LMB 365 – Day 336

On day 336 of #LMB365 we recognise Michel Goedert, who started work at the LMB 35 years ago. As a postdoctoral fellow, he spent much of his time learning the rudiments of molecular biology and applying them to the study of Alzheimer’s disease. He became a programme leader in 1988 and has been involved in the work on the molecular nature of the paired helical and straight filaments of Alzheimer’s disease, which showed that tau protein is an integral component of these filaments. This established the concept that the aggregation of tau protein is sufficient to cause neurodegeneration and dementia. Further work showed that the protein alpha-synuclein is the major component of the Lewy pathology, the defining neuropathological characteristic of Parkinson’s disease and dementia with Lewy bodies, and of the filamentous inclusions of multiple system atrophy, a related movement disorder. In recent collaborative work, it was discovered that aggregated human tau proteins exhibit prion-like properties and can exist as distinct conformers. Michel was Head/joint head of the Neurobiology Division from 2003-2016

On this day in 1977 Fred Sanger, Steve Nicklen and Alan Coulson published their landmark paper on the dideoxy sequencing method for DNA. Day 335 of #LMB365 shows a dideoxy sequencing gel of bacteriophage phiX174. Fred was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1980 for this work, becoming the only Briton to have been awarded two Nobel Prizes. F. Sanger, S. Nicklen, A. R. Coulson. DNA sequencing with chain-terminating inhibitors. PNAS, 74: 5463-5467, 1977

This image for day 334 of #LMB365 shows members of the LMB research support staff who met recently to discuss and work on their Professional Registration applications. Professional Registration is just one aspect of the Technician Commitment, promoting visibility, recognition, career development and sustainability for technical staff

The Tecnai F20 at the LMB is a 200 keV TEM equipped with a field emission gun and Falcon 3 direct detector, and is mainly used for screening cryo-EM samples before data acquisition on the Titan Krios microscopes. Day 333 of #LMB365 shows Aaron Tan and John Lu from the Briggs group using this microscope to screen assemblies of HIV-1 capsid protein prior to collection of high-resolution cryo-electron tomography data.

Day 332 of #LMB365 shows many of the LMB’s PhD students enjoying a recent wine and cheese evening. A great way to meet new people and relax after a busy day in the lab…