Biosketches for Attendees

Transcription

MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology Alumni Symposium 2014
Molecular Biology at 50 and Beyond
Contents
3
Welcome
4
Programme
6
Alumni Symposium Poster List
8
The Max Perutz Fund
10
The Agouron Institute
12
The LMB Archive
14
The International PhD Programme
15
177 List of Attendees
188 Further Information
189 Map of Central Cambridge
showing Colleges
190 Map of the Cambridge Biomedical
Campus showing Transport
191 Plan of the LMB
192 Organisers / Acknowledgement
Molecular Biology at 50 and Beyond
Welcome
Dear LMB Alumnus,
It is a great pleasure to welcome you back to the LMB for this Alumni Symposium,
some of you having travelled many thousands of miles to be here. It is now over 50
years since the original LMB building opened in 1962. Tracing back its foundations
to the work of Max Perutz on haemoglobin from 1937 and Fred Sanger on insulin
from 1940, the LMB has a long history of outstanding scientists studying fundamental
problems in biology with stable long-term support, a supportive and collaborative
culture and shared facilities. However, it is the people and especially the students and
postdoctoral fellows, now alumni, who have contributed most to the Laboratory’s
success.
We are now in a superb new building about 800 metres west of the original LMB,
funded indirectly by MRC income from a variety of LMB inventions. We have
organised this meeting to welcome our alumni back to Cambridge, not only to show
you the new location, but also to emphasise the continued LMB philosophy of
tackling fundamental problems in biology at the molecular level. We have been
careful to preserve the LMB values and culture and want to celebrate the last 50
years of success in molecular biology whilst looking forward to the next 50 years.
We hope you will enjoy the Symposium and have fun at the same time. Together
with the organisers and current LMB group leaders, there are 600 registered
participants. In order to accommodate everyone, we will project the talks by video
link to other areas of the building as well as using the Max Perutz Lecture Theatre.
Everyone has colour-coded badges according to their primary Divisional affiliation,
and we will give priority to people attending their own Divisional session in the
lecture theatre as it will be most closely related to their research interests. We’re sure
everyone will have plenty to talk about as they explore the building and meet up
with old friends and colleagues.
Once again, many thanks for coming all this way. We are delighted to welcome you.
Hugh Pelham and Richard Henderson
(on behalf of the organisers)
3 / Molecular Biology at 50 and Beyond
Programme | July 11th
9.00 – 10.00
Arrival and coffee
WELCOME
10.00
Introduction - Richard Henderson
STRUCTURAL STUDIES
10.10
Overview and introduction to Division
(Venki Ramakrishnan, also session chairman)
10.30
Wes Sundquist - The ESCRT pathway in HIV budding and cell division
11.00
Sjors Scheres - Recent advances in cryo-EM structure determination
11.20
Coffee
11.50
Andrew Carter - The structure of the dynein motor
12.10
Jan Löwe - Dynamic filaments of the bacterial cytoskeleton
12.30
Lunch
13.00
Tree planting in memory of Hugh Huxley
NEUROBIOLOGY
14.00
Overview and introduction to Division (Michel Goedert, also session chairman)
14.20
Juan Burrone - Neuronal plasticity: from synapses to the axon initial segment
14.50
Tiago Branco - Mouse neural circuits controlling escape from aerial predators
15.10
Tea Break
15.40
Anne Bertolotti - Surviving protein quality control failure
16.00
Michael Hastings - Circadian clock-watching
19.00 for
19.30 - 21.30
Buffet at Trinity College
Programme | July 12th
9.00 – 10.00
Arrival and coffee
CELL BIOLOGY
10.00
Overview and introduction to Division (Sean Munro, also session chairman)
10.20
Tony Hyman - Liquid demixing and organization of the cytoplasm
10.50
Manu Hegde - Membrane protein biosynthesis and quality control
11.10
Coffee
11.40
Melina Schuh - New insights into aneuploidy in mammalian oocytes
12.00
Mario de Bono - Worming out secrets of the nervous system
12.20
Lunch
PNAC
14.00
Overview and introduction to Division (Mariann Bienz, also session chairman)
14.20
Terry Rabbitts - Following and perturbing leukaemia progression
14.50
Felix Randow - How cells defend their cytosol against invading bacteria
15.10
Tea Break
15.40
John Sutherland - Origins of life systems chemistry
16.00
Philipp Holliger - The RNA world: a synthetic approach
CLOSING REMARKS
16.20
Closing remarks - Hugh Pelham
16.30
Close
From 18.30
College dinners in Trinity, Gonville & Caius and Sidney Sussex
Dinner Speakers:
Suzanne Cory, Peter Moore, Ian Tomlinson, Gillian Grifiths,
Gerry Rubin and Kim Nasmyth
Alumni Symposium Poster List
1
Guilhem Chalancon, Charles Ravarani and M. Madan Babu Molecular origins of gene expression noise
2
LeiFu Chang, Ziguo Zhang, Jing Yang, Stephen McLaughlin and David Barford
Molecular architecture of the anaphase promoting complex
3
Zhen Zhong, Caroline Sibilla and Anne Bertolotti
Prion-like propagation of mutant SOD1 aggregates
4
Adrien Rousseau, Agnieszka Krzyzosiak, Ariane Hanssum, Zhen Zhong,
Anna Sigurdardottir and Anne Bertolotti Surviving proteasome inhibition
5
Remi B. Fiancette, Natasa Utjesanovic, David R. Withers and Alexander G. Betz
Neuropilin-1 mediates the generation, function and maintenance of memory CD4 T cells
6
Nikola Novcic, Juliusz Mieszczanek and Mariann Bienz
Transcripitional switching by Wnt signalling is controlled by the HECT E3 ubiquitin ligase UBR5
7
Dom Evans, Li Jin, Zina Perova, Sabine Ruhle, Adam Tozer, Balazs Ujfalussy and Tiago Branco
Neural circuits controlling mouse innate behaviours
8
Mark van Breugel Structure and assembly mechanisms of centrioles
9
Janina Baumbach, Carly Dix, Ha Thi Hoang, Patrick Hoffmann, Fillip Port and Alessio Vagno (Simon Bullock)
The Bullock Lab: shedding light on cytoskeletal transport in vivo and in vitro
10
Max A. Schlager, Ha Thi Hoang, Linas Urnavicius, Simon L. Bullock and Andrew P. Carter
In vitro reconstitution of a highly processive recombinant human dynein complex
11
Lorenz A. Fenk and Mario de Bono
Simple worms’ sensing essential gases: more complex than one might think
12
Andreas C. Joerger and Alan R. Fersht Small molecule induced reactivation of p53 cancer mutants
13
Alice Clark and Paula da Fonseca Investigating the mechanisms of the proteasome by cryo-EM
14
Liz O’Donova and Michael Gait
From TAT to PIP: evolution of peptide oligonucleotide conjugates for the treatment of DMD
15
Ben Falcon, Isabelle Lavenir, Florence Clavaguera, Markus Tolnay and Michel Goedert
Prion-like properties of assembled tau protein
16
Beatriz Herguedas, Javier Garcia-Nafira, Ondrej Cais, James Krieger and Ingo Greger
Alternative organization and novel allosteric regulation of AMPA glutamate receptors
17
Elizabeth S. Maywood, Johanna E. Chesham and Michael H. Hastings
Mismatch between the timing in the SCN and other sleep structures - what are the consequences for sleep structure?
18
Mathew D. Edwards, Andrew P. Patton, Marco Brancaccio and Michael H. Hastings
Optogenetic stimulation of SCN organotypic slices phase-shifts molecular circadian rhythms
19
Marco Brancaccio and Michael H. Hastings
Glial-neuronal communication in circadian time-keeping: spatio-temporal waves of
astrocytic [Ca2+]i and [GLU]e in the suprachiasmatic nucleus
20
Vinothkumar Kutti Ragunath, Shaoxia Chen, Wasi Faruqi, Richard Henderson,
Greg McMullan, Jude Short and Daria Slowik Single particle cryoEM of biological structures
21
Alexander I. Taylor, Vitor B. Pinheiro, Alexey Morgunov, Chris Cozens and Philipp Holliger
Synthetic genetic polymers capable of heredity, evolution and catalysis
22
William McEwan, Ruth Watkinson, Jerry Tam, Marina Vaysburd, Donna Mallery
and Leo James Intracellular immunity
23
Johannes Kohl, Aaron D. Ostrovsky, Shahar Frechter and Gregory S. X. E. Jefferis
A neural circuit switch reroutes pheromone signals in male and female brains
24
Tobias Wauer and David Komander The structure of the human E3 ligase Parkin
25
Piotr Szwedziak, Qing Wang, Matthew Tsim and Jan Löwe
Architecture of the FtsZ ring in vivo and in vitro indicates a sliding filament mechanism of constriction
Jen Walker, Tim Halim, Jillian Barlow and Andrew McKenzie
Innate lymphoid cells: remapping the immunological landscape
26
27
Alison Gillingham and Sean Munro Towards a comprehensive analysis of Rab G-protein effectors
28
Falko Reidel and Sean Munro Systematic characterization of Drosophila Rab GEFs at the Golgi
29
Paul Emsley, Fei Long, Rob Nicholls, Andrea Thorn and Garib Murshudov
Tools for macromolecular crystal structure analysis and for refinement against cryo-EM reconstructions
30
Antonina Andreeva, Dave Howorth, Cyrus Chothia, Eugene Kulesha and Alexey G. Murzin
SCOP2 prototype: a new approach to protein structure mining
31
Wociech Galej, Kelly Nguyen, Yasushi Kondo, Pei-Chun Lin, Chris Oubridge, Jade Li, Sebastian Fica,
Chris Norman, Andy Newman and Kiyoshi Nagai The spiceosome
32
Ned Hoyle and John O’Neill Circadian control of actin dynamics
33
Jana Wolf, Ashley D. Easter, Katrin Wiederhold, Christopher J Russo, James Stowell, Michael Webster,
Alexander Kögel, Eeson Rajendra, Gillian L Dornan and Lori A. Passmore
Molecular mechanisms of macromolecular machines that regulate mRNA polyA tails
34
Felix Dingler, Michael S. Neuberger and Cristina Rada
Uracil excision licenses mismatch repair in Ig class switch recombination and promotes phase II
of somatic hypermutation
35
Alex Shapson-Coe, Cristina Rada and Michael S. Neuberger
Inflammation-associated mutations disrupt a novel ribonuclease-histone modifying enzyme complex
36
Rupert Beale, Helen Wise, Amanda Stuart, Paul Digard and Felix Randow
A LIR motif in influenza M2 is required for virion stability
37
Benjamin J. Ravenhill, Natalia von Muhlinen (Felix Randow)
Recruitment of the early autophagy machinery to cytosol-invading Salmonella
38
Alex Booth, Clara Sidor, Guy Blanchard, Richard Adams and Katja Röper
Molecular mechanisms for making tubes: anisotropies and cytoskeletal crosstalk
39
Guillaume Guilbaud, Davide Schiavone, Charikleia Papadopoulou, Alex Frey, Marina Romanello,
Sasa Svikovic, Hayat Arzouk, Caroline Wickramasinghe and Julian E. Sale
Epigenetic instability during DNA replication
40
Buyun Zhao and William Schafer Heightened states of arousal in C. elegans
41
Xiao-chen Bai, Peilong Lu, Dan Ma, Tian Xie, Chuangye Yan, Guanghui Yang, Yanyu Zhao, Linfeng Sun,
Rui Zhou, Sjors Scheres and Yigong Shi Three-dimensional structure of human gamma-secretase
42
Zuzana Holubcová, Gillian Howard and Melina Schuh
Vesicles modulate an actin network for asymmetric spindle positioning
43
Shintaro Aibara, Eugene Valkov, Jun Katahira and Murray Stewart
The mRNA export factor NXF1:NXT1 forms a symmetric binding platform for retroviral RNA export
44
Glenn Masson, John Burke, Alison Inglis, Oscar Vadas, Xuxiao Zhang, Lufei Zhang, Yohei Ohashi,
Olga Perisic, Alex Berndt and Roger Williams Taming the shrew: capturing structural dynamics in
phosphoinositide signaling by HDX-MS and crystallography
45
Patrick Laurent, Queelim Ch’ng, Maelle Jospin and Mario De Bono
A systematic analysis of the cell biology of neuropeptide in neurons
Group Leaders are shown in bold.
Supporting the Next Generation
of Young Scientists
The Max Perutz Fund was set up in June 1980 in honour of
the founding chairman of the LMB, Max Perutz. The charity
promotes the advancement of education and research
in molecular biology and allied biomedical sciences and
is chaired by the LMB Director. It especially supports
young scientists to travel to international conferences and
benefit from interacting with other scientists.
The charity relies on donations from a variety of people. Contributions range from
£20 up to large donations with specific objectives, determined by the donor, and
administered as a separate restricted fund.
A number of funds exist within the charity and the Perutz Fund supports prizes
for post-graduate students, awarded each year to exceptional young researchers
at the LMB. In addition, the charity awards the Milstein and Karn Fellowships to
young post-doctoral scientists to help boost their early career prospects. Recently
the charity has started supporting the LMB named seminar series, bringing
international scientific leaders to present to the LMB and the wider Cambridge
science community.
Over the last seven years the charity has committed £577,200, but we would like
to do more. The Perutz Fund wants to expand the opportunities for post-graduate
students and post-doctoral scientists through expanding the Fellowship scheme
and making awards for research equipment.
Neuberger Studentship Fund
Michael Neuberger was Deputy Director of the LMB and
Head of the PNAC Division. Michael died on Saturday
26 October 2013, after several months of serious illness.
He was an outstanding and brilliant scientist and the
Max Perutz Fund would like to honour his memory by
establishing a named studentship based at the LMB in
collaboration with Trinity College. To establish a rolling
studentship will take a substantial fund so we would be
very grateful if you would consider donating what you can.
How to Donate
There are several ways you can donate to the Max Perutz Fund:
Cash Donations
USA only
From all countries
A cheque made payable to the “Max Perutz Fund”
and sent to either Annette Faux or Christopher
Dighton at the following address:
For those in North America, you can donate taxfree via Cambridge in America. This is used for
donations to the University of Cambridge and
also for the LMB, but please mark these donations
explicitly for the LMB as follows:
The Max Perutz Fund
MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology
Francis Crick Avenue
Cambridge Biomedical Campus
Cambridge CB2 0QH, UK
Direct Credit
To Barclays Bank Ltd using the following:
IBAN Number GB31 BARC 2017 3503 2311 86
SWIFTBIC BARCGB22 is the Swift Bank Identifier Code
Barclays Bank, 28 Chesterton Road
Cambridge CB4 3AZ
Cambridge in America donation form:
https://secure.www.alumnicon nections.com/
olc/pub/CDA/onlinegiving/showGiving Form.
jsp?form_id=306
Tick fourth box ‘ To support Cambridge as indicated
below.’
In the following text box add ‘Donation to go to
MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge’.
For College or Affiliation add ‘MRC Laboratory of
Molecular Biology’
Bequests
Any gift is gratefully received by the charity and
one way to do this is through bequests. This form
of giving has played a vital role in the development
and growth of many similar charities and core
activities such as keynote lectures, awards and
grants would be secured into the future through
this type of long-term support. It is very simple to
include a legacy to the Max Perutz Fund in your
Will and gifts can be made as a specified sum of
money, a proportion of your residuary estate or
one or more specific items of your property. Making
a bequest to a charity can be an effective way of
reducing your inheritance tax.
Tax Free Giving
UK only
For tax-free donations, UK Taxpayers can gift aid
their donation by completing the Max Perutz
Fund Gift Aid Declaration Form available from the
Archive tables and http://www2.mrc-lmb.cam.
ac.uk/about-lmb/max-perutz-fund/
Please return the form to the LMB at the address above.
If you have already made your Will and would like
to include us, you can simply add a codicil making
the addition or change. A codicil is a separate legal
document amending your Will and can be made
with the advice of your solicitor. If you would like to
tell us about your legacy plans then please contact
Christopher Dighton ([email protected] or
01223 267021).
Many thanks in advance for any donations you are
able to give.
The Max Perutz Fund is an incorporated charity (Charity Commission No. 1129597, Company Registration No. 6876186).
