The Federation of Asian and Oceanian Biochemists (FAOB) was jointly founded on 1 August 1972 by the Australian Biochemical Society, the Society of Biological Chemists (India) and the Japanese Biochemical Society to promote the development of biochemistry in the Asian and Pacific Region. The first Executive Committee comprised of Edwin C. Webb (President, Australia), Takashi Murachi (Vice-President, Japan), and N. R. Mougdal (Secretary-General, India).
The Federation became officially incorporated as a non-profit and tax-exempt association (FAOB Inc.) in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia on 8 December 1992 and undertook a change in name to Federation of Asian and Oceanian Biochemists and Molecular Biologists (FAOBMB) Incorporated on 7 December 1993. FAOBMB is an Associate Organization of the International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (IUBMB), with which it actively collaborates. The Federation’s logo, adopted in 1989 and modified in 1993 to include the change in name, reflects the dynamic nature of the FAOBMB and the continual flow of information of biochemistry between members, which consists of countries in both the Asian and Pacific region.
Some articles of interest that describe the history of FAOBMB in more detail and overview the activities of the Federation can be found at the following links:
The Federation’s Constituent Members represent in excess of 20,000 active scientists. Honorary membership is bestowed on individuals who have given distinguished service to FAOBMB. The member societies are heterogeneous in respect of their history and academic capability, yet share equal partnership and responsibility in governance and the decision-making process.Since the founding of FAOBMB, biochemistry and molecular biology have grown in importance not only as a focus of the health sciences but also as the basis of the biotechnology industry. It is doubtful if the original founders could have foreseen this rapid growth but they were correct in believing that many biochemists and molecular biologists in the Asia-Pacific region would benefit substantially from improved communication and collaboration between members and the encouragement of young scientists.