Present your work at the 50th FEBS Congress
The Congress organizers are pleased to invite you to submit an abstract for consideration for the 50th FEBS Congress.
Categories
Abstracts can be submitted in two categories:
- Research: Abstracts must report new or recent substantive scientific results in the molecular life sciences from the lab(s) of the author(s). At least some findings unpublished at the time of abstract submission must be included – see further details below.
- Education: Abstracts on ‘molecular life sciences education’ should preferably report research findings on aspects of teaching/learning, but other original contributions to current topics in education and career development are also welcome.
Presentation at the event
Abstracts submitted by the deadline of Friday 13 February 2026, 23:59 CET can be considered for oral presentations and for poster presentations:
- Oral presentation slots are available as Short Talks of 10–15 mins integrated into the Symposia, and Speed Talks of 3 mins in dedicated Speed Talk sessions.
- Posters at the event will be printed portrait posters organized by topic, with presenters able to discuss their work informally with interested participants in designated poster sessions in the Congress schedule. FEBS Press Poster Prizes will be awarded during the event. Poster presenters also have the option to upload their poster pdf to the Congress app.
Topics
Abstract can be submitted under the following topics:
Intracellular landscapes: decoding the cell’s inner organization
- Bioenergetics and redox biochemistry
- Cellular biochemistry
- Cellular homeostasis
- Genome organization
- Genomics and transcriptomics
- Intracellular communication
- Membranes and dynamic organelles
- Metabolism and metabolomics
- Protein condensates
- Proteomics
- RNA biology
Molecular cellular machines in action: mechanisms and regulation
- Advanced cellular imaging
- Cancer – basic research
- Neuroscience, aging and disease
- Protein interactome
- Single-cell dynamics
- Transcriptional and translational control
Protein life cycle: from structure to function
- AI in molecular life sciences
- Drug development
- Protein folding, structure and function
- Protein life cycle
- Protein post-translational modifications
- Smart proteins
Intercellular complexity and networks: the social life of cells
- Cancer and therapy strategies
- Cellular communication
- Immunology
- Inflammation
- Mechanobiology
- Microbiology
- Molecular diagnostics
- Molecular memory
- Neural networks
- Synthetic cells and synthetic biology
- Toxicology
- Tumor microenvironment
- Virology
Molecular life sciences education
- Faculty and career development
- Postgraduate teaching/learning
- Undergraduate teaching/learning
Display and publication
Accepted abstracts will be displayed on the Congress website two weeks before the event and on the Congress app, and will be published in an online supplement of FEBS Open Bio after the event. The FEBS Open Bio supplement will be indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection.
Rules and Guidelines
General points
- Please read carefully all the instructions and rules about abstracts on this page and on the online abstract submission system before preparing your abstract. Failure to observe these guidelines may result in disqualification.
- The creation of a user account is required for the submission of an abstract and for registration. The account only needs to be created once and can be re-used for future abstract submission and registration to the Congress.
- Abstracts can only be submitted via the online abstract submission form; submissions received via email or post will not be considered.
- You must read and agree to key points on the Declaration page before submitting your abstract, and declare Conflicts of Interest.
- Please ensure your abstract does not contain spelling, grammar, or scientific mistakes, as it may be reproduced exactly as submitted. Correct authorship and author affiliations, and linguistic and scientific accuracy of the abstract, are your responsibility.
- No changes can be made to the abstract after the applicable submission deadline, nor in the Congress supplement of FEBS Open Bio after publication.
Submission content
- Abstracts must be submitted in English.
- The same abstract cannot be submitted by different delegates.
- Abstracts are accepted on a wide range of topics. The submitter must select the right topic for the abstract on the submission form.
- For research abstracts, at least some findings unpublished at the time of abstract submission, must be included. Where previously published results are also presented as part of the main findings (rather than only for context), this should be work published no more than 18 months before the applicable abstract submission deadline. Any prior publication of results should be cited in the abstract (see Step-by-Step Guide below).
- Authors should follow the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) guidelines on authorship. Authors included on the abstract should have made substantial contributions to the conception and design of the study, or acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data. All authors must approve the version to be submitted.
- AI tools may only be used for improvement of language. AI must not be used to generate the first draft of an abstract, and authors must check carefully and take full responsibility for the accuracy of their abstract after any AI use.
Presenting author requirements
- FEBS Congress 2026 is an in-person only event. All speakers and presenters must be available to present in-person at the MECC, in Maastricht, Netherlands, between 4–8 July 2026.
