New EMBO Head
(August 3rd, 2009) For the first time EMBO, the European Molecular Biology Organization, will be managed by a woman: from January 2010 developmental biologist Maria Leptin will be the new director of the organization.
With more than 1,300 members, EMBO has proliferated into a heavyweight under Europe’s scientific organizations. Bringing its influence to bear by increasing policy consulting is one of the major goals of the designated director, Maria Leptin. Sure enough EMBO has published statements on stem cell science and animal experiments. However, Maria Leptin said in an interview with Nature that she wasn’t sure whether European governments are aware that EMBO may evaluate scientific developments in an open-minded and unbiased way.
Maria Leptin isn’t an unknown quantity within EMBO. She is an EMBO member and was elected to the council of the organization. She has also received funding twice from EMBO: a long-term fellowship for young investigators and, just recently, support for her stay at the Sanger Institute in Hinxton. There, she analysed zebrafish genes involved in innate immunity.
As Maria Leptin wrote in an email to
LabTimes, she wants to encourage young researchers, such as students, PhD students and postdocs to join in the EMBO congress being held in Amsterdam from August 29th to September 1st. This congress follows the annual meeting of the European Life Science Organization (ELSO), which last year merged into EMBO. When asked for her opinion on the merger Maria Leptin wrote, "Everyone is optimistic; there isn’t much to report yet. The annual meeting in Amsterdam this year will tell."
Whilst officiating in Heidelberg, Maria Leptin will neither withdraw from science nor from Cologne, where she currently works in the university’s institute of genetics. "Absolutely not", she declared to
LabTimes. She will move only part of her group to Heidelberg. "The commute between Heidelberg and Cologne (made on a daily basis by one of the members of our Institute in Cologne!) is a very comfortable train ride -- with plenty of uninterrupted time for reading and writing." So keep an eye out at the main stations in Heidelberg or Cologne if you would like to meet her.
Karin Hollricher
