Edward Lemke elected as an EMBO member

PRESS RELEASE

6 July - Professor Edward Lemke has been elected as an EMBO Member, joining a group of more than 1,900 top researchers in Europe and around the world.

EMBO (European Molecular Biology Organisation) is a prestigious international organisation of life scientists, with members selected by the Council of EMBO. This year, 67 new EMBO Members were elected from 15 EU member states (as well as 9 associate members from 7 countries outside the EU). This great honour marks Prof. Lemke as a distinguished scientist who has made outstanding contributions to the field of life sciences. As an EMBO member, he will serve on the EMBO Council, evaluate EMBO funding applications and help mentor the next generation of young scientists.

Edward joined IMB as an Adjunct Director in 2018 and is a leading expert in deciphering how intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) function in the cell. These proteins, which have flexible, dynamic structures, constitute up to 50% of the human proteome and play key roles in many diseases such as cancer and neurodegenerative disease. The disordered nature of IDPs allows them to have greater versatility and adaptability than rigid proteins but also makes them particularly difficult to study.

Edward’s group develops innovative techniques using synthetic and chemical biology to study the biological dynamics of IDPs at high temporal and spatial resolution. His group has made major contributions to understanding how the intrinsic disorder and dynamics of these molecules contribute key functionality to the nucleocytoplasmic transport machinery, which is vital for protecting the genome and regulating the traffic of biomolecules in and out of the cell nucleus.

We warmly congratulate Edward on his election as an EMBO member.

_{Further details}

_{Further information can be found at the EMBO press release https://www.embo.org/press-releases/embo-elects-67-new-members-and-associate-members.}

_{Edward Lemke is an Adjunct Director at IMB and Professor of Synthetic Biophysics at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz. Further information about research in the Lemke lab can be found at www.imb.de/research/lemke.}

_{About the Institute of Molecular Biology gGmbH}

_{The Institute of Molecular Biology gGmbH (IMB) is a centre of excellence in the life sciences that was established in 2011 on the campus of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU). Research at IMB focuses on the cutting-edge fields of epigenetics, genome stability, ageing and RNA biology. The institute is a prime example of successful collaboration between a private foundation and government: The Boehringer Ingelheim Foundation has committed 154 million euros to be disbursed from 2009 until 2027 to cover the operating costs of research at IMB. The State of Rhineland-Palatinate has provided approximately 50 million euros for the construction of a state-of-the-art building and is giving a further 52 million in core funding from 2020 until 2027. For more information about IMB, please visit: www.imb.de.}

_{About Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz}

_{Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) is a globally recognized research-driven university with around 31,500 students. Its main core research areas are in particle and hadron physics, the materials sciences, and translational medicine, while its most outstanding research achievements in the humanities have been attained in the fields of American Studies and Historical Cultural Studies. JGU's academic excellence is reflected in its success in the Excellence Initiative of the German federal and state governments: In 2012, the university's Precision Physics, Fundamental Interactions and Structure of Matter (PRISMA) Cluster of Excellence was approved and the funding of its Materials Science in Mainz (MAINZ) Graduate School of Excellence was extended. Moreover, excellent placings in national and international rankings, as well as numerous other honors and awards, demonstrate just how successful Mainz-based researchers and academics are. Further information at www.uni-mainz.de/eng.}

_{Boehringer Ingelheim Foundation}

_{The Boehringer Ingelheim Foundation is an independent, non-profit organization that is committed to the promotion of the medical, biological, chemical, and pharmaceutical sciences. It was established in 1977 by Hubertus Liebrecht (1931–1991), a member of the shareholder family of the Boehringer Ingelheim company. Through its Perspectives Programme Plus 3 and its Exploration Grants, the Foundation supports independent junior group leaders. It also endows the international Heinrich Wieland Prize, as well as awards for up-and-coming scientists in Germany. In addition, the Foundation funds institutional projects in Germany, such as the Institute of Molecular Biology (IMB), the department of life sciences at the University of Mainz, and the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg. www.bistiftung.de}

_{Press contact for further information}

_{Dr Ralf Dahm, Director of Scientific Management}

_{Institute of Molecular Biology gGmbH (IMB), Ackermannweg 4, 55128 Mainz, Germany}

_{Phone: +49 (0) 6131 39 21455, Fax: +49 (0) 6131 39 21421, Email: press(at)imb.de}