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EMBL News archive

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12 February 2024 Female scientist stands in front of white shelves filled with vials of fruit flies

What I’ve learned: Anne Ephrussi

Lab Matters, People & Perspectives After 32 years at EMBL – leading a developmental biology research group and later simultaneously serving as EMBL’s Dean for its PhD programme, Anne Ephrussi has retired, ready to start her life’s next chapter.

2024

lab-matterspeople-perspectives

21 December 2023 On the left: image of a protein complex in a shape of a yellow doughnut with blue elements. Above it is a drawing of nucleic acid with arrows connecting nitrogenous bases to different points in the protein complex. On the right: a line with peaks indicating the peaks recorded in mass spectrometry. Above two peaks, there are smaller depictions of the doughnut-shaped complex, one with a blue element and one without.

RNA to rule them all

Science, Science & Technology The Kosinski Group at EMBL Hamburg collaborated with other groups in Hamburg to reveal critical steps in Lassa virus ribonucleoparticle assembly and recruitment, and the crucial role played by RNA in in the Lassa virus life cycle.

2023

sciencescience-technology

7 December 2023 Against blue and green background are two faux polaroids, one of an older man holding a coffee cup and the other a man in glasses

Navigating success: an EMBL alumni mentorship story

Alumni, Lab Matters A recent success story of the Alumni Mentorship Programme is that of Luis Pedro Coelho, a Portuguese former postdoctoral fellow in the Bork Group, and his mentor Frank Gannon, former EMBO Director and EMBL Group Leader and Senior Scientist.

2023

alumnilab-matters

17 November 2023

TREC – Towards the end of the first phase

Connections, Lab Matters The TREC expedition has come to the end of its first phase. The last superstop of 2023 was hosted by CIIMAR in Porto and, despite the adverse weather conditions, included many scientific and public engagement activities.

2023

connectionslab-matters

16 November 2023

EMBLetc. issue 101 published

EMBL Announcements, Lab Matters The newest issue of our online magazine dives deep into a critical research direction in developmental biology, structures of promiscuous proteins, EMBL’s newest service offerings in field research, and much, much more.

2023

embl-announcementslab-matters

16 November 2023

New evidence on retinal function

Science, Science & Technology A new study from the Asari group at EMBL Rome shows a different retinal function in awake mice compared to isolated retinal samples. These new insights could help to develop prosthetic devices that can act as a retina in the future.

2023

sciencescience-technology

31 October 2023

EMBL’s southern hemisphere connection

Connections, Lab Matters Ian Smith, Chair of EMBL Australia´s Council, chats about the synergies between the organisations, opportunities for collaboration, and ideas for exciting new programmes arising out of a recent visit to EMBL Heidelberg.

2023

connectionslab-matters

28 September 2023 Visual of AlphaFold Protein prediction, embedded into a visual of scientific data

EMBL receives German AI prize

EMBL Announcements, Science EMBL receives the German AI prize awarded for outstanding services to the research and development as well as application and commercialisation of artificial intelligence (AI) in life science research.

2023

embl-announcementsscience

27 September 2023 A female scientist with shoulder-length hair and black shirt listens to a male scientist in burgundy shirt and white beard, seated to the right.

Five decades of EMBL visits

Connections, Lab Matters Structural biologist Shlomo Trachtenberg has made research trips to EMBL from Israel since the late 1970s and reflects on the boost EMBL’s technology provided his research, the ingredients for an ideal research institution, and his ongoing fascination with microscopes.

2023

connectionslab-matters

13 September 2023

Exploring Nexus Island

Lab Matters Learn more about the game-based workshop that lets participants experience what it feels like to be a researcher on the TREC expedition.

2023

lab-matters

6 September 2023 A drawing of swordfish and a bubble containing a drawing of a molecular model. Both on blue background representing water.

Swordfish sword under X-rays: SAXS explained

Science, Science & Technology Learn how scientists use bio-SAXS, an experimental X-ray technique, to study the shape and dynamics of proteins and other biomolecules. SAXS can be even used to analyse the structure of mineral particles in the swordfish sword bone, which can help scientists better understand bone ageing.

2023

sciencescience-technology

22 August 2023 Polaroid style shot of Sergiy Avilov, mentioning the years he was at EMBL

After EMBL: Sergiy Avilov

Alumni, People & Perspectives Ukrainian scientist Sergiy Avilov uses the microscopy skills and scientific network he built at EMBL in his current role heading the Imaging Facility at the Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics.

2023

alumnipeople-perspectives

8 August 2023 Clément Blanchet at the EMBL Hamburg’s P12 beamline’s experimental hutch.

Welcome: Clément Blanchet

Lab Matters, People & Perspectives Clément Blanchet has been appointed to lead the team working on small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) at EMBL Hamburg. In this interview, he talks his ambitions for the future work of the SAXS Team, his passion for science, and a memorable ‘aha’ moment he had in his early career.

2023

lab-matterspeople-perspectives

4 July 2023 EMBL logo amended to note its upcoming 50th anniversary

Save the date: 4-5 July 2024!

EMBL Announcements, Events EMBL will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2024 with a dynamic scientific symposium. The event will share fundamental research that continues to open the way to scientific discoveries.

2023

embl-announcementsevents

3 July 2023 In the foreground: an intrinsically disordered protein, which has a form of a tangled, unstructured string. In the background: a set of parallel curved lines.

Bringing research on disordered proteins to order

Science, Science & Technology A third of all known proteins are either completely or partially unstructured. EMBL scientists contributed to a new set of guidelines – Minimum Information About a Disorder Experiment (MIADE) – that will help researchers share data on unstructured proteins in a more useful way and will enable…

2023

sciencescience-technology

11 May 2023 An colourful image taken from the World of Molecular Biology exhibition.

The World of Molecular Biology is open 

EMBL Announcements, Lab Matters EMBL´s new permanent exhibition ‘The World of Molecular Biology’ in Heidelberg is now open for registration. The exhibition takes the visitor on a journey of scales, from genomes to ecosystems, and introduces key imaging technologies.

2023

embl-announcementslab-matters

10 May 2023 Illustration showing a cute humanoid-shaped robot that spits pink droplets at a sheet.

Time-resolved crystallography for the masses

Science, Science & Technology EMBL Hamburg scientists have contributed to the development of the Spitrobot, a ground-breaking experimental setup that will simplify creating molecular movies. The Spitrobot automates the sample preparation for time-resolved crystallography, which is used to create 3D snapshots of protein…

2023

sciencescience-technology

28 April 2023 two students wear virtual reality headsets

Building a broader European science community

Connections, Lab Matters Croatian scientists and students from the Ruđer Bošković Institute and University of Zagreb visited EMBL to exchange ideas with researchers and public outreach experts on ways to increase interest, awareness, and involvement in science.

2023

connectionslab-matters

28 April 2023 Group photograph of people facing the camera holding certificates.

EMBL celebrates 43 new PhDs

Events, Lab Matters On Friday 21 April 2023, EMBL held a graduation ceremony to celebrate its newest group of PhDs who graduated during the last 12 months. The graduating class comprised 43 fellows representing 17 nationalities and all six EMBL sites.

2023

eventslab-matters

20 April 2023 Photo of a human hand introducing a small element into a machine at the SPC Facility.

EMBL Hamburg joins northern European life science consortium

Connections, Lab Matters EMBL Hamburg partners with the Hanseatic Life Science Research Infrastructure Consortium (HALRIC) to enhance life sciences research in Scandinavia and northern Germany. The consortium builds on the HALOS project to foster collaborations between industry, hospitals, and universities, leveraging…

2023

connectionslab-matters

4 April 2023 A mobile lab on a road, with the TREC logo on the side.

TREC is underway!

EMBL Announcements, Events, Science EMBL’s planetary biology flagship TREC expedition has officially started. The new project applies EMBL's expertise and technologies in molecular and cellular biology to current environmental challenges, and connects with a wide range of research disciplines.

2023

embl-announcementseventsscience

4 April 2023 Title slide for the conference, The organism and its environment

Life in context

Events, Science & Technology Upcoming EMBO/EMBL symposium provides a forum to explore how organisms function together, and how they react or adapt to changes at different molecular levels.

2023

eventsscience-technology

3 April 2023 Two male scientists with safety glasses at EMBL Imaging Centre

Dispensing microscopy expertise

Lab Matters, Science & Technology Home to some of Europe’s most cutting-edge tools in molecular biology, EMBL has long shared its expertise and access to these tools through an extensive repertoire of courses, conferences, seminars, and other training. And now included in this mix is a job shadowing programme at EMBL Imaging…

2023

lab-mattersscience-technology

23 March 2023 Portrait of a person looking at the camera. In the background there are trees and a white building

Welcome: Alejandro Torres-Sánchez

Lab Matters, People & Perspectives The new group leader is setting up the first purely theory-focused research group at EMBL Barcelona. He aims to understand fundamental biological principles using mathematical models and computer simulations, in close collaboration with experimental researchers across EMBL.

2023

lab-matterspeople-perspectives

17 March 2023 Liz Duke standing on the left side of the photo, with EMBL Hamburg's P14 beamline and a big screen on the right.

Molecules to Ecosystems: Liz Duke on X-ray imaging

Lab Matters, People & Perspectives Biological X-ray imaging is an emerging technology that uses X-rays to image tissues or even entire organisms. It will play an important role in EMBL Hamburg’s future service portfolio, and will allow studying life on multiple scales. Team Leader Liz Duke discusses her plans to establish X-ray…

2023

lab-matterspeople-perspectives

7 March 2023 Black and white photograph showing a group of scientists standing in frnot of a building.

Tracing the history of women in science at EMBL

Lab Matters On the occasion of International Women’s Day 2023, EMBL archivist Maria Papanikolaou discusses the traces left by the women in science who have passed through EMBL, irrevocably changing the organisation in small and big ways.

2023

lab-matters

1 March 2023 Moisés Bueno is standing next to the transfer robot. The robot has a form of a yellow robotic arm on a stand. Behind is the CrystalDirect™ Harvester, which is a white cuboid with two transparent dimmed windows for laser protection.

Biology meets engineering

Lab Matters, Science & Technology Physicists, engineers and robotics experts work together in EMBL Hamburg’s Instrumentation Team to design instruments that support structural biology research. The team has finished a transfer robot that facilitates automated handling of protein crystals with care and precision. This will help…

2023

lab-mattersscience-technology

13 February 2023 Female scientist stands in front of lab bench

Welcome: Hanh Vu

Lab Matters, People & Perspectives Group Leader Hanh Vu studies ‘immortal’ flatworms that can grow and de-grow to understand better factors that determine organisms’ sizes.

2023

lab-matterspeople-perspectives

7 February 2023 BII and EMBL logos are on a white band set against a wavy green background

Promoting European innovation in the life sciences

Connections, Lab Matters One of EMBL’s core missions is the development and transfer of scientific know-how and technologies to academia, industry, and commercial entities to facilitate further research, innovations, and commercialisation for the benefit of society at large. Working across Europe, EMBL has partnerships…

2023

connectionslab-matters

12 December 2022 A mother and her child looking through a microscope

Celebrating science in Grenoble

Connections, Lab Matters In October 2022, EMBL Grenoble participated in the annual science outreach event Parvis des Sciences, organised by the GIANT campus under the umbrella of the French science week – La Fête de la science.

2022

connectionslab-matters

29 September 2022 young girl in lab coat

Tools for teachers

Lab Matters EMBL reminds teachers of freely available educational resources and workshops just in time for school.

2022

lab-matters

20 September 2022 8 representatives of both the Dieter Schwarz Foundation and EMBL are standing in the EMBL Imaging Centre foyer facing the camera

Life Science Alliance starts new chapter

Connections, Lab Matters Dieter Schwarz Foundation renews 3-year funding to EMBL for the EMBL | Stanford Life Science Alliance, a unique international collaboration bringing together researchers from the two leading institutions to develop transformative technologies and accelerate biomedical research.

2022

connectionslab-matters

15 September 2022 The foreground shows two yellow pipes representing the human gastrointestinal tract coming together, representing the confluence of donor and recipient gut ecosystems. Bacteria can be seen as green shapes inside the pipes and various kinds of interactions between them are shown symbolically as a mixing of colours.

When microbiomes collide

Science, Science & Technology EMBL researchers used data from over 300 human faecal microbiota transplants to gain an ecological understanding of what happens when two gut microbiomes clash.

2022

sciencescience-technology

9 September 2022 A female career advisor at computer participates in webinar

Insights into scientific careers

Events, Lab Matters As the career landscape continues to change for PhDs and postdocs, the EMBL Fellows’ Career Service offers webinars that present professional options in and beyond academia.

