Press Releases 2007

Monterotondo, 17 December 2007 An ambulance man for muscle damage Unfortunately, damaged muscles are not as efficient at repair as other tissues such as bone. Researchers of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory's Mouse Biology Unit (EMBL), Italy, and the Harefield Heart Science Centre of Imperial College London, have now discovered a molecular signal that helps muscle regenerate and protects it from atrophy. more

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• BioPharmaReporter.com, 19 December 2007 New drug on the blocks for athletes
• Corriere Adriatico, 17 December 2007 "Pronto soccorso" naturale per riparare i muscoli

Hinxton, 11 December 2007 ArrayExpress database doubles in size to 100,000 hybridisations ArrayExpress, the publicly available database of transcriptomics data at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory's European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI), has doubled in size in 2007, reaching the 100,000-hybridisation milestone. more

Heidelberg, 5 December 2007 The closest look ever at native human tissue Seeing proteins in their natural environment and interactions inside cells has been a longstanding goal. Using an advanced microscopy technique called cryo-electron tomography, researchers from the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) have visualised proteins responsible for cell-cell contacts for the first time. more

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• El Mundo, 19 December 2007 El pegamento de la piel
• Vima Kyriakis, 16 December 2007 Article in Greek broadsheet Vima Kyriakis, 16 December 2007
• Daily Telegraph, 15 December 2007 3D cell scans could help fight skin cancer
• New Scientist, 14 December 2007 News round up
• Telegraph TV, 11 December 2007 3D images of cells at work
• Dagens Nyheter, 6 December 2007 Extrem närbild visar varenda por
• Evening Standard, 5 December 2007 3D image of human skin cell unlocks mysteries
• Wiener Zeitung, 5 December 2007 Ohne Botenstoffe funktioniert nichts

Heidelberg, 2 December 2007 How cells keep in shape Researchers at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) and the Institute for Atomic and Molecular Physics (AMOLF), The Netherlands, have now decoded a molecular mechanism that plays an important role in the development of a cell's shape. more

Heidelberg, 12 November 2007 Luxembourg joins EMBL Today, the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) announces Luxembourg as the new member of its international community. Accepted by EMBL's council and ratified by the parliament of Luxembourg, the Grand-Duchy has officially joined the institute as the 20th member state. more

Hinxton, 23 October 2007 The East Wing and a new dawn for the EMBL-EBI The European Molecular Biology Laboratory's European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI) officially opens its new East Wing today with a reception for prominent guests. more

Heidelberg, 21 October 2007 Scientists uncover how hormones achieve their effects New insights into the cellular signal chain through which pheromones stimulate mating in yeast have been gained by scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL). more

Heidelberg, 3 October 2007 EMBL reaches north Today the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), the University of Helsinki, Finland, the University of Oslo, Norway, and Umeå University, Sweden, officially launch their new Nordic EMBL Partnership for Molecular Medicine. The agreement will encourage scientific exchange and collaborations between the partners and will facilitate access to respective scientific infrastructure, facilities and services for an initial period of five years. more

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• Biotech Sweden, 3 October 2007 SEK 167,5 to infectious disease lab in Umeå

Monterotondo, 15 September 2007 A molecule that protects from neuronal disorders Many neuronal disorders, including epilepsy, schizophrenia and lissencephaly - a form of mental retardation -, result from abnormal migration of nerve cells during the development of the brain. Researchers from the Mouse Biology Unit of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Italy, have now discovered that a protein that helps organising the cells' skeleton is crucial for preventing such defects. more

Heidelberg, 10 September 2007 New 3D light microscopy method reveals new perspectives on the dynamics of the cell's skeleton Scientists from the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) have developed a new method to prepare and image biological samples in three dimensions with laser light-sheet based fluorescence microscopy. more

Hinxton, 26 August 2007 Minimum Information Standards - all for one and one for all Three papers published by EMBL scientists and their collaborators will make it much easier to share and compare information from large-scale proteomics data. The papers are published in Nature Biotechnology on 8 and 26 August. more

