Michael Rossmann, Hanley Distinguished Professor of Biological Sciences at Purdue University and former scientific staff at the LMB, where he worked with Max Perutz on the structure of haemoglobin, has died on 14th May 2019 at the age of 88. Michael was a very gifted crystallographer whose main strength was in mathematics and computer programming.
Menna Clatworthy, a Group Leader in the University of Cambridge Molecular Immunity Unit based at the LMB, has won a prestigious EFIS-IL (European Federation of Immunological Societies-Immunology Letters) Lecture Award, having been described by the nominating body as “a true clinician scientist of the 21st century – continuously pushing boundaries of biomedical insight at the interface of fundamental immunology, clinical immunology and systems precision medicine”.
Felix Randow, a group leader in the LMB’s PNAC Division, has been elected into the Fellowship of the Academy of Medical Sciences.
The Academy represents the diversity of medical science, with Fellows drawn from a range of professions, including laboratory science, clinical academic medicine, medical and nursing care, as well as areas allied to medical science, such as ethics, social science and the law.
Claudia Bonfio, a postdoctoral researcher in John Sutherland’s group in the LMB’s PNAC Division, has been awarded the Royal Society of Chemistry’s 2019 Dalton Emerging Researcher Award for her “development of chemistry to investigate the chemical roots of iron-sulfur dependent metabolism”.
The Dalton Emerging Researcher Award is given annually to recognise the achievements of an inorganic chemist working in, or originally from, the UK who is within two years of completion of their PhD.
Ana Casañal, a postdoctoral researcher in Lori Passmore’s group in the LMB’s Structural Studies Division, is one of two recipients of the FEBS Anniversary Prizes 2019.
Staff at the LMB have raised £226.77 for Marie Curie as part of “The Great Daffodil Appeal”. Freda Chapman, from the LMB’s Domestic Services team, led the collecting in her role as the “Face of East England” for Marie Curie’s campaign. On volunteering to collect for Marie Curie, Freda said, “I collect because I lost my mum, dad and two sisters. It’s great to give back.
Sydney Brenner, Director of the LMB from 1979 to 1986 and 2002 Nobel Laureate, died on Friday 5th April 2019, aged 92. From the 1950s, Sydney was at the forefront of many developments in molecular biology, in particular in molecular genetics, including the unravelling of the genetic code, and the discovery of messenger RNA. He initiated the work on the nematode worm, Caenorhabditis elegans, to study how genes regulate organ development and how cells are programmed to die.
LMB scientists have been talking with members of the public and contributing to the 25th annual Cambridge Science Festival with family-friendly hands-on activities and a fascinating talk.
Synthetic Biology: create a new protein!
On the first Saturday of the Festival, LMB scientists gave visitors to the “Hands-on at the Guildhall” event the opportunity to design and create a new model protein using modelling clay and concepts from synthetic biology.
Benjamin Falcon, a postdoctoral researcher in Michel Goedert’s group in the LMB’s Neurobiology Division, has been awarded the inaugural Alzheimer’s Research UK Rising Star Award in recognition of his significant contribution to biomedical dementia research as an early career researcher.
Benjamin has been studying the structures of filaments formed by the microtubule-associated protein tau with Michel Goedert and Sjors Scheres from the LMB’s Structural Studies Division.
On International Women’s Day, the LMB releases the first in a series of group leader profiles written by science writer and LMB Alumna, Kathy Weston. The subject for Kathy’s first profile is Lori Passmore, a group leader in the LMB’s Structural Studies Division.