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Scientific Seminars


Below is a list of upcoming seminars at the LMB aimed at a general scientific audience and open to individuals throughout Cambridge. If you are not at the LMB and wish to attend a seminar, please contact the seminar secretary.

The LMB hosts ‘The LMB Seminar Series’, where 1-2 leading scientists per month are invited to speak throughout the year. Four of these lectures are named in honour of LMB Nobel Laureates Max Perutz, Francis Crick, César Milstein and John Kendrew, given by eminent scientists from around the world. The LMB Seminar talks and LMB Named Seminar talks are advertised widely throughout the local area and are open to all.

2020 LMB Seminar Series speakers (click to expand)

  • Milstein 2019 Lecture – Elaine Fuchs – 11am, 27th January
  • Perutz 2019 Lecture – John Diffley – time tbc, 26th February
  • Julie Ahringer – time tbc, 27th March
  • Gerry Rubin – time tbc, 3rd April
  • Albert Heck – time tbc, 20th April
  • Perutz 2020 Lecture – David Baker – time tbc, 28th April
  • Peijun Zhang – time tbc, 5th May
  • Nieng Yan – time tbc, 18th May
  • Kendrew 2020 Lecture – Jonathan Weissman – time tbc, 11th June

A full list of LMB Named Lectures to date can be found here.

Details of other local seminars can be found here

  • Milstein LMB Seminar: Stem Cells in Silence, Action and Cancer

    Speaker: Elaine Fuchs, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY 10065 USA
    Host: Madeline Lancaster
    Date: 27/01/2020 at 11:00am in the Max Perutz Lecture Theatre, LMB.

    Further information

    Adult tissue stem cells have the ability to self-renew long term and differentiate into one or more tissues. Many stem cells are used sparingly to replenish cells during normal homeostasis. However, even stem cells that are quiescent must be able to respond quickly to injury in order to fuel rapid tissue regeneration. How stem cells balance self-renewal and differentiation is of fundamental importance to our understanding of normal tissue maintenance and wound repair. The regulatory circuitry governing this normal balancing act is must be intricately regulated in normal homeostasis, and then transiently altered to cope with injury responses. Increasing evidence suggests that the mechanism goes awry in inflammation and becomes hijacked in cancers. We use skin as a model to understand how the microenvironment impacts the stem cells and their behavior in health and disease, with the intent to unfold new avenues for therapeutics.

  • Introduction to Biophysical Techniques:Fluorescent Labeling, FRET and Light Sheet Microscopy

    Speaker: Ben Sutcliffe
    Host: Chris Johnson
    Date: 28/01/2020 at 10:00am in the Sanger Seminar Room, Level 3, LMB.

  • Introduction to Biophysical Techniques:Super-resolution Microscopy

    Speaker: Jonathan Howe
    Host: Chris Johnson
    Date: 30/01/2020 at 10:00am in the Max Perutz Lecture Theatre, LMB.

  • Introduction to Biophysical Techniques:Fluorescence spectroscopy and Microscale thermophoresis

    Speaker: Stephen McLaughlin
    Host: Chris Johnson
    Date: 11/02/2020 at 10:00am in the Max Perutz Lecture Theatre, LMB.

  • Introduction to Biophysical Techniques:Single Molecule Spectroscopy

    Speaker: Chris Johnson
    Host: Chris Johnson
    Date: 13/02/2020 at 10:00am in the Max Perutz Lecture Theatre, LMB.

  • Introduction to Biophysical Techniques:Biomolecular Thermodynamics and Calorimetry (ITC)

    Speaker: Chris Johnson
    Host: Chris Johnson
    Date: 18/02/2020 at 10:00am in the Max Perutz Lecture Theatre, LMB.

  • Introduction to Biophysical Techniques:Biosensor Technologies (Biacore SPR, Switchsense, Octet)

    Speaker: Stephen McLaughlin
    Host: Chris Johnson
    Date: 20/02/2020 at 10:00am in the Max Perutz Lecture Theatre, LMB.

  • Introduction to Biophysical Techniques: Introduction to Biomolecular NMR

    Speaker: Trevor Rutherford
    Host: Chris Johnson
    Date: 25/02/2020 at 10:00am in the Max Perutz Lecture Theatre, LMB.

  • Perutz LMB Seminar: How our chromosomes are replicated

    Speaker: John Diffley, Associate Research Director, the Francis Crick Institute, London, UK
    Host: Joe Yeeles
    Date: 26/02/2020 in the Max Perutz Lecture Theatre, LMB.

    Further information

    The eukaryotic cell cycle coordinates the accurate duplication and segregation of the genome during proliferation. The large genomes of eukaryotic cells are replicated from multiple replication origins during S phase. These origins are not activated synchronously at the beginning of S phase, but instead fire throughout S phase according to a pre-determined, cell type specific program. In addition to duplication of genomic DNA, all of the protein components of chromosomes must be duplicated and placed in the correct locations during S phase so gene expression patterns can be maintained. Replication must also be coordinated with many nuclear processes including sister chromatid cohesion, replication checkpoint activation, postreplication repair and chromatin assembly.
    Ensuring that each origin is efficiently activated once and only once during each S phase is crucial for maintaining the integrity of the genome. This is achieved by a two-step mechanism. The first step, known as licensing, involves the loading of the Mcm2-7 proteins into pre-replicative complexes (pre-RCs) at origins. In the second step, the MCM helicase is activated by a large set of ‘firing factors’. These two steps are differentially regulated by cyclin dependent kinase (CDK): licensing is inhibited by CDK, whilst firing requires CDK. As a consequence, licensing can only happen during G1 phase, when CDK activity is low, and origin firing cannot occur during G1 phase. Misregulation of this system can generate chromosome rearrangements which may contribute to genome instability in cancer.
    We have described the reconstitution of yeast DNA replication with purified proteins. I will present recent results using this system to study the mechanism of DNA replication and the processes associated with it, ensuring accurate chromosome duplication.