Heidelberg, 9 August 2007 A unique arrangement for egg cell division Using a powerful microscope, researchers from the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) have now revealed how the molecular machinery functions that is responsible for chromosome reduction of egg cells in mice. more

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• Nature, 9 August 2007 Split in half

Hinxton, 30 July 2007 Uncovering the secrets of the deep The UniProt Consortium, which includes the European Molecular Biology Laboratory's European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI), has added a new database repository for metagenomic and environmental data to its family of protein sequence databases. more

Heidelberg, 11 July 2007 EMBL expands to Australia Today, delegates representing the 19 member states of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) offered Australia associate membership in EMBL's international community. The membership is planned to start officially in January 2008 and will initially last for seven years. more

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• The Australian, 11 July 2007 Local researchers join EU's top biology consortium
• Science, 11 July 2007 Biologists going down under

Heidelberg, 9 July 2007 A stepwise retreat: how immune cells catch pathogens To protect us from disease our immune system employs macrophages, cells that roam our body in search of disease-causing bacteria. With the help of long tentacle-like protrusions, macrophages can catch suspicious particles, pull them towards their cell bodies, internalise and destroy them. Using a special microscopy technique, researchers from the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) now for the first time tracked the dynamic behaviour of these tentacles in three dimensions. more

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• Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 9 July 2007 Die Bewegungen der Bakterienjäger

Heidelberg, 8 July 2007 A gene that protects from kidney disease Researchers from the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) and the University of Michigan have discovered a gene that protects us against a serious kidney disease. more

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• Diario Medico, 8 July 2007 El GLIS2 protege frente a la patologéa renal hereditaria

Heidelberg, 29 June 2007 Modern brains have an ancient core Researchers from the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) now reveal that the hypothalamus and its hormones are not purely vertebrate inventions, but have their evolutionary roots in marine, worm-like ancestors. more

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• La Repubblica, 29 June 2007 In un minuscolo verme marino l'antenato del nostro cervello

Palo Alto / Grenoble, 22 June 2007 New compound effectively treats fungal infections A new mechanism to attack hard-to-treat fungal infections has been revealed by scientists from the biotech company Anacor Pharmaceuticals Inc., California, and the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) outstation in Grenoble, France. more

Toronto / Heidelberg / Cambridge, 15 June 2007 Casting the molecular net Scientists at the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute of Mount Sinai Hospital (Canada), the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (Germany), and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA) have created a new computational method called NetworKIN. more

Hinxton, 14 June 2007 New findings challenge established views about human genome The ENCyclopedia Of DNA Elements (ENCODE), an international research consortium organised by the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), today published the results of its exhaustive, four-year effort to build a "parts list" of all biologically functional elements in 1 percent of the human genome in the journal Nature. more

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• Science, 14 June 2007 DNA study forces rethink of what it means to be a gene
• The Guardian, 14 June 2007 Study shines new light on genome
• New Scientist, 14 June 2007 Junking the Genome
• New Scientist, 14 June 2007 Junking the Genome
• ENCODE, 14 June 2007 Media Clips
• Nature, 14 June 2007 Genome project turns up evolutionary surprises
• La Stampa, 14 June 2007 Quante sorprese nel Dna

Heidelberg, 10 June 2007 Researchers shed light on shrinking of chromosomes Now researchers from the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) for the first time tracked chromosome condensation in mammalian cells over the entire course of cell division. more

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• Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 10 June 2007 Schrumpfende Chromosomen

Heidelberg, 5 June 2007 Uncovering the molecular basis of obesity Why does the same diet make some of us gain more weight than others? The answer could be a molecule called Bsx, as scientists from the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), the German Institute for Nutrition (DIFE), Potsdam, and the University of Cincinnati report in the current issue of Cell Metabolism. more

