{"id":16181,"date":"2019-06-17T13:08:08","date_gmt":"2019-06-17T11:08:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.embl.de\/?p=16181"},"modified":"2024-04-22T15:48:27","modified_gmt":"2024-04-22T13:48:27","slug":"embl-and-tara-hamburg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/events\/embl-and-tara-hamburg\/","title":{"rendered":"EMBL and Tara: Hamburg"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Mission Microplastics, the Tara Ocean Foundation\u2019s expedition studying the microplastics entering European waters, recently brought the schooner <em>Tara<\/em> to the German city of Hamburg and the estuary of the river Elbe. While in Hamburg from 16\u201319 June 2019, <em>Tara <\/em>and EMBL Hamburg organised special events including a joint press conference and reception in Hamburg City Hall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Seasick<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>One of <em>Tara<\/em>\u2019s<a href=\"http:\/\/www.embl.de\/tara\">&nbsp;mission objectives<\/a> is to study the flora and fauna that colonise plastics at sea.&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S0048969718346072?via%3Dihub\">Recent research<\/a> has suggested that microplastics are not just a direct danger for marine life, they can also act as seafaring vessels for adventurous microbes. Among these microbes are pathogens responsible for serious infectious diseases. Carried by ocean currents, these pathogens attached to plastic particles represent an emerging mechanism for global disease transmission. \u201cI\u2019m very interested in this growing area of scientific interest,\u201d says Head of EMBL Hamburg Matthias Wilmanns. \u201cPolitically speaking, I think it\u2019s a great idea to focus on the damaging things being done every second by the microplastic pollution entering the ocean.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">EMBL Hamburg<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The study of infectious diseases is central to the research carried out at EMBL\u2019s Hamburg Unit. Located on the campus of the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.desy.de\/index_eng.html\">Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron<\/a> (DESY), EMBL scientists operate three beamlines at the Petra III synchrotron, one of the biggest and most brilliant storage ring light sources in the world. \u201cFor advanced structural biology research, you need X-ray-based methodology,\u201d says Wilmanns. \u201cAnd for this, you need state of the art synchrotron infrastructure.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At Petra III, EMBL scientists supervise hundreds of research groups from around Europe and other parts of the world as they study the 3-dimensional structures of proteins and protein complexes of biomedical relevance. Structural biology techniques like X-ray crystallography allow scientists to visualise some of the largest complexes that make up bacteria such as <em>Mycobacterium tuberculosis&nbsp;<\/em>(<em>Mtb<\/em>). <em>Mtb&nbsp;<\/em>is the pathogen responsible for tuberculosis (TB), one of the top ten causes of death worldwide today. These bacteria are notoriously difficult to treat and can remain dormant inside the body for decades before becoming active and causing symptoms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image wp-image-16185\"><figure class=\"vf-figure  | vf-figure--align vf-figure--align-centered  size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"361\" class=\"vf-figure__image\" src=\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Structural_TA_web.jpg\" alt=\"The structure of a toxin-antitoxin system found in Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Viewed as an inner yellow ring and outer blue additions in roughly the shape of a ring doughnut.\" class=\"wp-image-16185\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Structural_TA_web.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Structural_TA_web-300x181.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><figcaption class=\"vf-figure__caption\">The high-resolution structure of a toxin\u2013antitoxin system found in Mycobacterium tuberculosis. IMAGE: EMBL<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>This research improves our understanding of how deadly pathogenic bacteria function and opens up surprising new ways to battle the infectious diseases they cause. For example, an international collaboration led by the Wilmanns group recently published their research on <a href=\"https:\/\/news.embl.de\/science\/tuberculosis-suicide\/\">toxin\u2013antitoxin<\/a> (TA) complexes in <em>Mtb<\/em>. The bacterium contains a specific TA system where the toxin, once freed from the antitoxin, causes the cell to degrade its energy supply and die. Their research determined the physical structure of this TA pair in high resolution for the first time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As is often the case, the structural knowledge gained with this work led directly into the development of medications that take advantage of such potential weaknesses. \u201cWith advanced structural biology research, you generate a very rich source of 3-dimensional data that makes drug discovery the logical next step for many projects,\u201d says Wilmanns. \u201cWe recently established a public\u2013private partnership project with the biotech company Evotech, centred around using our research on these toxin\u2013antitoxin complexes for drug discovery.