Science minister Patrick Vallance opens EMBL-EBI’s new building that will speed up scientific discovery
EMBL’s European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI) has opened its third permanent building on the Wellcome Genome Campus, which it says will provide more space for collaborations.
The Thornton Building, which has room for more than 200 staff and students, was officially opened by Patrick Vallance, Minister for Science, Research and Innovation on 18 March.
It is named after bioinformatics pioneer Dame Janet Thornton, who led EMBL-EBI between 2001 and 2015, and is funded by the UK Government via UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), Wellcome and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC).
“EMBL-EBI’s work speeds up scientific discovery and enables millions of scientists, engineers, and innovators to develop solutions for urgent challenges such as infectious disease, food insecurity, and the biodiversity crisis,” said Lord Vallance of Balham. “The United Kingdom is proud to host and support this unique research infrastructure."
EMBL-EBI, the home of big data in biology, hosts the most comprehensive suite of biological data resources and many of these are run in collaboration with others.
Millions of researchers worldwide use its open data resources to share and access research data.
The Thornton Building is home to the unique Open Targets public-private partnership, of which EMBL-EBI is a founding member.
It uses human genetics and genomics data for systematic drug target identification and validation.
“EMBL-EBI's role as a collaborative hub is vital for tackling the complex challenges facing the world today,” said BBSRC executive chair Anne Ferguson-Smith. “The Thornton Building will amplify these efforts, enabling researchers to collectively unlock the power and potential of biological data and accelerate breakthroughs that benefit all of society. The investment from UKRI, BBSRC and Wellcome in this critical infrastructure underscores our shared commitment to fostering a dynamic research ecosystem.”
Ewan Birney, deputy director general of EMBL and director of EMBL-EBI, said: “High-quality, curated data is the backbone of the next generation of AI tools in life sciences.
“AI breakthroughs, such as the AlphaFold system developed by Google DeepMind, are already transforming our understanding of proteins. This is just the beginning, and I expect we’ll see more discoveries powered by open data and AI in the future.”
The new building boasts collaborative spaces, meeting rooms for hybrid meetings and wellbeing areas, and is powered by renewable energy, with the heating and ventilation systems reusing waste heat.
The building is supported by one of the largest timber frames in the UK and the soil displaced for the foundations was reused on site for landscaping, with four hornbeam trees moved to a woodland nearby.
It represents the first development in the ambitious Wellcome Genome Campus expansion, which will create more lab space, housing and social infrastructure.
