General Description

The FEBS Workshop 'Protein termini 2026: From mechanisms to biological impact' will be the 5th biennial conference of the International Society for Protein Termini (ISPT) and a FEBS Workshop within the FEBS Advanced Courses program. We will explore the fundamental roles of protein termini across kingdoms of life, with emphasis on how terminal modifications regulate protein fate, signaling, and disease.

The four-day programme is structured around eight thematic sessions that follow the functional journey of protein termini—from synthesis and co-translational processing, through terminal modifications, stability and signaling, to applications in medicine and biotechnology.

More about our conference programme:

The Palermo workshop will explore the fundamental roles of protein termini across kingdoms of life, with emphasis on how terminal modifications regulate protein fate, signaling, and disease. Highlights include two keynote lectures (Beckmann and Hartl), a dedicated session on terminal degrons introduced by Varshavsky (ISPT Lecture), and a closing session on therapeutic innovation. This progression fosters interdisciplinary dialogue across structural biology, cell biology, proteomics, synthetic biology, and translational research.

Our workshop will explore the critical roles of protein termini in biological processes, including proteostasis. As the first part of a nascent protein to emerge from the ribosome, the N-terminus undergoes co-translational modifications that dictate protein fate, while ribosome-associated factors and modifying enzymes act on both termini to influence folding, localization, and stability. The C-terminus, though historically less studied, is now recognized as equally important in regulating protein interactions and degradation. Additionally, protease-mediated processing generates new N- and C-termini, adding another layer of regulation. Understanding how these processes coordinate during translation and beyond remains a major question in biology with broad biological and therapeutic implications.

The workshop will span a logical progression from protein synthesis to terminal modifications, their role in degradation, functions beyond degradation, and therapeutic applications. It will open with “Molecular Choreography: Ribosomal Coordination of Terminal Fate”, featuring a keynote lecture by Prof. Roland Beckmann (LMU Munich) on N-terminal modifications during nascent chain synthesis, followed by talks on structural and mechanistic advances of ribosome-associated enzymatic factors. Next, the sessions “Terminal Modifications I & II: Mechanisms & Functions” will explore the full spectrum of terminal modifications, from well-established ones like N-terminal acetylation to recently discovered modifications such as Nt-methylation. The next two sessions,”N-Terminal Signals in Protein Stability and N-Degrons and Their N-recognins”, will explore the role of N-terminal modifications in regulating protein stability. These sessions will be introduced by Prof. Alexander Varshavsky (Caltech, USA), providing key insights into N-degron pathways and ubiquitin ligase function. The session “Beyond Degradation: Functional Roles of Protein Termini” will highlight their broader regulatory functions. This will be followed by the second keynote lecture, delivered by Prof. F. Ulrich Hartl (MPI Biochemistry, Martinsried), on co-translational folding and its interplay with protein termini. The workshop will conclude with two sessions “Translating Terminal Modifications: From Basic Science to Therapeutics”, showcasing how advances in terminal modifications can be leveraged for technological innovation and translational research where we will also industry participation.

The International Society for Protein Termini (ISPT):

Bringing together scientists from diverse biological disciplines, the ISPT unites researchers interested in the structure, substrates, and regulatory roles of protein termini across prokaryotic, animal, and plant systems. This community converges to explore enzymatic modifications, cellular quality control mechanisms, and their implications for organelle dynamics and stress responses. Advances in terminomics, cryo-EM studies, and biotechnological applications such as PROTACs underscore the transformative potential of the field in medical sciences and biotechnology.

Protein termini are critical hubs regulating protein fate, folding, localization, and degradation, yet they remain largely overlooked in mainstream conferences. Historically, research on termini has been fragmented across communities studying protein degradation, signaling, or structural biology. However, recent discoveries and technological advances demand a unified perspective.

Breakthroughs include the discovery of terminus-specific enzymes and substrates, mechanistic insights into how terminal modifications dictate protein stability, and new links to organelle homeostasis and stress responses. Cutting-edge approaches—such as N- and C-terminomics, cryo-EM structures of ribosomes bound to terminus modifiers, and terminus-inspired biotechnologies (e.g., PROTACs, tunable protein half-life tools)—highlight the transformative potential of this field. Yet, no dedicated international forum exists to integrate these advances across biological kingdoms and disciplines, representing both an opportunity and a pressing unmet need.

For updates, please follow @ispt-proteinterm.bsky.social‬, the official Bluesky account of the ISPT.
Use #proteintermini2026 for posts and also have a look at #proteintermini2019 and #nterm2017 at our retired X account for past meetings.

Our current ISPT board:

Chair:
Carmela Giglione, French National Centre for Scientific Research, France

Vice Chairs:
Anna Kashina, University of Pennsylvania, USA
Nico Dissmeyer, University of Osnabruck, Germany

Secretary of international relations:
Beatrice Giuntoli, University of Pisa, Italy

Secretary of scientifc meetings:
Ruth Geiss-Friedlander, University of Freiburg, Germany

Treasurer:
Francesco Licausi, University of Oxford, UK

Extended board:
Thomas Arnesen, University of Bergen, Norway
Andreas Bachmair, Max F. Perutz Laboratories, Austria
Tanja Bange, Ludwig Maximilians University, Germany
Emily Flashman, University of Oxford, UK
Michael John Holdworth, The University of Nottingham, UK
Rong Huang, Purdue University, USA
Cheol-Sang Hwang, Korea University, South Korea
Changhoon Ji, Seoul National University, Executive Director, AUTOTAC BIO, Inc. Korea
Yong Tae Kwon, Seoul National University, South Korea
Chris Overall, University of British Columbia, Canada
Freddie Theodoulou, Rothamsted Research, UK
John Tooley, University at Buffalo, USA

Social media:
Thomas Arnesen via @ispt-proteinterm.bsky.social

The International Society for Protein Termini (ISPT) is on Bluesky, our Twitter/X account is retired.

