The LMB is delighted to announce that Chris Russo and Gerry Crossan have progressed from Independent Investigator Scientist positions to become Group Leaders at the LMB. Chris and Gerry join more than fifty-five group leaders at the LMB, representing a diverse range of science and recruited from around the world.
Greg Jefferis, group leader in the LMB’s Neurobiology Division, has been awarded the Francis Crick Medal and Lecture 2018 in recognition of his discoveries concerning the developmental and functional logic of sensory information processing.
The human brain is arguably the most complex structure in our universe. Understanding how its 100 billion nerve cells control our behaviour is one of the major scientific challenges of our age.
Thirteen primary schools from Cambridge and the surrounding area have participated in this year’s Science Image Award. The competition, part of the LMB’s Microscopes for Schools science outreach programme, aims to encourage scientific curiosity in children by connecting the microscopic world to everyday life.
This year as part of the annual MRC Festival of Medical Research, twenty-five scientists and support staff from across the MRC, including the LMB’s Claudia Bonfio, took part in ‘I’m a scientist, get me out of here!’. This online public engagement event involved participants talking to school students from across the UK, answering students’ questions about medical science, their research, wider interests and much more, and participating in live text-based chats.
The LMB has recently become home to 16,000 honey bees, representing two nucs (also known as nucleus colonies) which will form the basis of two new hives. The honey bee colony is the brainchild of the LMB’s Environmental Committee, a team of fourteen individuals who spearhead initiatives ranging from encouraging staff to use reusable coffee cups to providing advice about reducing energy consumption.
An audience of LMB staff and visitors from across Cambridge gathered in the LMB’s Max Perutz Lecture Theatre for the annual “What Next For Your Career In Science?” event. In its twelfth year of existence, the event, which is a collaboration between the LMB and the Cambridge Association for Women in Science and Engineering (AWiSE) aims to showcase the diverse range of careers available to those trained in science.
After two years holding the Suffrage Science scheme award, Lori Passmore has now passed her jewellery heirloom on to LMB alumnus, Rebecca Voorhees. Launched in 2011 by the MRC London Institute of Medical Sciences, the Suffrage Science scheme celebrates women in science for their scientific achievement and for their ability to inspire others.
Five Cambridge science institutions including the LMB have won a bid to engage the local region with science as part of European Researchers’ Night, the largest public science event in Europe. LIFE LAB is one of four UK initiatives awarded funding from the European Commission. It will establish a programme of pop-up science events in shopping centres, cafes and music venues across Cambridgeshire on 28th September 2018 and again on 27th September 2019.
Richard Henderson, from the LMB’s Structural Studies Division, has been made a Companion of Honour in the Queen’s 2018 Birthday Honours list, for services to electron microscopy of biological molecules.
The Order of the Companions of Honour was founded in 1917 by King George V and is awarded for a major contribution to the arts, science, medicine, or government lasting over a long period of time. The Order consists of the Sovereign and a maximum of 65 members.
Nicola Smyllie, postdoc in the LMB’s Neurobiology Division, along with other leading female scientists from the region, showcased her science to the public, entertaining and captivating visitors at Strawberry Fair.
This year’s Cambridge Soapbox Science took on a new dimension with scientists partnered with artists with the aim of bringing difficult science concepts to the public in exciting, innovative and engaging ways.