In a recent issue of Nature, the groups of Chris Tate and Andrew Leslie in the LMB’s Structural Studies Division, in collaboration with Gebhard Schertler now at the Paul Scherrer Institut, Switzerland, have reported the determination of the structures of the β1 adrenergic receptor (β1AR), a GPCR, when bound to four different clinically relevant agonists. […]
Insight on Research
Bizarre love triangle: first amoebal sex-determining system discovered
The social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum is used widely in the laboratory as a convenient ‘model organism’ to help discover, among other things, how cells move, and how they fight bacterial infection. In the soil under your feet and in forest leaf litter, where it normally lives, this organism also goes through an enigmatic sexual cycle. […]
LMB scientists redefine how our immune system responds to viruses
Landmark research led by Dr Leo James from the LMB’s PNAC Division has discovered that antibodies can fight viruses from within infected cells. This finding transforms the previous scientific understanding of our immunity to viral diseases like the common cold, ‘winter vomiting’ and gastroenteritis. It also gives scientists a different set of rules that pave […]
Understanding how toxins can affect the mechanism of the ribosome
Dr Venki Ramakrishnan’s lab from the LMB’s Structural Studies Division have uncovered the molecular mechanism by which toxins such as ricin and alpha-sarcin inhibit protein synthesis in cells. It was known that these toxins act on a highly conserved RNA loop in the ribosome, the molecular machinery which synthesises proteins in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic […]
Scientists ‘give botox a facelift’ to improve its use in medicine
Researchers led by Dr Bazbek Davletov at the LMB have developed a new method of joining and rebuilding molecules in the laboratory and have used it to refine Clostridium botulinum neurotoxin type A (more commonly known as botox). This new approach will enable researchers to improve its use as a treatment for diseases such as […]
Sexual attraction could be due to the wiring of the brain
Sexual attraction between males and females could be down to differences in the way the brain is wired up, according to work from the lab of Dr Greg Jefferis at LMB. The research was carried out in fruit flies in collaboration with colleagues at the Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP) in Vienna. Fruit flies […]