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Biochemistry and molecular biology in Greece: History and perspectives

2008; Wiley; Volume: 60; Issue: 5 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1002/iub.63

1521-6551

Εvangelia Papadimitriou, George Koliakos, Nikos K. Karamanos,

Genetics, Bioinformatics, and Biomedical Research

The Hellenic Biochemical and Biophysical Society (HBBS) was founded in 1971 by 23 biochemists and biophysicists, and in 1999 was renamed as Hellenic Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (HSBMB). The number of its members has enormously increased since then, mainly after it was renamed to include molecular biologists, and when it managed to provide more effective communication between its members. The major goal of its founding members to make it one of the most important scientific communities in Greece has been achieved, and today HSBMB has the ambition to play important role(s) in the scientific life of the country. Biochemistry in Greece first appeared in Medical Schools and hospitals. Since before the Second World War, the hospitals in Athens had laboratories performing biochemical analyses. Among those, the most reputable was the biochemical laboratory of “Evangelismos” hospital, directed by the professor of Pharmacology in Medical School of Athens Dr. G. Ioakimoglou. This laboratory operated successfully since 1938 by the chemist K. Panagopoulos, who published the first book of Clinical Chemistry in Greece titled “Analytical and Applied Biochemistry.” The first professor in Biological Chemistry was B. Vlassopoulos, elected in 1939 at the School of Medicine, University of Athens. The first book in Biochemistry was published in 1947 by A. Christomanos, who later (in 1957) became professor of Biological Chemistry at the Medical School at the University of Thessaloniki. Dr. L. Zervas at the University of Thessaloniki, who later was nominated as a Nobel prize winner, directed the first laboratory of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry in a School of Natural Sciences during the years 1938–1939, while a laboratory of Biochemistry was founded in 1971 at the School of Natural Sciences at the University of Patras and firstly directed by Prof. I.G. Georgatsos. Today, laboratories of Biochemistry exist in all Departments of Natural or Health Sciences. Since 2000, a major in Biochemistry and Biotechnology is offered at the University of Thessaly and in Molecular Biology and Genetics at Demokritus University of Thrace. An elective program of studies providing a University degree in Biochemistry was offered at the University of Ioannina during the years 1998–2007. Prof. O. Tsolas chaired this program and Prof. C. Drainas was director of studies. The Hellenic Biochemistry Society (HBS) was founded in 1959 in Thessaloniki after an initiative of Dr. A. Christomanos and his colleague Dr. I. G. Georgatsos, the only biochemists in Thessaloniki at that time. All other members of the Society were local medical doctors, some of them practicing microbiology. The Society remained inactive until it merged, in 1983, with the HBBS, founded in Athens on 1971 by 23 scientists involved in biochemical and biophysical research. It was the time when the restriction enzymes were discovered and a new era in biotechnology was emerging. Founding members of HBBS were the biochemists or biophysicists: G. Akogiounoglou, I. Akogiounoglou, O. Antonoglou, M. Argyrakis-Vomvogiannis, A. Vakirtzis-Lemoia, I. Georgatsos, A. Dasiou, K. Dimitropoulos, A. Evangelopoulos, V. Kapoulas, T. Kalogerakos, P. Karatzas, E. Katsadimas, I. Kimpouris, N. Konstantzas, G. Levis, I. Mantzos, K. Moiras, G. Palaiologos, G. Papageorgiou, J. Taylor-Papadimitriou, E. Filipidou and E. Thomou. With the exception of O. Antonoglou and J. Taylor-Papadimitriou who were employed in Theageneio Hospital of Thessaloniki, and I. Georgatsos who was a professor at the University of Patras, all HBBS members were researchers in laboratories located in Athens. The first administrative board was elected in October 12, 1971 and was constituted by Dr. I. Georgatsos from the University of Patras as President, Dr. G. Akogiounoglou from “Demokritus” Research Center as Vice President, Dr. A. Evangelopoulos from the National Hellenic Research Foundation as Secretary General, Dr. G. Levis from “Alexandra” Hospital as Treasurer, and Drs. V. Kapoulas from the University of Athens, N. Konstantzas from the University of Athens and G. Papageorgiou from “Demokritus” Research Center, as members. The administrative board, as always, was elected every 2 years. The requirement to become a full member is the possession of either a PhD in biochemistry, biophysics