14April 2003EMBL&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

education@EMBL 2

science & society 2

postdocs in mauritania 3

EBI research day 4

the EMBO corner 5

names to faces 6

letter to the editor 6

news & events 7

people@EMBL 8

in this issue...

Tell her to come find out at EMBL’sOpen House on Sunday, June 29.Visitors will get a real taste of lab lifeas they participate in guided tours,hands-on activities, and fun andgames – all in celebration of theHeidelberg lab’s 25th anniversary.

Hilda and others will soon be able toregister, either online at www.embl.de, or by calling 06221/387 0.

If you work at EMBL and want to get inon the fun, we’ve got lots of jobs for you.Just send us an email at info@embl.de

EBI to co-host the world’s largestbioinformatics conferenceThe EBI will be co-hosting ISMB–ECCB 2004 – a joint conference betweenIntelligent Systems for Molecular Biology (ISMB) and The EuropeanConference on Computational Biology (ECCB) – in Glasgow, UK on 1-5August 2004. The conference will be chaired by the EBI’s director, JanetThornton, and David Gilbert of the University of Glasgow. The UK-fundedCollaborative Computational Project 11 and the Scottish BioinformaticsForum are the other co-hosts.

EMBL researchers travel to Africa tohelp build community health centerEarlier this year, two EMBL postdocs, Emmanuel Reynaud and Jez Simpson,hung up their lab coats and set off on an incredible adventure. Travelling ina 1974 Land Rover named Ella, they made their way from the UK, downthrough continental Europe and across into Africa, where they navigatedtheir way through deserts and minefields. Their final destination? A smallvillage in Mauritania called Khabou, where they helped the local communi-ty to build a health center. Read more about their adventures... on page 5

He’s got tape on the soles of his shoes!You can find her every Tuesday and Thursday stacking labcoats in thecupboards beneath the second floor staircase. She has worked at EMBL sincethe very beginning, and used to have breakfast with Sir John every day. Findout who Martha Friedman is in names to faces... on page 6

Predoc selection week at EMBLMarch 10 marked the start of the annual predoc selection week at EMBL.Busloads of ambitious students arrived at the Heidelberg campus for anintense week of interviews, tours and socializing, all in hopes of beingaccepted into the International PhD Programme. Get the inside scoop fromsome current students... on page 7

Does your Auntie Hildaknow what DNA is?

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Education @ EMBL

EMBL and EMBO will hold a joint round-table debate on Publishing practices at theCrossroads - Between the Print Media and theInternet, on Saturday, June 7 at 14.00 at thePrint Media Academy, Kurfürsten-Anlage 52in Heidelberg. The aim of this event is topromote reflection and debate within the sci-entific community on how new technologiesthat are ushering in a new digital age affectpublishing practices in science. The intro-duction of revolutionary communicationtechnologies at the end of the 20th centuryhas had a profound impact on the mode ofproduction, appropriation, and dissemina-

tion of scientific knowledge. In our view it isurgent that all interested parties, practicingscientists and publishers, collectively assessthe state of affairs and future prospects as wefind ourselves at historical crossroadsbetween the print media and the Internet.

Speakers include Jean-Claude Guédon,(University of Montréal), Alan Fersht(Professor, Cambridge University), DirkHaank (CEO, Elsevier Science), Iain Mattaj(Scientific Director, EMBL), and MichaelEisen (Director, Public Library of Science).

– Halldór Stefánsson

EMBL/EMBO to hold debate on digital age publishing practices

New releases from Science & Society...Now available on DVD: Infectious Diseases: Challenges, Threats andResponsibilities, a collection of keynote speeches from the joint EMBL/EMBOScience & Society Conference, held in Heidelberg on November 8-9, 2002. If youmissed the meeting and would like a copy, email Lena Reunis atreunis@embl.de.

EMBO Reports special science and society issue. The May 2003 issue of EMBOReports will be dedicated to a collection of essays authored by the participantsof the Infectious Diseases conference. See www.emboreports.org for more.

Education activities are getting underway atEMBO and EMBL with the beginning of theEC-funded “Continuing Education forEuropean Biology Teachers” project(CEEBT), which officially started on March1. The Heidelberg campus will host an inter-national Teachers Workshop on May 23-24,including teachers from across Europe,experts and media developers from manydifferent countries, and scientists. Detailscan be obtained at www.embo.org/proj-ects/scisoc/education.html and from theCEEBT website, to be launched in the nextfew days. Scientists are more than welcometo attend.

The CEEBT project has also permitted thecreation of a facility called the EuropeanLearning Laboratory for the Life Sciences(ELLS) at EMBL, which will be staffed by

scientist/educators and visitors. Their jobwill be to bring teachers in for three-day lab-oratory practicals which will be used simul-taneously as a platform for training scien-tists and developing new educational mate-rials based on EMBL science. Those materi-als will be made available to teachersthroughout Europe via the Internet.

