Fast forward to the year... 2012 Scientists from EMBL’s five sites share their thoughts on what might be big news in the coming year “It is almost 2012 and we still do not have jetpacks, flying cars or artificial humans. However, the beam power of EMBL Hamburg’s new baby, PETRA III, makes it possible to solve many more structures of important biological complexes in less time. We are also steadily getting closer to obtaining structural details of cells with new techniques such as FLASH or XFEL. And once we know the complete internal composition of each cell, building an artificial buddy is pretty much peanuts. By the way, where’s my Hoverboard?”
Emily Newman Postdoc, Panne group, EMBL Grenoble
“We continue to fight in the everlasting war against molecules which simply will not crystallise! Our battle plan begins with our state-of-the-art proteomics suite to develop soluble constructs. We then fire our large array of crystal screens to incite crystalline precipitation and keep a close look out with our computerised HTX lab facilities. This war is fought in alliance with comrades in electron microscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance, biochemistry and solution scattering; closing the gap between the front line and our next Nature paper. Over and out.” “Molecular biology took some impressive strides in 2011. On the one hand, we got better at miniaturisation (tracking single molecules, sequencing single cells), and on the other we built big pictures (microbiome gut types, global gene expression models). Integrating big and small, along with game-changing technologies like iPS cell generation, will take us further along the road to personalised medicine. I think we can look forward to a more precise, interdisciplinary, and predictive science in 2012. We can also look forward to interacting with colleagues in our new cafeteria and staff lounge.”
John Marioni, Group leader, EMBL-EBI
Tim Wiegels Predoc, Lamzin group, EMBL Hamburg
Raeka Aiyar, Science communications officer, Steinmetz group, EMBL Heidelberg
“Space should be the frontier that genomics helps conquer in 2012. From accurately determining how DNA is folded within the nucleus, to investigating how gene expression levels vary at the cellular level as you move across a tissue, next year will likely see an explosion of studies where spatial and high-throughput genome-wide data are combined. Effectively storing and analysing the vast quantities of data generated will, of course, require careful work on the part of many space rangers. However, if they succeed the biological insights obtained could stretch to infinity… and beyond.” “Following important findings in 2011, from the function of Mili protein to Microglia, science in Monterotondo will continue to flourish in 2012 across our laboratories and core facilities. Exciting for me is the wide range of mammalian biology research that takes place here, including development and differentiation, cancer and regeneration and behaviour and sensory perception. It gives me a great feeling of optimism seeing the passion and dedication of the scientists, the desire to connect with society and the continuous improvement of facilities, services and social events on the campus.”
Tomoko Ishibashi Predoc, Jechlinger group, EMBL Monterotondo
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ELLS at EMBL-EBI EMBL-EBI welcomed 22 secondary school teachers from all over Europe to a three-day ELLS LearningLAB on bioinformatics this November. Outreach representatives from EBI service groups talked about different areas of bioinformatics and rolled out a series of handson activities, using malaria as an example throughout. One activity was a game led by the EBI’s Raffael Jiminez that can help anyone understand what data integration is all about. The course featured several guest speakers: Dean Madden from the UK’s National Centre for Biotechnology Education presented a series of excellent activities explaining evolution, and teachers were
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given an introduction to current malaria research by Stephanie Blandin from EMBL Heidelberg and Julian Rayner from the Sanger Institute. “The direct contact with researchers and colleagues was very useful,” says course participant Monica Menesini. “Subjects were presented in a clear and understandable manner, and some ideas can be directly used in the classroom.”
EMBL&cetera issue 66 • December 2011
www.facebook.com/embl.org Photo of the week: Are you at the 13th International EMBL PhD Symposium? Tag yourselves - we have! November 18 at 3:50pm
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