The Agouron Institute
The Agouron Institute, a non-profit research organization (www.agi.org), was cofounded by John Abelson, LMB alumnus, in 1978 as a vehicle by which new research
frontiers and technologies in biology and chemistry could be investigated. By
1982 the research program had expanded considerably and had obtained funding
from the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health. Early
successes in the protein engineering and computational groups led in 1984 to
a commercial entity, Agouron Pharmaceuticals, formed to exploit the potential
of rational drug design. It became a major biotechnology company and its first
rationally designed drug, Viracept™ is a leading HIV protease inhibitor. The use of
protease inhibitors together with reverse transcriptase inhibitors in a multi-drug
therapy regime has led to a dramatic decrease in deaths due to AIDS. In 1998
Agouron Pharmaceuticals was sold to Warner Lambert that then merged with Pfizer.
In the process, the endowment of the Institute increased substantially. As a result,
the Board of Directors of the Institute changed its research mode of operation
to grant making in basic and applied biology and chemistry. It does not accept
unsolicited grant proposals.
The Institute hosts scientific meetings inviting scientists to present and discuss
their work as well as share their views on funding limitations. The first grants
were issued in 1999 in the area of supramolecular assemblies including a grant to
LMB. Other major areas of focus include geobiology and microbial oceanography.
Reports reviewing the fields and presenting funding recommendations were
published for each of these fields and can be viewed on our website. In response
to these recommendations, the Institute issued grants to fund activities that were
under funded or unfunded. The goal of the Institute is to provide support to jump
start new projects and leverage its funding for high scientific impact. The Institute
also supports summer training courses, postdoctoral fellowships and meetings in
specific research areas.
It is a great honor and privilege for The Agouron Institute to co-sponsor Molecular
Biology at 50 and Beyond.
Signed DNA base, donated by Arthur Arnone
The LMB Archive
It is very unusual for a cutting-edge science lab to
have its own dedicated archive, but with the wealth
of history and long list of achievements that LMB has, having such a
resource is invaluable. Created to not only chart and preserve the history
of the LMB, but also to record the present, the LMB Archive provides
a diverse collection of resources and information including books,
correspondence, manuscripts, recordings, photographs, newspaper
articles, models and artefacts. Amongst the collection is John Kendrew’s
Nobel Medal, a DNA base signed by Francis Crick and Jim Watson, and
Max Perutz’s last lab coat.
Above:
‘The Hut’,
photo taken
and donated
by Hans Boye
Left: Pencil
drawing
of Max by
W.L.Bragg
Haemoglobin
contour map
donated by
Michael
Rossmann
The History of the Archive
The idea for an LMB Archive came from
Richard Henderson and Margaret Brown.
When Richard became LMB Director in 1996
he expressed a concern that the younger
members of the Lab were increasingly
forgetting or were unaware of its history,
especially the achievements of the
founding members and the outstanding
and historic discoveries made here.
He persuaded Margaret, who had just
retired as the Director’s personal assistant
after 31 years in post, to get things started.
Using the boxes of material about LMB
that Margaret had personally collected
over this time, she quickly established
and showed how valuable a resource the
LMB Archive was and could become.
Collection Policy and Use
The LMB Archive collects all types of
material relating to the history and work of
the LMB and its members. It also generates
its own resources, through projects such
as, filming interviews with key scientists
and commissioning photography of events
and people. It has contributed to the
publication of several books, in particular
the LMB published ‘A Nobel Fellow on
Every Floor’ by John Finch and ‘Memories
and Consequences’ by Hugh Huxley.
The LMB Archive provides a valuable
resource for both internal and external
enquiries, and the material has been used
throughout the world, for example, in
publications, TV projects and on loan for
exhibitions.
Newspaper
article about
the 2009
Nobel Prize
Alumni and Keeping in Touch
The LMB Archive is also responsible for
keeping a record of past LMB members
(alumni) and welcomes communications
and requests from them. We are interested
to know where you are now and what
you are doing. The Lab does not produce
a regular newsletter but occasionally will
get in touch with alumni about events
and developments. Please ensure the LMB
Archive has your up-to-date contact details
if you wish to be contacted.
Paper ‘virus’
models
Donation of Material
The donation of material, either as originals
or copies, to the LMB Archive is vital to ensure
the continual development and expansion of
its collection. Many important and interesting
donations have come from alumni. As well as
physical items, memories and stories of the LMB
are also of great interest and enrich the history
of the LMB.
Archive display for The Queen, 2013
Archive
display
featuring
TMV model
For all enquiries:
[email protected]
Annette Faux, LMB Archivist
Teresa Wallman, Archive Assistant
www.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk/
about-lmb/archive-and-alumni/
Memories and Consequences,
edited by Hugh Huxley
LMBPhD
MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology
International PhD Programme
Every year the LMB International PhD Programme gives 20-30 new
graduate students from universities all over the world the opportunity
to undertake cutting-edge research in this extraordinary laboratory.
We aim to train the scientific leaders of the future and seek the best
students to lead rewarding research projects in a supportive
environment with access to world-class facilities and guidance.
Graduate students are an integral part of the LMB and contribute
hugely to our success, helping to keep the Laboratory at the leading
edge of science. There are around 400 scientists at the LMB, of which
about a quarter are students.
“Help your students realise their potential
by recommending them to the
LMB PhD programme”
Competitive, fully-funded PhD studentships available:
• MRC Studentships for UK and EU graduates
• LMB Cambridge Scholarships for graduates from Commonwealth
and overseas countries, funded in collaboration with the
Cambridge Commonwealth, European and International Trust
• The César Milstein Studentship for Argentinian Nationals tenable
in the PNAC Division, in collaboration with the Darwin Trust of
Edinburgh
Graduate students register for their PhD with the University of
Cambridge and belong to one of its Colleges.
Julian Sale
Director of Graduate Studies
[email protected]
Amie Blake
Postgraduate Administrator
[email protected]
www2.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk/students/international-phd-programme/
Any opinions expressed by individuals represent their own views
and the LMB does not endorse any of the views expressed.
John Abelson [email protected]
Cell Biology 1965-1968 (Postdoc)
I was a graduate student at Johns
Hopkins Dept. of Biophysics
working with the physical chemist
Charlie Thomas. I received my Ph. D
in 1965. At the LMB from 1965-1968, I was in the
molecular biology group and worked especially with
John Smith and Sydney Brenner but also learned RNA
sequencing from Fred Sanger. We proved that amber
suppressors are anticodon mutants of tRNA enabling the
recognition of the stop codon UAG. My co-workers on
this project were Howard Goodman, Art Landy, Malcolm
Gefter and Dick Russell. My first job was in the Chemistry
Department at UCSD and my plan was to combine
genetics and sequencing to understand fundamental
problems in gene expression. In collaboration with Bill
Reznikoff at Wisconsin we solved the sequence of a
control region, the 120 nucleotides between Lac I and
LacZ. I also began work on RNA processing. In 1981
together with my friend Mel Simon I moved to Caltech
where I eventually became Chairman of the Biology
Division. At Caltech we began to work on pre-mRNA
splicing and our lab discovered the spliceosome and I am
still working on the spliceosome. I retired in 2002 and
since 2004 I have been working (at the bench) in the
laboratory of my wife Christine Guthrie at UCSF. We have
done a project on the dynamics of splicing using FRET.
Don Abraham [email protected]
Structural Studies 1980-1988 (Visiting Scientist)
In 1980 I approached Max Perutz
with the idea of using Hb structural
studies in drug design, specifically to
discover a sickle cell drug. Max said
immediately “come to Cambridge”. During 16 research
trips from 1980 –1988, totaling about 2 years, we made
significant progress as one of the first groups to use crystal
structures in drug design. Our work may well at last show
fruition with a potential sickle cell drug from our
laboratories in advanced clinical studies sponsored by the
NIH and AesRx. Our work also resulted in the discovery of
a haemoglobin allosteric effector that made it all the way
through two phase three clinical trials for metastasis of
breast to brain cancer, before failing. The joy of working
with everyone in the MRC-LMB was the highlight of my
research career. Great memories I will never forget:
Starting at 9am, a private morning breakfast seminar with
Arthur Lesk in the hospital canteen; night suppers around
2:30 - 3am; with Kiyoshi Nagai, Ben Luisi and Max crowded
into two lab benches on the fourth floor; Judd Fermi’s
critical mind challenging me every step of the way, and
finally, Simon Phillips, by telephone, guiding me through
computing difference maps - as he once said, “like teaching
a passenger to land a jet aircraft from the control tower”.
Jan Pieter Abrahams [email protected]
Structural Studies 1990-1997 (Postdoc / Staff Scientist)
I am a structural biologist at Leiden
University. After my Ph. D. in Leiden
(cum laude, 1990), I moved to the
LMB in Cambridge, where, working
in the groups of Andrew Leslie and John Walker, I solved
the structure of the F1-ATPase. Together with Robin
Carrell, I solved structures of serpins and with Richard
Henderson I worked on a giant image plate scanner.
In 1997 I returned to Leiden to become a professor. I love
seeing things nobody has seen before, in ways that nobody
has tried before. Hence I spend a lot of time on developing
novel methods, which include computation, chemistry and
physics. I have solved structures of serpins, viruses,
ribosomal complexes, DNA repair proteins, microtubule
complexes, enzymes and other biologically important
protein complexes using X-ray crystallography, EM and
NMR. Between 1997 and 2012, as a PI, I raised in excess of
35 MEuro in competitive funding for this and other work;
a substantial amount of these funds were for joint research
projects and joint infrastructure. In this period, three
companies were spun out of my research group and a
fourth one is emerging. No matter which scientific project
I start, I always think of how it would be done at the LMB,
and then copy that strategy. So far, I cannot complain.
Jerry Adams [email protected]
PNAC 1967-1968 (Postdoc)
Jerry Adams is Joint Head of the
Molecular Genetics of Cancer
Division of the Walter and Eliza
Hall Institute of Medical Research
(WEHI) in Melbourne, Australia. His PhD studies in
1962-1966 with Jim Watson at Harvard revealed the
role of methionine in initiating protein synthesis.
In post-doctoral studies with Fred Sanger at the LMB in
1967-1968, he contributed to the pioneering studies on
mRNA sequencing that provided the first direct
verification of the newly described genetic code.
There he met his career-long associate Suzanne Cory.
After further post-doctoral work in Geneva, they
established a laboratory at the Walter & Eliza Hall
Institute in 1971. It initially focussed on the genetics of
the immune system but from 1981 onwards on the
genetic basis of cancer. Adams and colleagues are best
known for unravelling the role of chromosome
translocation in tumorigenesis through establishing
transgenic mouse models, for discovering the impact of
impaired apoptosis on cancer development and therapy
and for clarifying how the Bcl-2 protein family controls
the life and death of cells. Their findings have galvanized
the development of a new class of anti-cancer drugs
that directly engage the apoptotic regulators.
Boris Adryan [email protected]
Structural Studies 2005-2008 (Postdoc)
I came from a developmental
biology PhD to Cambridge to learn
experimental and computational
methods to study protein-DNA
interactions. After a short stint in the Anatomy and
Genetics Departments at the University in 2004, I spent
much of my three years (two of which were on an EMBO
Long-Term Fellowship) in Sarah Teichmann’s group for
computational biology, where I analysed my
experimental data. In 2008 I became a Royal Society
University Research Fellow at the Cambridge Systems
Biology Centre, where my interdisciplinary group of
about a dozen biologists, computer scientists and
mathematicians works on deciphering gene regulatory
networks. I’m also currently heading the MPhil
Programme in Computational Biology in the Department
of Applied Mathematics & Theoretical Physics, where we
are running a world-leading course at the interface of
biology and computing. My time at the LMB helped
immensely to find my niche in the biosciences, as
computational genomics was still in its infancy when
I started my career!
David Agard [email protected]
I was a Biological Chemistry PhD
student with Bob Stroud at Caltech
and then a postdoc with Richard
Henderson at the LMB with the
goal of obtaining an atomic structure of bacteriorhodopsin. At the time, I had thought it possible to
combine the available moderate resolution diffraction
data with modeling and refinement based on the lower
resolution phases. While a good approach that has more
recently worked in other systems, it became apparent
that the available data quality and methodology just
wasn’t up to the task. So under Sydney Brenner’s
auspices, I switched projects and began cloning a
bacterial serine protease (α-lytic protease) as a launchoff point for understanding the structural basis of
enzyme specificity. This, together with EM studies on the
three-dimensional structure of chromosomes was the
basis for starting my lab at UCSF, where I have been ever
since. Inspired by Richard and the MRC group, EM has
remained an important component of our structural
investigations. Our current efforts at UCSF focus on
elucidating the mechanism of Hsp90 molecular
chaperone-mediated protein remodeling and how
microtubules are nucleated by the complex machinery
at the centrosome.
Sudhir Agrawal [email protected]
I came to LMB in 1985, and worked
with Mike Gait on solid-phase
synthesis of oligonucleotides.
We were able to accomplish
synthesis of multiple oligonucleotides using semiautomated equipment. We also synthesized functionalized oligonucleotides, which facilitated development
of non-radioactive-based diagnostics. In 1987, I joined
Paul Zamecnik’s lab at the Worcester Foundation for
Experimental Biology in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, US,
to pursue the use of synthetic oligonucleotides to
modulate gene expression. My experience at LMB was
very helpful in my work synthesizing various chemically
modified antisense oligonucleotides, for use as antisense
agents. Our publication in 1988 invigorated the field of
antisense by both academic investigators as well as by
multiple newly formed companies. I joined Paul as a
founding scientist of Hybridon (now Idera
Pharmaceuticals), a biotechnology company created to
pursue the development of antisense technology.
Over the last two decades, my research interest has been
in development of synthetic oligonucleotides as
therapeutic agents. Our work has led to the design of
antisense oligonucleotide constructs, which has led to
the clinical development of antisense agents. In addition,
our work has led to the design of synthetic oligonucleotides which act as agonists and antagonists of
specific Toll-like receptors. Importantly, antagonists of
TLRs have provided a novel approach to the treatment of
autoimmune disease and inflammation.
Julie Ahringer [email protected]
I was a PhD student with Judith
Kimble at the University of Wisconsin
in Madison, then a post-doc at the
LMB with John White, starting in July
1991. After 18 months, John moved to Madison, but the
lab of three post-docs and a PhD student were allowed to
continue in his absence. Despite his move, John was very
important to us. At the LMB, I used John’s newly developed
4D microscopy method to study early C. elegans
development. Following my post-doc, I became a group
leader at the University of Cambridge, first in the
Department of Genetics (1996-98), then since 1998
I’ve been at the Wellcome Trust/Cancer Research UK
Gurdon Institute. For much of that time, my lab studied
how embryonic cell polarity is initiated and transduced, and
we developed high-throughput RNAi screening tools and
methods. Recently, I changed the focus of my lab to
investigating how local and global chromatin structure and
function are regulated in development, still using the
wonderful C. elegans model system.
Gillian Air [email protected]
I came to the LMB as a postdoc to
work in Ieuan Harris’s group on
thermophilic RNA polymerase.
It proved to be too hard for me to
purify and so I switched to sequencing proteins of
bacteriophage ΦX-174, to confirm the DNA sequences
being then arduously determined using exonucleases by
Fred Sanger and his group. Fred’s “Plus-and-Minus”
sequencing was a huge step forward and we were very
excited to be able to read maybe 50 bases. When I left the
LMB I thought that this new technology could be usefully
applied to the variable influenza virus, and embarked on
a mission to understand influenza antigenic drift and
thus improve the vaccine strategy. This project has seen
me to the verge of retirement, and while we now
understand a lot about antigenic drift, the vaccine is still
formulated by what happened last year instead of what
viruses will circulate this coming winter. I started flu work
at the Australian National University in 1977, moved in
1982 to join the large group of virologists at the
University of Alabama at Birmingham, then in 1996
moved to my current position at the University of
Oklahoma Health Sciences Center where I have enjoyed
learning more Structural Biology and Glycobiology.
Isabel Aller (Maria Isabel Aller Alvarez) [email protected]
Neurobiology 1999-2000 (Visiting Scientist)
After finishing my PhD in Neuroscience from the University of Leon,
Spain. I spent 8 months in the LMB to
learn Molecular Biology techniques.
From here I got a postdoctoral position in the University
of Heidelberg with Dr. Bill Wisden (from 2001 to 2006).
Currently I am working In the Institute of Neuroscience in
Alicante Spain since 2006.