  • Introduction to Biophysical Techniques: Advanced NMR applications

    Speaker: Jane Wagstaff
    Host: Chris Johnson
    Date: 27/02/2020 at 10:00am in the Max Perutz Lecture Theatre, LMB.

  • Introduction to Biophysical Techniques: Protein Crystallization

    Speaker: Fabrice Gorrec
    Host: Chris Johnson
    Date: 05/03/2020 at 10:00am in the Max Perutz Lecture Theatre, LMB.

  • Introduction to Biophysical Techniques: X-ray crystallography structures: project-based approaches and practical tips

    Speaker: Dom Bellini
    Host: Chris Johnson
    Date: 10/03/2020 at 10:00am in the Max Perutz Lecture Theatre, LMB.

  • Introduction to Biophysical Techniques:Light Scattering techniques

    Speaker: Chris Johnson
    Host: Chris Johnson
    Date: 12/03/2020 at 10:00am in the Max Perutz Lecture Theatre, LMB.

  • Introduction to Biophysical Techniques:Flow Cytometry

    Speaker: Fan Zhang
    Host: Chris Johnson
    Date: 17/03/2020 at 10:00am in the Max Perutz Lecture Theatre, LMB.

  • Introduction to Biophysical Techniques:Analytical Ultracentrifugation (AUC)

    Speaker: Stephen McLaughlin
    Host: Chris Johnson
    Date: 19/03/2020 at 10:00am in the Max Perutz Lecture Theatre, LMB.

  • Introduction to Biophysical Techniques:Curve fitting, errors and analysis of binding data

    Speaker: Chris Johnson and Stephen McLaughlin
    Host: Chris Johnson
    Date: 24/03/2020 at 10:00am in the Max Perutz Lecture Theatre, LMB.

  • Introduction to Biophysical Techniques:Bioinformatics

    Speaker: Balaji Santhanam
    Host: Chris Johnson
    Date: 26/03/2020 at 10:00am in the Max Perutz Lecture Theatre, LMB.

  • LMB Seminar Series: Title tbc

    Speaker: Julie Ahringer, PhD FMedSci, Director, Wellcome Senior Research Fellow, Professor of Genetics and Genomics, Member of the Department of Genetics
    Host: Bill Schafer
    Date: 27/03/2020 in the Max Perutz Lecture Theatre, LMB.

    Further information

    Abstract to follow

  • Introduction to Biophysical Techniques:Mass Spectrometry

    Speaker: Mark Skehel
    Host: Chris Johnson
    Date: 31/03/2020 at 10:00am in the Max Perutz Lecture Theatre, LMB.

  • Introduction to Biophysical Techniques:Hydrogen–deuterium exchange mass spectrometry

    Speaker: Glenn Masson
    Host: Chris Johnson
    Date: 02/04/2020 at 10:00am in the Max Perutz Lecture Theatre, LMB.

  • LMB Seminar Series: Title tbc

    Speaker: Gerry Rubin, Vice President, HHMI, and Executive Director, Janelia Research Campus.
    Host: Jan Löwe
    Date: 03/04/2020 in the Max Perutz Lecture Theatre, LMB.

    Further information

    Abstract to follow

  • LMB Seminar Series: TBC

    Speaker: Albert Heck, Professor of Biomolecular Mass Spectrometry and Proteomics, Utrecht University
    Host: Madan Mohan and David Barford
    Date: 20/04/2020 in the Max Perutz Lecture Theatre, LMB.

  • TBC

    Speaker: Professor Paul Matthews, Imperial College London
    Host: Michael Hastings
    Date: 21/04/2020 at 11:00am in the Sanger Seminar Room, Level 3, LMB.

  • Perutz LMB Seminar: Title tbc

    Speaker: David Baker,
    Host: Manu Derivery
    Date: 28/04/2020 in the Max Perutz Lecture Theatre, LMB.

    Further information

    Abstract to follow

  • LMB Seminar Series: Title tbc

    Speaker: Peijun Zhang, Director of the electron Bio-Imaging Centre (eBIC)
    Host: Andrew Carter
    Date: 05/05/2020 in the Max Perutz Lecture Theatre, LMB.

    Further information

    Abstract to follow

  • LMB Seminar Series: Title tbc

    Speaker: Nieng Yan, Professor of Molecular Biology, Princeton University
    Host: Andrew Carter
    Date: 18/05/2020 in the Max Perutz Lecture Theatre, LMB.

    Further information

    Abstract to follow

  • Kendrew LMB Seminar: Title tbc

    Speaker: Jonathan Weissman,Professor Department of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology, UCSF
    Host: Liz Miller
    Date: 11/06/2020 in the Max Perutz Lecture Theatre, LMB.

    Further information

    Abstract to follow

  • Next Generation Biophysics

    Speaker: Various
    Host: Chris Johnson
    Date: 10/11/2020 at 9:30am in the Max Perutz Lecture Theatre, LMB.

    Further information

    An informal one day meeting organised by Astra Zeneca, MRC LMB and Imperial College London examining the application of cutting edge biophysical techniques in complex biological settings. Bringing together scientists in both academia and industry for stimulating talks and discussions how these new and emerging technologies may be able to address challenging questions in the future.