European Molecular Biology Laboratory

Coordinates: 49°23′4.64″N 8°42′36.51″E

The European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) is an

intergovernmental organization dedicated to molecular biology European Molecular Biology
research and is supported by 28 member states, one prospect Laboratory (EMBL)
state, and one associate member state.[2] EMBL was created in
1974 and is funded by public research money from its member
states.[3] Research at EMBL is conducted by approximately 110
independent research and service groups and teams covering the
spectrum of molecular biology and bioinformatics. The list of
Groups and Teams at EMBL can be found at www.embl.org (htt
Established 1974
ps://www.embl.org). The Laboratory operates from six sites: the
main laboratory in Heidelberg, and sites in Hinxton (the Director Edith Heard[1]
European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI), in England), Grenoble General
(France), Hamburg (Germany), Rome (Italy) and Barcelona
Faculty ~95
(Spain). EMBL groups and laboratories perform basic research
in molecular biology and molecular medicine as well as train Location Heidelberg, Grenoble,
scientists, students, and visitors. The organization aids in the Hamburg, Hinxton
development of services, new instruments and methods, and (near Cambridge),
technology in its member states. Israel is the only full member Rome, Barcelona
state located outside Europe.
Website www.embl.org (https://
www.embl.org)
History
EMBL was the idea of Leó Szilárd,[4] James Watson and John Kendrew.[5] Their goal was to create an
international research centre, similar to CERN, to rival the strongly American-dominated field of molecular
biology.[6] Kendrew served as the first Director-general of EMBL until 1982 and was succeeded by
Lennart Philipson.[7][8][9] From 1993 to 2005, Fotis Kafatos,[10][11] served as director and was succeeded
by Iain Mattaj, EMBL's fourth director, from 2005 to 2018.[12] In January 2019, Edith Heard became the
fifth director of EMBL and the first woman to hold this position.[1]

Heard announced the organisation's five-year scientific programme Molecules to Ecosystems (https://www.
embl.org/about/programme/) on 19 January 2022.

Research
Each EMBL site has a specific research field. The EMBL-EBI is a hub for bioinformatics research and
services, developing and maintaining a large number of scientific databases that are free of charge. At
Grenoble and Hamburg, research is focused on structural biology.

The EMBL Rome site is dedicated to the study of epigenetics and neurobiology. Scientists at EMBL
Barcelona are exploring how tissues and organs function and develop, in health and disease.[13] At the
headquarters in Heidelberg, there are units in cell biology and biophysics, developmental biology, genome
biology, and structural and computational biology, as well as service groups complementing the
aforementioned research fields.
Many scientific breakthroughs have been made at EMBL. The first
systematic genetic analysis of embryonic development in the fruit
fly was conducted at EMBL by Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard and
Eric Wieschaus,[14] for which they were awarded the Nobel Prize
in Physiology or Medicine in 1995. In the early 1980s, Jacques
Dubochet and his team at EMBL developed cryogenic electron
microscopy for biological structures. They were rewarded with the
2017 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

Scientific Services
EMBL has identified as a core mission the provision of advanced
In 1968 the European Molecular
experimental and data services (https://www.embl.org/services-facili
Biology Conference was founded at
ties/) to external researchers, including structural biology, imaging
CERN, associating 14 governments
and sequencing facilities at its five European sites. In 2021, EMBL
with EMBO, providing the
completed a new centre for high-resolution light and electron
organisation with stable funding and
microscopy at its Heidelberg Headquarters - the EMBL Imaging scientific independence. This led to
Centre (https://www.embl.org/about/info/imaging-centre/). The the formal establishment of The
centre is open to visiting scientists worldwide and provides a unique European Molecular Biology
service facility for the life sciences by combining the latest imaging Laboratory (EMBL) in 1974.
technologies with expert advice and industry-led developments not
yet otherwise available.[15]

Training
Advanced training is one of
EMBL's five core
missions. [16] Over the years,
the Laboratory has
established a number of
EMBL Rome training activities, of which
the EMBL International
PhD Programme (EIPP) is
the flagship - it has a student body of about 200, and since 1997 has
had the right to award its own degree, although currently students
receive their degrees from partner universities. Other activities
include the postdoctoral programme, including the EMBL EMBL main entrance in Heidelberg
Interdisciplinary Postdoctoral programme (EIPOD) and the Visitor
Programme.[17]

EMBL Advanced Training Centre

In March 2010, the EMBL Advanced Training Centre (ATC) was
inaugurated on the main campus in Heidelberg. Shaped in the form
of a double helix,[18] it hosts scientific conferences, seminars and
training courses, and provides access to training laboratories and EMBL Grenoble
lecture halls.[19]
The ATC also hosts EMBL's European
Learning Lab for the Life Sciences
(ELLS) (https://www.embl.org/ells/)
which provides training for secondary
school teachers on the latest
developments in molecular biology,
and runs a student outreach program.

