Spanish Government and EMBL sign Agreement for new Site

The European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) and the Spanish government, represented by the Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness (MINECO), have signed an agreement for a new EMBL site to be located on the campus of the Barcelona Biomedical Research Park (PRBB). Also present at the ceremony were the Catalan Government, represented by the Ministry of Business and Knowledge and the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG), which has supported this initiative from the beginning. The new site will be dedicated to tissue biology and disease modelling.

“Tissue biology and disease modelling is an exciting field, where we expect breakthroughs in fundamental research and also in terms of future medical applications. EMBL Barcelona will be in a unique position to lead those advances,” says EMBL Director-General Iain Mattaj. “The site will be one of the few places in the world where scientists can access state-of-the-art microscopy and modelling technologies specifically designed for studying tissues.”

“This agreement to host EMBL in Barcelona is testament to the Spanish government’s commitment to support excellent science and to capitalise on the rapid development of internationally competitive biomedical research,” says Luis de Guindos, Spanish Minster of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness. “It reflects our ambition to place Spain at the forefront of research in the life sciences.”

The first new EMBL site to be established in almost 20 years, EMBL Barcelona will be the institute’s sixth site – after Heidelberg (Germany), Hamburg (Germany), Grenoble (France), Hinxton (UK) and Monterotondo (Italy). It is expected to begin operations in autumn 2017.