To engage in technology transfer and industry relations
Novel training formats, among other new activities, help further develop an EMBL innovation culture, empower the next generation of EMBL fellows, and diversify current instruments for training and knowledge exchange between EMBL and industry partners.
“Adding imaging capabilities to cell sorting has opened up the possibility of identifying and correlating cell morphology and protein localisation with specific cellular processes. The sentence: ‘Seeing is believing’ can finally be applied to the flow cytometry field!”
– Diana Ordonez, Head of the EMBL Heidelberg Flow Cytometry Core Facility, 2015-2024, on the development and application of image-enabled cell sorting technology by EMBL and BD Bioscience
Among the year's accomplishments, a new EU-funded project, Fragment-Screen, is expected to accelerate drug discovery and development, bringing in expertise from EMBL Grenoble and EMBL-EBI. Additionally, a new start-up DenovAI, is now harnessing advanced machine learning for broader, faster antibody discovery.
An EMBL alumnus founded DenovAI for broader, faster, cheaper antibody discovery with advanced machine learning and computational biophysics.
EMBL partnered on a project that aims to accelerate drug discovery and development, connecting expertise from EMBL Grenoble and EMBL-EBI.
Open Targets – a public/private partnership that includes EMBL – is using artificial intelligence and machine learning to identify and prioritise drug targets.
“I believe the Fragment-Screen project will transform fragment-based drug discovery….At the end of the project, the process of drug development will be substantially improved.”
– Harald Schwalbe, Director of Instruct-ERIC, one of the research infrastructures central to this collaborative Fragment-Screen project intended to develop innovative instrumentation, workflows, and experimental and computational methodologies
In 2023, a summer school helped 20 PhD and postdoctoral fellows learn more about R&D-related industry careers. Additionally, EMBL and ZEISS looked forward with a new long-term agreement that should accelerate imaging technology development that advances life science research.
Through a collaborative agreement, EMBL and ZEISS aimed to accelerate development of imaging technology to advance life science research.
EMBL researchers used a new cell sorting technology to gain insights into cellular function in health and disease, as well as for other innovative applications.
EMBL organised a five-day summer school to help PhD students and postdocs learn more about research and development (R&D) related industry careers.
EMBL’s innovation and translation activities include industry collaborations, public-private partnerships, forums for knowledge exchange, invention disclosures, and creation of spin-off companies. EMBLEM, EMBL’s technology transfer arm, enables much of this, and in 2023 it helped develop and conclude collaborations between 62 industry partners and 33 EMBL scientists.
