(july) 2014 - FEBS

ISSUE 2 (JULY) 2014

The FEBS Congress: 50 years of bringing molecular life scientists together

FEBS–EMBO 2014 Conference

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FEBS 50th anniversary: the FEBS Congress

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FEBS programmes: updates

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FEBS community news

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FEBS publications

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CONTENTS

Key upcoming dates for FEBS activities

Contents: Preface FEBS workshops/events at FEBS–EMBO 2014

FEBS Fellowships

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Long-Term and Return-to-Europe Fellowships – next application deadline: 1 October 2014 For information on all Fellowship types, see www.febs.org/our-activities/fellowships

FEBS 50th Anniversary: the FEBS Congress FEBS Congress recollections The Scientific Poster Viewpoint: Poster Presentations

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FEBS funding for Constituent Society Events Application deadlines: FEBS 3+ meetings 2015: 1 September 2014 FEBS National Lectures 2015: 1 October 2014 www.febs.org/our-activities/support-forconstituent-society-events/

FEBS Programmes: updates Worldwide Lectures FEBS Advanced Courses FEBS Fellowships news FEBS Working Group on Integration

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FEBS│EMBO Women in Science Award Nomination deadline for 2015 award: 15 October 2014 www.febs.org/our-activities/awards/febs-embowomen-in-science-award

FEBS Community News FEBS National Lecture SFBBM – 100 years

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FEBS Advanced Courses

FEBS Publications FEBS 50th Anniversary Virtual Issues FEBS Journal FEBS Letters Molecular Oncology FEBS Open Bio

FEBS Congress 2015

Applications for 2016 course funding: 1 March 2015 Applications to participate in 2015 courses: see individual course deadlines – coming soon www.febs.org/our-activities/advanced-courses

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40th FEBS Congress Berlin, 4–9 July 2015 Abstract submission opens October 2014 www.febs2015.org

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FEBS website links: Conference Calendar ● Career Opportunities

Cover: A selection of past FEBS Meeting and Congress program covers and posters. Of particular note is the 6th FEBS Meeting program cover (bottom, second from left) – it was designed by Salvador Dalí. FEBS has been funding and organizing large scientific meetings since 1964; read recollections of past events on pages 6–8 of this issue.

About FEBS News: FEBS News is published three times a year. An e-newsletter containing a link to FEBS News is sent to subscribers and to FEBS Constituent Societies whenever a new issue is out. This issue as well as all former issues of FEBS News are available online at www.febs.org. To subscribe, simply sign up to the e-newsletter in the News section of the FEBS website. Questions and suggestions about FEBS News should be sent to the FEBS News Editor, Carolyn Elliss ([email protected]).

FEBS website postings: FEBS offers free advertising of academic positions (PhD students, postdocs, etc.) in the Career Opportunities section of the website, and scientific events can be listed in our Conference Calendar. Selected postings may also be included in FEBS News, according to space available. In addition, Constituent Societies of FEBS are able to post news on the FEBS website; see the Our Members section. Federation of European Biochemical Societies (FEBS): www.febs.org A charitable organization advancing research in the molecular life sciences across Europe and beyond A Company Limited by Guarantee (Number 08239097); A Registered Charity (Number 1149638); Registered in England and Wales; Registered office: 98 Regent Street, Cambridge, CB2 1DP, UK.

