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 appear within the FEBS Advanced Courses programme. 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 (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 provide 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.

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.