2022

eventslab-matters

7 September 2022 Female scientist stands in laboratory setting

Augmenting science

Lab Matters The Scientific Visitor Programme shares EMBL tools and talent with outside researchers in collaborative, multidisciplinary environments.

2022

lab-matters

4 August 2022 An illustration provides representation of fingers hovering over a cell phone

Zooming in to get the full picture

Science, Science & Technology EMBL and UW researchers plus additional collaborators have constructed a complete map of fruit fly embryonic development using machine learning. This research is foundational to better understanding overall embryo development in other species, including humans.

2022

sciencescience-technology

18 July 2022 Large, elongated purple molecule has an on/off switch on it pointed to on.

The retron switch

Science, Science & Technology EMBL researchers now understand the function of an elusive small DNA in bacteria and have developed a tool that can be used to better understand what might ‘switch on’ bacterial immune defences.

2022

sciencescience-technology

10 June 2022 A colourful structural model of the doughnut-shaped human nuclear pore complex seen from above.

Puzzling out the structure of a molecular giant

Science, Science & Technology Scientists have solved several mysteries around the structure and function of a true molecular giant: the human nuclear pore complex. They created the most complete model of the complex thanks to combining the program AlphaFold2 with cryo-electron tomography, integrative modelling, molecular…

2022

sciencescience-technology

7 June 2022 Female scientist photographed in a garden

Welcome: Pascale Cossart

Lab Matters, People & Perspectives Pascale Cossart, one of the world’s foremost authorities on the biology of Listeria, brings four decades of expertise in intracellular bacterial parasitism to EMBL as a visiting scientist.

2022

lab-matterspeople-perspectives

18 May 2022 The visiting group from the Business Academy Aarhus during lunch at the EMBL Hamburg’s terrace

EMBL Hamburg is helping train lab techs of the future

Lab Matters Students from the Business Academy Aarhus visit EMBL Hamburg annually. Many of them return later as trainees to gain experience as lab technicians. EMBL Hamburg offers great opportunities to learn diverse techniques and work with various equipment. This experience helps them in their future jobs in…

2022

lab-matters

6 May 2022 Drawing of two chromosomes in which a highlighted area is switched around.

Flip-flop genome

Science, Science & Technology Researchers at EMBL Heidelberg found that inversions in the human genome are more common than previously thought, which impacts our understanding of certain genetic diseases.

2022

sciencescience-technology

5 May 2022 Colourful vertical panels each show different microscopic images possible with the high-tech tools in EMBL's Imaging Centre

Enabling imaging across scales

EMBL Announcements, Events EMBL’s first Imaging Centre Symposium will occur onsite at EMBL and include tours of the new Imaging Centre on 31 May, introducing participants to the facility and its staff and featuring talks on the rapid developments in imaging technologies that have led to notable biological and medical…

2022

embl-announcementsevents

27 April 2022 Portrait of Kristina Djinović-Carugo

Next Head of EMBL Grenoble appointed

EMBL Announcements, Lab Matters Professor Kristina Djinović-Carugo has been appointed as the next head of EMBL Grenoble. She will join EMBL in July from the Max Perutz Laboratories at the University of Vienna, where she is currently Head of the Department of Structural and Computational Biology and full Professor of Structural…

2022

embl-announcementslab-matters

17 March 2022 EMBL statement visual

EMBL’s statement on the invasion of Ukraine

EMBL Announcements, Lab Matters EMBL condemns in the strongest terms the unjustified military invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation, with the support of Belarus, and the resulting loss of life and human suffering. We express our deepest sympathy to the Ukrainian people and to all the victims of this war.  As an…

2022

embl-announcementslab-matters

4 March 2022 Science art expressing the concept of transcriptional neighbourhoods regulating transcript isoform lengths and expression levels.

Understanding genomes, piece by piece

Science, Science & Technology Genomes are made up of thousands of individual pieces – genes – which are expressed at different levels. Researchers at EMBL have shed light on how the placement of a gene affects its expression, as well as that of its neighbours.

2022

sciencescience-technology

25 February 2022 Three colourful overlapping circles arranged in a row, a fruit-fly embryo being visible within each. Small circles within the embryos represent cell lineages.

Converging lenses on embryo development

Science, Science & Technology Researchers from the Furlong group at EMBL have come up with a way to observe the development of fruit-fly embryos simultaneously at the genetic and cellular levels, generating a high-resolution and integrated view of how different cell lineages form.

2022

sciencescience-technology

23 February 2022 A photo of the campus of the Aarhus University buildings and green lawn.

Molecular medicine across borders

Connections, Lab Matters The 11th annual Nordic EMBL Partnership for Molecular Medicine meeting was hosted in virtual format by DANDRITE, the Danish node of the Partnership, from 31 January–2 February 2022. The programme included updates from all partnership nodes, discussions about opportunities for new collaborations,…

2022

connectionslab-matters

9 February 2022 The logos of EMBL and the Latvian Biomedical Research and Study Centre

EMBL and Latvia deepen collaboration

Connections, Events Agreement signed with Latvia’s Biomedical Research and Study Centre will boost academic exchange and collaboration on some of the largest challenges facing human and planetary health.

2022

connectionsevents

1 February 2022 A photograph of the Amazonian lancehead snake Bothrops atrox

Decoding the secrets of snake venom

Science, Science & Technology EMBL Hamburg’s Grzegorz Chojnowski from the Wilmanns Group developed software called findMySequence, which identifies proteins’ amino-acid sequences based on electron cryo-microscopy and X-ray crystallography data. It’s useful for identifying unknown proteins in samples from natural sources.

2022

sciencescience-technology

21 January 2022 The cross-section of a cell expressing a green fluorescently tagged protein and illuminated by a blue laser is visible in the foreground, surrounded by a vortex of cells

Cell sorting enters a new dimension

Science, Science & Technology EMBL researchers, in collaboration with BD Biosciences, have demonstrated a new technology that allows rapid image-based sorting of cells. The new technology represents a major upgrade to flow cytometry and has applications in diverse life science fields.

2022

sciencescience-technology

3 January 2022 Mixture of life science symbols inside a circle set against background of green and blue

The start of a journey

Lab Matters, People & Perspectives This year marks the beginning of EMBL’s next programme ‘Molecules to Ecosystems’ to advance the understanding of life across scales and in the context of changing environments.

2022

lab-matterspeople-perspectives

22 December 2021 Scientific illustrations of MEG3, a very large RNA involved in cell proliferation. IAB and EMBL logos are located in the center of the illustration.

EMBL-IAB collaboration on the rise

Connections, Lab Matters The memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between EMBL and the Institute for Advanced Biosciences (IAB) a year ago has already catalysed new grants for joint research projects related to cancer and infection biology, thereby deepening collaborative activities.

2021

connectionslab-matters

21 December 2021 A model of the doughnut-shaped nuclear pore complex. Individual molecules are marked in various colours.

Observing the secret life of molecules inside the cell

Science, Science & Technology EMBL Hamburg’s Kosinski Group, the Beck Laboratory at the Max Planck Institute of Biophysics, and colleagues at EMBL Heidelberg recorded the nuclear pore complex contracting in living cells. They visualised the movement with an unprecedented level of detail with help of new software called…

2021

sciencescience-technology

20 December 2021 Concentric circles and lines in different colours, representing fingerprints. Text: "Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Strategy."

Fostering diversity and equality

Lab Matters Showing a continued commitment to providing a diverse and inclusive organisation for conducting leading molecular biology research, EMBL has launched an Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) strategy.

2021

lab-matters

20 December 2021 A detailed structure map shows two proteins interacting in the foreground, each shown in a different colour. The background shows small green dots marking bacteria

Solving molecular puzzles to find the perfect fit

Science, Science & Technology Using cryo-EM and structural biology techniques, EMBL researchers have shown how two proteins of Legionella pneumophila interact. This finding sheds light on a mechanism critical to the infection process and could lead to the development of new drugs to treat pneumonia.

2021

sciencescience-technology

7 December 2021 A cartoon image showing a person's arm and a needle with a vaccine being injected into it. The text on the left reads: "EMBL research: How structural biologists at EMBL Hamburg help to develop and improve RNA vaccines"

How structural biology helps to make RNA vaccines

Science, Science & Technology RNA vaccines, such as the ones for COVID-19, represent a new approach in vaccine technology. Cy Jeffries, faculty staff scientist at EMBL Hamburg, explains the clever technology behind RNA vaccines, and how structural biology contributes to its development. EMBL Hamburg collaborated on several…

2021

sciencescience-technology

29 November 2021 Male scientist in front of blurred woodland background

Welcome: Niccolò Banterle

Lab Matters, People & Perspectives Using gene editing and three types of microscopy, one of EMBL’s newest group leaders is deciphering the functions of one of the smallest molecules involved in cell division, motility, and signalling, known as a centriole.

2021

lab-matterspeople-perspectives

25 November 2021 Female scientist in front of a background of green plants

Welcome: Maria Zimmermann-Kogadeeva

Lab Matters, People & Perspectives Maria Zimmermann-Kogadeeva is one of EMBL’s newest group leaders and a computational biologist whose research group applies computational modelling to better understand the metabolism of gut bacteria and their potential to have far-reaching impacts on other organs.

2021

lab-matterspeople-perspectives

9 November 2021 students looking a computer monitor and microscope

New horizons for the EIPP

Lab Matters EMBL's PhD and postdoc programmes evolve to the more multidisciplinary way of doing great molecular biology research.

2021

lab-matters

5 November 2021 A headshot photo of Ken Holmes from July 2021

Ken Holmes

Alumni, People & Perspectives Ken Holmes, outstanding pioneer of structural biology and founder of EMBL´s Hamburg site, died on 2 November 2021 at the age of 87.

2021

alumnipeople-perspectives

5 November 2021 Three-dimensional rendering of sponge neuroid cells (coloured orange) and sponge digestive cells (coloured green).

More than a gut reaction

Science, Science & Technology What can sponges tell us about the evolution of the brain? Sponges have the genes involved in neuronal function in higher animals. But if sponges don’t have brains, what is the role of these? EMBL scientists imaged the sponge digestive chamber to find out.

2021

sciencescience-technology

28 October 2021 female scientist sits in front of building

Welcome: Svetlana Dodonova

Lab Matters, People & Perspectives Svetlana Dodonova is one of EMBL's newest group leaders, leading a team of researchers who will study how genetic material is organised inside cells using structural biology approaches.

2021

lab-matterspeople-perspectives

25 October 2021 A collage of the visuals representing each of the three modules of the eSPC platform.

Biophysics analysis made easy with an online tool

Science, Science & Technology EMBL Hamburg’s Sample Preparation and Characterisation (SPC) Facility has released eSPC, an online platform for analysing data from biophysical experiments. The platform enables the scientific community to analyse data from different experiments without the need to travel.

2021

sciencescience-technology

15 October 2021 In the middle, there are two molecules of pUL21. One is blurred, to represent the molecule’s flexibility. In the background are two neuronal scenes. The one on the left is healthy and has a smooth surface. The one on the right is infected, which is represented by several green viral particles.

How herpes seizes proteins’ means of production

Science, Science & Technology The Graham and Crump groups at the University of Cambridge and the Svergun Group at EMBL Hamburg have discovered a mechanism by which the herpes simplex virus takes control of the molecular machinery of human cells. Their work reveals how a dedicated viral protein hijacks key host proteins, forcing…

2021

sciencescience-technology

13 October 2021 Illustration of a community of bacteria. Pills represent an antibiotic that can be used to treat an infection, and a second drug that could protect many gut bacteria from antibiotics.

Tackling the collateral damage from antibiotics

Science, Science & Technology Researchers from EMBL’s Typas group and collaborators have analysed the effects of 144 antibiotics on the wellbeing of gut microbes. The study improves our understanding of antibiotics’ side effects and suggests a new approach to mitigating the adverse effects of antibiotics therapy on gut…

2021

sciencescience-technology

5 October 2021 Illustration of a globe with colourful shapes and symbols superimposed.

A cellular atlas of an entire worm

Science, Science & Technology EMBL scientists and colleagues have developed an interactive atlas of the entire marine worm Platynereis dumerilii in its larval stage. The PlatyBrowser resource combines high-resolution gene expression data with volume electron microscopy images.

2021

sciencescience-technology

4 October 2021 Logos of University of Tartu and EMBL with text: “memorandum of understanding”. Illustrations of microorganisms in the background.

EMBL strengthens links with Estonia

Connections, Lab Matters A memorandum of understanding (MoU) has been signed between EMBL and the University of Tartu, a leading centre of research and training. The MoU aims to strengthen cooperation between EMBL and the life science research community in Estonia.

