Mainz molecular biologist joins European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO)
24.07.2019
Professor Peter Baumann has been elected to become a member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO), an institution promoting basic molecular biological research. According to EMBO, Baumann is one of 56 new members elected from 22 countries to join the 1,800-member EMBO network this year. Their official welcome will take place at the annual EMBO Members' Meeting in late October 2019 at the headquarters of the organization in Heidelberg. New EMBO members are nominated and elected by other members for their scientific achievements. As an EMBO member, Professor Peter Baumann will serve on the EMBO Council, evaluate EMBO funding applications, and help mentor the next generation of young scientists.
Peter Baumann joined Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) and the Institute of Molecular Biology (IMB) in 2018 with a Humboldt Professorship, Germany's best-endowed research prize. He is a leading researcher in the field of chromosome biology and focuses on, for example, the protection and repair of chromosome tails by the enzyme telomerase to the effects of hybridization and changes in the number of chromosome sets in the course of evolution. "We want to find out more about the fine balance between the stability and the plasticity of the genome," said Baumann. This plasticity is the basis for evolutionary change. Baumann is spokesperson for JGU's "ReALity: Resilience, Adaptation and Longevity" Research Profile Area funded by the Rhineland-Palatinate Research Initiative, which investigates the processes that provide stability to biological systems and make them resilient to changing environmental conditions, as well as a Fellow of the university's Gutenberg Research College (GRC).