Etelka Farkas Editor

Etelka Farkas is Emeritus Professor (2016) at the Faculty of Science and Technology, Department of Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry, at the University of Debrecen, Hungary. After receiving her scientific degree (D.Sc.) from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (HAS) in 1998, she has worked as elected member in some HAS Committees, e.g., the Committee on Physical Chemistry and Inorganic Chemistry (2011-), the Doctoral Council of Chemical Sciences (2018-2021), and she chaired the Working Commitee of Coordination Chemistry (2011-2017). From 2006-2019 she was also Chair of the International Relations of the Hungarian Chemical Society. Her research has been focused, first of all, on the bio-induced solution study of metal complexes with a large variety of ligands, e.g. amino acid-, peptide-, hydroxamic acid-based ligands and the results have been presented in ca. 180 publications. Professor Farkas was Editor of the RSC Specialist Periodical Reports (Vols. 37, 38, and 39) on Amino Acids, Peptides, and Proteins for the years 2012, 2013, and 2015. Furthermore, she was Guest Editor of the Special Issue 472 (2018) of Inorganica Chimica Acta and of the issue 206 (2020) of the Journal of Inorganic Biochemistry. She received many awards; to mention just three of them: (2005) Gold Cross of Merit of the Hungarian Republic; (2012) Albert Szent-Györgyi Award; (2022) Academy Prize, Awarded by the HAS.

Celine J. Marmion is Professor of Bioinorganic Chemistry (since 2018) and Deputy Dean for Student Engagement (2018-2024) in RCSI, University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Dublin, Ireland. Her current research focusses on the rational design and development of innovative, multi-targeted metallo-drug candidates as anti-cancer or anti-microbial drugs. She has a track record in commercializing her research with the patient at the heart of all that she does. In this regard, she, together with colleagues, executed a pharma license agreement on a metallo-drug technology in 2010 and, more recently, entered into an industry-funded collaboration and option agreement with another pharma in 2016. Professor Marmion has undertaken many senior leadership roles within and outside her university. She is currently an active Council member of the Society of Biological Inorganic Chemistry. She was President of the Institute of Chemistry of Ireland, the national body representing all chemists in Ireland from 2019-2022, the third female only to be elected as President since its establishment in 1922. She also co-founded the Irish Biological Inorganic Chemistry Society in 2017 and served as its President from 2018-2020. Professor Marmion is a strong and vocal advocate for young scientists. In this regard, she played a key role in the establishment of the Institute of Chemistry of Ireland Young Chemists’ Network. She is also deeply committed to nurturing excellence in the education of students. She was the recipient of national 'Teaching Hero' awards in 2021 and 2016 (as nominated by students) and numerous RCSI President's Teaching Awards.

Astrid Sigel has studied languages; she was an Editor of the Metal Ions in Biological Systems (MIBS) series (until Volume 44) and also of the "Handbook on Toxicity of Inorganic Compounds" (1988), the "Handbook on Metals in Clinical and Analytical Chemistry" (1994; both with H. G. Seiler and H.S.), and on the "Handbook on Metalloproteins" (2001; with Ivano Bertini and H.S.). She is also an Editor of the MILS series from Volume 1 on and she co-authored more than 50 papers on topics in Bioinorganic Chemistry.

Helmut Sigel is Emeritus Professor (2003) of Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Basel, Switzerland. He is a Co-editor of the series Metal Ions in Biological Systems (1973–2005; 44 volumes) as well as of the Sigels' new series Metal Ions in Life Sciences (since 2006). He also co-edited three handbooks and published over 350 articles on metal ion complexes of nucleotides, amino acids, coenzymes, and other bio-ligands. Together with Ivano Bertini, Harry B. Gray, and Bo G. Malmström he founded (1983) the International Conferences on Biological Inorganic Chemistry (ICBICs). He lectured worldwide and was named Protagonist in Chemistry (2002) by Inorganica Chimica Acta (issue 339). Among Endowed Lectureships, appointments as Visiting Professor (e.g., Austria, China, Japan, Kuwait, UK), and further honors he received the P. Ray Award (Indian Chemical Society, of which he is also a Honorary Fellow), the Alfred Werner Award (Swiss Chemical Society), and a Doctor of Science honoris causa degree (Kalyani University, India). He is also a Honorary Member of SBIC (Society of Biological Inorganic Chemistry).

Eva Freisinger is Associate Professor for Bioinorganic Chemistry and Chemical Biology (2018) at the Department of Chemistry at the University of Zürich, Switzerland. She obtained her doctoral degree (2000) from the University of Dortmund, Germany, working with Bernhard Lippert and spent three years as a postdoc at SUNY Stony Brook, USA, with Caroline Kisker. Since 2003 she performs independent research at the University of Zürich where she held a Förderungsprofessur of the Swiss National Science Foundation from 2008 to 2014. In 2014 she received her Habilitation in Bioinorganic Chemistry. Her research is focused on the study of plant metallothioneins with an additional interest in the sequence-specific modification of nucleic acids. Together with Roland Sigel she chaired the 12th European Biological Inorganic Chemistry Conference (2014 in Zürich, Switzerland) as well as the 19th International Conference on Biological Inorganic Chemistry (2019 in Interlaken, Switzerland). She also serves on a number of Advisory Boards for international conference series; since 2014 she is the Secretary of the European Biological Inorganic Chemistry Conferences (EuroBICs), and currently co-Director of the Department of Chemistry. She joined the group of Editors of the MILS series from Volume 18 on.

Roland K. O. Sigel is Full Professor (2016) of Chemistry at the University of Zürich, Switzerland. In the same year he became Vice Dean of Studies (BSc/MSc) and in 2017 he was elected Dean of the Faculty of Science. From 2003 to 2008 he was endowed with a Förderungsprofessur of the Swiss National Science Foundation and he is the recipient of an ERC Starting Grant 2010. He received his doctoral degree summa cum laude (1999) from the University of Dortmund, Germany, working with Bernhard Lippert. Thereafter he spent nearly three years at Columbia University, New York, USA, with Anna Marie Pyle (now Yale University). During the six years abroad he received several prestigious fellowships from various sources, and he was awarded the EuroBIC Medal in 2008 and the Alfred Werner Prize (SCS) in 2009. 2015–2019 he was the Secretary of the Society of Biological Inorganic Chemistry (SBIC) and since 2018 he is the Secretary of the International Conferences on Biological Inorganic Chemistry (ICBICs). His research focuses on the structural and functional role of metal ions in ribozymes, especially group II introns, regulatory RNAs, and on related topics. He is also an Editor of Volumes 43 and 44 of the MIBS series and of the MILS series from Volume 1 on.