MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology
One of the world's leading research institutes, our scientists are working to advance understanding of biological processes at the molecular level - providing the knowledge needed to solve key problems in human health.
‘Synthetic biology’ is a scientific approach that seeks to answer fundamental questions in biology by reconstruction and modification of the molecules and processes of life. Beyond its well-known role as the carrier of genetic information, DNA (and its close cousin RNA) have shown great promise as a nano-molecular building material: by careful arrangement of the bases A, T, C and G, DNA strands can be programmed to fold into specific 3D shapes.
Information transfer in the nervous system occurs at synapses, where presynaptic signals are interpreted by postsynaptic receptors. Ingo Greger’s group, in the LMB’s Neurobiology Division, study this process with a focus on AMPA-type glutamate receptors (AMPARs) at various levels of complexity. AMPARs are the prime mediators of excitatory neurotransmission and are regulators of synaptic plasticity, which underlies learning.
Every year hundreds of millions of people worldwide are affected by Malaria and nearly half a million die from the disease. More than two thirds of those dying are children under five. The disease is caused by parasites passed to humans through the bites of infected mosquitoes, with Plasmodium falciparum being the parasite responsible for the most severe form of malaria.
Cell-to-cell variability in gene expression level (noise) has emerged as one of the fundamental concepts in genetics. Non-genetic, cell-to-cell variation in the abundance of a gene product can generate a diversity of behaviour in genetically identical population of cells. This phenomenon is pervasive and prevalent in development (e.g. stem cells) and disease (e.g. cancer). Genome-scale studies on gene expression noise have revealed that some genes are more random in their expression than others.
Researchers in the LMB’s Structural Studies Division have been able to show in more detail than ever before the structure of a large part of the spliceosome, a macromolecular machine involved in the maturation of messenger RNAs for protein synthesis.
Rebecca Voorhees and Manu Hegde, from the LMB’s Cell Biology Division, have used electron cryo-microscopy (cryo-EM) to determine how a channel that is essential for protein transport is opened. This channel, known as Sec61 in mammals, is needed for secretion of proteins from the cell and insertion of proteins into the membrane.