Sidney Altman [email protected]
I came to LMB in 1969, as a Visiting
Research Fellow, and worked in the
Cell Biology Division with Sydney
Brenner and Francis Crick. During
this time I started the work that led to the discovery of
RNase P and the enzymatic properties of the RNA
subunit of that enzyme.
This lead to a move to Yale University in 1971, and in
1980 I became Sterling Professor of Biology and
Chemistry at Yale. In 1989, I shared, with Thomas R Cech,
the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, for the discovery of
catalytic properties of RNA. I have continued my
research into the function and structure of ribonuclease
P in both bacteria and human cells.
Danièle Altschuh [email protected]
My research was centered on the
study of molecular recognition
using theoretical sequencestructure analyses (initiated at
LMB), X-ray crystallography (initiated at the University
of Salt Lake City, USA) and Surface Plasmon Resonance
(SPR) (at the CNRS - University of Strasbourg, France).
Antigen-antibody interactions often served as models,
but the management of an SPR platform led to
collaborative work in widely different fields.
The objectives were to decipher molecular binding
mechanisms involved in human pathologies and
develop strategies to interfere with these mechanisms.
Leigh Anderson [email protected]
Structural Studies 1971-1975 (PhD Student)
N. Leigh Anderson, Ph.D. is a
Founder and CEO of SISCAPA Assay
Technologies, (www.SISCAPA.com),
and also heads the Plasma
Proteome Institute. His focus is on comprehensive
exploration of the proteins of human blood plasma (the
plasma proteome), improved quantitation of potential
disease markers, and the rapid application of novel
protein measurements in clinical diagnostics via
sensitive, specific peptide-level assays for protein
biomarkers using mass spectrometry. Dr. Anderson
obtained his BA in Physics from Yale and a Ph.D. in
Molecular Biology from Cambridge University, where he
worked on haemoglobin structure with M. F. Perutz, and
later with Sydney Brenner, at the MRC-LMB.
Subsequently he co-founded (with Dr. Norman
Anderson) the Molecular Anatomy Program at the
Argonne National Laboratory (Chicago) where his work
in the development of 2-D electrophoresis technology
earned him the 1983 Pittsburgh Analytical Chemistry
Award. After leaving Argonne, Dr. Anderson was Chief
Scientific Officer at Large Scale Biology Corporation,
whose proteomics division he founded in 1985, and
co-led a successful Nasdaq IPO in 2000 based largely on
the proteomics technology platform. He has served on
the boards of directors of three public technology
companies including Dade Behring, a global diagnostics
company acquired by Siemens. He has published 160
papers, been granted 40 US Patents, and was awarded
the 2009 HUPO Distinguished Achievement Award in
Proteomic Science.
Stephen Anderson [email protected]
I did my Ph.D. work at Harvard with
Mel DePamphilis, studying the
mechanism of SV40 DNA
replication. In 1978 I arrived at LMB
to do postdoctoral work with Fred Sanger. Fred’s lab was
then probably the only real “genomics” lab in the world
(although I do not recall ever hearing that word at that
time), and the atmosphere was pretty heady. The lab was
just beginning to work on shotgun sequencing using
dideoxys and was in the process of determining the
sequences of human and bovine mtDNA. Bart Barrell and
colleagues soon discovered that the mammalian mitochondrial genetic code was different from the “universal”
genetic code.
In addition, Fred along with Alan Coulson and other lab
members were attacking the lambda phage genome
sequence. After a couple of years, with Fred’s permission,
I decided to finish up my time at LMB by setting up
recombinant BPTI as a model system for studying protein
folding via protein engineering. I spent the rest of my
time with Barry Kingston trying to clone BPTI; we
succeeded only as I was (almost literally) out the door.
Post-LMB, I first spent six years at Genentech in California,
then accepted a faculty position at Rutgers University in
New Jersey. For the last 15+ years I have been engaged
in structural genomics and, lately, the “Human AntiProteome Project” https://commonfund.nih.gov/
proteincapture/index
Ignacio Arechaga [email protected]
After completing my PhD at the
Centre of Biological Research (CIB,
CSIC, Madrid, Spain) where
I worked on the mitochondrial
uncoupling protein, I joined Dr. John E. Walker´s group at
LMB in 1994 supported by an EMBO postdoctoral
Fellowship. At that time, John Walker had just published
his famous work on the structure of the F1-ATPase.
My research was focused on the membrane subunits of
this respiratory complex, trying to over-produce and
purify each of the components of the Fo domain in
enough amounts for structural characterization.
In 1999, I moved with Dr. John E. Walker´s group to the
MRC-Dunn Human Nutrition Unit (today´s MRCMitochondrial Biology Unit). My present position is as
Professor of Human Genetics at the University of
Cantabria (Santander, Spain) and joint group leader at
the Institute of Biomedicine and Biotechnology of
Cantabria (Spain).
Yair Argon [email protected]
After obtaining my PhD in
Biochemistry from Harvard, I came
to the LMB in 1980 to work with
Cesar Milstein on how cells
produce antibodies efficiently. Changes in antibodies
that inhibit their production have remained a focus of
the research in my lab since, whether at Duke
University, the University of Chicago, or now at the
University of Pennsylvania. We have characterized
mutations that inhibit antibody secretion or their proper
folding and mutations that cause aggregation of
antibodies in diseases like systemic amyloidosis.
This work led to a related research interest in the cellular
stress response that arises when proteins fail to fold and
be secreted efficiently. We have been characterizing
some of the molecular chaperones and enzymes that
react to proteins during their early folding pathway,
focusing in particular on how each identifies misfolded
proteins and how they collaborate with each other to
either improve the process or dispose of the aberrant
molecules.
Linda Ariza-McNaughton [email protected]
Other 1987-1991 (Research Support), Neurobiology 1999-2000 (Research Support)
I was trained as a Dentist in UCV,
Venezuela. I arrived in Cambridge
and did a post-graduate degree in
Physiology. After finishing the degree I went back to
Dentistry, at the Addenbrooke’s Hospital, followed by a
period of 2 years spent at home looking after my children.
I felt Dentistry as such was not for me and I was more
interested in lab work. I worked at the Molecular
Neurobiology Unit with Stephen Hunt and in the
Neurobiology Division with Michel Goedert’s group.
I moved to NIMR, Mill Hill and worked in the Laboratory
of Robb Krumlauf. Those were years of fun and very
exciting scientific times at the LMB and also at NIMR,
all surrounded by very committed and hard working
people, I joined in and loved my work and time spent in
the lab. Since 2002, I have been working at CRUK, London
working on the Delta-Notch signalling pathway with
Julian Lewis, until his retirement in 2010. After Julian
left, I joined the Haematopoietic Stem Cell Laboratory,
headed by Dominique Bonnet and with a main interest
in Acute Myeloid Leukaemia. I have also been heavily
involved in organization in anticipation of the move to
the Francis Crick Institute. The work in Dominique’s lab
has a strong translational component in which I actively
participate and enjoy very much.
Jesus M. Arizmendi [email protected]
I arrived at LMB in October 1990
after getting my PhD at the
University of the Basque Country.
I joined John Walker’s group for two
years where I was involved in cloning and sequencing
nuclear genes coding for subunits of bovine mitochondrial complex I. During this stay I used techniques
for cloning genes based on information obtained by
protein sequencing, and I also had the opportunity to
discover the use of mass spectrometry for the analysis of
proteins. Coming back to the University of the Basque
Country in October 1992,
I kept on working in a project on the chloroplast
homologue of mitochondrial complex I for several years.
In 2000, I became more interested in the analysis of
proteins by mass spectrometry and the emerging field of
proteomics, and eventually the Proteomics Core Facility
of our University was created in 2005. As scientific
advisor of this facility I have the opportunity to get
involved in research projects carried out in our University
that require a proteomic approach and also in
collaborative projects such as the Spanish Chromosome
16 consortium of the Human Proteome Project.
Eric Atherton [email protected]
PNAC 1972-1985 (Scientist)
I came to the LMB in 1972 after
nearly two years as a Research
Fellow at The Children’s Cancer
Research Foundation, Boston,
Mass. Fortunate to be offered a position by Bob
Sheppard in his newly formed Peptide Synthesis Group
working on new and novel methods of peptide
synthesis. I left the LMB in 1985 and joined a small local
company Cambridge Research Biochemicals who were
using the technology developed by Bob in his
laboratory. In 1989/90 ICI bought the company and
moved to Cheshire. Over a period of time we went
through several transitions; we became part of Zeneca
then AstraZeneca and eventually Avecia. During this
period I was involved with developing methods for the
commercial scale production of peptides and DNA.
I retired in 2002 and later became a Consultant for the
Chemical and Biopharmaceutical Laboratories in Patras,
Greece.
David Atkinson [email protected]
Structural Studies 1987-1988 (Sabbatical Visitor)
I have spent most of my research
career studying structure function
relationships in lipid transport and
metabolism and the plasma
lipoproteins. I came to LMB for a sabatical year in 1987
with Richard Henderson. This time was at the birth of
cryo-EM single particle methods.
All my previous training and work had been in X-ray
and neutron diffraction together with general
biophysical approaches. I saw cryo-EM as new way to
get at lipoprotein structure. There could have been no
better place to be. The LMB is a unique environment
and I am indebted to Richard for an outstanding year.
Hilmar Bading [email protected]
Neurobiology 1993-2001 (Group Leader)
I joined the LMB Neurobiology
Division in 1993 to study
mechanisms of synapse-to-nucleus
communication in neurons of the
central nervous system. The work was focused on the
role of NMDA receptors and calcium signaling pathways,
which I had identified as key players in this process
during my previous post-doctoral period in Michael
Greenberg’s laboratory at Harvard Medical School,
Boston. Our hypothesis was that calcium itself carries
the information from the synapse to the nucleus and
indeed, using microinjection of a non-diffusible calcium
chelator into the cell nucleus, we showed that calcium
invading the nucleus is the key event in synaptic
activity-dependent gene expression. Subsequent work
done in the Department of Neurobiology at Heidelberg
University, where I was appointed Director after leaving
the LMB in 2001, has established nuclear calcium as an
evolutionary conserved signal that is critical for the
long-term, transcription-dependent implementation of
various forms of adaptations in the nervous system
including memory consolidation, acquired neuroprotection and chronic pain. Our work at the LMB also
led to the discovery that, unlike synaptic NMDA
receptors, which promote survival, extrasynaptic NMDA
receptors activate cell death pathways. This concept of
‘antagonistic signaling of synaptic and extrasynaptic
NMDA receptors’ now provides a mechanistic basis for
the understanding and also the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases such Huntington’s Disease and
Alzheimer’s Disease.
David Baillie [email protected]
I came to the LMB in 1971 as a
postdoctoral fellow funded by the
Medical Research Council of
Canada and stayed on as a Staff
Scientist until 1974. While there I worked initially with
Andrew Travers and subsequently with Francis Crick and
Sydney Brenner. I then returned to Canada and took up
my faculty position at Simon Fraser University where
I still am. My main research focus has been on understanding the content and organization of genomes.
Along with the many excellent PhD students in my
research group, I have been investigating the function of
essential genes and their functional relevance to human
health. My research group has generated and maintains
lethal mutations in several hundred genes in C. elegans,
and we are now completing the whole genome
sequencing of this collection. This work has led to many
fulfilling international collaborations on the function of
these genes. In addition we constructed several
thousand promoter-reporter constructs that are being
used to investigate the transcriptional regulation and
location of the gene products. In 2001 I was appointed
Canada Research Chair in Genetics and Genomics, a
position I continue to hold.
Mark Bajohrs [email protected]
Neurobiology 2003-2006 (Postdoc)
Shortly after finishing my PhD at the
University of Heidelberg (Germany) I
started my postdoc at the LMB
working in the group of Bazbek
Davletov in the Neurobiology Devision. During my
postdoc I worked on botulinum toxins and their impact
on neurosecretion. After finishing my postdoc at the LMB
I moved back to Germany where I started my career in
science management as a coordinator of an International
Max Planck Research School (PhD Program) within the
Max Planck Society at the MPI for Immunobiology and
Epigenetics in Freiburg. Once this IMPRS had been
established I accepted a position as general manager of
the Graduate School Materials Science in Mainz (MAINZ)
that had to be established as part of the Excellence
Initiative at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz in 2009.
This year I have changed my postion within Johannes
Gutenberg University and just started my job as general
manager of the faculty of biology. This is a challenging
new job with construction work (similar to the new LMB
building) and lots of new professors arriving within the
next couple of years. In this new job I will also be strongly
involved in the direction that science will take at the
faculty which I look especially forward to.
Nicholas Baker [email protected]
Cell Biology 1982-1986 (PhD Student)
I was a PhD student with Peter
Lawrence from 1982-6, searching
for the molecular mechanisms of
positional information that assign
cell fates during development. I cloned the wingless
gene from Drosophila, which turned out to be one of
the founders of the Wnt protein family, and studied its
roles in both embryonic and adult development.
After a postdoc at UC Berkeley with Gerry Rubin, in 1991
I joined Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York,
where I am now Harold and Muriel Block Professor of
Genetics. My research continues to address mechanisms
of developmental cell-cell communication using the
fruitfly. I am interested in the coordination of development with cell proliferation and survival, tissue growth,
and morphogenesis. Size and shape of body parts is
obviously important but its control remains
incompletely understood.
Ales Balik [email protected]
During my years at university,
I became interested in cellular
neurophysiology. I was involved
in research on several types of
neuronal receptors (melatonin and purinergic).
I was mainly interested in the regulation of receptor
expression in the response to external factors. I obtained
my PhD from Charles University in Prague in 2005.
In 2007 I received the FEBS short-term fellowship, which
initiated my 4-year postdoctoral stay at the LMB starting
in February 2008. At the LMB, I got an opportunity to
develop an exciting project, and prepared myself for a
future career. I studied the mechanism underlying
subunit-specific assembly of AMPA-type glutamate ion
channels (AMPARs). We revealed that AMPARs mRNA
regulation is hippocampal subfield specific and individual
AMPA receptor subunits respond differently to neuronal
activity perturbations. In autumn 2011 I returned back
to Prague at the Institute of Physiology getting a position
in Dept. of Cellular Neurophysiology. Since my return,
I have been studying the molecular details of the
activation of NMDA-type glutamate ion channels.
David Barford [email protected]
Structural Studies 2013-Current (Group Leader)
David Barford studied for his D.Phil in
Louise Johnson’s group at the
Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics in
Oxford investigating the structural
consequences of protein phosphorylation on the allosteric
enzyme glycogen phosphorylase. He then spent a year at
the MRC Protein Phosphorylation Unit in Dundee with Philip
Cohen and Tricia Cohen before moving to Cold Spring
Harbor Laboratory to establish an independent research
program on protein phosphatases. In 1994 DB returned to
the University of Oxford as a lecturer and fellow of Somerville
College, and in 1999 was appointed as the co-head of the
Division of Structural Biology at the Institute of Cancer
Research in London. There his group investigated the
structure and mechanism of proteins that contribute to
tumourigenesis, for example B-RAF and PKB, and proteins
required for Ras signaling. He also initiated studies to
determine the structure of a large multi-subunit complex
- the anaphase-promoting complex (APC/C) that is
responsible for regulating cell cycle transitions. At the LMB
David’s group is interested in using recent advances in single
particle electron cryo-microscopy - pioneered at the LMB to determine the atomic structures of functional states of the
APC/C. This will provide insights into how this complex
machine regulates cell cycle processes - in particular the
correct segregation of duplicated sister chromatids at mitosis,
an understanding of its regulatory mechanisms, and provide
a framework for developing novel anti-cancer therapies.
Francisco J. Barrantes [email protected]
Neurobiology 1990-1991 (Visiting Scientist / Sabbatical)
I spent a short sabbatical with
Nigel Unwin at the LMB
Neurobiology Unit during 19901991, supported by Royal Society
and HMSF Fellowships, studying the possible influence
of lipids on the 2-D order of acetylcholine receptors in
helical tubules prepared from Torpedo electrocytes,
which Nigel had turned into the specimen of choice for
high resolution cryo-EM. This was my first sabbatical
after having returned to Argentina as head of the
Institute of Biochemistry, and subsequently of the
Research Council in Bahia Blanca, following on from
over nine years at the Max-Planck Institute for
Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen, Germany, where
I headed the Membrane Biophysics group together with
Erwin Neher and Bert Sakmann. Currently I am in charge
of the Molecular Neurobiology group at UCA-CONICET,
Buenos Aires, attempting superresolution optical
microscopy of acetylcholine receptors in brain synapses.
