The Director of the Isla de la Cartuja Scientific Research Centre (cicCartuja), Miguel Ángel de la Rosa Acosta, will serve as President of the Federation of European Biochemical Societies (FEBS) in 2014. The FEBS is currently one of the most prestigious and influential European institutions in the field of life sciences, bringing together 36,000 members from 35 national societies of biochemistry and molecular biology from all over Europe and various countries in neighbouring regions. Created in 1964, the presidency of De la Rosa will assume the responsibility of coordinating the events planned for the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary.

The mission of FEBS is to promote the advancement of biochemistry, cell biology, molecular biology, biocomputing, biophysics and related fields of research by funding various types of initiatives. Among these, the numerous cooperation programmes between scientists from different countries and training in these fields through scholarships for young people and advanced courses stand out. In addition, FEBS encourages the exchange of results through its journals and the congress it organises annually.

Miguel Ángel De la Rosa replaces the former president of the Italian Society of Biochemistry, Sergio Papa, as president of FEBS. De la Rosa is a professor at the University of Seville and has numerous research works in the field of plant biochemistry and structural biology. At the beginning of September 2012, he presided over the International Congress of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, which was held in Spain for the first time, with the participation of two thousand five hundred delegates from more than seventy countries, including six Nobel Prize winners. He was also President of the Spanish Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (SEBBM) between 2008 and 2012.