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">TB or not TB?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>When it comes to deciding which diseases to focus their research on, Wilmanns believes it\u2019s important to remain focused. \u201cIf you look at the severity of TB across the globe,\u201d he says, \u201cthere is very good justification for continued study.\u201d But studying one disease often leads to insights that translate to others. \u201cDrug resistance, for example, is an ever-increasing challenge, and deepening our understanding of the structural aspects of this phenomenon in TB will hopefully help in the fight against dangerous, drug-resistant hospital pathogens.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image wp-image-16186\"><figure class=\"vf-figure  | vf-figure--align vf-figure--align-centered \"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"88\" class=\"vf-figure__image\" src=\"https:\/\/news.embl.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Hamburg-disease-research-1-300x88.jpg\" alt=\"EMBL scientists gathered in Hamburg in May to kick off EMBL-wide cooperation on infectious disease research\" class=\"wp-image-16186\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Hamburg-disease-research-1-300x88.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Hamburg-disease-research-1-768x225.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Hamburg-disease-research-1-1024x300.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Hamburg-disease-research-1.jpg 1500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption class=\"vf-figure__caption\">EMBL scientists gathered in Hamburg in May to kick off EMBL-wide cooperation on infectious disease research PHOTO: Christiana Franke<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>TB is a global challenge, so to fight it, EMBL Hamburg participates in a variety of scientific partnerships. One of these partnerships, the recently founded <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cssb-hamburg.de\">Centre for Structural Systems Biology<\/a> (CSSB), operates a shared building in Hamburg where researchers from 10 different research organisations can work under one roof. \u201cHere we have a fantastic source of talented people we can reach out to on a range of highly interdisciplinary and collaborative projects. Members of the CSSB focus on research questions on all types of disease, from viral and bacterial pathogens to tropical parasites.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For Wilmanns, the next step is to foster cooperation in infection research across all EMBL Units. \u201cWe have just finished an exciting kick-off meeting on this in Hamburg with EMBL scientists from Hamburg, Heidelberg, Grenoble and EMBL-EBI participating.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>EMBL Hamburg and Tara raise awareness of the risks of microplastic pollution and global infection<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67,"featured_media":16183,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17597,4],"tags":[580,474,29,775,312,53,830,17653,9988,35,816,764],"embl_taxonomy":[9596],"class_list":["post-16181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-embl-announcements","category-events","tag-bacteria","tag-collaboration","tag-crystallography","tag-cssb","tag-drug-discovery","tag-hamburg","tag-mission-microplastics","tag-plastic","tag-pollution","tag-structural-biology","tag-tara","tag-tuberculosis","embl_taxonomy-embl-hamburg"],"acf":{"article_intro":"<p><span lang=\"EN-GB\">EMBL Hamburg and <i>Tara <\/i>raise awareness of the risks of microplastic pollution and global infection<\/span><\/p>\n","related_links":[{"link_description":"EMBL and the Tara Ocean Foundation","link_url":"https:\/\/www.embl.de\/tara\/"},{"link_description":"Tara Ocean Foundation","link_url":"https:\/\/oceans.taraexpeditions.org\/en\/"},{"link_description":"Research at EMBL Hamburg","link_url":"https:\/\/www.embl-hamburg.de\/research\/unit\/index.html"},{"link_description":"Suicide system in tuberculosis bacteria might hold key to treatment","link_url":"https:\/\/www.embl.de\/aboutus\/communication_outreach\/media_relations\/2019\/190218_Wilmanns_TB\/index.html"},{"link_description":"Centre for Structural Systems Biology (CSSB)","link_url":"http:\/\/www.cssb-hamburg.de"}],"article_sources":false,"vf_locked":false,"featured":false,"color":"#007B53","link_color":"#fff","show_featured_image":false,"in_this_article":false,"youtube_url":"","mp4_url":"","video_caption":"","press_contact":"None","translations":false},"embl_taxonomy_terms":[{"uuid":"a:3:{i:0;s:36:\"b14d3f13-5670-44fb-8970-e54dfd9c921a\";i:1;s:36:\"89e00fee-87f4-482e-a801-4c3548bb6a58\";i:2;s:36:\"613c4de5-1775-447f-af71-4b07085318e9\";}","parents":[],"name":["EMBL Hamburg"],"slug":"embl-hamburg","description":"Where &gt; All EMBL sites &gt; EMBL Hamburg"}],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>EMBL and Tara: Hamburg | EMBL<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"EMBL Hamburg joins the schooner Tara to raise awareness of the risks of microplastic pollution and global infection\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/events\/embl-and-tara-hamburg\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"EMBL and Tara: Hamburg | EMBL\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"EMBL Hamburg joins the schooner Tara to raise awareness of the risks of microplastic pollution and global infection\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/events\/embl-and-tara-hamburg\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"EMBL\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/embl.org\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-06-17T11:08:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-04-22T13:48:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Hamburg-ib.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"620\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"425\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Josh Tapley\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@embl\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@embl\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Josh Tapley\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/events\/embl-and-tara-hamburg\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/events\/embl-and-tara-hamburg\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Josh Tapley\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/d242d2d21f1166a7e8e67e3e28fd5479\"},\"headline\":\"EMBL and Tara: Hamburg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-06-17T11:08:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-04-22T13:48:27+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/events\/embl-and-tara-hamburg\/\"},\"wordCount\":768,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/events\/embl-and-tara-hamburg\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Hamburg-ib.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"bacteria\",\"collaboration\",\"crystallography\",\"cssb\",\"drug discovery\",\"hamburg\",\"mission microplastics\",\"plastic\",\"pollution\",\"structural biology\",\"tara\",\"tuberculosis\"],\"articleSection\":[\"EMBL Announcements\",\"Events\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/events\/embl-and-tara-hamburg\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/events\/embl-and-tara-hamburg\/\",\"name\":\"EMBL and Tara: Hamburg | EMBL\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/events\/embl-and-tara-hamburg\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/events\/embl-and-tara-hamburg\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Hamburg-ib.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-06-17T11:08:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-04-22T13:48:27+00:00\",\"description\":\"EMBL Hamburg joins the schooner Tara to raise awareness of the risks of microplastic pollution and global infection\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/events\/embl-and-tara-hamburg\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/events\/embl-and-tara-hamburg\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Hamburg-ib.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Hamburg-ib.jpg\",\"width\":620,\"height\":425,\"caption\":\"Tara visits the northern German city of Hamburg, a major hub for infectious disease research. PHOTO: Adobe Stock\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"European Molecular Biology Laboratory News\",\"description\":\"News from the European Molecular Biology Laboratory\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"alternateName\":\"EMBL News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#organization\",\"name\":\"European Molecular Biology Laboratory\",\"alternateName\":\"EMBL\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/EMBL_logo_colour-1-300x144-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/EMBL_logo_colour-1-300x144-1.png\",\"width\":300,\"height\":144,\"caption\":\"European Molecular Biology Laboratory\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/embl.org\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/embl\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/embl_org\/\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/15813\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/emblmedia\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/d242d2d21f1166a7e8e67e3e28fd5479\",\"name\":\"Josh Tapley\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0622fdbfdbdb2386706fcc255a84dfbeda9dc52061e18574539c7db8be545318?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0622fdbfdbdb2386706fcc255a84dfbeda9dc52061e18574539c7db8be545318?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Josh Tapley\"},\"description\":\"Josh is a science writer at EMBL with a master's degree in astrophysics. He loves science, education and the 'Eureka!' moment when you wrap your head around that tricky scientific concept.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/author\/josh-tapley\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"EMBL and Tara: Hamburg | EMBL","description":"EMBL Hamburg joins the schooner Tara to raise awareness of the risks of microplastic pollution and global infection","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/events\/embl-and-tara-hamburg\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"EMBL and Tara: Hamburg | EMBL","og_description":"EMBL Hamburg joins the schooner Tara to raise awareness of the risks of microplastic pollution and global infection","og_url":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/events\/embl-and-tara-hamburg\/","og_site_name":"EMBL","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/embl.org\/","article_published_time":"2019-06-17T11:08:08+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-04-22T13:48:27+00:00","og_image":[{"width":620,"height":425,"url":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Hamburg-ib.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Josh Tapley","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@embl","twitter_site":"@embl","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Josh Tapley","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/events\/embl-and-tara-hamburg\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/events\/embl-and-tara-hamburg\/"},"author":{"name":"Josh Tapley","@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/d242d2d21f1166a7e8e67e3e28fd5479"},"headline":"EMBL and Tara: Hamburg","datePublished":"2019-06-17T11:08:08+00:00","dateModified":"2024-04-22T13:48:27+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/events\/embl-and-tara-hamburg\/"},"wordCount":768,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/events\/embl-and-tara-hamburg\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Hamburg-ib.jpg","keywords":["bacteria","collaboration","crystallography","cssb","drug discovery","hamburg","mission microplastics","plastic","pollution","structural biology","tara","tuberculosis"],"articleSection":["EMBL Announcements","Events"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/events\/embl-and-tara-hamburg\/","url":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/events\/embl-and-tara-hamburg\/","name":"EMBL and Tara: Hamburg | EMBL","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/events\/embl-and-tara-hamburg\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/events\/embl-and-tara-hamburg\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Hamburg-ib.jpg","datePublished":"2019-06-17T11:08:08+00:00","dateModified":"2024-04-22T13:48:27+00:00","description":"EMBL Hamburg joins the schooner Tara to raise awareness of the risks of microplastic pollution and global infection","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/events\/embl-and-tara-hamburg\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/events\/embl-and-tara-hamburg\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Hamburg-ib.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Hamburg-ib.jpg","width":620,"height":425,"caption":"Tara visits the northern German city of Hamburg, a major hub for infectious disease research. PHOTO: Adobe Stock"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/","name":"European Molecular Biology Laboratory News","description":"News from the European Molecular Biology Laboratory","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#organization"},"alternateName":"EMBL News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#organization","name":"European Molecular Biology Laboratory","alternateName":"EMBL","url":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/EMBL_logo_colour-1-300x144-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/EMBL_logo_colour-1-300x144-1.png","width":300,"height":144,"caption":"European Molecular Biology Laboratory"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/embl.org\/","https:\/\/x.com\/embl","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/embl_org\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/15813\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/emblmedia\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/d242d2d21f1166a7e8e67e3e28fd5479","name":"Josh Tapley","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0622fdbfdbdb2386706fcc255a84dfbeda9dc52061e18574539c7db8be545318?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0622fdbfdbdb2386706fcc255a84dfbeda9dc52061e18574539c7db8be545318?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Josh Tapley"},"description":"Josh is a science writer at EMBL with a master's degree in astrophysics. He loves science, education and the 'Eureka!' moment when you wrap your head around that tricky scientific concept.","url":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/author\/josh-tapley\/"}]}},"field_target_display":"embl","field_article_language":{"value":"english","label":"English"},"fimg_url":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Hamburg-ib.jpg","featured_image_src":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Hamburg-ib.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/67"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16181"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16181\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19783,"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16181\/revisions\/19783"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16181"},{"taxonomy":"embl_taxonomy","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/embl_taxonomy?post=16181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}