Scientifically, my stay at the LMB was a highly enriching
experience. On the personal side my wife and I also
have very fond memories of our Cambridge days.
Our children attended Sawston Village College and
since Nigel´s children were roughly the same age as
ours, this gave us a chance to get to know Cambridge
from a different perspective. We also enjoyed many
social and musical events in the company of Cesar
Milstein, his wife Celia and friends. The social gatherings
at Trinity were a special treat and a unique opportunity
to meet interesting colleagues.
Bart Barrell [email protected]
PNAC 1963-1993 (Group Leader)
In 1963 I joined the LMB to become
Fred Sanger’s personal assistant at a
time before any nucleic sequences
were published and Fred Sanger
was changing from protein sequencing to nucleic acid
sequencing. In 1965 we published rapid and simple
methods for RNA sequencing using these to sequence 5S
ribosomal RNA, a number of tRNAs and other small
molecules before turning to fragments of bacteriophage
RNA and the first coding sequences. About 1970 we turned
our attention to DNA, first using direct methods to sequence
fragments of bacteriophage DNA and later, with primed
synthesis methods, to sequence bacteriophage phiX and
demonstrate the existence of overlapping genes - genes
with the same coding sequence but translated in different
reading frames. In 1974, I was enrolled as a PhD student
whilst still working at the LMB and in 1978 I went onto the
Scientific Staff of the Laboratory and formed my own group
first working on human mitochondrial DNA and establishing
the different genetic code, later going on to sequence the
herpesviruses EBV and HCMV. In 1993 I left the LMB to help
set up the Sanger Centre, later to become the Wellcome
Trust Sanger Institute, first working on the yeast genome
and later to set up the Pathogen Sequencing Unit there in
Hinxton where we sequenced many pathogen genomes
including those for TB and malaria. I retired in 2010.
Christine Barrie (Wiggins) [email protected]
Structural Studies 1989-1990 (Gap Year), Cell Biology 1994-1998 (PhD),
Operations 2009-Current (Scientific Operations Manager)
I first worked at the LMB in 1989
during my gap year, when I spent
the year cutting up Torpedo rays
for Nigel Unwin. I returned after my degree in Oxford
for a PhD with Sean Munro, during which I worked on
Golgi proteins and tried to get 2D gels to work (I still
have nightmares about these!). I then worked for Peter
Leadlay in the Dept of Biochemistry. When he founded
a company, Biotica Technology, I was employed as
Operations Manager. As the first employee I was
responsible for setting up the company, finding
premises, hiring staff and ordering all the equipment
and consumables needed for work to start. After the
company ran out of money in 2006, I worked as
Business Manager for Alan Fersht in CPE before
returning to the LMB as Scientific Operations Manager
in 2009, a role I still hold. Over the past couple of years
I have been heavily involved in the move to the new
LMB building – a great project to have been involved in
and one in which my lab experience within the LMB
was immensely valuable!
Donald Bashford [email protected]
I was a NSF/NATO postdoctoral
fellow at the LMB in 1985-86,
working for Cyrus Chothia.
At that time he and Arthur Lesk
were doing what would now be called structural
bioinformatics. My project was to find a way to define a
sequence template that would pick out the globins
from the database of all known protein sequences.
Having come from a physics department, LMB gave me
my first exposure to the culture of research in molecular
biology. Afterwards, I went on to the Martin Karplus
group at Harvard and then to faculty positions first at
The Scripps Research Institute and currently at Saint
Jude Children’s Research Hospital. My work now
focuses on application and development of
computational methods for exploring protein
structure/function relationships, and for virtual
screening of compounds in drug discovery efforts.
Nicolas Basse [email protected]
I studied biochemistry and
structural biology at the University
of Paris in France where I received my
PhD working on the proteasome.
I then joined Alan Fersht’s group in Cambridge to work
on p53 and then joined the LMB to work on ribosome
biogenesis in the PNAC Division with Alan Warren.
Since 2012, I have been part of the Structural Biology
Department at UCB Celltech. My responsibilities
include leading a small molecule program and looking
after some of the biophysics instrumentation.
Andrew Bassett [email protected]
I spent my time at the LMB with
Andrew Travers, to understand the
role of the SUMOylation and the
chromatin remodelling protein,
ATRX on chromatin structure and function in Drosophila.
After that, I moved to work with David Baulcombe on
the role of small RNAs in chromatin modification in
algae, and subsequently the role of longer non-coding
RNA species in flies with Chris Ponting in Oxford.
I have recently been developing systems for delicate
manipulation of the genome using CRISPR/Cas9
techniques and have recently set up a genome
engineering centre with Matthew Freeman in the Dunn
School of Pathology in Oxford to develop these
techniques, and help others to employ them in their
research.
Alex Bateman [email protected]
I carried out my PhD with Cyrus
Chothia, in the Structural Studies
division of MRC-LMB, from ‘94 to ‘97.
I worked on an eclectic mix of topics
related to protein sequence and structure analysis.
In particular, I worked with Sean Eddy using his then new
HMM software package to identify distant sequence
similarities and novel protein domains. I also worked
with Alexey Murzin to predict protein structures from
sequence for the CASP2 competition. After my PhD
I moved to the Sanger Centre to work with Richard
Durbin on the Pfam database of Protein Families.
Since that time numerous biological databases have
found homes within my group, such as Rfam, MEROPS,
TreeFam and miRBase. In 2012 I moved to the EMBL-EBI
as Head of Protein Sequence Resources and took on the
leadership role for the UniProt protein sequence
database.
Peter Bayer [email protected]
I did my PhD in structural biology
at the university of Bayreuth
(Germany). After having a postdoc
period at the Max-Planck institute
in Dortmund I joined the Lab of Gabriele Varani at the
LMB in 1997. Gabriele’s group offered one of the
premier scientific places for people working on the NMR
structure determination of RNA-protein complexes.
My focus was on the use of residual dipolar couplings
for structure calculation, a joint project with David
Neuhaus.
In autumn 1998 I left the LMB and went back to
Germany to the Max-Planck Group for Enzymology in
Halle/Saale. Since 2004, I am professor for biochemistry
at the University of Duisburg-Essen https://www.
uni-due.de/zmb/members/bayer/overview.shtml
It was a pleasure for me to work at the LMB and
I enjoyed life in Cambridge very much. I met a lot of
people from all over the world - some of them are still
good friends. Looking back I do not want to miss those
days at the LMB.
Stephan Beck [email protected]
Stephan Beck is Professor of
Medical Genomics at the University
College London (UCL) Cancer
Institute. Using experimental and
computational approaches, his laboratory has broad
interests in the genomics and epigenomics of
phenotypic plasticity in health and disease. He received
his PhD in 1985 from the University of Konstanz where
he studied DNA structure. After postdoctoral training at
the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge
and appointments at Millipore Corporation in Boston
and the Imperial Cancer Research Fund in London, he
joined the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in 1996.
During his tenure as Head of Human Sequencing
(1998-2006), he played a leading role in the sequencing
and analysis of the human, mouse and zebrafish
genomes. He has co-founded and led a number of
international efforts, including the Human Epigenome
Project and the UK Personal Genome Project.
He is a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences and
recipient of a Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit
Award.
Rudy Behnia [email protected]
I started my PhD in the LMB in
2002, working in the laboratory of
Dr Sean Munro in the Cell Biology
Division. The focus of my work
there was the mechanisms that target proteins to
membranes in the secretory pathway of the yeast
Saccharomyces cerevisiae. When the time came to leave
the LMB, I decided to transition to working with
Drosophila melanogaster, having been influenced by
exciting research going on in the Division using this
model system. I moved to New York where I am now
finishing my postdoc in the laboratory of Claude
Desplan at NYU, focusing on visual processing.
There I built an electrophysiology set-up that enables
me to record the activity of single, GFP-labeled neurons
in vivo as a fly is looking at a variety of projected images.
Using this system, I have identified and characterized
the light responses of neurons belonging to the core
components of the Drosophila motion detection
pathways. I am currently pursuing this line of research
and extending it to another sensory processing domain:
color vision.
Agustin Bellosi [email protected]
PNAC 2006-2010 (PhD Student)
During my time at the LMB,
I worked under the supervision of
Andrew McKenzie to identify with
reporter mice the source of
interleukin (IL)-13 in response to IL-25 or IL-33, in
allergic inflammation and in parasitic infections; which
led to the characterization of nuocytes.
Since then, I have worked in consultancy for biotech/
pharmaceutical companies, helping them bring new
therapeutic agents to patients.
David Bentley [email protected]
I was a PhD student in PNAC with
Terry Rabbitts from ‘78-‘82 working
on origins of antibody diversity
followed by a short “sabbatical” in
Mark Bretscher’s lab where there was never a dull
moment. A favourite LMB memory is from the fall of
1980 after Doug Melton and I had been awarded the
first Max Perutz prize (60 pounds for travel to a
meeting). One Sunday morning in the lift with Fred
Sanger going up to the third floor, he mumbled
congratulations on MY prize. I spent my post-doctoral
years in Hal Weintraub’s lab in Seattle together with
Richard Harland, another LMB alumnus. There Mark
Groudine and I found that expression of the c-myc
oncogene is controlled by limiting transcription
elongation and regulation of this step in gene
expression is still a big interest of my lab. More recently
we found that mRNA maturation by capping, splicing
and 3’ end processing is coupled to synthesis of the
transcript by a mechanism that requires the conserved
C-terminal domain (CTD) of RNA polymerase II. My lab
investigates how different steps in mRNA production
are integrated in the context of a “factory” that
comprises the synthesis and processing machines.
Friendship’s and collaborations with contemporaries at
LMB have had an enduring influence on my career.
Claudia Berek [email protected]
B cells were always my favorite
cells. After my PhD when I worked
at the Basel Institute of
Immunology, I got a 10 min phone
call from Cesar asking whether I would like to join his
group. I did not hesitate for a second and took the
chance to go to Cambridge.
And the years at the LMB turned out to be the best time
of my working life. It was something really special to
work with Cesar. Afterwards I returned to Germany.
First I got a position in Cologne at the Institute for
Genetics and than I settled down at the Center for
Rheumatology in Berlin, where I am still living together
with Bob and our family.
Elise Bernard [email protected]
I obtained my PhD from the Institut
National Polytechnique de Lorraine
in Nancy, France. I worked on
synthesising pseudopeptides
targeting Human Leucocytary Elastase and the
proteasome in the team of Dr. Michel Marraud. I then
went for a first postdoc at the University of Amsterdam
where I rekindled with pure organic synthesis followed by
two years at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland in
Dublin. There, I learnt to separate blood cells and run gels
and western blots which raised my interest for molecular
biology. Next I joined a biotech company in Paris and
after the company was sold, I moved to the LMB in 2009.
At the LMB I worked on developing new bicyclic peptides
with Greg Winter. I was conjugating multiple cysteine
containing peptides around a benzenic core to obtain
bicyclic compounds mimicking the variable part of
antibodies. These molecules present the advantages of
both large biomolecules, e.g. higher selectivity, and of
small molecules e.g. better solubility and delivery. I made
some sequences more resistant to proteolysis and I also
studied their structure and degree of flexibility. This work
was substantial to establish Bicycle Therapeutics.
Working at the LMB has been one of the best experiences
of my life, not only scientifically, but also in terms of
personal development and I really appreciated the
cosmopolitan environment. I currently work at
MedImmune as a peptide chemist.
Anne Bertolotti [email protected]
Neurobiology 2006-Current (Group Leader)
I obtained my Ph.D. from Strasbourg
University in France, working on
identifying subunits of the transcription complex TFIID with Pierre
Chambon and Lazslo Tora. I moved to New York to work as
a post doc with David Ron to elucidate the mechanisms by
which mammalian cells respond to protein misfolding stress
in the endoplasmic reticulum and identified key components
of the unfolded protein response. I then started my lab in
Paris before moving to LMB in 2006. Since my post doc,
I have been interested in understanding how cells handle
proteins of abnormal conformation. Such proteins are
aggregation-prone and represent an important problem for
cells and organisms, as their accumulation is a hallmark of a
broad range of human diseases. My lab has contributed to
our current understanding of the mechanisms that govern
the deposition of disease-causing proteins. In addition, we
have elucidated strategies that can help cells boost their
natural defenses against misfolded proteins. Throughout my
career, I have enjoyed exploring the unexplored. Our recent
work sheds light on fundamental cell biological processes
and uncovers novel ways to manipulate the cellular defence
system against misfolded proteins, with the view that
some of our findings may ultimately benefit human health.
Alexander Betz [email protected]
PNAC 1990-1994 (PhD Student), PNAC 1997- Current (Group Leader)
After completing my
undergraduate studies at the
University of Konstanz, I joined
Michael Neuberger’s lab at the
LMB to do a PhD. I worked for four years on the
regulatory elements targeting somatic hypermutation
to the immunoglobulin genes. During my stay in
Michael’s lab I also helped to uncover the intrinsic
biases of the hypermutation process. From 1994 to
1997, I worked as a post-doc in Randy Reed’s lab at
Johns Hopkins University trying to understand the
regulation of the expression of olfactory receptors.
After this three year excursion into neurobiology,
I returned to the LMB to start my own group. Initially,
we focused on the regulation of lymphocyte migration
by chemokine receptors, which belong to the same
family as the olfactory receptors. Whilst trying to
understand the recruitment of activated T cells to
professional antigen presenting cells we stumbled
upon regulatory T cells. Trying to understand the
function, and lineage commitment of these important
immune regulators have kept us busy since, and
probably will keep us spellbound for years to come.
Mariann Bienz [email protected]
Cell Biology 1981-1986 (Postdoc), Cell Biology 1991-2008 (Group Leader ), Cell Biology 20072008 (Joint Divisional Head), PNAC 2008-Current (Group Leader and Joint Divisional Head)
Mariann Bienz obtained her undergraduate degree and PhD at the
University of Zürich (Switzerland),
and did her postdoctoral research at the MRC LMB in
Cambridge. In 1986, she became a professor at the
University of Zürich, where she worked on the control of
Drosophila HOX gene transcription by growth factors such
as Wnt. She thus discovered a Wnt-based induction cascade
emanating from the visceral mesoderm and patterning the
embryonic midgut. In 1991, Dr. Bienz became a group
leader at the MRC LMB, to work on the molecular
mechanisms of Wnt/β-catenin signalling. She discovered
that TCF confers the transcriptional Wnt response in the
Drosophila midgut, and a function of the Drosophila APC
tumour suppressor ortholog in E-cadherin-based adhesion.
She further discovered a nuclear Wnt signalling component
called Pygopus whose function in Wnt-dependent
transcription involves chromatin binding. Increasingly, she
focussed on the molecular interactions between Wnt
signalling components with therapeutic potential, such as
the Pygo-BCL9 complex and β-catenin itself, with an
ultimate aim of developing these as drug targets in
colorectal cancer. Her current interests also include the
assembly and function of Dishevelled signal-osomes and
Axin degradasomes, and their regulation by the ubiquitin
system. Dr. Bienz became an EMBO Member in 1989, a
Fellow of the Royal Society in 2003, and a Fellow of the
Academy of Medical Sciences in 2006.
Fiona Birnie [email protected]
Operations 2013-Current (Scientific Meetings Coordinator)
I started my life in science at
Glasgow University where I
completed my BSc in Genetics.
After a few years in various
positions in both Glasgow and Cambridge I came to
LMB in August of 2013 as Scientific Meetings
Coordinator under the supervision of Christine Barrie.
As a member of the Operations Group, my role is to
contribute to the smooth running of the Scientific
Operations function at the MRC Laboratory of
Molecular Biology (LMB). This includes ensuring all
events here at the LMB run smoothly as well as assisting
the Director, the Chief Operating Officer and the
Scientific Operations Manager with day-to-day activities.
Olivier Bornet [email protected]
I performed my PhD at the Centre
de Biophysique Moléculaire
(Orléans-France) investigating
nucleic acid structures by NMR.
