Senior representatives from Australia’s national research infrastructures (RIs) visited EMBL sites in Europe to explore how shared platforms can accelerate discovery across biology, engineering and computation.
After being welcomed by EMBL Barcelona Head Dr James Sharpe, the Australian delegation explored EMBL’s cutting-edge research programs and showcased Australia’s national research infrastructure capabilities and collaborative strengths.
The group met with EMBL Barcelona Group Leaders in their labs and toured the Mesoscopic Imaging Facility, which pioneers 3D imaging of tissues and organs, and the Microfablab, a state-of-the-art facility for developing microfabricated tools that advance experimental biology.
The delegation also learned about opportunities for Australian researchers to engage with EMBL’s Collaboratorium for Modelling and Predictive Biology, paving the way for new partnerships in computational life sciences.
A second delegation attended the European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI) in Hinxton, where Interim Director Jo McEntyre welcomed the group for discussions focused on EMBL’s AI Strategy, particularly implementation pathways and opportunities for future collaboration.
The agenda also covered data infrastructure and archiving, training initiatives, and rapidly advancing fields such as spatial omics and bioimaging, highlighting strong alignment and shared priorities across continents.
Australian BioCommons Director Dr Jeff Christiansen said the visit to EMBL-EBI was a fantastic opportunity to build on the longstanding relationship between the two organisations – both focused on delivering bioinformatics infrastructure – and to connect colleagues from other NCRIS capabilities with key staff and projects at EMBL-EBI
“It was valuable to have time to reflect on areas of mutual interest, including the application of AI in the life sciences and the critical role that high-quality data plays in underpinning AI approaches,” Dr Christiansen said.
“Hearing about new developments at EMBL-EBI to support the long-term preservation of spatial omics data – an exciting intersection of imaging and omics – was particularly informative.”
EMBL Australia Chief Operating Officer Annette Wittmann also visited EMBL in Heidelberg to meet with colleagues of the EMBL ARISE team and Global BioImaging to discuss and progress collaboration in talent attraction, training and retention in the life sciences.
“Visiting the EMBL sites as a cohort and spending time with our European colleagues is a really powerful way of enhancing Australia’s visibility, strengthening existing relationships, enabling new connections and exploring potential areas for structured transcontinental collaboration,” said Ms Wittmann.
“There is clear momentum and a growing commitment to working together on shared agendas – from connecting RIs, researchers and industry across borders, to joining forces in RI workforce development by leveraging existing blueprints and scaling training, exchange and mobility programs.”
The Australian delegation included leaders from key NCRIS-supported capabilities – including Bioplatforms Australia, Australian BioCommons, EMBL Australia, Phenomics Australia, National Imaging Facility, Microscopy Australia and the Population Health Research Network – as well as representatives from Monash University, SA Pathology and QCIF.
The visits were facilitated by EMBL Australia, in collaboration with EMBL International Relations Officer Zhanna Ivanova and EMBL Senior Project Officer Agata Pernus-Voigt.
Australia’s associate membership to EMBL is supported by the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS).