New research, led by Leo James and Will McEwan from the LMB’s PNAC Division, has uncovered a previously unrecognised mechanism of intracellular pathogen detection which may provide a deeper understanding of how antibodies help fight disease and lead to the design of better vaccines and gene therapies. Earlier research from Leo’s group showed that viruses […]
Insight on Research
Uncovering molecular signatures of G-protein-coupled receptors
G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are a family of cell-surface proteins that are vital for various physiological functions including vision, smell, taste, and behavior. They are also the pharmacological targets of ~30% of prescribed drugs. For example, beta-blocker drugs prescribed for cardiac ailments target the β-adrenoreceptors − known GPCRs. The importance of GPCR biology was emphasised by […]
Ribosome structure determined to near-atomic resolution by cryo-EM
Determining the structure of proteins and other biomolecules at the atomic level is central to understanding many aspects of biology. X-ray crystallography is the best known technique for structural biology but, as its name suggests, it only works with samples that can be crystallized. Electron cryo-microscopy (cryo-EM) can be used to determine atomic structures of […]
The guardian of the transcriptome
New research, from a team of scientists in the LMB’s Structural Studies Division and the EMBL-European Bioinformatics Institute, has uncovered how our genome keeps the effects of mutations in check. The discovery, published in the journal Cell, explains how new proteins are created, helping to deliver useful insights into the evolution of the human genome. […]
Salt chemosensation in worms linked to human deafness
Transmembrane channel-like (TMC) genes encode a conserved family of predicted membrane proteins in animals. The founding member, human Tmc1, is strongly linked to deafness, being expressed in cochlear hair cells and known to be required for their function. However, the precise molecular function of these proteins has until now been unknown. Marios Chatzigeorgiou, from Bill […]
Architecture of the spliceosome active site
Research in the group of Kiyoshi Nagai in the LMB’s Structural Studies Division has for the first time provided detailed information on the structure and role of proteins at the active site of the spliceosome, which is responsible for the excision of introns from messenger-RNA (mRNA) precursors in the nucleus. The spliceosome is a large […]