- Due to the extent of the scientific programme and number of abstracts, specific scheduling requests cannot be accommodated.
- A maximum of one research abstract and one education abstract presentation and publication will be permitted for each presenting author; it is however possible for one registrant to present both a research and education abstract.
- A presenting author can be changed only to a listed co-author on the abstract.
- The presenting author needs to register and complete payment by Thursday, 14 April 2026, 23:59 CET in order to present the abstract. After this date, if there is no valid registration the abstract will be withdrawn from the programme and publication.
- Abstracts not presented at the event because of the presenter not showing up will be removed from the programme and publication.
Late-Breaking Abstracts
Late breaking abstracts may be accepted from Monday 23 March 2026 to Monday, 20 April 2026, 23:59 CET.
- Late-breaking abstracts will only be presented as posters.
- Late-breaking abstract presenters will not benefit from the early-bird registration reduced fee.
- Late-breaking abstract presenters will not be eligible for support schemes such as FEBS Congress bursaries or the FEBS Sprinzl scheme.
- Late-breaking abstracts are also displayed on the Congress website and app, and published in the online supplement of FEBS Open Bio.
Abstracts Submitted to the FEBS Young Scientists’ Forum (YSF)
Abstracts submitted as an application to the YSF are assessed by the YSF Organizing Committee. As explained on the YSF Applications page, abstracts must be submitted through the online abstract submission system by the earlier deadline of 10 December 2025, and editing of abstracts accepted for the YSF is not possible after this date. Note that abstracts accepted to the YSF are also accepted for presentation at the Congress, and all other Congress abstract submission requirements detailed on this page apply also to YSF abstracts. For more information on YSF abstract submission and assessment, please see YSF Applications.
Submission System Step-by-Step Guide
Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox are required. JavaScript and cookies need to be enabled in your browser.
After logging in for the first time, you will be prompted to complete a contact information page (If you already have an account, after logging in you will land on the contact information page and will be able to make any updates you see fit).
1. Select the 'Submission type'
Select the ‘Submission type’ under which you would like to submit an abstract:
- Research: Abstracts must report new or recent substantive scientific results in the molecular life sciences from the lab(s) of the author(s). At least some findings unpublished at the time of abstract submission must be included – see further details above.
- Education: These should preferably report research findings on aspects of teaching/learning, but other original contributions to current topics in education and career development are also welcome.
2. Carefully read the 'Declaration'
Carefully read the ‘Declaration’ page and tick the box to confirm the abstract complies with it.
3. Title
Your abstract title should be short and informative and must not exceed 200 characters. It must be written in ‘sentence case’ – capitalise only the first letter and any words or abbreviations that must be capitalised, e.g. Revisiting the Staphylococcus aureus SarA regulon by high-throughput screening. Do NOT write your title in all capital letters. Trade names cannot be mentioned in the title.
4. Abstract Topic
Please choose carefully the most relevant abstract topic from the drop-down menu.
5. Abstract Presentation Type
The default presentation opportunity at the event is a poster. If you would like your abstract to be considered for an oral presentation please indicate this in the question on presentation methods. The final decision on the type of presentation will be made by the final selection committee.
6. Participant support
After checking the eligibility, deadline and other requirements for support schemes carefully, please indicate if you would like to apply to the FEBS YSF, for a FEBS Bursary, or the reduced registration fee in the FEBS Sprinzl Scheme. If applying, answer the relevant questions and upload the necessary supporting documents for your application in a single pdf.
7. Authors and Institutions
These must be added into the special fields for this information, for the presenting author and each co-author – do not add any author details into the abstract body.
Click on “Add an author” for entering your author’s information. You must enter full author details and affiliations for each author. Note that the first entry in the following tables is pre-filled with the submitter details.
8. Abstract Body
a. For standardisation, the abstract body text must not exceed 2,000 printable characters. This includes non-visible characters, such as spaces and line breaks. The title, authors’ details and conflict of interest are not included. Please refer to the word count of the system as slight differences may occur when counting with WORD or similar programmes.
b. Research abstracts need to be structured as follows:
- Rationale: this section should contain 1-2 sentences that clearly indicate the scientific question/justification of the study and its importance.
- Methods: this section should contain sufficient information to be able to understand the experimental design and the analytical techniques used in the study.
- Results: this section should present clearly, concisely and objectively the principal data and findings to answer the scientific question(s).
- Conclusions: this section should provide only conclusions of the study directly supported by the results, along with implications, avoiding speculation and overgeneralisation.
