Waiting for the FEBS-2013 Congress
Scientist: The FEBS Congress in St. Petersburg will be an outstanding scientific event
The largest world scientific forum in the history of modern Russia – the 38th Annual Congress of the Federation of European Biochemical Societies (FEBS) - will open on July 6 in St. Petersburg. Alexander Gabibov, President of the Russian Society of Biochemists and Molecular Biologists representing Russia at FEBS, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, told RIA Novosti correspondent Vladimir Sychev about how Russia won the right to receive the congress and what scientists expect from it.
– What does the upcoming congress mean for scientific Russia, with what can it be compared?
– In terms of the scale, thoroughness of preparation, significance not only for Russian science, but also for the country as a whole, I would compare the upcoming congress with the European Football Championship.
To begin with, I will tell you what the Federation of European Biochemical Societies is. This organization competes in biochemistry and molecular biology with America, it was created in the 60s of the XX century to show that the sciences of life in Europe are also successfully developing. And the federation is successfully coping with this. Holding annual congresses is one of the ways to promote the successes of European scientists. FEBS is very attentive to the choice of the venue of congresses, there are strict requirements for the level of the congress program, for the selection of lecturers, including from the host country. This gives the right to compare the congress with the European Championship.
– Such things are won in a tough competition. How did Russia manage to get a congress, because domestic biologists are not in the first places in the scientific world?
– We had excellent scientists at the beginning of the XX century, it is enough to recall Nikolai Koltsov, Nikolai Vavilov. Then our biology lagged far behind due to well-known reasons. It was only at the beginning of the second half of the XX century that we began to gain momentum again. And many scientists of the same age of the century, such as academicians Vladimir Engelhardt, Alexander Braunstein, Alexander Baev, have done a lot to ensure that our biological science is once again recognized in the world. People of the next generation, such as academicians Alexander Spirin, Yuri Ovchinnikov, Georgy Georgiev, Vladimir Skulachev advanced certain areas in biological sciences. Although in Soviet times we did not "keep the front" in all biology, but we began to be noticed. The apotheosis of this was the FEBS Congress, organized in 1984 in Moscow.
That congress was a landmark one. It was attended by such luminaries as Nobel laureates Linus Pauling, Dorothy Hodgkin, and scientists who received this award later, such as Edwin Krebs, the man who discovered protein phosphorylation, one of the most important processes in living cells. The Congress of 1984 is still remembered in the history of science as a forum that brought together excellent scientists and reports.
Further, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, our science found itself in a complete pen. There was a large flow of emigration. But at the beginning of the new century, the situation in Russian science and in the sciences of life in particular began to change for the better, we were again welcomed in the world.
– What was the decisive argument in favor of Russia when choosing a place for FEBS-2013?
– The key event was the holding of the fifth congress of the Russian Society of Biochemists and Molecular Biologists in Novosibirsk in 2008. This is the largest event in the field of life sciences in our country. A thousand delegates from Russia gathered for that congress.
We invited some scientific "stars" to the congress, in particular, the future Nobel laureate Jules Hoffman, who two years ago received a prize for studying the system of innate immunity. We had about 20-30 foreign speakers. The leadership of FEBS, which we invited to the congress, was surprised by the high level of scientific reports of Russian delegates, including young scientists. And we were asked to apply for the FEBS congress – despite the fact that we ourselves did not have such an idea at all, we did not ask for it ourselves.
The leaders of FEBS advised to apply for the congress in St. Petersburg, as it is not only a very beautiful city and a cultural center, but also a place where many outstanding Russian scientists have worked and are working.
We applied twice, lost, but gradually gained more and more points. Finally, in 2011, it was decided to give us the right to hold the current congress.
– What happened next?
– The decisive confirmation of the choice for FEBS was that quite a lot of Nobel laureates were going to come to Russia. We created an international organizing committee of the congress headed by Nobel laureate Richard Roberts, which helped attract other laureates, classics of world science of the 1980s and 90s. I invited some Nobel laureates, knowing them well personally, for example, Kurt Wuterich and Jean-Marie Lehn. In total, we will have eleven "Nobelists" as plenary speakers.
Then there was an active work on the creation of a program of symposiums. For the topic of each of the symposiums, we chose the field of knowledge that is well developed in Russia, where Russian scientists working in our country have decent publications in prestigious world journals. That was our principle. At the same time, out of about 300 speakers at the congress, only 10-20% will be Russian – this is a strict requirement, it is impossible to create a preponderance of speakers from the host country.
We have gathered almost 40 such symposiums, most of them have co-chairs from Russia.
– It turns out that there are still a lot of strong scientific groups in Russia.
– And I will name specific names – these are Professor Alexey Finkelstein from the Institute of Protein, our largest specialist in the field of molecular biology of cancer Georgy Georgiev, researcher of RNA-containing cell structures Olga Dontsova, immunochemist Sergey Deev, specialist in the organization of the eukaryotic genome Sergey Razin, one of our largest molecular physiologists in the field of vision Mikhail Ostrovsky, scientist in the field of higher nervous activity, Mikhail Ugryumov, you can't list them all.
A separate topic is youth. FEBS grants 300-350 scholarships to young European scientists to participate in the congress. But according to the rules of the federation, young scientists from the host country do not receive such scholarships. It was another difficult moment – how to ensure the participation of our youth? We have overcome these difficulties not without the help of the Ministry of Education and Science, the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Russian Foundation for Basic Research. As a result, about 300-400 young Russian scientists will make presentations with us, some with poster messages.
We had high-level organizational support. In the fall of 2012, the government issued an order to hold a congress. This was necessary, because in the end, with the help of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Education and Science, it was possible to create a simplified visa regime for congress participants. In total, the congress managed to attract about three thousand delegates, two thousand of them from abroad.
– Let's continue the comparison with the football championship – after all, stadiums are always carefully selected before it. Surely FEBS paid special attention to the choice of a venue for the congress?
- of course. St. Petersburg is a beautiful city, one of the largest pearls of world architecture, a city with powerful scientific traditions, but not very adapted for holding large forums. When the international commission examined the sites we initially proposed, such as the Mariinsky Theater and the Oktyabrsky Concert Hall, all this did not satisfy the inspectors. It was necessary to have a certain complex where it would be possible to gather about three thousand people at the same time and hold a dozen breakout meetings. There is only one such complex in the city – this is Lenexpo. It was selected and certified by FEBS for the congress. There were certain difficulties, because the complex hosted several major events at a very close time, but Expoforum, the Lenexpo operator company, took a sound position and helped us a lot.
– What do you personally expect from the Congress?
– I think that the efforts of a relatively small team that worked for the organization of the congress will not be spent in vain if our young specialists, who for the most part do not yet have the opportunity to travel abroad to conferences, see world scientific leaders and young scientists who have achieved some success and understand what a first-class science. If the guys, especially from the hinterland, returning to their universities, understand what to do, how to change their attitude to science – which topics to take, and which, maybe, as outdated, to close – then our mission will be fulfilled.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru05.07.2013