For my post-doctoral training I joined, in 1995, David
Neuhaus’ group, LMB-structural studies division. For two
years I worked on the NMR structure of the SWI5-DNA
complex. In 1997, I got a CNRS position as NMR facility
manager at Institut de Microbiologie de la Méditerranée
(Marseille-France). At IMM, I’m investigating biomolecule
structures and metabolomics by NMR. I’m also interested in
practical aspects of NMR spectroscopy methodology.
Emmanuel Boucrot [email protected]
Dr Boucrot received a MSc in
Biochemistry from the University
of Geneva, Switzerland in 2000
and in 2001 a MRes in Immunology from the University of Marseille, France. From
2001 to 2005 he worked with Dr Jean-Pierre Gorvel on
membrane trafficking during Salmonella enterica
infection and in 2005 obtained a PhD in Immunology at
the University of Marseille. From 2005 to 2008 he did a
first postdoctoral training studying clathrin-mediated
endocytosis in the laboratory of Prof. Tom Kirchhausen
at Harvard Medical School in Boston, USA. From 2008
to 2011, he worked on novel endocytic mechanisms
with Dr Harvey McMahon, FRS at the MRC Laboratory
of Molecular Biology in Cambridge. In October 2011,
he started an independent group at University College
London as BBSRC David Phillips Fellow. Work in his
group aims at understanding molecular mechanisms of
membrane trafficking in health, disease and ageing.
Andrew Bradbury [email protected]
PNAC 1983-1989 (PhD Student and Postdoc)
After qualifying as a physician in
1982 I joined LMB to do a PhD,
which I completed with Cesar
Milstein on CD1. I did a postdoc in
the CNR Institute of Neurobiology in Rome and then
moved to be a visiting and assistant professor at the
Institute of Advanced Studies in Trieste, Italy.
In 1999 I moved to Los Alamos National Laboratory
where I am now group leader. Since completing my
PhD, my research interests have been in developing
methods to generate antibodies against all human
proteins. Within this context I have been working with
folding reporters for protein expression, recombinant
antibody libraries, phage and yeast display.
Janet Bradley (Janet Kidman) [email protected]
Other 1963-1965 (Senior Technical Officer)
I joined LMB as a Senior Technical
Officer in January 1963 shortly
after the Nobel Prizes were
awarded to Crick, Watson and
Wilkins. The building was brand new and the
atmosphere was buzzing with animated debate and
intense activity. I was assisting Dr John Smith in
Molecular Genetics which was headed by Francis Crick.
Some details of the genetic code had yet to be clarified
and the work involved cell-free protein synthesis using
E. Coli ribosomes. In early 1965 I was one of the group
who moved to Geneva to assist in the establishment of
the Laboratoire di Biologie Moleculaire there.
While in Cambridge perhaps my claim to fame was
to be known as the person responsible for flooding
Francis Crick’s office directly under our lab, not just
once but twice! I can still see Francis’ face as he
appeared in the doorway!
Tiago Branco [email protected]
I originally qualified as a medical
doctor in Lisbon, but it was always
my intention to become a scientist.
Throughout medical school
I worked in several labs, and eventually found my way
into Neurobiology in the lab of Domingos Henrique
where I worked on mechanisms of neuronal differentiation in the adult brain. In 2002, the day after I graduated,
I moved to London as a Ph.D. student at UCL, and worked
with Yukiko Goda on the regulation of neurotransmitter
release at individual synapses. Five years later I moved
across the road to start a postdoc with Michael Hausser,
where we studied mechanisms of information processing
in the brain and showed that single neurons can perform
remarkably complex computations. I officially joined the
LMB at the end of 2012, but as this coincided with the
move to the new building I spent the following 8 months
as a visiting scientist at Janelia Farm, working with Scott
Sternson on synaptic integration in neural circuits that
control feeding. I am fascinated by the myriad of
computations that the brain performs, and the long-term
goal of my group is to find their cellular and molecular
basis. We use mouse innate behaviours as a model, and
combine robotics and virtual reality with high-resolution
activity measurements from single neurons to probe the
mechanisms of information processing in behaving
animals.
Andrea Brand [email protected]
I was a PhD student at the LMB
from 1981-86 in Kim Nasmyth’s lab,
where I identified the first
transcriptional silencer. I then
moved to Mark Ptashne’s lab at Harvard where I
continued working on transcriptional regulation in
yeast. In 1988 I decided to change fields to study the
development of the central nervous system, using
Drosophila as a model system. I joined Norbert
Perrimon’s group in the Genetics Department at
Harvard Medical School where I originated the GAL4
system for targeted gene expression. The GAL4 system
makes it possible to manipulate the development of
specific cells or tissues in vivo by turning genes on or off
at will. I returned to Cambridge in 1993 as a Group
Leader at the Gurdon Institute where my lab has been
studying the regulation of neural stem cell behaviour.
We are particularly interested in the molecular
mechanisms controlling symmetric versus asymmetric
cell division, self-renewal versus differentiation, and
quiescence versus proliferation. We discovered that
insulin signalling is necessary for neural stem cells to
exit quiescence and showed that glial cells secrete the
insulin-like peptides that reactivate neural stem cells in
vivo. We are investigating the systemic and local signals
that regulate stem cell growth and proliferation and the
role of glia in inducing neural stem cell exit from
quiescence.
Jeronimo Bravo [email protected]
I joined the LMB in 1998 when
I moved from Oxford .... somebody
mentioned East Anglia was the dry
side of the country. I joined the LMB
for a second post-doctoral in the laboratory of Roger
Williams. I was part of the spanish mafia that has been
hanging around the LMB forever. I got involved in several
exciting protein crystallography projects, and learned
quite a lot about signal transduction. I met several
scientific celebrities at that time and shared unforgettable
moments at the LMB canteen. I also attended some
“unforgettable” Christmas pantomimes. In 2002 I moved
from”sunny” Cambridge to Madrid where I obtained a
group leader position in structural biology. Madrid was
still too wet and in 2009 I joined the CSIC (Spanish
Research Council) and moved to Valencia, homeland of
paella. http://www3.ibv.csic.es/index.php/en/
investigacion-ingles/genomica-2/uts-2
Andrew Bretscher [email protected]
Cell Biology 2004-2011 (PhD Student and Postdoc)
I arrived at LMB in 2004 to work
with Mario de Bono on the function
of nervous systems in behaviour,
using a molecular genetic approach
and the nematode worm C. elegans. C. elegans has just
302 neurons and is still the only animal for which we
have a complete anatomy of the brain. I had just
completed a Natural Sciences degree in Chemistry at
Cambridge. During 2004 to 2011 at LMB, working
alongside Mario, Benny Cheung, Emanuel Busch, Africa
Couto, Patrick Laurent, Einav Gross, Marios
Chatzigeorgiou and others I was able to show that
C. elegans avoids carbon dioxide (CO2) levels as low as
0.5%, that this was controlled by cGMP signalling and
levels of O2 and food. Furthermore, I showed that
temperature, oxygen, and salt-sensing neurons in
C. elegans are carbon dioxide sensors that control
avoidance behavior and that the change in the
concentration over time, rather than the absolute CO2
concentration, is the representation signalled in the
brain. Together we published three papers, two first
author and my thesis Genetics of Carbon Dioxide
Avoidance Behaviour in C. elegans. I am currently
working on the immune function of blood cell
(hemocyte) surface receptors in Drosophila with Prof
Bruno Lemaitre at EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland.
Barbara Bretscher (Pearse) [email protected]
PNAC 1972-1974 (Postdoc), Structural Studies 1974-1984 (Postdoc), Cell Biology 1984-2004
(Scientific Staff), Cell Biology 2004-2013 (Retired)
I came to the LMB as a post-doc
with Ieuan Harris to purify and
crystallise bacterial 6-PGD in 1972.
I switched to purify tubulin and in the process found
curious basket balls, which I realised were coated vesicles,
previously seen in EM sections by Roth and Porter in 1964.
I also purified these and found they contained one major
protein which I named “clathrin” in 1976. After that, with
help from Scottie Robinson, Corrine Smith and others,
I helped find many other components of coated vesicles
— such as the adaptor complexes — and how these fit
into a low resolution structure.
Mark Bretscher [email protected]
Cell Biology 1962-2013 (PhD Student), Cell Biology 1965-2005 (Member of Scientific Staff),
Cell Biology 1984-1994 (Head of Division), Cell Biology 2005-2013 (Emeritus)
I joined the MRC Unit in September
1961 in the Cavendish with Sydney
as my official supervisor, but cared
for by Francis: I worked on the genetic code and the
mechanism of protein synthesis. After a post-doc with
Paul Berg at Stanford, I joined the MRC as a staff
member and, in 1970, switched to study membrane
topology. A few years later I migrated to figure out how
animal cells move, a process I suggested is dependent
on membrane cycling. I have mostly worked on my
own, having no desire to run a group; I firmly believe
that the best science is done by very small groups all of
whom are busy working at the bench.
Philippa Brice [email protected]
I did my PhD at the LMB from
1997-2000 in Structural Studies,
working on Rev protein / RNA
interactions in the control of HIV-1
gene expression in Jo Butler’s group. Following this
I went on to work in pharmaceutical intelligence, then
biomedical policy and communications. Currently I am
Head of Knowledge and Communications for the PHG
Foundation, a policy-think tank specialising in
genomics with the mission making science work for
health. This role ranges from external affairs to
marketing, fundraising and knowledge brokering, as
well as being editor-in-chief. In addition, I am also a
trustee of a medical charity, Action on Pre-eclampsia,
which provides health professional education,
promotes awareness of the condition, and supports
affected families.
Gerard Bricogne [email protected]
Structural Studies 1972-1975 (PhD student), Structural Studies 1975-1981 (Research Fellow
(from Trinity College)), Structural Studies 1987-1992 (Visiting Researcher), Structural Studies
1993-2000 (Staff Member)
My PhD work at the LMB, under the
supervision of David Blow, was on
phase determination by non-crystallographic symmetry.
I used the programs I developed to help solve the first
two virus crystal structures (TMV with Aaron Klug’s
group at the LMB, TBSV with Steve Harrison’s group at
Harvard University). I then worked on statistical
approaches to the Phase Problem, which led me to
propose a radical move from a variety of uses of the
Least-Squares method towards much more appropriate
Bayesian or Maximum-Likelihood approaches. Their
application to experimental phasing led to the SHARP
program in 1994, and that to structure refinement to the
BUSTER program in 1996. Interest towards this work
from the pharmaceutical industry for the gains in power
and robustness it produced in crystallographic methods
as applied to structure-based drug discovery then led
me to create a company, Global Phasing Ltd., to fund a
small research group dedicated to further improving
crystallographic methods and software, including the
improvements of data collection at synchrotrons.
Global Phasing has successfully run for 16 years, with an
average of 8 employees, on a non-profit-making basis
without borrowing a penny. My time at the LMB is still
motivating and guiding me in my scientific choices - it
left an indelible mark. I was also elected to the
Mathematics section of the French Academy of Sciences
in 1999.
Michael Briese [email protected]
After my PhD at the University of
Oxford I started my postdoctoral
work at the LMB in December 2007
working on RNA binding proteins
in the group of Jernej Ule. During my work there I
began to appreciate how systems biology methods can
give us a global view of transcriptome dynamics in cells.
I stayed at the LMB until March 2012 and now work on
neuromuscular disorders at the Institute for Clinical
Neurobiology in Würzburg, Germany.
Jenny Brightwell [email protected]
Other 1978-2009 (Structural Studies Divisional Administrator and Director’s Office)
I arrived at LMB in 1978 when I was
appointed by Hugh Huxley and
Aaron Klug as Structural Studies
Divisional Administrator, and spent
31 years in various roles at LMB. With a core of MRC staff
alongside a constantly changing population of short
and long-term visitors, postdocs and students from all
over the world, it made for a great environment, very
refreshing and so different from any other that I had
known. The work was very varied, everything from day
to day support for the members of the Division, to Nobel
Prize celebrations (particularly Aaron’s). I continued in
the Division with the successive Joint-Heads, Richard
Henderson, Nigel Unwin, then Tony Crowther, until 1996,
when Richard was appointed Director of the Lab and
I moved with him to the Director’s Office. The focus
there was quite different to that of the Divisional Office,
but equally absorbing. After some 10 years, in 2006
Richard stood down as Director and I continued in the
Director’s office working for Hugh Pelham, and also Greg
Winter during his period as Acting Director, before
I retired in 2009. I met many very interesting (and
sometimes idiosyncratic) scientists and staff and am very
much looking forward to meeting up with many of them
again at the Alumni event.
Nick Brindle [email protected]
PNAC 2011-2012 (Visiting Scientist)
My research group works on cell
signalling and in particular the
mechanisms by which receptors
are activated and regulated. In
2011 I came to the LMB to develop new approaches for
directed protein evolution. During this time I worked
with Julian Sale and Michael Neuberger. We established
a method that combines somatic hypermutation and
eukaryotic cell surface display for evolution of complex,
glycosylated and difficult to express proteins. I am now
employing this approach, among others, to better
understand how receptor tyrosine kinases and their
ligands work. Using directed evolution we are exploring
the molecular mechanisms that determine specific
protein:protein interactions and functions, and seeking
to understand the relationships between structure and
function. In addition we are using evolutionary
approaches to modify protein binding specificities and
affinities in order to create probes and potential
biotherapeutics. Very recently we have begun evolving
new protein functionalities and creating novel
intracellular interaction partners for re-wiring and
controlling signalling pathways.
Henrik Bringmann [email protected]
I did my PhD with Tony Hyman at
the Max Planck Institute for Cell
Biology and Genetics in Dresden
on cytokinesis in Caenorhabditis
elegans embryos and finished in 2007. I then went to
the LMB to work with Bill Schafer on behavior of
C. elegans. I wanted to know why we have to sleep.
I was curious whether C. elegans could be used as a
model system to study sleep. My bench was in the lab
of Mario de Bono, who also worked on C. elegans and
the two labs were close and it was a great atmosphere.
In 2009 I then started my own lab at the Max Planck
Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Goettingen.
Here, I am still pursuing my research on sleep in
C. elegans. There now is substantial evidence that sleep
in C. elegans and sleep in higher organisms share a
common evolutionary origin. Thus, C. elegans is a great
system to study sleep. Maybe it will tell us why we
sleep. https://www.mpibpc.mpg.de/bringmann
Ditlev Egeskov Brodersen [email protected]
I came fresh out of my PhD from
Aarhus University in Denmark and
joined Venki Ramakrishnan’s lab in
Structural Studies in September
1999, during a time when the race was on to become
among the first groups to determine high-resolution
crystal structures of the bacterial ribosomal subunits.
The break-through came in 2000 with the atomic
resolution structures of both the 50S and 30S subunits.
Subsequently we worked on antibiotic, factor, and
tRNA-bound states of the 30S subunit, and later also
the complete 70S ribosome as well as the eukaryotic
40S subunit studied by cryo-EM. In 2003, I returned to
Aarhus University to head up my own structure group,
where I have remained to this day. In my present
group, we maintain the interest in the structure and
function of central protein-RNA interactions, including
eukaryotic exonucleases, bacterial toxin-antitoxin
complexes, as well as other large enzyme complexes in
both bacteria and fungi. In addition to crystallography,
we use biochemistry, small-angle x-ray scattering, and
electron microscopy in our studies. www.bioxray.au.
dk/~deb.
Andre Brown [email protected]
I did a BSc in physics at the
Memorial University of
Newfoundland and then a PhD,
also in physics, at the University of
Pennsylvania and decided to switch fields for a
postdoc. I came to Bill Schafer’s lab to work on worm
behaviour at the LMB in 2009. At the end of last year
I moved to London to start my own group at the MRC
Clinical Sciences Centre. After a great experience at the
LMB I was very happy for the opportunity to stay within
the MRC at a different institute.
Katherine Brown [email protected]
I came to the LMB for my PhD with
Matthew Freeman, analysing
Drosophila eye development. After
this, I moved to EMBL Heidelberg,
where I continued to pursue my interest in development
and morphogenesis, using zebrafish as a model system.
During this period, I realised that I preferred other
people’s science to my own, and in 2008 I joined The
EMBO Journal as a Scientific Editor - also based in
Heidelberg. After 3 years at EMBOJ, I moved back to
Cambridge in late 2011 to join The Company of
Biologists as the Executive Editor of the journal
Development. I now work with the team of academic
editors and in-house staff, both in the day-to-day
running of the journal and in a more strategic role
looking at how to improve the journal and the
publishing process for our community.
