14 EMBL April 2003 &cetera Newsletter of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory

EBI to co-host 2004 ISMB-ECCB EMBL postdocs travel to Africa ...page 3 predoc selection week at EMBL ...page 5

EBI to co-host the world’s largest Does your Auntie Hilda conference know what DNA is? The EBI will be co-hosting ISMB–ECCB 2004 – a joint conference between Tell her to come find out at EMBL’s Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology (ISMB) and The European Open House on Sunday, June 29. Conference on Computational Biology (ECCB) – in Glasgow, UK on 1-5 Visitors will get a real taste of lab life August 2004. The conference will be chaired by the EBI’s director, Janet as they participate in guided tours, Thornton, and David Gilbert of the University of Glasgow. The UK-funded hands-on activities, and fun and Collaborative Computational Project 11 and the Scottish Bioinformatics games – all in celebration of the Forum are the other co-hosts. Heidelberg lab’s 25th anniversary. Hilda and others will soon be able to EMBL researchers travel to Africa to register, either online at www.embl.de, or by calling help build community health center 06221/387 0. Earlier this year, two EMBL postdocs, Emmanuel Reynaud and Jez Simpson, If you work at EMBL and want to get in hung up their lab coats and set off on an incredible adventure. Travelling in on the fun, we’ve got lots of jobs for you. a 1974 Land Rover named Ella, they made their way from the UK, down Just send us an email at [email protected] through continental Europe and across into Africa, where they navigated their way through deserts and minefields. Their final destination? A small village in Mauritania called Khabou, where they helped the local communi- ty to build a health center. Read more about their adventures... on page 5 in this issue... He’s got tape on the soles of his shoes! education@EMBL 2 You can find her every Tuesday and Thursday stacking labcoats in the & society 2 cupboards beneath the second floor staircase. She has worked at EMBL since the very beginning, and used to have breakfast with Sir John every day. Find postdocs in mauritania 3 out who Martha Friedman is in names to faces... on page 6 EBI research day 4 the EMBO corner 5 Predoc selection week at EMBL names to faces 6 March 10 marked the start of the annual predoc selection week at EMBL. letter to the editor 6 Busloads of ambitious students arrived at the Heidelberg campus for an news & events 7 intense week of interviews, tours and socializing, all in hopes of being accepted into the International PhD Programme. Get the inside scoop from people@EMBL 8 some current students... on page 7 p

Education @ EMBL Education activities are getting underway at scientist/educators and visitors. Their job Alexander Picker joined the staff in April as EMBO and EMBL with the beginning of the will be to bring teachers in for three-day lab- Education Officer. He did his PhD at the EC-funded “Continuing Education for oratory practicals which will be used simul- Department of Neurobiology, University of European Biology Teachers” project taneously as a platform for training scien- Heidelberg in the group of Michael Brand (CEEBT), which officially started on March tists and developing new educational mate- working on the genetic control of brain 1. The Heidelberg campus will host an inter- rials based on EMBL science. Those materi- national Teachers Workshop on May 23-24, als will be made available to teachers development in the zebrafish embryo. After including teachers from across Europe, throughout Europe via the Internet. that he worked for three years at experts and media developers from many Trista Dawson, familiar to many EMBLites LIONbioscience AG, Heidelberg, where he different countries, and scientists. Details because of her former post at Cellzome, developed web-based educational material can be obtained at www.embo.org/proj- joined the project in March. She brings along for bioinformatics, did applied bioinformat- ects/scisoc/education.html and from the years of experience in project management, ics research and finally led a software devel- CEEBT website, to be launched in the next communications and marketing. She also opment team. He wants to combine his few days. Scientists are more than welcome has a unique combination of academic qual- interest in molecular biology, bioinformatics to attend. ifications, with degrees in both science and and teaching by developing new approaches The CEEBT project has also permitted the business. These skills will be especially valu- to life science education in the context of the creation of a facility called the European able in managing the ELLS facility, strategic Learning Laboratory for the Life Sciences planning, financial management and promo- ELLS. (ELLS) at EMBL, which will be staffed by tion. – Russ Hodge EMBL/EMBO to hold debate on digital age publishing practices EMBL and EMBO will hold a joint round- tion of scientific knowledge. In our view it is more upcoming events... table debate on Publishing practices at the urgent that all interested parties, practicing Crossroads - Between the Print Media and the scientists and publishers, collectively assess On Tuesday, April 29, Professor Scott Internet, on Saturday, June 7 at 14.00 at the the state of affairs and future prospects as we Gilbert (Swarthmore College, Pennsylvania) Print Media Academy, Kurfürsten-Anlage 52 find ourselves at historical crossroads will speak about “Teaching evolution in Heidelberg. The aim of this event is to between the print media and the Internet. through development.” This lecture is part promote reflection and debate within