Process

The formulation of an initial Scientific Program for EMBL Australia will be an iterative process following the scheme employed by EMBL in Europe. Every five years, the EMBL Director General, in close consultation with his Directorate, Scientific Advisory Committee and Heads of Units, prepares an extensive proposal outlining the general research directions, support structures and specific initiatives in service and training that will be undertaken in the laboratory in the next five year funding period.

In 2001, the EMBL Council charged the Laboratory to perform a detailed analysis of the prospects for molecular biology in the coming decade. This analysis, the “Strategic Forward Look: 2006–2015” (SFL) was published at the end of 2003 (http://www.embl.org/aboutus/news/publications/forwardlook.html). Its conclusions formed the basis of EMBL’s scientific strategy for the following five years. This is an extensive project of critical importance: last year’s 120 page document for the EMBL Scientific Program 2007-2011 took approximately two years to prepare.

The major conclusion was that developments in molecular biology over the past decade, including the sequencing of entire genomes, the broad advent of high-throughput technologies and a few excellent examples of the power of combining experimental analysis with computational modelling and simulation methods in biology, had paved the way for the advent of systems analysis in biology, or systems biology. Biological functions rely on the combinatorial use of multiple components, whose interactions modify each others’ properties in non-intuitive ways. This dictates a requirement for interdisciplinary approaches to the understanding of biological phenomena, including the close integration of computational and experimental approaches.

EMBL Australia Working Group agreed to a similar process for developing an indicative Scientific Program for EMBL Australia Partner Laboratory Network. Over the past three months, workshops in Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney were convened to discuss and develop a set of broad research themes that are designed to be predictive and inclusive rather than proscriptive or restrictive. These workshops were attended by representatives of the local scientific community as well as by Prof Nadia Rosenthal and representatives from the CSIRO (see Appendix 1 for list of attendees to the workshops).

The Scientific Program for the EMBL Australia Partner Laboratory Network will build upon the strategic alliance with EMBL and its activities in systems biology, whilst capitalising on the specific strengths of Australian life and health sciences.