Current methods in cell biology

Course overview

The aim of the “Current methods in Cell Biology” course is to teach participants to use modern cell biology to answer outstanding questions at the frontiers of cell biology. Following the long-standing tradition of the course, the entire faculty of the Cell Biology and Biophysics Unit of EMBL will teach the course. The expertise of the EMBL faculty will be complemented by external experts. The course will thus teach participants a comprehensive palette of the latest techniques. The hands-on experience gained in the course will provide the participants the knowledge on how to combine different state-of the art tools to obtain the orthogonal information necessary to disentangle key biological questions in the field. Specifically, the course will span techniques from sample preparation (probe development, cell sorting) to imaging and biophysical techniques (from single molecule force spectroscopy up to whole organism light-sheet imaging. To enable participants to interpret their results, the course will put a strong emphasis on teaching students image analysis, theoretical approaches and modelling techniques. In addition, being embedded in the EMBL collaborative environment, the course provides an excellent opportunity for participants and course faculty to discuss current and future challenges in cell biology.

Audience

The course will be primarily aimed at postdocs and advanced graduate students who have developed an interest in cell biology. We wish to attract cell biologists who want to acquire quantitative, biophysical, and computational methods as well as scientists (including early-career principle investigators) with different backgrounds (including physics, chemistry, engineering, informatics, etc) who want to use their expertise to address current problems in cell biology.

We aim to balance the number of participants with a background in biology and participants coming from other disciplines. A key criteria for selection is the potential benefit of adding novel cell biological methods to the students’ own research plans.

Preference will be given to students where there is little or no possibility for them to acquire this knowledge at their home institution.

What past participants say about the course

“This course has changed my perspective in many aspects of cell biology, and allowed me to rethink how to perform crucial experiments. The interaction with other participants and the speakers has been without a doubt the best, providing an excellent platform for networking during the 10 days of the course. Highly recommended in the next editions!” – Anchel de Jaime Soguero, COS Heidelberg, Germany

“A wonderful way to learn about and be inspired by new advances in cell biology research. The enthusiasm of those teaching made the course stand out as a unique opportunity.” – Victoria Hart, University of Sheffield, UK

Please see EMBL’s COVID-19 safety recommendations for testing and other requirements to attend this on-site course.

Warning

EMBL wishes to warn sponsors of EMBL conferences and courses of fraudulent schemes purporting to offer sponsorship opportunities on behalf of EMBL or affiliated with EMBL officials. One current scam campaign of which we are aware is conducted using the name ‘Judy Eastman’ (judy@gopcontact.a2hosted.com) and entails approaches to sponsors offering sponsorship opportunities on EMBL’s behalf. Please be kindly advised that all relevant communication regarding sponsorship of EMBL conferences, symposia and courses is handled by EMBL directly and is sent from an official EMBL account. EMBL does not work with any external providers on sponsorship acquisition.

Please also note that:

EMBL never provides attendee lists for purchase. Any offers of such are fraudulent.
EMBL will never call or email you to ask for your credit card details or to request a payment.
All payments are on invoice.

Suspicious communications purportedly from, for or on behalf of EMBL should be reported to EMBL at the following email address sponsorship@embl.de.