Cyrus Chothia, former Group Leader and until recently emeritus scientist in the LMB’s Structural Studies Division, died on Tuesday 26th November 2019. Cyrus pioneered the use of computational methods to study the structure and function of proteins, and the evolution of genomes, which led to the birth of structural bioinformatics and computational genomics.
Cyrus Chothia (1942 – 2019)
LMB 365 – Day 331
Day 331 of #LMB365 shows a submarine mini gel, originally designed by Greg Winter. The design was inspired by seeing Russian gels at a sequencing course in Poland. Greg first made a version in an old filter box, glueing in platinum wires taken from obsolete equipment. He caste the gel between spacers, which like the well comb were set into notches on the side of the box. This provided a very quick and convenient way of making regular and reproducible gels to check plasmids/restriction digests. This prototype was made into a safe and easy-to-use version by the LMB Workshop and proved invaluable in Greg’s recombinant DNA work and is now a mainstay of the LMB. Greg has donated this replica of the original 1984 version to the Nobel Museum, following his 2018 Nobel Prize for Chemistry
LMB 365 – Day 330
This photo for day 330 of #LMB365 was taken by our Estates & Facilities Manager during one of his routine walks around the LMB site and shows some beautiful fungi that have come up in one of the flowerbeds outside the front of the LMB building.
LMB 365 – Day 329
Day 329 of #LMB365 shows the cryo-EM structure of the human 20S proteasome bound to PA200. This provides significant new information on this important but still poorly studied protein complex located in the nucleus of cells. This structure, by Ana Toste Rêgo and Paula da Fonseca, was determined by the analysis of a sample obtained by the recombinant co-expression of all the complex 15 constitutive subunits together with its 5 dedicated assembly chaperones
LMB 365 – Day 328
Day 328 of #LMB365 shows a view of the illuminated staircase from the LMB’s restaurant. The restaurant is situated on the top floor of the building, as it was in the original LMB building, and the staircase is always busy during the day.
LMB 365 – Day 327
Day 327 of #LMB365 shows Group Leader Kelly Nguyen preparing some cryo-EM grids. A tiny drop of sample is applied to an EM grid inside a “Vitrobot”. After applying the sample, it is incubated at 4°C and 100% humidity to let the grid adsorb the sample without drying out. After incubation, the “Vitrobot” blots most of the sample away, leaving a thin layer of sample, which is then rapidly plunged into liquid ethane for vitrification.