EMBL

The European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) is an intergovernmental life-science research organization founded in 1974, with its main laboratory in Heidelberg, Germany. It was created by European states to run a shared molecular biology laboratory. EMBL is a specialist research institute with sites in Heidelberg, Hinxton (the European Bioinformatics Institute), Grenoble, Hamburg, Rome, and Barcelona, not a comprehensive university.

Research covers molecular, cell, and developmental biology, structural biology, bioinformatics, and imaging. Graduate students work in EMBL research groups and core facilities, including synchrotron and electron microscopy sites at Hamburg and Grenoble and bioinformatics at EMBL-EBI in Hinxton. The Heidelberg campus in the Neuenheimer Feld area is the administrative and training center.

EMBL employs about 1,800 people from more than 80 countries; a large majority of staff and fellows are international. The International PhD Programme admits on the order of 50 to 60 students a year across sites. Alumni populate European academia, biotech, and research infrastructures. There is no undergraduate student body.

Graduate study is the EMBL International PhD Programme: a structured doctoral degree with rotations, coursework, and thesis work under a group leader, often awarded with a partner university. The program is English-speaking and fully funded through EMBL fellowships. Heidelberg's laboratory campus sits beside the university and university hospital, with housing in a mid-sized German city on the Neckar.

In the Grad School Navigator directory, EMBL lists 1 doctoral program, in biology.