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EMBL
Mission |
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EMBL was set up in order to promote molecular biology across Europe, and to provide an attractive alternative to the United States as a workplace for Europe's leading young molecular biologists. To accomplish this, EMBL has pursued five major missions:
Basic Research –
to be a flagship laboratory for basic, investigator-driven
research in molecular biology.
Technology and Instrumentation – to develop and help disseminate cutting edge technologies and instrumentation for molecular biology
Facilities and Services – to provide facilities and services for the scientific community
Teaching and Training – to provide advanced training to individual scientists at all levels, from PhD students to independent investigators
Technology Transfer
– to develop its discoveries for application
Basic Research in Molecular Biology
Research at
EMBL is focussing on a central strategic goal:
the fundamental understanding of basic biological
processes in model organisms. In the first decades
after the EMBL was established, molecular biology
was a reductionist science consisting of many
sub-disciplines. Today, in the post-genomic era,
we need to study and understand biological phenomena
and systems in their full complexity, in terms
of the sequence and functions of the genomes of
organisms. This requires a commitment to interdisciplinary
collaborative research and critical mass in a
variety of disciplines. Over the last decade EMBL
has been preparing itself for this challenge and
is well positioned to meet it. It is recognised
for excellence in structural biology, biochemistry,
developmental biology, cell biology, and computational
biology. Through its past and current Scientific
Programmes, EMBL has developed an integrative,
interdisciplinary structure that is ideally suited
to tackle the challenge that lies ahead for the
Life Sciences: understanding complex biological
systems.
Technology and Instrumentation
Instrument
and technology development have a long history
at EMBL. Some of the first experiments carried
out in the Laboratory involved the adaptation
of radiation from a synchrotron source for use
with biological material. Today, virtually all
X-ray crystallography utilizes synchrotron radiation.
Other areas of instrument development include
DNA sequencing, cell fractionation, light and
electron microscopy methods, mass spectrometry
of proteins, X-ray imaging plates, synchrotron
beam-lines and automated cell micro injectors.
An area of prolific current activity is in the
development of software and databases for the
life sciences.
Facilities and Services
The most widely used services provided by EMBL
are the various biological databases constructed,
organized and run by the European Bioinformatics
Institute in Hinxton. Currently over 1 Million
different users consult these databases each year,
seeking information on anything from DNA sequences,
protein structures, gene expression profiles,
human genetic polymorphism or even comparative
analyses of entire genomes. At two of its sites,
Hamburg and Grenoble, EMBL provides access to
world-leading sources of X-ray and neutron radiation,
to hundreds of users from the structural biology
community per year. As technologies allow biologists
to follow molecular events inside cells, or even
organisms, in real time, the Advanced Light Microscopy
Facility [ALMF] of EMBL in Heidelberg is the centre
of a series of nodes throughout Europe, to which
biologists can come to both learn about and use
the most appropriate current technique to approach
their specific experimental problem. Other, smaller
facilities include those devoted to mass spectrometry,
microarray technologies, electron microscopy,
DNA sequencing and protein production.
Teaching
and Training
The multifaceted training programme of EMBL is
world-renown, and make the Laboratory a true meeting
place for biologists in Europe, 'a place for the
young' in Kendrew's phrase. It includes: |
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The degree-granting
International PhD Programme. |
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Training of
postdoctoral fellows in an interdisciplinary
and international setting. |
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Mentoring of
young faculty as they establish their first
independent group. |
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Training of
external visitors through research collaborations,
use of facilities, as well as through practical
courses and conferences. |
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In addition
to these intramural teaching and training activities,
EMBL, often in collaboration with its sister organization
EMBO, organizes multiple training courses, workshops
and symposia every year. No other European research
centre is as involved in such activities. Although
the majority of these events are aimed at life
scientists, a significant and growing fraction
has a wider audience. Courses for science teachers,
seminars and the Science and Society Programme
and a broad informational outreach complement
EMBL's extramural teaching activities in the purely
scientific arena.
Technology Transfer
EMBL is actively engaged in developing its discoveries
to benefit society. EMBL Enterprise Management Technology
Transfer GmbH [EMBLEM] is an affiliate and the commercial
arm of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory
[EMBL]. EMBLEM, established in 1999, identifies,
protects and commercialises the intellectual property
developed in the EMBL-world, from EMBL-alumni and
from third parties. EMBLEM facilitates and accelerates
the transfer of innovative technology from basic
research to industry by working closely with industrial
partners spanning the pharmaceutical, biotech, ITC
and mechanical/electrical engineering markets to
develop new diagnostics, drugs, therapies, machines
and devices. |
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