In September 2000, the former Working Party on Education transformed itself into the Task Group on Education. In March 2003, the name of the Task Group on Education was changed to “Education and Mobility” to reflect a wider scope of interest that also mirrors the interests of the European Commission.

The EFB Task Group on Education and Mobility is composed of some forty senior scientists committed to higher education from a whole range of biotechnology-related scientific and technological disciplines and representing all EU member states. Its main aim is to promote higher level education and training in biotechnology through various internal and external networking activities.

The Task Group has arranged various courses and workshops and also played a key role in developing a variety of European biotechnology education initiatives. This has included the Code of Conduct for Biotechnologists, the European Doctorate in Biotechnology and Professional accreditation for biotechnologists.

If you wish to become a member of the Task Group on Education and Mobility, please contact:

Contact Info:

Prof. Brian F.C. Clark (Chairman)
Institute of Molecular Biology
Gustav Wieds Vej 10
DK-8000 Aarhus C
Denmark
E-mail: bfcc@mb.au.dk

Mr. Christian Suojanen (Secretary)
E-mail: cjs@fastmail.fm

EAGLES was set up through the initiative of members of the European Federation of Biotechnology. It was established as a Task Group, which provides advice and support, as well as an administrative structure and its large network.

EAGLES designs and implements projects to be carried out mostly by life scientists from developing countries that will stimulate and facilitate activities for the European life sciences to respond to the needs of developing countries.

The members of EAGLES believe:

• That the greatest humanitarian challenges for the life sciences lie in the problems of illness, starvation and environmental degradation which are faced by hundreds of millions of people in our world today, and will be faced by millions more in the coming decades.
• That life scientists everywhere have a responsibility to address these global challenges.
• That European life scientists could and should make a much greater contribution to meet these challenges.
• That European policies should facilitate the life sciences in meeting these challenges.
• In addressing these challenges that the people of Europe and their leaders should pay careful attention to the knowledge and advice of distinguished life scientists and humanists from the developing and emerging countries.

For information on the activities of this Task Group please visit the EAGLES website or contact:

European Federation of Biotechnology
Passeig Lluis Companys, 23
08010 Barcelona
Tel. +93 268 7703
Fax. +93 268 4500
efb@efb-central.org

“Biotechnology and young people’s networks are both essential components of Europe’s scientific and technological futures. Accordingly, I strongly endorse the goals and activities of the YEBN.” - Philip Campbell, Ph.D. Editor-in-chief, Nature

Biotechnology is a key factor for sustainable development of our future. The Young European Biotech Network (YEBN) is a non-profit organisation that aims to strengthen the co-operation among European Countries in order to promote a responsible and dynamic community of young scientists and increase the competitiveness of the European Life Science sector worldwide. YEBN was founded in December 2002 in Bertinoro, Italy, by four student organisations active in several European countries. Today, YEBN consists of several hundred members in 15 European countries.

Linking people together has proven to be vital for businesses. A successful scientist has to seek out contacts at conferences as well. Networking is a crucial aspect, not only for career, but for information and also sometimes for fun. YEBN links people within its network and to the outside world, either through its member database or through specific networking events, such as conferences, meetings or workshops. In doing this, YEBN achieves an internal and a vertical integration of its members, for example with academia, other organisations (such as the European Federation of Biotechnology) and companies.

Young Life Scientists are often concerned with their future career. YEBN has built specific career services, such information on job matching databases and its internal networking database to help YEBN members in critical questions, i.e. on getting information of research groups in other countries.
Young people most often have great ideas, as well as the courage and motivation to realize them. Yet, sometimes the space is missing for the creativity to be put into reality.

YEBN helps you to realize your own ideas by helping to find human resource to fill your team, helps you to find financial aid, management skills and most importantly provides its name to leverage your endeavour. Genetic engineering, cloning and other issues have caused widespread anxiety and debates in society. YEBN is dedicated to provide society with unbiased and objective knowledge and information on Life Science, from young involved scientists. YEBN aims for these objectives by representing a young generation of open-minded scientists who can be regarded as trustworthy. Specific projects and Task Groups within YEBN are focused on science and society, public perception and communication of science. A project called BioPop of a new model for science communication and sociology of science under the FP6 program of the European Commission” was accepted and run from 2004.
Everyone is welcome to join and initiate projects in YEBN, membership is for free. We encourage persons with different backgrounds but strong interest in biotechnology to join, in order to create a fruitful interdisciplinary forum.