Trista Dawson, familiar to many EMBLitesbecause of her former post at Cellzome,joined the project in March. She brings alongyears of experience in project management,communications and marketing. She alsohas a unique combination of academic qual-ifications, with degrees in both science andbusiness. These skills will be especially valu-able in managing the ELLS facility, strategicplanning, financial management and promo-tion.

Alexander Picker joined the staff in April asEducation Officer. He did his PhD at theDepartment of Neurobiology, University ofHeidelberg in the group of Michael Brandworking on the genetic control of braindevelopment in the zebrafish embryo. Afterthat he worked for three years atLIONbioscience AG, Heidelberg, where hedeveloped web-based educational materialfor bioinformatics, did applied bioinformat-ics research and finally led a software devel-opment team. He wants to combine hisinterest in molecular biology, bioinformaticsand teaching by developing new approachesto life science education in the context of theELLS.

– Russ Hodge

more upcoming events...

On Tuesday, April 29, Professor ScottGilbert (Swarthmore College, Pennsylvania)will speak about “Teaching evolutionthrough development.” This lecture is partof the EMBL/DAI-sponsored 'Science andCulture' series, and will take place at theDeutsch–Amerikanische Institut,Sofienstrasse12, Heidelberg at 16.00.

On Wednesday, April 30 at 16.00 ProfessorGilbert will give a second lecture in EMBL’sOperon auditorium, entitled “The new revo-lution in developmental biology: expansionand reconciliation.”

On Wednesday, May 7, Ronald Plasterkfrom the Netherlands Institute forDevelopmental Biology in Utrecht and win-ner of the 2002 EMBO Award forCommunication in the Life Sciences, willspeak on “Communicating about sciencewith the general public.” The talk will takeplace in EMBL’s Operon at 17.00.

These events are open to the public.

Young researchers hold science symposium at EMBLOne hundred and fifty keen science studentstook part in the European Junior Science andHumanities Symposium at EMBL in mid-March. The event is organized by theEuropean Union and US Department ofDefense-dependent school systems to pro-mote scientific research in high schools.

Organizers chose EMBL as the location forthe symposium to give the students thechance to learn about EMBL's research. Theyalso needed a real conference venue for theirown oral and poster presentations. EMBL’s

newly upgraded facilities in the Operonauditorium did just the trick.

EMBL staff enthusiastically served as judgesof the posters and were impressed by thequality of the research. Research topicsranged from “Can you guess the flavour ofbaby food?” to “Does playing video gamesaffect your memory?” to “Are NorthAmerican or European students leaner?”

“I was impressed by the simple honesty intheir approach to the scientific process,” saysone judge. “One poster included the

acknowledgement, ‘Thanks to Greg's Dad,’and another had a Results section thatexplained the apparent bias toward maleparticipants as ‘We tried to get girls to playthe video games. But they didn't want to.’”

Highlights of the symposium included aplay based on the science of bubbles and ascience trivia quiz, the lucky winners ofwhich got to take home EMBL lab coats.

Thanks go to all judges, Anne Ephrussi,Andrew Moore and Luis Vacs for technicalsupport.

through Morocco to Casablanca, where wepicked up our visas to enter Mauritania.After that we followed the coast for almost3000 km until we reached the town ofDakhla, on the southern tip of Morocco. Thedrive through the Western Sahara is featu-ureless. A few camels from time to time, butnot much else. In Dakhla we made our finalpreparations before crossing over intoMauritania and the real desert stretch. Atthis point all roads finish.

There is a checkpoint 25 km in from theMoroccan border. The problem is that thearea is a former war zone and you have tocross a minefield to reach it. There is a pisteto follow, but it's a difficult drive. As long asyou stick to it, you won't get blown up.Under no circumstances do you deviatefrom it. That’s a rule you never break.

Soon after the check point, you arrive inNouadhibou. Though it is the second largestcity in Mauritania, it is not connected to any-where by road. You have to find a guide whowill take you the 500 km across the Sahara.We found one and drove for the next twoand a half days through the desert. It’s justgreat driving! There were no roads, nopistes. We just followed landscapes andthings you see in the desert. The final 200kilometers is along the beach because thesand inland is too deep for driving. Beforeyou set off on this stretch you have to waitfor the low tide. This gives you about 10meters of beach area on which to drive.Quickly. You have about three hours to do it,and you'd better not break down! After this,it’s another two-day drive east to the village.

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

MANY EMBL RESEARCHERS HAVE ACTIVITIES THAT

TAKE THEM BEYOND THE BORDERS OF THE LAB.YOU’VE BEEN UP TO SOMETHING SPECIAL.

(Emmanuel) I have been doing humanitarianwork for several years. While I was doingmy PhD in France, I became friends with theassistant who washed our glassware. Hewas from Khabou, a small village inMauritania. One day he asked me to helphim prepare a report for his village associa-tion. We found a lot of common ground totalk about, and he invited me to attend oneof his meetings. I was able to help them reor-ganize their association so that they couldreceive money from the government. Wehave been developing the project in Khaboutogether ever since.

HOW DID THE PROJECT START?

