Founded in 1964, EMBO is a membership organisation in which the current members nominate and elect the new ones. Membership cannot be applied for.
Stem cells renew our tissues
Pekka Katajisto works at the Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences and the Institute of Biotechnology, HiLIFE, at the University of Helsinki.
“Our tissues replace old and damaged cells with new ones. In most tissues, this is the job of stem cells. For a tissue to keep working for decades, stem cells have to produce exactly the right kinds of cells in the right proportions,” Katajisto says.
His group investigates how the ability of stem cells to renew tissues changes over time, and how this ultimately leads to ageing.
For Katajisto, the membership is recognition of long-term work.
“EMBO membership is a wonderful acknowledgement of the significance of our work, and at the same time a tribute to all the current and former members of the laboratory, to my colleagues and to my mentors. The membership also offers a chance to mentor the next generation of researchers and to support their careers,” he says.
Plants have a complex transport network
Ari Pekka Mähönen is an Academy Professor at the Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences at the University of Helsinki.
“Xylem cells carry water and nutrients from the roots to the leaves, and the wood also serves as the plant's structural support. Phloem cells, in turn, transport the sugars and other compounds produced in photosynthesis throughout the plant,” Mähönen says.
The group's main model plant is thale cress, a small weed whose genome is exceptionally well known. With it, the researchers work out which genes and molecules regulate the formation of xylem and phloem. The findings can later be applied to research on trees and crop plants.
For Mähönen, the election is especially meaningful, because plant scientists are few among EMBO's members.
“Above all, the membership is recognition of the long-term work of our research group. I am delighted and honoured that colleagues from across Europe considered our work worthy of membership and supported my candidacy,” he says.
EMBO supports researchers' careers
With the membership, both researchers join EMBO's activities. Members evaluate funding applications, guide the organisation's work and mentor researchers especially at the start of their careers. EMBO funds and promotes research in the life sciences and supports the mobility of talented researchers in Europe.
Both researchers look to the future with optimism. Katajisto believes that by developing new methods, the field can answer questions that have stayed open for more than 15 years about how the function of old tissue could be safely rejuvenated. Mähönen is excited by the ERC Advanced Grant he has just received, which will allow his group to transfer the expertise gained in thale cress to biologically more complex trees.
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