President’s word

Strasbourg, January 20, 2023

Dear colleagues, dear members and supporters of GERLI,

Please accept my best wishes for the New Year 2023, may it be very fruitful from the scientific point of view and enjoyable on the personal side !

Our scientific society, whose primary goal is to promote the research and dissemination of knowledge on lipids in all states, is approaching this new year reinforced by its recent achievements.

The interactions developed by the GERLI with all the players in institutional research, with allied scientific societies, in particular the SFEL (French Society for the Study of Lipids) and the SFN (French Nutrition Society) and other players from the industrial sector, further strengthened its presence in the scientific community in 2022. Very recently, the GERLI worked alongside the SFEL for the organization in Paris at the National Museum of Natural History of the Chevreul Days (January 18-20, 2023) marking the 80th anniversary of the SFEL.

The GERLI is particularly happy to have been able to animate face-to-face in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat on the Côte d’Azur at the beginning of November 2022, the congress “Lipids: from membrane dynamics to signaling”, organized by Zoubir Amri , Gérard Lambeau and Frédéric Carrière. This international congress has brought great satisfaction to its participants, members and promoters.

A high quality ‘Thesis Prize’ session boosted the dynamics of the exchanges and the enthusiasm that marked the 17^th GERLI international lipidomics meeting. This moment highlighted talented young scientists, distinguished for their work covering several areas of lipid biology: the GERLI thesis prize was awarded to Alexandre Santinho (Ecole Normale Supérieure – Paris Sciences et Lettres), for his work on the “Nucleation of lipid droplets in the membrane of the cellular endoplasmic reticulum”, the GERLI-SFN thesis prize born from a recent interaction between the two societies, was awarded to Chloé Robert, for her work on “Vegetable lecithins as vectors of alpha-linolenic acid: metabolic and inflammatory impacts associated with intestinal bioavailability”, and the thesis prize awarded by the SFEL in 2022 was attributed to Moulay Sahaka (CNRS, University of Aix Marseille) for his work on the “In situ monitoring of galactolipid digestion by infrared spectroscopy in both model micelles and spinach chloroplasts”. The excellent participation and the scientific quality of the 17^th GERLI international lipidomics meeting (48 conferences and communications) reinforces the GERLI and its scientific council in the effort to be continued to develop in France and internationally interactions with academic and industrial partners, the latter having provided effective support to GERLI’s action in recent years. In interaction with the GERLI, the network of Lipidomysts organized its days of expertise and know-how exchange in analytical lipidomics, also in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat. The scientific success of GERLI in 2022 will again find a platform in the publication of a special issue of BIOCHIMIE (Elsevier Science) centered on the scientific theme of the congress. I would like to thank Malika Hassini and Claude Forest, our long-standing supporters of the editorial staff of BIOCHIMIE, as well as Bryan Adriaanse (Elsevier), for the particularly strong support provided to GERLI in 2022.  Some important objectives are defined for 2023. A call for applications for a GERLI thesis prize and a GERLI-SFN thesis prize each endowed with €1500 will again be launched via the directory and the messaging system of our website. I am counting on you to disseminate this information widely and solicit all young talents!The 18^th GERLI international lipidomics meeting is already scheduled in Paris, at the Cordeliers site, from October 16 to 18, 2023. It will highlight the most recent work on aspects related to “Lipid trafficking at contact sites” , “Lipid location and dynamics”, “Lipids between cancer and metabolic disorders”, “Lipids in host pathogen interaction”, and others, and will include a scientific session co-organized with the SFN.

The GERLI brings together through its scientific council a set of skills and targeted, transversal expertise, allowing the setting up of congresses on lipids in all their states, with very broad international participation.This scientific openness is a strong point to encourage the participation of doctoral and post-doctoral students in these congresses and in the action of our association. To carry out the action of the GERLI, to promote the sciences of lipids in an immoderate way, our scientific society which is an association called “law 1901”, needs your support, donations, patronage and of course your contributions from members and adherents. I am counting on you to make your contribution and solicit others around you.The GERLI offers an annual statutory (50€) or non-statutory (25€) membership and other advantageous rates (‘laboratory’, 200€ for 4 people then 25€ per additional membership). Please note that membership gives access to the preferential registration rate for GERLI congresses and also allows access to membership of the European Federation for the Science and Technology of Lipids (EFL), with the advantages registration fees for EFL congresses.I encourage you now to join and support the GERLI and to contribute to the dissemination, influence and national and international recognition of your research on lipids. The excellent work of our webmaster Frédéric Carrière on the GERLI website will allow you to choose your membership for 202”, with in particular easy online payment. 

With my warmest regards,

                                                                                              Hubert Schaller

                                                                                               GERLI president