Molecular biology looks into past and future at The EMBO Meeting 2009
140 speakers on newest from molecular & cellular biology and beyond
The first ever annual life science conference from EMBO buzzed with talks, debates, new ideas and discussions. In all, 1,300 attendees from 50 countries gathered in Amsterdam to hear the latest science and meet friends and colleagues. For four days, they made the rooms of the spacious convention centre come alive. The meeting was well attended by young scientists, especially predocs and postdocs, who made the most of the opportunity to meet senior colleagues and gain career information. The career development workshops were popular on the first day, as was Tuesday’s Expanding Career Options lunch. Students and postdocs also crammed into the Pursuing an Academic Career Mentoring Session on Monday evening, organized by the former ELSO Career Development Committee.
On the scientific side, one of the plenary sessions focused on stem cells. Not surprisingly, the four talks as well as the keynote lecture from Rudolf Jaenisch on Stem cells, pluripotency & nuclear reprogramming attracted numerous delegates. These themes were also featured in the talk of Shinya Yamanaka, who has pioneered the field of somatic cell reprogramming and induced pluripotency, and in Amsterdam reported on recent advances towards the therapeutic applicability of these methods. After the session, all five scientists including Fiona Watt, Rudolf Jaenisch, Shinya Yamanaka, Austin Smith and Hans Clevers gathered in a joint press conference to answer questions from a group of journalists from various European and US media.
The conference also considered ways in which biomedical research could deliver new diagnostics, treatments and vaccines for various diseases. Axel Ullrich spoke about cancer drug development based on oncogenomics and Harald zur Hausen shed light on the identification of infectious agents causing human cancers and the medical consequences. Svante Pääbo delivered an interesting talk on Neanderthal genetics and Kenneth Holmes celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of the elucidation of the three dimensional structure of a protein (myoglobin) at atomic resolution. In a special non-life science lecture, astronomer royal Martin Rees gave a glimpse into our cosmic world, trying to explain what happens at the fringes of our galaxy and how likely it is to find other thinking creatures like ourselves.
“The scientific part was definitely good, but what I found really great were the non-scientific sessions”, commented EMBL predoc Christian Hoerner. “When do you otherwise have the opportunity to meet all the EMBO editors and pester them with questions? Or have a wine & cheese reception with Fiona Watt and Michael O. Hengartner, where you just chat about the various ways that science is communicated?”
The favorable weather made it a real pleasure to attend the social events in the evenings. At the final reception on Monday, around 460 scientists swapped their seminar chairs for comfortable deckchairs amidst the beach landscape outside the convention centre. The sandy terrace overlooking a lake and the delicious barbecue with a cool Heineken gave it a genuine late summer feeling. - Yvonne Kaul
About EMBO
The European Molecular Biology Organization promotes excellence in molecular life sciences. EMBO recognizes leading researchers, disseminates information and fosters talented scientists - empowering them to understand how life works and contribute knowledge to address the challenges of a changing world.
