EMBO head returns home to run Science Foundation Ireland

Homeward bound: EMBO head Frank Gannon.

One of Ireland’s best known scientific sons, Frank Gannon, has been lured back from his post as Director General of the European Molecular Biology Organisation (EMBO) to take the helm at Science Foundation Ireland (SFI).

Gannon, who announced in December that he was leaving EMBO , will formally take up the position in May 2007.

Pat Fottrell, Chairman of SFI said Gannon “combines both a strong world-class research background with the appropriate administrative and management skills”.

Gannon has led EMBO, based in Heidelberg, Germany, since 1994, while also serving as Secretary General of the European Molecular Biology Conference, EMBO’s intergovernmental funding body, and as a senior scientist at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory.

He joins SFI, the government’s attempt to put Irish science on the map, at a critical moment, as efforts to implement the government’s strategy on science, technology and innovation, 2006–2013, begin to ramp up.

“This is an exciting and challenging period for Irish research but also one of great opportunities,” said Gannon, commenting on his appointment. “I am fully committed to working in SFI in cooperation with the scientific community and all of the key government departments and agencies to ensure that Ireland is internationally renowned for the excellence of its research and at the forefront of translating this into economic and social progress.”

Speaking in Cork at a recent SFI Seminar on “Reshaping Ireland’s Economy through Science’”, enterprise minister Micheál Martin welcomed the appointment. “This is a very strategic appointment in the context of the implementation of the ambitious national targets set in the Strategy for Science Technology and Innovation and the National Development Plan 2007-2013.”

Before joining EMBO, Gannon was Director of the National Diagnostic Centre and Associate Professor in the Department of Microbiology at University College Galway, Ireland. His major research interest is the expression and regulation of the oestrogen receptor, which plays a major role in breast cancer.