Brian F.C. Clark print      Biography   Professor Brian F.C. Clark Career 1961 PhD Cambridge University; 1975 ScD Cambridge University 1964-74 Scientific Staff, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge 1974- Professor of Biostructural Chemistry, University of Aarhus, Denmark Achievements 1966 Discovery of the Protein Initiation Codon 1968 First crystallisation of a tRNA molecule 1985 The first structure of a GTP-binding domain 1995 Crystal structure of the ternary complex of Phe-tRNAPhe, elongation factor Tu and GTP 1995- Concepts of structural macromolecular mimicry Areas of Research Interests • Macromolecular mimicry and molecular mechanism of protein synthesis • Protein engineering of factors involved in protein synthesis • Molecular and cellular mechanism of ageing • Use of phage display to identify differential cellular gene expression • Functional genomics and technology transfer Outside Activities 1996-2005 Chairman of the Danish Centre for Molecular Gerontology 1998-1999 Chairman of FEBS 2000-2003 President of the IUBMB 2001- Chairman of TGIR (Task Group on International Relations) of the European Federation of Biotechnology 2001- Member of the Board of Advisors of BankInvest 2003 Vice-Chairman of EMBO Council Honours 1974- Member of European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) 1980- Foreign Member of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters 1988- Member of the Danish Academy of Natural Sciences (DNA) 2001- FEBS Diplôme d'Honneur 2005- Copernicus Medal from the Polish Academy of Sciences       Abstract   International Strategic Cooperations in Biotechnology for Europe via the EFB The Task Group on International Relations (TGIR) is an activity under the aegis of EFB (European Federation of Biotechnology) aiming to facilitate national and International (European and global) interactions. TGIR's role is to provide EFB, the European Commission and other organisations with contacts, avenues and proposals on how to implement the mission of EFB with respect to international relations, in particular focusing on countries outside Europe. TGIR will discuss and formulate strategic considerations and proposals on how the European Union best can handle strategic relations in biotechnology and the life sciences related to innovation, research, human capital, training, infrastructures, public perception and ethical issues. TGIR will foster an internationally-oriented entrepreneurial spirit in Europe by encouraging technology transfer and commercialisation resulting in start-up companies. EFB will thus support training of managemnet skills and networking of financing opportunities. EFB is the pan-European organisation well placed to facilitate broad interaction and collaboration between Europe and the rest of the world in innovation, research and training in the field of biotechnology. So far EFB has received approval from the EC programme for the EFBIC (European Focus on Biotechnology in China) project.