the sci- of the EMBL/DAI-sponsored 'Science and Speakers include Jean-Claude Guédon, entific community on how new technologies Culture' series, and will take place at the (University of Montréal), Alan Fersht that are ushering in a new digital age affect Deutsch–Amerikanische Institut, (Professor, Cambridge University), Dirk publishing practices in science. The intro- Sofienstrasse12, Heidelberg at 16.00. duction of revolutionary communication Haank (CEO, Elsevier Science), Iain Mattaj technologies at the end of the 20th century (Scientific Director, EMBL), and Michael On Wednesday, April 30 at 16.00 Professor has had a profound impact on the mode of Eisen (Director, Public Library of Science). Gilbert will give a second lecture in EMBL’s Operon auditorium, entitled “The new revo- production, appropriation, and dissemina- – Halldór Stefánsson lution in developmental biology: expansion and reconciliation.” New releases from Science & Society... On Wednesday, May 7, Ronald Plasterk Now available on DVD: Infectious Diseases: Challenges, Threats and from the Netherlands Institute for Responsibilities, a collection of keynote speeches from the joint EMBL/EMBO Developmental Biology in Utrecht and win- Science & Society Conference, held in Heidelberg on November 8-9, 2002. If you ner of the 2002 EMBO Award for missed the meeting and would like a copy, email Lena Reunis at Communication in the Life Sciences, will [email protected]. speak on “Communicating about science with the general public.” The talk will take EMBO Reports special science and society issue. The May 2003 issue of EMBO place in EMBL’s Operon at 17.00. Reports will be dedicated to a collection of essays authored by the participants of the Infectious Diseases conference. See www.emboreports.org for more. These events are open to the public. Young researchers hold science symposium at EMBL One hundred and fifty keen science students newly upgraded facilities in the Operon acknowledgement, ‘Thanks to Greg's Dad,’ took part in the European Junior Science and auditorium did just the trick. and another had a Results section that Humanities Symposium at EMBL in mid- EMBL staff enthusiastically served as judges explained the apparent bias toward male March. The event is organized by the of the posters and were impressed by the participants as ‘We tried to get girls to play and US Department of quality of the research. Research topics the video games. But they didn't want to.’” Defense-dependent school systems to pro- ranged from “Can you guess the flavour of Highlights of the symposium included a mote scientific research in high schools. baby food?” to “Does playing video games play based on the science of bubbles and a Organizers chose EMBL as the location for affect your memory?” to “Are North science trivia quiz, the lucky winners of the symposium to give the students the American or European students leaner?” which got to take home EMBL lab coats. chance to learn about EMBL's research. They “I was impressed by the simple honesty in Thanks go to all judges, Anne Ephrussi, also needed a real conference venue for their their approach to the scientific process,” says Andrew Moore and Luis Vacs for technical own oral and poster presentations. EMBL’s one judge. “One poster included the support. 3

Out of the lab and into Africa EMBL researchers help to build a community health center in Mauritania

Earlier this year, EMBL postdocs Emmanuel Reynaud and Jez Simpson hung up their lab coats and set off on an incredible adventure. Travelling in a 1974 Land Rover named Ella, they made their way from the UK, down through Europe and across into Africa, where they navigated their way through deserts and minefields. Their final destination? A small village in Mauritania called Khabou, where they helped to build a health center for the local community.

MANY EMBL RESEARCHERS HAVE ACTIVITIES THAT of 5, mainly of malaria. This area is along the through Morocco to Casablanca, where we TAKE THEM BEYOND THE BORDERS OF THE LAB. Senegal river, and has a climate that breeds picked up our visas to enter Mauritania. YOU’VE BEEN UP TO SOMETHING SPECIAL. malaria-carrying mosquitoes. The river is a After that we followed the coast for almost (Emmanuel) I have been doing humanitarian lifeline for the area, but it is also a killer. 3000 km until we reached the town of work for several years. While I was doing A major problem with malaria is that parents Dakhla, on the southern tip of Morocco. The my PhD in France, I became friends with the fail to bring their children to the hospital in drive through the Western Sahara is featu- assistant who washed our glassware. He time. They’ll visit the village medicine man, ureless. A few camels from time to time, but was from Khabou, a small village in or try other rituals until it’s too late. It’s a not much else. In Dakhla we made our final Mauritania. One day he asked me to help problem of awareness, but there are solu- preparations before crossing over into him prepare a report for his village associa- tions. I have worked with people on the Mauritania and the real desert stretch. At tion. We found a lot of common ground to other side of the river in Mali, where there is this point all roads finish. talk about, and he invited me to attend one a different approach to healthcare. Medics of his meetings. I was able to help them reor- work closely with the community, to teach ganize their association so that they could them about prevention measures such as receive money from the government. We using insecticide-dipped nets. The staff there have been developing the project in Khabou have been able to reduce the number of together