Anniversary Symposium
25 October 2024
EMBL Rome turns 25 and is looking forward to celebrating with staff and alumni who made the history of the institute.
EMBL Rome 25th Anniversary
2024 marks EMBL Rome’s 25th and EMBL’s 50th anniversaries
EMBL’s Italian site was officially founded in 1999 and today it focuses on the interdisciplinary investigation of epigenetics and neurobiology.
In 1994, the EMBL Council and then Director General Fotis Kafatos committed to establishing a Mouse Biology Programme in Monterotondo, Italy, to apply EMBL’s approach to research to the study of mammalian physiology and genetics. The official agreement with the Italian Republic was signed in 1999, and EMBL Monterotondo was officially founded with four research groups.
Initially established as EMBL’s ‘Mouse Biology Unit’, the site was renamed as EMBL Rome in 2017 and its research focus changed to become EMBL’s Epigenetics and Neurobiology Unit. Today, EMBL Rome connects under one roof experts studying the control of gene expression with those examining sensory processing and behavioural control.
Find out more about EMBL Rome History.
“I am where I am now because of EMBL Rome. Having senior members of the research community advocate for me at critical junctions in my career gave me the courage to take the steps that I might not have taken otherwise. I will be forever grateful.”
– Kristina Havas, group leader at IFOM, Milan (former postdoc in the group of Martin Jechlinger 2012-2016)
“The interdisciplinarity and collaborative attitude I found at EMBL Rome were fundamental for my professional growth. I started thinking broadly about my scientific questions very early in my career, and that has helped a lot during my postdoc and my current PI position.”
– Nereo Kalebic, Group Leader at Human Technopole, Milan (former PhD student in the group of Paul Heppenstall 2008-2013)
“What I took with me of the ‘EMBL spirit’ is the collaborative approach, and the importance of a balance between good experiments and good parties. I still remember Halloween and Carnival parties, live concerts in the garden, and very passionate football matches with EMBL colleagues.”
– Alessandro Ciccarelli, Senior Microscopist at the Francis Crick Institute (former postdoc in the group of Cornelius Gross 2014-2017)
Other important links
50th anniversary
A celebration, a legacy, an eye toward the future
EMBL History
Leading Europe’s life sciences since 1974
EMBL Archive
Historical records from Europe’s life sciences laboratory