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• Jaen, 5 June 2007 Científicos identifican una molécula que influye en el aumento de peso
• Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung, 5 June 2007 Liegt Fettsucht in den Genen?
• Die Welt, 5 June 2007 Unsportlichkeit ist erblich
• Nature, 5 June 2007 Metabolism - Hunger linked to fidgeting

Monterotondo, 3 June 2007 New insights into the neural basis of anxiety People who suffer from anxiety tend to interpret ambiguous situations, situations that could potentially be dangerous but not necessarily so, as threatening. Researchers from the Mouse Biology Unit of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Italy have now uncovered the neural basis for such anxiety behaviour in mice. more

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• Il Giornale, 3 June 2007 Ecco come si scatena l'ansia Scoperta di un'equipe italiana
• Il Messaggero, 3 June 2007 Nascosto nell'ippocampo il segreto dell'ansia
• Nature, 3 June 2007 Mutant mice become scaredy-cats
• Nature, 3 June 2007 Neuroscience - Cellular angst

Hinxton, 22 May 2007 The first public nucleotide sequence database turns 25 Today EMBL-Bank, the nucleotide sequence database of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), celebrates its 25th anniversary. more

Heidelberg, 16 May 2007 Mechanism of microRNAs deciphered Now researchers from the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) have developed a new method that uncovered the mode of action of microRNAs in a test tube. more

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• El Pais, 16 May 2007 MicroARN
• The Scientist, 16 May 2007 MicroRNAs block translation machinery

Heidelberg, 4 May 2007 A matter of force Researchers from the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) have now worked out the mechanism underlying asymmetric cell division in nematode worms. more

Heidelberg, 20 April 2007 The origin of the brain lies in a worm The rise of the central nervous system (CNS) in animal evolution has puzzled scientists for centuries. Vertebrates, insects and worms evolved from the same ancestor, but their CNSs are different and were thought to have evolved only after their lineages had split during evolution. Researchers from the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg now reveal that the vertebrate nervous system is probably much older than expected. more

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• The Economist, 20 April 2007 A wriggly question
• Die Welt, 20 April 2007 Evolutionsforscher finden den Ursprung unseres Hirns im Wurm
• Laborjournal, 20 April 2007 Evolution des Zentralnervensystems - Auf den Rücken gedreht
• Stuttgarter Zeitung, 20 April 2007 Des Menschen Hirn stammt vom Wurm

Cologne / Mainz / Monterotondo, 14 March 2007 Researchers identify molecular basis of inflammatory bowel disease Researchers from the Universities of Cologne and Mainz in Germany, the Mouse Biology Unit of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Italy and their collaborators, have now deciphered a molecular signal that triggers chronic intestinal inflammation. more

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• Kölner Stadtanzeiger, 14 March 2007 Protein schützt vor Leberkrebs

Heidelberg, 6 March 2007 An architectural plan of the cell Researchers at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) and the University of Colorado have now obtained the first 3D visualisation of a complete eukaryotic cell at a resolution high enough to resolve the cytoskeleton's precise architectural plan in fission yeast. more

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• Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 6 March 2007 Der erste 3-D-Blick ins Flechtwerk der Zelle
• Der Standard, 6 March 2007 Hochauflösend ins Innere einer Hefezelle schauen
• Berliner Zeitung, 6 March 2007 Blick ins Innere einer Hefezelle
• Stuttgarter Zeitung, 6 March 2007 Das Innere einer Hefezelle
• GEO, 6 March 2007 Zelle intern
• Nature, 6 March 2007 An added dimension
• Financial Times Deutschland, 6 March 2007 Neues Bild für einen Modellorganismus

Heidelberg, 4 March 2007 A clearer view on biology The European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) has developed a new computational tool that makes images obtained with cutting-edge microscopes even sharper. The technological advance and its applications are published in this week's online issue of the journal Nature Methods. more

