{"id":77479,"date":"2025-11-25T16:00:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-25T15:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/?p=77479"},"modified":"2025-11-25T16:00:15","modified_gmt":"2025-11-25T15:00:15","slug":"sandra-orchard-what-ive-learned","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/people-perspectives\/sandra-orchard-what-ive-learned\/","title":{"rendered":"Sandra Orchard: what I\u2019ve learned"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Born in a small farming village in the north-west of England, Sandra Orchard didn\u2019t grow up imagining a life in molecular biology. Her parents worked in agriculture, and encouraged her to go down the science route. \u201cAt a careers evening organised by my school, I got talking to someone representing biochemistry and I thought it sounded interesting,\u201d Orchard remembers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This conversation set a course. After a biochemistry degree at the University of Liverpool, Orchard joined pharmaceutical company Roche as a graduate biochemist. \u201cScientists were just starting to understand cellular signalling in those days, and we were able to do a lot in the lab, from setting up assays to compound screenings etc.\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the 18 years Orchard spent at Roche, she became interested in kinase biology and drug target identification. Kinases are enzymes that add chemical groups called phosphates to other molecules. Like a molecular switch, kinases can cause molecules to become either active or inactive in the cell. Because of this key regulatory role, kinases are important targets for drug development. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTowards the end of my time at Roche, the bench science I was doing started to feel more like a conveyor belt, and I became interested in the new wave of bioinformatics,\u201d said Orchard. When the UK site of Roche shut down, Orchard was made redundant, but soon after started working at EMBL-EBI as a contractor, one day a week, for the then Amaze pathways database, before becoming a full-time SwissProt curator. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Sandra Orchard (left) and EMBL-EBI Head of Training Cath Brooksbank (right) on the Great Wall of China, in October 2004, before the Human Proteome Organisation (HUPO) meeting in Beijing. From the personal archives of Cath Brooksbank<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n

\n What are SwissProt and UniProt? <\/h3>\n

\r\nSwissProt is the manually-curated part of UniProt \u2013 a suite of databases that acts as the leading global data resource for protein sequence and functional information. UniProt is a collaboration between EMBL\u2019s European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI), the Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics (SIB), and the Protein Information Resource (PIR). According to a recent cost-benefit analysis, UniProt provides a benefit of up to \u20ac565 million per year to its scientific users.\r\n<\/p>\n <\/div>\n<\/article>\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen I arrived at EMBL-EBI, there were fewer than 100 people there. I was part of a big recruitment drive, and you could sense that the place was about to grow,\u201d said Orchard. In those early years, she helped expand the human proteome in UniProt from 8,000 entries to over 20,000. \u201cWe didn\u2019t know we were aiming for 20,000 proteins, but there was a sense that it was achievable. It was an exciting time \u2013 feeling that you were contributing to building something foundational,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Sandra Orchard supporting learners during an EMBL-EBI training course in 2007. Credit: EMBL<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Orchard also became deeply involved in data integration efforts across multiple EMBL-EBI resources, from InterPro<\/a> to IntAct<\/a>, Gene Ontology<\/a>, and the Complex Portal<\/a>. Largely as a result of this broad exposure to a number of protein databases, she worked with the nascent EMBL-EBI Training team to establish the EMBL-EBI roadshows, which enabled users around the world to access open data resources. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI had a close call during the first-ever such event at Purdue University in the US,\u201d remembers Orchard. \u201cI was presenting during a massive thunderstorm when a bolt of lightning hit the cable of the microphone I was using \u2013 fortunately only frying that and not the presenter!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Sandra Orchard and members of her team in 2014. Credit: Personal archives of Sandra Orchard<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In 2015, Orchard became a Team Leader, first for the Molecular Interaction team and then in 2017 for UniProt, focusing on protein function content and working closely with her counterpart \u2013 Maria Martin, who coordinates protein function development \u2013 and with Alex Bateman, Senior Team Leader for protein sequence resources.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of Orchard\u2019s proudest moments came from those early collaborations, including the official completion of the human proteome in 2008: \u201cIt was exhausting for those working on human entries, but it felt like we\u2019d achieved something monumental.