2 FEBS News July 2014

PREFACE

year, we have been first summing up, in considerable detail, FEBS activities over the past 50 years in an e-book, Fifty Years of FEBS – A Memoir 1964– 2013, written up by Horst Feldmann and Guy Dirheimer. This e-book shall be distributed to all participants of the FEBS–EMBO 2014 Conference in Paris. In this issue of FEBS News we have included a couple of interesting recollections of past FEBS Meetings (pages 6–7), and we also take a look at the history of the scientific poster, including its use at FEBS Congresses (pages 8–10). These recollections are adapted from contributions to our anniversary illustrated essay book FEBS at 50: half a century promoting the molecular life sciences (2014), edited by Richard N. Perham and Mary Purton, which will have a small print run and also be available in pdf format from the FEBS website later this year. Staying with the anniversary theme, this issue of FEBS News also includes an engaging account of SFBBM’s 100-year history (pages 20–21) and an introduction to our ‘FEBS 50th Anniversary Virtual Issues’ (page 22). For the anniversary Virtual Issues, we invited our Constituent Societies to select up to 25 articles from our two long-established journals The FEBS Journal (formerly European Journal of Biochemistry) and FEBS Letters that had been contributed to these publications by scientists from their country since these journals began in the late 1960s. Several societies have taken part in this initiative and produced some interesting editorials. The resulting ‘FEBS 50th Anniversary Virtual Issues’ are now hosted in the Publications Section of the FEBS website. I encourage you to take a trip back in time through these issues (especially if your country is represented), and enjoy finding out some of the research topics from the past that have become highly cited. But this issue of FEBS News is not just about looking back to many years ago. You will also find reports from 2014 FEBS Advanced Courses (pages 11–14), a feature on some of the excellent recent research work that has been carried out by senior FEBS Long-Term Fellows (pages 15–17), and the latest news from our four journals (pages 23–27). It’s not too early to start making plans for next year either. The 2015 FEBS Advanced Courses will be announced soon via the FEBS website, and plans for the 2015 FEBS Congress, which is being organized by the German Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in Berlin, are well under way – see the back page of FEBS News, and save the dates! Israel Pecht, FEBS Secretary General

We are now over half way through our 50th anniversary year and looking forward to the highlight: FEBS–EMBO 2014, our joint anniversary conference with EMBO (also celebrating its 50th anniversary), hosted by one of our oldest Constituent Societies, the French Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, SFBBM (celebrating 100 years). The planning of such a large meeting is a considerable undertaking and it has been a pleasure to combine forces to help make this event extra special. One aspect of a large congress that is distinct from more focused scientific meetings is the chance to be updated in leading research areas outside one’s own immediate interests. This has various potential benefits – for example, providing insight for younger researchers at a stage where decisions about their own future interests have to be made, and, for others, possible ideas for interdisciplinary work, new research directions and university teaching. At FEBS–EMBO 2014, we are looking forward to an outstanding range of speakers from fast-moving areas of the molecular life sciences, as well as plenary lectures from eminent scientists. To complement all this, there are a number of special sessions of wider interest planned by FEBS committees, including those on science and society, education, and women in science, as summarized on the next couple of pages (4–5). Registration is still open! In our anniversary year, we have been taking a look back at milestones and contributions of FEBS over the past 50 years. Of these, the organization of large scientific meetings by FEBS started almost immediately after its foundation – indeed, the driving force for the formation of FEBS was facilitating intra-European scientific communication and personal contacts, and the first FEBS Meeting, in 1964, already attracted over 1000 participants. The early FEBS Meetings eventually became the annual FEBS Congress, which thus now has a long history of bringing together scientists from all over Europe and beyond to discuss the latest research – and to spark collaborations and friendships. In this anniversary 3

FEBS News July 2014

FEBS–EMBO 2014 CONFERENCE

FEBS Workshops and Events at the FEBS–EMBO 2014 Conference Alongside the core research-focused symposia of FEBS–EMBO 2014, FEBS committees and working groups are organizing and funding sessions of wide interest – on science and society, university education, and women in science. All interested participants are welcome to attend.

Science and Society

Science and Society

Two science and society events of broad interest are being organized at FEBS–EMBO 2014. First, a session of four lectures will address the theme of ‘Safety and security in the biological sciences: institutional and individual responsibility’ (see Box). Biosafety is part of the everyday work of biologists; this session is focused on the applications of biosafety both inside and outside the laboratory. The speakers will consider a range of issues generally relevant to current practices in biochemistry, molecular biology, and other biological sciences. Technical issues in biosafety, the development of biosafety practices as part of environmental protection, and the roles of institutes, agencies and, especially, individual researchers in assuring safety in the laboratory and beyond will all be discussed. Second, we are looking forward to a FEBS roundtable discussion on ‘New Trends in European Scientific Policy’ with Gottfried Schatz (former Secretary General of EMBO), Helga Nowotny (former President of the European Research Council) and Daniel Louvard (Director, Research Centre of Institut Curie, Paris) on Wednesday 3