ever since. malaria-related deaths. But for this to hap- pen, the community must take an active role. HOW DID THE PROJECT START? And it makes sense. We are also working to Some African villages have a self-imposed rebuild schools and give them books and tax system where they put money into a pot photos: P-L Pentecote & J. Simpson supplies so that more children can attend. Crossing the Sahara in a Land Rover named Ella. and then decide how to use it. Many com- Once we have reached the kids, we can reach munities are very religious and have used the families. This is a change that will take a There is a checkpoint 25 km in from the the money to build mosques. However, four long time, but it's a very important one to Moroccan border. The problem is that the years ago, the people of Khabou voted to make. area is a former war zone and you have to build a much-needed health center. It will cross a minefield to reach it. There is a piste eventually serve 35,000 people. HOW WAS THE TRIP FROM HEIDELBERG TO to follow, but it's a difficult drive. As long as MAURITANIA? This is obviously a big challenge for a small you stick to it, you won't get blown up. village. Few locals have university degrees; (Jez) This is where I come in. Soon after Under no circumstances do you deviate most of them have never even been to Emmanuel arrived in our lab, we discovered from it. That’s a rule you never break. school. They don't have the know-how or our common interest in Africa. I've driven Soon after the check point, you arrive in experience to develop such structures. This across the continent twice. When he told me Nouadhibou. Though it is the second largest is where we can help. Through our net- he was planning a trip down there to do city in Mauritania, it is not connected to any- works, we have access to doctors, builders some work with his organization, I asked if I where by road. You have to find a guide who and engineers who can show them how to could go along. This was a chance for me to will take you the 500 km across the Sahara. develop their skills. return to Africa and give something back. We found one and drove for the next two and a half days through the desert. It’s just The village’s old health facilities consisted of In the meantime, Emmanuel convinced his great driving! There were no roads, no a 10m2 room with mud walls and no win- friend Daniel, a doctor from Paris, to visit pistes. We just followed landscapes and dows. The staff had to deliver babies, give the health center to do some basic medical things you see in the desert. The final 200 injections, or perform minor surgery on the training. Daniel, however, refuses to fly. So kilometers is along the beach because the floor. Now they have a 110m2 building, with for me the decision to drive down was easy. sand inland is too deep for driving. Before many well-equipped rooms. Soon they will I have a Land Rover which is well suited for you set off on this stretch you have to wait have surgery facilities, too. The nearest hos- such expeditions. Her name is Ella. She is 29 for the low tide. This gives you about 10 pital is 45 km and two and a half hours years old and doesn’t have many original meters of beach area on which to drive. away. If a patient needs urgent surgery, he or parts left, but she’s perfect for Africa. You Quickly. You have about three hours to do it, she usually dies on the way there. This is can fix her anywhere. and you'd better not break down! After this, particularly a problem for childbirth. If a The Land Rover lives in the UK, so I drove it’s another two-day drive east to the village. woman can't deliver naturally, she and the down to Paris to meet up with Emmanuel baby both die. The statistics are shocking. and Daniel.From there we drove through For more about Emmanuel and Jez’s incredible journey, see the full story at 1% of women and 2% of children die during France and Spain, and across to Ceuta on the www.embl.de/ ExternalInfo/oipa/n2003/n0403_ childbirth. 15% of children die before the age African coast by ferry. From there we drove 1.html.

Khabou’s new community health center. p

A celebration of research at the European Bioinformatics Institute As well as providing bioinformatics services Christos Ouzounis’ group is working on to life scientists, the EBI has an active and functional analysis of whole genomes. The growing research base. At the first EBI group has developed several resources for research day on February 26 we filled the clustering sequences according to function, auditorium of the Hinxton genome campus and is using these to find out how well con- to celebrate research at the EBI, exchange served functions are throughout evolution. information, get to know people in other As well as the three groups that dedicate all groups, identify potential collaborations their efforts to research, the services groups and, last but by no means least, enjoy our- carry out a considerable amount of research selves. and development. , Johan Rung The morning began with overview talks and discussed ongoing from the three research group leaders. Janet research in the Ensembl, Microarray Thornton’s group aims to understand biolo- Informatics and Sequence Database groups, Katja Kivonen explains her prize-winning poster. gy, disease and evolution through protein including finding regulatory motifs in structure. Janet took us on a whistle-stop genome sequences, constructing and structural perspective (Robert Steward) and tour of the group’s projects, from new ways analysing genetic networks, and developing reconstructing gene networks from gene of deriving functional information from methods of automatic annotation. expression