Some African villages have a self-imposedtax system where they put money into a potand then decide how to use it. Many com-munities are very religious and have usedthe money to build mosques. However, fouryears ago, the people of Khabou voted tobuild a much-needed health center. It willeventually serve 35,000 people.

This is obviously a big challenge for a smallvillage. Few locals have university degrees;most of them have never even been toschool. They don't have the know-how orexperience to develop such structures. Thisis where we can help. Through our net-works, we have access to doctors, buildersand engineers who can show them how todevelop their skills.

The village’s old health facilities consisted ofa 10m2 room with mud walls and no win-dows. The staff had to deliver babies, giveinjections, or perform minor surgery on thefloor. Now they have a 110m2 building, withmany well-equipped rooms. Soon they willhave surgery facilities, too. The nearest hos-pital is 45 km and two and a half hoursaway. If a patient needs urgent surgery, he orshe usually dies on the way there. This isparticularly a problem for childbirth. If awoman can't deliver naturally, she and thebaby both die. The statistics are shocking.1% of women and 2% of children die duringchildbirth. 15% of children die before the age

of 5, mainly of malaria. This area is along theSenegal river, and has a climate that breedsmalaria-carrying mosquitoes. The river is alifeline for the area, but it is also a killer.

A major problem with malaria is that parentsfail to bring their children to the hospital intime. They’ll visit the village medicine man,or try other rituals until it’s too late. It’s aproblem of awareness, but there are solu-tions. I have worked with people on theother side of the river in Mali, where there isa different approach to healthcare. Medicswork closely with the community, to teachthem about prevention measures such asusing insecticide-dipped nets. The staff therehave been able to reduce the number ofmalaria-related deaths. But for this to hap-pen, the community must take an active role.And it makes sense. We are also working torebuild schools and give them books andsupplies so that more children can attend.Once we have reached the kids, we can reachthe families. This is a change that will take along time, but it's a very important one tomake.

HOW WAS THE TRIP FROM HEIDELBERG TO

MAURITANIA?

(Jez) This is where I come in. Soon afterEmmanuel arrived in our lab, we discoveredour common interest in Africa. I've drivenacross the continent twice. When he told mehe was planning a trip down there to dosome work with his organization, I asked if Icould go along. This was a chance for me toreturn to Africa and give something back.

In the meantime, Emmanuel convinced hisfriend Daniel, a doctor from Paris, to visitthe health center to do some basic medicaltraining. Daniel, however, refuses to fly. Sofor me the decision to drive down was easy.I have a Land Rover which is well suited forsuch expeditions. Her name is Ella. She is 29years old and doesn’t have many originalparts left, but she’s perfect for Africa. Youcan fix her anywhere.

The Land Rover lives in the UK, so I drovedown to Paris to meet up with Emmanueland Daniel. From there we drove throughFrance and Spain, and across to Ceuta on theAfrican coast by ferry. From there we drove

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 1974Land Rover named Ella, they made their way from the UK, down through Europe and across into Africa, where they navigated their way through desertsand minefields. Their final destination? A small village in Mauritania called Khabou, where they helped to build a health center for the local community.

Khabou’s new community health center.

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Crossing the Sahara in a Land Rover named Ella.

For more about Emmanuel and Jez’sincredible journey, see the full story atwww.embl.de/ ExternalInfo/oipa/n2003/n0403_1.html.

As well as providing bioinformatics servicesto life scientists, the EBI has an active andgrowing research base. At the first EBIresearch day on February 26 we filled theauditorium of the Hinxton genome campusto celebrate research at the EBI, exchangeinformation, get to know people in othergroups, identify potential collaborationsand, last but by no means least, enjoy our-selves.

The morning began with overview talksfrom the three research group leaders. JanetThornton’s group aims to understand biolo-gy, disease and evolution through proteinstructure. Janet took us on a whistle-stoptour of the group’s projects, from new waysof deriving functional information fromstructures to understanding the molecularbasis of ageing and disease.

Nick Goldman’s group aims to provide evo-lutionary biologists with tools to study evo-lution computationally. It’s hard to studyevolution because you can’t do experiments:either they’re illegal or they take millions ofyears. But evolution puts ‘footprints’ insequences that allow us to determine notonly the relationships between organismsbut also information about the process ofevolution.

Christos Ouzounis’ group is working onfunctional analysis of whole genomes. Thegroup has developed several resources forclustering sequences according to function,and is using these to find out how well con-served functions are throughout evolution.

As well as the three groups that dedicate alltheir efforts to research, the services groupscarry out a considerable amount of researchand development. Ewan Birney, Johan Rungand Rolf Apweiler discussed ongoingresearch in the Ensembl, MicroarrayInformatics and Sequence Database groups,including finding regulatory motifs ingenome sequences, constructing andanalysing genetic networks, and developingmethods of automatic annotation.

