LMB staff have raised over £1300 for Prostate Cancer UK at the annual charity Christmas raffle, which was this year supported by a sale of Christmas decorations and gifts made by members of the recently formed LMB Craft and Chatter group. Each year a charity is chosen because of the support they have provided to members of staff or their families.
After the success of the inaugural event last year, the LMB held its second musical evening, once again organised by the LMB Wellbeing Champions and showcasing the myriad of musical talents possessed by LMB staff and students.
Eric Gouaux will give the 2018 Max Perutz Lecture on Thursday 29th November 2018 at 4pm in the Max Perutz Lecture Theatre at the LMB. The lecture entitled “How synapses work: Architecture and mechanism of neurotransmitter receptors and transporters” is open to anyone in the local area who is interested in attending.
Eric is currently a Senior Scientist at the Vollum Institute of Oregon Health & Science University.
Aaron Klug, Director of the LMB from 1986 to 1996, President of The Royal Society from 1995 to 2000 and 1982 Nobel Laureate, died on Tuesday 20th November 2018. Aaron was instrumental in revealing the structures of complex biological molecules, from viruses to tRNA, to chromatin and zinc fingers. His most important contribution to scientific research was his painstaking development of crystallographic electron microscopy.
For the fourth year in a row, the LMB’s HR team, supported by colleagues throughout the LMB, raised money for Macmillan Cancer Support by taking part in the World’s Biggest Coffee Morning. LMB staff demonstrated their talent for baking and donated a wide array of sweet snacks for everyone to enjoy.
The money raised for Macmillan Cancer Support allows them to support those with cancer, by treating them as individuals and not just as patients.
Over 30 LMB researchers have taken part in a range of activities as part of LifeLab 2018 and Big Biology Day, bringing their research to public spaces in Peterborough and Cambridge in the form of hands-on activities and discussions.
LifeLab is a European Commission-funded programme of events taking place as part of European Researchers’ Night and was one of 55 similar projects happening around Europe.
At the end of a highly stimulating LMB Lab Symposium, Jan Löwe, LMB Director and Chair of the Max Perutz Fund (UK charity 1129597), was delighted to announce the winners of the Max Perutz Student Prize and the newly awarded Brenner Postdoc Prize.
The Max Perutz Student Prize has been awarded annually since 1984 for outstanding PhD work performed at the LMB.
Gero Miesenböck will give the 2018 Francis Crick Lecture on Wednesday 24th October 2018 at 11.00am in the Max Perutz Lecture Theatre at the LMB. The lecture, entitled “Light Sleep” is open to anyone in the local area who is interested in attending.
Gero is Waynflete Professor of Physiology and founding Director of the Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour at the University of Oxford.
Tom Steitz, Nobel Laureate, known for his ground-breaking work on the structural basis of the central dogma including the ribosome, died on Tuesday 9th October, at the age of 78. Tom was Sterling Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, and Professor of Chemistry at Yale University, USA. He and his wife Joan were postdoctoral scientists at the LMB for 3 years from 1967 to 1970. They remained good friends of the LMB all their lives.
Greg Winter from the LMB’s Protein and Nucleic Acid Chemistry (PNAC) Division has been awarded the 2018 Nobel Prize for Chemistry. Greg shares half of this year’s prize with George P. Smith, with the other half being awarded to Frances H. Arnold, for developing a method known as phage display and using it for the directed evolution of antibodies, with the aim of producing new pharmaceuticals.