Heidelberg, 8 July 2020 Latvia becomes EMBL prospect member state Latvia has joined EMBL as a prospect member state, starting a three-year process toward full membership. more

Heidelberg, Hinxton, 8 July 2020 Two EMBL scientists become EMBO Members This year, EMBO elected 63 new members, including Alexander Aulehla, Group Leader and Senior Scientist at EMBL Heidelberg, and Paul Flicek, Associate Director of EMBL-EBI Services, Senior Scientist, Group and Team Leader at EMBL-EBI. more

Grenoble, 8 July 2020 ALPX – smart crystallography ALPX has become the latest spinoff company from EMBL Grenoble. It offers fully automated and remote-controlled protein-to-structure pipelines for protein crystallography and fragment and compound screening. The ALPX high-throughput services enable researchers to solve crystal structures faster, thus accelerating research in a range of fields from pharma to biotech. more

Heidelberg, 8 July 2020 What COVID-19 is teaching us The virtual EMBL Conference ‘SARS-CoV-2: Towards a New Era in Infection Research’ explored the importance of fundamental research, collaboration, and data science in containing the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, and discussed opportunities to improve our response to pandemics in the future. more

Heidelberg, 6 July 2020 Edith Heard elected senator of the Max Planck Society EMBL Director General Edith Heard has been elected a senator of the Max Planck Society, one of Germany’s leading scientific research organisations. She joins the Senate along with Nobel Laureates and EMBL alumni Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard and Stefan W. Hell, as well as nine additional new senators. more

Heidelberg, 3 July 2020 From stem cells to neurons Scientists from the Zaugg and Noh group at EMBL Heidelberg have investigated stem cells and how they differentiate to become neurons. Their approach included an assessment of the complex interplay of molecules during the differentiation process and generated fundamental new insights into the role of a protein called Sox2 in neurons. more

Rome, 2 July 2020 Unravelling epigenetic reprogramming A study conducted by the Hackett group at EMBL Rome has identified key factors controlling the complex system of gene regulation during early embryo development, shedding new light on the mechanisms behind these events and on their evolutionary implications. Their findings are published in Nature Structural and Molecular Biology. more

General, 2 July 2020 Restructure of senior management Professor Heard said: “EMBL has grown significantly over the past decade including the addition of a new site at Barcelona, and we have ambitious plans for the future to ensure our research, services and training expand further for the benefit of our Member States, humanity and the planet.” more

Hinxton, 1 July 2020 Welcome: Ellie McDonagh Identifying drug targets is a complex yet crucial process in the life sciences. Open Targets is an innovative partnership between academia and the private sector that provides a platform for identifying potential drug targets linked with certain diseases and selecting or prioritising the most promising ones. Ellie McDonagh, the new Open Targets Informatics Science Director, wants to build on available resources and keep the partnership at the cutting edge. more

Heidelberg, 30 June 2020 EMBL boosts national and international sharing of genomic data A national consortium including EMBL and the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) is set to launch the German Human Genome–Phenome Archive, creating an invaluable bridge between fundamental biomedical research and applied healthcare. more