After feasting on pizza, pasta and posters,we learned about individual projects inmore detail, with talks on modelling codonevolution (Simon Whelan), properties ofmicrobial genome organization (BenjaminAudit), using wavelet functions to analysesequence (Pietro Lio), three-dimensionaltemplate matching (Jonathan Barker), usinggene networks to learn about gene function(Thomas Schlitt), evolutionary conservationof pathways (Richard Coulson and SophiaTsoka), studying inherited diseases from a

structural perspective (Robert Steward) andreconstructing gene networks from geneexpression data (Lev Soinov).

To round off the day, our erstwhile director,Michael Ashburner, awarded the posterprize to Katja Kivonen for her poster oncomputational analysis of gene regulation inthe yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe. Weretired to the conference centre lobby fordrinks and more lively discussion. As theEBI’s research base grows with the appoint-ment of two new group leaders, the biggestchallenge for next year’s research day will behow to fit everything in.

– Cath Brooksbank

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2003 Elections: Elected or re-elected to theHeidelberg Staff Association committee fortwo-year terms were Gareth Griffiths andAndy Hoenger (group leaders); Georg Ritterand Tom Cord (technicians); Doros Panayi(floating); Ann Cooper (pensioner); andJanin Topaloglu (ancillary). The postdocposition remains unfilled. Our thanks toJorma Tapola and Kevin Leonard, who bothstepped down this spring, for their valuableinput over the last two years!

2003 General Assembly: The annual meet-ing of all Heidelberg Staff Association mem-bers was held on March 26. Reports weremade on the activities, issues and finances ofthe past year. A video is available for thosewho could not attend. Contact the StaffAssociation in Heidelberg for viewing.

Donations for Iraqi war refugees: The StaffAssociation has opened an account for thosewho wish to make a donation to “SOSKinderdorf,” which builds homes and pro-vides surrogate parents and a home environ-ment for orphans. Iraqi children who havelost their parents will find a new home in oneof several “Kinderdorf” villages in Jordan.Make bank transfers payable to Dr. KevinLeonard and Godefrida Leenart (important:write both names on the bank form!),Dresdner Bank, BLZ 672 800 51, Kto.-Nr.0475311201, with the notation “Spendenkontofür Kinder im Irak”. Cash donations may bemade to Frieda Glöckner in Room 116 at themain Lab.

– Ann Thüringer

from the Staff Association

A celebration of research at the European Bioinformatics Institute

CCoommee oonnee,, ccoommee aallllto the 3rd annual joint EMBL/Staff Association Summer Party.

There’ll be plenty of food, games, song and dance, and yes cowboys and cowgirls, the mechanical bull will be back.

Saturday, June 7, 2003, right after Lab Day

Katja Kivonen explains her prize-winning poster.

The Directors-General of theEIROforum organizations met withEuropean Commission ResearchDirector-General Achilleas Mitsosduring a coordinating meeting at theDemokritos Research Center inAthens on April 4, 2003. Greece cur-rently holds the rotating presidency ofthe EU.

From left to right are: William Stirling(ESRF), Antonio Rodotà (ESA),Catherine Cesarsky (ESO), Fotis C.Kafatos (EMBL), Achilleas Mitsos(EU), Colin Carlile (ILL) MichaelWatkins (representing EFDA), andHorst Wenninger (representingCERN).

EIROforum in Athens

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EMBO restart fellowships

The EMBO restart fellowships are a recentaddition to EMBO’s activities in support ofEuropean science. The fellowship supportsscientists who have taken a break in theirresearch careers for child care and want toreturn to the bench.

The initiative is a follow-up to EMBO’smeeting “The glass ceiling for women in thelife sciences” which was held in June 2001 atthe EMBL in Heidelberg. At the meetingapproximately 100 scientists had a lively dis-cussion on the multiple and complex reasonsfor the failure of women to stay and advancein a scientific career. It was pointed out thatone possible reason for the selective disap-pearance of women from science is the seem-ing incompatibility of a research career with

bringing up a family. The lack of successfulwomen as role models emphasises thisimpression.

Following the meeting the EMBO Councilpublished a position paper on women in thelife sciences and gave the green light for arestart fellowship programme that saw itsfirst deadline on 15 August 2002. It is thefirst international fellowship of this kind.Eligible candidates are researchers, femaleor male, who hold a PhD degree in the lifesciences, who have taken a break of at least ayear for child care and have published atleast one first author paper in an interna-tional peer reviewed journal.

There is no age limit and internationalmobility is not a compulsory feature of therestart fellowship, as moving around can bedifficult with a family. Candidates mustidentify a host lab and apply with a projectproposal. The restart fellowships are intend-ed to relieve returning scientists of the pres-sure to have to apply to highly competitivefellowship schemes for which they are incompetition with others who have had nointerruption of their careers. As one fellowsays: “It levels the playing field. A restarterhas no chance if she/he has to compete withapplicants who had no career interruptionand are fully mobile.”

It will help the selected scientists to return toscience and prepare them for a career, be it inacademia, education, administration or pub-lishing.

EMBO received 27 applications from scien-tists (all female) with very diverse back-grounds for its first deadline. The fellowshipcommittee awarded six fellowships to scien-tists in Italy, the UK, Germany and Hungary.A profile of the selected scientists can befound on the restart web-site atwww.embo.org/projects/women/index.html.

