Author: Gray, Richard
Title: Did FROSTS lead to life on Earth? Cycles of freezing and thawing causes basic genetic material to form
Reference MailOnline 7 May 2015
Year: 2015
Type: Science
Subject: Large RNA molecules can be assembled from basic biochemical building blocks during cycles of freezing and thawing.
Keywords: severe frosts; Earth; ‘spark’; RNA-enzymes; Hannes Mutschler; hairpin ribozyme; freezing; Late Heavy Bombardment; hydrogen cyanide; lipids; toxic soup
Photographs:Author: The Francis Crick Institute
Title: A genetic switch uncovered in the long genes expressed in our brain
Reference The Francis Crick Institute 13 May 2015
Year: 2015
Type: Science
Subject: Jernej Ule, former group leader, and Vincent Plagnol from UCL have discovered a new mechanism for ‘splicing-based’ gene regulation, with possible implications for brain-related disorders.
Keywords: Jernej Ule; ‘splicing’; mRNA; introns; exons; neurodevelopmental disorders; ‘recursive sites’; Vincent Plagnol; genes; ‘cryptic sequences’
Photographs:Author: Borman, Stu
Title: New Approach to Control Enzyme Function in Cells
Reference Chemical & Engineering News 22 May 2015
Year: 2015
Type: Science
Subject: A new technique, devised by Jason Chin’s group, could make it easier to target and inhibit specific enzymes and other proteins in cells and to turn that regulation on and off at will with light.
Keywords: Jason Chin; inhibitor; enzymes; tetrazine; bioorthogonal ligand tethering; iBOLT; MEK1; MEK2; alkyne; alkene
Photographs:Author: Haar, Dan
Title: Joan A. Steitz: A Place In The Lab, and In Biochemistry History
Reference CTNOW 28 May 2015
Year: 2015
Type: History - Reminiscences
Subject: Looking at the work of LMB Alumnus Joan Steitz’s and how her time at the LMB studying ribosomes led to her important discoveries in RNA research.
Keywords: Joan Steitz; Francis Crick; James Watson; RNA; snRNPs; snurps; Thomas Steitz; ribosomes; Howard Hughes Medical Institute; Rib-X Pharmaceuticals Inc.; Melinta
Photographs:Author: Fogg, Christiana N., Kovats, Diana E.
Title: 2015 ISCB Accomplishment by a Senior Scientist Award: Cyrus Chothia
Reference Bioinformatics 22 May 2015
Year: 2015
Type: Awards & Prizes
Subject: A look at the career of Cyrus Chothia and his work on the structures and functions of proteins, following announcement of his ISCB Senior scientist award
Keywords: International Society for Computational Biology (ISCB); Cyrus Chothia; Joel Janin; Michael Levitt; John Kendrew; ‘The Thread of Life’; Arthur Lesk; SUPERFAMILY; Structural Classification of Proteins (SCOP); Tim Hubbard; Alexei Murzin; Steven Brenner; Julian Gough
Photographs: Image of Cyrus (MRC)Author: Todd Bergman, Mary
Title: Sarah Teichmann receives EMBO Gold Award
Reference EMBL etc. Lab Matters 18 June 2015
Year: 2015
Type: Awards & Prizes
Subject: Former LMB Group Leader, Sarah Teichmann, receives the 2015 EMBO Gold Award
Keywords: Sarah Teichmann; EMBO; Gold Award; Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute; EMBL; bioinformatics; Cyrus Chothia; Computational genomics
Photographs: Image of Sarah TeichmannAuthor: Cambridge News
Title: Cambridge scientists unlock cause of some types of infertility
Reference Cambridge News 19 June 2015
Year: 2015
Type: Science
Subject: Melina Schuh, in collaboration with Bourn Hall Clinic, may have found the cause of some types of infertility, including recurrent miscarriage, after new research found some human eggs carry the wrong number of chromosomes.