For further information regarding this Associated Section, please visit the YEBN website or contact the Chairman:

Sebastian Olenyi
YEBN Chairman of the Executive Board
sebastian.olenyi@yebn.org
www.yebn.org

With the mapping of the human genome, biotechnology is of increasing importance for development of new and targeted medicines and will impact future medical practice. This calls for an optimising of the current medicines R&D process and a re-thinking of the process. It is for this reason that the Section on Medicines Development was established in 2003. This Section covers all aspects of Medicines Development (which today all will involve biotech in one way or other) as well as all processes within the R&D cycle from idea through research, applied research, preclinical, clinical, regulatory and post-marketing follow-up.         
         
The EFB Section on Medicines Development is a platform for all stakeholders and sciences related to development of medicines. NSMF follows two tracks:

Streamlining:
Activities to optimise and reengineer the current drug research & development processes utilising contemporary scientific knowledge by removing bottlenecks and developing new tools.

Fresh approach:
To re-evaluate the entire drug development process and create a new efficient flow of knowledge generation and management without compromising safety based on recent scientific and technological advances including genome research.

NSMF enjoys strong support from EC DG Research as well as from EUREKA. A steadily increase in members of the section is reflecting that also universities, hospitals, medicines agencies, pharmaceutical companies, and SMEs from most countries in Europe are interested in engaging in this major and strategic initiative. NSMF webpage (www.nsmf.org) provides information about NSMF including an overview of NSMF, reports from workshops, and NSMF relevant events and activities.
         
For information about the activities of this Section please contact:

Dr. Adreani Odysseos (Chairman)
Organisations: EPSO-Iasis, R&D and University of Cyprus
University of Cyprus
Dept. of Chemistry
75, Kallipoleos Street, Nicosia 1678
Tel: +357-22-892760
Fax: +357-22-892801
E-mail: odysseos@ucy.ac.cy, andreani@epos-iasis.com 

EFB Statutes 2004 (PDF document)

As the legal seat of the EFB is in Belgium, the official Statutes of the European Federation of Biotechnology as filed with the Ministry of Justice are in French.  An English translation of the statutes is available to EFB members upon request to the Central Office, but the French version available for download here is the definitive one.

The Section on Biodiversity, an initiative of the European Federation of Biotechnology, was founded on 27 February 2003. The main task of this section is to investigate and debate the impact of Biotechnology on Biodiversity.

Priority topics of the EFB Section on Biodiversity are:

• Benefits and threats from GMO’s
• How can the view on Biodiversity help in research and development?
• Enhance the knowledge about soil microbiology and agricultural biodiversity
• Biodiversity and Population Genetics: A wide field of research
• Active participation in the development and outlining of research programmes on an European level.

For further information, please contact the Chairman of the Section:

Klaus Ammann
Prof. hon. emeritus, former Director Botanic Garden, University of Bern
Rue de Monruz 20
CH - 2000 NEUCHATEL, Switzerland
Tel.: +41 32 721 40 83
Website: www.efb-central.org/Biodiversity/homepage.html
E-mail: klaus.ammann@ips.unibe.ch

————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Message from Klaus Ammann, Chairman of the EFB Section on Biodiversity

Dear Reader,

As we all know Biodiversity / Biotechnology is a complex discussion field - and many people are worried about the impact of biotechnology on biodiversity, and it is easy to follow the opinions of opponents of green biotechnology without knowing the facts.

But there are also many who think that biotechnology could help to enhance and biodiversity and specifically help in conservation matters. The task of this Section is to investigate and debate the impact, whether positive or negative. In the last few years considerable progress has been made in the area of biosafety research.

