EMBO welcomes 66 leading life scientists as members
Heidelberg, Germany, 19 October 2009 – The European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) today announced the election of 66 leading life scientists to its membership. Sixty of the recognized researchers are based in Europe and neighbouring countries, while six scientists from Australia, Japan and the US receive the honour of associate membership. In total, EMBO membership now comprises 1,420 of the world’s foremost molecular biologists. EMBO elects new members annually on the basis of scientific excellence. The latest scientists to join the group come from 16 different countries and represent a broad cross-section of researchers from all fields of molecular biology, ranging from evolutionary to computational biology, neuroscience and plant science. This year, 15 female scientists are recognized for their contributions to life science research. “The election once again puts a spotlight on the most outstanding representatives of the current generation of life scientists. We look forward to the fresh impulses this exceptional group will bring to our organization,” said EMBO Director Hermann Bujard. EMBO Members provide their scientific expertise to the various programmes coordinated by EMBO. They provide scientific input to the organization, participate in committees, may nominate new members, mentor young scientists and initiate new activities. To better reflect the diversity of contemporary molecular biology in the EMBO membership, the election procedure has been significantly modified this year – for the first time since the foundation of EMBO in 1964. From this year on, the top 60 percent of the candidates nominated by the membership committee are elected automatically. All remaining candidates are judged, according to their specialties, by an election committee divided into five scientific sections. The new procedure allows the identification of the true leaders in a wide spectrum of fields, who may not generally be known to all voting members. 2009 NEWLY ELECTED EMBO MEMBERS Frédéric Allain, Switzerland Gil Ast, Israel Francis Barr, United Kingdom Yann Barrandon, Switzerland Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, France Facundo Batista, United Kingdom Simon Boulton, United Kingdom Søren Brunak, Denmark Julia Promisel Cooper, United Kingdom Patrick Cramer, Germany Geneviève de Saint Basile, France Liam Dolan, United Kingdom Richard Durbin, United Kingdom Martin Embley, United Kingdom Tariq Enver, United Kingdom Elizabeth Fisher, United Kingdom Jonathan Flint, United Kingdom Margaret Frame, United Kingdom Marcos González-Gaitán, Switzerland Iain Hagan, United Kingdom Nicholas P. Harberd, United Kingdom Bassem Hassan, Belgium Ronald Hay, United Kingdom Liisa Holm, Finland Brigitte Kieffer, France Thomas Lecuit, France Ben Luisi, United Kingdom Vivek Malhotra, Spain Richard Marais, United Kingdom Oscar Marín, Spain Seamus Martin, Ireland Jane Mellor, United Kingdom Axel Meyer, Germany Victor Muñoz, Spain Andrea Musacchio, Italy James H. Naismith, United Kingdom Anne O’Garra, United Kingdom Stephen O’Rahilly, United Kingdom Roger Patient, United Kingdom David Porteous, United Kingdom Catherine Rabouille, Netherlands Minoo Rassoulzadegan, France Jean-Marc Reichhart, France William Schafer, United Kingdom Dirk Schübeler, Switzerland Stephen Smerdon, United Kingdom Christopher Smith, United Kingdom Anne Spang, Switzerland Ernst H. K. Stelzer, Germany Michael Stratton, United Kingdom Nektarios Tavernarakis, Greece Dan S. Tawfik, Israel Didier Trono, Switzerland Laura van ‘t Veer, Netherlands Gisou Van der Goot, Switzerland Pierre Vanderhaeghen, Belgium Dietmar Vestweber, Germany Andrew Paul Waters, United Kingdom Robert J. White, United Kingdom Marat Yusupov, France 2009 NEWLY ELECTED ASSOCIATE MEMBERS Bruce Beutler, US Uta Francke, US Fred Gage, US Keiichi Namba, Japan Andreas Strasser, Australia Masatoshi Takeichi, Japan
Countries
Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czechia, Germany, Denmark, Estonia, Greece, Spain, Finland, France, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Latvia, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sweden, Slovenia, Slovakia, United Kingdom