From its earliest days the LMB has attracted and trained first class scientists from around the world – creating a diverse community for the exchange of ideas and technical innovation. The LMB provides excellent opportunities for early career and established researchers – people with the potential to lead their field. A high percentage of LMB students and post-docs stay in research or science related fields after they leave the LMB. The LMB supports the wider scientific community by supplying highly trained scientific leaders. They leave the LMB to develop and support molecular biology both in the UK and throughout the world.
Spyros Artavanis-Tsakonas, Iva Greenwald and Gary Struhl share 2025 Canada Gairdner International Award
Artavanis-Tsakonas: LMB 1971-1974, PhD student, PNAC
Greenwald: LMB 1983-1986, Postdoctoral Visitor, Cell Biology
Struhl: LMB 1976-1982; PhD student; Scientific Staff, Cell Biology
The three alumni received the prize for their work on Notch signalling, identifying it as a fundamental cell communication pathway which governs cell fate decisions and, when dysregulated, is implicated in several diseases including neurodegeneration and cancers. Spyros Artavanis-Tsakonas successfully cloned the Notch gene and other components of the pathway in Drosophila, establishing its core components and genetic framework and underlining its crucial role in cell communication. At the LMB, Iva Greenwald demonstrated the evolutionary conservation of Notch signalling, when her work to clone and sequence the C. elegans lin-12 gene revealed it was homologous to the Notch gene in flies. She also revealed the key role of line-12/Notch as a binary switch to regulate cell fate decisions. Gary Struhl provided further insights into the regulatory mechanisms of Notch signalling, uncovering how it controls gene expression and spatial patterning in developing Drosophila. Together, the trio have continued to work on Notch signalling and their work has provided far-reaching implications for basic science and medicine. More…
Top prize for Andrija Sente’s research revealing the diversity within brain receptors
LMB 2018-2023, Ph.D. Student, Postdoctoral Scientist, Neurobiology
Congratulations to Andrija Sente who has won top prize in the Science and SciLifeLab Prize for Young Scientists for his research in Radu Aricescu’s group at the LMB. His work uncovered a surprising diversity in the structure of GABAA receptors, which are crucial to the function of the central nervous system. Andrija will receive the prize at a special ceremony in Stockholm during Nobel Prize week, and an essay describing his work has been published in Science. More…
Joe Parker awarded 2024 MacArthur Fellowship
LMB 2001-2005, Ph.D. Student, Postdoctoral Staff, Cell Biology
Congratulations to alumnus Joe Parker, who has been announced as a 2024 MacArthur Fellow. These fellowships from the John D. and Catherine R. MacArthur Foundation are awarded to individuals working in a wide range of disciplines who demonstrate exceptional creativity and promise for future advances. Joe Parker is an Assistant Professor of Biology and Biological Engineering, Chen Scholar, and Director of the Center for Evolutionary Science at the California Institute of Technology. His work has pioneered the use of rove beetles to study fundamental questions about the evolution of interspecies interactions. More…
M. Madan Babu to lead newly formed Office of Data Science at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
LMB 2001-2004, 2006-2020, Ph.D. Student, Group Leader, Structural Studies
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital has announced M. Madan Babu as their first Chief Data Scientist and Senior Vice President for Data Science. Madan will lead the new Office of Data Science, with 115 new roles dedicated to advancing biomedical research. More…
Yudan Ren: Returning to research after a career break
LMB 2012-2015, Career Development Fellow, PNAC
The Royal Society profiles Yudan Ren, covering her education in rural China, her decision to take a career break to care for family, and how she re-established an academic career following this. Yudan now holds a position at the Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience and the Department of Pathology at the University of Cambridge, aided by the Royal Society Daphne Jackson Fellowship which supports people returning to research from a career break. More…
Wesley Sundquist awarded 2024 Horwitz Prize together with Scott Emr for discovering the ESCRT pathway
LMB 1988 – 1992, Scientific Visitor, Postdoctoral Fellow, Structural Studies
Congratulations to Wesley Sundquist, awarded the 2024 Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize together with Scott Emr for discovering the ESCRT (Endosomal Sorting Complexes Required for Transport) pathway and revealing how it works. Wes and colleagues discovered how and why ESCRT complexes are required for HIV replication and how the ESCRT pathway mediates the final step of cell division. More…