Many opinions are around on whether biotechnology has a negative impact on biodiversity - or whether it might have positive effects - or both. Since we are dealing with biology, we encounter a complex situation when it comes to evaluate the organismal arguments. In addition is not only about organismal biodiversity, but also about ecology, about the intricate food web to give an example. And if we broaden the term biodiversity even more, we will also have to deal with IPR issues, with socio-economic impacts and cultural aspects. This is exactly where we will also make sure that the EFB Section Biodiversity will network with all its various units.

With the help of a newly lauched Forum called ASK-FORCE we will also try to give the section a more pro-active touch, it will hopefully develop into a very active network starting with a series of topics, presented as separate Forum entries: Biodiversity, Developing world, Public Research and Regulation, Activists, Philosophy, European Union matters. This forum will help us all to switch from pro-reactive to pro-active mode. After having seen a very positive development of green biotechnology out in the field, reaching soon 100 mio hectares planted, we can make up a balance also for biosecurity: There has been not a single incidence reported with some kind of negative impact, which can be clearly related to genetically modified crops. This does not mean that we need to become careless, it will be important to always raise the questions on biodiversity in modern agriculture.

It should be made clear that many aspects of negative impacts on biodiversity are caused by agriculture per se, including all kinds of management methods. It is precisely agricultural biotechnology which could help to remedy some of the detrimental impacts of agriculture (besides other management methods as well).

The EFB Task Group TGIR aims at the promotion of international (global) interactions and cooperation between governments, industries and academics in the field of biotechnology. Specifically, TGIR formulates proposals to the European Commission and implements EC programmes to establish strategic relations.

One of the main activities of the Task Group is European Focus on Biotechnology in China (EFBIC). EFBIC’s purpose is to establish strategic relations in biotechnology between decision makers in Europe and China and facilitate collaborations in research, training and innovation among European and Chinese scientists.
 
For further information on the activities of this Task Group please contact:
       
Prof. Dr. Brian Clark (Chairman)
Department of Molecular and Structural Biology
University of Aarhus
Gustav Wieds Vej 10C
DK-8000 Aarhus C
Tel: +45 - 8942 5055
Fax: +45 - 8619 1959
E-mail: bfcc@mb.au.dk

For information about the activities of this Section please contact:

Contact Info:

Prof. Piet Lens (Chairman)
UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education
Westvest 7
2611 AX Delft
The Netherlands
Telephone: +31 (0)15 215 1715
Fax: +31 (0)15 212 2921
E-mail: p.lens@unesco-ihe.org

Fabio Fava, Ph.D.(Vice Chairman)
Full Professor of “Industrial & Environmental Biotechnology”
Faculty of Engineering, Alma Mater Studiorum-University of Bologna
Via Terracini, 28.
I-40131, Bologna,
Italy
Phone: 0039 051 2090330
Fax: 0039 051 2090348/2090322
E-mail:fabio.fava@unibo.it
Web page: http://dicasm.ing.unibo.it/fava/fava.htmz

Important Links:

Erasmus Mundus - Doctorate on Environmental Technologies for Contaminated Solids, Soils and Sediments. http://www.internationaldoctorate.unicas.it/

IBS2010 http://www.ibs2010.org/

The main fora of the EFB are Sections and Task Groups. They accomodate all European scientists interested in biotechnology. Sections are devoted to a particular field of biotechnology (vertical topics) and are open to all personal members. Task Groups cover topics which are of interest to all or most biotechnologists (horizontal topics); you can become a member of a Task Group by invitation only.

Sections may decide to establish Working Groups to address selected issues. Working Groups are operating under the guidance of the Section Board.

Currently there is intense interest worldwide for studying medical treatment derived from traditional medicine sources. The EFB therefore deems it appropriate to start a section on phyto-pharmaceutical science which will network with European scientific experts in the field from various countries which have source material based on natural plant materials from in particular China, Latin America, India and Russia. This section will aim to encourage via its members the establishment of scientific procedures and norms for enabling new biomedical health treatments in prevention of and intervention in the course of human diseases. The section will aim to be a channel for high level research investigation and global co operations to enable new drug discoveries.

