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genetics

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21 June 2024

Welcome: Mallory Freeberg

The new Team Leader for Human Genomics at EMBL-EBI shares how curiosity and maths shaped her career and what it takes to be a community builder.

PEOPLE & PERSPECTIVES

2024

people-perspectivesperspectives

28 May 2024 An illustration of cells in a mosaic context, demonstrating the idea of genetic mosaicism in blood stem cells.

Genetic mosaicism more common than thought

Blood stem cells from healthy people carry major chromosomal alterations, a study in Nature Genetics by researchers at the Max Delbrück Center and the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) finds. The discovery suggests that we are all genetic mosaics, which may contribute to ageing-related…

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

2024

science-technology

27 March 2024

Using Data Hubs to analyse SARS-CoV-2 and other pathogen sequences

The SARS-CoV-2 Data Hubs are a set of tools coupled with infrastructure that support four components: the submission, analysis, presentation and visualisation of SARS-CoV-2 raw read data, and its resulting analyses. What makes Data Hubs attractive is a unique set of features: A new publication in…

2024

updates-from-data-resources

18 July 2022 Large, elongated purple molecule has an on/off switch on it pointed to on.

The retron switch

EMBL researchers now understand the function of an elusive small DNA in bacteria and have developed a tool that can be used to better understand what might ‘switch on’ bacterial immune defences.

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

2022

sciencescience-technology

6 May 2022 Drawing of two chromosomes in which a highlighted area is switched around.

Flip-flop genome

Researchers at EMBL Heidelberg found that inversions in the human genome are more common than previously thought, which impacts our understanding of certain genetic diseases.

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

2022

sciencescience-technology

25 August 2020 Fruit fly larval cells looking like blue lightning

Breathing beneath the skin

Beautiful flashes of blue colour help light the way for researchers to study cells in fruit fly larva that provide oxygen to tissues.

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

2020

picture-of-the-weekscience-technology

3 August 2020 A woman with glasses holds a book. The book cover says "Gene naming rules". Thought bubbles float around her head and display gene symbols like BRCA1.

Bagpipe and Pokemon, or how not to name a human gene

The human genome harbours about 19 000 protein-coding genes, many of which still have no known function. As scientists unveil the secrets of our DNA, they come across novel genes that they need to refer to using a unique name. The Human Genome Organisation’s Gene Nomenclature Committee (HGNC) at…

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

2020

sciencescience-technology

7 December 2016

Cycle of life

Paul Nurse’s failed experiment inspired a career that would uncover key mechanisms of cell division

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

2016

sciencescience-technology

2 October 2015 The 1000 Genomes Project: a timeline

A lasting legacy

1000 Genomes Project pushed technologies and knowledge forward to understand what is 'normal' human genetic variation

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

2015

sciencescience-technology

17 July 2015

Science of Spider-Man

Web of lies? Science Movie Night reveals science behind the most famous spider bite in film history.

LAB MATTERS

2015

eventslab-matters

1 July 2014 Vasily Sysoev

Back to school

School ambassadors show next generation that scientists are more ‘role model’ than ‘mad professor’

LAB MATTERS

2014

lab-matters

1 July 2014 Illustration: Aad Goudappel, Rotterdam

Five for the future

Scientists from EMBL's five sites reflect on the opportunities and challenges that might lie ahead

LAB MATTERS

2014

lab-matters

12 September 2013

Potential new drug target for cystic fibrosis

Scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg and Regensburg University, both in Germany, and the University of Lisboa, in Portugal, have discovered a promising potential drug target for cystic fibrosis. Their work, published online today in Cell, also uncovers a…

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

2013

sciencescience-technology

19 December 2012

Sync to grow

Gene expression wave in the lower part of the future vertebrae column of a mammalian embryo. As the wave goes forward, new pre-vertebrae are formed and the future vertebrae column elongates. (Image and video credit: Nature) In a nutshell: The size of pre-vertebrae in a mammalian embryo is…

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

2012

sciencescience-technology

5 December 2012

My microbes

In a nutshell : The gut metagenome is the collection of all the genomes of all the microbes  in the human intestinal tract : it is specific to each human, like a second genetic signature At least in healthy humans, this personal metagenome is stable over time The gut metagenome is…

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

2012

sciencescience-technology

31 October 2012

Spot the difference

In a nutshell: 1st map combining human genetic variation at different scales – from single letters to large chunks Based on genomes of 1092 healthy people from Europe, the Americas and East Asia Could help identify genetic causes of disease, rather than just links Data made freely available in…

