Rolf Apweiler is a distinguished figure who has shaped the field of bioinformatics for over four decades through his leadership at the European Bioinformatics Institute. He retired from EMBL-EBI in October 2025 but continues to serve as an Emeritus Visitor at the institute. Prior to his retirement, he held the position of Associate Director from 2024 to 2025 and served as Joint Director alongside Ewan Birney from 2015 to 2024. Apweiler began his remarkable career at EMBL Heidelberg in the 1980s as a student helper, eventually earning his PhD from the University of Heidelberg in 1994 while continuing his work at EMBL, where he has been a dedicated member since 1987.
Apweiler made seminal contributions to methods for the automatic annotation of proteins, enabling comprehensive information integration for entire organism proteomes. He spearheaded the development of critical standards for proteomics data and oversaw major resources including PRIDE for protein identifications and IntAct for molecular interactions. As the leader of the Swiss-Prot project since 1987 and its evolution into UniProt, he established what has become the world's leading resource for protein sequence and functional information, used by millions of scientists globally. His leadership extended to EMBL-EBI's contribution to the Gene Ontology, direction of Open Targets, and coordination of the European COVID-19 Data Platform, demonstrating his ability to address both fundamental and urgent scientific challenges.
His pioneering work in bioinformatics has earned him numerous prestigious recognitions including the Human Proteomics Organisation's Distinguished Achievement Award in 2004 and election as a member of EMBO in 2012. Apweiler was further honored with his election as an ISCB Fellow in 2015 and membership in the Academia Europaea in 2022, reflecting his enduring impact on the field. Throughout his career, he has exemplified collaborative leadership, serving on multiple Editorial Boards and Scientific Advisory Boards while emphasizing that 'we never fell into the trap of thinking that the tools we developed were the best.' His legacy continues through the foundational resources he helped create and the collaborative ethos he championed, which remain vital to advancing biological research worldwide.
