Image365

On this day in 1977 Fred Sanger, Steve Nicklen and Alan Coulson published their landmark paper on the dideoxy sequencing method for DNA. Day 335 of #LMB365 shows a dideoxy sequencing gel of bacteriophage phiX174. Fred was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1980 for this work, becoming the only Briton to have been awarded two Nobel Prizes. F. Sanger, S. Nicklen, A. R. Coulson. DNA sequencing with chain-terminating inhibitors. PNAS, 74: 5463-5467, 1977

This image for day 334 of #LMB365 shows members of the LMB research support staff who met recently to discuss and work on their Professional Registration applications. Professional Registration is just one aspect of the Technician Commitment, promoting visibility, recognition, career development and sustainability for technical staff

The Tecnai F20 at the LMB is a 200 keV TEM equipped with a field emission gun and Falcon 3 direct detector, and is mainly used for screening cryo-EM samples before data acquisition on the Titan Krios microscopes. Day 333 of #LMB365 shows Aaron Tan and John Lu from the Briggs group using this microscope to screen assemblies of HIV-1 capsid protein prior to collection of high-resolution cryo-electron tomography data.

Day 332 of #LMB365 shows many of the LMB’s PhD students enjoying a recent wine and cheese evening. A great way to meet new people and relax after a busy day in the lab…

Day 331 of #LMB365 shows a submarine mini gel, originally designed by Greg Winter. The design was inspired by seeing Russian gels at a sequencing course in Poland. Greg first made a version in an old filter box, glueing in platinum wires taken from obsolete equipment. He caste the gel between spacers, which like the well comb were set into notches on the side of the box. This provided a very quick and convenient way of making regular and reproducible gels to check plasmids/restriction digests. This prototype was made into a safe and easy-to-use version by the LMB Workshop and proved invaluable in Greg’s recombinant DNA work and is now a mainstay of the LMB. Greg has donated this replica of the original 1984 version to the Nobel Museum, following his 2018 Nobel Prize for Chemistry

This photo for day 330 of #LMB365 was taken by our Estates & Facilities Manager during one of his routine walks around the LMB site and shows some beautiful fungi that have come up in one of the flowerbeds outside the front of the LMB building.