NVBMB Spring Symposium 2022 on Single Cell Biology, the winner of the Westenbrink Prize 20/21, a new NVBMB board member, NVBMB general assembly (ALV), and invitation to nominate candidates for the Best PhD thesis Westenbrink prize 21/22.

The symposium will be held live at the VU University in Amsterdam on Thursday May 12 from 9:30-18:00h. Single-cell (omics) technologies are revolutionizing the extent and resolution at which we can study biological systems at the molecular level. They provide new insights in cell types and states in health and disease, developmental trajectories, heterogeneity of tissues, dynamics of protein and RNA abundance and movement, and much more. Join us and emerge yourself in a day of exciting new developments and opportunities in measuring and integrating different aspects of biology at the single cell level in a range of biological systems.

Registration for this meeting is mandatory but free of charge for NVBMB members. We offer hybrid format for people that cannot join in person.

The H.G.K. Westenbrink prize 2021/2021 has been awarded to Dr. Rik Lindeboom for his PhD thesis entitled ‘Investigating gene regulation in development and disease using integrative omics approaches’. The PhD research on fundamental research into gene regulation in embryonic development, stem cell differentiation and cancer was conducted in the group of Prof. dr. dr. Michiel Vermeulen at Radboud University Nijmegen. The prize will be handed out during the NVBMB spring symposium on May 12, where Dr. Rik Lindeboom will be one of the speakers.

The next General Assembly (ALV) of NVBMB members will take place during the lunch break of the Spring Symposium at the VU University in Amsterdam on May 12 (13:15-13:45h).

Agenda:

1. Opening
2. Minutes ALV 2021
3. Short report on activities organized in the past year
4. Financial annual report and budget 2022
5. Election of new board member
6. Closing

Ad 4. Members can request the financial report by sending an email to nvbmb@kncv.nl

Ad 5. Dr. Merel Adjobo-Hermans (Radboud UMC) is leaving the board. The board proposes as candidate board member Wouter Verdurmen (Radboud UMC). Other candidates for membership of the NVBMB board should send an e-mail (including a short CV) before April 22 to nvbmb@kncv.nl.

To join the ALV, please register for the Spring Symposium. If you cannot attend the symposium in person you can join by Zoom (Meeting ID: 827 9936 9092, Passcode: 848151; or contact nvbmb@kncv.nl for a link).

The H.G.K. Westenbrink prize was established by the Stichting Stimulering Biochemie Nederland (SSBN) and is awarded each year to the best PhD thesis in the area of biochemistry and molecular biology in the previous academic year.

We invite you to nominate candidates before July 15, 2022. Please note the following:

• candidates can only be nominated by their promotor or co-promotor; 
• candidates have to defend at a Dutch university but need not be of Dutch nationality; 
• the research should be in the broad area of the molecular life sciences.

Dr. Merel Adjobo-Hermans is leaving the NVBMB board. Merel has been a board member since 2015. The NVBMB board thanks Merel for her many contributions.

NWO LIFE: May 24-25, Egmond aan Zee. The overarching theme for NWO Life2022 is ‘Resilience’. Broadly defined, resilience is the ability to adapt to difficult situations. Resilience relates to all biological scale levels: from cellular resilience – which is influenced by genetic factors – and resilience at the level of individual organisms to resilience of ecosystems. More info here.

NWO CHAINS: September 21-22, Veldhoven. CHAINS is the annual Dutch chemistry conference. It is the event where chemists, from PhD students and postdocs to professors and R&D scientists, in science and industry come together. More info here.

The 46th FEBS Congress is hosted by the Portuguese Biochemical Society in Lisbon, 9–14 July 2022, as 'The Biochemistry Global Summit'. Registration and abstract submission are open!