During the 2026 FEBS Congress in Maastricht, FEBS pursued its scientific collaborations with the Federation of Asian and Oceanian Biochemists and Molecular Biologists (FAOBMB) and the Korean Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (KSBMB).These partnerships have facilitated collaboration opportunities between scientists in Europe, Asia and Oceania, and supported strong attendance of scientists from Asian Countries to the FEBS Congress.
FEBS was honoured to host members of the Executive Committees of FAOBMB and KSBMB, including Terry Piva (FAOBMB Secretary General), Joon Kim (FAOBMB Past President), Woong-Yang Park (KSBMB President), Jin Han (KSBMB President Elect), Je Kyung Seong (KSBMB Chief Operation Officer), Tae-Kyung Kim (KSBMB Chair of International Affairs Committee), Hong Sook Kim (KSBMB Vice-Chair of International Affairs Committee) and Jung-Hyun Shim (KSBMB International Affairs Committee Member). The Executive Committees of FEBS, FAOBMB and KSBMB hosted a joint meeting to discuss avenues to further strengthen their ongoing collaborations, which already involves a FEBS Lecture at the FAOBMB Congress and a FAOBMB Lecture during the FEBS Congress, as well as FEBS-KSBMB joint symposia at the FEBS Congress and the KSBMB International Conference.
As part of these collaborations, the FEBS Congress programme showcased the joint FEBS–KSBMB Special Session ‘Cutting-edge techniques in biochemistry: past, present and future’ focused on technologies to advance the understanding of the molecular basis of life, and which involved two mid-career scientists from South Korea – Hyun-Woo Rhee (Seoul National University) and Sang-Hee Shim (Korea University) – and two FEBS Excellence Award recipients – Eugene Kim (Max Planck Institute of Biophysics) and Jack Bravo (Institute of Science and Technology Austria). KSBMB also hosted an engaging Korean Night for the attendees of the Congress.
FEBS looks forward to continuing this successful collaboration through a FAOBMB Lecture at the 2027 FEBS Congress in Riga, as well as participating in the KSBMB International Conference next May and in the 2027 FAOBMB Congress in Kuala Lumpur.
Photo: Representatives of the Executive Committees of FEBS, FAOBMB and KSBMB following their joint meeting at the 2026 FEBS Congress in Maastricht, where they discussed opportunities to further strengthen collaboration between the three organisations.
