1st (Inaugural) Ukrainian Congress on Cell Biology (UCCB 2004)

Information posted on the web site of the International Federation for Cell Biology (IFCB)on May, 2004.

April 25-28, 2004, Ukraine Society for Cell Biology, Lviv, Ukraine

The Inaugural International Cell Biology Congress of the Ukrainian Society for Cell Biology was held in Lviv, Ukraine, at which they formally adopted their constitution and elected the first officials of their new national society.

Ukraine has emerged from being a former Soviet State as a very distinctive nation keen to display and uphold its own rich identity. In culture, arts, philosophy, religion and science, this has been and remains an extraordinarily fertile nation presently working hard to revive its image. Its economy is slowly being recovering, and the spirit of its people will undoubtedly ensure that Ukraine will take its rightful place both in Europe and Internationally within a short period of time.

The formation of a new cell biology society with freely elected officials and a fine constitution will shortly allow this nation to be ratified as a member of the International Federation for Cell Biology . This is just one small but significant step in the process of rehabilitation. Over 400 abstracts were submitted to the congress, of which nearly half were in English. The President, Academician Professor Andrei Sibirny, welcomed all participants from more than 14 countries to the meeting. During three and a half days, many oral and poster presentations were given. Two things were particularly evident. First, the standard of science in the Ukraine is high, despite the lack of new-generation equipment and facilities with which to work. Second, there are very many young people in the Ukraine of a particularly high calibre attracted to science, who will be the seed-corn of their prosperity in a decade or two, with many of them more enthusiastic about their potential and the future than their Western counterparts. So these omens are particularly good, provided the Ukrainians receive the technical assistance and the cooperation they deserve from other nations. There is a rich vein of scientific talent in the East of Europe. Ukraine also faces to the Middle East, and their cooperation in bringing these countries into the same fold would be a welcome dimension in the further work of nations for peace and friendship in future. Science, like music, can deliver and satisfy this essential human need.

Finally, the Eastern European countries have traditionally had a very high standard of education. There are many university departments and national academy institutes in which theoretical work has continued to be outstanding on the world scene. But theory also requires experimentation for proof, and they sorely need cooperation with other countries to realise their ideas in this way, and to hone their skills, and to contribute globally in the way that other nations do. I therefore commend to all IFCB members that they interact with our Ukrainian colleagues and help bring them more quickly and fully onto the world stage. My feeling is, however, that just as they need us, we need them!

Professor Andrei Sibiriny and Secretary Lyudmila Drobot of the Ukrainian Society for Cell Biology would like to add their sentiments to these remarks I felt obliged to make after their first International conference as Secretary-General of the Federation for Cell Biology.

Denys Wheatley

(Secretary-General, International Federation for Cell Biology)