The European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) is an intergovernmental organization dedicated to molecular biology research and is supported by 28 member states, one prospect state, and one associate member state. EMBL was created in 1974 and is funded by public research money from its member states. Research at EMBL is conducted by approximately 110 independent research and service groups and teams covering the spectrum of molecular biology and bioinformatics. The list of Groups and Teams at EMBL can be found at . The Laboratory operates from six sites: the main laboratory in Heidelberg, and sites in Hinxton (the European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI), in England), Grenoble (France), Hamburg (Germany), Rome (Italy) and Barcelona (Spain). EMBL groups and laboratories perform basic research in molecular biology and molecular medicine as well as train scientists, students, and visitors. The organization aids in the development of services, new instruments and methods, and technology in its member states. Israel is the only full member state located outside Europe. History EMBL was the idea of Leó Szilárd, James Watson and John Kendrew. Their goal was to create an international research centre, similar to CERN, to rival the strongly American-dominated field of molecular biology. Kendrew served as the first Director-general of EMBL until 1982 and was succeeded by Lennart Philipson. From 1993 to 2005, Fotis Kafatos, served as director and was succeeded by Iain Mattaj, EMBL's fourth director, from 2005 to 2018. In January 2019, Edith Heard became the fifth director of EMBL and the first woman to hold this position. Heard announced the organisation's five-year scientific programme Molecules to Ecosystems on 19 January 2022. Research Each EMBL site has a specific research field. The EMBL-EBI is a hub for bioinformatics research and services, developing and maintaining a large number of scientific databases that are free of charge. At Grenoble and Hamburg, research is focused on structural biology. The EMBL Rome site is dedicated to the study of epigenetics and neurobiology. Scientists at EMBL Barcelona are exploring how tissues and organs function and develop, in health and disease. At the headquarters in Heidelberg, there are units in cell biology and biophysics, developmental biology, genome biology, and structural and computational biology, as well as service groups complementing the aforementioned research fields. Many scientific breakthroughs have been made at EMBL. The first systematic genetic analysis of embryonic development in the fruit fly was conducted at EMBL by Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard and