{"id":7715,"date":"2016-08-30T16:00:19","date_gmt":"2016-08-30T14:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.embl.de\/?p=7715"},"modified":"2024-03-22T16:49:29","modified_gmt":"2024-03-22T15:49:29","slug":"1608-malta","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/lab-matters\/1608-malta\/","title":{"rendered":"Maltese science: From temples to genomes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-image vf-u-width__20\"><figure class=\"vf-figure  | vf-figure--align vf-figure--align-inline-start  \"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" class=\"vf-figure__image\" src=\"https:\/\/news.embl.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/1608-malta-unesco-x150.jpg\" alt=\"1608-malta-unesco-x150\" class=\"wp-image-7720\"\/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Science and research holds an important place in Maltese history. In the early 20th century, archeologist Sir Temi Zammit unearthed the remains of a hypogeum as well as megalithic temples, amongst the oldest freestanding structures on Earth \u2013 and now <b>UNESCO World Heritage Sites<\/b>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image vf-u-width__20\"><figure class=\"vf-figure  | vf-figure--align vf-figure--align-inline-start  \"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" class=\"vf-figure__image\" src=\"https:\/\/news.embl.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/1608-malta-trachoma-x150.jpg\" alt=\"1608-malta-trachoma-x150\" class=\"wp-image-7717\"\/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">But this just scratches the surface of Zammit\u2019s contributions. A polymath who was rector of the University of Malta, Zammit also discovered the cause of Malta fever (<i>Brucellosis melitensis<\/i>), a disease that had afflicted the Island\u2019s population and the British Navy. A few decades later, Censu Tabone, who would go on to be Malta\u2019s president, led the efforts that eliminated <b>trachoma<\/b> \u2013 a common disease that can lead to blindness \u2013 from the Maltese island of Gozo, and campaigned for its treatment in Taiwan, Indonesia and Iraq.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image vf-u-width__20\"><figure class=\"vf-figure  | vf-figure--align vf-figure--align-inline-start  \"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" class=\"vf-figure__image\" src=\"https:\/\/news.embl.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/1608-malta-papers-x150.jpg\" alt=\"1608-malta-papers-x150\" class=\"wp-image-7719\"\/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">When Malta joined the EU in 2004, large-scale competitive funds became accessible to the nation\u2019s scientists, transforming the country\u2019s research landscape. In the twelve years since, the number of <b>research publications<\/b> by scientists based in Malta <b>quadrupled<\/b>. Even Zammit\u2019s work is being upgraded. In an EU-Funded project to study the fragility and sustainability of Malta\u2019s environment, geologists and archeologists are trying to figure out why the Temple people mysteriously disappeared around 2500 BC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image vf-u-width__20\"><figure class=\"vf-figure  | vf-figure--align vf-figure--align-inline-start  \"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" class=\"vf-figure__image\" src=\"https:\/\/news.embl.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/1608-malta-project-x150.jpg\" alt=\"1608-malta-project-x150\" class=\"wp-image-7718\"\/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">Biologists have also contributed to the knowledge of the country\u2019s history, with the recent discovery that the Maltese population originates from 12th century Sicily. The finding, which settles a long-standing debate, stems from the ambitious <b>Maltese Genome Project<\/b>, which aims to sequence the DNA of 4,000 Maltese people. The reference genome from the project will be used in numerous biomedical studies, from cancer to heart attacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image vf-u-width__20\"><figure class=\"vf-figure  | vf-figure--align vf-figure--align-inline-start  \"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" class=\"vf-figure__image\" src=\"https:\/\/news.embl.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/1608-malta-neuro-x150.jpg\" alt=\"1608-malta-neuro-x150\" class=\"wp-image-7716\"\/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">Maltese scientists are not only analysing the population\u2019s genes but also their brains. The newly established <b>Malta Neuroscience Network<\/b> covers research including whether specific nutrients in the Mediterranean diet can mitigate Alzheimer\u2019s disease, how marijuana could be used to treat epilepsy, using fruit flies to test new therapies for spinal muscular atrophy, and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\">The work underscores an exciting future for Maltese science, with its ties to the life science research community in Europe further strengthened by becoming a member state of EMBL and EMBO.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Celebrating the rich history of scientific contributions in Malta, EMBL&#8217;s newest member state<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":7721,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17595,3],"tags":[24,60],"embl_taxonomy":[],"class_list":["post-7715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-connections","category-lab-matters","tag-governance","tag-science-and-society"],"acf":{"article_intro":"<p>As we welcome Malta as EMBL\u2019s most recent member state, Maltese science writer Edward Duca looks back at the nation\u2019s rich history of scientific contributions<\/p>\n","related_links":false,"article_sources":false,"vf_locked":false,"featured":false,"color":"#007B53"},"embl_taxonomy_terms":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Maltese science: From temples to genomes | EMBL<\/title>\n<meta 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