Philippe Bastiaens, former EMBL Heidelberg Group Leader, passed away on Thursday 15 May 2025.

It is with a heavy heart that we share the news of the sudden and unexpected loss of Philippe Bastiaens. Philippe was a Group Leader in the Cell Biology and Biophysics Unit at EMBL Heidelberg from 1999 until 2008. May he rest in peace.

“There are many memories. I remember that shortly after arriving at EMBL Heidelberg and joining Philippe’s lab, I carried out my first experiments on the FLIM microscope. Unsurprisingly, they failed, and I didn’t show the results to Philippe straight away. But he asked to see them, and I said something like, ‘This didn’t work.’ To my surprise, he was incredibly positive and not at all annoyed – he replied, ‘Yes, but that’s exactly what I expected. Now try this and this…’

After the meeting, my head was buzzing with new ideas, and I was struck by the deep passion for science that my supervisor showed. I experienced this in all our one-to-one meetings: a very positive and motivating mentor, with a genuine enthusiasm for science and no trace of a ‘slave-driver’ mentality. It was a truly great lab to be part of.”

Martin Offterdinger, EMBL Heidelberg postdoc, Bastiaens Group, 2001-2005

Condolences

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