Safety and security in the biological sciences: institutional and individual responsibility Biosafety: all for one; one for all Patrick Rüdelsheim, BE Food and biofuels from large-scale algae mass cultures: opportunities and challenges Mario Tredici, IT Responsible design in synthetic biology Jane Calvert, UK The role of the European Food Safety Authority in the risk assessment of GMOs Elizabeth Waigmann, EFSA, EU Sunday 31 August • 18:00–20:00 • Grand Auditorium Co-organized by the FEBS Science and Society Committee and EMBO Science Policy Programme

September. Topics under discussion will include: stumbling blocks for Europe’s scientific innovation; academic career structures; and big data, big projects and the neglect of long-term basic research. Jacques-Henry Weil Chair, FEBS Science and Society Committee

Education

Education

The FEBS Education Committee is co-organizing two workshops with the French Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at FEBS– EMBO 2014. The first workshop, on ‘Skills needed from a molecular life scientist’, will include talks and small-group discussions and is expected to result in a significant body of information for development of a wide-ranging FEBS education project, with aims that include building a thematic network for molecular life sciences education in Europe, defining skills and core knowledge, and addressing standards. Second, the workshop ‘New technologies available to teach molecular life sciences’ will deal with innovations in educational approaches and strategies, with a discussion on their selective use. There will also be a poster session on molecular life sciences education and career planning, and this year a poster will be selected for a prize. Gül Güner Akdoğan Chair, FEBS Education Committee

I. Skills needed from a molecular life scientist What skills to expect from a molecular life scientist? Francesco Michelangeli, UK What to teach in biochemistry? Results and prospects of a brief survey in French Universities Jean-Luc Souciet, FR Small-Group Discussions Tuesday 2 September • 18:00–19:30 • Room Maillot

II. New technologies available to teach molecular life sciences Peer instruction: general view and application to molecular life sciences Quentin Vicens, FR The role of peer instruction in educational development (getting more scientists to revamp teaching) Michael E. Caspersen, DK Using technology to engage with students Neil Morris, UK Wednesday 3 September • 18:00–20:00 • Room Maillot 4

FEBS News July 2014

FEBS–EMBO 2014 CONFERENCE

Women in Science

Women in Science

The Women in Science plenary lecture and special session on Tuesday 2 September, jointly organized by FEBS and EMBO, are open to both men and women. For the plenary lecture, we look forward to hearing Pascale Cossart (Institut Pasteur, Paris), the 2014 winner of the FEBS|EMBO Women in Science Award. Pascale Cossart received the award for her outstanding contributions to the study of how bacteria infect human and other cells, her active role in encouraging cooperation between different disciplines in the life sciences, and her support and mentoring of young scientists (for more details, see the press release when the award was announced earlier in the year). Later in the day, Curt Rice, Chair of the Committee for Gender Balance in Research, Norway, will lecture on divergence between the career paths of men and women in science, which is sure to provide plenty to talk about.

FEBS|EMBO Women in Science Award Lecture: Organelle targeting during bacterial infections: lessons from Listeria Pascale Cossart, FR Tuesday 2 September • 11:45–12:30 • Grand Auditorium FEBS|EMBO Women in Science Special Session: Confessions of a male sexist: how implicit bias holds women back Curt Rice, NO Tuesday 2 September • 18:00–19:30 • Grand Auditorium

FEBS is also organizing a Women in Science mentoring lunch to discuss career-related issues on Tuesday 2 September, sponsored this year by L’Oréal Foundation – sign up at the FEBS booth to attend this. In addition, L’Oréal Foundation will be sponsoring a poster prize at FEBS–EMBO 2014. . Cecília M. Arraiano Chair, FEBS Working Group on Women in Science