Keywords: Melina Schuh; Bourn Hall Clinic; IVF; infertility; miscarriage; meiosis; Down’s syndrome; chromosome; aneuploid; oocytes
Photographs:Author: UK BioIndustry Association
Title: Celebrating UK bioscience
Reference UK BioIndustry Association 25 June 2015
Year: 2015
Type: Biotechnology
Subject: The stories behind three great LMB successes are highlighted in a report by the UK BioIndustry Association (BIA)
Keywords: Humira; tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF-a); monoclonal antibody; rheumatoid arthritis; Crohn’s disease; Greg Winter; John McCafferty; “phage display”; “CDR grafting”; Cambridge Antibody Technology (CAT); David Chiswell; CAMPATH; Lemtrada; CD52; lymphocytes; multiple sclerosis; Michael Neuberger; Therapeutic Antibody Centre (TAC); Nicola Cole; G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs); asthma; high blood pressure; schizophrenia; migraine; leukaemia; Christopher Tate; StaR®; Heptares Therapeutics; MedImmune; MorphoSys
Photographs:Author: MRC T
Title: Reviewing translation at the MRC 2014
Reference MRC T 2 July 2015
Year: 2015
Type: Biotechnology
Subject: Work by LMB’s Mike Gait, Jason Chin and Satpal Virdee, and Fabrice Gorrec highlighted in a MRC Review of recent successes in translational research
Keywords: Mike Gait; exon skipping; Duchenne muscular dystrophy; spinal muscular atrophy; myotonic dystrphy; oligonucleotide; mRNA; Pip; Penetratin; Shire; protein synthesis; Jason Chin; Satpal Virdee; Bio-Techne; Genetically encoded Orthogonal Protection and Activated Ligation (GOPAL); Ubiquitin; Morpheus® crystallisation; Fabrice Gorrec; Protein Data Bank; Molecular Dimensions Ltd
Photographs:Author: Nair, Prashant
Title: QnAs with Venki Ramakrishnan
Reference PNAS 14 July 2015
Year: 2015
Type: Miscellaneous
Subject: As Venki Ramakrishnan prepares for his upcoming presidency of the Royal Society, spoke to the journal PNAS about his plans for the future.
Keywords: Venki Ramakrishnan; The Royal Society; United States National Academy of Science; austerity; Paul Nurse; funding; J. J Thomson; William Bragg; Aaron Klug; ribosome; President Elect; PNAS; Europe; GDP
Photographs: Image of Venki RamakrishnanAuthor: Van Noorden, Richard; Maher, Brendan; Nuzzo, Regina
Title: The Top 100 Papers
Reference Nature 30 October 2014
Year: 2014
Type: Science
Subject: Nature explores the most-cited research of all time
Keywords: Nature; Thomson Reuters; Web of Science; Fred Sanger; citations; protein biochemistry; DNA-sequencing method; bioinformatics; Uli Laemmli; bacteriophage; Steve Nicklen; Alan Coulson; Georges Köhler; Milstein Cesar; top papers
Photographs:Author: Ward, Lucy
Title: Venki Ramakrishnan on leaving the EU, science in schools - and horoscopes
Reference The Guardian 17 June 2015
Year: 2015
Type: Miscellaneous
Subject: Venki Ramakrishnan, the incoming president of the Royal Society, shares his hopes for British science
Keywords: Venki Ramakrishnan; the Royal Society; EU; ribosome; Paul Nurse; Europe; referendum; public engagement; GDP; funding; austerity; immigration; Max Perutz; European Research Council; horoscopes; homeopathy
Photographs:Author: Gallagher, James
Title: Poor sleeping patterns link to cancer
Reference BBC News 21 July 2015
Year: 2015
Type: Science
Subject: A study suggests that irregular sleeping patterns have been “unequivocally” shown to lead to cancer in tests on mice.
Keywords: Current Biology; breast cancer; body clock; Michael Hastings; circadian rhythm; shift work
Photographs:Author: Sharma, Anuradha
Title: India needs to invest in infrastructure: Venkatraman Ramakrishnan
Reference The Indian Express 26 July 2015
Year: 2015
Type: Miscellaneous
Subject: Venki talks about climate, and why individuals cutting down on their energy consumption will not be enough.
Keywords: Venki Ramakrishnan; climate change; United Nations; India; China; global emissions; solar power; Royal Society
Photographs: Venki with his son in MumbaiAuthor: EMBO encounters
Title: Phosphatase inhibitor prevents protein-misfolding disease
Reference EMBO encounters Summer 2015
Year: 2015
Type: Science
Subject: Highlighting EMBO member Anne Bertolotti’s paper in science about modification of medicine for high blood pressure into one that might tame misfolded protein disease
Keywords: Anne Bertolotti; Sephin 1; amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease; EMBO; R15A phosphatase
Photographs: Image of Anne BertolottiAuthor: Martynoga, Ben
Title: How to grow a ‘brain’
Reference MRC Insight 2 July 2015
Year: 2015
Type: Science
Subject: A look at Madeline Lancaster’s research growing rudimentary brain tissue in the lab which means that researchers can study organ development and disease. But how do you go from stem cells to a ‘mini-brain’
Keywords: Madeline Lancaster; ‘mini-brain’; cerebral organoids; microcephaly; stem cells; glial cells; Long + Short
Photographs: A cross-section of a cerebral organoid or ‘mini-brain’ (Image copyright: IMBA/ Madeline A. Lancaster)Author: Pain, Elizabeth
Title: Harnessing computer power to understand biology
Reference Science 7 July 2015
Year: 2015
Type: Career Structure
Subject: Former LMB Group Leader Sarah Teichmann talks about how she was inspired by computational biology by Cyrus Chothia, with whom she did her PhD.
Keywords: Sarah Teichmann; EMBL-EBI; European Molecular Biology Organization Gold Medal; Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute; bioinformatics; Cyrus Chothia; computational biology; Ras; career; ‘wet-dry’
Photographs: Sarah Teichmann and her groupAuthor: Hesman Saey, Tina
Title: The origin of biological clocks
Reference Science News 14 July 2015
Year: 2015
Type: Science
Subject: Review of research, including that of the LMB’s John O’Neill, on the evolutionary story of circadian rhythms.
Keywords: circadian clocks; John O’Neill; “flight from light”; UV Light; cyanobacteria; Akhilesh Reddy; Clock; Timeless; Period; Peroxiredoxins; KaiA; Kinase;
Photographs:Author: Marks, Lara
Title: Monoclonal antibodies: the invisible allies that changed the face of medicine
Reference The Conversation 10 August 2015
Year: 2015
Type: History - Reminiscences
Subject: The technique for producing monoclonal antibodies was first published 40 years ago by César Milstein and Georges Köhler, at the LMB.
Keywords: César Milstein; Georges Köhler; Monoclonal antibodies (Mabs); immune system; “magic bullets”; rheumatoid arthritis; multiple sclerosis; cancer; asthma; Alzheimer’s disease; diabetes; autoimmune; diagnostic testing; genentech
Photographs: Preparation of monoclonal antibodies in the lab; An artist’s rendering of anti-cancer antibodies; Monoclonal antibodies can be used to rapidly diagnose disease and determine blood type.Author: Phys Org
Title: New details of the transmission of stimuli in living organisms unveiled
Reference Phys Org 11 August 2015
Year: 2015
Type: Science
Subject: A team lead by the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) and ETH Zurich together with Madan Babu Mohan’s group and the pharmaceutical company Roche provide new details of how the activation of G-protein-coupled receptors takes place and demonstrate that only a few amino acids have a major influence on GPCR function.
Keywords: G-protein; stimuli; Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI); ETH Zurich; Roche; Madan Babu Mohan; Rhodopsin; Dmitry Veprintsev; Gebhard Schertler; adrenalin
Photographs:Author: IUCr
Title: The MORPHEUS II protein crystallization screen
Reference IUCr 18 August 2015
Year: 2015
Type: Science
Subject: Fabrice Gorrec from the LMB has published developments related to MORPHEUS II – a protein crystallization screen. He has demonstrated that additives selected from the PDB that are under-represented in traditional screens can be combined to formulate suitable and useful conditions, not only for crystallization but the overall structure determination process.
Keywords: MORPHEUS II; Fabrice Gorrec; X-ray diffraction; crystallization screen; protein stabilizers; polyols; cryoprotectant
Photographs:Author: Nightingale, Katherine
Title: From tool to therapy: a timeline of monoclonal antibody technology
Reference MRC Insight 17 August 2015
Year: 2015
Type: History - Reminiscences
Subject: Forty years ago this month, Nature published a paper by the LMB’s César Milstein and Georges Köhler which described how they’d made mouse monoclonal antibodies. Here we look at the landmarks on the 40-year journey
Keywords: César Milstein; Georges Köhler; monoclonal antibodies; ‘humanised’; Campath-1H; Greg Winter; Michael Neuberger; Marianne Brüggemann; ‘phage display’; Cambridge Antibody Technology; alemtuzumab; rheumatoid arthritis; Humira; multiple sclerosis
Photographs: César Milstein and Georges Köhler; Greg WinterAuthor: Oakley, Deborah
Title: Worming our way to a new understanding of behaviour
Reference MRC Clinical Sciences Centre 21 August 2015
Year: 2015
Type: Science
Subject: The wriggling and writhing of worms may hold clues to the inner workings of our brains, according to scientists at the MRC’s Clinical Sciences Centre and their collaborators at the LMB.
Keywords: wriggling; writhing; nematode worm; European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI); dopamine; serotonin; Bill Schafer
Photographs:Author: Rae Chi, Kelly
Title: Orchestrating Organoids: A guide to crafting tissue in a dish that reprise in vivo organs
Reference The Scientist 1 September 2015
Year: 2015
Type: Science
Subject: Madeline Lancaster’s method of growing organoids to understand early brain development is featured in this “guide to crafting tissues in a dish that reprise in vivo organs”
Keywords: mini-guts; organoids; brain beads; Madeline Lancaster; stem cells; Matrigel; neurodegenerative disease; RT-PCR; Parkinson’s; Alzheimer’s; autism
Photographs: Image - Neuronal NexusAuthor: Callaway, Ewen
Title: The revolution will not be crystallized: a new method sweeps through structural biology
Reference Nature 9 September 2015
Year: 2015
Type: Science
Subject: Highlight of the work of Richard Henderson, Nigel Unwin and Sjors Scheres in developing cryo-EM techniques that are changing the way scientists solve molecular structures.
Keywords: Cryo-electron microscopes; Sjors Scheres; X-ray crystallography; cryo-EM; Alzheimer’s; Richard Henderson; Nigel Unwin; bacteriorhodopsin; Venki Ramakrishnan
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