or molecular biology, or at least three publications in international peer-reviewed journals on the same subjects. This requirement provides assurance of the scientific quality of the society members. Originally, the main goal of the society was the organization of seminars. The first scientific conference was held at the lecture hall of the National Hellenic Research Foundation with only eight 20-min oral presentations. Ever since, extended summaries of the members' presentations are published in the society's newsletter. Merging of the two societies (HBS and HBBS) was considered important in order to empower the representation of Greek biochemists in international events. This merging was materialized in 1983 by the administrative board of the two societies, with the initiative of Dr. C. Tsiganos. Following the union of the two societies, the election process of the administrative board changed, so that only five out of the seven members are elected, with the remaining two seats occupied by the previous Chairman and Secretary General. The new society initially kept the name HBBS, was later renamed to HSBMB and represents Greek biochemists in international organizations, such as the International Union of Biochemistry (IUB, later renamed to International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, IUBMB), the International Union for Pure and Applied Biophysics (IUPAB) and the Federation of European Biochemical Societies (FEBS). The scientific conferences of the society were held twice a year; once in Athens and once in another Greek city. Since 1999, however, when the society was renamed to HSBMB, conferences were held annually, again rotating between Athens and other Greek cities, where a local branch of the society exists. It is impressive that a society with 23 founding members, has reached today ∼1,300 full and associate members, all active researchers in the fields of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. As shown in Fig. 1A, there is an impressive increase in the number of scientists related to these fields. Most of them work in universities and research institutes, whereas a considerable number work in hospitals, as well as food and drug industries around the country. More than half of HSBMB members work in Athens, with the rest scattered in other cities where universities exist, and a small percentage working abroad (Fig. 1B). (A) Number of scientists related to Biochemistry and Molecular Biology since 1950. (B) Distribution of HSBMB members according to their place of work. One of the major activities of HSBMB remains to be the organization of national Conferences, which have contributed to the development of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in Greece. HSBMB has organized up to date 59 national conferences with a constantly increasing number and quality of presented research work published in the HSBMB Newsletter. Figure 2 shows the number of presentations in the National HSBMB conferences since 1971. Abstracts are selected as short oral presentations or posters by a scientific committee, consisted of Profs. D. Kyriakidis, A. Tsiftsoglou, and I. Georgatsos at the University of Thessaloniki. Two to three 45-min plenary lectures are also invited among top scientists from all around the world. An equal number of short invited lectures (30 min) are selected amongst younger scientists, who have made significant contributions through their research work. The last two years, HSBMB has also co-organized with a number of other scientific societies, the National Anticancer Conference, attended by researchers involved in basic and clinical oncology. Number of presentations in each National HSBMB Conference. The first 51 conferences were realized by HBBS, before the renaming of the society in 1999. [Color figure can be viewed in the online issue, which is available at www.interscience.wiley.com.] Besides National Conferences, HSBMB has been interested in organizing international events. Toward this direction, HBBS organized in Athens on 1977 a joint meeting with the corresponding Bulgarian Society, with the participation of members from all Balkan countries. This initiated the foundation of the “Balkan Biochemical and Biophysical Days”, a biennial event with the participation of all Balkan countries until 2003. This organization led to the development of fruitful co-operations among research groups in the Balkan Peninsula. FEBS accepted well the BBBD idea and supported the BBBD conferences. Another international event (co-)organized by HSBMB members was the “Spetsai Summer School”, initiated in 1966 and sponsored by NATO (since 1966), EMBO (since 1972), FEBS (since 1981), IUBMB (1996), and HSBMB (since 2006). In 1992, FEBS agreed to the organization by HSBMB members of the FEBS Special Meeting on “Cell Function and Differentiation”. This successful meeting attended by ∼1,300 participants led to the publication of a book on the same subject1 and of an article titled “Biochemistry in Greece” published in TIBS2. In the same line, another manuscript on “Biochemical Education in Greece” was published in 19893, as a result of the relevant discussions during a workshop held in Thessaloniki in 1988 and organized and conducted by the Committee on Education of the IUB. The most important latest achievement of HSBMB is the organization of the 33rd FEBS Congress and 11th IUBMB Conference that will take place from June 28 to July 3, 2008, in Athens, Greece, focusing on Biochemistry of cell regulation and held under the auspices of the president of the Hellenic Republic Dr. Karolos Papoulias. Chairman of the organizing committee is Prof. E. Frangoulis. Information for this event can be found from the relevant website at www.febs-iubmb-2008.org. Members of the administrative board of HSBMB participate as representatives in FEBS, IUBMB, and Federation of European Connective Tissue Societies (FECTS) meetings, whereas other HSBMB members participate in committees of these societies. For example, Drs. M. Chatzopoulou-Cladara (2004–2007), A. Gravanis (2006), and G. Mosialos (2007) have been elected at the fellowships committee, and Dr. C. Stournaras (2005) at the publications committee of FEBS. HSBMB has always put efforts into supporting young scientists to participate in conferences. Toward this direction, 10 traveling funds were awarded to PhD students based on their curriculum vitae and the quality of the work to be presented in the National Conferences. The number of these funds has increased to 22 at the last 59th HSBMB Conference. Moreover, two “Gardiki-Kouidou” fellowships are awarded in each National Conference, based on the excellence of the submitted curriculum vitae, one for a PhD student and one for a post-doctoral fellow. Since 2006, HSBMB also supports scientific events, such as the Spetsai Summer School, the “Matrix Pathobiology, Signaling and Molecular Targets” FEBS course held in Patras in May 2007, the FEBS Young Scientists Forum that will take place in 2008 and others. The website of HSBMB (www.eebmb.org) has been upgraded since 2006 and functions both in Greek and English. In the website one can find all the information related to HSBMB, as well as links to events and other societies or/and organizations related to biochemistry and molecular biology. In the website HSBMB also posts the e-deltio, an electronic newsletter which is published three to four times per year and contains news of the society, as well as scientific achievements of its members. The electronic newsletter was first published in 2006 and aims at the best possible interplay among HSBMB members empowering the society within the country and abroad. As already mentioned, one of the major interests of HSBMB is education of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and one of the difficulties to be faced is the use of a common and correct terminology in Greek. To help overcome this problem, HSBMB has edited an English–Greek dictionary of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Biotechnology that was very well accepted by its members. The editorial board for the dictionary consists of Drs. C. Drainas, F. Kollisis, M. Lekka, G. Palaiologos, D. Stathakos, C. Tsiganos, and A. Tselepis. The first edition of the dictionary was published in 1996 and contained ∼13,000 scientific terms. The second improved edition is expected soon and will contain over 30,000 terms. To celebrate the 35th anniversary of HSBMB in 2006, the administrative board consisted by Prof. N. Karamanos from the University of Patras as President, Prof. C. Drainas from the University of Ioannina as Vice President, Dr. G. Panagiotou from Fleming Research Institute as Secretary General, Dr. D. Kletsas from “Demokritus” Research Center as Treasurer and Drs. D. Thanos from Biomedical Research Foundation of the Academy of Athens, G. Koliakos from the University of Thessaloniki and E. Papadimitriou form the University of Patras as members, edited a book devoted to the history, the achievements and the current status of HSBMB, as well as a list of its members and of all the post-graduate programs related to biochemistry and molecular biology in Greece. This special edition was distributed free of charge to all HSBMB members. As a targeted group within HSBMB the Hellenic Research Club for Connective Tissue and Matrix Biology (HRCTMB), was founded in 1996, as the result of an