The leaders in the industry sector, representatives of biotech startups, data experts and researchers from the world of academia meet at the ‘Embl Italy’ event on 26 and 27 May, in presence and remotely, at the Gsk Vaccines site in Siena. The appointment, organized by Embl (European Molecular Biology Laboratory) and Gsk Vaccines, now in its sixth edition, will also be attended by numerous Italian researchers among the experts who will discuss the biology of infections, microbiology, structural biology and artificial intelligence.
Since 2016, the EMBL has been organizing the annual ‘Embl in Italy’ event in collaboration with public and private research institutions. The aim is to share the research results of the EMBL with the Italian scientific community and the local community of alumni, and to increase the network of collaborations in Italy, one of the founding states of the EMBL and which for over twenty years has hosted a of its 6 offices in Europe.
In the session dedicated to artificial intelligence, Sameer Velankar, team leader at the English headquarters of the EMBL (European Bioinformatics Institute, Embl-Ebi) will present Alphafold, the algorithm capable of predicting protein structures starting from their sequence. Developed by DeepMind and made available to the scientific community through a partnership with the EMBL, it has been defined as the most important scientific discovery of 2021 by the journal ‘Science’. Almost a year after its publication, over a million protein structures have already been determined by Alphafold. There will also be a keynote lecture by Sergio Abrignani, scientific director of the National Institute of Molecular Genetics (Ingm), who will also participate in the debate ‘Tools to deal with the next pandemic’, at the end of the event.
“The EMBL events in Italy are an exciting way to meet leading scientists in the sector and be updated on the latest research – says Cornelius Gross, interim director of the Italian branch of the EMBL in Monterotondo, near Rome – We are thrilled that GSK will host this ‘year the annual event that is organized by the EMBL and its alumni network for the benefit of the Italian life sciences community “.
There are numerous scientific connections already existing between Embl and Gsk, also the result of the presence of a group of Embl alumni within Gsk, promoters of the event. Among these, Ennio De Gregorio, global director of bacterial vaccine research Gsk Vaccines, who completed his training with a PhD at Embl. “It is an honor – comments De Gregorio – to host the annual Embl event at the Gsk Vaccines site in Siena for a high-level scientific discussion on the subject of infectious diseases and, more generally, human health. I am sure that this meeting will pave the way for new opportunities to collaborate, network and share innovation in areas of common scientific and research interest, both with Embl, Center of Excellence for Molecular Biology in Europe, and through the network of Embl alumni who we will have the pleasure of hosting “.
The event also aims to promote a valuable dialogue between public and private research institutions, highlighting the mutual resources, collaboration opportunities and career opportunities offered by the participating bodies. “This is the sixth annual Embl event in Italy and the second to be hosted in a company, thanks to the network of Embl alumni that facilitate these events – says Mehrnoosh Rayner, coordinator of the EMBL Alumni Relations team – These meetings offer a ‘excellent opportunity to foster exchange between researchers, network with key players and new talents in the life sciences field, be inspired by new research “.
