Professor Nick Talbot has been elected to the membership of the European Molecular Biology Organisation (EMBO).
Molecular genetics researcher receives European honour
Professor Nick Talbot has been elected to the membership of the European Molecular Biology Organisation (EMBO).
Professor Talbot from Biosciences is among 52 outstanding researchers in the life sciences who have been newly elected to EMBO, which supports talented researchers, stimulates scientific exchanges and advances policies for a world class European research environment.
Election to life-long membership of EMBO is a mark of recognition of research excellence and the outstanding achievements made by a life scientist.
Professor Talbot’s research group studies how fungi are able to cause disease in plants and focuses in particular on one of the world’s most devastating diseases - rice blast. His research group have made important contributions to understanding how fungi gain entry to plant cells. They have focused particularly on investigating specialised infection structures called appressoria that are used by the rice blast fungus to break the rice leaf surface. Their key discoveries have included identifying the biochemical basis for turgor generation, the cell cycle control of infection, and the role of programmed cell death.
“Our members are the basis for the international reputation of our organisation,” EMBO Director Maria Leptin said. “We have been building our network of members for almost 50 years and the EMBO membership is the foundation for our future growth and achievements. I look forward to the fresh input and ideas that the new EMBO members will bring to the organisation.”
Forty-three of the researchers recently elected to EMBO reside in Europe and neighbouring countries and are accompanied by the election of nine Associate Members from Canada, China, India, Japan and the United States. The EMBO membership currently comprises around 1600 internationally renowned life scientists. Fifty-nine scientists from the EMBO membership have received the Nobel Prize.
Professor Talbot is an ERC Advanced Investigator and his work is also funded by BBSRC, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Halpin Scholarship programme. In addition, he serves as Deputy Vice Chancellor for Research and Knowledge Transfer. Speaking about his election, Professor Talbot said “I am very honoured to have been recognised in this way, but the real honour belongs to my research team, who work so hard and contribute so much to understanding rice blast disease. We are all committed to doing whatever we can to control this devastating disease which affects so many lives.”
Date: 29 May 2013
