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.
A method for linking proteins together with specific chemical bonds, developed in the LMB’s PNAC Division by Satpal Virdee and Jason Chin, has been licenced by MRC Technology to the global life sciences company Bio-Techne. The company will use the technology to join ubiquitin, or other proteins, to a target protein, enabling both fundamental research into biological regulation and drug discovery.
John Sutherland, from the LMB’s Protein and Nucleic Acid Chemistry Division, has been awarded the Royal Society’s Darwin Medal. John receives the medal “in recognition of his novel and convincing work on prebiotic chemistry, in particular his solution to the central problem of nucleoside synthesis”.
The LMB welcomed nearly 600 of its alumni back to a two-day symposium, ‘Molecular Biology at 50 and Beyond’, held in its new building, on 11th and 12th July.
Each year, pupils from all over the East of England compete to grow the best crystal of potash alum possible, in the Eastern Region Crystal Growing Competition. This year, during the International Year of Crystallography, the competition was hugely popular, with nearly 80 schools participating in two age groups.
The top prize in Key Stage II went to Laxton Junior School near Peterborough, with Robert Arkenstall Primary School, Haddenham in second place.
Professor Peter Walter will give the 2014 Milstein Lecture on Monday 30 June 2014 at 4.15pm in the LMB’s Max Perutz Lecture Theatre. The lecture, entitled “Unfolded Protein Response in Health and Disease” is open to anyone in the local area who is interested in attending.
Peter is currently Professor at the Department of Biochemistry & Biophysics at University of California, San Francisco, and an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
A recent event held at the LMB showed how a PhD in science can lead to various exciting careers outside the lab, including working in Science Policy, Communications and Administration.
The joint LMB-Cambridge AWiSE event, which took place on Wednesday 4th June, attracted a large audience of PhD students and post-docs from around Cambridge to hear speakers Sobia Raza, Katia Smith-Litière and Danielle Hoyle.