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

2012

sciencescience-technology

3 June 2012 Silenced genes in a cell

Export extravaganza

Scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany, have conducted the first comprehensive census of human cells’ export workers. In a study published online today in Nature Cell Biology, they found an unexpected variety of genes involved in transporting…

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

2012

sciencescience-technology

31 May 2012 Word cloud of proteins

The cell’s ‘New World’

In one of the most famous faux pas of exploration, Columbus set sail for India and instead ‘discovered’ America. Similarly, when scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany, set out to find enzymes – the proteins that carry out chemical…

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

2012

sciencescience-technology

19 January 2012 Artist's impression of a chromosome exploding

Rigged to explode?

An inherited mutation in a gene known as the guardian of the genome is likely the link between exploding chromosomes and some particularly aggressive types of cancer, scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), the German Cancer Research Centre (DKFZ) and the University…

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

2012

sciencescience-technology

12 January 2012

Evolution by ‘copy-paste’

A team of geneticists and computational biologists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory’s European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI), the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute and Cancer Research UK reveal how an ancient mechanism is involved in gene control and continues to drive genome…

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

2012

sciencescience-technology

8 January 2012 Diagram of chromatin enhancers

Tracking genes’ remote controls

As an embryo develops, different genes are turned on in different cells, to form muscles, neurons and other bodily parts. Inside each cell’s nucleus, genetic sequences known as enhancers act like remote controls, switching genes on and off. Scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory…

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

2012

sciencescience-technology

21 July 2011 Model of the inner ring (green) of the nuclear pore, showing its components.

A hot species for cool structures

A fungus that lives at extremely high temperatures could help understand structures within our own cells. Scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) and Heidelberg University, both in Heidelberg, Germany, were the first to sequence and analyse the genome of a heat-loving fungus,…

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

2011

sciencescience-technology

20 March 2011

The informant: a jumping gene

Scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany, have developed a new method for studying gene regulation, by employing a jumping gene as an informant. Published online today in Nature Genetics, the new method is called GROMIT. It enables researchers to…

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

2011

sciencescience-technology

11 March 2011

Small code change, big effect

Scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany, have developed a new method which enables researchers to label any protein of their choice with any of a wide variety of previously available compounds, in living cells, by introducing a single reactive…

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

2011

sciencescience-technology

6 March 2011 By silencing genes two at a time in cells like these, the scientists can analyse the genes’ combined effects. In this microscopy image of human cells, nuclei are shown in red, cell membranes in green, and the cellular scaffolding in blue.

Suggesting genes’ friends, facebook-style

Scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) and the German Cancer Research Centre (DKFZ), both in Heidelberg, Germany, have developed a new method that uncovers the combined effects of genes. Published online today in Nature Methods, it helps understand how different genes can…

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

2011

sciencescience-technology

3 February 2011

Blood-clotting protein linked to cancer and septicaemia

In our not-so-distant evolutionary past, stress often meant imminent danger, and the risk of blood loss, so part of our body’s stress response is to stock-pile blood-clotting factors. Scientists in the Molecular Medicine Partnership Unit (MMPU), a collaboration between the European Molecular…

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

2011

sciencescience-technology

2 February 2011

The human genome’s breaking points

A detailed analysis of data from 185 human genomes sequenced in the course of the 1000 Genomes Project, by scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany, in collaboration with researchers at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Cambridge, UK, as well as the…

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

2011

sciencescience-technology

16 November 2010

One-touch make-up – for our cells

The cells in the different parts of this video are always the same (grey), but, like actors using make-up to highlight different facial features, they have fluorescent labels that mark different cellular components in different colours: blue shows the nucleus, yellow shows tubulin (a component of…

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

2010

sciencescience-technology

27 October 2010

1000 Genomes Project ushers in new era for human genetics

The 1000 Genomes Project, a major international collaboration to build a detailed map of human genetic variation, has completed its pilot phase. The results are now published in the journal Nature and freely available through the European Molecular Biology Laboratory’s European Bioinformatics…

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

2010

sciencescience-technology

24 June 2010 These microscopy images show that a protein from the NSL complex (green) and MOF (red) both bind to all chromosomes in male (right) and female (left) fruit flies - overlap is shown in purple. On the male X chromosome, MOF binds not only to promoter regions but also to the body of the genes, generating a brighter signal (pink). Image credits: Akhtar/EMBL.

