NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – The Czech Republic has joined the European Molecular Biology Laboratory, making it the 21st nation to become a member of the international non-profit research institution, EMBL said today.
Czech researchers will now be able to use EMBL's facilities and services, and early career scientists will be able to apply for scholarships to PhD and postdoctoral programs. Researchers also may be able to receive PhD degrees awarded jointly by EMBL and a Czech institution, and the country may be able to host an EMBL partnership institute.
EMBL includes five sites spread across Germany, France, the UK, and Italy, where it provides research services, conducts basic molecular biology studies, trains scientists, develops new tools and technologies, and engages in technology transfer activities.
The Czech parliament ratified the move to join EMBL, and EMBL's council approved its addition after EMBL advised Czech biomedical and biotechnology research institutes on establishing and managing core facilities.
"Over the past few years we have established strong links with the Czech Republic's scientific community, collaborating closely and sharing expertise," EMBL Director-General Iain Mattaj said in a statement. "The Czech Republic's becoming an EMBL member state reflects and expands on that fruitful relationship."
EMBL's core facilities include labs providing services for genomics; protein expression and purification; proteomics; chemical biology; electron and advanced light microscopy, and flow cytometry. EMBL also offers a wide range of bioinformatics and computational biology services to support genomics and other molecular biology research projects.