FEBS AWARD LECTURES at FEBS–EMBO 2014 FEBS Medals Febs Sir Hans Krebs Lecture (August 31, 11:45–12:45) Michael Hall Biozentrum, University of Basel, CH mTOR signaling in growth and metabolism Febs Prakash Datta Lecture (September 3, 11:45–12:30) Nicole Le Douarin FR The Neural Crest, a source of stem cells: its role in the development and evolution of vertebrates Febs Theodor Bücher Lecture (September 3, 14:00–15:00) Arthur Konnerth Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, DE Neuronal circuit dysfunction in Alzheimer’s disease FEBS|EMBO Women in Science Award FEBS|EMBO Women in Science Award Plenary Lecture (September 2, 11:45–12:30) Pascale Cossart Institut Pasteur, Paris, FR Organelle targeting during bacterial infections: lessons from Listeria FEBS Publications Awards Febs Letters Young Group Leader Award Lecture (August 31, 14:00–14:30) Susanna Törnroth-Horsefield Lund University, SE Structural principles behind eukaryotic aquaporin regulation Febs Journal Award Lecture (August 31, 14:30–15:00) Hee-Yeon Jeon Seoul National University, KR Depletion of Aurora-A in zebrafish causes growth retardation due to mitotic delay and p53-dependent cell death

Febs ‘Biomolecular Complexes and Assemblies’

Visit the FEBS booth at FEBS–EMBO 2014

A FEBS Journal Symposium to honour Richard Perham (FEBS J. Editor-in-Chief 1998–2013)

Booth no. 35

Speakers: Sheena Radford, UK; Frédéric Dardel, FR; Wolfgang Baumeister, DE; Angela Gronenborn, US; David Nicholson, UK; Vladimir Uversky, US September 2 • 09:00–10:30 5 FEBS News July 2014

• Information on all FEBS activities • Browse our journals, meet Editors and editorial staff, and receive advice on abstract writing and article submission

FEBS 50th ANNIVERSARY: THE FEBS CONGRESS

FEBS Congress recollections The FEBS Congress has a long history of bringing scientists together (see Preface, page 3). Here, we feature a couple of excerpts on past FEBS Meetings adapted from contributions to our anniversary essay book FEBS at 50 (2014), edited by R.N. Perham and M. Purton. The first, from a longer piece on biochemistry behind the iron curtain by Václav Pačes, past President of the Czech Academy of Sciences, tells the experience of a young scientist’s involvement with the 5th FEBS Meeting in Prague

in 1968, while the second is an organizer’s perspective of the 27th FEBS Meeting in 2001, from Claudina Rodrigues-Pousada, Chair of the FEBS Working Group for young scientists; the latter account brings us to the modern era of Congresses – complete with online registration, partnership with another funding organization, participants from beyond Europe, additional workshops beyond the core scientific sessions, and the first accompanying Young Scientists’ Forum.

5th FEBS Meeting, Prague, 1968: manager – but a person answerable to book of abstracts, and directing the Communist Party. This was ‘normal’ for that time. František Šorm ran the Institute Václav Pačes, Institute of Molecular Genetics, autocratically, but to his credit his Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic primary emphasis was always on the In 1965, one year after FEBS was quality of science. There were no founded, I began my PhD studies. This desks for PhD students then, only a was the time when the intransigent laboratory stool and a bench beneath communist regime in Czechoslovakia a window for writing protocols. Šorm slowly began to ease up on its control. frowned on students studying in the For me, politics had little interest then. Institute library during work hours. We Fortunately, I was able to work in the were to study at night or on weekends, laboratory of Jiří Doskočil, an he told us sternly. Doing experiments outstanding Czech scientist and one of was our task. (What a stark contrast the founding personalities of molecular with PhD students of today who work biology in Czechoslovakia. His comfortably at computers!) laboratory was located in the Institute In 1968 my PhD thesis was almost of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry completed. This was a year of political of the then Czechoslovak Academy of upheaval all over Europe. There were Sciences in Prague. This was a first-rate student protests and occupations in institute and was the equal of the best Paris, and in Czechoslovakia the in Europe. František Šorm, the director, legendary ‘Prague Spring’. This was was an excellent chemist and science politically a period of hopeful but cautious relief. For researchers like me it meant for example that, at last, issues of the journal Nature with uncomfortable editorials were no longer confiscated. We were exuberant as it became possible for us to communicate more freely with colleagues abroad. Shortly – we started to live a normal life. This was also the year 5th Meeting (Praha, 1968): Plenary Lectures when our Institute made Perutz, M.F. 'X-ray analysis, structure, and function of enzymes' (1st Sir Hans Krebs Lecture) Eur. J. Biochem. arrangements for the 5th 8, 455–456 (1969) FEBS Meeting to be held in Hithings, G.H. 'Thiopurines as inhibitors of the Prague. As a PhD student, my immune response' FEBS Symp. 16, 1–10 (1969) assignment was to help (from top left): Programme from 5th FEBS Meeting; where needed. This included first issue of FEBS Letters, July 1968; Plenary preparing an index for the Lectures, including the first Sir Hans Krebs Lecture.