initiative of the University of Patras. The founding Meeting and Congress took place in Patras in April 10, 1997 and a coordination committee was elected: Dr. C. Tsiganos as a President, Dr. A. Haronis as a Secretary General, and Drs. N. Karamanos, M. Maragoudakis, and D. Tsampaos as members from the University of Patras and Drs. D. Kletsas (“Demokritus” Research Center) and G. Koliakos (University of Thessaloniki), as representatives from Athens and Thessaloniki, respectively. In August 1998, for the first time Greece appears as an independent Group in the 16th Meeting of FECTS in Uppsala, Sweden, where it claimed and finally gained the organization of the (17th) FECTS Congress for the year 2000, held in Patras, in July 1–5, 2000 with great success. Participation from Europe, N. America, Australia, and Japan exceeded the number of 500 scientists. The program contained 21 major speeches and 9 different workshops. The Congress coincided with the announcement of the sequencing of the Human Genome and therefore the opening speech by Prof. Eleni Glycandji Arveler, Rector of the University of Europe and distinct member of UNESCO, dealt with bioethical issues in Science. Since then, meetings of HRCTMB take place every year in different universities of Greece, organized by members of the Club. The scope of HRCTMB is to promote research in the fields of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, Medicine, Biotechnology, and Clinical Chemistry, related to Connective Tissue or Extracellular Matrix, and also to create the proper conditions for the communication between researchers in this field, in order for them to be informed, to exchange opinions and to create conceptual scientific networks. HRCTMB is a member of FECTS and the International Society for Matrix Biology. Since 2003, Prof. N. Karamanos is the coordinator of the HRCTMB and Dr. D. Kletsas the Secretary General. The annual meeting, the 9th in the series was co-organized by Drs. D. Kletsas and A. Charonis at “Demokritus” Research Center in May 2007. Other scientific societies related to HSBMB in Greece are: (1) The Society of Clinical Chemistry and Biochemistry, whose members are principally chemists and biochemists that work in hospital laboratories, (2) The Hellenic Society of Pharmacology, whose members are principally pharmacologists and scientists actively involved in basic or clinical pharmacology research, (3) The Hellenic Society for Biological Sciences, (4) The Hellenic Society of Biotechnology, and (5). The recently established Hellenic Society “Mikrobiokosmos”. HSBMB promotes and supports research and education in the fields of biochemistry and molecular biology through a range of different activities, as mentioned above. To summarize, the major objectives of HSBMB are: (1) Organization of the annual society conference, which provides a forum for Greek biochemists and molecular biologists to exchange novel ideas and promote new research directions. World-renowned speakers are invited from prestigious institutions to give plenary talks, whereas many young talented Greek investigators present their work. (2) Organization of international meetings and workshops in association with FEBS and IUBMB. (3) Educational activities, including scholarship awards to young investigators, public lectures, publication of a scientific term dictionary and an electronic newsletter, known as e-deltio. (4) Advising the government, the press and the public on current scientific and social topics, relevant to life sciences. HSBMB has set up a number of goals to achieve within the short- and long-term future. The major challenge for HSBMB in the very near future is the organization of the 33rd FEBS Congress and 11th IUBMB Conference that will take place from June 28 to July 3, 2008, in Athens, Greece. More than 2,000 participants are expected and HSBMB is putting a great effort in having a very successful meeting. Another major project of HSBMB to be materialized soon is the creation of a data base with the research activities of all members of HSBMB in order to support interventions in several aspects, a link with the society and to manage co-ordination of the post-graduate programs related to biochemistry, molecular biology and related fields. Long term goals to achieve are the continuous presence in FEBS and IUBMB, the organization of National conferences with ever-increasing scientific excellence, the widening of the society by attracting prestigious researchers and younger scientists, and attracting continuously more resources for the activities of the society. At this moment, HSBMB has the potential to achieve all its goals and set up new, more ambitious projects for the future.