Fellows say that the award provides a boostof confidence and they expect that adding anEMBO fellowship to their credentials willhelp them in the future. Recently KatjaArndt from the University of Freiburg, oneof the first group of EMBO restart fellows,has been awarded an Emmy-Noether fel-lowship from the DFG.

The next deadline for applications is 15August, 2003. Please direct possible candi-dates to our web-site at www.embo.org.

– Gerlind Wallon

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Making the grade: students gather at EMBL for predoc selection week

the

corner

Party posters plastered everywhere, people insuits wandering the halls, long lines for lunch inthe canteen, and strangely, Group Leaders are intheir offices – all clear signs that once again, pre-doc selection week at EMBL has begun.

Every year, busloads of anxious studentsarrive at Meyerhofstrasse 1. They come frommany different countries, speak several dif-ferent languages, and have studied subjectsranging from zoology to physics. They allget off the bus with one goal in mind: tosecure a coveted position in EMBL’sInternational PhD Programme.

EMBL’s PhD Programme has grown steadilysince its inception over 20 years ago. Overthe years the number of students accepted tothe programme has more than doubled.EMBL can now award its own degree and

has partnership agreementswith 10 universities in 8

countries.

Students arrivingfor interviews havealready made itthrough some

tough competition.“This year we had436 students apply,”

says Anne Ephrussi, Associate Dean ofGraduate Studies. “That’s more than ever,and the level of applicants was impressive. Itwas a real challenge to narrow that down tothe 95 candidates we invited for interviews.”

But being invited to EMBL is only the firsthurdle. An invitation does not guaranteestudents a position. Not by far. Only abouthalf of the candidates are accepted. To besuccessful, you have to be able to shineamong the competing students throughout agrueling week.

Monday begins with a welcome presenta-tion and tours around the lab, and ends withinformal discussions with the GroupLeaders over dinner in the canteen. Tuesdayand Wednesday schedules are bursting withup to ten individual interviews each day.Thursday is also crammed with activities:individual lab tours and discussions withlab members in the morning; the feared“Final Panel” interview in the afternoon.Fortunately, this is followed by the PredocParty in the evening, a welcome chance forthe students to blow off some steam andhave fun with EMBL staff and students. Themoment of truth arrives on Friday after-noon. Students are mercifully given the

morning to rest and recover before receivingthe letters which outline their fate.

What is the week like for students?“Monday night’s dinner with the GroupLeaders was quite stressful for me. But overthe course of the week, the frequent inter-views helped me to relax. I also sensed somecompetitiveness between the students at thebeginning, but this melted away quickly andby the party, the group was very close,"recounted predoc candidate StephanieBoelz, one of the nearly 50 students to beaccepted.

As for advice to future candidates, first yearPhD student Barbara Di Ventura notes, “Theprogramme organizers are quick to pointout that once students are invited for aninterview, they clearly have the academicqualifications. The students who try to cramin studying during the week, often get morestressed, and don’t make it through. Thepoint of the interviews is to test your com-munication abilities and to determine if youare motivated, and would work well in theirteams.” Stephanie agrees, “The emphasis onthe week is about getting to know the pre-docs personally and not only about testingtheir scientific knowledge. So just relax andbe yourself!”

– Trista Dawson

Stephanie Boelz succesfully navigated her way through EMBL’sInternational PhD Programme selection process and will join Matthias Hentze’s lab this spring. (Photo by M. Schupp.)

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He’s got tape on the soles of his shoes!names to faces

Dear editor,

Reading the extremely interesting articlefrom the sister sciences in February's issue ofEMBL&cetera concerning modifying theearth's orbit reminds me of a couple of mod-est, as yet unpublished, discoveries of myown in the field of theoretical physics whichmay be of interest. Both concern practicalapplications of the time-dilation effect of thegeneral theory of relativity in the field oftransport, which, as you will recall, was theoriginal inspiration for Einstein's theory.The first of these, strangely, has links also tothe life sciences.

Consider a railway train travelling acrossGermany. Typically the path followed is nota straight line and in consequence the car-riages have to follow the curves of the track.However, carriages are rigid in constructionand do not follow the curve exactly, only thepoints of the carriages directly over the pivotpoints of the bogies do this. Those parts ofthe carriages which are towards the endstend to swing out over the outside of thecurve, while those in the centres of the car-riages tend to follow a path inside the centreof the curves. In consequence of this phe-nomenon the ends of carriages tend to trav-el much further through space than thoseparts in the centre. However, all parts of thecarriage leave and arrive in stations at thesame point in time which must, of course,mean that the ends of the carriages havetravelled much faster in relation to a station-

ary observer than the centres. From this wecan deduce that the time dilation effect of thegeneral theory will have a much greaterimpact on those who sit at the ends of thecarriages than it will on those who sit in themiddle and, therefore, that those whoalways sit at the ends of railway carriageswill live longer than those who don't.