data (Lev Soinov). structures to understanding the molecular After feasting on pizza, pasta and posters, To round off the day, our erstwhile director, basis of ageing and disease. we learned about individual projects in Michael Ashburner, awarded the poster Nick Goldman’s group aims to provide evo- more detail, with talks on modelling codon prize to Katja Kivonen for her poster on lutionary biologists with tools to study evo- evolution (Simon Whelan), properties of computational analysis of gene regulation in lution computationally. It’s hard to study microbial genome organization (Benjamin the yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe. We evolution because you can’t do experiments: Audit), using wavelet functions to analyse retired to the conference centre lobby for either they’re illegal or they take millions of sequence (Pietro Lio), three-dimensional drinks and more lively discussion. As the years. But evolution puts ‘footprints’ in template matching (Jonathan Barker), using EBI’s research base grows with the appoint- sequences that allow us to determine not gene networks to learn about gene function ment of two new group leaders, the biggest only the relationships between organisms (Thomas Schlitt), evolutionary conservation challenge for next year’s research day will be but also information about the process of of pathways (Richard Coulson and Sophia how to fit everything in. evolution. Tsoka), studying inherited diseases from a – Cath Brooksbank

from the EIROforum in Athens Staff Association

2003 Elections: Elected or re-elected to the Donations for Iraqi war refugees: The Staff Heidelberg Staff Association committee for Association has opened an account for those two-year terms were Gareth Griffiths and who wish to make a donation to “SOS Andy Hoenger (group leaders); Georg Ritter Kinderdorf,” which builds homes and pro- and Tom Cord (technicians); Doros Panayi vides surrogate parents and a home environ- (floating); Ann Cooper (pensioner); and ment for orphans. Iraqi children who have Janin Topaloglu (ancillary). The postdoc lost their parents will find a new home in one position remains unfilled. Our thanks to of several “Kinderdorf” villages in Jordan. Jorma Tapola and Kevin Leonard, who both Make bank transfers payable to Dr. Kevin photo: MB Hansen stepped down this spring, for their valuable Leonard and Godefrida Leenart (important: input over the last two years! The Directors-General of the write both names on the bank form!), 2003 General Assembly: The annual meet- EIROforum organizations met with Dresdner Bank, BLZ 672 800 51, Kto.-Nr. ing of all Heidelberg Staff Association mem- European Commission Research 0475311201, with the notation “Spendenkonto bers was held on March 26. Reports were Director-General Achilleas Mitsos für Kinder im Irak”. Cash donations may be made on the activities, issues and finances of during a coordinating meeting at the made to Frieda Glöckner in Room 116 at the the past year. A video is available for those Demokritos Research Center in who could not attend. Contact the Staff main Lab. Athens on April 4, 2003. cur- rently holds the rotating presidency of Association in Heidelberg for viewing. – Ann Thüringer the EU. From left to right are: William Stirling (ESRF), Antonio Rodotà (ESA), Catherine Cesarsky (ESO), Fotis C. Come one, come all Kafatos (EMBL), Achilleas Mitsos to the 3rd annual joint EMBL/Staff Association Summer Party. (EU), Colin Carlile (ILL) Michael Watkins (representing EFDA), and There’ll be plenty of food, games, song and dance, and yes cowboys and cowgirls, Horst Wenninger (representing the mechanical bull will be back. CERN). Saturday, June 7, 2003, right after Lab Day 5

bringing up a family. The lack of successful It will help the selected scientists to return to women as role models emphasises this science and prepare them for a career, be it in the impression. academia, education, administration or pub- lishing. Following the meeting the EMBO Council published a position paper on women in the EMBO received 27 applications from scien- life sciences and gave the green light for a restart fellowship programme that saw its tists (all female) with very diverse back- corner first deadline on 15 August 2002. It is the grounds for its first deadline. The fellowship first international fellowship of this kind. committee awarded six fellowships to scien- Eligible candidates are researchers, female tists in Italy, the UK, and Hungary. or male, who hold a PhD degree in the life A profile of the selected scientists can be EMBO restart fellowships sciences, who have taken a break of at least a found on the restart web-site at year for child care and have published at www.embo.org/projects/women/index.ht The EMBO restart fellowships are a recent least one first author paper in an interna- ml. addition to EMBO’s activities in support of tional peer reviewed journal. European science. The fellowship supports scientists who have taken a break in their There is no age limit and international say that the award provides a boost research careers for child care and want to mobility is not a compulsory feature of the of confidence and they expect that adding an return to the bench. restart fellowship, as moving around can be EMBO fellowship to their credentials will difficult with a family. Candidates must help them in the future. Recently Katja The initiative is a follow-up to EMBO’s identify a host lab and apply with a project Arndt from the University of Freiburg, one meeting “The glass ceiling for women in the proposal. The restart fellowships are intend- of the first group of EMBO restart fellows, life sciences” which was