George Brownlee [email protected]
PNAC 1963-1980 (PhD, Postdoc then Group Leader)
I was Fred Sanger’s first student in
the RNA period of his research, just
after he moved to LMB from
Biochemistry. Encouraged by our
success in completing the sequence of 5S RNA, I became
interested in isolating immunoglobulin mRNA, which
lead to collaboration with Cesar Milstein, my assistant
Elma Cartwright and student Tim Harrison, allowing us
to define the “signal” - a term we coined in 1972 required for protein transport to the endoplasmic
reticulum. I also worked extensively on other mRNAs,
particularly globin mRNA with Nick Proudfoot and Tito
Baralle, and ovalbumin mRNA defining signals for
polyadenylation in the 3’ non-coding regions.
Xenopus laevis 5S DNA was available prior to cloning,
and using RNA sequencing methods we characterized
and named pseudogenes in 5S DNA. Moving to Oxford
University in 1980 to the Sir William Dunn School of
Pathology I turned my attention to more medically
relevant problems studying the molecular biology of
influenza virus (an RNA genome) and haemophilia B.
Our haemophilia work led to the development of safer,
recombinant therapy for haemophilia B patients and
our influenza work has paved the way for new live
attenuated influenza vaccines, currently in use in the
UK. I retired in 2008 to write a biography of Fred Sanger
– to be published shortly by Cambridge University
Press.
M Susan Brownlee (M Susan Kemp) [email protected]
Cell Biology 1962-1979 (Technician)
I arrived at LMB in Sept 1962, just a
few months after the new building
opened. I came straight from school
and worked for Robin Monro for
3 years on protein synthesis in cell–free systems from
E.coli. I took HNC in Applied Biology, a two year course,
at the Cambridge Technical College having one day a
week there from the lab and studying two evenings a
week at the Tech too. It was a fascinating time as
Molecular Biology took off and I realised that I was very
privileged to be a minute part of this. In November 1962,
the whole lab went wild and partied all night, when
three Nobel Prizes were awarded to Francis Crick, Max
Perutz and John Kendrew. In 1965 I went to Sussex
University to study Biological Sciences. I returned to the
lab after marrying George Brownlee, who was then Fred
Sanger’s research student. We were the first couple from
the lab to get married. I then worked for Mark Bretscher
and subsequently, Dennis Bray. We then had children
and moved to Oxford in 1980. I worked at Diabetes
Research labs at the Radcliffe Infirmary, in Robert
Turner’s department for twelve years, part time.
Juliane Brümmer [email protected]
Structural Studies 2008 (Summer Student)
In 2008 I came to the LMB as an
undergraduate student. During
this summer I worked in the group
of David Neuhaus on my Bachelor
thesis preparing isotopically labeled DNA ligands for
NMR studies. I received both my Bachelors and Masters
degree from the University of Lübeck, Germany. From
2010 to 2011, I worked in Leanne Jones’ lab at the Salk
Institute in La Jolla on my Master thesis, focusing on
the maintenance of the Drosophila testis stem cell
niche. Currently, I am working on Rho GTPase signaling
as a PhD student in the lab of Oliver Rocks at the Max
Delbrück Center in Berlin. This project is supported
through a PhD fellowship of the German-Israeli
Helmholtz Research School “Frontiers in Cell Signaling
and Gene Regulation”.
Simon Bullock [email protected]
Cell Biology 2004-Current (Group Leader)
I did a PhD in mouse embryology
with the late Rosa Beddington at
the National Institute for Medical
Research, Mill Hill. During this time
I became fascinated by how cell biological processes are
orchestrated in an organismal context, which led me to
a post-doc at the CRUK London Research Institute with
David Ish-Horowicz (himself an LMB alumnus).
The research of my group at the LMB is aimed at
understanding how different cellular constituents are
sorted and dispersed by microtubule-based motors and
how these transport events contribute to cellular
function in situ, i.e. within a living organism. We have a
particular interest in how mRNAs are delivered to
specific locations within cells, a process that can give
precise control over where proteins are synthesised and
operate. Our studies employ a combination of fly
genetics, single molecule microscopy, biochemistry and
structural studies. For more information please visit:
http://www2.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk/groups/sbullock/
Simon_Bullock_Lab.html
Per Bullough [email protected]
Structural Studies 1985-1989 (PhD Student), 1994-1996 (Postdoc)
After graduating from King’s
College, London, in Physics and
Biology, I joined Richard
Henderson’s group at LMB in 1985.
This was at a time when biological electron microscopy
seemed to promise near-atomic resolution but when
there were still many technical hurdles to overcome. For
my Ph.D I worked on developing approaches to
increasing resolution in electron images, primarily
through the application of spot-scan imaging to a variety
of 2D crystals. I then went on to learn 3D crystallography
in Don Wiley’s laboratory at Harvard where I solved the
X-ray structure of influenza haemagglutinin in its
membrane-fusion conformation. After 5 years at Harvard
I returned briefly to the LMB to work with Richard
Henderson, Sriram Subramaniam and Martin Lindahl on
trapping bacteriorhodopsin photo-intermediates for
electron diffraction. Since 1996, I have been in the
Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology at
Sheffield University, where I have a teaching position,
research group and run a general biological EM facility
that serves the university. For a number of years our own
research activities were mainly on cryoEM of 2D crystals
of membrane proteins; for example we have had a long
standing collaboration with Neil Hunter at Sheffield
working on bacterial photosynthetic systems.
More recently we have moved into prokaryotic cellular
structure and assembly, with a particular interest in
architecture of spores and vegetative cells of Bacillus
and Clostridium species.
Laki Buluwela [email protected]
PNAC 1984-1990 (MRC Postdoctoral Fellow)
Dr Lakjaya (Laki) Buluwela is a
Reader in Cancer Biology in the
Department of Surgery and Cancer
at Imperial College, where he
researches estrogen responses in breast cancer. He is
also the Faculty of Medicine Lead for Doctoral Degrees
and is the Director of the MRC Doctoral Training
Programme at Imperial. Following graduation with a
BSc and PhD in Biochemistry from the University of
London, he joined Professor Terry Rabbitts’ group at the
MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in 1984, first as an
MRC Post-doctoral Research Fellow and then a member
of staff. He left in 1990 to become a junior lecturer in
the Department of Biochemistry at Charing Cross
Medical School, later to become part of the Medical
School of Imperial College London. Over the years he
has supervised a considerable number of young
research scientists and Clinical Research Fellows as
PhD students and many of these have gone on to
pursue successful scientific careers in medicine,
academia and industry.
Keith Burridge [email protected]
I did my Ph.D. with Dennis Bray at
LMB from 1971 to 1975 working on
non-muscle myosins. For my
postdoc, I went to Cold Spring
Harbor ostensibly to change fields and to work on SV40.
However, upon my arrival, the director Jim Watson
encouraged me to join a small group of cell biologists
who were playing a major role applying immunofluorescence microscopy to reveal the organization of
the cytoskeleton. This group directed by Watson were all
leaving, and with hindsight I realize that Watson
recruited me so that work on the cytoskeleton would
continue. In my first paper from Cold Spring Harbor, a
collaboration with Elias Lazarides, we identified alpha-
actinin in non-muscle cells, showing it decorating stress
fibers periodically and concentrating at their ends. This
was the first identification of a protein in structures that
would come to be known as focal adhesions. Since that
time I have continued to work on focal adhesions and
have discovered and characterized several of the major
structural and signaling proteins at these sites. In 1981
I moved to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
where I am now Kenan Distinguished Professor of Cell
Biology and Physiology. On the side I write plays.
My most recent play, The Art of Deception, based on a
true story of art forgery, was produced earlier this year at
Common Ground Theatre in Durham, North Carolina.
Juan Burrone [email protected]
Neurobiology 1996-2000 (PhD Student)
I received my undergraduate
degree in biochemistry at Bristol
University. I then joined the
neurobiology division at the LMB
in 1996 as a PhD student in Dr. Leon Lagnado’s
laboratory. My work there focused on understanding
how neuro-transmitter is released from presynaptic
terminals, by studying vesicle cycling in the giant
synapse of goldfish retinal bipolar neurons. I then
moved to Prof. Venkatesh Murthy’s laboratory at Harvard
University, Cambridge, USA, as a postdoctoral fellow.
I continued studying neurotransmitter release, this
time in the much smaller presynaptic terminals of
hippocampal neurons and further expanded my field
of research to understand how chronic changes in
neuronal activity control the number and strength of
synaptic connections between neurons.
Since 2005 I have been a group leader at the MRC
Centre for Developmental Neurobiology in King’s
College London, UK, where I have built a lab that
studies synaptic transmission, plasticity and
integration.
Oscar R. Burrone [email protected]
I joined César Milstein’s lab in the
Division of Protein and Nucleic
Acid Chemistry as a postdoc after
having obtained my PhD in
Biological Chemistry at the Instituto de Investigaciones
Bioquímicas Luis F Leloir in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In
1983 I moved back to Buenos Aires and started my own
lab in the Instituto Leloir, associated to the National
research Council (CONICET) and the University of
Buenos Aires. Ever since I have been involved in
different projects in Molecular Immunology and
Virology. From 1990 I have joined the International
Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology as
Senior Scientist and Group Leader of the Molecular
Immunology lab. My main interests have focused on basic
research and biotechnological applications (recombinant
antibodies, design and development of DNA vaccines for
tumours and infectious diseases, mechanism of replication
of dsRNA virus (rotavirus), mechanism of protein quality
control in mammalian cells).
Emanuel Busch [email protected]
After a PhD at EMBL where
I studied the regulation of
microtubule dynamics, as a
postdoc I wanted to take on an
even more complex ‘puzzle’: how neural circuits process
information to produce specific behaviour. To keep the
complexity at manageable levels, I chose to use
C. elegans as a simple but powerful model, as it allows
studying the nervous system at the level of molecules,
cells, neural circuits and behaviour. Where better to go
for this than to the birthplace of C. elegans research?
I had the fortune to be able to join the group of Mario
de Bono at the LMB, where I mostly worked on understanding the mechanisms of how oxygen-sensing
neurons transduce sensory input to precisely control
several distinct behaviours. In 2013 I moved to the
University of Edinburgh to set up my own lab on
C. elegans sensory neurophysiology.
Elena Cabezón [email protected]
I joined John Walker´s group at the
LMB in 1997, just a few months
before he got the Nobel Prize in
Chemistry. I was supported by an
EMBO Postdoctoral Fellowship and a Marie Curie
Research Grant during the first years and then
I continued my work as a Research Associate.
My work was focused on the inhibitor protein of
mitochondrial F-ATPase. The aim of the project was to
determine the structure of the protein in complex with
F1-ATPase. To accomplish this task I worked with
Andrew Leslie, from whom I learnt all I know about
processing of X-ray diffraction data in protein
crystallography. In 1999, I moved with John Walker´s
group to the MRC-Dunn Human Nutrition Unit (today´s
MRC-Mitochondrial Biology Unit), where I stayed until
2003. At present, I am a group leader at the Institute of
Biomedicine and Biotechnology of Cantabria (Spain)
and Professor of Human Genetics at the University of
Cantabria (Santander, Spain) http://grupos.unican.es/
Motores_moleculares/
Florencia Cano [email protected]
I arrived at the LMB in 2003 from
Argentina with the Inaugural César
Milstein Memorial Studentship. I feel
very fortunate and honoured to have
been the first one chosen for this award to do a PhD in the
PNAC Division in memory of César Milstein and his
contributions to science. During my time there, in Terry
Rabbitts’ lab, I studied mouse models of chromosomal
translocations in haematopoietic cells and their role in the
generation of leukaemia. I remember my time at the LMB
very fondly; I am very glad to have had the opportunity to
share some time with, and learn from, truly inspiring
scientists.
Later, as a post-doc, I joined Paul Lehner’s lab at the
Cambridge Institute for Medical Research, where I
discovered a novel family of RNA-binding proteins that are
also E3 ubiquitin ligases; and through them I uncovered a
new role for ubiquitin in the regulation of mRNA. Ubiquitin
has traditionally been linked to protein degradation. My
research now shows that ubiquitin can also regulate the
degradation of mRNA. My current work focuses on trying to
understand this new role for ubiquitin in mRNA regulation,
and how this impacts on cell differentiation and
maintenance of cellular identity and function, in particular
in the context of the immune system.
Rodrigo Carbajo [email protected]
After my PhD in Spain I came to
LMB in 1999 as a postdoc in the
Structural Studies Division with
David Neuhaus. I worked on the
structural elucidation by NMR of small subunits from
the ATP synthase in collaboration with the group of
Prof. John Walker, at that time already at the Dunn
Human Nutrition Unit just across the street. I stayed at
LMB for five years and in 2004 returned to Spain to
work in a newly founded research institute at Valencia,
where I continued working on structural biology of
proteins, biomolecular interactions and metabolomics
by NMR.
Adelaide Carpenter [email protected]
Cell Biology 1989-1991 (Sabbatical Visitor)
I came to the LMB to work in John
White’s lab, hoping to develop
synaptonemal complex surface
spreading for Caenorhabditis
elegans meiotic tissue and therefore give the worm
community a cytological tool that might be useful for
characterising aberrations. This project failed, but John
had just built the first confocal microscope and I got to
play with it a bit: exciting times! I stayed in Cambridge
when the sabbatical ended, in the Department of
Genetics, U Cambridge, and am currently using
confocal live-image videos to analyse Drosophila early
embryonic mitoses: plus ça change, plus c’est la méme
chose!
Robin Carrell [email protected]
Structural Studies 1966-1997 (Intermittent Collaborator and Postdoc)
My collaboration with the LMB
commenced in 1966 with a study
of the molecular pathology of
haemoglobin, initially with
Herman Watson’s group and then extended over the
years, with Max Perutz and Giulio Fermi. During a
post-doc period with Max in 1984-5, the lessons taught
by the globins were used to define a new family of
plasma proteins, the serpins. The structural alignment
of these, solved with Andrew McLachlan, Arthur Lesk
and Ross Boswell, and with Robert Huber in Munich,
provided clues as to the unique serpin mechanism.
My proposal that this involved a drastic change in
conformation was met with skepticism. The opportunity to prove this came with the appointment as
Professor of Haematology in 1986, based on the ground
floor of the LMB Centre. But first there was a need to
break through what the notice on the dividing firedoors declared to be the Blood Brain Barrier!
This was notably achieved by Penny Stein, with her
crystallization of an intact serpin leading to the LMB’s
first new protein structure in 5 years. Our further
interaction with Structural Studies revealed how
serpins adapt their conformational change to regulate
activity – a study continued with my shift to the CIMR in
1997 and only just now completed.
Teresa Carretero [email protected]
Directors 1993-1994 (Research Associate)
After practising medicine for some
years, I took my PhD working on heat
shock proteins at the Universidad
Complutense of Madrid. I went to
Cambridge University as a postdoc at CORU and later at the
Department of Psychiatry. In 1993 I transferred to the LMB
to continue working on Alzheimer’s disease in the Director’s
group, under the supervision of Claude Wischick. I focused
on the search for biomarkers in the CSF, using anti-tau
antibodies developed in the lab. When I left the LMB,
I attended a course in Tropical Medicine at the LSHTM
and, subsequently, worked in Angola for the UN peace
mission of 1996-7, which stimulated my growing interest
in public health, particularly in developing countries.
For many years now, I have collaborated with the NGO
‘Doctors of the World’ making visits to set up and audit
primary healthcare projects in various developing
countries. For the last 10 years, I have been a lecturer in
the Department of Human Anatomy of the University of
Zaragoza (Spain). My research interests range from gamete
transport in the female reproductive tract to utilization of
primary healthcare resources by patients with
multimorbidity. I am looking forward to attend the LMB
Alumni Symposium, as it will allow me to learn about the
latest approaches in molecular biology, and it will also bring
back happy memories of my time in Cambridge.
Andrew Carter [email protected]
Structural Studies 1999-2003 (Student), Structural Studies 2010-Current (Program Leader Track)
My undergraduate degree was in
Biochemistry at the University of
Oxford. In 1999 I started a PhD with
Venki Ramakrishnan, at the MRC Lab
of Molecular Biology (LMB) in Cambridge. I was part of his
team that solved the X-ray crystal structure of the ribosomal
small (30S) subunit. I also worked on structures of the 30S
bound to three antibiotics and the initiation factor IF1.
