On January 25-26, DANEMO held the 2024 DANEMO Symposium on “Dynamics and Modelling of Biological Systems’. Featuring researchers both from Denmark and the EMBL and EMBO networks, the symposium explored the latest innovations in biological modelling from microbiology all the way through to systems biology and ecology.

The symposium kicked off with a warm welcome from DANEMO Chair Kaare Teilum (The University of Copenhagen). Here, he shared his hope that DANEMO will inspire scientists across Denmark to take advantage of the many opportunities offered by EMBL and EMBO.

Over the next two days, the symposium featured talks from a diverse range of disciplines, chosen to explore the current EMBL Programme: Molecules to Ecosystems. This programme pushes the scientific mandate of EMBL well-beyond its traditional mainstay of molecular biology. This meant that the symposium was full of new faces, many of whom had never heard of EMBL or EMBO before, let alone DANEMO. As Postdoc Adam Mielke from the Technical University of Denmark admits:

“I didn’t know what EMBL and EMBO where prior to the symposium, I was invited here by my colleague. To me, the organizations are completely new, but they might also have been slightly outside of my field being physics and mathematics and I’ve only recently gotten into biology, but this does inspire me to continue working with other sciences.”

The symposium’s wide spectrum of talks were highly appreciated by the participants. Researchers were inspired by new methods and ideas from outside their own disciplines, they expanded their networks and discussions of new collaborations were had. As Professor Michael Kühl, who chaired the session on ‘Ecology and Ecosystem Modelling’, put it:

“I think it’s an amazing combination, both in terms of the techniques that has been shown, but also the different scales of life that you can encounter in the different presentations. From very detailed subcellular processes all the way up to climate change models on a global scale. I work rather interdisciplinary already, but the symposium just strengthens my believe that the exciting things happen, when you really try to bridge disciplines.”

Not only did the symposium feature an array of inspiring talks but it also included a fantastic poster session by junior researchers from around Denmark. A special mention goes to Alessandra Lucchetti, who won the DANEMO symposium poster prize for with her poster on 'Entrainment and multi-stability of the p53 oscillator in human cells'. We send a big congratulations to Alessandra.

Interdisciplinary research has long been a goal of EMBL and with symposiums like this one, it is clear that a lot of scientists strive for the same thing. As Postdoc Adam Mielke went on to explain:

“I think there is a lot of interesting and unanswered questions in the intersection between biology, mathematics and physics. I have seen centers for interdisciplinary research at other universities that were very successful, it seems like interdisciplinary work is the new frontier.”

For the last year, DANEMO has been specifically focused on getting junior researchers to apply for the many opportunities offered by EMBL and EMBO. This was again highlighted at the symposium with talks from EMBO fellows Christian Kofoed and Jared Cregg. We hope that their talks have inspired more junior researchers, to consider applying themselves for an EMBO Postdoctoral Fellowship or to the EMBL International PhD Programme.

As Michaels Kühl's puts it, EMBL and EMBO offer great learning opportunities for junior researchers. EMBL has always been very open about receiving students at their labs, and that it is a great idea for students to go. They just need to take that first step:

“For young researchers, PhD students and postdocs, the way into this is to get in contact with EMBL to explore possibilities to try out their techniques. For example by taking advantage of the opportunities for short term visits, participation in courses etc. – it’s all about getting in contact.”

The DANEMO Symposium was a great two-day symposium, with a wide range of talks, participants and networking opportunities. We hope that this symposium will inspire you, to take advantage of the many opportunities within EMBL and EMBO in the future.