held in June 2001 at ed to relieve returning scientists of the pres- has been awarded an Emmy-Noether fel- the EMBL in Heidelberg. At the meeting sure to have to apply to highly competitive lowship from the DFG. approximately 100 scientists had a lively dis- fellowship schemes for which they are in cussion on the multiple and complex reasons competition with others who have had no for the failure of women to stay and advance interruption of their careers. As one The next deadline for applications is 15 in a scientific career. It was pointed out that says: “It levels the playing field. A restarter August, 2003. Please direct possible candi- one possible reason for the selective disap- has no chance if she/he has to compete with dates to our web-site at www.embo.org. pearance of women from science is the seem- applicants who had no career interruption ing incompatibility of a research career with and are fully mobile.” – Gerlind Wallon Making the grade: students gather at EMBL for predoc selection week Party posters plastered everywhere, people in says Anne Ephrussi, Associate Dean of morning to rest and recover before receiving suits wandering the halls, long lines for lunch in Graduate Studies. “That’s more than ever, the letters which outline their fate. the canteen, and strangely, Group Leaders are in and the level of applicants was impressive. It What is the week like for students? their offices – all clear signs that once again, pre- was a real challenge to narrow that down to “Monday night’s dinner with the Group doc selection week at EMBL has begun. the 95 candidates we invited for interviews.” Leaders was quite stressful for me. But over Every year, busloads of anxious students But being invited to EMBL is only the first the course of the week, the frequent inter- arrive at Meyerhofstrasse 1. They come from hurdle. An invitation does not guarantee views helped me to relax. I also sensed some many different countries, speak several dif- students a position. Not by far. Only about competitiveness between the students at the ferent languages, and have studied subjects half of the candidates are accepted. To be beginning, but this melted away quickly and ranging from zoology to physics. They all successful, you have to be able to shine by the party, the group was very close," get off the bus with one goal in mind: to among the competing students throughout a recounted predoc candidate Stephanie secure a coveted position in EMBL’s grueling week. Boelz, one of the nearly 50 students to be International PhD Programme. Monday begins with a welcome presenta- accepted. EMBL’s PhD Programme has grown steadily tion and tours around the lab, and ends with As for advice to future candidates, first year since its inception over 20 years ago. Over informal discussions with the Group PhD student Barbara Di Ventura notes, “The the years the number of students accepted to Leaders over dinner in the canteen. Tuesday programme organizers are quick to point the programme has more than doubled. and Wednesday schedules are bursting with out that once students are invited for an EMBL can now award its own degree and up to ten individual interviews each day. interview, they clearly have the academic has partnership agreements Thursday is also crammed with activities: qualifications. The students who try to cram with 10 universities in 8 individual lab tours and discussions with in studying during the week, often get more countries. lab members in the morning; the feared stressed, and don’t make it through. The Students arriving “Final Panel” interview in the afternoon. point of the interviews is to test your com- for interviews have Fortunately, this is followed by the Predoc munication abilities and to determine if you already made it Party in the evening, a welcome chance for are motivated, and would work well in their through some the students to blow off some steam and teams.” Stephanie agrees, “The emphasis on tough competition. have fun with EMBL staff and students. The the week is about getting to know the pre- “This year we had moment of truth arrives on Friday after- docs personally and not only about testing 436 students apply,” noon. Students are mercifully given the their scientific knowledge. So just relax and Stephanie Boelz succesfully navigated her way through EMBL’s be yourself!” International PhD Programme selection process and will join Matthias Hentze’s lab this spring. (Photo by M. Schupp.) – Trista Dawson p names to faces He’s got tape on the soles of his shoes! Martha Friedman, our most senior staff want to change shoes, but instead he went member, scrutinizes each and every lab coat straight into his office and got a roll of tape to at the Heidelberg laboratory. As soon as a cover up the rubber.” As it turned out, he button goes missing or a slight rip makes its continued doing so every day after that until appearance, the coat is ruthlessly taken out EMBL moved into its own buildings and to of the lab coat stack and ends up under less rubber-sensitive floors. Martha's sewing machine at home. “I am at Martha's daily presence was appreciated so the lab five hours a week. I really enjoy much that EMBL offered her the job of being getting out of the house and will continue in charge of the first glassware cleaning doing this for as long as I can,” Martha says group in the late seventies. She saw the with a smile. I was hesitant to ask her about laboratory grow and witnessed the coming her age, but before I could say anything else and going of many scientists and members of she added: “ … and I am only 83 now!” support staff. For the last few years she has Martha Friedman and Sir John Kendrew