In our day-to-day lives we execute spatially targeted movements with ease and seemingly without much thought. These movements may include reaching for your morning cup of coffee, checking your mirrors on your drive into work, or catching a cricket ball.
Three-dimensional representation of motor space in the brain
How the earliest life on Earth may have replicated itself
Scientists in Philipp Holliger’s group in the LMB’s PNAC Division have created a new type of genetic replication system to demonstrate how the first life on Earth – in the form of RNA – could have replicated itself.
Our understanding of life’s early history is limited but a popular theory for the earliest stages of life on Earth is that it was founded on strands of RNA, a chemical cousin of DNA.
Next generation sequencing and machine learning provide insights into the dark proteome
Work from Madan Babu’s group in the LMB’s Structural Studies Division, spearheaded by Charles Ravarani and in collaboration with Alexandre Erkine’s group at Butler University, has for the first time harnessed next generation sequencing and machine learning to develop a high throughput screen to uncover disordered regions of proteins that are functional within cells.
Proteins, the molecular machines of the cell, are formed from chains of amino acids.
Understanding how TRIM21 is regulated during viral infection
During a viral infection, our immune system produces potent antiviral molecules which are hugely important for restoring us to health. However, if made at the wrong time these molecules can be damaging, leading to autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis. Our antiviral response must therefore be tightly controlled so that we are protected against infection but do not suffer from autoimmune disease.
Reversing a decline in cellular transport in ageing nerve cells
Ageing is characterised by a decline in function at both the cellular and organismal level and is the major risk factor for several neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. One of the key cellular processes that is affected during ageing is the transport system that nerve cells use to deliver components to different locations.
Speeding up cargo deliveries in the cell
Cytoplasmic dynein-1, a protein that transports cargos along microtubule tracks throughout the cell, binds to dynactin and cargo adaptor proteins to carry its cargos over long distances. Various cargos use different adaptors to recruit dynein for transport. Until now, it has not been clear whether all cargos recruit dynein in the same way and how different cargo adaptors act.