2021

connectionslab-matters

29 September 2021 Female scientist working at a biosafety cabinet, wearing a yellow protective gown and black gloves.

Transferable skills

Lab Matters, People & Perspectives In the lab, Diënty Hazenbrink works with microbes that live in our guts. In her free time, she enjoys wildlife photography. A shared set of skills facilitates both activities.

2021

lab-matterspeople-perspectives

23 September 2021 Pink and blue dominate a blurry image against a black background that is actually a global image of a 30-day-old Octopus vulgaris

The secret life of baby octopuses

Science, Science & Technology Some of the most amazing creatures live in the deep blue sea. The Mesoscopic Imaging Facility (MIF) at EMBL Barcelona was recently involved in studying one unique feature of the octopus: the ephemeral structures on the surface of their skin called Kölliker’s organs.

2021

sciencescience-technology

8 September 2021 Illustration of two halves of a pill, which releases chemical molecules that are taken up by gut bacteria in the vicinity.

Common medications accumulate in gut bacteria

Science, Science & Technology A new collaborative study led by EMBL group leaders Kiran Patil, Nassos Typas, and Peer Bork has found that common medications accumulate in human gut bacteria. This process reduces drug effectiveness and affects the metabolism of common gut microbes, thereby altering the gut microbiome.

2021

sciencescience-technology

7 September 2021 Close up of the interior of a light-sheet microscope, featuring optical equipment and a transparent cube.

A flip book for biological systems

Science, Science & Technology In the Mesoscopic Imaging Facility (MIF) at EMBL Barcelona, researchers study the details of biological systems in the context of organs, body parts, or entire organisms. This image shows OPTiSPIM1, one of the custom light-sheet microscope setups available at the facility.

2021

sciencescience-technology

3 August 2021 illustration of health care providers around a big heart

All heart

Alumni, Science & Technology A community of scientists is looking at the estimated three billion heart muscle cells in a human heart to better understand heart disease.

2021

alumniscience-technology

13 July 2021 From right to left, Ilaria Piazza and Ken Holmes’ portraits are side by side in circles on a greenish background

EMBL Alumni Awards 2021

Alumni, People & Perspectives EMBL alumni Ilaria Piazza and Ken Holmes have been recognised for their outstanding contributions, and will receive their awards as part of the celebrations for EMBL World Alumni Day.

2021

alumnipeople-perspectives

23 June 2021 Bright blue oblong shape with white hairs on surface on black background.

Starlet sea anemone

Picture of the week, Science & Technology EMBL PhD student Anniek Stokkermans captured this side view of a Nematostella vectensis larva during this transition, using instrumentation in the Advanced Light Microscopy Facility at EMBL Heidelberg.

2021

picture-of-the-weekscience-technology

8 June 2021 Two scientists in lab coats working on an instrument in the lab.

EMBL external research community survey

Lab Matters EMBL is conducting an Impact Assessment of our experimental services to understand the value these services have for our external user community. If you have accessed EMBL experimental services at one or more of our facilities to support the conduct of your research, we would like to hear from you.

2021

lab-matters

8 June 2021 Purple, blue and yellow dots on a black background.

Dream team

Picture of the week, Science & Technology At EMBL, we have many dream teams – groups of individuals who support each other, innovate, and work together. One of those dream teams bridges two core facilities at EMBL Rome.

2021

picture-of-the-weekscience-technology

21 May 2021 Image of a mosquito on a clear surface

EMBL scientists support malaria research

Science, Science & Technology EMBL scientists support research on malaria by providing freely available data resources and using innovative experimental approaches. Our Course and Conference Office facilitates the exchange of knowledge in the field by hosting the annual BioMalPar conference.

2021

sciencescience-technology

28 April 2021 Artistic representation of brain and DNA

Uniting strengths to expand research

Connections, Lab Matters The European Molecular Biology Laboratory and the Italian Institute of Technology have signed an agreement to expand the scope of their collaboration to include areas of mutual interest and in the context of EMBL’s 2022-2026 Programme “Molecules to Ecosystems”.

2021

connectionslab-matters

27 April 2021 Microscope image of liver cells, highlighted in various colours.

Painting liver cells

Picture of the week, Science & Technology A page from a biologist’s colouring book? EMBL’s new interior wall design? Not quite – a bunch of liver cells, grown in the lab so that scientists can learn about fatty liver disease, or steatosis.

2021

picture-of-the-weekscience-technology

13 April 2021 EMBL Heidelberg's main building, the top of the façade lit up by sunlight.

Morning sun

Lab Matters, Picture of the week Throwback to June 2014: While EMBL Heidelberg’s main entrance is still in the dark, the well-known EMBL logo is already lit by the morning sun.

2021

lab-matterspicture-of-the-week

30 March 2021 A close-up photo of a shiny droplet of liquid that has been placed into one of the wells of a crystallisation plate.

Droplet beauty

Picture of the week, Science & Technology Scientists at EMBL Hamburg use droplets of protein solution to grow protein crystals. By exposing the crystals to X-rays, they are able to determine the protein’s molecular structure.

2021

picture-of-the-weekscience-technology

4 March 2021 An illustration of single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq)

Induced pluripotent stem cells reveal causes of disease

Science, Science & Technology Scientists in the Stegle group and colleagues have studied induced pluripotent stem cells from around 1,000 donors to identify correlations between individual genetic variants and altered gene expression. They linked more than 4,000 of the genetic variants responsible for altered expression…

2021

sciencescience-technology

2 March 2021

Sleeping beauty

Picture of the week, Science & Technology Like caterpillars turning into beautiful butterflies, fruit fly larvae have to go through metamorphosis to finish their development. However, despite the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster being one of the best studied model organisms in biology, comparatively little attention has been given to this…

2021

picture-of-the-weekscience-technology

26 February 2021 Woman with long brown hair stands in front of snow scene with arms crossed in front of her.

Welcome: Sinem Saka

Lab Matters, People & Perspectives As one of EMBL’s newest group leaders, Sinem Saka will combine multiple technologies, such as microscopy and single-cell omics, to solve biological puzzles.

2021

lab-matterspeople-perspectives

22 February 2021 A scientist (only their hand is visible) inserting a 96-well plate into a sample dispensing device in the Sample Preparation and Characterisation Facility in Hamburg.

SPC Facility in Hamburg supports a new pan-European consortium

Connections, Lab Matters The Sample Preparation and Characterisation (SPC) Facility at EMBL Hamburg is one of the founding members of the Molecular-Scale Biophysics Research Infrastructure (MOSBRI). Within this new European initiative, the SPC Facility will offer services related to membrane proteins, protein complexes,…

2021

connectionslab-matters

16 February 2021 An assembly of proteins in an enzyme, presented in a cartoon style.

Cellular modern art

Picture of the week, Science & Technology This week's Picture of the Week, which could also be a masterpiece of modern art, shows the enzyme RNA polymerase III, an assembly of 17 individual proteins combined into this complex structure.

2021

picture-of-the-weekscience-technology

11 February 2021 Maria-Theresa Licka holding a smartphone displaying an app she developed. Vineyards, houses and hills in the background.

Coding between the vines

Lab Matters EMBL Teen Maria-Theresa Licka shares how female scientists guided & inspired her to develop an app to ID vine disease.

2021

lab-matters

9 February 2021 Crystal cubes seen through a microscope

Purity, beauty, and perfection

Picture of the week, Science & Technology The regular structures of crystals are a source of inspiration and fascination to us humans. While the crystals in this picture were not grown in nature, but instead by Petra Drncova from EMBL Grenoble, they share the same attributes as those found in nature.

2021

picture-of-the-weekscience-technology

29 January 2021 Flags of EMBL, Italy and CNR

Strengthening collaborations in Italy

Connections, Lab Matters EMBL and CNR have signed a memorandum of understanding to strengthen scientific cooperation. The agreement will foster collaborative projects and integrate them within the European and global scientific landscape.

2021

connectionslab-matters

26 January 2021 Two X-ray mirrors installed in the macromolecular crystallography beamline P14 at EMBL Hamburg. The mirrors are visible in the photo as dark rectangular crystal blocks, with two metal holders supporting the crystals in a stress-free position. The mirrors are inserted into a vacuum-compatible stainless steel vessel.

Mirror, mirror

Picture of the week, Science & Technology Scientists at EMBL Hamburg use specially designed mirrors to reflect and focus X-ray beams onto tiny crystals made of proteins or other biological molecules.

2021

picture-of-the-weekscience-technology

20 January 2021

The SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.7 lineage

Science, Science & Technology A note on the coronavirus variant B.1.1.7, which has first been described in the U.K. and has spread to 57 countries. The note summarises epidemiological information about the spread of B.1.1.7 in the U.K. collated and in part conducted by researchers from EMBL-EBI.

2021

sciencescience-technology

19 January 2021 3D rendering of a human cell, attacked by a virus.

Cell under attack

Picture of the week, Science & Technology It’s almost a year since the coronavirus outbreak was declared a pandemic, affecting all our lives. While the virus continues its grip on the world, scientists are understanding it better and better, increasing our knowledge about it and opening up new ways to fight it.

2021

picture-of-the-weekscience-technology

15 January 2021 young man with beard and mustache stands in front of window with blurry background

Welcome: Olivier Duss

Lab Matters, People & Perspectives One of EMBL’s newest group leaders, Olivier Duss, will explore how RNA folds into functional structures and how it works with proteins to control a diverse range of activities in the cell.

2021

lab-matterspeople-perspectives

22 December 2020

Cells in the holiday spirit

Picture of the week, Science & Technology It is that time of year to get into the holiday spirit, prepare for some time at home and relax after a strange and stressful year. Even the cells in our Picture of the Week are getting into the holiday spirit, forming this colourful Christmas tree.

2020

picture-of-the-weekscience-technology

18 December 2020

Stronger together

Science, Science & Technology Gene activation requires the cooperative activity of multiple transcription factors. Until now, the mechanism used by these factors to coordinate their actions has been poorly understood. EMBL’s Krebs group presents a DNA footprinting method that makes it possible to determine whether…

2020

sciencescience-technology

8 December 2020 Windowed façade reflecting leafless trees.

Clear views

Lab Matters, Picture of the week With the external scaffolding removed, another step in the construction of the EMBL Imaging Centre is complete. Now we get a first glimpse of the final look of this stunning building.

2020

lab-matterspicture-of-the-week

7 December 2020 Female scientist stands in front of electron microscope that is taller than she is

Seeing deeper inside cells

Science, Science & Technology While cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET) was first envisioned in 1968, the advances the Mahamid group are bringing to this 3D method for studying molecules directly inside cells are new, and are likely to greatly expand its use.

2020

sciencescience-technology

2 December 2020 The image is a green coloured cell, with a wild and textured surface which is composed of many different shapes and shadows.

Scratching the surface on cell differentiation

Science, Science & Technology Scientists in the Diz-Muñoz group at EMBL Heidelberg are working to build understanding of the role that mechanical properties play in affecting cell behaviour – a young and rapidly developing field of study. They have developed and successfully used a highly specialised technique to manipulate…

2020

sciencescience-technology

23 November 2020 Tube-like structures of a cell at sub-cellular level in red and grey.

Replication cycle of SARS-CoV-2 in 3D

Science, Science & Technology Researchers have studied SARS-CoV-2 replication in cells and obtained detailed insights into the alterations induced in infected cells. This information is essential to guide the development of urgently needed therapeutic strategies for suppressing viral replication and induced pathology.

2020

sciencescience-technology

20 November 2020 The Reichstag building (left) and Paul-Löbe-Haus (right) in Berlin, as seen in daylight from across the Spree river.

Sharing our vision for the future

Connections, Lab Matters EMBL Director General Edith Heard introduced EMBL’s future plans during a parliamentary event at the Paul-Löbe-Haus of the German Bundestag in Berlin. She shared examples of EMBL’s research and outlined how EMBL’s activities will develop.

2020

connectionslab-matters

17 November 2020 Car parking rooftop with a solar power plant under construction on it.

Solar power

Lab Matters, Picture of the week Despite the cold autumn weather, workers are busy on the rooftop of the parking garage at EMBL Heidelberg. The 2176 m² rooftop is getting transformed into a combination of a green roof and a photovoltaic plant. The planted green roof will retain rainwater, while the solar panels – installed in…

2020

lab-matterspicture-of-the-week

27 October 2020 Microscopic image of a cell, nucleus visible in bright green, cell membrane stained with a purple dye against black background.

Party at the nucleus?

Picture of the week, Science & Technology The nucleus of this cell fluoresces in bright green thanks to GFP-labelled nucleoporin proteins. EMBL scientists use engineered nucleoporins as 3D reference standards to improve super-resolution microscopy.

