Three students and a member of staff led by Professor Joseph Borg of the Department of Applied Biomedical Science at the University of Malta have completed a training workshop visit as part of an MCST IPAS grant awarded in 2019.

Travel restrictions and difficulties during the pandemic season had prolonged the training visit from taking place. However, the timing has now been opportune - since the students got a first hand view and practice on the state of the art tools and techniques to conduct single cell analysis at both RNA & DNA levels.

The training visits took place at the EMBL Gene Core Facilities managed by Vladimir Benes In Heidelberg, Germany whilst another parallel visit took place at the EMBL-EBI in Cambridge, Hinxton, UK, coordinated with John Marioni and visits to the Stem Cell Institute nearby.

The experience garnered on the next generation sequencing, as well as computational and experimental methods will bring Borg Group that much needed expertise to continue building on past successful projects related to experimental haematology and control of human haemoglobin expression. The training performed will now be shared within the rest of the research team and pave the way for additional research trips as part of ongoing collaborations between our University and the EMBL.

Professor Borg is currently a Maltese delegate representing our country on the EMBL’s council. The next council meeting is scheduled to take place next week, and a scientific program for the next five years will be agreed and endorsed between all member states.

For more information about the EMBL and its programmes visit the full details available online.

Should anyone be interested in exploring closer ties with the Organization, one is encouraged to reach EMBL directly or contact Professor Borg by email.