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EMBL scientists elected to EMBO Membership
Three EMBL group leaders and six EMBL alumni were recognised for their contributions to the life sciences
Wolfgang Huber, Julia Mahamid, and Oliver Stegle, who all lead research groups at EMBL Heidelberg, are among 69 life scientists elected to membership of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO). Recognised for their contributions to and leadership within the scientific community, they join the organisation’s community of more than 2,000 leading life scientists.
Wolfgang Huber and his group develop statistical and bioinformatics models for the analysis of different datasets. With applications from multi-omics to quantitative imaging, his work contributes to understanding complex biological systems.
Huber said about his election: “EMBO is one of the scientific organisations I respect the most. I am deeply honoured by the membership and excited to make contributions to its work. I particularly appreciate EMBO’s role in building a pan-European research landscape, furthering mobility, personal interactions, training, and careers of junior scientists, based on excellence.”
The Mahamid group applies cryo-electron tomography to reveal the 3D structure and function of macromolecular complexes in intact cells. She also recently received the 2023 EMBO Gold Medal for exceptional achievements in structural cell biology and developing powerful techniques to visualise cellular machinery in situ.
“I am delighted to join this group of outstanding scientists to support EMBO’s activities in promoting fundamental research in the life sciences. I am especially appreciative of EMBO’s efforts in advancing early-career researchers, training activities through support of practical courses on cutting-edge methods that enable frontier research, and knowledge exchange through the support of conferences,” Mahamid said about her election.
Oliver Stegle, who is an associate group leader at EMBL and leads the department of computational genomics and systems genetics at the German Cancer Research Centre (DKFZ) in Heidelberg, develops and applies machine learning methods for deciphering molecular variation across individuals, space, and time.
“It’s a great honour to see our work on computational biology being recognised in this way. EMBO is a unique organisation, providing young scientists the foundation to make important discoveries. I look forward to contributing to EMBO and working together with the community to maximise the utility of machine learning and AI in modern biology,” said Stegle.
Six EMBL alumni are also among the 69 scientists elected to EMBO membership this year. They are Florence Besse (Staff Scientist, EMBL Heidelberg, 2003-2008), Paul Dupree (Postdoctoral Fellow, EMBL Heidelberg, 1991-1993), Gáspár Jékely (Postdoctoral Fellow, EMBL Heidelberg, 2000-2007), Gaëlle Legube (Postdoctoral Fellow, EMBL Heidelberg, 2003-2006), Anastassis Perrakis (Staff Scientist, EMBL Grenoble and Hamburg, 1993-2000), and Eugenia Piddini (Predoctoral Fellow, EMBL Heidelberg, 1997-2002).
EMBO Members are involved in the organisation’s activities in different ways, for example, by serving on EMBO Council, Committees, and Advisory Boards, evaluating applications, and mentoring early-career scientists. For more information, visit the EMBO website.