If you would like us to share relevant information such as a new publication from your lab and job offers, please send an email directly to Thomas Arnesen (thomas.arnesen@uib.no) and we will post it.

FEBS Advanced Courses program

With the general aim of advancement of research and education for the public benefit in the molecular life sciences, FEBS funds a range of scientific and educational events on advanced topics in these fields at locations across Europe and neighbouring regions.

The lecture courses, workshops, practical courses and special meetings in the FEBS Advanced Courses programme aim to provide the latest research updates, as well as a strong educational element that makes them especially valuable to PhD students and postdocs. Such early-career scientists can apply to Course Organizers for financial support for attendance through FEBS Youth Travel Fund (YTF) grants.

Funding and event organization

Events in the FEBS Advanced Courses programme have been reviewed at the proposal stage by the FEBS Advanced Courses Committee, and approved for meeting the scientific, educational and organizational aims of the FEBS Advanced Courses programme; they are then awarded FEBS grants for course organization and for supporting the participation of early-career researchers. FEBS assists event organization by providing a website platform for Course Organizers to use to present and manage the event, and by informing the FEBS community about the event. The FEBS Advanced Courses Committee also monitors events in the programme by various means such as reports, feedback surveys and visits to events in progress.

The development and delivery of the scientific programme of a FEBS Advanced Course, and other management and organization of the event including financial matters, are carried out by senior scientists acting as the Course Organizers and others they appoint. 'Course Organizers' are the scientists named as the organizers responsible for the event on the course proposal submitted to FEBS and who have been awarded FEBS funding for the event. When you register for the event, you are entering an arrangement with the Course Organizers. As well as receiving FEBS grants for the event, Course Organizers may also secure additional funding from other grant-awarding bodies and sponsors.

The official language at FEBS Advanced Courses is English.

The FEBS Advanced Courses Code of Conduct is available here.

About FEBS

Founded on 1st January 1964, The Federation of European Biochemical Societies (FEBS) encompasses thousands of members across more than 35 biochemistry and molecular biology societies (its 'Constituent Societies') in different countries of Europe and neighbouring regions. As a grass-roots organization FEBS thereby provides a voice to a large part of the academic research and teaching community in Europe and beyond.

As a charity, FEBS promotes and supports biochemistry, molecular biology, cell biology, molecular biophysics and related research areas through its journals, Congress, Advanced Courses, Fellowships and other initiatives. There is an emphasis in many programmes on scientific exchange and cooperation between scientists working in different countries, and on promotion of the training of early-career scientists.

For more information about FEBS and FEBS Advanced Courses, please visit the FEBS website or the Advanced Courses section of the FEBS website.

FEBS YTF Awards

A limited number of FEBS Youth Travel Funds (YTF) Awards are available to support participation of early-career scientists in this event. These funds will cover parts of the registration fee (including meals and shared accommodation in a twin room), up to a maximum of 500 EUR per person. The selection of applicants to receive FEBS YTF awards will be carried out by the Course Organizers, and approved by the FEBS Treasury Office according to the FEBS YTF eligibility criteria. Applicants must be member of FEBS or of a partnering national society.

Application and notification of outcome:

Please write an email to the Cpourse Organizer and (i) include proof of your society membership in the file you upload with supporting documents, and (ii) answer yes to the question asking about interest in applying for a travel award.

Applicants selected by the Course Organizers will be notified 10 weeks before the event and receive a FEBS Treasury YTF form, to be returned to the FEBS Treasury for approval approximately 8 weeks before the event's start date.

Eligibility criteria for applicants travelling from the FEBS area of Europe and neighbouring regions:

- The applicant should be not older than 35, should be registered as a PhD student at an institute of higher learning in a country where there is a FEBS Constituent Society or should be a postdoctoral scientist within five years of having completed a PhD thesis, working in a country where there is a FEBS Constituent Society;
- The applicant must be a member of a FEBS Constituent Society and provide a valid certificate of membership (for FEBS Constituent Societies, see the Our Members section of the FEBS website);
- The applicant should not have received a grant from the Youth Travel Fund to attend a FEBS Advanced Course in the current year or previous year, nor a Bursary to attend the FEBS Congress in the current year, nor a grant to attend the FEBS Young Scientists’ Forum in the current year;
- The applicant cannot be a resident of the country hosting the event;
- For awards with travel funding, only travel within the FEBS area from the applicant’s current country of residence to the country hosting the FEBS event is supported;
- Young scientists from the Organizers’ laboratories are not eligible for FEBS YTF awards.

Other travel grants

In addition to the YTF awards, a small number of other travel grants will granted to selected ECRs funded by different sources, see Sponsors. Selection of travel grant awardees will be carried out in parallel to the YTF award.