EMBL and Leica Microsystems Sign Open Collaboration Agreement

The European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) and Leica Microsystems have signed a framework agreement allowing for a broad and long-term partnership to provide new imaging technologies.

Leica Microsystems is the first company to partner with the EMBL Imaging Centre, which is currently under construction in Heidelberg. The agreement allows for an open innovation concept in which EMBL and industry work in close collaboration on research and development of new technologies, allowing users (researchers) to test new technologies for applications early in their research. Companies can then use the researchers' feedback to ensure new products deliver exactly what the researchers need to accomplish their goals.

“The new collaboration will create a win-win situation and intensify our proven cooperation with EMBL,” said Markus Lusser, president of Leica Microsystems. “The direct exchange of developers and researchers will pave the way for breakthrough applications — ones that confirm their relevance for state-of-the-art scientific research right from the start. We look forward to seeing how the fruits of this collaboration can benefit scientific progress in the near future.”

The partnership will provide modern facilities and equipment for scientist training, support the development of new instruments and methods, and promote active technology transfer.

“We are very happy that Leica Microsystems is our first partner for this new cooperation concept,” said Jan Ellenberg, coordinator of the new Imaging Centre at EMBL. “We are looking forward to bringing exciting new imaging technologies to researchers quickly, and to improving them further by exposing them early to cutting-edge research questions.”

The EMBL Imaging Centre will house high-end microscopic equipment from Leica Microsystems. It is scheduled to open in mid-2021 and is expected to host up to 300 visiting scientists a year.