SUMMER 2019 ISSUE 42 Scientists from 22 countries elected Meet the 56 new EMBO Members PAGES 6-7 Celebrating Five decades of funding Symposium M. Madan Babu and Paola Picotti honoured marks EMBC Gold Medal awarded to anniversary two systems biologists PAGES 10 – 13 PAGE 3 Member mentors Young Investigator Plan S implementation Life Science Alliance Three mentoring pairs share their stories EMBO responds to publication Spotlight on the newest journal of updated guidance PAGES 8 – 9 PAGE 14 PAGE 16 www.embo.org TABLE OF CONTENTS EMBO NEWS EMBO news Science policy Meet the EMBO Gold Medal recipients EMBO responds to updated Plan S guidance Page 3 Page 14 Gold Medal interview with Madan Babu Roundup from the World Conference on Page 4 Research Integrity EMBL Photolab Marietta Schupp, © Page 14 Gold Medal interview with Paola Picotti Editorial Pages 5 EMBO community or those of us who know EMBO in the 56 new EMBO Members elected present day – a respected organization Pages 6 –­ 7 Fwith more than 1800 members, stable funding and strong connections throughout Europe and the world – it is easy to forget that in the early days EMBO’s financial future was far from secure. After a grant from the Volkswagen Stiftung funded the EMBO Fellowships for the first EMBL Photolab Marietta Schupp. © five years, stable and, importantly, inde- pendent funding was only achieved when EMBO’s intergovernmental funding body, Updates from across Europe the European Molecular Biology Conference Two systems biologists receive EMBO Gold Medal (EMBC) was established in 1969. Pages 17 –­ 19 Twelve European countries initially signed Award recognizes the work of M. Madan Babu and Paola Picotti Mentoring across the EMBO community the agreement that brought the EMBC to life on 13 February 1969. Marking the 50th anni- MBO awards the Gold Medal annually to bioinformatics approaches to interrogate avail- limited proteolysis method she developed already Pages 8 –­ 9 Awards and publications versary this year, we invited the EMBC dele- honour the exceptional achievements of able genomic, transcriptomic and proteomic data pushed the boundaries of our knowledge signifi- Achievements and papers by members of gates from all 30 EMBC Member States to a Eselected life scientists under the age of 40 mountains, to develop major new insights into cantly. We can now examine conformational Celebrating 50 years of the EMBC celebratory symposium in June (p 10-13). in Europe. The medal stands for recognition of biological mechanisms.” changes, which brings our abilities to understand the EMBO community Pages 10 –­ 13 You only need to take a look at the page research excellence and the importance of young Receiving the EMBO Gold Medal “is a great protein functions in their complex cellular envi- Page 20 overleaf to note that the EMBC anniversary independent group leaders in creating a strong recognition of the work we are doing, which ronment to an entirely new level.” Introducing the latest training course was not the only reason for celebrations research environment. M. Madan Babu and Paola would not be possible without the past and Picotti says that “it is wonderful to get such during the last months. It is a pleasure to Picotti will each receive a gold medal and an present members of my research group” says recognition, and I accept the award on behalf Page 15 EMBO events announce Madan Babu and Paola Picotti as award of 10,000 euros. Babu. “It is also recognition of the contribution of all my group members who contributed to the recipients of this year’s EMBO Gold Medal. of knowledge to the field of molecular biology this work.” She adds: “I feel very honoured to Upcoming courses, workshops and Fellows talk science and careers in For the first time this year we will present that comes from computational work. That’s a receive it alongside Madan Babu, whose work Heidelberg conferences Page 21 the Gold Medals at the EMBO Members’ “it is a great recognition” great feeling.” on intrinsically disordered proteins inspired parts Page 15 Meeting in October. We announced the newly – Madan Babu Paola Picotti is recognized for conceptual of our work. elected members in June (p 6-7), and prepa- and technological breakthroughs in the mass Fresh from EMBO Press rations for the meeting are well underway. I spectrometric analysis of proteins and proteomes, look forward to welcome many of our 56 M. Madan Babu receives the award for his specifically for enabling the analysis of protein new EMBO Members and their proposers in fundamental contributions to the field of compu- conformational changes in situ and on a About the EMBO Heidelberg for this occasion. tational molecular biology, specifically for his proteome-wide scale. Gold Medal discoveries in the areas of G protein-coupled Maria Leptin receptor (GPCR) signalling and intrinsically ➔ The EMBO Gold Medal is awarded Director, EMBO disordered proteins. “I feel very honoured” annually to life science researchers under Madan Babu, who is based at the MRC – Paola Picotti the age of 40, who are currently working Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, UK, in one of the EMBC Member States. began using computational methods to study ➔ biological questions during his PhD. His recent Picotti’s focus on mass spectrometry began EMBO Members and EMBO Young work on GPCRs explains why people respond differ- during her PhD, and she contributed to devel- Investigators are invited to nominate Publishing alliance comes of age ently to certain drugs, which has direct implications oping targeted proteomics during her postdoc- candidates for the medal. To be Page 16 Five of EMBO’s latest publications at a for personalized and precision medicine. Babu also toral fellowship. Her group at ETH Zurich in considered, a nomination must be glance Page 22 discovered the roles of disordered proteins in biol- Switzerland recently used structural proteomics supported by one proposer and two ogy and disease. The high-throughput screen he strategies to characterize the determinants of sponsors. and his team developed underpins the importance proteome thermostability and to map protein– ➔ The deadline for nominations for the of disordered regions and their functions. metabolite interactions. 2020 award is 1 February 2020. EMBO Member Veronica van Heyningen, EMBO Member Anne Bertolotti, MRC More information : University College London, UK, says that Madan Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, UK, embo.org/funding-awards/gold-medal Babu “has an impressive ability to formulate says about Picotti: “Paola is recognized as a lead- critical questions clearly and then develop er at multiple levels and across disciplines. The 2 EMBOencounters | Summer 2019 | [email protected] ©2019 EMBO ©2019 EMBO EMBOencounters | Summer 2019 | [email protected] 3 EMBO NEWS EMBO NEWS M. Madan Babu MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology © Paola Picotti Nowak Katarzyna © A computational approach to biological questions Revealing the changing shapes of proteins EMBO Gold Medal recipient M. Madan Babu talks about his work on G-protein coupled receptors and disordered EMBO Gold Medal recipient Paola Picotti discusses her work on protein–molecule interactions and protein proteins, the importance of collaboration and embracing new ideas aggregation, her fascination with complex problems and the need to feel excited By Rosemary Wilson By Rosemary Wilson What motivated you to pursue a computational observed polymorphisms in the GPCR targeted people working on developing computational What motivated you to go into scientific research? You used the LiP-MS method to tackle some What advice do you pass on to your students? approach to biological research? by morphine and painkillers, which may explain approaches at the molecular level, systems When I was young, I felt a sense of unease key topics, such as protein stability and Firstly, I feel it is important that students use Around the time I started my degree we experi- why antidotes to an opioid overdose may not level and at the genome level. Having everyone when I did not understand something, but metabolite–protein interactions in their native their Ph.D. to learn how to think critically and enced a revolution in genomics, in structural biol- always work. This is a good example of how together is valuable as we not only identify also excitement once I had the chance to dig environments. What did these studies reveal? independently. Secondly, they should pick a ogy, and in sequencing technologies — every few an integrative, data-science based approach knowledge gaps but can also offer new insights. down to where things were puzzling. This In the first study we looked at the thermal topic that excites them, and then dig in. If there years there was another wave of technological can provide new insights and potentially have It’s been so important to have people from fascination for complex problems attracted me to denaturation profiles of around 8000 proteins is no excitement, then there won’t be enough advancement and understanding. An enormous an impact on society and healthcare. different backgrounds and trainings within the science and research. from several species. We found that when cells motivation to keep going. We all know this! amount of data was being produced, describing group. This diversity has been a key factor for die of heat, a few proteins with very crucial And finally, I feel it is important that students various biological entities and processes from Your work has changed our understanding about several of our projects.