The Biochemical Society is a

learned society A learned society (; also learned academy, scholarly society, or academic association) is an organization that exists to promote an academic discipline, profession, or a group of related disciplines such as the arts and science. Membership m ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

in the field of

biochemistry Biochemistry or biological chemistry is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology and ...

, including all the cellular and molecular biosciences.

Structure

It currently has around 7000 members, two-thirds in the UK. It is affiliated with the European body,

Federation of European Biochemical Societies The Federation of the European Biochemical Societies, frequently abbreviated FEBS, is an international scientific society promoting activities in biochemistry, molecular biology and related research areas in Europe and neighbouring regions. It was f ...

(FEBS). The Society's current President (2016) is Sir

David Baulcombe Sir David Charles Baulcombe One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from the royalsociety.org website where: (born 1952) is a British plant scientist and geneticist. he is a Royal Society Research Professor and Regius Profe ...

. The Society's headquarters are in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

History

The society was founded in 1911 by Benjamin Moore, W.D. Halliburton and others, under the name of the Biochemical Club. It acquired the existing ''Biochemical Journal'' in 1912. The society name changed to the Biochemical Society in 1913. In 2005, the headquarters of the society moved from Portland Place to purpose-built offices in

Holborn Holborn ( or ) is a district in central London, which covers the south-eastern part of the London Borough of Camden and a part ( St Andrew Holborn Below the Bars) of the Ward of Farringdon Without in the City of London. The area has its root ...

. In 2009, the headquarters moved again to Charles Darwin House, near

Gray's Inn Road Gray's Inn Road (or Grays Inn Road) is an important road in the Bloomsbury district of Central London, in the London Borough of Camden. The road begins at the City of London boundary, where it bisects High Holborn, and ends at King's Cross and ...

. Past presidents include Professor

Ron Laskey Ronald Alfred Laskey (born 26 January 1945) is a British cell biologist and cancer researcher. Career and research Laskey was the Charles Darwin Professor of Embryology at the University of Cambridge. In 1991, he co-founded the Wellcome Trust ...

, Sir Philip Cohen, and Sir

Tom Blundell Sir Thomas Leon Blundell, (born 7 July 1942) is a British biochemist, structural biologist, and science administrator. He was a member of the team of Dorothy Hodgkin that solved in 1969 the first structure of a protein hormone, insulin. Blun ...

Awards

The society makes a number of merit awards, four annually and others either biennially or triennially, to acknowledge excellence and achievement in both specific and general fields of science. The annual awards comprise the

Morton Morton may refer to: People * Morton (surname) * Morton (given name) Fictional * Morton Koopa, Jr., a character and boss in ''Super Mario Bros. 3'' * A character in the ''Charlie and Lola'' franchise * A character in the 2008 film '' Horton H ...

Lecture, the

Colworth Medal The Colworth Medal is awarded annually by the Biochemical Society to an outstanding research biochemist under the age of 35 and working mainly in the United Kingdom. The award is one of the most prestigious recognitions for young scientists in the ...

, the Centenary Award and the

Novartis Medal and Prize The Portland Press Excellence in Science Award was an annual award instituted in 1964 to recognize notable research in any branch of biochemistry undertaken in the UK or Republic of Ireland. It was initially called the CIBA Medal and Prize, then ...

Publishing

The Society's wholly owned publishing subsidiary,

Portland Press Portland Press Limited is the wholly owned publishing subsidiary of The Biochemical Society. It is a publisher of journals and books in the cellular and molecular life sciences. The surplus from the sales of its publications are returned to the s ...

, publishes books, a magazine, ''The Biochemist'', and several print and online academic journals: *''

Biochemical Journal The ''Biochemical Journal'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal which covers all aspects of biochemistry, as well as cell and molecular biology. It is published by Portland Press and was established in 1906. History The journal was established ...

'' *''Biochemical Society Symposium'' (online only) *''

Biochemical Society Transactions ''Biochemical Society Transactions'' is a bimonthly peer-reviewed scientific journal which publishes the transactions of the annual conference and focused meetings of the Biochemical Society, together with independent meetings supported by the soci ...

'' *''Cell Signalling Biology'' *'' Clinical Science'' *''Essays in Biochemistry'' *''Bioscience Reports'' The Society's flagship publication, the ''Biochemical Journal'', celebrated its centenary in 2006 with the launch of a free online archive back to its first issue in 1906.

References

External links