Life scientist receives top European research honour

A leading evolutionary geneticist from Imperial College London has been elected to the membership of the European Molecular Biology Organisation.

Vincent Savolainen, Professor of Organismic Biology and Deputy Head of the Department of Life Sciences, is among 50 world class scientists in neuroscience, ecology and evolution recognised by the European Molecular Biology Organisation (EMBO) this year for their outstanding research.

Commenting on his election as a member of EMBO, Professor Savolainen said: “I am very honoured by such recognition and look forward to meeting outstanding life scientists from across the World for EMBO's 50th anniversary in Heidelberg later this year. EMBO organises a series of events and offers prestigious, highly competitive fellowships. As a Member of EMBO, I look forward to get involved in these schemes and help young researchers across Europe to perform at their best. EMBO plays a major role in increasing Europe's competitiveness in life sciences - their expansion to cover ecology and evolution is a very welcome move so that altogether we can push the frontiers of knowledge in a truly interdisciplinary environment under EMBO's umbrella.”

Professor Savolainen is an evolutionary geneticist whose research helps to explain the origins of biodiversity. He has made key contributions to understanding the environment, the genetics of species and the evolutionary relationships between groups of organisms.

Professor Savolainen has provided some of the most convincing examples of the process through which new species evolve. For example, his work resolved a century-long controversy about the evolution of new species in the face of gene flow – something that now features in many biological textbooks.

After years of debates by the plant science community on the feasibility of using small DNA sequences for species recognition, a process known as DNA barcoding, Professor Savolainen identified a universal ‘DNA barcode’ for flowering plants. Combining results from his research in Central America and Africa, he demonstrated how DNA barcoding could be used to create biodiversity inventories in the tropics as well as controlling trade in endangered species.

More recently, Professor Savolainen's research has expanded to use DNA and RNA sequencing, from tackling the evolution of lifespan and body size in fish to identifying genes controlling plant physiology and development.

EMBO Director Maria Leptin said: “For the 50^th anniversary of EMBO we are extremely pleased to welcome significantly more researchers to our membership than in previous years. In the past decades, many of the concepts, techniques and insights of molecular biology have been applied to fundamental questions in other disciplines of the life sciences. Molecular explanations are now emerging for the origins and functions of complex systems like the brain and the living world around us. We wanted to reflect more of these exciting developments in our membership.”

New EMBO members are nominated and elected annually by existing members. EMBO members represent a high-profile cross section of researchers from all fields of molecular life sciences ranging from developmental biology, genomics, molecular medicine, neuroscience and plant biology to systems biology. Sixty-six scientists from the EMBO membership have received the Nobel Prize.