LMB In The News

A new technique, devised by Jason Chin’s group, could make it easier to target and inhibit specific enzymes and other proteins in cells and to turn that regulation on and off at will with light. Bioorthogonal ligand tethering, or BOLT, has been used to create an inhibitor that can regulate the activity of a target […]

Jernej Ule, former LMB group leader, and Vincent Plagnol from UCL have discovered a new mechanism for ‘splicing-based’ gene regulation, with possible implications for brain-related disorders. Jernej began this research when he was in the LMB’s Structural Studies Division. More…

Large RNA molecules can be assembled from basic biochemical building blocks during cycles of freezing and thawing. This breakthrough from Philipp Holliger’s group at the LMB reinforces the possibility that RNA was responsible for both molecular heredity and metabolism in primordial biochemistry. More…

An article in the New York Times highlights the work of John Sutherland, a group leader at the LMB, who has determined a possible chemical pathway to produce the starting materials of life. In his laboratory he tested all the chemical reactions needed to make precursors of lipids, nucleotides and amino acids, the building blocks […]

Research led by the LMB’s Anne Bertolotti has discovered a selective inhibitor of a phosphatase enzyme that could prevent protein misfolding diseases. The scientists showed that the new molecule, dubbed Sephin1, countered the effects of aggregating proteins in mouse models of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, and might do so for other neurodegenerative disorders. […]

The LMB and the Department of Clinical Neurosciences have announced an initiative in mechanism-based therapeutics of common human neurodegenerative diseases. This initiative, developed by Michel Goedert and Alastair Compston, aims to identify core mechanisms of protein aggregation and spreading in neurodegeneration, and to apply that knowledge to study putative new therapies. More…