2020

picture-of-the-weekscience-technology

15 October 2020 Four blue circular objects are surrounded with green structures, and the central blue circle with pink structures. The blue circles are human cell nuclei, and pink and green structures are proteins.

Repurposing drugs for a pan-coronavirus treatment

Science, Science & Technology Scientists from the Beltrao Group at EMBL-EBI and collaborators identified drug targets common to SARS-CoV-2, SARS-CoV-1, and MERS-CoV, three pathogenic coronaviruses. They also found potential drugs that could be repurposed as COVID-19 treatments, and against emerging coronavirus strains in the…

2020

sciencescience-technology

15 October 2020 Dr. Maria Arruda looks towards the camera with a serious but kind expression

Respecting diversity: the role of the scientist

Events, Lab Matters Maria Arruda is on a mission to make scientists think more about the role they play in society. After a career in academia and the life sciences, she is trying to help others see the bigger picture when it comes to the responsibility of the scientist.

2020

eventslab-matters

13 October 2020 Sea anemone polyp in side view showing two arms.

Crazy arms

Picture of the week, Science & Technology Sea anemones are amazing creatures. Despite their plant-like appearance and their tendency to remain fixed in one spot, they are actually animals.

2020

picture-of-the-weekscience-technology

8 October 2020 Alvaro Crevenna, heads EMBL Rome’s Microscopy Facility. Credit: EMBL

Beyond the lens – microscopy at EMBL Rome

Lab Matters, Science & Technology Research facilities play a crucial role in the advancement of science by supporting scientists with specialised expertise and state-of-the-art equipment. The Microscopy Facility at EMBL Rome exemplifies this role by making a wide variety of light microscopy technologies available to its researchers…

2020

lab-mattersscience-technology

5 October 2020 EMBL and Vilnius University logos on a background of genomic data

New partnership in Lithuania

Connections, Lab Matters On 8 September, EMBL and Vilnius University Life Sciences Center signed a framework agreement for the establishment of the VU LSC–EMBL Partnership for Genome Editing Technologies.

2020

connectionslab-matters

1 October 2020 A group of people in an office are holding a videoconference. Some of the participants are wearing masks and gloves

Boosting the life sciences through alumni networks

Connections, Events EMBL’s network of alumni plays a vital role in advancing the life sciences globally. EMBL provides research, services, and infrastructure that help former staff to do this effectively. For several years EMBL has been discovering more avenues to help the life sciences across Europe. A key part of…

2020

connectionsevents

29 September 2020 Oliver Billker, Director of MIMS, is standing at the podium in front of a microphone. Behind him, a projected slide says “Welcome to Umeå University”.

The Nordic EMBL Partnership: supporting national research

Connections, Events The partnership between EMBL and four Nordic research institutions aims to stimulate scientific exchange and inspire scientific collaborations. This year’s conference of the Nordic EMBL Partnership for Molecular Medicine included many talks by EMBL researchers and a presentation by EMBL’s…

2020

connectionsevents

29 September 2020 A metal rack holding glass test tubes with yellow and red solutions in them.

Colourful test tubes

Picture of the week, Science & Technology To study the effect of commonly used drugs on bacterial envelopes, EMBL scientists applied a biochemical assay using a colour reaction. The deeper the red, the stronger the disruptive effect of the drug.

2020

picture-of-the-weekscience-technology

24 September 2020 The conference key visual shows a variety of species engulfed by fire, reflecting the conference title, ‘Our House Is Burning: Scientific and Societal Responses to Mass Extinction’.

Dinosaurs, dodos, and the future of life on Earth

Events, Science & Technology EMBL’s 21st Science and Society Conference will address scientific and societal responses to mass extinctions. Ahead of his keynote speech, renowned palaeontologist Mike Benton explains how looking into the deep past can give us vital insights into the future of life on Earth.

2020

eventsscience-technology

17 September 2020 Colorful illustration conveys the balancing act women in science face, going between family and work responsibilities and wanting to succeed in both roles.

Indirect impacts of a pandemic on women in science

Events, Lab Matters The EMBL conference that explored direct and indirect impacts from the current pandemic on women in science allowed for information and story sharing both in the form of lectures but also via online platforms like Slack and social media that included Twitter.

2020

eventslab-matters

10 September 2020 Two researchers at EMBL's state-of-the-art Electron Microscopy Core Facility (EMCF). A female scientist is using a binocular microscope, a male scientist is standing next to her.

Level up!

Lab Matters ARISE fellowships to offer first-ever comprehensive training for bioscience infrastructure operations

2020

lab-matters

7 September 2020 science diplomacy

Looking forward

Connections, Lab Matters Two EMBL speakers gave presentations that looked toward the future and at ways to trailblaze on the endless frontier of science.

2020

connectionslab-matters

4 September 2020 Portrait picture of Erin Tranfield, member of the EMBL Alumni Association Board, against a blue-green background.

Supporting the alumni community

Alumni, People & Perspectives Erin Tranfield recently joined the EMBL Alumni Association Board as one of 15 newly elected members. Here, she talks about her new role on the board and reflects on how a life-changing event made her refocus her perspective on work and life.

2020

alumnipeople-perspectives

3 September 2020 Left: Slice of a cell in grey. Right: Two 3D reconstructions of parts of the slice, showing the internal structure.

Nuclear pores in their natural context

Science, Science & Technology Scientists from the Beck group have studied the 3D structure of nuclear pores in budding yeast. They show how the architecture of the nuclear pore complex differs inside cells compared to its form observed in vitro studies.

2020

sciencescience-technology

31 August 2020 3D image of plant cells. The ones identified by the algorithm are brightly coloured.

Intelligent software tackles plant cell jigsaw

Science, Science & Technology Starting with computer code and moving on to a more user-friendly graphical interface called PlantSeg, the Kreshuk Group at EMBL and collaborators built a simple open-access method to provide the most accurate and versatile analysis of plant tissue development to date.

2020

sciencescience-technology

26 August 2020 Colorful illustration conveys the balancing act women in science face, going between family and work responsibilities and wanting to succeed in both roles.

COVID-19’s indirect attack on women

Events, Science & Technology More than 500 people have registered for an EMBL conference, "The impact of the COVID-19 crisis on women in science: Challenges and solutions." Scheduled for 9 September, the conference is free and open to all. Pre-registration is still available and required to attend.

2020

eventsscience-technology

25 August 2020

Training the next generation of molecular biologists

EMBL Announcements, Lab Matters The EMBL International PhD Programme is one of EMBL’s flagship training programmes. It forms part of our efforts to train and inspire talented scientists to become skilled and creative future leaders. Submission of applications for the current PhD student recruitment round is now possible.

2020

embl-announcementslab-matters

20 August 2020 A portrait photo of Geetika Malhotra, new Head of Web Development at EMBL-EBI.

Welcome: Geetika Malhotra

Lab Matters, People & Perspectives The Web Development team provides a central source of web design and development for EMBL’s European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI). In July, Geetika Malhotra joined the team as their new Head.

2020

lab-matterspeople-perspectives

11 August 2020 Different parts of a fruit fly arranged into an artificial green eye.

The eye of science

Picture of the week, Science & Technology This image is a composite of lateral pentascolopidial organs, a wing imaginal disc pouch, and an epithelial wound in a Drosophila larva. The organs are arranged here like eyelashes. Cells surrounding an epidermal wound appear as the iris and pupil of this artistic eye.

2020

picture-of-the-weekscience-technology

4 August 2020 A long string of cells - red in the centre, yellow at the border.

Fish close-up

Picture of the week, Science & Technology This group of cells represents an interesting example of organ formation where cells simultaneously move and change their shapes in a highly coordinated manner.

2020

picture-of-the-weekscience-technology

3 August 2020 A woman with glasses holds a book. The book cover says "Gene naming rules". Thought bubbles float around her head and display gene symbols like BRCA1.

Bagpipe and Pokemon, or how not to name a human gene

Science, Science & Technology The human genome harbours about 19 000 protein-coding genes, many of which still have no known function. As scientists unveil the secrets of our DNA, they come across novel genes that they need to refer to using a unique name. The Human Genome Organisation’s Gene Nomenclature Committee (HGNC) at…

2020

sciencescience-technology

20 July 2020 A magnifying glass hovers over the human gut, revealing its biodiversity.

Unparalleled inventory of the human gut ecosystem

Science, Science & Technology An international team of scientists has collated all known bacterial genomes from the human gut microbiome into a single large database. Their work will allow researchers to explore the links between bacterial genes and proteins, and their effects on human health.

2020

sciencescience-technology

16 July 2020 A collage of portrait photos of Jessica Vamathevan, Jan Korbel, and Nassos Typas.

Changes in senior roles at EMBL

EMBL Announcements, Lab Matters Three changes in senior staff positions have been confirmed at EMBL today. Jessica Vamathevan becomes Head of Strategy, Jan Korbel becomes Head of Data Science for EMBL Heidelberg, and Nassos Typas becomes Senior Scientist.

2020

embl-announcementslab-matters

14 July 2020 The image shows a larva of Platynereis dumerilii, a marine worm. The body of the worm is shown in grey. Muscle strands are coloured in red. The muscles of one individual strand are highlighted in different, brighter colours.

Muscular worm larva

Picture of the week, Science & Technology The image shows a larva of Platynereis dumerilii, a marine worm. The image here was produced by Constantin Pape, a visiting predoctoral fellow in the Kreshuk group at EMBL Heidelberg.

2020

picture-of-the-weekscience-technology

13 July 2020 scientists teaching about the microbiome

Applications for virtual learning lab open

Lab Matters The European Learning Laboratory for the Life Sciences (ELLS), EMBL’s education facility, invites secondary school science teachers to participate in a virtual training course this autumn entitled ‘Introducing your microbiome’.

2020

lab-matters

8 July 2020 Alexander Aulehla on the left and Paul Flicek on the Right

Two EMBL scientists become EMBO Members

EMBL Announcements, Lab Matters This year, EMBO elected 63 new members, including Alexander Aulehla, Group Leader and Senior Scientist at EMBL Heidelberg, and Paul Flicek, Associate Director of EMBL-EBI Services, Senior Scientist, Group and Team Leader at EMBL-EBI.

2020

embl-announcementslab-matters

8 July 2020 The Logo of the ALPX company.

ALPX – smart crystallography

Lab Matters The CrystalDirect® technology, combined with the web-based CRIMS software enable a fully automated, remote-controlled protein-to-structure pipeline.

2020

lab-matters

8 July 2020 Artwort illustrating various aspects of infection research. The centre of the image shows a cartoon representation of a coronavirus. The spheric shape has been overlaid with a map of the world to illustrate the global spread of viruses. The edges of the artwork feature images of potential virus hosts (bats, poultry, dromedary), a group of humans, a microscope, pills, a syringe and vaccine vial, protein structures, and an illustration of a human lung. The background is set in yellow and red colour.

What COVID-19 is teaching us

Events, Science & Technology The virtual EMBL Conference ‘SARS-CoV-2: Towards a New Era in Infection Research’ explored the importance of fundamental research, collaboration, and data science in containing the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, and discussed opportunities to improve our response to pandemics in the future.

2020

eventsscience-technology

7 July 2020 The rainbow pride flag hanging in front of the Advanced Training Centre at EMBL Heidelberg. Picture taken in summer 2020.

Pride at EMBL

Lab Matters, Picture of the week EMBL brings together more than 1700 people from all over the world, from a variety of academic and cultural backgrounds. This creates an environment in which there is constant exchange of both scientific knowledge and cultural heritage. While it seems obvious that EMBL, as an international…

2020

lab-matterspicture-of-the-week

6 July 2020 EMBL Director General Edith Heard standing at a laboratory work bench, facing the camera. Edith Heard on the left side, lab bench with pipettes and equipment on the right. Photo taken by érôme Brébion at Institut Curie, Paris.

