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

General, 3 April 2019 How EMBL partnerships promote collaboration The EMBL Partnership Programme is an initiative aimed at promoting scientific collaboration across the EMBL member states by setting up close cooperative alliances between EMBL and research institutions in the member states. The Partnership Programme has grown gradually over the years and currently encompasses 11 partnerships. These are based on shared institutional goals and common or complementary scientific interests. The aim is to combine the advantages of the EMBL model with the individual strengths of the partners, creating an interlinked system of institutions working together in the pursuit of scientific excellence. more

General, 26 March 2019 EMBL partners with BRAINCITY EMBL has signed a partnership agreement with BRAINCITY, a new Centre of Excellence for Neural Plasticity and Brain Disorders, in Poland. EMBL partnerships are close cooperative affiliations with national institutes in EMBL member states. This is EMBL’s twelfth partnership and furthers EMBL’s aim to create a network of international centres of scientific excellence and advanced training. more

General, 5 December 2018 New EMBL Partnership in Hungary EMBL has recently formed an inter-institutional collaboration with the Hungarian Centre of Excellence for Molecular Medicine (HCEMM), setting the stage for the ongoing transfer of institutional, research and collaborative expertise between the two organisations. Researchers at HCEMM will also have access to the EMBL Partnership network across Europe and further afield. HCEMM is a newly established non-profit organisation, researching the diagnosis and treatment of cancer, cardiovascular and inflammatory diseases. It will bridge the gap between fundamental and translational research by undertaking projects with relatively rapid clinical applications. more

Hinxton, 8 November 2018 Genomes of all known UK species to be sequenced The genetic code of 66,000 UK species will be sequenced by the Wellcome Sanger Institute in a major collaboration with EMBL’s European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI) and other partner organisations as part of a global effort to sequence all 1.5 million known species of animal, plant, protozoa and fungi on Earth. The UK project, known as the Darwin Tree of Life Project, launched 1 November alongside the global effort, the Earth BioGenome Project. The Earth BioGenome Project will ultimately create a new foundation for biology to drive solutions for preserving biodiversity and sustaining human societies. more

Heidelberg, 1 October 2018 Ageing is visible in the way cells use glucose A research team from EMBL and Heidelberg University has studied the molecular features of ageing in human blood stem cells. The most prominent finding is that the sugar metabolism of stem cells increases with age – a change similar to that observed in cancer cells. This is coupled with a decline in stem cell functionality and in immune defense.Their results, published in Nature Communications on 1st October 2018, serve as an important reference for further studies on the molecular mechanisms of ageing in humans. The paper’s first authors are Marco L. Hennrich, mass spectrometrist at EMBL, Natalie Romanov, predoctoral fellow in bioinformatics at EMBL, and Patrick Horn, cell biologist at Heidelberg University. more

Hamburg, 22 November 2017 Hands-on science inspires Hamburg A giant particle accelerator may not be the typical place to hang out on a Saturday night, but on 4 November, thousands of people made their way to DESY (Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron), as part of the biennial Hamburg Night of the Sciences. Visitors uncovered the secrets of the three famous X-ray radiation sources PETRA III, FLASH and XFEL, through talks and practical activities. EMBL’s site on the DESY campus surprised and entertained guests with insights into the tiny molecular machines that build the basis of life: proteins. more

Hamburg, 14 November 2017 CSSB: A new approach to infectious disease On the DESY campus in Hamburg, the Centre for Structural Systems Biology (CSSB) is ready to make its mark as the new kid on the block and tackle some of the most important questions relating to how infections take hold in our bodies more

General, 4 October 2017 EMBL and Australia – delivering excellence Opinion: Silke Schumacher, EMBL’s Director of International Relations, explains how Australia’s associate membership of EMBL empowers scientists and drives training and collaborations. more

General, 4 October 2017 New Speaker announced for Nordic EMBL Partnership The Nordic EMBL Partnership for Molecular Medicine has announced Bernt Eric Uhlin as the partnership’s new speaker. Professor Uhlin is the Director of Molecular Infection Medicine Sweden (MIMS), and is also a professor at the Department of Molecular Biology at Umeå University. He was elected by the Partnership’s Steering Committee at the eighth annual Nordic EMBL Partnership meeting, hosted by the Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM) in Helsinki this September. more