In the seventies, Martha was working for a been in charge of the maintenance of the lab coats. “EMBL is my second home where Twice a week, a small silver-haired lady cleaning company contracted by the DKFZ everyone calls me ‘unsere Martha’,” she says. pushes one of EMBL's omnipresent metal where EMBL's pioneers were temporarily trolleys piled high with lab coats through the based. Responsible for the EMBL lab area, Just as I am about to offer her another cup of corridors of the second floor. She takes a very she used to have her morning coffee with its coffee, Martha all of a sudden remembers she short coffee break in between two loads in a occupants, including Director-General Sir has a doctor's appointment. She slowly puts quiet corner of the Cafeteria, standing up, John Kendrew. For years, rumours have on her coat while looking out for Willi, one of maybe exchanging only a few words with been circulating about Sir John's unusual EMBL's drivers who chauffeurs her safely up someone, because after all this is work time. early morning routine when entering the and down the hill. As she walks away she On her way back to the cupboards lab. Martha finally confesses a well-kept suddenly turns around and says proudly: underneath the stairs, she smiles at people secret: “Sir John used to wear shoes with “You know, every year on my birthday I passing by while she observes the life at black rubber soles, and with every footstep received a birthday card from Sir John. He EMBL, as she has been doing for the last 25 he left a mark on my freshly cleaned floors! never forgot, not even once”. years. One morning over coffee I hinted he might – Lena Reunis a letter to the editor Dear editor, ary observer than the centres.From this we Reading the extremely interesting article can deduce that the time dilation effect of the from the sister sciences in February's issue of general theory will have a much greater EMBL&cetera concerning modifying the impact on those who sit at the ends of the earth's orbit reminds me of a couple of mod- carriages than it will on those who sit in the est, as yet unpublished, discoveries of my middle and, therefore, that those who own in the field of theoretical physics which always sit at the ends of railway carriages may be of interest. Both concern practical will live longer than those who don't. applications of the time-dilation effect of the The impact of the time dilation effect can general theory of relativity in the field of also be seen to be responsible for the habitu- transport, which, as you will recall, was the al late-running of railway trains in the original inspiration for Einstein's theory. where passengers are pro- The first of these, strangely, has links also to vided with timetables on platforms. These the life sciences. timetables are, naturally, stationary while Consider a railway train travelling across responsibility for keeping the train to Germany.Typically the path followed is nottimetable rests with the driver for whom, he Makin’ baby waffles a straight line and in consequence the car- being inside the train - and at the end of a There's a lot more to being a baby riages have to follow the curves of the track. carriage to boot, time passes more slowly then being rocked, changed, fed However, carriages are rigid in construction than for the stationary waiting passengers. and cuddled. There's baking and do not follow the curve exactly, only the Late running trains are therefore an waffles, for example, an afternoon points of the carriages directly over the pivot inescapable fact of life in the UK! Consider, activity assisted by the teachers points of the bogies do this.Those parts onof the other hand, the practice of Deutsche of the Kinderhaus' babygroup. the carriages which are towards the ends Bahn who provide timetables to passengers Don't let go of that mixer, Sophie! tend to swing out over the outside of the inside the train.In these conditions passen- curve, while those in the centres of the car- gers may well be disappointed at the late riages tend to follow a path inside the centre arrival of the train they are waiting to catch, of the curves. In consequence of this phe- but once on board are able to agree with the ...from Intermedex nomenon the ends of carriages tend to trav- on-board clocks that they are indeed run- ning to time and on arrival that the train has Did you know that dental implants are not el much further through space than those covered by the EMBL Health Scheme? We arrived punctually.Subsequent late arrivals parts in the centre.However, all parts of the encourage you to give us a cost estimate at meetings tends thereafter to be blamed on carriage leave and arrive in stations at the before you begin major dental treatment. same point in time which must, of course, city centre congestion rather than on late We’ll let you know what contribution you can mean that the ends of the carriages have running trains. expect. For more, please visit travelled much faster in relation to a station- – Keith Williamson, Personnel Section www.intermedex.de. 7