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another highlight was helping to build IntAct<\/a>, EMBL-EBI\u2019s open data resource for molecular interaction data. \u201cMy colleague Henning Hermjakob had sketched it out on paper. I entered the first curated data into IntAct, and wrote the first curation manual for it \u2013 two pages of A4. It\u2019s now about 90 pages long,\u201d she said. She also initiated work on the Complex Portal,<\/a> a reference resource of protein complexes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Several members of the Molecular Interaction on the 2016 team retreat in East Anglia. Credit: Personal archives of Sandra Orchard<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In 2023, Sandra Orchard received the Lifetime Achievement Award for exceptional contributions to biocuration<\/a> from the International Society for Biocuration. This is a fitting recognition of the critical part she played in developing open data resources and data standards, and of the impact of her scientific contributions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here, in her own words, are some of the memories and lessons that Orchard is taking away from her 20+ years at EMBL-EBI, along with some valuable advice for young researchers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pioneering standards in proteomics<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was walking down a corridor when Rolf Apweiler, who was leading UniProt at the time, poked his head out the door and asked me to take the minutes at a meeting. That impromptu assignment became the start of the Proteomics Standards Initiative (PSI), launched under the Human Proteome Organisation (HUPO).\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThose first meetings about proteome standards were intense \u2013 60 people crammed into two small rooms with no air conditioning, during an unusually hot April. But everyone agreed that standardisation was essential if proteomics was going to progress.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMore than two decades later, the HUPO-PSI and related initiatives underpin essential resources like PRIDE, ProteomeXchange, and IMEx, ensuring that proteomics data can be reused around the world. Persuading scientists to use data standards is still an ongoing effort, but a worthwhile one.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPeople feel passionate and protective about their work \u2013 and rightly so. In my experience, when developing standards, the devil is in the details, but you can usually find a compromise. It helps to have plenty of tea breaks and cake to keep everyone amenable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Sandra Orchard and colleagues at a 2017 biocuration meeting in Rome. Credit: From the personal archives of Michele Magrane, UniProt Biocurator<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

On AI and the future of biocuration<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTools like text mining have improved enormously, even before the latest AIs came along. Now AI is highlighting just how important biocuration is \u2013 because AI systems can\u2019t learn without curated data.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHumans are still essential in biocuration. Scientists tell stories in papers, and sometimes the data are secondary. We need people who can understand the leaps a scientist makes when writing a paper, and fill in the gaps.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn ten years, AI is likely to be taken for granted and deeply integrated into scientific workflows. Although biocuration is critical, it\u2019s still an unsung hero of data-driven biology, and difficult to get funding for.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Several members of the Protein Function Content team at EMBL-EBI in 2025. Credit: Emily Bowler-Barnett. From the personal archives of Sandra Orchard<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Words of advice<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo young scientists, I would say get as much varied experience as you can and don\u2019t skip the bench work.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe need to secure sustainable funding for the core resources that the global scientific community relies on. Start new databases by all means, but we need to make sure we support the ones that the research community already depend upon.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve built something extraordinary at EMBL-EBI: resources that the world depends on. We need to keep that going even when geopolitics becomes more fragmented.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Sandra Orchard with past and present colleagues upon her retirement from EMBL-EBI in October 2025. Credit: Emily Bowler-Barnett<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

EMBL-EBI Team Leader Sandra Orchard reflects on a life in protein science, UniProt data curation, and championing open data standards.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":77501,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17593,11054],"tags":[80,125,28,17341,36,315,17243,701,14315,104,17683],"embl_taxonomy":[2906,11982,19107],"class_list":["post-77479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-people-perspectives","category-perspectives","tag-alumni","tag-big-data","tag-bioinformatics","tag-data-standards","tag-embl-ebi","tag-open-data","tag-orchard","tag-protein-complex","tag-protein-function-content","tag-uniprot","tag-what-ive-learned","embl_taxonomy-embl-ebi","embl_taxonomy-protein-function-content","embl_taxonomy-sandra-orchard"],"acf":{"vfwp-news_embl_taxonomy":[2906,19107,11982],"featured":true,"show_featured_image":false,"field_target_display":"both","field_article_language":{"value":"english","label":"English"},"article_intro":"