The impact of the time dilation effect canalso be seen to be responsible for the habitu-al late-running of railway trains in theUnited Kingdom where passengers are pro-vided with timetables on platforms. Thesetimetables are, naturally, stationary whileresponsibility for keeping the train totimetable rests with the driver for whom, hebeing inside the train - and at the end of acarriage to boot, time passes more slowlythan for the stationary waiting passengers.Late running trains are therefore aninescapable fact of life in the UK! Consider,on the other hand, the practice of DeutscheBahn who provide timetables to passengersinside the train. In these conditions passen-gers may well be disappointed at the latearrival of the train they are waiting to catch,but once on board are able to agree with theon-board clocks that they are indeed run-ning to time and on arrival that the train hasarrived punctually. Subsequent late arrivalsat meetings tends thereafter to be blamed oncity centre congestion rather than on laterunning trains.

– Keith Williamson, Personnel Section

a letter to the editor

...from IntermedexDid you know that dental implants are notcovered by the EMBL Health Scheme? Weencourage you to give us a cost estimatebefore you begin major dental treatment.We’ll let you know what contribution you canexpect. For more, please visit www.intermedex.de.

There's a lot more to being a babythen being rocked, changed, fedand cuddled. There's bakingwaffles, for example, an afternoonactivity assisted by the teachersof the Kinderhaus' babygroup.Don't let go of that mixer, Sophie!

Makin’ baby waffles

Martha Friedman and Sir John Kendrew

want to change shoes, but instead he wentstraight into his office and got a roll of tape tocover up the rubber.” As it turned out, hecontinued doing so every day after that untilEMBL moved into its own buildings and toless rubber-sensitive floors.

Martha's daily presence was appreciated somuch that EMBL offered her the job of beingin charge of the first glassware cleaninggroup in the late seventies. She saw thelaboratory grow and witnessed the comingand going of many scientists and members ofsupport staff. For the last few years she hasbeen in charge of the maintenance of the labcoats. “EMBL is my second home whereeveryone calls me ‘unsere Martha’,” she says.

Just as I am about to offer her another cup ofcoffee, Martha all of a sudden remembers shehas a doctor's appointment. She slowly putson her coat while looking out for Willi, one ofEMBL's drivers who chauffeurs her safely upand down the hill. As she walks away shesuddenly turns around and says proudly:“You know, every year on my birthday Ireceived a birthday card from Sir John. Henever forgot, not even once”.

– Lena Reunis

Martha Friedman, our most senior staffmember, scrutinizes each and every lab coatat the Heidelberg laboratory. As soon as abutton goes missing or a slight rip makes itsappearance, the coat is ruthlessly taken outof the lab coat stack and ends up underMartha's sewing machine at home. “I am atthe lab five hours a week. I really enjoygetting out of the house and will continuedoing this for as long as I can,” Martha sayswith a smile. I was hesitant to ask her abouther age, but before I could say anything elseshe added: “ … and I am only 83 now!”

In the seventies, Martha was working for acleaning company contracted by the DKFZwhere EMBL's pioneers were temporarilybased. Responsible for the EMBL lab area,she used to have her morning coffee with itsoccupants, including Director-General SirJohn Kendrew. For years, rumours havebeen circulating about Sir John's unusualearly morning routine when entering thelab. Martha finally confesses a well-keptsecret: “Sir John used to wear shoes withblack rubber soles, and with every footstephe left a mark on my freshly cleaned floors!One morning over coffee I hinted he might

Twice a week, a small silver-haired ladypushes one of EMBL's omnipresent metaltrolleys piled high with lab coats through thecorridors of the second floor. She takes a veryshort coffee break in between two loads in aquiet corner of the Cafeteria, standing up,maybe exchanging only a few words withsomeone, because after all this is work time.On her way back to the cupboardsunderneath the stairs, she smiles at peoplepassing by while she observes the life atEMBL, as she has been doing for the last 25years.

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March and April were busy monthsas EMBL hosted visits from representativesof the member states. First it was the Swisson March 7, then the Danes on March 11.Visitors toured the facilities and met withsenior faculty to discuss new developmentsin the lab, and technology transfer. On April2, 30 scientists from Ireland also toured thelab, getting a close-up look at current proj-ects and meeting with individual scientists.

Not quite Division A, but close...Wednesday night “calcetto” has kicked offat EMBL Monterotondo! Organized bypostdoc Pietro Pilo Boyl, a group of staffand students meet weekly at a local fieldto battle it out. A well-deserved Peroniand pizza follow the match.

EMBL groups get out of the city. OnFebruary 27, EMBL staff packed up theirskis and headed to Meiringen-Hasliberg,Switzerland for the annual Cell Biologyand Biophysics Programme ski weekend.In the same month, the entire Biocomp-uting department folded up their laptopsfor the weekend and went to Garmisch-Partenkirchen for a retreat.

The Oxford English Dictionary,Current Protocols in cell biology, cytome-try, molecular biology and protein sci-ence, and Der Brockhaus Naturwissenschaftund Technik are now available online fromEMBL’s Szilard library.

