EMBL Heidelberg said goodbye to some very familiar faces on 30 June when EMBL’s obligation to tender for cleaning services meant that the Gegenbauer company’s tenure at the lab ended.

No one was more sad to leave than supervisor Anni Stenzel, who for 13 years has led the team of ladies in their invaluable work keeping EMBL spick and span. Anni was referred to as the “Mother of nations” by the predocs she rescued in the EMBL laundry room with vital decisions regarding temperatures and settings for their laundry. Even though she can’t speak English, Anni says she never had any problems communicating with staff and it was this aspect of life that she found terrific at EMBL, as well as the approachability of the people. She says she has “left her heart at EMBL”, but she won’t miss cleaning up after the predoc parties – that was always “a killer”!