In the spotlight on day 277 of #LMB365 is Richard Henderson who won the 2017 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Speaking to the press in the LMB lecture theatre on the day of the announcement, accompanied by then LMB Director Hugh Pelham, it was the first of many press enquiries Richard undertook. He summed up the importance of the technique he helped to develop as “the big thing about cryo-EM is that you can use it for determining all the other unknown structures that have been intractable by the other methods”
LMB 365 – Day 277
LMB raises £1,108 for cancer support and a children’s ambulance
For the fifth year in a row, LMB staff showed up on both sides of a long and vibrant line up of baked goodness in support of the World’s Biggest Coffee Morning to fundraise for cancer support. This year, the LMB’s HR team, an enthusiastic bunch of bakers, and an equally committed team of cake […]
How chromosomes are bound to be separated in cell division
When our cells divide, it is important that the pairs of chromosomes are correctly segregated, as errors in this process cause serious problems. For over a century, kinetochores have been recognised as the critical cellular structures responsible for attaching the chromosomes to the microtubules that direct this chromosomal segregation. However, how exactly kinetochores recognise the centromere, the central point that links the two halves of a chromosome, has been a long-standing question. David Barford’s group in the LMB’s Structural Studies Division and Stephen McLaughlin of the LMB’s Biophysics Facility, have now determined a structure of a kinetochore complex that suggests the answer to this question.
LMB 365 – Day 276
As Nobel Prize week approaches we celebrate LMB’s Nobel successes. On day 276 of #LMB365 Greg Winter is seen following the tradition of signing empty champagne bottles for colleagues at his party in the LMB restaurant. Speaking after the announcement of the 2018 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Greg responded, “It came as a bit of a shock, and I felt a bit numb for a while. It’s almost like you’re in a different universe. For a scientist, a Nobel Prize is the highest accolade you can get, and I’m so lucky because there are so many brilliant scientists and not enough Nobel Prizes to go around”
Kiyoshi Nagai (1949 – 2019)
Kiyoshi Nagai, Group Leader at the LMB and joint head of the Division of Structural Studies from 2001 to 2010, died on September 27th 2019 after a short illness. Research begun by Kiyoshi at the LMB 30 years ago has recently culminated in a comprehensive understanding of how the spliceosome catalyses the fundamental process of gene […]
LMB 365 – Day 275
LMB scientists visited Ely Cathedral for LifeLab last weekend to talk to members of the public about their research on the origin of life and about how cryo-EM works. On day 275 of #LMB365, we see some LMB volunteers carrying the backdrop of the LMB’s Recipe4Life stand out of the cathedral