Large RNA molecules can be assembled from basic biochemical building blocks during cycles of freezing and thawing. This breakthrough from Philipp Holliger’s group at the LMB reinforces the possibility that RNA was responsible for both molecular heredity and metabolism in primordial biochemistry. More…
Did frosts lead to life on Earth?
Making Sense of the Chemistry That Led to Life on Earth
An article in the New York Times highlights the work of John Sutherland, a group leader at the LMB, who has determined a possible chemical pathway to produce the starting materials of life. In his laboratory he tested all the chemical reactions needed to make precursors of lipids, nucleotides and amino acids, the building blocks […]
Towards preventing neurodegenerative diseases
Research led by the LMB’s Anne Bertolotti has discovered a selective inhibitor of a phosphatase enzyme that could prevent protein misfolding diseases. The scientists showed that the new molecule, dubbed Sephin1, countered the effects of aggregating proteins in mouse models of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, and might do so for other neurodegenerative disorders. […]
Mechanism-based therapeutics of common human neurodegenerative diseases
The LMB and the Department of Clinical Neurosciences have announced an initiative in mechanism-based therapeutics of common human neurodegenerative diseases. This initiative, developed by Michel Goedert and Alastair Compston, aims to identify core mechanisms of protein aggregation and spreading in neurodegeneration, and to apply that knowledge to study putative new therapies. More…
Freeze-thaw cycles turn life’s simple building blocks into functional macromolecules
There is compelling evidence that in the distant past, our single-celled ancestors used RNA, a chemical cousin of DNA, for both genetic information storage and metabolism. This primordial “RNA world” would have needed an RNA enzyme able to replicate itself and other primordial “RNA genes”. However, it is not known how such a complex function […]
KJ Patel elected Fellow of the Royal Society
KJ Patel, group leader in the LMB’s PNAC Division, has been elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society, in recognition of his outstanding research on DNA repair and chromosome breakage. The Royal Society is a Fellowship of the world’s most eminent scientists and is the oldest scientific academy in continuous existence. KJ is working […]