Edith Heard elected senator of the Max Planck Society

EMBL Announcements, Lab Matters EMBL Director General Edith Heard has been elected a senator of the Max Planck Society, one of Germany’s leading scientific research organisations. She joins the Senate along with Nobel Laureates and EMBL alumni Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard and Stefan W. Hell, as well as nine additional new…

2020

embl-announcementslab-matters

3 July 2020 stem cells neurons differentiation

From stem cells to neurons

Science, Science & Technology Scientists at EMBL Heidelberg have investigated stem cells and how they differentiate to become neurons. Their approach included an assessment of the complex interplay of molecules during the differentiation process and generated fundamental new insights into the role of a protein called Sox2 in…

2020

sciencescience-technology

2 July 2020 epigenetic reprogramming, epigenetic memory, Hackett group

Unravelling epigenetic reprogramming

Science, Science & Technology A study conducted by the Hackett group at EMBL Rome has identified key factors controlling the complex system of gene regulation during early embryo development, shedding new light on the mechanisms behind these events and on their evolutionary implications. Their findings are published in Nature…

2020

sciencescience-technology

29 June 2020 Gene Editing and Embryology Facility at EMBL Rome

Editing the mouse genome to study SARS-CoV-2 infection

Science, Science & Technology To study how SARS-CoV-2 infects cells, the Gene Editing and Embryology Facility (GEEF) at EMBL Rome will generate mice that express a human version of a protein called ACE2. The mouse line will be shared with preclinical research collaborators carrying out vaccine and antibody trials, and with the…

2020

sciencescience-technology

23 June 2020 EMBL's Equality and Diversity Officers. Zac O'Sullivan (left) and Luisa Vieites Rodrigues (right)

Equality and diversity at EMBL

Lab Matters EMBL is striving to make its labs and offices a welcoming and inclusive environment for all. To achieve this goal, EMBL's Equality and Diversity Officers, Luisa Vieites Rodrigues and Zac O'Sullivan, are working closely with leadership and the EMBL community. In this interview, they share their…

2020

lab-matters

18 June 2020 Illustration of gender balances in academia

Closing the gender gap

EMBL Announcements, Events To explore the origins of gender imbalances in academia and possible ways of overcoming them, international experts will meet for the virtual EMBL | EMBO | HHMI conference ‘Gender Roles and their Impact in Academia’ from 13–15 Oct 2020. The conference’s outcomes will be integrated into a…

2020

embl-announcementsevents

16 June 2020 Tissue culture plates in an incubator.

Understanding how SARS-CoV-2 behaves in the gut

Science, Science & Technology Scientists at EMBL and Heidelberg University Hospital are studying how the novel coronavirus behaves in the gut to try to better understand its epidemiology and prevent its spread. To do this, they are combining advanced imaging and sequencing technologies to study coronavirus in human intestinal…

2020

sciencescience-technology

16 June 2020 Composite image of fly larvae organs making up a flower

From fly to flower

Picture of the week, Science & Technology In this composite image, visual artist Mona Kakanj assembled three different biological structures in fly larvae into a flower. The original images were taken as part of a research project by Parisa Kakanj in Maria Leptin’s group.

2020

picture-of-the-weekscience-technology

15 June 2020 Arise logo

Life sciences open their doors for engineers

Lab Matters The European Molecular Biology Laboratory has secured 6.8 million Euros funding from the European Commission to launch a unique training programme. The ARISE Programme will train and develop Europe’s next generation leadership for research infrastructures in the life sciences.

2020

lab-matters

15 June 2020 Key visual for the virtual EMBL conference ‘SARS-CoV-2: Towards a New Era in Infection Research’. Credits: Aleksandra Krolik/EMBL

Improving our response to emerging pandemics

EMBL Announcements, Events The emergence of previously unknown pathogens, such as the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, raises many questions. To explore these questions in an international scientific forum, EMBL will host the virtual conference ‘SARS-CoV-2: Towards a New Era in Infection Research’ on 3 July. Invited…

2020

embl-announcementsevents

9 June 2020 This image shows the structure of a bacterial group II intron

Genetic cut and paste at atomic resolution

Science, Science & Technology Researchers in the Marcia group at EMBL Grenoble and the De Vivo lab at the Italian Institute of Technology in Genoa have obtained some of the most detailed ever snapshots of the splicing process in systems known as group II self-splicing introns. The new insights will help scientists to develop…

2020

sciencescience-technology

9 June 2020 Beamline Hamburg

Shining high-brilliance beams on coronavirus structure

Science, Science & Technology EMBL researchers are studying COVID-19-related molecules by exposing them to high-brilliance X-ray beams. The Svergun group at EMBL Hamburg is using biological small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) as part of a global effort by scientists to elucidate the structural organisation of SARS-CoV-2…

2020

sciencescience-technology

8 June 2020 Microscopic image showing a macrophage that has been infected with Salmonella (green), causing cellular cathepsins (red) to locate to the nucels (blue).

Re-trafficking proteins to fight Salmonella infections

Science, Science & Technology Scientists including members of EMBL’s Typas group have investigated how immune cells called macrophages respond to infection by the intracellular pathogen Salmonella enterica. They discovered that Salmonella causes newly produced cathepsins to accumulate in the nuclei of infected cells to…

2020

sciencescience-technology

1 June 2020 An illustration of single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq)

Enabling functional genomics studies in individual cells

Science, Science & Technology Scientists at EMBL Heidelberg have developed a new method, called Targeted Perturb-seq (TAP-seq), which increases the scale and precision of functional genomics CRISPR–Cas9 screens by orders of magnitude. Their method overcomes limitations in previous applications of single-cell RNA sequencing,…

2020

sciencescience-technology

27 May 2020 Automated sample changer and diffractometer at the ID30B X-ray crystallography beamline at ESRF Grenoble.

Facilitating COVID-19 structural biology research

Connections, Science EMBL and the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) restart the activities of the Joint Structural Biology Group in Grenoble to support coronavirus-related projects. A new initiative will allow users to be granted access to the High-Throughput Crystallisation (HTX) lab at EMBL and to a…

2020

connectionsscience

22 May 2020

The hunt for neutralising antibodies against SARS-CoV-2

Science, Science & Technology Scientists hope that a legacy of the novel coronavirus in recovered COVID-19 patients – antibodies in their blood – could lead to drugs to treat others. The Merten group at EMBL Heidelberg has pivoted its microfluidics platform to support the search for neutralising antibodies that could…

2020

sciencescience-technology

22 May 2020

EMBL scientists investigate rare lung disease

Science, Science & Technology Researchers in EMBL’s Zaugg group have studied the causes of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), a rare disease that causes high blood pressure in the arteries of the lungs. The study, carried out in collaboration with Stanford University School of Medicine, compared lung cells of patients…

2020

sciencescience-technology

19 May 2020 EMBL group leader Georgia Rapti

Welcome: Georgia Rapti

Lab Matters, People & Perspectives The nervous system has fascinated Georgia Rapti ever since her first introduction to biology. Her research group in the Developmental Biology unit will focus on understanding the early biological events involved in the nervous system’s formation.

2020

lab-matterspeople-perspectives

15 May 2020 Cell division

Tracing the origins of cells

Science, Science & Technology Researchers from the Sharpe group at EMBL Barcelona have published a method to track the developmental history of a cell using the gene editing tool CRISPR–Cas9, but without the need to create transgenic organisms.

2020

sciencescience-technology

11 May 2020

EMBL SPC facility supports COVID-19 projects

Science, Science & Technology The Sample Preparation and Characterisation Facility (SPC) at EMBL Hamburg reopens to support scientists working on Covid-19 research. The SPC Facility is one of the best equipped facilities in Europe is therefore in high demand from external users. Re-opening the facility also allows experts at…

2020

sciencescience-technology

29 April 2020 The Influenza virus

Understanding the influenza virus

Science, Science & Technology The infectious disease commonly known as flu is caused by the influenza virus. It spreads around the world in seasonal outbreaks, causing millions of infections and hundreds of thousands of deaths each year. Stephen Cusack, Head of EMBL Grenoble, has been studying different aspects of the influenza…

2020

sciencescience-technology

28 April 2020

Dancing chromosomes

Picture of the week, Science & Technology In human cells, the genetic material is packaged into 23 different DNA molecules, the chromosomes. Each chromosome is present in two copies, one inherited from the paternal sperm, and the other from the maternal egg. During most of the cell’s life, chromosomes take the shape of long,…

2020

picture-of-the-weekscience-technology

28 April 2020 Close-up view of the interior of a protein analytics system

Exploring synthetic antibodies to stop coronavirus

Science, Science & Technology Scientists at EMBL Hamburg and Karolinska Institutet Stockholm aim to find synthetic antibodies – known as nanobodies – that bind a surface protein of the novel SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. Nanobodies could prevent the virus from entering human cells and causing COVID-19.

2020

sciencescience-technology

23 April 2020 Key visual for the EMBO | EMBL symposium ‘The Four-Dimensional Genome’

EMBL hosts its first virtual conference

Events, Lab Matters The virtual EMBO | EMBL symposium ‘The Four-Dimensional Genome’ brought together 470 participants. Here, Jürgen Deka, Head of External Scientific Training, discusses how he and his team overcame the organisational challenges.

2020

eventslab-matters

22 April 2020 Portrait photo of Brendan Rouse, EMBL's Environmental Officer

Welcome: Brendan Rouse

Lab Matters, People & Perspectives Brendan Rouse came to Heidelberg in March as EMBL’s Environmental Officer, tasked with monitoring the organisation’s environmental impact and promoting sustainable practices. Here, he discusses his plans for the new role.

2020

lab-matterspeople-perspectives

16 April 2020 Micropipette tips in a liquid-handling robot

Helping to scale up coronavirus testing

Science, Science & Technology Scientists at EMBL Heidelberg are contributing their expertise in a community effort to develop large-scale testing methods for coronavirus. Their goal is to increase the capacity and speed of testing, which is crucial for containing the pandemic.

2020

sciencescience-technology

1 April 2020

Understanding brain tumours in children

Science, Science & Technology The causes of 40 percent of all cases of certain medulloblastoma – dangerous brain tumours affecting children – are hereditary. These are the findings of a recent genetic analysis carried out by scientists from EMBL and numerous colleagues around the world.

2020

sciencescience-technology

31 March 2020 Portrait of Bastian Drees, Head of Library

Welcome: Bastian Drees

Lab Matters, People & Perspectives Bastian Drees is a biophysicist turned librarian, who joined EMBL in January as the new Head of Library. Here, he discusses the changing role of libraries and how they can help scientists organise and share their results.

2020

lab-matterspeople-perspectives

11 March 2020 Leukaemia stem cells are located in a patient’s bone marrow (shown here in blue) in the so-called stem cell niche. The green structure is the bone itself. Credit: Dr. Raphael Lutz, Haas Lab

€2.45 m to investigate leukaemia causes and therapies

EMBL Announcements, Science The Heidelberg-based LeukoSyStem consortium investigates leukaemia stem cells in acute myeloid leukaemia. The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research financially supports this collaboration between Heidelberg University Hospital, HI-STEM gGmbH, the German Cancer Research Center and EMBL.

2020

embl-announcementsscience

11 February 2020

Breathe in, breathe out

Picture of the week, Science & Technology This image shows the tracheal system of a live fruit fly larva. Daniel Rios from the Leptin Group and Dimitri Kromm from the Hufnagel Group used this advanced microscope to investigate the dynamics of tracheal cells during development.

2020

picture-of-the-weekscience-technology

5 February 2020

Protecting data in the cloud

Science, Science & Technology Cloud computing offers unprecedented opportunities for global-scale research collaborations. It also presents a unique set of challenges in terms of data protection and the ethics of data sharing.

2020

sciencescience-technology

5 February 2020

Cancer mutations occur decades before diagnosis

Science, Science & Technology Researchers at EMBL’s European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI) and the Francis Crick Institute have analysed the whole genomes of over 2600 tumours from 38 different cancer types to determine the chronology of genomic changes during cancer development.

2020

sciencescience-technology

5 February 2020

Analysis of human genomes in the cloud

Science, Science & Technology Scientists from EMBL present a tool for large-scale analysis of genomic data with cloud computing. Main advantages of the new tool, called Butler, are continuous system monitoring and its ability to self-heal in case of failure, allowing for 43% more efficient data processing than previous…

2020

sciencescience-technology

31 January 2020

Statement on Brexit

EMBL Announcements, Lab Matters Today marks the next chapter in the UK’s relationship with Europe. While we wait to see what a future relationship brings, researchers will continue to work across borders to tackle society’s most pressing problems, such as climate change, ageing, and disease.

