The European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) Alumni Chats Series

Edith Heard (EMBL Director General 2019-2025) discusses her legacy at EMBL with Angus Lamond (EMBL Group Leader, 1987-1995). Edith emphasises the crucial role of unexpected results in advancing scientific discovery and innovation, encouraging researchers to embrace surprising findings, as they often spark new insights and breakthroughs. Edith also provides the context to EMBL embracing the research of planetary biology and EMBL's unique position to lead Europe’s exploration in collaborative science

Anne Ephrussi (EMBL Group Leader, Senior Scientist and Director for the EMBL International Centre for Advanced Training 1992-2023) chats with Thomas Vaccari (EMBL Predoctoral Fellow 1999-2004). Anne explains the background to starting her lab at EMBL in the early 90s and the questions she sought to investigate. She encourages young researchers to take risks and also reflects on the future of Oskar and RNA research. This conversation was recorded in September 2025.Alumni Chat contributors are members

Rolf Apweiler (EMBL-EBI Director 1987-2025) speaks with Angus Lamond (EMBL Group Leader 1987-1995) about his start at EMBL as a student helper all the way to jointly leading the EBI. The huge growth of data in life sciences he witnessed and supported along the way and the importance of international collaboration, standardization, and cybersecurity. He reflects on the impact of AI on data curation and annotation, and discuss the Open Targets project, a public-private partnership to improve drug

Moritz Gerstung (EMBL-EBI Group Leader, 2015-2021) speaks with Angus Lamond (EMBL Group Leader, 1987-1995), discussing his transition from physics to computational biology, driven by the complexities of biological systems. He highlights his work at EMBL-EBI, which focused on cancer genomes and tumour dynamics using next-generation sequencing and AI tools. Moritz emphasised the importance of open data access, citing EMBL's role in storing and sharing genomes. He noted the significant impact of AI in