In 2003 I moved to Ron Vale’s lab, at the University of
California, San Francisco, and started working on the
microtubule motor protein dynein. I used S.cerevisiae to
express a minimal, processive cytoplasmic dynein which
allowed the mechanism behind dynein motility to be
studied by biophysical techniques. I solved an X-ray crystal
structure of the dynein microtubule binding domain and
subsequently a low resolution structure of the ~300kD
motor domain. In 2010 I set up my own lab at the LMB.
We solved the structure of the cytoplasmic dynein motor
domain at high resolution. Now we are focusing on the
whole, multi-subunit cytoplasmic dynein complex. We are
using a combination of crystallography, electron microscopy, and single molecule microscopy assays to ask how it
interacts with cargos and regulators.
Donald L D Caspar [email protected]
Other (Postdoctoral Fellow 1955-56 and Visitor 1957-1961 at the MRC Unit for the Study of the
Molecular Structure of Biological Systems), Structural Studies 1962-1975 (Visitor)
It was Francis Crick who was
responsible for my coming to the
Cambridge MRC Unit for the Study of
the Molecular Structure of Biological Systems in September,
1955 to record some single crystal virus diffraction patterns,
which he had asserted could test his theory with Jim
Watson that “spherical” viruses should have cubic symmetry
(tetrahedral, octahedral or icosahedral). Crystallographically
forbidden five-fold symmetry was not anticipated; but ten
smudges observed in the continuous transform of a
fortuitously aligned, accidently dried Bushy Stunt Virus
crystal was the clue to recognizing non-crystallographic
icosahedral symmetry axes in my proper precession
photographs from their “spikes of high intensity” (which
Max Perutz had named for me). Optical analogue
transforms from model icosahedral masks, recorded with
Bragg’s pre-laser diffractometer in the vacant elevator shaft
of the Cavendish Austin Wing, confirmed how the intensity
spikes in the crystal-sampled transform marked the
symmetry axes. Exploring implications of the icosahedral
virus symmetry I had discovered kept me returning to the
MRC Lab for the next 20 years; from 1965-75 I had a small
desk at the back of Aaron Klug’s LMB office for my summer
visits, nominally to work on a description of my
Buckminster Fuller-inspired “tensegrity” models, which
provided a basis for our 1962 quasi-equivalence theory of
virus construction. My promised report on quasiequivalence revisited finally appeared 1980.
Ruben Cauchi [email protected]
PNAC 2008-2009 (Research Associate)
I came to the MRC LMB in the fall
of 2008 as a postdoctoral
researcher after completing my
D.Phil. at the University of Oxford.
During my time at the LMB, I worked on ribosomal RNA
processing using Drosophila as a model organism in
the lab of Alan Warren within the PNAC division.
I’m presently a Faculty member at the University of
Malta, where I direct research on the role of RNAbinding proteins in neurodegeneration, and in
collaboration with industry I’m also involved in drug
discovery for neurodegenerative conditions.
http://staff.um.edu.mt/ruben.cauchi
Tom Ceska [email protected]
Structural Studies 1983-1986 (Postdoc), Structural Studies 1989-1989
I came to the LMB as a post-doc to
work with Richard Henderson on
the high resolution structure of
bacteriorhodopsin by diffraction
methods using electron microscopy, after having finished
my PhD at Cornell University studying microtubule
filaments by EM. I remember the very stimulating and
collaborative atmosphere in the lab, and the canteen
where long intensive discussions were had and ideas
debated. The communal terminal room was a great place
to get help. I then moved on to the NRC Biotechnology
Research Institute in Montreal, followed by the EMBL in
Heidelberg, before coming back to the UK to work at UCB
Celltech, where great scientific ideas and state of the art
technology are coupled with a corporate desire to help
alleviate severe disease. The scientific challenges are
equally demanding, but also very satisfying to see how
crystallography can contribute to our understanding of
our mechanism of action, and see our projects progress
faster and further than they could have done otherwise.
As projects come in circles, we are now getting interested
in GPCRs, of which bacteriorhodopsin was a model
system for many years, and the methodology for
handling membrane proteins has improved enormously
over the intervening years to make them much less
daunting.
Martin Chalfie [email protected]
Cell Biology 1977-1981 (Postdoc), Cell Biology 1981-1982 (Staff)
I was a postdoc in the LMB with
Sydney Brenner from mid 1977 to
mid 1982 (the last year I had a staff
appointment). I had come to work
on C. elegans neurotransmitters, but following a
suggestion from Bob Horvitz, a long-time friend just
finishing his postdoc, I began studying the C. elegans
touch cells. John Sulston had discovered these cells a
few years before, but wasn’t going to continue their
study. I am still studying these cells today. Although
Sydney was my advisor on paper, we rarely spoke about
my research (about once a year), a rather common
situation among us postdocs. We were all expected to
get on with our experiments and determine our own
directions. This freedom was exhilarating, but a bit
daunting. Given the incredible facilities at the LMB and
the amazing people there, I realized that I had no
excuses; I was the limiting factor in my experiments.
Fortunately, I had terrific worm colleagues, including
Bob, John, John White, Nichol Thomson, Jonathan
Hodgkin, Donna Albertson, Ed Hedgecock, Phil
Anderson, Judith Kimble, Barbara Meyer, and Cynthia
Kenyon, so there was no lack of advice, encouragement,
and friendship. After leaving the LMB for Columbia,
I continued using the C. elegans touch cells to study
neuronal differentiation, mechanosensory transduction
and its modulation, microtubule structure and function,
neuronal degeneration, and GFP.
Lynda Chapman (Pearce/Simpson/Chapman) [email protected]
Structural Studies 1965-1971 (Technician), Cell Biology 1989-1991 (Media Kitchen Supervisor),
Structural Studies 1991-2011 (Research Support)
I first joined LMB from school in 1965
working in the virus group, initially
with Reuben Leberman and later
Aaron Klug. We worked mainly on plant viruses, which
I produced in greenhouses on the old site roughly where
the Titanic sits today. In addition to providing the group
with viruses, I worked on the TMV disc, purifying the
protein and crystallizing it. I left in 1971 to start a family as
was normal then with few childcare facilities. After various
part-time jobs in offices and schools I returned to the LMB
in 1989, first supervising the second floor media kitchen,
then joining Daniela Rhodes group. Initially we worked
on transcription factors, crystallizing a number of protein/
DNA complexes. We later moved on to chromatin and
telomeres but the aim was the same, to crystallize
complexes and solve their structures in order to gain a
greater understanding of function. I feel very privileged
to have worked at the LMB with an amazing group of
people, a constantly changing repertoire from all over the
world. I am especially grateful to Daniela for giving me a
second chance after being out of research for nearly
twenty years.
Varodom Charoensawan (Yod) [email protected]
I did my PhD at the LMB with Sarah
Teichmann and Madan Mohan
Babu from 2007 to 2010, working
on phylogenetic distribution of
transcription factors and dynamics of gene expression
patterns. I then went back to Thailand to work as a
lecturer at Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of
Science, Mahidol University, under the guidance and
mentorship of an LMB alumnus, M.R. Jisnuson Svasti.
Since 2012, I have been back to Cambridge on my
secondment as a Research Associate at the Sainsbury
Laboratory, working with yet another LMB alumnus,
Philip Wigge, where we have been trying to characterise
the dynamics of plant’s transcriptomes under a wide
range of ambient temperatures, and to understand the
mechanisms of temperature transcriptional regulation.
Being part of the LMB has always opened up a great
opportunity for me to meet good people and work on
new interesting problems.
Sangeeta Chawla [email protected]
Neurobiology 1993-1997 (PhD Student), Neurobiology 1997-2000 (Postdoc)
I arrived at the LMB in 1993 to do
a PhD with Hilmar Bading in the
Neurobiology Division, which had
been newly founded.
After my PhD I stayed on at the LMB for a postdoctoral
stint. During my time at the LMB, I worked on the
contribution of synaptic activity-induced nuclear
calcium signals to neuronal gene expression. These
were exciting years as a regulatory role for nuclear
calcium had not previously been demonstrated.
I left the LMB in 2000 to work on calcium signals in a
different context, namely muscle contraction.
I spent 3 years at the Department of Physiology,
Cambridge working on excitation-contraction coupling
in skeletal and cardiac muscle. In 2003 I moved to the
Department of Pharmacology, Cambridge with a BBSRC
David Phillips fellowship that brought my research back
into the realm of neuronal signalling. I left Cambridge,
after 18 years, to take up a Lectureship at the University
of York in 2010. At York, I have adopted the fruitfly,
Drosophila melanogaster, to correlate my cellular work
in neurons with behaviour and cognition.
https://www.york.ac.uk/biology/research/
developmental-biology/sangeeta-chawla/
Mark Chee [email protected]
I came to LMB in 1986 and did my
PhD with Bart Barrell on cytomegalovirus. In 1992 I started a
postdoc with Ronald Davis at
Stanford on yeast genome sequencing and Steve Fodor
at the Affymax Research Institute on photo-lithographic
DNA chip technology. This developed into a full-time
position at Affymetrix, where I was a member of the team
that developed the GeneChip technology.
I left Affymetrix in 1997 to explore starting a new
company in the field of genetic analysis. In 1998 I cofounded Illumina and was the company’s first employee,
and helped to develop the BeadArray technology for
genetic analysis. In 2004 I started another company,
Prognosys Biosciences, where our aim is to develop new
technologies to enable predictive medicine.
Jason Chin [email protected]
PNAC 2003-Current (Group Leader)
I came to LMB to set up my
research group in 2003.
My research group works on
developing and applying
approaches to incorporate unnatural amino acids into
proteins in living cells and animals.
We have developed a number of key technologies in
this area and applied them to address previously
intractable problems in understanding biological
function. We have recently established the Centre for
Chemical and Synthetic Biology (CCSB) within LMB to
further capitalize on advances in this area.
Yiu-Loon Chui [email protected]
I did my postdoctoral research with
Dr. Cesar Milstein on immunoglobulin gene hypermutation from
1985 to 1991, when I returned to
Hong Kong to take up a university lecturership at the
Clinical immunology Unit of the Chinese University of
Hong Kong. My present research is on apoptosis, in
particular an anti-apoptosis protein called BRE.
Brian Clark [email protected]
Cell Biology 1964-1974 (Staff Scientist, Group Leader)
I arrived at the LMB in September
1964 after post-doc periods at MIT
(1961-62) and NIH (1962-64).
Having worked on the Genetic
Code with Marshall Nirenberg, I became a Group
Leader at LMB in the Divsion of Molecular Genetics
(Cell Biology) to import decoding technology. At first
I worked mainly on decoding the initiation of protein
synthesis together with Kjeld Marcker. We established
the decoding information for the initiator tRNA. In
order to progress further with the Biochemistry, we
had to separate two types of methionine tRNA in the
cell. Thanks to the encouragement of Francis Crick we
made large amounts of pure tRNAs at MRE Porton
Down and at LMB with 5 technical assistants. Some of
these tRNAs were used for other projects. Kjeld Marcker
helped my students in sequencing methionine tRNAs
by the Sanger method. When I became the first person
to crystallize a nucleic acid (tRNA) in 1968, Francis
advised on future studies to solve the 3-dimensional
structure. Thus we collaborated with Aaron Klug’s group
to publish this structure in 1974. I aimed to continue
structural elucidations of protein synthesis components
and was able to establish a new Biostructural Chemistry
Division for this at Aarhus University, Denmark in 1974.
My current research interests are molecular mechanisms
of diseases, especially cancer and age-related problems.
Mike Clark [email protected]
I was a Ph.D. student in the
laboratory of César Milstein’s from
1978-1981 during the early days of
monoclonal antibodies.
There I met Herman Waldmann, who was on sabbatical
leave and working in César’s laboratory, and later on
completing my PhD and leaving LMB I joined his group
in Cambridge University to work on therapeutic
applications of antibodies (1981-1990). During that
time I collaborated with Michael Neuberger on
recombinant chimeric antibodies and then with Greg
Winter on the first humanized therapeutic antibody
Campath-1H now approved as alemtuzumab for
treatment of B-CLL and MS. Working with these
individuals I learnt that it was possible to combine an
interest in basic science with a desire to produce useful
end results and products of direct benefit to society in
general. Since 1990 I have been running my own
laboratory in Cambridge University and working on
engineered antibodies, and in particular antibody Fc
engineering, for therapeutic applications. A number of
technologies and antibodies have been licensed to the
bio-pharmaceutical sector and I now also act as a
consultant and advisor to several international
companies. I have my own consulting company Clark
Antibodies Ltd and have also recently been involved in a
new startup venture Absolute Antibodies Ltd that aims
to introduce a wider use of recombinant antibodies into
the research and diagnostic reagent markets.
http://www.antibody.me.uk/
Anna Codina [email protected]
Anna has a degree in Chemistry
and a PhD in Protein NMR from the
University of Barcelona, Spain.
During that time she did several
industrial placements at pharmaceutical industries
(Pharmhispania, Spain, and Genentech, SF, USA) and
she worked for the NMR service of the University. Anna
moved to Cambridge, UK, to do a post-doc in protein
NMR at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, with
David Neuhaus and John Schwabe. After her post-doc,
she worked at Pfizer, Sandwich, for 8 years doing
structure elucidation and reaction monitoring of small
molecules. Now at Bruker, Anna provides analytical
support and NMR software solutions.
Ian Collinson [email protected]
I worked with John Walker on the
structure and mechanism of the
mitochondrial ATP synthase.
Silvo Conticello [email protected]
I started in Catania (Italy) where
- despite my training as a medical
doctor - I quickly moved to basic
research with a PhD in neurobiology. My interest in gene diversification began at the
Weizmann Institute (Israel), as a postdoc with Mike
Fainzilber. There, I worked at the processes shaping the
evolution of conotoxins, a large group of neuroactive
molecules from the venoms of Conus snails.
My fascination with genetic hypervariability and with its
role in evolution of somatic cells brought me into the lab
of Michael Neuberger at the LMB, to work on the
molecular mechanisms of antibody diversification.
I arrived at the LMB in 2002, just in time to witness
Michael and his group reveal that AID, the effector of all
antigen-driven antibody diversification processes, was a
DNA editor. The next years were an exciting ride between
bench and in silico work: from the evolutionary and
structural origins of the AID/APOBECs, the gene family
whose archetype is AID, to the interactors of AID and the
characterisation of the pathway that HIV uses to
counteract the APOBEC3s, a branch of the AID/APOBECs
active against retro/lentiviruses. I left the LMB in 2007 to
start my own group at the Istituto Toscano Tumori in
Florence (Italy), where I still mess with AID/APOBECs and
evolution in the context of cancer research.
Graham Cook [email protected]
PNAC 1985-1989 (PhD Student), PNAC 1989-1996 (Postdoc)
I did my PhD with Michael
Neuberger, studying the
transcriptional regulation of
immunoglobulin genes. I
continued to work with Michael as a post-doc,
manipulating human immunoglobulin gene loci to
enable mice to make human antibodies. This work
evolved into a project with Terry Rabbitts and Greg
Winter to use emerging genome mapping techniques
to define human antibody diversity. After leaving
Cambridge I joined the University of Leeds School of
Medicine where my group studies human natural killer
cell biology and the role of these cells in immunity to
tumours and viral infection.
Anne Cooke [email protected]
Neurobiology 1998-2002 (PhD Student), Neurobiology 2002-2002 (Postdoc)
At the LMB I worked in Leon
Lagnado’s group studying
neurotransmitter vesicles in the
presynaptic nerve terminal, first
completing my PhD and then continuing for a short
time as post-doc. I left Cambridge to set up ‘Bristol
Neuroscience’ at the University of Bristol. This is an
organisation that enables multidisciplinary
neuroscience research across University departments
and between research and clinical neurosciences.
I have also spent time working for the British
Neuroscience Association and the Bristol Heart
Institute. In 2012 I joined Barema, a not-for-profit
association of anaesthetic and respiratory medical
device suppliers.
Sarah Cooper [email protected]
I first worked at the LMB as a
summer student in the laboratory
of John Kendrick-Jones, whilst I was
an undergraduate reading Natural
Sciences at Cambridge. After my final year project in
Biochemistry, I returned to the LMB as a PhD student
working in the laboratory of Andrew Travers. During
this time I studied transcriptional control and E3
ubiquitin ligases in Drosophila.
