Tetsuo Hasegawa and Menna Clatworthy, in the University of Cambridge’s Molecular Immunity Unit house at the LMB, studied a synovial knee joint, finding porous capillaries which allow access by circulating immune stimuli, which is in turn policed by a blood-joint barrier of macrophages and nociceptor neurons.
Insight on Research
Whole brain connectome of fruit fly is most complex brain ever mapped
An international collaboration, including Greg Jefferis’ group in the LMB’s Neurobiology Division, have published the connectome of the Drosophila fly – the most complex brain to be mapped in its entirety, including 140,000 neurons and over 15 million connections.
Using ultrasound to determine pregnancy in mice
Introduction of ultrasound machines has allowed LMB animal technicians to accurately detect pregnancy in mice as early as 5.5 days, which ultimately reduces the number of mice needed for research.
New potential therapy for neurodegeneration removes tau aggregates and improves motor function
Leo James’ group, in the LMB’s PNAC Division, have worked with Will McEwan’s group at the UK Dementia Research Institute to design two new therapeutics which harnesses cellular machinery to remove tau aggregates, improving motor skills in mice affected by neurodegenerative disease.
Unprecedented heteromeric amyloid structure in neurodegenerative disease
Surprising advance to our understanding of neurodegenerative diseases, as Diana Arseni and Benjamin Ryskeldi-Falcon in the LMB’s Neurobiology Division find that frontotemporal lobar degeneration Type C filaments include both annexin A11 and TDP-43 in a unique heteromeric structure.
How cells enter the germline at the right time and place during embryonic development
Marta Shahbazi’s group in the LMB’s Cell Biology Division has determined that contact with extracellular matrix proteins prevents embryonic cells from becoming germ cells.