About Us
EMBL Grenoble, France, is a laboratory of about 70 people, located in very close proximity to two unique European facilities for research in structural biology: the nuclear reactor of the Institut Laue Langevin (ILL), which provides high flux neutron beams, and the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF), which produces amongst the world's most intense X-ray beams.
Research
EMBL Grenoble has three principle activities. We collaborate with the ESRF and ILL in developing methods and instrumentation for structure determination by X-ray and neutron crystallography. In our biology labs we do research in molecular structural biology notably in the fields of protein-RNA complexes involved in RNA metabolism and translation; protein-DNA complexes involved in transcription; structure, assembly and host-cell interactions of viruses, and proteins involved in membrane fusion. And lastly, we develop instruments and technologies dedicated to automated expression and crystallisation of proteins.
Within this unique environment, EMBL Grenoble has a very active in-house research unit in structural biology making use of a wide range of techniques including molecular biology, biochemistry, electron microscopy, light scattering, neutron scattering, X-ray crystallography and computing. The availability of such a range of techniques is vital to the success of ambitious projects in modern structural molecular biology, and combined with the neighbouring large-scale facilities, provides an ideal environment for the training of young scientists. There are currently nine research groups. Amongst the research topics being tackled, there is a strong tradition in studying systems involving protein-nucleic acid complexes on the one hand and viruses on the other hand. Structural work on aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases is particularly well-known. A number of synthetases were first cloned at EMBL Grenoble and six different synthetase structures have been determined including three in complex with cognate tRNA. Studies on protein-RNA systems are now being extended to the mammalian signal recognition particle and several proteins which interact with mRNA. Another major focus is the study of RNA viruses such as influenza and rabies with the aim of understanding how they replicate and assemble. Protein crystallography of eukaryotic transcription factor-DNA complexes is also another important topic, recent highlights being the structure determination of the T-protein/DNA complex and the first Stat/DNA complex.
Our collaboration with the ESRF is organised via the EMBL-ESRF Partnership for Structural Biology (PSB) which provides an open forum for discussing scientific and technical problems associated with running synchrotron beamlines for protein crystallography. The Joint Instrumentation Group (JIG) is responsible for implementing technical developments.
Services
EMBL Grenoble provides a number of research services to in-house and external users as well as having access to the services provided by other units of EMBL.
Training
Advanced training activities at EMBL Grenoble take place at various levels. The most important training programme is the International PhD Programme. Currently 18 postdoctoral researchers and 77 predoctoral candidates are training in Grenoble. External scientists have the opportunity to participate in advanced training by regular courses and workshops, and an EU funded User Programme for access to synchrotron facilities.
The Grenoble Administration works with all members of personnel, Group Leaders, Technicians, Postdocs and Predocs, to provide the necessary support for financial management, personnel administration, and grant support. The Grenoble Administration also provides safety and facility management support.