In contrast to target oriented Western medicine, traditional use of herbal medicines such as TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) uses a holistic, synergetic and personalized approach for diagnosis and treatment. Although products like those from TCM are sold in many countries, there is an insufficient post-market surveillance system, lack of control over quality and safety, no integration of existing knowledge on adverse effects, uncertainty over IPR issues and regulatory requirements, and in general a large need for more advanced knowledge and new approaches to R&D. At the scientific level at the present time there is little understanding about the mechanisms of action of many such therapies, which would be immediately valuable for evidence-based evaluation and improved regulation. Given the complexity of both the human body plus the often complex compositions of the herbal extracts, this requires multidisciplinary research applying advanced tools, in conjunction with holistic approaches, to decipher the scientific fundamentals of the medication.

As the EFB has established Regional Branch Offices (RBO) in Europe and via its task group on international relation, RBOs outside Europe, these can be natural elements for interacting with particular national requirements and national granting bodies including the European Commission and also be available to stimulate networking and high level scientific cooperation between our European members and important interested bodies such as the Chinese Ministeries, responsible for regulating and overseeing the proper use of phyto-pharmaceuticals.
The Board of the new Section will contain representatives of interested parties. To start, the Chairman has been nominated to be Professor Brian Clark and the Executive Director Mr. Jens Sundbye, both at the Danish RBO of the European Federation of Biotechnology.

All Section Members are welcome to become an active participant in this EFB Section.

For further information about the Section activities, please contact:

Prof. Brian F.C. Clark (Chairman)
Institute of Molecular Biology
Gustav Wieds Vej 10
DK-8000 Aarhus C
Denmark
E-mail: bfcc@mb.au.dk

Jens Sundbye (Executive Director)
BioMedico Forum
Forskerparken
Gustav Wieds Vej 10
DK-8000 Aarhus C
Denmark
Tel +45 - 8620 5080
Fax +45 - 8620 1222
E-mail: js@biomedicoforum.dk

The General Council (GeCo) consists of one representative of each Institutional Member of EFB. The members of the EFB Executive Board , all chairmen of the EFB Sections and Task Groups also belong to the GeCo. The General Council decides on all fundamental matters connected with the work of the Federation. The members of the GeCo meet at the General Assembly (GeAs).

Download: Extraordinary General Assembly 7 June 2008

Region:

The UK RBO is located at the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) and serves as EFB Regional Branch Office for United Kingdom.

Contact:

EFB RBO UK
Ms. Sam Turney
Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE)
David Building. Railway Terrace
Rugby, CV21 3HQ
Phone: +44 1788534454
Fax: +44 1788560833
E-mail:sturney@icheme.org

Region:
The Zwitzerland RBO is located at the Swiss Coordination Committee for Biotechnology SCCB and serves as EFB Regional Branch Office for Switzerland.

Contact:

EFB RBO Switzerland
Dr. Bernhard Sonnleitner
Swiss Coordination Committee for Biotechnology SCCB
Campus Reidbach, Einsiedlerstrasse 29
CH-8820 Waedenswill
Phone:+41 58 934 5492
E-mail:bernhard.sonnleitner@zhaw.ch

Region:
The Gothenburg RBO serves as EFB Regional Branch Office for Sweden.
 
More Information:

RBO Manager

Contact:

EFB RBO Gothenburg
Christer Hedman, Dr.Med.Sc./Ph.D.
Head of Biomedical Development
Business Region Göteborg
Norra Hamngatan 14
S-411 14 Göteborg, Sweden
Phone: +46 31 612421
Fax: + 46 31 612401
E-mail: christer.hedman@brg.goteborg.se

Region:

The Madrid RBO is located at the Spanish Society of Biotechnology (SEBiot) and serves as EFB Regional Branch Office for Spain.

More Information:

Homepage

Contact:

EFB RBO Madrid
Prof. José Luis Garcia
Sociedad Española de Biotecnologia (SEBIOT)
Vitubrio 8
E-28006 Madrid
Phone: +34 91 561 3464
E-mail: jlgarcia@cib.csic.es