Miscarriages and genetic disorders, such as Down’s syndrome, are often caused by errors when an egg develops from its progenitor cell, the oocyte. Most defects occur during meiosis, a specialised form of cell division that leads to the formation of an egg. To ensure the egg cell has exactly the right number of chromosomes, an […]
Human egg defects caused by error-prone spindle assembly
Joan A. Steitz: A place in the lab, and in biochemistry history
The pioneering career of LMB Alumnus Joan Steitz, currently Sterling Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry at Yale University is featured by CTNOW, looking at her work and how Joan’s time at the LMB studying ribosomes led to her important discoveries in RNA research. More…
Encoding phosphoserine allows production of phosphorylated proteins
Protein phosphorylation is a key post-translational modification that is used to regulate many essential cell processes. A phosphate group is added to a specific site in a protein to switch that protein on or off, depending on its role. It has been challenging to understand the function of protein phosphorylation because it is difficult to […]
ISCB Senior Scientist Award for Cyrus Chothia
A look at the career of LMB’s Cyrus Chothia and his work on the structures and functions of proteins, following announcement of his ISCB Senior scientist award. More…
New Approach To Control Enzyme Function In Cells
A new technique, devised by Jason Chin’s group, could make it easier to target and inhibit specific enzymes and other proteins in cells and to turn that regulation on and off at will with light. Bioorthogonal ligand tethering, or BOLT, has been used to create an inhibitor that can regulate the activity of a target […]
Simon Bullock and Philipp Holliger elected to EMBO membership
Two LMB group leaders, Simon Bullock from the Cell Biology Division and Philipp Holliger from the PNAC Division, have been named in the European Molecular Biology Organisation (EMBO) list of new members announced on the 20th of May. EMBO elects new members annually on the basis of scientific excellence and outstanding research contributions. The organisation promotes […]