2020

embl-announcementslab-matters

31 December 2019

Tumour takeover

Picture of the week, Science & Technology Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in women. It is so deadly because tumours often return after successful cancer treatment. This recurrence is caused by individual dormant cancer cells remaining inside the breast. These cells can develop into active cancer cells…

2019

picture-of-the-weekscience-technology

24 December 2019

Launching proteins

Picture of the week, Science & Technology What looks like a photo-series of an explosive eruption are actually uptaking proteins, captured by Markus Mund from the Ries Group at EMBL Heidelberg. The images were made in an attempt to learn how the different proteins that take up molecules into the cells via endocytosis – the cellular…

2019

picture-of-the-weekscience-technology

17 December 2019

Reshaping our DNA

Picture of the week, Science & Technology DNA is present in each cell of our body. If all the DNA from one human cell was removed and aligned in a single strand, it would in theory add up to a total length of about two metres. In order to fit into the nucleus of a cell, DNA has to be compressed by […]

2019

picture-of-the-weekscience-technology

13 December 2019

Graduation Ceremony 2019

Lab Matters Forty-seven PhD students from all of EMBL’s six sites were celebrated during EMBL’s 2019 Graduation Ceremony on Friday 13 December

2019

lab-matters

10 December 2019

Birth of two HeLa stars

Picture of the week, Science & Technology This picture of the week, taken by Arina Rybina in the Ellenberg group at EMBL Heidelberg, shows a high-resolution 3D microscopy image of living human cells: HeLa cells. In this fascinating fluorescing microspace, two newly formed daughter nuclei are captured to study the assembly of nuclear pore…

2019

picture-of-the-weekscience-technology

3 December 2019 Black and blue hexagon shapes with some yellow and red hot spots

Skin mosaic

Picture of the week, Science & Technology This beautiful mosaic of mostly hexagonal cells is the outer skin layer of a zebrafish larva as seen under a microscope. Each skin cell exhibits a unique pattern of actin ridges. Actin is a family of globular multifunctional proteins found in almost all eukaryotic cells. Actin forms microfilaments,…

2019

picture-of-the-weekscience-technology

26 November 2019

EMBL makes insulin visible

Picture of the week, Science & Technology The hormone insulin helps to remove sugar from the blood after a meal. This is important, as in the long term high blood sugar levels damage our bodies. Diabetes of type 1 or type 2 is a direct consequence of a failure to produce sufficient insulin or to release it from the cells in which […]

2019

picture-of-the-weekscience-technology

19 November 2019

Formation of a brain

Picture of the week, Science & Technology The brain is the most complex organ in the human body. Yet despite it being the organ that makes us conscious beings – and despite the fact that researchers have been studying it for generations – it’s still a constant source of surprise. To help lift the veil on some of its mystery, Lina…

2019

picture-of-the-weekscience-technology

5 November 2019

A mix of sensations

Picture of the week, Science & Technology Traditionally, we talk about having five senses: sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch. In reality, our bodies are capable of much more. Sitting right under our skin are a variety of sensory neurons, which are specialised in detecting light touch, pain, temperature, itch or the body’s position.…

2019

picture-of-the-weekscience-technology

29 October 2019

Inside out, and grub becomes fly

Picture of the week, Science & Technology The three bluish blobs shown in the top right corner of this image may not resemble the sphere of noodles that is the human brain, but they are still essential – at least for the fruit fly. This Picture of the Week shows the brain lobes of Drosophila. It’s an insect so tiny and so […]

2019

picture-of-the-weekscience-technology

22 October 2019

A perfect model

Picture of the week, Science & Technology Is it a fungus or a strange plant? Actually it’s the larval form of Platynereis – a group of marine ringed worms. Scientists have been using them in their studies for the past 70 years, and they are among the preferred lab organisms. They are easy to keep in the lab, and under temperature and…

2019

picture-of-the-weekscience-technology

15 October 2019

Bringing life science to you

Lab Matters, Picture of the week EMBL not only produces excellent science and innovative technologies; it also shares its knowledge and experience with partners from around the world – and with the public. As well as offering teacher training in the European Learning Laboratory for the Life Sciences, science movie nights, and…

2019

lab-matterspicture-of-the-week

8 October 2019

The zebrafish earned its stripes

Picture of the week, Science & Technology Despite missing the characteristic stripes one would expect from a zebra – or a zebrafish – the fractals in this Picture of the Week show a zebrafish; or at least some cells in a zebrafish embryo, a few hours after fertilisation. Zebrafish are not only popular aquarium fish, they are also an…

2019

picture-of-the-weekscience-technology

1 October 2019

The evolution of the eye

Picture of the week, Science & Technology Model organisms are species that are studied extensively to understand particular biological phenomena and processes, with the expectation that discoveries made in the model organism will provide insight into the workings of other organisms. The small marine ringed worm Platynereis dumerilii gained…

2019

picture-of-the-weekscience-technology

25 September 2019

A giant called dumpy

Picture of the week, Science & Technology Fruit flies have something that we don’t have: they produce a protein called dumpy. This protein is the largest created by insects, and is comparable in size to the largest human protein – titin. While titin is vital for our muscle function, dumpy connects the soft cells of the insect’s…

2019

picture-of-the-weekscience-technology

17 September 2019

The end of a productive day

Lab Matters, Picture of the week It’s evening and the Sun is setting over the mountains surrounding the city of Grenoble – home to one of EMBL’s six sites – bathing the mountaintops in fiery red light. The Picture of the Week, taken by Zuzanna Kaczmarska shows the lab she worked in after a long and busy day. Bottles…

2019

lab-matterspicture-of-the-week

10 September 2019

Tracking the beginning of life

Picture of the week, Science & Technology All mammalian life starts with the fusion of egg and sperm, resulting in the creation of a single cell called a zygote. This develops into an embryo through a series of cell divisions, in which the number of cells doubles at each step. Todays’ Picture of the Week was taken by Manuel Eguren of the…

2019

picture-of-the-weekscience-technology

3 September 2019

A robust allrounder

Picture of the week, Science & Technology This gorgeous image of a stained adult marine worm was created by former EMBL postdoc Hernando Martinez using structured microscopy. The worm itself was captured during plankton extraction off the coast of Sweden. There are over 10 000 species of these swimming worms, and they have adapted to every…

2019

picture-of-the-weekscience-technology

27 August 2019

Where science meets art

Lab Matters, Picture of the week The most basic building blocks of life are the biological molecules in our cells. While these molecules are too small to see with most microscopes, they have incredibly complex and beautiful structures. Therefore, the Protein Data Bank in Europe (PDBe), The Art Society CANTAB and The Art Society…

2019

lab-matterspicture-of-the-week

20 August 2019

When life takes shape

Picture of the week, Science & Technology Today’s picture of the week is not only a colourful one, it is also a snapshot of the vast number of shapes that the cells inside an animal body can adopt. How this variety comes about is investigated in the Leptin group at EMBL Heidelberg.  To understand the shapes of the cells in fruit fly…

2019

picture-of-the-weekscience-technology

13 August 2019

Have fun, be protected

People & Perspectives, Picture of the week Working in a lab very often requires some kind of protection: gloves, safety goggles, lab coat, hearing protection. Sandra – now at BASF in Ludwigshafen – had fun getting ready for her work in the medicinal chemistry lab at EMBL! Here, she is about to grind potassium permanganate and copper…

2019

people-perspectivespicture-of-the-week

6 August 2019

The muscles that regulate blood pressure

Picture of the week, Science & Technology Low blood pressure (hypotension) or high blood pressure (hypertension) are risk factors for many diseases and affect more than 20% of the global population. How blood pressure is regulated is part of the research done in the Heppenstall group at EMBL Rome.  In today’s Picture of the…

2019

picture-of-the-weekscience-technology

30 July 2019

Swiss day!

People & Perspectives, Picture of the week The 1700 people working at EMBL’s six sites come from more than 80 different countries. Many of them haven’t come straight from their home country to one of the EMBL sites but have also lived in other countries in between. While all of them are proud to work at EMBL they are also proud of…

2019

people-perspectivespicture-of-the-week

23 July 2019

Muscle games

Picture of the week, Science & Technology Every single moment of our life we use our muscles – most of the time without even thinking about it. Some muscles, like our heart, we cannot even control at all. How our brain communicates with our muscles is still not fully understood. The communication between our brain and our skeletal…

2019

picture-of-the-weekscience-technology

16 July 2019

The birth of new cells – when two become four

Picture of the week, Science & Technology This colourful picture, taken by EMBL postdoc Arina Rybina using a confocal fluorescence microscope, shows human cells in the process of cell division. Eventually, each mother cell brings into existence two identical daughter cells. To visualise the process by light microscopy, different cell…

2019

picture-of-the-weekscience-technology

9 July 2019

Working with a view

Lab Matters, Picture of the week EMBL has six sites in Europe and the newest is EMBL Barcelona. It opened in October 2017 and is still growing. Eventually, it will be home to eight research groups, all of them working to discover how tissues and organs function and develop. EMBL Barcelona is located in the Barcelona Biomedical…

2019

lab-matterspicture-of-the-week

2 July 2019

Cell duplication

Picture of the week, Science & Technology What looks like a pair of scary alien eyes is actually the final stage in the duplication of a cell. Cell duplication is preceded by a process called mitosis, in which the replicated chromosomes are separated into two new nuclei. Mitosis is the prerequisite for a cell to divide into two identical…

2019

picture-of-the-weekscience-technology

25 June 2019

A colourful day at EMBL-EBI

Lab Matters, Picture of the week EMBL is an intergovernmental organisation, currently supported by 26 member states, one prospect and two associate member states. There are more than 1700 people working at EMBL, who come from more than 80 countries, creating a multicultural environment. EMBL also operates from six sites in Europe:…

2019

lab-matterspicture-of-the-week

18 June 2019

A no-brainer

Lab Matters, Picture of the week Have you ever wondered what reflex testing is about? Why does your doctor tap the space below your knee with a hammer to see if your leg kicks forward? At the centre of this involuntary reaction is the muscle spindle, of which you can see a close-up in today’s Picture of the Week. Muscle spindles…

2019

lab-matterspicture-of-the-week

11 June 2019

Rainbow lab

Lab Matters, Picture of the week Laboratories all over the world are often chaotic, a bit messy and look grey and unwelcoming. Not so in this lab, pictured by EMBL staff member Emily Savage. The differently coloured fluids, arranged in a row, bring vivid colours into the more subdued environment of the lab. The picture was taken…

2019

lab-matterspicture-of-the-week

4 June 2019

Colourful yeast

Lab Matters, Picture of the week Most of us love brewer’s yeast, or at least the food that it’s helped us to produce since ancient times. Without Saccharomyces cerevisiae (its Latin name) we couldn’t enjoy wine, beer or most types of bread. Besides its role in food production, S. cerevisiae is also an important model…

2019

lab-matterspicture-of-the-week

28 May 2019

A fiery end to a productive day

Lab Matters, Picture of the week EMBL’s sites provide spectacular views, such as this fiery sunset at the Wellcome Genome Campus in Hinxton. The campus, in the heart of the Cambridgeshire countryside, is home to several institutes and organisations working on genomics and computational biology. Among them is EMBL’s European…

2019

lab-matterspicture-of-the-week

21 May 2019

From fruit flies to cancer treatment

Picture of the week, Science & Technology This image – resembling a network of rivers and canals – actually shows the tracheal tip cell of a fruit fly. Fruit flies are heavily used in research and they are a common model organism in developmental biology. Researchers at EMBL use the larvae of fruit flies to study tracheal cell…

2019

picture-of-the-weekscience-technology

14 May 2019

Walking on DNA

Picture of the week, Science & Technology EMBL is a world-leading organisation for life science research. Its scientists work in diverse research fields spanning the whole of molecular biology. While the molecules the researchers are working on are often microscopic and impossible to see with the naked eye, one research topic clearly…

2019

picture-of-the-weekscience-technology

7 May 2019

EMBL sees it all

Lab Matters, Picture of the week The hexagons visible in this Picture of the Week are the eyes of an ordinary housefly, visualised with a scanning electron microscope. Former staff member Anna Steyer, who captured this brilliant image, has coloured seven of the receptor areas of the eye to create a stylised version…

2019

lab-matterspicture-of-the-week

22 March 2018

LifeTime – a visionary proposal for an EU Flagship

Connections, Lab Matters Following the completion of the Human Genome Project  in 2001, scientists and the media described the genome as “the book of life”, holding the answers to the way genes are linked to disease. Yet, seventeen years later, we are still deciphering how cells interpret this book. Since…

2018

connectionslab-matters

6 July 2017

CSSB opens its doors

Connections, Lab Matters On 29 June, at a ceremony in front of 700 guests, the Centre for Structural Systems Biology (CSSB) in Hamburg, was officially opened. At the event on the Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY) Campus in Hamburg, Helmut Dosch, Chairman of the DESY Board of Directors, presented Head of EMBL Hamburg…

2017

connectionslab-matters

19 December 2016 The 2016 intake of EMBL PhD students

First year PhDs complete their training

Lab Matters For the past two months EMBL Heidelberg has hosted around 60 first year PhD students from EMBL’s International PhD Programme (EIPP). From thousands of applicants, the students were selected from over 40 countries to work on their PhD research at one of EMBL’s five sites – Grenoble, Hamburg,…

2016

lab-matters

4 August 2016 45 pupils from Saarland, Germany visit EMBL-EBI

Just try!