From 'Biochemistry behind the iron curtain'

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participants to buses and cars at Prague Airport. It was an eye-opening experience for me, being the first FEBS Meeting and the first international meeting I was able to attend. It was incredible for me to see world-renowned leaders of contemporary biochemistry and to exchange lab experiences with participants. Many years later, several participants from abroad commented on how well this congress had been organized. This Meeting was where I gave my first talk in English. I remember how nervous I was but I soon discovered that scientists are amiable persons who empathize with the efforts of a young, fledgling scientist. This was the meeting where the new journal of FEBS, FEBS Letters, was launched. My paper was published in the first issue and I felt very proud. With so many new scientific encounters, my life was developing agreeably in bright colours. Following the FEBS meeting, I worked hard to conclude my experiments and write my thesis. Newspapers freely published descriptions of the ruthless 1950s when innocent people were jailed and even executed simply because they did not agree with the communist regime. While following the political development in the country, my main focus was my scientific work. On the night of August 20, 1968, at around 11 o‘clock, I was awakened by an unrelenting strange loud noise overhead. Our one-year old son woke up and started to cry. Magda, my wife said, 'It sounds like an airlift‘. A good joke, we thought – but it was anything

FEBS 50th ANNIVERSARY: THE FEBS CONGRESS

but a joke; it really was an airlift. By morning our country had been occupied by Soviet-led armies of the Warsaw Pact. That sad day the shortlived Prague Spring came to a brutal end as tanks and other military

equipment rolled noisily into the city. The bright colour of my life changed to deep black. The following 21 years (from 1968 to 1989) were the gloomiest period for me and my fellow Czech scientists. It

27th FEBS Meeting, Lisbon, 2001: American countries. FEBS also From 'Rising to the challenge' Claudina Rodrigues-Pousada, Oeiras, Portugal President of the Organizing Committee

The 27th FEBS Meeting was held in Lisbon from 30 June to 5 July 2001, hosted by the Portuguese Biochemical Society (SPB) and in collaboration with the Pan American Association for Biochemical and Molecular Biology (PABMB), the only European meeting so far organized with this association. Following work from 1998 of the Portuguese organizing and scientific commitees, and recommendations of speakers from additional international scientists, the meeting was promoted at the 26th FEBS Meeting in Nice in 1999 and the 18th IUBMB Congress in Birmingham in 2000. A website was created at the start of 2000, and constantly updated. Although registration could be done using traditional means (fax), many participants registered via the internet, and a total of 1193 abstracts were submitted this way. In those days, online systems were relatively new! The financial contribution of FEBS was undoubtedly a great support. We received €50,000 to help with the organization and €50,000 to provide bursaries to students. PABMB donated a further US$35,000, to sponsor student participation from the Latin