EBI/MSD releases new search interfaces news On April 2, 2003, EBI/MSD released new can then be viewed using a unique exten- &events search interfaces to the Oracle data ware- sion to the AstexViewer, developed by MSD, house derived from the PDB. Searches that integrates sequence, structure and March and April were busy months include MSDlite, a simple text search sys- properties into the one package. MSD will as EMBL hosted visits from representatives tem; MSDpro, a drag&drop interface that be visiting EMBL Heidelberg on May 15th to of the member states. First it was the Swiss allows users to create their own query struc- demonstrate the new services and several on March 7, then the Danes on March 11. Visitors toured the facilities and met with ture; and MSDsite, a PDB ligand environ- other centres across Europe during the senior faculty to discuss new developments ment interface. Each interface produces a course of this year. in the lab, and technology transfer. On April result list of multiple PDB ID codes which – Janet Roser 2, 30 scientists from Ireland also toured the lab, getting a close-up look at current proj- Researchers on board new FP6 funding instruments ects and meeting with individual scientists. Earlier this spring several EMBL researchers cal mass of activities and resources needed Not quite Division A, but close... submitted proposals for Networks of to achieve ambitious, clearly-defined scien- Wednesday night “calcetto” has kicked off Excellence and Integrated Projects under the tific and technological objectives of a at EMBL Monterotondo! Organized by EC’s 6th Framework Programme. European dimension. postdoc Pietro Pilo Boyl, a group of staff Networks of Excellence aim to strengthen “EMBL, with its four-fold mission to con- and students meet weekly at a local field excellence on a research topic by bringing duct basic research, provide services and to battle it out. A well-deserved Peroni together the critical mass of resources and training, and develop instrumentation, is and pizza follow the match. well positioned to participate in these new expertise. By tackling fragmentation, the EC On instruments,” says grants office manager EMBL groups get out of the city. hopes to provide a durable framework with- Genevieve Reinke. “With its expertise and February 27, EMBL staff packed up their in which Europe’s researchers can work tools, and experience in coordinating and skis and headed to Meiringen-Hasliberg, together to establish themselves as world participating in huge projects at an interna- Switzerland for the annual Cell Biology leaders. Integrated Projects aim to generate tional level, EMBL can really be a driving and Biophysics Programme ski weekend. the knowledge to implement the priority of force in shaping, structuring and strength- In the same month, the entire Biocomp- thematic areas. They will integrate the criti- ening the European Research Area.” uting department folded up their laptops for the weekend and went to Garmisch- Fighting e-mail evils at EMBL Heidelberg Partenkirchen for a retreat. Unsolicited e-mail, or spam mail, has contin- from open relay sources; and central spam-tag- The Oxford English Dictionary, Current Protocols in cell biology, cytome- ued to flood EMBL staff’s mailboxes, caus- ging service, to alert users to possible spam try, molecular biology and protein sci- ing frustration and wasting time. E-mail can mail. ence, and Der Brockhaus Naturwissenschaft also contain viruses that infect computers, Out of about 20,000 e-mails processed in und Technik are now available online from and this can compromise the Laboratory's Heidelberg every day the new filters tag EMBL’s Szilard library. network services. about 1000 as spam, intercept about 25 50 students from the Comprensorio The Computer and Networking Group has viruses, and reject 1500 e-mails received Vibio Mariano in Rome visited the taken measures to protect the laboratory's from open relays. Monterotondo campus on April 5 to get a users from these e-mail evils, while at the For more information, see www.embl.de/ taste of lab life. They were given an intro- same time safeguarding timely delivery, and LocalInfo/CG/cnn/CNN20030312.html or duction to the campus and participated protecting user privacy. We have introduced contact system administrator Marc in tutorials led by EMBL and CNR staff. the following three measures at the main lab Hemberger at [email protected]. Thanks go to Richard Butler of the CNR in Heidelberg: anti-virus checks on all incom- for organizing the visit. ing mail; blocking of incoming mail coming – Hans Doebbeling FAQs Safety tips from the Safety Office from the personnel section Did you know... that one volume of liquid nitrogen gives about 700 volumes of gas? WHAT SHOULD I DO BEFORE GOING ON HOLIDAYS? Informing us of holiday and sick absences ... that breathing pure nitrogen will cause Each staff member receives a yellow leave helps to ensure you have appropriate insur- ance cover. Sickness records may also indi- immediate loss of consciousness and card showing his or her entitlement for the almost immediate death? Neither nitrogen cate possible health and safety hazards in current year. If not please contact us to gas nor oxygen depletion are detectable by the Laboratory. obtain one. Record your holiday dates on human senses. WHAT IS HOME LEAVE? the card with approval from your supervi- ... that liquid and cold gaseous nitrogen sor and send it to us before you go. We will EMBL reimburses the costs of travel by the may cause severe burns and frostbite of update our records and return the card. most economical route for staff members to skin and the respiratory tract? visit their home base. This home leave is Therefore... WHAT SHOULD I DO IF I AM SICK? available every second year from the start Store and use liquid nitrogen only in well- Please inform your supervisor who should date of your initial contract. The period of ventilated areas. then notify us of your absence. If you are ill absence must include at least five days for more than 3 days, including weekends annual leave. Wear a protective face shield and blue cryo gloves. and public holidays, please obtain a certifi- Please send us a request before you go and cate from your doctor. Send it to us and