EMBL is a centre of excellence for basic research in molecular biology. It is a distributed international research organisation (25 member states) with its main laboratory in Heidelberg. Research at EMBL emphasises experimental analysis at multiple levels of biological organisation, from the molecule to the organism. One of EMBL’s five core missions is to develop and make available new technologies for the Life Sciences. Accordingly, EMBL has an extensive success record in developing new biology-driven technologies and providing service-oriented user infrastructures. Another core mission of EMBL is to provide advanced training to researchers. EMBL maintains strong interactive relationships to the major life science research institutions in Europe and has more than 40 years of experience in integrating European research.