sponsored the Krebs, Datta and Bücher lectures, given, respectively, by Prof. Sir Phil Cohen, Dr Jean Marc Egly and Dr Dorothea Bartels. Other lectures were supported by PABMB (Dr Sérgio T. Ferreira), IUBMB (Prof. Tom Steitz), EMBO (Dr Susan Gasser), SPB (Prof. António Xavier) and the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (Dr Peter Wright). A total of 2055 participants attended the Meeting, of which 44% were young scientists. Two hundred and ten speakers were invited to participate in the scientific program, which was organised into 48 sessions. The most popular sessions were Bioinformatics, Functional Genomics and Proteomics, Signalling Transduction Pathways, Cellular Stress Responses, Molecular Basis of Diseases and Structural Biology. The workshop New Frontiers in Teaching Biochemistry, and in particular the talk given by Bruce Alberts, was a great success. For the first time at a FEBS Meeting, a roundtable discussion on a society-related issue, ‘Impact of Biochemistry on Society’, organized by Alexandre Quintanilha and Federico Mayor, was included and opened to the general public. Furthermore, the experience for early-career scientists at the FEBS Meeting was expanded, with the organization of the first satellite Young Scientists' Forum by Dr Julia Costa.

was extremely difficult to travel abroad. In envy, we read journals announcing FEBS Congresses, conferences and practical courses that we were forbidden by the regime to attend... The participants’ feedback about the Meeting was very positive and the scientific program was considered to be excellent. The SPB was very happy to organize this Meeting and very grateful to FEBS for entrusting it with this endeavour. A word of recognition is due to the ‘Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia’, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, and BIAL whose financial support was essential for the success of the Meeting. The social events, in particular the Concert, Welcome Reception and the Farewell dinner in S. Jorge castle were greatly appreciated. The preparation of the Meeting was certainly a very hard task, both financially and scientifically, but it was well worth doing. The Meeting made a small profit, which was returned to SPB by FEBS to subsidize students for future FEBS meetings. The Portuguese scientific community was well represented at the Meeting by 12 Portuguese speakers and derived significant benefit from the event. A colleague was surprised that we did not have Nobel Prize winners in the scientific program. My immediate reaction was to point out that we did have Nobel candidates, such as Tom Steitz and Venki Ramakrishanan. My colleague smiled, but the fact is that, together with Ada Yonath, Tom and Venki shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2009!

(from left): José Mariano Gago (Minister for Science and Technology in 2001), Joan Guinovart, Claudina Rodrigues-Pousada and Julio Celis at the meeting venue; before wifi – row of computers near poster area for participants' use; central part of Eur. J. Biochem. abstract book cover.

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FEBS 50th ANNIVERSARY: THE FEBS CONGRESS

The Scientific Poster Posters have long offered an established format to enable large numbers of researchers to present and discuss their research at conferences. How did this start, how has their use developed and are they an effective means of scientific communication? Interestingly in FEBS’ 50th anniversary year, we find that FEBS was an early adopter of poster sessions: in fact, poster use at the 6th FEBS Meeting in Madrid in 1969 is currently the first documented use of posters at an international conference. Below, we present recollections of poster sessions from this early FEBS Meeting, and,

by way of comparison, from the 2012 IUBMB–FEBS Congress in Sevilla. Then, on the next page, Nicholas Rowe, a researcher on the practice and use of academic poster presentation, looks at the history of poster use, the advantages and limitations of the format, and possible future trends. Certainly, the poster session remains a useful and popular part of conferences for now: at the FEBS– EMBO 2014 in Paris, over 1500 scientists are expected to present their research work through this format, with excellence to be recognized by several FEBS and EMBO journal prizes.

Posters at the 6th FEBS Meeting, Madrid, 1969 Participants were notified in advance whether their communication was scheduled for one of four ‘demonstration’ (poster) sessions, or if they were to make a short (7 or 10 minutes) oral presentation in one of the 59 conventional ‘free communication’ sessions. The board on which ‘demonstrations’ were to be posted consisted of a horizontal wooden rectangle of 2.5 m2 in which, according to the programme, the author ‘may pin his [sic] cards before the time scheduled for the session’. Adjacent to this was a small wooden tray with thumb-tacks, adhesive tape and black and red markers. Since this type of presentation was a novelty, ‘chairmen’, also called ‘coordinators’, were in charge of the sessions to help participants in the arrangement of their demonstrations. The first demonstration session was chaired by M.A. Dankert (from Luis Leloir´s laboratory) and Carlos Gancedo. Truly, the chairmen were needed! Quite a number of participants did not realize exactly what was expected from them and it was necessary to provide certain instructions. A sizeable quantity of white kraft paper was available and many people drew their presentations in situ. Some participants were quite angry that their work had been assigned to these demonstration sessions and the chairmen had to try to convince them of the value of the experiment. Fortunately, at the end of the session many of the initially angry participants apologized and said they had been really amazed by the increased possibilities of communication provided by this new kind of presentation. Carlos Gancedo