EMBL-EBI Team Leader Sandra Orchard reflects on a life in protein science and biocuration<\/p>\n","related_links":[{"link_description":"What I've learned: Claire O'Donovan","link_url":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/people-perspectives\/claire-odonovan-what-ive-learned\/"},{"link_description":"What I've learned: Rolf Apweiler","link_url":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/people-perspectives\/rolf-apweiler-what-ive-learned\/"},{"link_description":"UniProt","link_url":"https:\/\/www.uniprot.org\/"},{"link_description":"InterPro","link_url":"https:\/\/www.ebi.ac.uk\/interpro\/"},{"link_description":"IntAct","link_url":"https:\/\/www.ebi.ac.uk\/intact\/home"},{"link_description":"Gene Ontology","link_url":"https:\/\/geneontology.org\/"},{"link_description":"Complex Portal","link_url":"https:\/\/www.ebi.ac.uk\/complexportal"}],"source_article":false,"in_this_article":false,"press_contact":"None","article_translations":false,"languages":""},"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:\"a99d1a7c-ca83-4c00-ab61-d082d3e41ce3\";}","parents":[],"name":["EMBL-EBI"],"slug":"embl-ebi","description":"Where > All EMBL sites > EMBL-EBI"},{"uuid":"a:3:{i:0;s:36:\"302cfdf7-365b-462a-be65-82c7b783ebf7\";i:1;s:36:\"18699e63-ed43-40c6-8d1c-203db7ed72ee\";i:2;s:36:\"c89ed4d5-8bf0-4f35-a7a5-6ee76d4ed1c6\";}","parents":[],"name":["Protein Function Content"],"slug":"protein-function-content","description":"What > EMBL-EBI Services > Protein Function Content"},{"uuid":"a:2:{i:0;s:36:\"4428d1fd-441a-4d6d-a1c5-5dcf5665f213\";i:1;s:36:\"c906c642-1cff-4f4e-970c-f67e68ce79d6\";}","parents":[],"name":["Sandra Orchard"],"slug":"sandra-orchard","description":"Who > Sandra Orchard"}],"yoast_head":"\nSandra Orchard: what I\u2019ve learned | EMBL<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"EMBL-EBI Team Leader Sandra Orchard reflects on a life in protein science, UniProt data curation and championing open data standards.\" \/>\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\/people-perspectives\/sandra-orchard-what-ive-learned\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sandra Orchard: what I\u2019ve learned | EMBL\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"EMBL-EBI Team Leader Sandra Orchard reflects on a life in protein science, UniProt data curation and championing open data standards.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/people-perspectives\/sandra-orchard-what-ive-learned\/\" \/>\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=\"2025-11-25T15:00:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-11-25T15:00:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/ORCHARD-8.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Oana Stroe\" \/>\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=\"Oana Stroe\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/people-perspectives\/sandra-orchard-what-ive-learned\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/people-perspectives\/sandra-orchard-what-ive-learned\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Oana Stroe\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/95d28f359cc138357c5dcf79319ef414\"},\"headline\":\"Sandra Orchard: what I\u2019ve learned\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-11-25T15:00:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-11-25T15:00:15+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/people-perspectives\/sandra-orchard-what-ive-learned\/\"},\"wordCount\":1193,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/people-perspectives\/sandra-orchard-what-ive-learned\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/ORCHARD-8.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"alumni\",\"big data\",\"bioinformatics\",\"data standards\",\"embl-ebi\",\"open data\",\"orchard\",\"protein complex\",\"protein function content\",\"uniprot\",\"what I've learned\"],\"articleSection\":[\"People & Perspectives\",\"Perspectives\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/people-perspectives\/sandra-orchard-what-ive-learned\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/people-perspectives\/sandra-orchard-what-ive-learned\/\",\"name\":\"Sandra Orchard: what I\u2019ve learned | EMBL\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/people-perspectives\/sandra-orchard-what-ive-learned\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/people-perspectives\/sandra-orchard-what-ive-learned\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/ORCHARD-8.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-11-25T15:00:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-11-25T15:00:15+00:00\",\"description\":\"EMBL-EBI Team Leader Sandra Orchard reflects on a life in protein science, UniProt data curation and championing open data standards.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/people-perspectives\/sandra-orchard-what-ive-learned\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/people-perspectives\/sandra-orchard-what-ive-learned\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/ORCHARD-8.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/ORCHARD-8.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":600,\"caption\":\"Sandra Orchard, EMBL-EBI Team Leader. Credit: Jeff Dowling\/EMBL-EBI\"},{\"@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\/95d28f359cc138357c5dcf79319ef414\",\"name\":\"Oana Stroe\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/105fb83bbeaf64062ef1f4608964e5163ac52f590628df2ffde6de9a0d85af80?