A life-changing partnership

Researchers from the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany, and the Max-Planck Institute of Immunobiology Freiburg have identified a novel protein complex that regulates around 4000 genes in the fruit fly Drosophila and likely plays an important role in mammals, too.…

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

2010

sciencescience-technology

31 May 2010 This microscopy image shows that, in a mouse embryo, MiR451 (dark purple) is produced only in the liver, where red blood cells are being formed at this developmental stage. Image credits: Kasper Rasmussen/EMBL

Making enough red blood cells

Red blood cells, the delivery men that take oxygen to cells all around the body, have short lives. To keep enough of them in circulation, the human body produces around 2 million of these cells every second – even more in response to challenges like severe blood loss. In a study published today…

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

2010

sciencescience-technology

2 May 2010 These microscopy images show the region of the embryo larva that will develop into the adult fruit fly’s wing. In cells genetically manipulated so that PR-DUB cannot remove the gene-silencing tag (left), a gene which would normally be silenced becomes turned on (red) - a situation which is corrected when PR-DUB’s activity is restored (right). Image credits: J.Mueller/EMBL.

Tags on, tags off

During embryonic development, proteins called Polycomb group complexes turn genes off when and where their activity must not be present, preventing specialised tissues and organs from forming in the wrong places. They also play an important role in processes like stem cell differentiation and…

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

2010

sciencescience-technology

1 April 2010 Each of these large images of dividing cells is composed of several microscopy images of human cells in which different individual genes were silenced. The smaller images are placed according to genes’ effects: images for genes that affect chromosomes make up the chromosomes (red/pink), while the mitotic spindle (green) is composed of images for genes that affect it. IMAGE: Thomas Walter & Mayumi Isokane / EMBL

Movies for the human genome

Name a human gene, and you’ll find a movie online showing you what happens to cells when it is switched off. This is the resource that researchers at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany, and their collaborators in the Mitocheck consortium are making freely…

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

2010

sciencescience-technology

18 March 2010

What makes us unique? Not only our genes

Once the human genome was sequenced in 2001, the hunt was on for the genes that make each of us unique. But scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany, and Yale and Stanford Universities in the USA, have found that we differ from each other mainly because…

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

2010

sciencescience-technology

4 March 2010

Bacterial balance that keeps us healthy

The thousands of bacteria, fungi and other microbes that live in our gut are essential contributors to our good health. They break down toxins, manufacture some vitamins and essential amino acids, and form a barrier against invaders. A study published today in Nature shows that, at 3.3 million,…

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

2010

sciencescience-technology

10 December 2009 These microscopy images show the cellular reprogramming uncovered by EMBL scientists. On the left is an ovary of a normal adult female mouse, with a close-up (top left) showing the typical female granulosa cells. When the Foxl2 gene was silenced in these cells (right, top right: close-up), they took on the characteristics of Sertoli cells, the cells normally found in testes of male mice. Image credit: Treier / EMBL

The Battle of the Sexes

Is it a boy or a girl? Expecting parents may be accustomed to this question, but contrary to what they may think, the answer doesn’t depend solely on their child’s sex chromosomes. Scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany and the Medical Research…

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

2009

sciencescience-technology

9 July 2008

Zooming in on genetic shuffling

Genetic recombination, the process by which sexually reproducing organisms shuffle their genetic material when producing germ cells, leads to offspring with a new genetic make-up and influences the course of evolution. In the current issue of Nature, researchers at the European Molecular…

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

2008

sciencescience-technology

5 February 2008

Europe’s most common genetic disease is a liver disorder

Much less widely known than the dangerous consequences of iron deficiencies is the fact that too much iron can also cause problems. The exact origin of the genetic iron overload disorder hereditary hemochromatosis [HH] has remained elusive. In a joint effort, researchers from the European Molecular…

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

2008

sciencescience-technology

22 January 2008

International consortium announces the 1000 Genomes Project

Drawing on the expertise of multi-disciplinary research teams, the map developed by the 1000 Genomes Project will provide a view of biomedically relevant DNA variations at a resolution unmatched by current resources. The European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI), working with long-term collaborator…

LAB MATTERS

2008

lab-matters

29 June 2007

Modern brains have an ancient core

Hormones control growth, metabolism, reproduction and many other important biological processes. In humans, and all other vertebrates, the chemical signals are produced by specialised brain centres such as the hypothalamus and secreted into the blood stream that distributes them around the body.…

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

2007

sciencescience-technology

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