Welcome members and visitors to the website of the French Society for Lipid Studies (SFEL). We're delighted to welcome you and hope you'll find the information you're looking for and the desire to join us.
Founded 80 years ago and formerly known as the "Association Française pour l'Etude des Corps Gras" (AFECG), the SFEL is an association under the French law of 1901, whose aim is to promote the dissemination of knowledge in the field of lipids and the challenges of research and development in this area.
Our specificity is to have equal numbers of academic and industrial members on our board of directors and administrative council, and alternate a President from each field.
Our learned society is supported by our members and the various industries and societies involved in lipids, as supporting members. This financial support is essential to the success of our scientific meetings. It is only thanks to the contributions of our members and benefactors that we are able to carry out most of our activities.
For many years now, we have been trying to meet your expectations through annual meetings bringing together scientists and industrialists to take stock of current issues: the Journées Chevreul. These days are well known in the lipid world, both nationally and internationally.
In 2023, we organized an exceptional 3 days "Journées Chevreul" to celebrate the 80th anniversary of our association, at a famous scientific venue in Paris, the Musée National d'Histoire Naturelle (MNHN). The MNHN is one of the cradles of chemistry, where Chevreul worked for over 40 years, isolating, characterizing and naming cholesterol. These anniversary Chevreul Days provided an opportunity to take stock of all the lipid research themes supported by SFEL/AFECG since its creation. They began with an opening ceremony in tribute to Michel Chevreul, followed by a series of lectures given by former Chevreul Medal winners and others.
Since 2007, we have organized 4 Journées Chevreul Lipids & Brain, bringing together between 100 and 200 participants, and we publish the papers from these events as special issues of the journal OCL-Oilseeds and fats, Crops and Lipids.
We are a partner of this scientific journal, both financially and in terms of manuscript management and publication. OCL benefits from totally open access, which we are very proud of in the age of open science, and is internationally recognized (Side Score 2.9 in 2020).
Since 1963 and twice a year, we have awarded a Scientific Medal to French or foreign personalities who have made a significant contribution to the development of scientific knowledge or industrial achievements in the field of lipids. This medal is known as the Médaille Chevreul, in recognition of the fact that it was in France, thanks to the work of the illustrious scientist Michel Eugène Chevreul, that fat chemistry and lipochemistry were born.
Every year we also award a SFEL thesis prize of 1,000 euros to young researchers. We believe that this prize will enable the younger generation of researchers to make the most of their research work, and help them in their professional careers.
In 2000, under the impetus of President Michel Parmentier, SFEL and the German "Deutsche Gesellschaft für Fettwissenschaf" (DGF) initiated the creation of a European network of excellence in lipid science, "Euro Fed Lipid", which now brings together 11 scientific associations.
For a number of years now, we have been joining forces with two other French learned societies in the field of lipids to exchange ideas and establish constructive collaborations: GERLI and Groupe Lipides Nutrition (GLN).
We also organize monthly webinars.
Before I close, I'd like to extend my warmest thanks to the members who have elected me President once again! I already had the pleasure and honor of being President from 2009 to 2011.
Many thanks also to the members of the previous and current Board of Directors, especially Claire Bourlieu-Lacanal (Vice-President, INRAE) and Claire Berton-Carabin (Secretary, INRAE), Elodie TORMO (Assistant Secretary, Terres Univia), Jean-David Rodier (Treasurer, GATTEFOSSE) and Philippe Guesnet (past President).
A special thanks to Bernadette Delplanque for her energy and incessant involvement in finding subsidies, her participation as SFEL representative in the OCL review, the organization of the Chevreul Lipids & Brain days, the Chevreul 2023 days for the 80th anniversary of the SFEL, the organization in Nantes of the 15th ISSFAL Congress in 2023... It's thanks to her that I joined AFECG 18 years ago!
Finally, we are also counting on all of you to contribute to the life of our scientific association and to solicit other future players around you. SFEL's success lies in the participation of its members, especially young researchers, engineers and technicians. To all of you, thank you for your confidence and we look forward to seeing you soon at more scientific events.
Yours lipidly
Anne Le Guillou
President