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/105fb83bbeaf64062ef1f4608964e5163ac52f590628df2ffde6de9a0d85af80?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Oana Stroe\"},\"description\":\"Oana Stroe is a PR specialist and copywriter with experience in engineering, IT and life sciences. She now collects and shares remarkable science stories.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/author\/oana-stroe-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-3\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Sandra Orchard: what I\u2019ve learned | EMBL","description":"EMBL-EBI Team Leader Sandra Orchard reflects on a life in protein science, UniProt data curation and championing open data standards.","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\/people-perspectives\/sandra-orchard-what-ive-learned\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Sandra Orchard: what I\u2019ve learned | EMBL","og_description":"EMBL-EBI Team Leader Sandra Orchard reflects on a life in protein science, UniProt data curation and championing open data standards.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/people-perspectives\/sandra-orchard-what-ive-learned\/","og_site_name":"EMBL","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/embl.org\/","article_published_time":"2025-11-25T15:00:11+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-11-25T15:00:15+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":600,"url":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/ORCHARD-8.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Oana Stroe","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@embl","twitter_site":"@embl","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Oana Stroe","Est. reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/people-perspectives\/sandra-orchard-what-ive-learned\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/people-perspectives\/sandra-orchard-what-ive-learned\/"},"author":{"name":"Oana Stroe","@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/95d28f359cc138357c5dcf79319ef414"},"headline":"Sandra Orchard: what I\u2019ve learned","datePublished":"2025-11-25T15:00:11+00:00","dateModified":"2025-11-25T15:00:15+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/people-perspectives\/sandra-orchard-what-ive-learned\/"},"wordCount":1193,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/people-perspectives\/sandra-orchard-what-ive-learned\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/ORCHARD-8.jpg","keywords":["alumni","big data","bioinformatics","data standards","embl-ebi","open data","orchard","protein complex","protein function content","uniprot","what I've learned"],"articleSection":["People & Perspectives","Perspectives"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/people-perspectives\/sandra-orchard-what-ive-learned\/","url":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/people-perspectives\/sandra-orchard-what-ive-learned\/","name":"Sandra Orchard: what I\u2019ve learned | EMBL","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/people-perspectives\/sandra-orchard-what-ive-learned\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/people-perspectives\/sandra-orchard-what-ive-learned\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/ORCHARD-8.jpg","datePublished":"2025-11-25T15:00:11+00:00","dateModified":"2025-11-25T15:00:15+00:00","description":"EMBL-EBI Team Leader Sandra Orchard reflects on a life in protein science, UniProt data curation and championing open data standards.","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/people-perspectives\/sandra-orchard-what-ive-learned\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/people-perspectives\/sandra-orchard-what-ive-learned\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/ORCHARD-8.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/ORCHARD-8.jpg","width":1000,"height":600,"caption":"Sandra Orchard, EMBL-EBI Team Leader. Credit: Jeff Dowling\/EMBL-EBI"},{"@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\/95d28f359cc138357c5dcf79319ef414","name":"Oana Stroe","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/105fb83bbeaf64062ef1f4608964e5163ac52f590628df2ffde6de9a0d85af80?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/105fb83bbeaf64062ef1f4608964e5163ac52f590628df2ffde6de9a0d85af80?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Oana Stroe"},"description":"Oana Stroe is a PR specialist and copywriter with experience in engineering, IT and life sciences. She now collects and shares remarkable science stories.","url":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/author\/oana-stroe-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-3\/"}]}},"field_target_display":"both","field_article_language":{"value":"english","label":"English"},"fimg_url":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/ORCHARD-8.jpg","featured_image_src":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/ORCHARD-8.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77479","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\/47"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77479"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77479\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77515,"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77479\/revisions\/77515"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77501"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77479"},{"taxonomy":"embl_taxonomy","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/embl_taxonomy?post=77479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}