“Four new projects, announced today, will develop biological methods that offer a new approach to antibiotic production, power generation for extremely small mechanical components, new classes of medicines and innovative techniques to study cell biology. Teams comprising researchers from the UK and elsewhere in Europe will use synthetic biology to design systems with usefully engineered […]
LMB In The News
How do cells crawl?
“The amoeboid movement by which many types of cell crawl across surfaces has fascinated scientists ever since it was first observed using the earliest microscopes. Until recently, it has remained mysterious how cells extend the thin protrusion, known as a lamellipod, that enables them to move forward. In the past decade, however, extensive experimental work […]
Transcriptional control in flies
“In a paper recently published in Genome Biology, Boris Adryan (Cambridge University) and Sarah Teichmann (LMB) have presented evidence that calls in to question currently-held beliefs about how transcription factors (TFs) coordinate gene expression during development to specify the fates of the different tissues in the body.” More…
New endowed chair honors pioneering woman who ‘brought the fireworks’ to molecular biology
“On the night he learned he’d won the 1962 Nobel Prize, legend has it that DNA co-discoverer Francis Crick threw himself quite a party: angry neighbors, cops, the works. One of the guests, it seems, had brought a large supply of fireworks to the event, and the ensuing late-night mayhem was rocking the sleepy streets […]
Bicycle Therapeutics signs license agreement with EPFL and adds SR One and SVLS to Seed Syndicate
“Bicycle Therapeutics Ltd, a new biotechnology company developing a novel technology platform for the identification and optimisation of chemically constrained cyclic peptides with high target specificity and binding affinity, has signed a License agreement with the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Lausanne, Switzerland and has secured additional seed funding from SR One, the […]
Cancer-causing viruses exploit genetic achilles heel, finds study
“Scientists say some viruses can turn cells into ‘viral hotels’ by exploiting tiny molecules derived from human DNA. The UK study [directed by Cancer Research UK and in collaboration with LMB] found that some viruses can boost microRNA activity to suppress the immune system’s reaction to them.” More…