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About the Nordic EMBL Partnership

The Nordic EMBL Partnership for Molecular Medicine

The Nordic EMBL Partnership for Molecular Medicine

DANDRITE is the Danish node of the Nordic EMBL Partnership for Molecular Medicine, which is a unique network of excellent national research centers in the Nordic countries with complementary research expertise, that aims to facilitates collaborative research, access to infrastructure, and foster outstanding international research talent.

The centers combine the longstanding tradition of basic and translational molecular medicine in the Nordic countries, with the research infrastructure, core principles and governance and operational models of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL). The EMBL is Europe’s flagship laboratory for the life sciences, and is one of the world’s leading research institutions.
 

A strong partnership with complementary strengths

The Nordic EMBL Partnership strives to retain and attract the very best international research talent, by providing an excellent research environment for young, talented researchers with the aim that they will continue their scientific careers in one of the Nordic countries.

By extending the EMBL’s recognized research strengths in areas such as cell biology and biophysics, developmental biology, genome biology, and bioinformatics, and structural biology; the individual nodes of the Nordic EMBL Partnership for Molecular Medicine contribute the following complementary strengths:

  • DANDRITE (DK):  Molecular and translational neuroscience
  • FIMM (FIN):  Human genomics, systems and precision medicine
  • MIMS (SWE):  Microbial pathogenicity and molecular infection medicine
  • NCMM (NOR):  Molecular mechanisms of disease

All nodes are nationally funded and further supported by the EMBL, through access to scientific infrastructure, services and training.

Each Nordic partner has adopted the EMBL model for international recruitment, staff turnover and scientific reviews. The coordination between the Nordic nodes and EMBL is overseen by a steering committee, constituted by two representatives from each node.

History

The Nordic EMBL Partnership was initiated as a collaboration (2008-2012) between the EMBL and FIMM at the University of Helsinki (Finland), MIMS at Umeå University (Sweden) and NCMM at the University of Oslo (Norway). The initiation involved the establishment of national partnership nodes in the three countries.

The Nordic EMBL Partnership expanded in 2013 when the Danish Research Institute of Translational Neuroscience (DANDRITE) at Aarhus University in Denmark became the Danish node. The Partnership now consists of five Nordic research centres, with around 50 Group Leaders and 500 researchers and staff.

The impact and success of the Nordic EMBL Partnership was formally recognized in 2023 with the signing of a renewed partnership agreement for an extended period of 10 years (2023-2033).