Alison Woollard, LMB 1996-2000, Postdoctoral Fellow, Cell Biology Professor Alison Woollard, Department of Biochemistry and Fellow of Hertford College, has been appointed as the University of Oxford’s next Academic Champion for Public Engagement with Research. More…
Alison Woollard appointed Academic Champion for Public Engagement with Research at Oxford
New insights into how peptides became a part of the ancient RNA world
In all present-day organisms, information encoded in DNA, the genetic material of the cell, is converted via an RNA intermediate into proteins, the molecular machines of the cell. However, evidence suggests that in a distant evolutionary past our single-celled ancestors used only RNA for both genetic information storage and metabolism. A cornerstone of this “RNA […]
The idiosyncratic ribosomes of mitochondria
Mitochondria are organelles within eukaryotic cells that likely evolved from an ancient bacterium that was engulfed by a primordial eukaryote. Within mitochondria, mitochondrial ribosomes (mitoribosomes) synthesise a subset of essential proteins encoded by the mitochondrial genome. Although mitoribosomes share a common ancestor with bacterial ribosomes, they have undergone substantial changes during evolution that have resulted […]
2017 Milstein Lecture to be given by Thomas Südhof
Professor Thomas Südhof will give the 2017 Milstein Lecture on Thursday 9th February 2017 at 4pm in the LMB’s Max Perutz Lecture Theatre. The lecture, entitled “Molecular Mechanisms of Synaptic Transmission”, is open to anyone in the local area who is interested in attending. Thomas is Professor in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Physiology […]
Uncovering the molecular basis of triage during protein synthesis
Every minute, cells make millions of new proteins which must be transported to the correct location, folded, modified and assembled with other proteins in order to function properly. Failure at any of these maturation steps can reduce protein function and lead to the accumulation of aberrant protein intermediates, resulting in disease. To mitigate this, protein […]
IL-17, a regulator of the immune system, impacts behaviour
The state of the immune system has effects on brain function, but despite suggestions that immunoregulators can affect people’s mood and behaviour, we are only beginning to understand how these two major body systems interact. The contributions of a neuron to circuit activity and behaviour depend on its responsiveness to upstream inputs, and its ability […]