Lab Matters German students visit EMBL-EBI on a tour to explore a new culture and different career paths

2016

lab-matters

21 April 2016 Anne Ephrussi wears the medal of the Order of Légion d’Honneur, the highest distinction in France. PHOTO: EMBL Photolab/Marietta Schupp

Awards & Honours

Lab Matters EMBL scientists regularly receive prestigious awards – meet the latest honourees.

2016

lab-matters

12 February 2016 Cells formed circles where blinking happened in a wave, rolling outwards from the centre. IMAGE: EMBL/C.Tsiairis

In sync

Science, Science & Technology What do cells in an embryo have in common with schools of fish, swarms of fireflies, and applauding audiences?

2016

sciencescience-technology

30 November 2015 on course - the comprehensive catalogue for biomedical training in Europe

Toolkit for trainers

Lab Matters The new Toolkit for Trainers, an online resource hosted at EMBL-EBI, helps biomedical science trainers create and explore new ways of teaching.

2015

lab-matters

25 November 2015

Humans of EMBL

Lab Matters Compelling short stories that shine light on the life and work of EMBL staff.

2015

lab-matters

24 November 2015

Awards & Honours

Lab Matters EMBL scientists regularly receive prestigious awards – meet the latest honourees.

2015

lab-matters

14 October 2015

Lighting the way

Lab Matters A microscopy technique is poised to shine new light on biological questions: as sheets of light can scan everything from developing embryos to single cells or functioning brains, a technique called light-sheet microscopy is gaining traction. It enables scientists to observe living cells in three…

2015

lab-matters

5 October 2015

Nobel connections

Lab Matters Amidst the excitement of Nobel Week, behind the scenes of the annual Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings.

2015

lab-matters

25 August 2015 Maja Köhn. PHOTO: EMBL Photolab/Marietta Schupp

Chemical bonds

Lab Matters Maja Köhn’s lab is ideal to learn what life is like working at the interface of disciplines.

2015

lab-matters

24 August 2015 Janet Thornton. Photo: Robert Slowley

Transitions

Lab Matters Janet Thornton reflects on her time as Director of one of Europe’s fastest growing research institutes.

2015

lab-matters

24 August 2015

Awards & Honours

Lab Matters EMBL scientists regularly receive prestigious awards – meet the latest honourees.

2015

lab-matters

28 July 2015

Union makes success

Lab Matters Molecular Medicine Partnership Unit (MMPU) with the University of Heidelberg, renewed until 2025.

2015

lab-matters

28 July 2015

Political science

Lab Matters Alumnus Damian Brunner revisits EMBL in a very special capacity, as Swiss delegate on EMBL’s Council.

2015

lab-matters

13 July 2015

EIPOD goes cubic

Lab Matters EI3POD: flagship interdisciplinary postdoc programme opens its doors to academia and industry.

2015

lab-matters

9 July 2015 One from Many

One from Many

Lab Matters Database administrator's photo essay reflects internationality and personality of the Genome Campus.

2015

lab-matters

27 May 2015

ELIXIR accelerates

Lab Matters ELIXIR receives major Horizon 2020 funding to ‘EXCELERATE' activities over the next four years.

2015

lab-matters

26 January 2015

Awards & Honours

Lab Matters EMBL scientists regularly receive prestigious awards – meet the latest honourees.

2015

lab-matters

23 January 2015 Silvia Rohr. PHOTO: EMBL PHOTOLAB/MARIETTA SCHUPP

Let there be light

Lab Matters PhD student Silvia Rohr on studying eyes – and talking about it for a general audience.

2015

lab-matters

20 January 2015 COMPARE project

Beyond COMPARE

Lab Matters New project aims to speed up detection and response to disease outbreaks using genome technology.

2015

lab-matters

21 October 2014 Map of EMBL-EBI users

Job dispatched

Lab Matters How does EMBL-EBI run millions of jobs for its users while moving its two large data centres?

2014

lab-matters

31 July 2014 Global Alliance for Genomics and Health

New genomics API

Lab Matters New genomics API allows researchers to share anonymised genetic data seamlessly across platforms.

2014

lab-matters

1 July 2014 Vasily Sysoev

Back to school

Lab Matters School ambassadors show next generation that scientists are more ‘role model’ than ‘mad professor’

2014

lab-matters

1 July 2014

In our DNA

Lab Matters To photographer Horst Hamann, it's the people, not the science, that make EMBL unique

2014

lab-matters

1 July 2014 Illustration: Aad Goudappel, Rotterdam

Five for the future

Lab Matters Scientists from EMBL's five sites reflect on the opportunities and challenges that might lie ahead

2014

lab-matters

1 July 2014 Question mark

Q&A

Lab Matters Which scientific breakthroughs would EMBL scientists most like to see in the next 40 years?

2014

lab-matters

25 June 2014

On target

Connections, Lab Matters A new EMBL-EBI biomedical initiative works to determine the best target proteins for new drugs.

2014

connectionslab-matters

10 June 2014

Czech Republic becomes EMBL’s 21st member state

Connections, Events Forty years after its foundation, EMBL announces its 21st member state: the Czech Republic. Building on a successful bilateral relationship, the Czech Republic’s membership grants Czech scientists access to EMBL’s state-of-the-art instruments, facilities and world-class training…

2014

connectionsevents

22 April 2014

Argentina joins EMBL as associate member state

Connections, Events At a signing ceremony today, Argentina joins the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) as an associate member state. The move strengthens the ties between the European and Latin American life science communities. It grants Argentinian scientists access to EMBL’s world-class facilities and…

2014

connectionsevents

27 March 2014

Where do you start when developing a new medicine?

Connections, Lab Matters A pioneering public-private research initiative between GSK, the European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI) and the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute is to harness the power of ‘big data’ and genome sequencing to improve the success rate for discovering new medicines. The new Centre for…

2014

connectionslab-matters

7 March 2014

Slovak Republic becomes EMBL Prospect Member State

Connections, Events The European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) welcomes the Slovak Republic as the first country to join its new Prospect Member scheme. In a Statement of Intent signed last month, the Slovak Republic and EMBL agree to explore the possibilities for long-term cooperation, with a view to the…

2014

connectionsevents

24 February 2014

Pan-European imaging infrastructure gains momentum

Connections, Lab Matters Europe is uniting to make state-of-the-art imaging technologies accessible to biomedical researchers throughout the continent in a concerted manner. The European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) and seven countries (Belgium, Finland, Italy, Poland, Slovakia, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom)…

2014

connectionslab-matters

2 February 2014

Making your brain social

Science, Science & Technology In many people with autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders, different parts of the brain don’t talk to each other very well. Scientists have now identified, for the first time, a way in which this decreased functional connectivity can come about. In a study published online today…

2014

sciencescience-technology

10 November 2013

What are you scared of?

Science, Science & Technology What do bullies and sex have in common? Based on work by scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Monterotondo, Italy, it seems that the same part of the brain reacts to both. In a study published today in Nature Neuroscience, the researchers found that – at least in…

2013

sciencescience-technology

23 October 2013

Bigger, better, faster

Science, Science & Technology The molecular machine that makes essential components of ribosomes – the cell’s protein factories – is like a Swiss-army knife, researchers at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany, and the Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas in Madrid, Spain, have found.…

2013

sciencescience-technology

13 October 2013

Choreographed origami

Science, Science & Technology An important step in building ribosomes – the cell’s protein factories – is like a strictly choreographed dance, scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany, have discovered. To build these factories, other ‘machines’ inside the cell have to…

2013

sciencescience-technology

25 September 2013

Without a trace

Science, Science & Technology Migrating cells, it seems, cover their tracks not for fear of being followed, but to keep moving forward. Scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany, have now shown that cells in a zebrafish embryo determine which direction they move in by effectively…

2013

sciencescience-technology

12 September 2013

Potential new drug target for cystic fibrosis

Science, Science & Technology Scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg and Regensburg University, both in Germany, and the University of Lisboa, in Portugal, have discovered a promising potential drug target for cystic fibrosis. Their work, published online today in Cell, also uncovers a…

2013

sciencescience-technology

11 August 2013

From fireman to arsonist

Science, Science & Technology Like a fireman who becomes an arsonist, a protein that prevents cells becoming cancerous can also cause tumours, scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Grenoble, France, have discovered. The finding, published today in Nature Structural and Molecular Biology, stems…

2013

sciencescience-technology

11 August 2013

PS: It’s not cholesterol

Science, Science & Technology How our body processes cholesterol has a well-known impact on our health, but it turns out that another ‘fat molecule’ – or lipid – may be at the heart of some diseases which were thought to involve cholesterol. A group of proteins linked to conditions such as metabolic syndrome and some…

2013

sciencescience-technology

7 August 2013

Cells eat themselves into shape

Science, Science & Technology The process cells use to ‘swallow’ up nutrients, hormones and other signals from their environment – called endocytosis – can play a crucial role in shaping the cells themselves, scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany, have found. The study,…

2013

sciencescience-technology

11 July 2013

How to build your gate

Science, Science & Technology It’s a parent’s nightmare: opening a Lego set and being faced with 500 pieces, but no instructions on how to assemble them into the majestic castle shown on the box. Thanks to a new approach by scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany,…

2013

sciencescience-technology

14 May 2013

But what does it do?

Science, Science & Technology Although we know the tool’s general purpose, it can sometimes be difficult to tell if a specific pair of precision tweezers belongs to a surgeon or a master jeweller. It is now easier to solve similar conundrums about a type of protein that allows cells to react to their environment, thanks to…

2013

sciencescience-technology

24 April 2013

Pushing the boundaries of transcription

Science, Science & Technology Like musicians in an orchestra who have the same musical score but start and finish playing at different intervals, cells with the same genes start and finish transcribing them at different points in the genome. For the first time, researchers at EMBL have described the striking diversity of…

2013

sciencescience-technology

27 March 2013

Become a member of Euro-BioImaging

Connections, Lab Matters Euro-BioImaging, the pan-European open access research infrastructure for biological and medical imaging technologies, invites leading European imaging facilities to submit proposals to participate. Applications to become a Euro-BioImaging node will be reviewed by a board of independent…

2013

connectionslab-matters

11 March 2013

Havoc in biology’s most-used human cell line

Science, Science & Technology HeLa cells are the world’s most commonly used human cell lines, and have served as a standard for understanding many fundamental biological processes. In a study published today in G3: Genes, Genomes and Genetics online, scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in…

2013

sciencescience-technology

28 February 2013

DNA’s twisted communication

Science, Science & Technology During embryo development, genes are dynamically, and very precisely, switched on and off to confer different properties to different cells and build a well-proportioned and healthy animal. Fgf8 is one of the key genes in this process, controlling in particular the growth of the limbs and…

2013

sciencescience-technology

28 February 2013

Zeroing in on heart disease

Science, Science & Technology Studies screening the genome of hundreds of thousands of individuals (known as Genome-wide association studies or GWAS) have linked more than 100 regions in the genome to the risk of developing cardiovascular disease. Researchers from the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) and the…

2013

sciencescience-technology

11 February 2013

One disease, two mechanisms

Science, Science & Technology While prostate cancer is the most common cancer in elderly Western men it also, but more rarely, strikes patients aged between 35 and 50. Scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany, in collaboration with several other research teams in Germany*, have…

2013

sciencescience-technology

4 February 2013

Learning from the linker

Science, Science & Technology Mature cells can be reprogrammed to pluripotency and thus regain the ability to divide and differentiate into specialized cell types. Although these so-called induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells) represent a milestone in stem cell research, many of the biochemical processes that underlie…

2013

sciencescience-technology

31 January 2013

The mutation police

Science, Science & Technology Scientists at the EMBL-European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI) and the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in the UK have discovered how our genome keeps the effects of mutations in check. The discovery, published in the journal Cell, will help in the study of diseases such as cancer and…

2013

sciencescience-technology

23 January 2013

EMBL-EBI researchers make DNA storage a reality

Science, Science & Technology Researchers at the EMBL-European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI) have created a way to store data in the form of DNA – a material that lasts for tens of thousands of years. The new method, published today in the journal Nature, makes it possible to store at least 100 million hours of…

2013

sciencescience-technology

17 January 2013

The cell that isn’t

Science, Science & Technology This may look like yet another video of a dividing cell, but there’s a catch. You are looking at chromosomes (red) being pulled apart by the mitotic spindle (green), but it’s not a cell, because there’s no cell membrane. Like a child sucking an egg out of its shell, Ivo Telley from the…

2013

sciencescience-technology

6 January 2013

Protein production: going viral

Science, Science & Technology A research team of scientists from EMBL Grenoble and the IGBMC in Strasbourg, France, have, for the first time, described in molecular detail the architecture of the central scaffold of TFIID: the human protein complex essential for transcription from DNA to mRNA. The study, published today…

2013

sciencescience-technology

5 July 2011 Lennart Philipson, 1929-2011.

Obituary – Lennart Philipson

Lab Matters Lennart Philipson, who served as EMBL’s second Director General, has passed away. Lennart headed EMBL for over a decade between 1982-93, a crucial time for molecular biology when different scientific disciplines in the life sciences were becoming increasingly interlinked. He reorganised the…

2011

lab-matters

4 March 2011 Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science, and Iain Mattaj, Director-General of EMBL, signing the Memorandum of Understanding.