Grenoble / Heidelberg, 25 February 2007 A first glimpse of the influenza replication machine Researchers from the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Grenoble and Heidelberg, the Institut de Biologie Structurale (IBS) and the Unit of Virus Host Cell Interactions (UVHCI), both in Grenoble, have now produced the first 3-dimensional image of part of the key influenta protein. more

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• AGEFI, 25 February 2007 Première image du responsable de la transmission du H5N1
• Nature, 25 February 2007 Structural Biology - Hitching a ride

Monterotondo / Cologne, 12 February 2007 A signal that protects the liver from hepatitis and cancer A new study by researchers from the Mouse Biology Unit of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Monterotondo, Italy, and the University of Cologne, Germany, now reveals that a cellular signalling pathway protects the liver from developing cancer. more

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• dpa, 12 February 2007 Studie: Protein schützt vor Hepatitis und Leberkrebs

Innsbruck/Heidelberg, 11 February 2007 Putting an old drug to a new use We all know that iron deficiencies are dangerous, but also too much iron is bad for our health. Our body stores excess iron in various tissues, where it can lead to organ failure and even death if not treated before irreversible damage has occurred. Researchers from the Innsbruck Medical University, the University of Heidelberg, Germany, and the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) now made a surprising discovery that may lead to new therapeutic approaches to treating such disorders. more

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• Geoscience Online.de, 11 February 2007 Blutdruckpille hilft auch bei Eisenüberschuss

Heidelberg, 2 February 2007 Investigating the invisible life in our environment A new computational method to analyse environmental DNA samples, developed by researchers at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, now sheds light on the microbial composition of different habitats, from soil to water. more

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• Nature, 2 February 2007 Metagenomics - Invisible communities

Hamburg, 1 February 2007 New Facility for Structural Biology to investigate the molecules of life with powerful synchrotron radiation The German Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF) has awarded 8.8 Million Euro to the Hamburg Outstation of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) for the construction of an Integrated Research Facility for Structural Biology at the new PETRA-III storage ring of the German Synchrotron Research Centre (DESY), named EMBL@PETRA-III. more

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• Die Welt, 1 February 2007 Desy: Neue Forschungseinrichtung für Strukturbiologie

Heidelberg, 22 January 2007 EMBL coordinates new Marie Curie Research Training Network "Chromatin Plasticity" The European Commission has awarded 3.7 Million Euro under the European Union Framework 6 Programme over the next four years to a new Marie Curie Research Training Network, coordinated by Dr. Andreas Ladurner at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL). more

Monterotondo, 8 January 2007 Getting to the bottom of memory At the bottom of memory lies a complex network of molecules. To understand how this network brings about one of the most remarkable capacities of our brain we need to identify its components and their interactions. Researchers from the European Molecular Biology Laboratory's (EMBL) Mouse Biology Unit in Monterotondo, Italy, and the Universidad Pablo de Olavide in Sevilla, Spain, now for the first time investigate the molecular basis of memory in living mice. more

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• La Repubblica - Part 1, 8 January 2007 In una molecola il segreto della memoria
• La Repubblica - Part 2, 8 January 2007 In una molecola il segreto della memoria
• La Repubblica - Part 3, 8 January 2007 In una molecola il segreto della memoria
• Nature Neuroscience, 8 January 2007 Learning through Trk-ing
• Diario Medico, 8 January 2007 El receptor TrkB potencia los procesos formadores de aprendizaje y memoria
• El Pais, 8 January 2007 Científicos italianos y españoles desvelan cómo funciona la química de la memoria
• La Stampa, 8 January 2007 La ricercatrice: le sinapsi alterate dalla molecola TrkB
• New Scientist, 8 January 2007 Memories are made of this molecule...

Hinxton, 8 January 2007 UK PubMed Central launched From today scientists will be able to access a vast collection of biomedical research and to submit their own published results for inclusion in a new online resource. more

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• UK PubMed Central launch Library & Information, 8 January 2007, 8 January 2007 UK PubMed Central launch