Heidelberg, 7 November 2019 Integrating imaging research across Europe The European Commission has officially established Euro-BioImaging – which provides life scientists with open access to a broad range of technologies and resources in biological and biomedical imaging – as a European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC). Since Euro-BioImaging was initiated at EMBL in 2007, this adds yet another remarkable achievement to EMBL’s mission of integrating European life sciences. more

Heidelberg, 6 November 2019 Courage to succeed: EMBL Women’s Night 2019 EMBL Women’s Night provides an opportunity for women from academia, business and politics to connect and share ideas. This year, the event marks the launch of a mentoring programme for the advancement of women in science, which is supported by donations from the Friends of EMBL. Teresa Rodó, Head of Global Healthcare Operations at Merck Group, will be among the speakers at the event, which takes place at EMBL Heidelberg on 14 November. Here, she shares some insights gained from a successful career in the pharmaceutical industry. more

Heidelberg, 5 November 2019 Edith’s inauguration On 17 October, representatives from the EMBL member states, EMBL faculty, and other distinguished guests gathered for the inauguration of EMBL Director General Edith Heard. more

Heidelberg, 4 November 2019 EMBL spins the Sleeping Beauty transposase EMBL scientists have developed a new variant of the Sleeping Beauty transposase. It has dramatically improved biochemical features, including enhanced stability and intrinsic cell penetrating properties. This transposase can be used for genome engineering of stem cells and therapeutic T cells. As such it is extremely valuable for use in regenerative medicine and cancer immunotherapy. The underlying genome engineering procedures will in the future also reduce costs and improve the safety of genome modifications. more

Rome, 30 October 2019 Fallingwater filled with mice In EMBL Rome's 20th anniversary year, Nadia Rosenthal, Head of EMBL Rome 2001–2012 (initially known as the EMBL Mouse Biology Programme; later as EMBL Monterotondo), describes how she built EMBL Rome’s mouse house more

Heidelberg, 29 October 2019 EMBL Fellows’ Career Service launched In September, EMBL launched a new career service for predocs and postdocs. EMBL career advisors Rachel Coulthard-Graf and Patricia Cabezas give an overview of what the new service offers and how it supports fellows. more

Barcelona, Grenoble, Rome, 28 October 2019 Snapshots from Mission Microplastics On 12 September, Tara sailed into the Porto Turistico in Ostia, Rome, at the mouth of the Tiber, against a backdrop of blue skies and Italian sunshine. The next stop was the atmospheric port of Marseille, where Tara was docked from 27–30 September. The next stop was Barcelona, where Tara was docked within view of the Barcelona Biomedical Research Park (PRBB) from 4–9 October. more

Heidelberg, 23 October 2019 Engineering bacteria to fight diabetes EMBL’s Genomics Core Facility supports students participating in the annual iGEM competition. The group from the University of Tübingen is looking for a way to treat type 2 diabetes using E. coli Nissle 1917 bacteria. EMBL is providing the group with RNA sequencing expertise so that they can analyse 24 samples. In early November, groups will present their project in front of thousands of people, and will compete for prizes in various categories. more

General, 11 October 2019 European Research and Innovation Days Edith Heard and Jana Pavlic were among a diverse group of European policymakers and other experts who gathered in Brussels from 24–26 September for the first annual European Research and Innovation Days. The aim of this policy conference was to co-create Horizon Europe: Europe’s next framework programme for funding research and innovation. more

General, 10 October 2019 EMBL in the USA: future facing The upcoming EMBL in the USA event promises a lively discussion of big questions and challenges to be addressed in life science research across institutions and continents. EMBL Director General Edith Heard and a number of EMBL senior scientists will be among the speakers at the two-day symposium, which will take place at Stanford University from 8–9 November. EMBL alumnus and EMBL | Stanford Life Science Alliance member Georgios Skiniotis, and Director of the Life Science Alliance and EMBL senior scientist Lars Steinmetz look ahead to the event. more