Posters at the IUBMB–FEBS Congress (37th FEBS Congress), Sevilla, 2012 Over 40 years later, the joint IUBMB and FEBS Congress in Spain on the theme ’From Single Molecules to Systems Biology’ hosted nearly 1700 scientific posters, which were displayed over three sessions. In addition to the usual opportunities of interaction between interested participants and poster presenters, ‘guided poster tours’ (highlighting of selected posters by senior scientists) were organized. As a new innovation, the Congress also offered a ‘Poster Printing On-Site Service’: participants could email their poster as a digital PDF file that could be printed and hung on the appropriate display board for a nominal fee of €30. At the relevant poster session, the authors would find their poster ready for presentation. Miguel A. De la Rosa

Guided poster session, with Agustín Hernández (Sevilla).

The content of this box was adapted from FEBS at 50 (2014), edited by R.N. Perham and M. Purton. 8 FEBS News July 2014

VIEWPOINT

Poster Presentations – the ‘then and now’ of a popular medium of scientific communication Nicholas Rowe

Faculty of Education, University of Lapland, Finland; [email protected]

A brief history Generally, posters are used to give a visual aspect to opinions or findings, with the aim of swaying a wider audience. Used since 1545 (see Reformation propaganda by Lucas Cranach), posters developed as a visual medium that was designed to both inform and to sell (see for example the first colour posters of Jules Chéret printed in France in 1858 – ‘the Father of the Poster’). The earliest academic conferences occurred around 1644, with the first academic journal (Journal des Scavans) published in 1665. In both settings, in addition to sharing knowledge, a key concept is to engage with other interested parties and to test ideas. The academic/ scientific poster grew from this need. It is unknown exactly when posters became a part of professional meetings, but it has to predate the first documented uses, probably at a local level. Currently, 1946 is the earliest a medical topic is known to have been presented as a ‘poster session’, with selected materials mounted on a tri-fold board being located in the Wellcome Library Archives (Author Unknown). New evidence shows that 1969 saw the first recorded international use of poster sessions at the 6th FEBS Meeting in Madrid (Rowe, 2014). These were referred to as ‘demonstration sessions’, and were a feature on each of the four days of the meeting. One and a half hours were designated for the session and 15 presentations were displayed using material that was mounted on a board and open to informal discussion (pers. commun.: Gancedo–Rowe 27.03.14). The first session was coordinated by C. Gancedo and M. Dankert and the first presentation

was on the ‘Utilization and regulation of the pentose phosphate pathway in ascites-tumor cells and erythrocytes’, delivered by K. Brand, J. Musil and K. Decker of Dortmund, GFR (FEBS, 1969). In 1973, the first instructions for poster compilation and usage were published by the British Medical Association. A year later in 1974, poster sessions were first introduced in the USA at the 1974 Biochemistry/Biophysics Meeting, Minneapolis. The sessions were adopted partly because of an overflow of papers, and some 500 of the 2200 papers (22%) at the week-long meeting were ultimately presented in this format (Maugh, 1974). By now they were referred to as ‘poster sessions’ – ‘Authors’ presented a ‘poster paper’, and the thinking was that greater numbers of posters on display offered an increased chance of finding interesting topics. In 1979, however, Eisenschitz et al. said that because there was no ‘publication’, then posters were classed as ‘a lesser publication’ than their oral counterparts (which were more widely covered in proceedings). This provides an early indication that there are motivations behind poster presentation other than the desire to interact and disseminate knowledge. Since this period, poster presentation has become the second most prolific form of knowledge dissemination in the sciences and academia, behind journal article publication (Rowe, in preparation). 1995 saw the earliest use of electronic posters and these were furthermore used in the context of internet-based conferences in NMR spectroscopy (Hardy, 1997), so technological innovation has taken place. 9 FEBS News July 2014

