The European Molecular Biology Laboratory [EMBL] is an international research organisation with its main laboratory in Heidelberg [Germany], and four outstations in Hinxton, [UK] [the European Bioinformatics Institute, EBI], Grenoble [France], Hamburg [Germany], and Monterotondo [Italy].

The main laboratory in Heidelberg was inaugurated in 1978 as the first EMBL facility dedicated to basic molecular biology research, technology development, service provision and advanced training. Today more than 750 staff members are working at EMBL Heidelberg in five research units [Cell Biology and Biophysics, Developmental Biology, Gene Expression, Structural and Computational Biology and Directors' Research, covering two independent research groups headed by the Director General of EMBL and the Executive Director of EMBO], service facilities and administration.

Research at EMBL emphasizes experimental analysis at multiple levels of biological organisation, from the molecule to the organism, as well as computational biology, bioinformatics and systems biology. Research is supported by the development of enabling technologies that are made available to the scientific community in core facilities like for e.g. genomics, electron microscopy, advanced light microscopy, and proteomics. Many scientific breakthroughs have been made at EMBL Heidelberg, most notably the first systematic genetic analysis of embryonic development in the fruit fly by Christiane Nüsslein-Vollhard and Erich Wieschaus, for which they were awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1995.

Outstanding training is available at multiple levels: predoctoral students, postdocs and visiting scientists are provided with exceptional training opportunities. Many courses, conferences and workshops are organised in collaboration with EMBL's sister organisation, the European Molecular Biology Organisation [EMBO]. Young scientists are trained at EMBL for a limited time before the majority of them move back to their home countries. As a result of its unique turnover policy, EMBL has become the major advanced training centre for molecular biology in Europe.

Heidelberg is the largest centre for biomedical research in Germany and home to the oldest German university, the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg. Many bilateral links between scientists at EMBL and the other Heidelberg research institutions have been established. In addition to many bilateral collaborations, EMBL participates in several larger projects: the Molecular Medicine Partnership Unit, a pilot project established in 2002 between the Medical Faculty of the University of Heidelberg and EMBL; the BIOMS project in collaboration with the University of Heidelberg, the German Cancer Research Centre [DKFZ], the Max-Planck-Institute for Medical Research and the European Media Lab [EML Research]; a joint Chemical Biology Core Facility for small molecule screening that was established together with the German Cancer Research Centre [DKFZ] in 2004.

A very active Science and Society Programme and other outreach activities promote a better and broader understanding of the growing social and cultural relevance of the life sciences through a variety of activities and events where members of the scientific community, scholars from other disciplines, as well as members of the public meet to engage in a dialogue.