Childhood of a phoenix: modern biology in Eastern and South-Eastern Europe.

With the expanding unification of Europe, the face of European science is changing. For some countries these changes are more pronounced than for others. Here, we survey the present state of science, most notably molecular biology research, in Eastern and South-Eastern European countries. We focus on the strategies these countries are taking in their quest for scientific excellence, discuss some of the acute challenges they face and explore several success stories in the making.