Have you ever seen one of our posts and wondered “#EESSymbiosis? What does the ‘EES’ actually mean?” EMBL, EMBO, CCO, ATC… there are a lot of acronyms to go around! Well, we’re here to clear up all potential acronym-head-scratching. Let’s start off with one that you can’t miss:

EMBL

European Molecular Biology Laboratory. We are Europe’s leading life sciences laboratory. With 27 member states, EMBL has more than 110 independent research groups and service teams covering the spectrum of molecular biology at six sites in Barcelona, Grenoble, Hamburg, Heidelberg, EMBL-EBI in Hinxton, and Rome.

EMBO

European Molecular Biology Organization. EMBO is an organisation of more than 1,900 leading researchers that promotes excellence in the life sciences in Europe and beyond. The major goals of the organisation are to support talented researchers at all stages of their careers, stimulate the exchange of scientific information, and help build a research environment where scientists can achieve their best work.

EMBL-EBI

You might have noticed some of our events take place at EMBL-EBI. ‘EBI’ stands for European Bioinformatics Institute and it is one of the six EMBL sites, located in Hinxton, UK. Most of our bioinformatics events take place here, as the EMBL-EBI is a champion of open data in the life sciences.

ATC

Ever been to an event at EMBL Heidelberg? Then chances are high that this event took place in the ATC, which stands for Advanced Training Centre. Since its opening in 2010, the ATC has been our main event venue in which we hold most of our scientific conferences or practical courses. Its distinct architecture is inspired by DNA’s double helix, and it boasts some gorgeous views from the top, so make sure to walk all the way up one of the helices next time you visit us.

The ‘EES’ in our hashtags, as in e.g. #EESSymbiosis, #EESNeurovascular

EES stands for EMBO | EMBL Symposium and is used in our social media posts to clearly denote the individual symposia and give each their own unique hashtag. This way, participants may share their experience with others and build a community by finding each other on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, or LinkedIn!

CCO

You might have seen the acronym CCO come up here and there. It stands for Course and Conference Office and encompasses everyone who makes EMBL events happen! Our Conference Officers, Marketing Officers, Sponsorship Officers, and Team Leads make sure the broad range of events that happen year-round go smoothly and that you’re always up to date on which events will happen next!

ELIXIR 

The ELIXIR Training Platform aims to strengthen national training programmes, grow bioinformatics training capacity and competence across Europe, and empower researchers to use ELIXIR’s services and tools. You’ll often see this on EMBL-EBI course websites, as EMBL-EBI Training is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure.

CC By

You may see this written, or a logo with this wording, whilst partaking in on-demand training from EMBL-EBI. This mark on a course means that all materials are free cultural works licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license, except where further licensing details are provided. What does that mean for you? Well, you’re free to use our materials for free!

WGC

Stands for the Wellcome Genome Campus, on which EMBL-EBI is located. If you’re attending an in person event with EMBL-EBI, it will be on the WGC.