50 students from the ComprensorioVibio Mariano in Rome visited theMonterotondo campus on April 5 to get ataste of lab life. They were given an intro-duction to the campus and participatedin tutorials led by EMBL and CNR staff.Thanks go to Richard Butler of the CNRfor organizing the visit.

news&events

Earlier this spring several EMBL researcherssubmitted proposals for Networks ofExcellence and Integrated Projects under theEC’s 6th Framework Programme.

Networks of Excellence aim to strengthenexcellence on a research topic by bringingtogether the critical mass of resources andexpertise. By tackling fragmentation, the EChopes to provide a durable framework with-in which Europe’s researchers can worktogether to establish themselves as worldleaders. Integrated Projects aim to generatethe knowledge to implement the priority ofthematic areas. They will integrate the criti-

cal mass of activities and resources neededto achieve ambitious, clearly-defined scien-tific and technological objectives of aEuropean dimension.

“EMBL, with its four-fold mission to con-duct basic research, provide services andtraining, and develop instrumentation, iswell positioned to participate in these newinstruments,” says grants office managerGenevieve Reinke. “With its expertise andtools, and experience in coordinating andparticipating in huge projects at an interna-tional level, EMBL can really be a drivingforce in shaping, structuring and strength-ening the European Research Area.”

Researchers on board new FP6 funding instruments

On April 2, 2003, EBI/MSD released newsearch interfaces to the Oracle data ware-house derived from the PDB. Searchesinclude MSDlite, a simple text search sys-tem; MSDpro, a drag&drop interface thatallows users to create their own query struc-ture; and MSDsite, a PDB ligand environ-ment interface. Each interface produces aresult list of multiple PDB ID codes which

can then be viewed using a unique exten-sion to the AstexViewer, developed by MSD,that integrates sequence, structure andproperties into the one package. MSD willbe visiting EMBL Heidelberg on May 15th todemonstrate the new services and severalother centres across Europe during thecourse of this year.

– Janet Roser

EBI/MSD releases new search interfaces

Fighting e-mail evils at EMBL HeidelbergUnsolicited e-mail, or spam mail, has contin-ued to flood EMBL staff’s mailboxes, caus-ing frustration and wasting time. E-mail canalso contain viruses that infect computers,and this can compromise the Laboratory'snetwork services.

The Computer and Networking Group hastaken measures to protect the laboratory'susers from these e-mail evils, while at thesame time safeguarding timely delivery, andprotecting user privacy. We have introducedthe following three measures at the main labin Heidelberg: anti-virus checks on all incom-ing mail; blocking of incoming mail coming

from open relay sources; and central spam-tag-ging service, to alert users to possible spammail.

Out of about 20,000 e-mails processed inHeidelberg every day the new filters tagabout 1000 as spam, intercept about 25viruses, and reject 1500 e-mails receivedfrom open relays.

For more information, see www.embl.de/LocalInfo/CG/cnn/CNN20030312.html orcontact system administrator MarcHemberger at hemberge@embl.de.

– Hans Doebbeling

For questions about this or any other topic, email Annabel at goulding@embl.de.

Safety tips from the Safety Office

Did you know... that one volume of liquidnitrogen gives about 700 volumes of gas?

... that breathing pure nitrogen will causeimmediate loss of consciousness andalmost immediate death? Neither nitrogengas nor oxygen depletion are detectable byhuman senses.

... that liquid and cold gaseous nitrogenmay cause severe burns and frostbite ofskin and the respiratory tract?

Therefore...

� Store and use liquid nitrogen only in well-ventilated areas.

� Wear a protective face shield and blue cryogloves.

� Do not breathe the gas.

For tips on handling laboratory chemicals, visitwww.embl.de/LocalInfo/SafetyOffice, or contactthe Safety Office (safety@embl.de).

FAQsfrom the personnel section

WHAT SHOULD I DO BEFORE GOING ON HOLIDAYS?

Each staff member receives a yellow leavecard showing his or her entitlement for thecurrent year. If not please contact us toobtain one. Record your holiday dates onthe card with approval from your supervi-sor and send it to us before you go. We willupdate our records and return the card.

WHAT SHOULD I DO IF I AM SICK?Please inform your supervisor who shouldthen notify us of your absence. If you are illfor more than 3 days, including weekendsand public holidays, please obtain a certifi-cate from your doctor. Send it to us and wewill update our records.

Informing us of holiday and sick absenceshelps to ensure you have appropriate insur-ance cover. Sickness records may also indi-cate possible health and safety hazards inthe Laboratory.WHAT IS HOME LEAVE?EMBL reimburses the costs of travel by themost economical route for staff members tovisit their home base. This home leave isavailable every second year from the startdate of your initial contract. The period ofabsence must include at least five daysannual leave.

