Research

From genomes to organisms, EMBL is exploring the secrets of life

EMBL’s diverse research programme is pushing the limits of biological knowledge, with our researchers developing innovative techniques and technologies as part of the process.

Research Units

The European Molecular Biology Laboratory is made up of many independent groups of research scientists, who work on a wide range of biological topics. EMBL categorises these groups by area of scientific interest into nine research units. This structure helps EMBL scientists working on similar scientific questions to leverage common tools and experimental apparatus.

EMBL Programme

Pushing boundaries in research, services, training and technology


Learn more about EMBL research

EMBL Faculty

Explore how EMBL research groups collaborate with partners

Publications

Explore EMBL’s full list of scientific publications and preprints which go back as far as 1979

Cross-cutting research topics

From exploring the molecular components inside a cell to studying whole populations and ecosystems, EMBL scientists will explore these different scales through research themes that foster collaborative, multidisciplinary research.

EMBL maintains close cooperative affiliations with organisations of comparable standard, vision and international orientation.

These institutional collaborations are based on shared goals and scientific synergy or complementarity. The aim is to create a network of institutions that enhance molecular life science in Europe and around the world.


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Postdoctoral Researcher in Computational Genetics

Science, research and training in EMBL Heidelberg

The research group of Oliver Stegle looks for a postdoctoral researcher to join a collaborative project with GSK with the goal to apply computational methods to investigate the effects of rare variants on human traits and single-cell readouts.  Our research group is pioneering computational methods...

Closes on 31st May. Posted 15th May 2026

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Full Stack Software Developer

Technology in EMBL-EBI Hinxton

About the teamWe are seeking a Full Stack Software Developer to join the BioSamples team at the European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI).BioSamples is a core biological metadata repository that stores, validates, and serves sample metadata for life-science research. It underpins major public arc...

Closes on 25th May. Posted 12th May 2026

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AI Training Officer

Technology in EMBL Heidelberg

Join us to shape AI training at EMBLJoin us to shape EMBL AI, a new EMBL-wide initiative that aims to exploit the full potential of AI-based approaches to advance scientific discovery.The European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) has long been a pioneer in developing and applying Artificial Intel...

Closes on 13th June. Posted 12th May 2026

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Scientist in Molecular Evolution

Technology in EMBL-EBI Hinxton

We are seeking to recruit a Scientist to join Nick Goldman's research group (http://www.ebi.ac.uk/research/goldman) at the European Bioinformatics Institute located on the Wellcome Genome Campus near Cambridge in the UK.The group researches the evolutionary analysis of DNA and protein sequences, gen...

Closes on 22nd May. Posted 8th May 2026

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With support from more than 30 countries, laboratories at six sites across Europe and thousands of scientists and engineers working together, the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) is a powerhouse of biological expertise. EMBL is an intergovernmental organisation, headquartered in Heidelberg, and was founded in 1974 with the mission of promoting molecular biology research in Europe, training young scientists, and developing new technologies.

EMBL currently employs more than 1800 people in Barcelona, ​​Grenoble, Hamburg, Heidelberg, EMBL-EBI Hinxton (near Cambridge), and Rome.

Publishing hundreds of research articles and hosting dozens of conferences every year, EMBL is driving visionary fundamental research and training Europe’s future scientific talent.

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