Heidelberg, 15 May 2019 Breaking the bottleneck in imaging data collection Martin Schorb, Application Engineer in EMBL’s Electron Microscopy Core Facility, and colleagues from EMBL Heidelberg and the University of Colorado, USA, have developed two software tools that allow automated acquisition of electron microscopy data. The tools, SerialEM and py-EM, are presented in a paper published in Nature Methods. more

General, 9 May 2019 Diverse and united: Science in Europe Jean-Eric Paquet, Director General of Research and Innovation at the European Commission, recently visited EMBL to meet EMBL Director General Edith Heard and other senior EMBL faculty, and to tour EMBL’s labs and facilities. Discussions during the day covered topics such as interdisciplinarity, research infrastructures, and collaboration with industry. Here, Edith Heard and Jean-Eric Paquet reflect on the future of science in Europe, and on the key role that research and innovation must play. more

General, 2 May 2019 EMBL surpasses 100th Horizon 2020 grant In March, EMBL was awarded its 100th EU Horizon 2020 grant: a milestone in its participation in the world’s largest funding programme for research and innovation. EMBL’s success in securing Horizon 2020 funding, via a highly competitive and rigorous application and assessment process, puts it among the top 100 organisations participating in this programme and is a testament to the world-class research carried out here. more

Heidelberg, 29 April 2019 New 3D microscope The revolutionary new light-field microscopy system makes it possible to study fast biological processes, creating up to 200 3D images per second. Initial tests have already delivered new insights into the movement of blood cells in a heart. The new light-field microscopy system developed by EMBL group leaders Lars Hufnagel, Robert Prevedel and their teams overcomes both hurdles at once. “Our new method allows us to study processes both in 3D and on timescales of 200 images per second,” says Robert Prevedel. Lars Hufnagel adds: “On top of that, it delivers up to ten times better, namely truly isotropic, resolution than classic light field microscopy.” more

General, 26 April 2019 The Arctic Ocean: reservoir of marine viruses A new study published in Cell, based mainly on data from the Tara Oceans expedition (2009–2013), provides the most comprehensive catalogue of viruses found in all the world’s oceans to date. It increases the number of known oceanic viral populations from 16 000 to nearly 200 000. EMBL scientist Eric Karsenti initiated the expedition and led its scientific activities. More than 35 000 samples from the world’s oceans were collected during the Tara Oceans expedition. EMBL coordinates the expedition’s scientific consortium, which includes more than 100 scientists from 18 partner institutions, and continues to make crucial contributions in data analysis, data storage, and in making all data publicly available. more

Heidelberg, 25 April 2019 Sex and diet affect proteotype Understanding these individual proteomes might provide a basis for personalised treatments for humans in the future. “The goal of the study was to understand whether different proteins within the proteome interact with each other the same way in different individuals and, if not, what factors cause the differences,” explains first author Natalie Romanov, postdoctoral researcher in Peer Bork’s group at EMBL Heidelberg. The study of the individual proteomes – the proteotypes – delivered a surprising result. It showed that a significant part – around 12% – of the proteotype variation is determined by both sex and diet; this is more than expected. more

General, 23 April 2019 Edith and Iain in conversation Earlier this year, Iain Mattaj (EMBL Director General 2005–2018) and current Director General Edith Heard met to discuss the pleasures and challenges of leading an organisation like EMBL, the unique character of the organisation, and possible future directions for EMBL research more

Hinxton, 12 April 2019 Welcome: Jessica Vamathevan As the Head of EMBL-EBI’s Strategic Partnership Office, Jessica Vamathevan works on defining the strategic direction of EMBL-EBI and her team facilitates the crossover between academia and industry. more

General, 11 April 2019 Partners in the north In 2007, the Nordic EMBL Partnership for Molecular Medicine was founded as a collaboration between EMBL and FIMM (Institute of Molecular Medicine Finland) at the University of Helsinki, MIMS (Laboratory for Molecular Infection Medicine Sweden) at Umeå University, and NCMM (Centre for Molecular Medicine Norway) at the University of Oslo. The collaboration with EMBL aimed to bring their biomedical research to a more international level by raising the profile of their institutes, creating state-of-the-art infrastructures and recruiting excellent scientists from around the world. more

Heidelberg, 8 April 2019 Welcome: Joana Witkowski During her career, Joana Witkowski has worked as a fundraiser for organisations such as the Royal Academy of Music and the British Heart Foundation (BHF) in London. Now, the native Heidelberger has returned to her hometown to lead the Office of Resource Development (ORD) at EMBL. more