Representing the community of United States biochemists and molecular biologists and working to promote biochemical and molecular sciences
The U.S. National Committee to the International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology is part of a network of five U.S. National Committees in biology. These five committees share a joint homepage that provides further information on their structure and mission. Visit the Joint Homepage for these five committees
Recent Activities and Projects Include:
Representing the U.S. in the International Union The U.S. National Committee nominates scientists for leadership positions in the union, votes on union business matters, and sends a delegation of scientists to represent the U.S. in the IUBMB Congresses. The most recent IUBMB Congress was the 20th IUBMB International Congress of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and 11th FAOBMB Congress, held in Kyoto, Japan in June 2006. The U.S. was represented at the meeting by Jack Kirsch, University of California-Berkeley and Chair (2003-2006) of the U.S. National Committee to IUBMB. The next Congress will be the 21st IUBMB International Congress and 12th FAOBMB Congress of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology to be held in Shanghai, China in August 2009.			Dr. Bradshaw; His Excellency, Dr. Maurice Tchuente, Minister of Higher Education; and Dr. Vincent Titanji, President of the FASBMB at the 2003 IUBMB Congress in Cameroon.
Supporting Travel Fellowships to Participate in International IUBMB Meetings The principal scientific meeting of the union, the IUBMB International Congress of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, is held every three years in different locations around the world, usually in partnership with local and regional organizations for biochemistry and molecular biology. In the years between Congresses, international scientific Conferences are held. The international union organizes special Young Scientist programs in conjunction with the Congresses and Conferences, and offers travel support to participate in these. The programs provide a chance to present research and to interact with both younger scientists and senior researchers from around the world. Further information about these programs is available from the IUBMB website. As a complement to the union program, the U.S. National Committee to IUBMB has also supported additional travel fellowships to encourage the participation of U.S. scientists in the meetings. With funding from the National Science Foundation Division of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences, the U.S. Committee to IUBMB supported 10 competitively selected graduate students and young scientists and 15 established women and minority speakers to attend the combined 30th FEBS Congress and 9th IUBMB Conference held in Budapest, Hungary in July 2005.
Discussing Themes in Evolution The 2006 Public Affairs Forum at the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) Annual Meeting and Centennial Celebration focused on “Teaching the Science of Evolution under the Threat of Alternative Views.” Michael Cox, Vice-Chair of the U.S. National Committee for IUBMB, helped to organize the forum and also chaired a complementary session on "Current Themes in Molecular Evolution." The IUBMB also supported dissemination of CDs of the presentations to high school science teachers.
Addressing Proteomics Research The USNC/IUBMB and the Academies’ Board on Life Sciences convened a 2002 symposium on the future of proteomics research to foster international communication and cooperation in biosciences research. A National Research Council workshop report from the symposium, entitled Defining the Mandate of Proteomics in the Post-Genomics Era, has been published and is available for download from the National Academies Press website. The report was also published in Molecular and Cellular Proteomics (MCP), a journal of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. The U.S. Committee to IUBMB also joined with the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and the American Chemical Society Division of Biological Chemistry to support a lecture on proteomics research by Ralph Bradshaw of the University of California, Irvine. Dr. Bradshaw delivered the lecture as part of his participation in the 2003 Congress of the Federation of African Societies of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (FASBMB) in Cameroon. The Congress featured both fundamental topics in biochemistry and molecular biology as well as applied topics of interest to Africa such as infectious disease, food, and nutrition.			Figure 1 from the workshop report Defining the Mandate of Proteomics in the Post-Genomics Era, The National Academies Press, 2002.
	Visit the website of the International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology to learn more about the many activities undertaken by this union.
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