Michael Potente elected as EMBO member

Michael Potente, Professor for Translational Vascular Biomedicine and Group Leader of the BIH’s Angiogenesis & Metabolism Laboratory, has been elected a member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO). Along with 68 other new EMBO Members and Associate Members, he is being recognized for his outstanding achievements in the life sciences and joining a community of more than 2,000 leading life scientists in Europe and beyond.

“Of course I am delighted by the honor,” says Potente. “It represents recognition of our work to date by an organization of international renown.” It is not possible to apply for EMBO Membership; instead, candidates are nominated and elected by existing EMBO Members. Potente has a great deal of experience working at the interface between basic research and patient care, and since he joined the BIH in August 2020 he has been strengthening the Translational Vascular Biomedicine focus area. He and his lab team study the vascular system, which can be considered the largest organ in the human body. Their research looks at how blood vessels grow and develop and how disease can disrupt vascular function.

“In this day and age there is great pressure to quickly translate medical research into clinical practice,” says Potente. He points out that such translation is, however, dependent on thorough basic research; it requires a full understanding of the details and the ability to describe them. “Precisely that is EMBO’s focus,” he continues. “The organization’s scope is very broad: its activities are not limited to the science, instead it acts as a go-between for science and society. What should science keep society informed about? What are the respective tasks and responsibilities? I am very much looking forward to making my contribution to exploring those topics.”

EMBO Members have various duties, including evaluating applications of young scientists to the various EMBO programs. These include fellowships and the prestigious EMBO Young Investigator Network. Potente was part of this network earlier in his career.

Short biography of Michael Potente

Michael Potente was born in Aachen in 1976 and studied medicine at Goethe University Frankfurt and the University of Toronto. He began conducting research into blood vessels during his experimental doctoral thesis at Goethe University Frankfurt, which he completed in 2003. He then worked both as a postdoctoral research at the Institute of Cardiovascular Regeneration and as a physician in the Department of Cardiology of Goethe University Frankfurt, where he qualified as a professor in the field of internal medicine in 2013. In 2012 he established his own research group at the Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research in Bad Nauheim. Potente has already received numerous awards and grants, including an ERC Starting Grant, an ERC Consolidator Grant and the distinction as a European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) Young Investigator. He has published his research in distinguished journals and serves as an expert reviewer for numerous international scientific journals. Since his appointment to the BIH in August 2020, he has been strengthening the joint Translational Vascular Biomedicine focus area of the Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) at Charité (BIH), Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin and the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association (MDC).

About EMBO

EMBO is an international organization of life scientists, which has more than 2,000 members elected by peers. The major goals of the organization are to support talented researchers at all stages of their careers, stimulate the exchange of scientific information, and help build a research environment where scientists can achieve their best work. EMBO, which is funded by its member states, uses its resources for research grants, courses, workshops, conferences, and science policy initiatives, and publishes a number of prestigious journals. The organization’s administrative headquarters are in Heidelberg, Germany. EMBO Membership recognizes and honors distinguished scientists who have made outstanding contributions to the life sciences, including some 91 Nobel laureates who are or have been EMBO Members. EMBO Members can actively participate in EMBO’s initiatives by serving on the organization’s Council, committees and editorial boards, participating in the evaluation of applications for EMBO funding, acting as mentors to young scientists in the EMBO community, and advising on key activities. EMBO Members also have the privilege of nominating and electing candidates for EMBO Membership, for the Council, and for the EMBO Gold Medal.

For more information, visit: https://www.embo.org/