Science and society The EMBL Heidelberg buildings, including the new Advanced
Training Centre
EMBL also runs an active Science and
Society Programme which offers
activities and events on current questions in life science research for the general public and the scientific
community.[20]

Membership
EMBL is currently supported by 28 member states, one associate member state, and one prospect member
state.
 Year of
Member states[2] joining

 Austria 1974

 Belgium 1990

 Croatia 2006
 Czech Republic 2014

 Denmark 1974

 Estonia 2023

 Finland 1984

 France 1974

 Germany 1974

 Greece 1984

 Hungary 2017

 Iceland 2005

 Ireland 2003

 Israel 1974

 Italy 1974

 Lithuania 2019

 Luxembourg 2007

 Malta 2016

 Montenegro 2018

 Netherlands 1974

 Norway 1985
   Member States
 Poland 2019
   Associate Member States
 Portugal 1998    Prospect Member States

 Slovakia 2018

 Spain 1986

 Sweden 1974

 Switzerland 1974

 United Kingdom 1974

Prospect Member
State
 Latvia 2020
 Serbia 2023

Associate Member
States

 Argentina 2014 - 2020

  Australia 2008

See also
European Molecular Biology Organization
European Genome-phenome Archive

Notes and references

1. Noyes, Dan (28 June 2017). "EMBL Council selects next Director General" (https://news.em
bl.de/lab-matters/embl-next-director-general/). EMBL etc.
2. "EMBL member states" (https://www.embl.org/about/member-states/). European Molecular
Biology Laboratory. 2021.
3. Signing of the agreement to set up a European molecular biology research laboratory (http
s://cds.cern.ch/record/764877). CERN. 10 May 1973.
4. Maas, W; Crow, J. F. (2004). "Leo Szilard: A personal remembrance" (https://www.ncbi.nlm.ni
h.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1470899). Genetics. 167 (2): 555–8.
doi:10.1534/genetics.104.030320 (https://doi.org/10.1534%2Fgenetics.104.030320).
PMC 1470899 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1470899). PMID 15238510
(https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15238510).
5. Holmes, K. C. (2001). "Sir John Cowdery Kendrew. 24 March 1917 - 23 August 1997:
Elected F.R.S. 1960" (https://doi.org/10.1098%2Frsbm.2001.0018). Biographical Memoirs of
Fellows of the Royal Society. 47: 311–332. doi:10.1098/rsbm.2001.0018 (https://doi.org/10.1
098%2Frsbm.2001.0018). PMID 15124647 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15124647).
6. "EMBL History" (https://web.archive.org/web/20140413125139/http://www.embl.de/aboutus/
general_information/history/). 2015. Archived from the original (http://www.embl.de/aboutus/g
eneral_information/history/) on 13 April 2014.
7. Pettersson, U (2011). "Lennart Philipson: A fighter is gone" (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pm
c/articles/PMC3223467). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 108 (47):
18875. Bibcode:2011PNAS..10818875P (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2011PNAS..108
18875P). doi:10.1073/pnas.1116859108 (https://doi.org/10.1073%2Fpnas.1116859108).
PMC 3223467 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3223467). PMID 22106290
(https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22106290).
8. Simons, K.; Mattaj, I. W. (2011). "Lennart Philipson (1929-2011)". Science. 333 (6043): 711.
Bibcode:2011Sci...333..711S (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2011Sci...333..711S).
doi:10.1126/science.1210990 (https://doi.org/10.1126%2Fscience.1210990).
PMID 21817041 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21817041). S2CID 10083044 (https://api.s
emanticscholar.org/CorpusID:10083044).
9. Baltimore, D. (2011). "Lennart Philipson (1929–2011): A Warrior Has Passed" (https://www.n
cbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3176751). PLOS Biology. 9 (9): e1001153.
doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.1001153 (https://doi.org/10.1371%2Fjournal.pbio.1001153).
PMC 3176751 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3176751).
10. Gilbert, N. (2010). "The labours of Fotis Kafatos" (https://doi.org/10.1038%2F464020a).
Nature. 464 (7285): 20. doi:10.1038/464020a (https://doi.org/10.1038%2F464020a).
PMID 20203577 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20203577).
11. Kafatos, F. (2008). "Straight talk with...Fotis Kafatos". Nature Medicine. 14 (9): 902–903.
doi:10.1038/nm0908-902 (https://doi.org/10.1038%2Fnm0908-902). PMID 18776875 (https://
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18776875). S2CID 21218047 (https://api.semanticscholar.org/Cor
pusID:21218047).
12. "MATTAJ, Iain William" (https://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whoswho/U2698
7). Who's Who. ukwhoswho.com. Vol. 2015 (online Oxford University Press ed.). A & C
Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc. (Subscription or UK public library membership
(https://www.ukwhoswho.com/page/subscribe#public) required.) (subscription required)
13. "About EMBL | EMBL.org" (https://www.embl.es/aboutus/general_information/about-embl-ba
rcelona/index.html).
14. Nüsslein-Volhard, C.; Wieschaus, E. (1980). "Mutations affecting segment number and
polarity in Drosophila". Nature. 287 (5785): 795–801. Bibcode:1980Natur.287..795N (https://
ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1980Natur.287..795N). doi:10.1038/287795a0 (https://doi.org/10.
1038%2F287795a0). PMID 6776413 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/6776413).
S2CID 4337658 (https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:4337658).
15. "Funding agreed for imaging technology centre at EMBL Heidelberg" (https://news.embl.de/l
ab-matters/funding-agreed-imaging-technology-centre/). 31 August 2017.
16. "Missions | EMBL.org" (https://www.embl.de/aboutus/general_information/mission/).
17. Training at EMBL (https://www.embl.de/training/index.php), EMBL website
18. "University of Heidelberg – Press Releases" (https://web.archive.org/web/20160304195327/
http://www.uni-heidelberg.de/press/news/news06/press433_e.html). Archived from the
original (http://www.uni-heidelberg.de/press/news/news06/press433_e.html) on 4 March
2016. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
19. "Conferences and Courses" (https://www.embl.de/training/events/index.php). EMBL. 2020.
Retrieved 7 June 2020.
20. Science and Society Programme (http://www.embl.de/aboutus/science_society/index.html),
EMBL website

External links
Official website (https://www.embl.org)

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