Three Group Leaders at the LMB, Emmanuel Derivery, Kelly Nguyen and Julian Sale, have been elected as members of the European Molecular Biology Organisation (EMBO). Dating back to 1964, EMBO boasts a membership of over 2,100 researchers and is dedicated to fostering a community to help advance life sciences. To qualify for membership, scientists must demonstrate excellence in their chosen fields before being elected by existing members.
Also elected is alumnus Wojciech Galej. Wojtek was a PhD student and later Scientific Staff and a Career Development Fellow in the LMB’s Structural Studies Division from 2009-2016. He is now a Group Leader at EMBL Grenoble where he investigates the structure and function of RNA-protein complexes.
Emmanuel Derviery
Emmanuel Derivery leads a research group in the LMB’s Cell Biology Division with a focus on understanding the molecular mechanisms of asymmetric cell division, a hallmark of stem cells via the development of innovative technologies. By combining novel, quantitative imaging of developing flies and mammalian cells with in vitro reconstitution using purified proteins, Emmauel’s group investigates how cells utilise polarised transport mechanisms during asymmetric division to ensure different cell fates. For instance, with David Baker’s group at the University of Washington’s Institute for Protein Design, Emmanuel’s group has utilised de novo protein design to directly untangle the contribution of signalling pathways in cytoskeleton symmetry breaking during asymmetric cell division.
Emmanuel began his career in research studying Molecular and Cell Biology at the ENS Lyon, France and went on to receive a PhD from the University Paris-Sud. He joined the University of Geneva, Switzerland as a Human Frontier Science Program postdoctoral fellow before moving to the LMB in 2016. His work has previously been recognised with the Hooke Medal from the British Society for Cell Biology (BSCB).
Kelly Nguyen
Kelly Nguyen, a Group Leader in the LMB’s Structural Studies Division, investigates the structure and maintenance of telomeres, the protective caps on chromosome ends, and the mechanisms employed by the enzyme telomerase to restore telomeres lost during genome replication. Her group’s work in this field has led to the identification of several novel structures, including the first atomic model of human telomerase, and, more recently, the first structure of human telomerase in a dimeric formation. Using electron cryomicroscopy (cryo-EM), her research has identified how the protein shelterin recruits and activates telomerase and modulates telomeric nucleosomes.
Kelly received a Ph.B. (honours) degree in Chemistry from the Australian National University and then joined the LMB for PhD studies in Kiyoshi Nagai’s group. She began working on telomerase as a Miller Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley and established her group at the LMB in 2019. She has received several awards for her research, including the Eppendorf Award for Young European Investigators, the Lister Institute Research Prize and the UK Blavatnik Award for Young Scientists in the Life Sciences category. In 2023, Kelly joined the EMBO Young Investigator Programme.
Julian Sale
Julian Sale is a Group Leader and Joint Head of the LMB’s PNAC Division. His research focuses on mutagenesis, seeking to understand the mechanisms by which DNA sequences, architecture and transactions are changed through processes such as replication and transcription. To this end, his group have discovered that DNA breaks and mutations often occur at the sites of replication. Julian is also co-lead investigator of SynHG, an ambitious project to develop tools to synthesise the human genome, whilst simultaneously investigating the work’s socio-ethical implications. Demonstrating the first step towards this goal, Julian’s group has helped develop a pipeline to transplant human chromosomes into mouse cells and back again.
Julian studied Medicine at the University of Cambridge, practising for four years before joining the LMB to work with Michael Neuberger studying immunoglobulin gene somatic hypermutation. He began his own research group in 2001 and has served as Joint Head of the PNAC Division since October 2025. He is also Senior Executive Editor of Nucleic Acids Research and has previously served as the LMB’s Director of Graduate Studies, overseeing the PhD programme.
