• NVBMB Speaker of the year 2025
• Report on NVBMB Spring symposium
• New NVBMB Board members
• 2026 FEBS congress in Maastricht
• Call for nominations for the Westenbrink and NVBMB prizes

Since 1980 NVBMB invites a renowned biochemist or molecular biologist for a lecture tour in The Netherlands each year. This year NVBMB Speaker of the Year Jennifer Lippincott-Schwartz gave a keynote lecture during the Conference – Innovative Imaging for 3D Cell Biology in Utrecht on June 18^th and on June 19^th she gave lectures in Leiden and Groningen. In these magnificent lectures she described her studies on the molecular interactions and dynamics in the cell on the single molecule level using cryo-EM and super-resolution microscopy. Her amazing perspectives of molecules of life at work in their cellular context sparked a lively discussions from students and PIs alike.

The NVBMB Spring Meeting, themed "Molecular Advances in Parkinson’s Disease", took place on June 11th at the Feringa building, Zernike campus, Groningen. Teus van Laar (UMCG) gave a clinical perspective on the disease, Elisa Gregio (University of Padova) and Jean-Marc Taymans (Inserm Lille) focused on Molecular characterization and targeting of LRRK2, Amalia Dolga (UG) highlighted the importance of using iPSC models and Anne Wentink (Lei) showed how biophysics can be used to study a-synuclein aggregation. An industry perspective on targeting Parkinson’s disease was given by Ambagon Therapaeutics, Sulfateq and betaSENSE. The meeting also allowed PhD students to showcase their work through a PhD poster session and selected talks of Teresa Mitchell Garcia and Brent Visser. Overall, it was a relaxed but stimulating day of talks and lively discussions about Parkinson’s disease from different perspectives.

During the general meeting, the NVBMB board appointed Anne Wentink, Francesca Mattiroli, and Raimond Heukers as new board members. Arjan Kortholt was also appointed as the new secretary. They replace Hugo van Ingen, Fred van Leeuwen, Noël van Peij, and Yves Bollen. The board thanks Hugo, Fred, Noël, and Yves for their contributions to the NVBMB.

NVBMB, together with FEBS organizes the annual FEBS congress in 2026 in Maastricht (MECC conference centre). This 50th FEBS conference will be chaired by Ineke Braakman (Utrecht University). Topics will include infection and immunity, plant hormone signaling, super molecular assemblies, biomolecular condensates, host microbial interaction, organoids systems biology, lipid metabolism, receptor-ligand interactions, carbon fixation and single cell biology. Join us on 4-8 July 2026 at this exciting event!

The deadline for nominations for the  H.G.K. Westenbrink award has been extended. The Westebrink award is given to the best thesis in the field of biochemistry and molecular biology, defended at a Dutch University in the academic year 2024-2025. The Westenbrink awards amounts to 2000 euro and will be awarded at the NVBMB Spring symposium.The deadline for nominations has been extended to August 30th.

Every year the Netherlands Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (NVBMB) awards a young independent scientist working in the Netherlands in the area of biochemistry and molecular biology a prize in recognition of their achievements and to promote their career.

The NVBMB-prize amounts to € 2000. Many past awardees have reached an established position, see our website for an overview.

Nominations for the NVBMB prize 2025 should be sent to secretary of the NVBMB before December 31^st 2025.

Please find the instructions for nomination on our web site.

Check out the NVBMB home page for events and meetings in the field of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.