Please send us a request before you go anda claim form after your return. It will helpus to process the payment quickly.

p

9 May 2003 at 9.00at the EMBL Monterotondo campus6th EMBL minisymposium on molecularmedicine: Mechanisms of cardiovasculardisease

14-15 May 2003at EMBL HeidelbergMinisymposium on the functionalorganization of the nucleus

7 June 2003 at 14.00at the Print Media Academy, HeidelbergEMBL/EMBO science & societyminisymposium: Publishing practices at thecrossroads

7-8 June 2003Lab Day at the main lab in Heidelberg,followed by the 3rd annual jointEMBL/Staff Association Summer Party

15-18 June 2003at the EMBL Monterotondo campusColony Management Course

28-29 June 2003EMBL Heidelberg’s 25th year anniversarycelebrations and Open House

10 July, 2003at the Print Media Academy, HeidelbergEMBLEM Founders & Start-up Symposium

For more events, seewww.embl.de/ExternalInfo/todayAtEmbl/

EEMMBBLL@people Who’s new?

Enrica Audero (Gross), PhilippeBeaufils (Nebreda), Eric Blanc(Thornton), Stephanie Boelz (MMPU),Jennifer Clark (Harris), Trista Dawson(OIPA, ELLS), Jorge Duarte (Zhu),Andrea Giordano (Schultz), KerstenGuthrie (Green), Thorsten Henrich(Wittbrodt), Alan Horne (Zhu),Andreas Kahari (Birney), SamuelKerrien (Zhu), Doris Lindner (Conti),Juliette Mathieu (Rørth), JenniferMcDowall (Apweiler), Thi Bach NgaLy (ALMF), Alexander Picker (ELLS),Glenn Proctor (Birney), MiranaRamialison (Wittbrodt), Heiko Runz(Pepperkok), Thomas Sandmann(Furlong), Markus Schwab (Nebreda),Damian Smedley (Birney), StefanTerjung (ALMF), Henriette Uhlenhaut(Treier)

Andreas Ladurner is a new interdisciplinary Group Leader inEMBL's Gene Expression and Structural & Computational BiologyProgrammes. Andreas obtained his PhD in 1998 from the Universityof Cambridge in the UK, and did his postdoctoral research at theHoward Hughes Medical Institute of the University of California atBerkeley. Having studied first how proteins fold and then how tran-scription works, his EMBL group will study how various proteins getrecruited to chromatin and regulate the biology of the cell nucleus.

Director-General Fotis Kafatos is happy to reportthe results of two applied Developmental Biologyprojects in his extended family: the births of hisfirst two grandchildren, George WalterMoschapidakis (left, born on December 26 toHelen and Stelios), and Sophia Louise Bunnell(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 delightedwith our new grandparent status.”

Faculty appointments: As of May 1, Mark Green will become full time Head ofAdministration at the EBI, Stefan Bäckman will take over as Internal Auditor, and KeithWilliamson will become Head of Finance. Keith will retain his responsibilities for technol-ogy transfer, and will also serve as the Administrative Director’s deputy, in charge of pur-chasing and the grants office. Heidi Noack has joined EMBL as a consultant for the lab’sEndowment Fund.

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

@EEMMBBLLevents

ceteraawards, honours&Janet Thornton, the EBI’s director, received the National Lecturer Award for excellence andleadership in the biophysical sciences at this year’s Biophysical Society Annual Meeting.Janet gave her award-winning talk, entitled ‘From protein structure to biological functionand evolution’, in San Antonio on 3 March. You can view a webcast of her lecture atwww.netbriefings.com/event/biophysics/Archives/awards/ .

Ernst-Ludwig Florin, a staff scientist in EMBL’s Cell Biology and Biophysics Programme, isthe 2003 co-recipient of the Nanoscience Prize. The 5,000 euro prize, split between Ernst-Ludwig and his collaborator Mathias Rief from the Technical University of Munich, isawarded by the German Ministry of Science and Technology’s NanotechnologyCompetence Center in recognition of the researchers’ pioneering work in the field ofmechanical single molecule experiments on biomolecules.

EMBL alumnus Kai Simons has been awarded the Matti Äyräpää prize by the FinnishMedical Society Duodecim. The prestigious award, announced on national television, wasgiven in recognition of Kai’s contributions to the molecular understanding of lipid rafts andmembrane trafficking and how this relates to disease. Kai accepted the 17,000 euro prize atDuodecim’s annual meeting of the Finnish Medical Associations held in Helsinki on January6, 2003.

Earlier this spring, PhD student Rossana de Lorenzi, went round to her colleagues at EMBLMonterotondo, asking for donations. By doing so, she raised nearly 450 euros to purchaseschool supplies for needy children in Guatemala. Bravissima, Rossana!

An exhibit of Sarah Kafatou’s paintingsopens on May 17, 2003 at 18.00 at the GalerieMelnikow (111 Theaterstrasse, Heidelberg),and will last two weeks. Russ Hodge willperform at the opening. All are invited.

Are youthirsty?

As of Thursday, May 1, the ISG’s beer garden will be openMonday to Sunday from 16.00-23.00. Stop by the ISG GuestHouse, Eichwald 19, in Boxberg for a drink.