European Commission and EMBL renew cooperation

Lab Matters In a Memorandum of Understanding signed today, the European Commission (EC) and the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) formalise their desire to maintain and further develop their cooperation. “I am delighted to sign the renewed and strengthened Memorandum of Understanding between the…

2011

lab-matters

8 November 2010 Signing the declaration of accession to the EIROforum: Massimo Altarelli, Chairman of the XFEL Management Board (left) and Francesco Romanelli, Chairman of the EIROforum (right). In the back (left to right): Francesco Sette (ESRF), Felicitas Pauss (CERN), Iain Mattaj (EMBL), Richard Wagner (ILL), Rowena Sirey (ESO) and David Southwood (ESA)

European XFEL joins EIROforum

Lab Matters At the Autumn 2010Council meeting of the EIROforum, a partnership of seven European intergovernmental research organisations with large research infrastructures, the Directors General unanimously accepted the European X-Ray Free-Electron Laser Facility (European XFEL), based in Hamburg, Germany, to…

2010

lab-matters

16 October 2008

Researchers establish international human microbiome consortium

Lab Matters Today at a meeting organised by the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany, scientists from around the globe announced the formation of the International Human Microbiome Consortium (IHMC), an effort that will enable researchers to characterise the relationship of the…

2008

lab-matters

23 July 2008

Open access to large-scale drug discovery data

Lab Matters The Wellcome Trust has awarded £4.7 million (€5.8 million) to EMBL’s European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI) to support the transfer of a large collection of information on the properties and activities of drugs and a large set of drug-like small molecules from the publicly listed…

2008

lab-matters

28 May 2008

Securing the future of Europe’s biological data resources

Lab Matters In a contract signed today, the European Commission has awarded €4.5 million to a pan-European consortium to decide upon the best way to unite Europe’s biological data resources into a sustainable, integrative bioinformatics network for the life sciences. The European Life-science…

2008

lab-matters

22 January 2008

International consortium announces the 1000 Genomes Project

Lab Matters Drawing on the expertise of multi-disciplinary research teams, the map developed by the 1000 Genomes Project will provide a view of biomedically relevant DNA variations at a resolution unmatched by current resources. The European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI), working with long-term collaborator…

2008

lab-matters

11 December 2007

ArrayExpress database doubles in size to 100,000 hybridisations

Lab Matters ArrayExpress, the publicly available database of transcriptomics data at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory’s European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI), has doubled in size in 2007, reaching the 100,000-hybridisation milestone. The database now holds snapshots of gene expression…

2007

lab-matters

12 November 2007

Luxembourg joins EMBL

Lab Matters Today, the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) announces Luxembourg as the new member of its international community. Accepted by EMBL’s council and ratified by the parliament of Luxembourg, the Grand-Duchy has officially joined the institute as the 20th member state. “EMBL is…

2007

lab-matters

23 October 2007

The East Wing and a new dawn for the EMBL-EBI

Lab Matters The European Molecular Biology Laboratory’s European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI) officially opens its new East Wing today with a reception for prominent guests. The East Wing will be jointly opened by Ian Pearson, Minister of State for Science and Innovation, UK, and Robert-Jan Smits,…

2007

lab-matters

3 October 2007

EMBL reaches north

Lab Matters Today the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), the University of Helsinki, Finland, the University of Oslo, Norway, and Umeå University, Sweden, officially launch their new Nordic EMBL Partnership for Molecular Medicine. The agreement will encourage scientific exchange and collaborations…

2007

lab-matters

28 August 2007

Minimum Information Standards ─ all for one and one for all

Lab Matters Three papers published by EMBL scientists and their collaborators will make it much easier to share and compare information from large-scale proteomics data. The papers are published in Nature Biotechnology on 8 and 26 August. As the quantity of available biological information and the use of…

2007

lab-matters

11 July 2007

EMBL expands to Australia

Lab Matters Today, delegates representing the 19 member states of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) offered Australia associate membership in EMBL’s international community. The membership is planned to start officially in January 2008 and will initially last for seven years. “EMBL…

2007

lab-matters

22 May 2007

The first public nucleotide sequence database turns 25

Lab Matters It was the world’s earliest public database of DNA and RNA sequences and remains Europe’s primary nucleotide sequence resource. The database is maintained by EMBL’s European Bioinformatics Institute in Hinxton (UK) in collaboration with its US and Japanese counterparts GenBank and…

2007

lab-matters

8 January 2007

UK PubMed Central launched

Lab Matters From today scientists will be able to access a vast collection of biomedical research and to submit their own published results for inclusion in a new online resource. Based on a model currently used by the US National Institute of Health, UK PubMed Central (UKPMC) will provide free access to a…

2007

lab-matters

14 December 2006

Magna Carta for Researchers

Lab Matters Today, Janez Potočnik, European Commissioner for Science and Research, received a statement of support for the European Charter for Researchers and the Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers from EIROforum. “The EIROforum partners warmly welcome this valuable initiative by…

2006

lab-matters

11 December 2006

Better, faster, easier

Lab Matters Today the European Molecular Biology Laboratory’s European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI) launches its new, faster and easier website with an exhaustive search engine at its centre. The web interface has been streamlined on the basis of user feedback from a recent extensive…

2006

lab-matters

27 November 2006

CiteXplore

Lab Matters Today the European Molecular Biology Laboratory’s European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI) launches CiteXplore, a new freely accessible literature resource service. Biological researchers require two crucial sources of information: scientific literature published in peerreviewed…

2006

lab-matters

6 October 2006

Giving European science a headstart through training

Lab Matters Today, the German Minister for Education and Research, Annette Schavan, breaks ground for the new training and conference centre for the life sciences that will be built on the EMBL campus in Heidelberg. The German Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF), the Klaus Tschira…

2006

lab-matters

7 September 2006

New EMBL/CRG Research Unit for Systems Biology launched today

Lab Matters Today the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) and the Spanish Ministry for Education and Science (MEC) officially launch their new joint EMBL/CRG Research Unit in Systems Biology on the campus of the Barcelona Biomedical Research Park. The Spanish…

2006

lab-matters

9 August 2006

EMBL scientists found start-up company to develop anti-cancer drugs

Lab Matters Today EMBL scientists, EMBL’s commercial affiliate, EMBL Enterprise Management Technology Transfer GmbH (EMBLEM) and EMBL’s venture vehicle, EMBL Ventures GmbH, announce the foundation of Elara Pharmaceuticals GmbH, a start-up company that will translate basic research findings into new…

2006

lab-matters

31 July 2006

EMBL-EBI and collaborators win bid to run UK PubMed Central

Lab Matters Scientists will be able to access a vast collection of biomedical research at the touch of a button thanks to a major new initiative that aims to promote the free transfer of ideas in a bid to speed up scientific discovery. Based on a model currently used in the United States, UK PubMed Central…

2006

lab-matters

11 July 2006

Mapping the protein world

Lab Matters In the early days of X-ray crystallography obtaining a three-dimensional model of a protein required wire models, screws, bolts and years of tedious calculations by hand. Today macromolecular models are built by computers – thanks to sophisticated software and in particular a package called…

2006

lab-matters

29 June 2006

Croatia becomes EMBL’s 19th Member State

Lab Matters Croatia has officially joined the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) as the organisation’s 19th Member State. The Croatian parliament ratified its membership after EMBL’s council had accepted the country’s application. “Joining EMBL is a very important step…

2006

lab-matters

10 April 2006

Getting to the heart of cardiovascular diseases

Lab Matters Today three research organisations announce the merging of their expertise to fight cardiovascular diseases, which are among the most common health problems and causes of death in the world. The Magdi Yacoub Institute (MYI) at the UK’s Harefield Heart Science Centre, Imperial College London,…

2006

lab-matters

28 March 2006

Bringing science out of the lab into the classroom

Lab Matters Science is moving more rapidly than ever; one groundbreaking discovery chases the next at an incredible speed. School teachers have trouble keeping up with the pace, and many pupils call science classes “boring”. Today, Europe’s major research organisations launch Science in…

2006

lab-matters

6 December 2005

Setting the standard for computer models of life

Lab Matters In the December 6 issue of Nature Biotechnology, scientists from 14 different organizations around the world, including the EMBL-European Bioinformatics Institute, propose a new quality standard for biochemical models. MIRIAM [for Minimum information requested in the annotation of biochemical…

2005

lab-matters

31 October 2005

ENFIN! Computational systems biology comes to a lab bench near you

Lab Matters The Commission of the European Union has awarded EUR 9 million over five years for a new Network of Excellence that will make computational systems biology accessible to bench scientists throughout Europe and beyond. ENFIN, which stands for ‘Experimental Network for Functional…

2005

lab-matters

29 August 2005

EBI and Ghent University launch PRIDE

Lab Matters The European Bioinformatics Institute and Flanders Interuniversity Institute for Biotechnology (VIB) – Ghent University have launched the PRoteomics IDEntifications database (PRIDE). PRIDE allows researchers who work in the field of proteomics – the large-scale study of proteins – to…

2005

lab-matters

22 August 2005

Public collections of DNA and RNA sequence reach 100 gigabases

Lab Matters The world’s three leading public repositories for DNA and RNA sequence information have reached 100 gigabases (100,000,000,000 bases; the ‘letters’ of the genetic code) of sequence. Thanks to their data exchange policy, which has paved the way for the global exchange of many types…

2005

lab-matters

18 July 2005

Molecular Medicine Partnership Unit initiates second phase

Lab Matters The first rate research from the Molecular Medicine Partnership Unit (MMPU) is now set to continue for the long-term. The European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) and the Medical Faculty of University of Heidelberg, who formed the joint venture in 2002, have announced their plans to initiate a…

2005

lab-matters

12 July 2005

Hunt for human genes involved in cell division under way

Lab Matters A systematic search through human genes has begun at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany. Working within the MitoCheck consortium that includes 10 other institutes throughout Europe, the EMBL scientists will silence all human genes, one-by-one, to find those…

2005

lab-matters

1 May 2005

EMBL’s fourth Director-General, Dr Iain Mattaj, takes office

Lab Matters Dr. Iain Mattaj today took over the leadership of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory [EMBL], a prominent basic research and training institute with laboratories in France, Germany, Italy and the UK. “The pace of progress in the life sciences is remarkable. I see my job as ensuring that…

2005

lab-matters

31 March 2005

The transparent organism

Lab Matters A novel high-tech microscope will be brought to the marketplace, giving laboratories everywhere fascinating new insights into living organisms. EMBLEM Technology Transfer GmbH (EMBLEM), the commercial entity of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), announced today that it has signed a…

2005

lab-matters

28 February 2005

Double recognition of EBI scientists by the ISCB

Lab Matters The International Society for Computational Biology has named two scientists from the European Bioinformatics Institute as the winners of its awards for 2005. Janet Thornton wins the Senior Scientist Accomplishment Award while the Overton Prize goes to Ewan Birney. Thomas Lengauer, the ISCB’s…

2005

lab-matters

3 February 2005

Biology in four dimensions

Science, Science & Technology Most things that happen in the cell are the work of ‘molecular machines’ – complexes of proteins that carry out important cellular functions. Until now, scientists didn’t have a clear idea of when proteins form these machines – are these complexes pre-fabricated or put…

2005

sciencescience-technology

1 February 2005

European bioinformatics grid receives 8 million Euro

Lab Matters The Commission of the European Union has awarded 8.3 million Euro to a pan-European task force who will improve access to biological information for scientists throughout and beyond Europe. The EMBRACE Network of Excellence, which encompasses computational biologists from 17 institutes in 11…

2005

lab-matters

25 January 2005

How do cells travel through our bodies?

Science, Science & Technology One of the most basic yet least understood processes in our bodies is how cells crawl along tissues. This behavior is essential to the formation of an embryo and other processes, but it must be tightly controlled. A disturbance can lead to the spread of cancer cells or diseases like Spina…

2005

sciencescience-technology

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