An effective medium? Despite their popularity, however, there are many common ‘gripes’ about the poster format. How can you attract attention in a hall of maybe 500 posters? How can your poster compete with the allure of coffee, food and relaxation? Is a poster presentation ‘accepted’ (and therefore worthy of a line on your CV), or simply a means to obtain funding to participate in a conference? If I present a poster, am I considered ‘junior’? Is poster presentation really worth the effort, or should I simply write a paper instead? With these thoughts in mind, Box 1 offers some tips for successful presentation. Lots of the issues surrounding poster presentation have the potential to be addressed using current technology, yet the worth and appreciation of poster presentation is paradoxical – the medium is hugely popular on a global scale, but receives little academic appreciation or value. In practice, quantifiable indicators such as ‘impact’ are taken to imply achievement and quality, yet measures of professional engagement are given less recognition, despite the fact they may offer an equal (if not different) perspective on individual performance. Poster practice has developed little since its inception, but in times where a visible return on investment is understandably required, the poster medium could be further developed to meet both the intrinsic and extrinsic needs of its users as well as those who fund such endeavours. For 45 years, the poster medium has given the opportunity for literally millions of people to present and display their work to conference audiences around the

FEBS PROGRAMMES: UPDATES

world. It is a highly utilized medium of scientific communication and an established part of the orthodoxy of professional and educational conferences. With development, however, it has the potential to reach far wider audiences. If this can be achieved, then the practice of presenting research and information via the poster medium will be enhanced for presenters, viewers, organizers and society in general. References

Wellcome Library [Author Unknown] ['1946', no Subject] [archive material]: Manuscript notes; mounted and captioned photographs ? for poster session. London: Wellcome Library Federation of European Biochemical Societies, 1969. 6th FEBS Meeting, Free Communications – Demonstration Session: Carbohydrate Metabolism 1969, p. 16 Maugh, T.H. (1974) Speaking of Science: Poster Sessions: a new look at scientific meetings. Science 184, 1361 Eisenschitz, T., Knox, J., Oppenheim, C., Richards, K. and Wittels, P. (1979) Poster sessions as a medium of scientific communication. J. Res. Commun. Studies 1, 235–242 Rowe, N. (2014) Poster sessions to grab your attention. Nature 509, 164 Hardy, B., Doughty, S., Parretti, M., Tennison, J., Finn, B. and Gardner, K.

Box 1. ‘Alternative’ tips for poster presentation The following points offer some alternative perspectives on poster presentation (and not a word about font, imagery and white space): 1. The aim of a poster is different to that of a paper or oral presentation, so considering them as a ‘lesser entity’ is invalid. Think about how you can demonstrate the value of your activity, beyond standing by a sheet of paper. Poster presentations may not have an impact factor, but they can still have an impact. 2. Lots of resources are available to help you make an attractive poster – read them. If you don’t attract attention, then nobody looks, nobody talks, and your effort and investment is for nothing. 3. A poster should contain the key points of your work, but it is not a ‘stand-alone’ medium – it is a communication tool that needs to be presented (either in-person or on multi-media platforms and forums) and used as a focal point for discussion. Also, think beyond the conference venue – how will people access you and your work once the poster has gone back into the tube? 4. The majority of poster ‘literature’ comprises abstract citations, which often tell us very little about the topic. How will you meet the informational needs of the global audience (and are their needs more important than your own)? 5. When looking for support in presenting posters at conferences, emphasize the aspects of engagement and activity within your field, and plan how these will be achieved – if your plan is to talk vaguely to five or six people and then draw a line under the experience then your institution’s money could be better spent elsewhere. (1997) Internet conferences in NMR spectroscopy. Prog. NMR Spectrosc. 31, 107–117

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Nicholas Rowe ([email protected]) is researching a PhD at the University of Lapland on the practice and development of academic/scientific poster presentation. He is presenting the poster ‘Posters at

Academic/Scientific Conferences: juggling the needs of viewers, presenters and society’ at the FEBS–EMBO 2014 Conference during all poster sessions, and conducting a survey on the current perception of poster presentations – please contribute your perspectives in this