we a claim form after your return. It will help Do not breathe the gas. will update our records. us to process the payment quickly. For tips on handling laboratory chemicals, visit www.embl.de/LocalInfo/SafetyOffice, or contact For questions about this or any other topic, email Annabel at [email protected]. the Safety Office ([email protected]). p people EMBL Who’s new? @ Enrica Audero (Gross), Philippe Beaufils (Nebreda), Eric Blanc (Thornton), Stephanie Boelz (MMPU), Andreas Ladurner is a new interdisciplinary Group Leader in Jennifer Clark (Harris), Trista Dawson EMBL's Gene Expression and Structural & Computational Biology (OIPA, ELLS), Jorge Duarte (Zhu), Programmes. Andreas obtained his PhD in 1998 from the University Andrea Giordano (Schultz), Kersten of Cambridge in the UK, and did his postdoctoral research at the Guthrie (Green), Thorsten Henrich Howard Hughes Medical Institute of the University of California at (Wittbrodt), Alan Horne (Zhu), Berkeley. Having studied first how proteins fold and then how tran- Andreas Kahari (Birney), Samuel Kerrien (Zhu), Doris Lindner (Conti), scription works, his EMBL group will study how various proteins get Juliette Mathieu (Rørth), Jennifer recruited to chromatin and regulate the biology of the cell nucleus. McDowall (Apweiler), Thi Bach Nga Ly (ALMF), Alexander Picker (ELLS), Glenn Proctor (Birney), Mirana Director-General Fotis Kafatos is happy to report Ramialison (Wittbrodt), Heiko Runz the results of two applied Developmental Biology (Pepperkok), Thomas Sandmann projects in his extended family: the births of his (Furlong), Markus Schwab (Nebreda), first two grandchildren, George Walter Damian Smedley (Birney), Stefan Moschapidakis (left, born on December 26 to Terjung (ALMF), Henriette Uhlenhaut Helen and Stelios), and Sophia Louise Bunnell (Treier) (right, born on March 6 to Zoë and Ben). “Sarah and I are as happy as when our own two daughters were born,” says Fotis, “and delighted with our new grandparent status.” events Faculty appointments: As of May 1, Mark Green will become full time Head of @EMBL Administration at the EBI, Stefan Bäckman will take over as Internal Auditor, and Keith 9 May 2003 at 9.00 Williamson will become Head of Finance. Keith will retain his responsibilities for technol- at the EMBL Monterotondo campus ogy transfer, and will also serve as the Administrative Director’s deputy, in charge of pur- 6th EMBL minisymposium on molecular chasing and the grants office. Heidi Noack has joined EMBL as a consultant for the lab’s medicine: Mechanisms of cardiovascular Endowment Fund. disease 14-15 May 2003 awards, honours at EMBL Heidelberg Minisymposium on the functional &cetera organization of the nucleus 7 June 2003 at 14.00 , the EBI’s director, received the National Lecturer Award for excellence and at the Print Media Academy, Heidelberg leadership in the biophysical sciences at this year’s Biophysical Society Annual Meeting. EMBL/EMBO science & society Janet gave her award-winning talk, entitled ‘From protein structure to biological function minisymposium: Publishing practices at the and evolution’, in San Antonio on 3 March. You can view a webcast of her lecture at crossroads www.netbriefings.com/event/biophysics/Archives/awards/ . 7-8 June 2003 Ernst-Ludwig Florin, a staff scientist in EMBL’s Cell Biology and Biophysics Programme, is Lab Day at the main lab in Heidelberg, the 2003 co-recipient of the Nanoscience Prize. The 5,000 euro prize, split between Ernst- followed by the 3rd annual joint Ludwig and his collaborator Mathias Rief from the Technical University of Munich, is EMBL/Staff Association Summer Party awarded by the German Ministry of Science and Technology’s Nanotechnology Competence Center in recognition of the researchers’ pioneering work in the field of 15-18 June 2003 mechanical single molecule experiments on biomolecules. at the EMBL Monterotondo campus Colony Management Course EMBL alumnus Kai Simons has been awarded the Matti Äyräpää prize by the Finnish Medical Society Duodecim. The prestigious award, announced on national television, was 28-29 June 2003 given in recognition of Kai’s contributions to the molecular understanding of lipid rafts and EMBL Heidelberg’s 25th year anniversary membrane trafficking and how this relates to disease. Kai accepted the 17,000 euro prize at celebrations and Open House Duodecim’s annual meeting of the Finnish Medical Associations held in Helsinki on January 6, 2003. 10 July, 2003 at the Print Media Academy, Heidelberg Earlier this spring, PhD student Rossana de Lorenzi, went round to her colleagues at EMBL EMBLEM Founders & Start-up Symposium Monterotondo, asking for donations. By doing so, she raised nearly 450 euros to purchase school supplies for needy children in Guatemala. Bravissima, Rossana! For more events, see www.embl.de/ExternalInfo/todayAtEmbl/

As of Thursday, May 1, the ISG’s beer garden will be open An exhibit of Sarah Kafatou’s paintings Are you Monday to Sunday from 16.00-23.00. Stop by the ISG Guest opens on May 17, 2003 at 18.00 at the Galerie House, Eichwald 19, in Boxberg for a drink. Melnikow (111 Theaterstrasse, Heidelberg), and will last two weeks. Russ Hodge will thirsty? perform at the opening. All are invited.

EMBL&cetera is published by EMBL’s Office of Information and Public Affairs, Meyerhofstrasse 1, D-69117 Heidelberg, e-mail: [email protected]. Online version available at www.embl.de/ExternalInfo/oipa. Editor: Sarah Sherwood; Assistant Editors: Trista Dawson, Lena Reunis; Editorial Advisor: Russ Hodge. Thanks to Caroline Hadley for copy editing. Photographic support: EMBL Photolab; Printed on recycled paper by ColorDruck, Leimen.