An assembly for downhole applications comprises has an electric motor, a pump driven by the electric motor and having a lower pump inlet and an upper pump outlet, and a deployment tube from which the assembly is suspended from and by means of which the assembly can be lowered through the well. A nonrotating hollow shaft forms a bore extending from the tube through the motor and the pump to an assembly opening at the bottom of the assembly such that a device suspended on a wireline or coiled tube may be lowered through the deployment tube and pass through the electric motor and pump to a part of the well below the pump inlet. The motor is linked outside the bore to the pump for driving the pump.