Education abstracts should instead be submitted as a single paragraph.
c. Please use the text field to type the abstract body only. The text can also be copied and pasted into this field, but if this method is used, we recommend that the text is pasted as plain text. Editing tools are provided for formatting. Please check the final format of your abstract body carefully on the Preview page. Note that the headings Rationale, Methods, Results and Conclusions for research abstracts are already included in the abstract body as standard so must not be repeated in your added text.
d. If you need to enter Greek letters or use bold, italics or superscript/subscript then you may use the text formatting toolbar at the top of each input box. Take care not to use I (cap i) or l (ell) for 1 (one), O (capital o) for 0 (zero) or ß (German esszett) for β (beta).
e. The mentioning of agents/molecules/species should follow the scientific standard for publications.
f. Use standard abbreviations for units of measure; other abbreviations should be spelled out in full at first mention, followed by the abbreviation in parenthesis (exceptions: RNA, DNA, etc.).
g. Tables, charts or other figures are not permitted.
h. Reference citations should only be given where previously published results are presented in the Results section of your abstract. Up to three citations are permitted. For research abstracts, please use the style of [1], etc. in the Results section, and list reference details in the References section using the following style: 1 Madak JT et al. (2018) J Med Chem 61, 5162–5186. Citations will be included in the 2000-character limit. For education abstracts, please include citations in the body text in the style indicated in the submission system.
i. Do not include any separate keyword list.
j. Trade names cannot be mentioned in the title. However, trade names in brackets will be accepted in the body of the text.
9. Editing and submission
Abstracts can be saved in “Draft status” to be re-edited and modified until the submission deadline (13 February 2026, 23:59 CET). Abstracts cannot be edited after the submission deadline. Abstracts fulfilling all criteria can be saved in “Final submission” status. Only abstracts in “Final submission” status will be considered for the Congress.
Assessment and Acceptance of Abstracts
Please read the applicable section below for information on assessment, notifications and registration for abstract submitters.
Abstracts submitted by the 13 February 2026 deadline
- The reviewers will judge the abstracts according to relevance to the FEBS Congress, standard of English, objectivity of statements, description of what was done, suitability of methods to aims, conclusions confirmed by objective results, ethics, scientific value, originality of work and overall impression.
- Abstracts may be accepted either as a poster or oral communication.
- Submitting authors will be notified by early April 2026 whether their abstract has been accepted, and they will be informed at the same time about the date, time and form of their presentation. All notifications will be sent out to the e-mail address given on the submission form.
- If a presenter has not already registered, they will also receive a dedicated email with detailed instructions to confirm their presentation and register. It is mandatory that the same user account is used for the registration and abstract submission if the presenter wishes to register before receiving notice on acceptance/rejection. If different accounts are used, we cannot ensure the link between the registration and abstract and guarantee the inclusion of the abstract. Only abstracts of authors who have confirmed the presentation and are duly registered by the deadline on Tuesday 14 April 2026, will be scheduled and included in the abstract publication in FEBS Open Bio.
- If you want to withdraw your abstract, a written statement reflecting the reasons for this decision must be sent to febs.abstracts@mci-agency.com no later than Tuesday 14 April 2026.
Late-Breaking Abstracts
- The reviewers will judge the late-breaking abstracts according to relevance to the FEBS Congress, standard of English, objectivity of statements, description of what was done, suitability of methods to aims, conclusions confirmed by objective results, ethics, scientific value, originality of work and overall impression.
- Late-breaking abstracts may be accepted only as a poster communication.
- Submitting authors will be notified by mid-May 2026 whether their late-breaking abstract has been accepted, and they will be informed at the same time about the date and time of their presentation. All notifications will be sent out to the e-mail address given on the submission form.
- To have their late-breaking abstracts accepted, it is mandatory for the presenter to be registered using the same user account for the registration and abstract submission. If different accounts are used, we cannot ensure the link between the registration and abstract and guarantee the inclusion of the abstract. Only abstracts of authors who have confirmed the presentation and are duly registered by the deadline on Tuesday 14 April 2026, will be scheduled and included in the abstract publication in FEBS Open Bio.
- If you want to withdraw your abstract, a written statement reflecting the reasons for this decision must be sent to febs.abstracts@mci-agency.com no later than Tuesday 26 May 2026.
Publication
Abstracts of duly registered presenters will be published in FEBS Open Bio after the Congress under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided that FEBS Open Bio is cited as the original source. The Authors retain copyright. If the abstract was prepared by a United States Government employee(s) as part of their official duties, it cannot be copyrighted and may be copied without restriction.
