Peter Rice is a group leader at the European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI, Hinxton, UK), a centre for research and services in bioinformatics and part of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL). His group investigates and advises on the e-Science and Grid technology requirements of the EMBL-EBI, through application development plus participation in standards development. His group also houses the EMBOSS project. Dr Rice instigated EMBOSS in 1996 when he was based at the Sanger Centre (Hinxton, UK), with Alan Bleasby (SEQNET, Daresbury) and in collaboration with Thure Etzold (EMBL-EBI). He left Sanger in 2000 to work for LION Biosciences, and in 2003 joined the EMBL-EBI.