Successful Latin American initiatives in biophysics

Abstract

The Latin American Federation of Biophysical Societies (LAFeBS) was founded in 2007 to encourage the development and dissemination of knowledge in biophysics. The Federation comprises biophysical societies and groups of researchers from the following countries: Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Portugal, Spain, Uruguay, and Venezuela. The number of members of the societies and groups associated with LAFeBS is now around 2,000, and they work mainly in academia, industry, and government agencies throughout Latin America and the Iberian Peninsula. The Federation holds a meeting every 3 years, bringing together over 500 researchers in the multidisciplinary fields representing biophysics. The Federation provides the Latin American Postgraduate Program of Biophysics (POSLATAM) together with International Union for Pure and Applied Biophysics (IUPAB). POSLATAM, currently coordinated by Dr Marcelo Morales (Brazil), is the first regional initiative at postgraduate level in Latin America and already has 257 students (masters and PhD students from more than 30 postgraduate programs associated with POSLATAM from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Uruguay and Venezuela). POSLATAM also sponsors thematic and annual courses, workshops, and conferences in Latin America.