Providing for the future through science

EMBL embarks on its latest strategic programme, attracting collaborative engagement and launching a new era of life science research.

Created after Europe’s ‘brain drain’ crisis following WWII, EMBL was built to withstand future crises. The world came to realise that science was a means for finding answers and solutions. That’s still the case.

So, when I look back on 2022, I am struck by how our organisation – despite unexpected challenges – proved its mettle and value in conducting all-important research as well as delivering services, training, and innovation, more than ever before. 

We launched our Molecules to Ecosystems Programme that has already reaped benefits, garnered widespread support within and outside of the organisation, and most importantly, conveyed the necessary role molecular biology can and will play in understanding important global issues. 

In this annual report, you will see numerous stories of harnessing our best molecular life science  tools – from beamlines to cryo-EM to genomic sequencing to machine learning – all to shed light on the molecular basis of life from EMBL’s unique, multidisciplinary, and international perspective.

A few examples: 

• Our scientists offered insights on antibiotics inside a pathogenic bacterium, on multicellular dynamics like gene expression patterns in zebrafish, on molecular signatures of stool microorganisms and their role in pancreatic cancer, on the interaction between bacteria and host cells, and on the potential for microorganisms to help us rethink pesticides.
• EMBL worked with DeepMind to ensure open access to its massively expanded collection of 3D protein structure predictions (now around 200 million).
• The EMBL Imaging Centre’s world-class tools and techniques continued to facilitate a wide array of molecular biology research and provide training that raises the level of scientific excellence elsewhere as well.
• A Fellows’ Career Services office study indicated a widening and evolving scientific career path for many early career scientists addressed in new offerings.
• Collaborations with industry partners increased EMBL scientists’ capacity while also helping to build tools that expand research capacity for the entire field. 
• And, an exceptional number of scientific organisations converged with us via new agreements and collaborative scientific meetings.

The team behind TREC, our flagship Planetary Biology project, visited Iceland to prepare for the full expedition which will see EMBL’s expertise and infrastructure traverse the European coastlines from 2023 onwards. EMBL scientists are, alongside some of our newest and oldest partners, gathering samples to view ‘life in context’ at the molecular level.

In many ways, this can be seen as a discovery-driven expedition, akin to Darwin’s Beagle voyage that led to one of the greatest theories in science. TREC has already drawn in many new collaborators from different disciplines around Europe. TREC also has sparked related EU-funded collaborative projects such as BIOcean5D and Blue Remediomics, where we are all eager to efficiently address environmental questions together. This illustrates compellingly how the EMBL Programme is attracting multidisciplinary collaborators across Europe, expanding our own scope as technological developments provide the opportunity to pursue exciting new avenues of research to understand life in context.

I believe that what truly sets EMBL apart is its people.

Our newest site head, Kristina Djinović-Carugo at EMBL Grenoble, will continue to enable world-class structural biology at our French site, in an era when this foundational research area of EMBL enters another phase of scientific revolution through the use of AlphaFold. 

At every level around EMBL, I witness the talent, creativity, flexibility, and resourcefulness of our staff, as well as the courage to take risks and try new approaches. EMBL groups and teams are carving the path for EMBL’s vision for European science. 

In the current context of a European financial crisis and geopolitical instability, the EMBL community has been active in nurturing the best science as well as making savings across all our sites, coming up with suggestions to reduce costs and energy consumption, yet still moving forward and adapting to changes, including the rapidly evolving science landscape. Our administrative units have all rallied to find operational solutions in record time. Once more, EMBL staff rise up to the latest challenges, with creative solutions! 

EMBL represents the future of life sciences.

In the spirit of EMBL’s founders almost 50 years ago, this organisation will support life sciences through the current challenges. EMBL will deliver its missions together with its partners, collaborators, and supporters because today’s toughest scientific and societal questions demand our involvement. 

Our founders wanted to provide an ecosystem to nurture talented, young life scientists so they could pursue and succeed at their independent research. That meant innovative research, top-notch facilities, and a creative, supportive training environment to secure this pursuit. And in the face of geopolitical crises, it’s important to recognise that this is also the right formula to rise above the fray. EMBL’s open science accelerates discoveries and knowledge, raising the level of Europe’s life sciences everywhere – it’s science without frontiers. 

I look back at EMBL in 2022 with both pride at the organisation’s accomplishments and optimism that we are launching a brand new era of life sciences. 

It is important to remind ourselves that we truly are at an exciting crossroads and the opportunities are great as long as we continue to nurture curiosity, collaboration, and a caring environment to work in.