International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (IUBMB) Special Meeting 2013

At birth, Nature brings us to a world full of ambiguities: friends and enemies, predators and preys, hosts and microbes. As human beings we believe to be the rulers of this world, but we can only be so at the cost of a continuous competition for survival in a continuous battle against a hostile environment; and paradoxically we have been able sometimes to make our environment even more hostile. Our mission as human beings and even more so as scientists is to make our life quality better by combating disease and improving our sources of nutrients.