career of a scientist is the starting of an independent lab. Post-docs are rarely trained in those managerial skills required for running a research group and, sooner or later, some have to realize that excellence in science is very important, but yet only one of the elements needed to build a successful lab! To address this issue EMBO has organized a series of courses in Laboratory Management where topics such as staff selection, leadership, effective problem solving and communication are addressed using a lecture and discussion-group format. Starting from July 2009, FEBS will join this initiative by sponsoring 20 participants to the EMBO Lab Management Courses held either in Heidelberg (G) or in Cambridge (UK). The grants are for the 2009 deadlines only open to recipients of FEBS Long-Term Fellowships in their 3rd year. With 2010, applications will be evaluated twice during the year (dates to be confirmed) and priority will be given to young scientists recipients of a FEBS long-term fellowship within the last two years and to applicants who are starting or negotiating an independent position. Details on the topics addressed in the different courses and on the up-coming dates can be found at http://www.embo.org/programmes/courses-workshops/lab-management-courses.html We believe that this is a great opportunity for the FEBS Long-Term Fellowship holders, and we look forward to receiving a positive response from our younger colleagues! |
|
Search:
|
