Leo James, Greg Jefferis and Marta Zlatic, all Group Leaders at the LMB, have been elected Fellows of the Royal Society. The Royal Society is the oldest academic society in continuous existence, tracing its origins back to the 1660s. Its mission is to recognise, promote and support scientific excellence, and encourages the development and use of science to benefit the medical, economic, social and cultural wellbeing of humanity.
Each year, the Royal Society elects up to 85 new Fellows and 24 new Foreign Members. Candidates for Fellowships must be nominated by two existing Fellows and have made “a substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge, including mathematics, engineering science and medical science”.
Also elected in the 2025 cohort are LMB alumni John Briggs, Graham Hatfull and Baljit Khakh. John was a Group Leader in the Structural Studies Division from 2017-2021 and is now based at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, Graham was an MRC Fellow in the PNAC Division from 1983-1984 and is now at the University of Pittsburgh and Baljit was a Group Leader in the Neurobiology Division from 2001-2006 and is now at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Leo James
Leo James is a Group Leader in the LMB’s PNAC Division where he investigates the molecular mechanisms which drive pathogen infection and the cellular responses that attempt to prevent the spread of viral and bacterial invaders. Significantly, Leo’s group discovered the cytosolic antibody receptor TRIM21 and showed that it drives an intracellular arm of protective immunity. In subsequent work, his group has shown that TRIM21 can be re-directed to target cellular molecules, including tau protein aggregates which define Alzheimer’s disease. Leo recently co-founded TRIMTECH Therapeutics to further develop protein degraders to target neurodegenerative conditions.
Leo has been a Group Leader at the LMB since 2007. Prior to this he received a BSc degree in Genetics from the University of York, a PhD in Molecular Biology from the University of Cambridge and completed postdoc placements at the MRC Centre for Protein Engineering.
Greg Jefferis
Greg Jefferis is the Joint Head of the Neurobiology Division at the LMB. His research seeks to better understand the brain, through studies of the neural circuits in the fruit fly Drosophila. Through a lead role in two international collaborations his group have produced complete wiring diagrams (connectomes) of the brain and nerve cord of the adult fly – the most complex to be mapped to date. His group also seek to understand how brains process sensory information to control behaviour, for example demonstrating how flies use stereo smell to find the identity and location of other flies.
Greg received a BA in Natural Sciences from the University of Cambridge and a PhD from Stanford University’s Neurosciences Programme. He was a Research Fellow in the Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, before starting his own research group at the LMB in 2008.
Marta Zlatic
Marta Zlatic leads a research group in the LMB’s Neurobiology Division, where she combines brain-wide analysis of neural connectivity, activity and behaviour in the tractable genetic model system, the Drosophila larva, to uncover the circuit implementation of fundamental brain functions. To better understand how the brain works, she has worked with the groups of Albert Cardona, also in the LMB’s Neurobiology Division to solve the synaptic-resolution connectome of the Drosophila larval brain. The complete connectome contained over 3,000 neurons and 548,000 synapses, offering unprecedented insight into neural architecture and a new guide for future experimental and theoretical studies of the brain. By using the connectome to guide analysis and manipulation of neural activity, Marta’s group has discovered fundamental principles by which multisensory integration, action-selection and learning are implemented in the brain.
Marta began her research career with a BA in Natural Sciences, an MSci in Chemistry and a PhD in Developmental Neurobiology, all from the University of Cambridge. She remained in Cambridge until 2009, when she launched her own research group at HHMI Janelia Research Campus, USA. She then returned to Cambridge, joining the LMB as a Group Leader in 2019.
Further references
Royal Society press release
LMB Royal Society Awards & Honours List
Leo’s group page
Greg’s group page
Marta’s group page
John Briggs – Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry
Graham Hatfull – University of Pittsburgh
Baljit Khakh – UCLA