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From microscopy to mycology, from development to disease modelling, EMBL researchers cover a wide range of topics in the biological sciences.

Topics of research

Bioinformatics

Analysing data to unravel biological complexity

Cells

Understanding how cells work and how they are organised

Chemistry

Developing new drugs and tools to understand the chemistry of life

COVID-19

EMBL’s contribution to fighting the coronavirus pandemic

Development

How single cells give rise to complex organisms

Disease models

Understanding the causes of disease to find new treatments

Imaging

Cutting edge technology, zooming into life at the tiniest scales

Genomes

How cells interpret the DNA code to carry out biological functions

Mathematics and Statistics

Mathematical analysis is crucial to the data-rich science of biology

Physics and Engineering

Enabling technology for a host of experimental methods

Tara Ocean Foundation

How complex organisms evolved from primordial bacteria and the fate of the myriad organisms present today

Transversal research themes

Understanding life in the context of its environment

Tissue biology

Understanding how assemblies of cells develop, work, and heal

EMBL Centres

Centre for Bioimage Analysis (CBA)

The CBA supports scientists in extracting quantitative information from images acquired with light- or electron-microscopy

Centre for Biological Modelling (CBM)

The CBM aims to increase the adoption of first-principles modelling into everyday research at EMBL

Centre for Statistical Data Analysis (CSDA)

The CSDA helps EMBL scientists to use adequate statistical methods for research questions

Centre for Biomolecular Network Analysis (CBNA)

The CBNA disseminates expertise, know-how and guidance in network integration and analysis throughout EMBL

Centre for Chemical Biology (CCB)

The CCB supports researchers using chemical approaches across all EMBL sites

Research units

Bioinformatics research

Researchers at EMBL-EBI make sense of vast, complex biological datasets produced using new and emerging technologies in molecular biology.

Cell biology and biophysics

Scientists in this unit use multidisciplinary approaches to investigate the molecular and biophysical mechanisms that enable cells to function.

Developmental biology

Scientists in the Developmental biology unit seek to understand the fundamental principles that govern multicellular development.

Directors' research

This unit covers thematically distinct research groups, headed by EMBL and EMBO leadership.

Epigenetics and neurobiology

At EMBL Rome, scientists explore the connections between genome, environment, and neural function.

Genome biology

The Genome biology unit uses and develops cutting-edge methods to study how the information in our genome is regulated, processed, and utilised, and how its alteration leads to disease.

Structural and computational biology

Scientists in this unit use integrated structural and computational techniques to study biology at scales from molecular structures to organismal communities.

Structural biology

At its sites in Hamburg and Grenoble, EMBL provides its researchers and hundreds of external users each year with access to world-leading sources of X-ray and neutron radiation, enabling them to study the structures of biological molecules.

Tissue biology and disease modelling

Scientists at EMBL Barcelona use advanced technologies to observe, manipulate, and model how changes in genes percolate through cells, tissues, and organs, in health and disease.

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Topics of research

Research units

Structural biology

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