Who we are

The Signal Transduction Society (STS) – or, as registered, the “Gesellschaft für Signaltransduktion (GST)” – is devoted to the scientific exchange between investigators engaged in different aspects of cellular signal transduction. The STS is a young and active society that meanwhile attracted more than 400 scientists to join as members.

Between 1996 and 1997 the speakers of study groups of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Zellbiologie (DGZ, Ralf Hass), Deutsche Gesellschaft für Immunologie (DGfI, Ottmar Janssen) and Gesellschaft für Biochemie und Molekularbiologie (GBM, Karlheinz Friedrich) created a new conference named Joint Meeting “Signal Transduction: Receptors, Mediators and Genes” which was held in Langen in November 1997 and thereafter annually at different places. In 1998 the Gesellschaft für Signaltransduktion (GST) / Signal Transduction Society (STS) was founded by the three meeting organisers.

Main purpose of the STS is the development of an interdisciplinary forum for researchers who share a common interest in deciphering signal transduction pathways in normal or transformed cells, in health and disease, in humans and animal models, in plants or bacteria. With the annual “Joint Meeting Signal Transduction – Receptors, Mediators and Genes”, this aim has been pursued for more than 25 years. However, the three “starting study groups” are still the core of the society and define the main focus of the meeting, intentionally creating ample opportunities for scientific overlap and interactions. In 2013, the German Society for Pharmacology (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Pharmakologie, DGP) joined the STS by implementing a workshop on G protein-coupled receptors and G protein signaling.

In 2010, the STS and the open access journal “Cell Communication and Signaling” (CCS) created the “STS Honorary Medal”. The STS honorary medal represents the most prestigious award of the STS.

Moreover, it is good tradition of the STS to also appreciate the early work of young investigators by providing travel stipends and poster prizes, and to reward the achievements of young post docs or principal investigators with the “STS Science Award”

The STS encourages investigators from all areas of signal transduction research to become members. By doing so, you will strengthen this fascinating aspect of research which cannot be covered as a whole by any of the traditional branches of biomedicine. You support the efforts of an interdisciplinary group of scientists to enhance the efficiency of their research. You will benefit from a better exchange between colleagues who are interested in related questions. Finally, you will become part of a forum that highly appreciates any initiative you might wish to launch in order to further improve its concept.