It was in Andrew’s lab that I developed my interest in
transcriptional repression and Polycomb proteins in
flies, and from there I moved to Neil Brockdorff’s
laboratory in the Department of Biochemistry at Oxford.
In Neil’s lab my main area of research is to understand
how Polycomb proteins are recruited to chromatin in
mouse embryonic stem cells. Recently, I have also
become more involved in teaching undergraduates and
have a lectureship position at Somerville College.
Suzanne Cory [email protected]
Other 1966-1969 (PhD Student)
I started my training at the
University of Melbourne, Australia,
where I studied biochemistry and
completed an MSc in 1966. Inspired
by the ongoing molecular biology revolution, I wrote to
Francis Crick asking if I could do my PhD in his lab. To my
amazement, I was accepted and assigned to sequencing
methionine tRNAM in Molecular Genetics, with Brian
Clark as my supervisor (1966-1969). The inspiration,
attitudes and friends I acquired at the LMB have
remained with me all my life. I also met my future
husband and scientific partner, Jerry Adams! After
Cambridge, Jerry and I had a post-doc at the Institut de
Biologie Moléculaire at the University of Geneva (1969-
71), where we sequenced fragments of R17 bacteriophage RNA as a model messenger RNA. We then set up
our own laboratory at The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute
of Medical Research in Melbourne, to study immunoglobulin genes. Another highlight of the early years was
to find modified 5’ cap structures on mammalian
messenger RNA. In the early 80s, we turned to cancer
genetics, discovering the myc chromosome
translocations associated with Burkitt’s lymphomas and
mouse plasmacytomas and developing mouse models of
leukemogenesis. The role of Bcl-2 in promoting cell
survival was discovered in our lab in 1988 and regulation
of cell death became our major focus. We are using this
knowledge to help develop more effective cancer drugs.
Richard Cotton (Dick) [email protected]
PNAC 1972-1973
On arriving at LMB I decided to
teach myself somatic cell genetics.
The lab was growing Myeloma cells
in order to sequence the RNA of the
antibody it produced. I developed three projects:
1. Isolation of clones to look for variants which produced
mutant antibody. 2. Isolation of clones of a myeloma
whose antibody had a known target. 3. Fusion of two
antibody-producing cells to see if the hybrids produced
no, both or one or other of the parental antibody
molecules. With David Secher we screened 7000 clones
and found many clones producing mutant antibodies
but none in the binding site as anticipated. The second
project failed as the line could not be cloned. The third
project with Shirley Howe was only possible because
Abe Karpas was growing the Fuzagen Sendai Virus on
the floor below. The finding that antibody molecules of
both parents were produced formed the experimental
and theoretical foundation of the widely used
monoclonal antibody technique.
Current work involves the facilitation of the collection
and sharing of data of patients with genetic disease
with the assistance of UNESCO and WHO.
www.humanvariomeproject.org.
Alan Coulson [email protected]
PNAC 1967-1983 (Research Officer), Directors 1983-1993 (Research Officer), PNAC 2003-2007
(Research Officer)
I started at the LMB in 1967 as Fred
Sanger’s assistant when he was just
beginning to work on DNA
sequencing methods. We developed those methods
over the following 16 years (culminating in dideoxy
sequencing), applying them to the sequencing of
increasingly complex bacteriophage and mitochondrial
genomes. When Fred retired in 1983 I joined John
Sulston to develop genome mapping methods, applied
to the C.elegans genome. The resulting map was utilised
in the C.elegans genome sequencing project (in
collaboration with the St Louis lab of Bob Waterston).
The establishment of large-scale sequencing
methodologies led to the foundation of the Sanger
Centre in 1993, where I spent 10 years as a group leader,
and hence to involvement in the Human Genome
Project. Following the completion of the C.elegans
genome sequence in 1998 and completion of the
human genome sequence, I returned to the LMB in 2003
to spend the four years up to my retirement with Phil
Holliger working on self-replicating ribozymes.
Thibault Coursindel [email protected]
I was a Chemistry PhD student
with Jean Martinez at the
Biomolecules Institute in
Montpellier (France), studying
synthesis of original spirolactams to mimick polyproline
II helix (2007-2010). I joined the LMB as a postdoctoral
researcher in Mike Gait’s group (PNAC) to work on
peptide-PMO conjugates to treat Duchenne Muscular
Dystrophy using exon skipping strategy. I had a
fantastic time working in the LMB with Mike and also
with our main collaborator Matthew Wood (University
of Oxford), who was performing in vivo studies of the
conjugates I was producing (2011-2012). Then, I joined
GENEPEP, a private company specialized in peptide
synthesis where I am now R&D Project Leader.
My main area of research is focused on the chemical
synthesis of small proteins using different techniques of
native chemical ligation and also the chemical synthesis
of ubiquitinylated peptides.
Robert Cross [email protected]
I was lucky enough to spend 5
formative years at LMB 1986-1991,
as a postdoc with Jake Kendrick
Jones, working at first on the
assembly mechanism of myosin II and later, not very
successfully, on dystrophin, mutations in which cause
Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
I left LMB in 1991 to start my own lab to work on the
stepping mechanisms of kinesin molecular motors.
23 years later, we are still working on this same problem,
which turns out to be quite a bit richer than we initially
thought. Like many others, what I took away from LMB
was a basket of happy memories and an LMB attitude.
I still have both.
Tony Crowther [email protected]
Structural Studies 1964-1967 (PhD), Structural Studies 1969-2007 (Researcher), Structural
Studies 1994-2005 (Joint Head of Division), Structural Studies 2007-Current (Emeritus)
I did my PhD with David Blow,
developing crystallographic
molecular replacement techniques,
including the translation function, and also
programming the flying spot densitometer to measure
precession photographs. After a mad post-doctoral year
in Edinburgh, during which I invented the fast rotation
function, I came back to work as a post-doc with Aaron
Klug. It was an exciting time as David DeRosier and
Aaron had recently published their paper on making 3D
maps from electron micrographs of helical particles, like
the phage tail, for which a single view is sufficient to
make a map. With Linda Amos I developed mathematics
and computer programs for spherical viruses, where
multiple images of the particle must be combined.
This was the start of what is now called single particle
microscopy. After cryo-preservation had been invented
for single particles, I came back to viruses and studied
hepatitis B, for which Bettina Boettcher and I produced
a map of the core protein that we interpreted in terms
of a numbered chain fold, the first time this had been
done from single particles. It is exciting to see that the
field has recently developed rapidly, so that atomic
structures of molecular complexes can now be
determined. I also for many years collaborated with
Michel Goedert in Neurobiology to study the abnormal
filaments that form in neurodegenerative diseases, such
as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.
Francisco Cruzalegui [email protected]
Trained initially in biochemical
engineering at the University of
Louvain, Belgium, Francisco
obtained his PhD from Baylor
College of Medicine in Houston in 1993 working on the
structure-function of calcium-calmodulin-dependent
protein kinases. He carried out post-doctoral training at
the CRUK London Laboratories (then ICRF) with Richard
Treisman and in 1997 he joined Hilmar Bading’s lab in
the Neurobiology Division of the LMB in Cambridge.
Between 1997 and 1999, with Hilmar Bading and Giles
Hardingham, he worked on calcium-dependent
transcription in excitable cells and identified a novel
calcium-dependent activation mechanism for c-Jun via
CBP. In 2001, after a short period as lecturer in Cell
Signalling at the University of Nottingham, Francisco
joined the Oncology Drug Discovery group of Servier
Laboratories in Paris. Francisco worked for Servier for 12
years initially as project leader and for the last three
years as director of Oncology Discovery Research. In
2013 Francisco joined the Oncology Translational
Science team at AstraZeneca-Alderley Park as
Translational Science Strategist focusing now on PI3K
inhibitors in early drug development.
A. Claudio Cuello [email protected]
Other 1972-1973 (Postdoctoral Fellow), Other 1975-1978 (MRC Scientific Staff),
Other 1992-1993 (Sabbatical)
I first interacted with the LMB
during a post doctoral stint in
1972-1973 at the Cambridge MRC
Neurochemical Pharmacology unit and later as a
Cambridge scientist at the same unit from 1975 to 1978,
I collaborated intensely with Cesar Milstein, a collaboration
which continued when I moved to Oxford university
and later when I accepted the chairmanship of the
McGill Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics.
Since then I continued regularly visiting the MRC LMB
where I spent a sabbatical in 1992. Some ten well-cited
papers resulted from the LMB collaboration. The rich
intellectual environment of the LMB has been most
influential. In addition I had the enormous privilege of
close friendship with many outstanding LMB colleagues
particularly César Milstein and Max Perutz
Sarah Cumbers [email protected]
I was a PhD student at the LMB
with Michael Neuberger, and my
thesis covered the harnessing in
vitro of somatic hypermutation for
antibody selection. I hung up my lab coat in 2000, and
following experience in medical writing and the
voluntary sector took up a project manager post at
NICE, the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (now
Health and Care Excellence) in 2003. My first post at
NICE involved supporting the development of
technology appraisals, NICE recommendations on the
use of new and existing medicines and treatments.
Liaising with academic review centres, independent
advisory committees, patient and professional groups,
the role also gave me my first introduction to
management.
When NICE’s remit expanded in 2005 to encompass
public health, I took up a new role managing
Information Services across the expanding Institute.
My team of 25 information professionals contributed to
each programme of work in a bespoke way, searching
for literature to answer questions that underpin the
development of guidance. In April 2013 NICE’s remit
changed again, and we now produce guidance in social
care as part of the government’s integration agenda.
Currently NICE uses different methods and processes for
developing guidelines across clinical, public health and
social care topics. I am currently managing a
programme of work to produce a unified manual for the
development of all NICE guidelines, which is due to be
implemented in January 2015.
Paula da Fonseca [email protected]
I obtained my PhD in Biochemistry
at Imperial College, University of
London, working on the characterisation and structural studies of
photosystem II. My thesis focused on electron crystallography and strongly raised my interest in structural
electron microscopy. As a post doc, first at the Imperial
College School of Medicine and later at the Institute of
Cancer Research, in London, I developed expertise in
single particle electron cryo-microscopy while working
on the structural analysis of cell regulators including the
anaphase promoting complex and the human 26S
proteasome. I joined LMB to start my lab in 2013, to work
on the structure and function of cell regulatory protein
complexes. Currently my main focus is on the study of the
26S proteasome, a critical regulator of eukaryotic cell
homeostasis the detailed structural organisation of which
is just starting to be unveiled, while its detailed functional
mechanisms are still significantly elusive. For this I want to
explore the availability of better microscopes, detectors
and computational methods, which are fast developing
and are revolutionising the field of structural electron
microscopy.
Jim Dahlberg [email protected]
After spending two years in Fred
Sanger’s laboratory developing
methods to isolate regions of
phage RNAs, I continued my
post-doctoral training in Geneva, sequencing in vitro
synthesized Qβ RNA. In 1969 I joined the faculty at the
University of Wisconsin-Madison, where I have been
employed ever since, becoming an Emeritus Professor in
2005. I still work at the UW in a reduced capacity and
have recently become the Associate Director of a private
non-profit research institute that is affiliated with the
UW. At Wisconsin I worked on several RNA-oriented
projects including the identification of host cell tRNAs
that serve as primers of reverse transcriptases, discovery
of tRNAs (spacer tRNAs) that are encoded in ribosomal
RNA genes, and synthesis, maturation and intracellular
transport of rRNAs, snRNAs and microRNAs. I also
studied the topology of a form of triple-stranded DNA,
H-DNA. Along the way, I managed to do a bit of
entrepreneurship, turning some discoveries into useful
diagnostic products. My wife, Elsebet Lund, has been
my co-worker for many years. On the home-front she
and I have raised two daughters, who also are in science
(one as a professor and the other working in science
policy). We are in fine health and remain active in
science, but by reducing our time in the laboratory we
have more time to travel, ski and hike.
Angelika Daser [email protected]
PNAC 2002-2005 (Postdoc), PNAC 2006-2011 (Visiting Scientist)
After my training as a medical
doctor I joined the group of Avrion
Mitchison at the Deutsche
Rheumaforschungszentrum Berlin.
Antigen presentation by MHC molecules, peptide
motifs of certain alleles and a link to autoimmunity
were the first focus. This was then followed by a shift
from TH1 to Th2 immunodeviations and their genetic
background in mouse models of atopy. After my
habilitation at the Charite in Berlin I felt the urge to do
real bench work again and gladly joined the group of
Terry Rabbitts at the LMB in 2002. I started with
extensive FISHing in cells of translocator mice, but soon
Terry and I were on the lookout for an alternative of the
FISH method. Together with Paul Dear and his group
we developed molecular copy number counting with
digital PCR which allows one to identify copy number
changes and translocations in cancer cells. I am at a
large fertility center in Wiesbaden since and Paul and
I refined the method to the single cell level to count
copies i.e. chromatids in polar bodies; by doing this the
number of chromatids in the corresponding oocytes
and their ploidy status can be deduced. Motivation is
the high aneuploidy rate in human oocytes, the major
reason for low pregnancy rates after in vitro fertilisation
treatment – selection of euploid oocytes should
improve pregnancy rates after IVF significantly.
Megan Davies [email protected]
Other 1996-2011 (Assistant Director, Administration)
After a PhD in the Biochemistry
Department in Cambridge and a post
doc at NYU Medical School in New
York, I joined the Medical Research
Council as a scientific administrator in its Head Office in
London. I returned to Cambridge in 1996, as Head of the
MRC Centre, which provides administrative, infrastructure
and strategic support and guidance to all the MRC Units in
Cambridge. Alongside that I was also the Assistant Director,
Administration, in LMB from 1996 – 2011, until LMB
appointed its first COO. In the LMB I had a front row seat at
a whole range of exciting scientific achievements, attended
two Nobel prize celebrations, and saw with delight how
many people went on to develop their careers, in various
ways, with the benefit of time spent in the Laboratory. I also
saw first hand how the vision for the new building, set out
by Richard and Hugh, came to fruition, after many years of
planning, design and construction, and is providing the
LMB with excellent facilities for its next 50 years on the
campus.
Tina Daviter [email protected]
I joined the LMB as a Postdoc in
Venki Ramakrishnan’s group in
2003. I had investigated the kinetic
mechanism of tRNA selection by the
ribosome in Marina Rodnina’s lab during my PhD studies
and now I wanted to join efforts to crystallize these
on-pathway ribosomal decoding complexes. After two
years of learning absolutely everything about crystallizing
and crystal screening, I moved on to Gabriel Waksman’s
lab at the School of Crystallography at Birkbeck in
London, attracted by a combination of structural and
functional studies to understand bacterial pilus
formation. When the Biophysics Centre opened at the
Institute of Structural and Molecular Biology (ISMB) at
Birkbeck in 2007, I became the Facility Manager. I help
researchers of many backgrounds and all levels perform
meaningful functional biophysical experiments. Often,
these researchers need a crucial control to satisfy referees’
comments. But I am a missionary beyond that, aiming to
enable scientists to use methods, often new to them,
which give them a different perspective. I am now
splitting my time between the Biophysics Centre and a
research group, to pursue a project myself again: Finn
Werner’s lab at the ISMB at UCL studies archaeal RNA
polymerase, and I have been working with ribosomes
again, in order to study transcription-translation coupling
in a model system of immense importance to our
understanding of evolution.
Bazbek Davletov [email protected]
I received my education in Moscow
(Biochemistry, 1985) and Dallas
(Molecular Biology with Tom
Südhof, 1994). After a postdoc at
Imperial College in London, I started my own group at
LMB in 1997 to gain further insights into neuronal
communication. My previous investigations of the
actions of neurotoxins led me to focus on SNARE protein
assembly and the way calcium triggers superfast
neurotransmitter release. Working with PhD students
from Cambridge University and postdocs from France,
Germany, Netherlands, Spain, Italy and Canada my lab
pushed the boundaries on what is achievable for
molecular interaction pathways resulting in a number of
publications in Nature, Neuron and EMBO journals.
We demonstrated that a range of lipid molecules impact
on synaptic mechanisms leading to modulation of
neurotransmission. Having understood the molecular
pathways underlying neurotransmitter release, we
focused our attention on utilizing the uniquely strong
SNARE assembly for biomedical applications.
We invented new medically-relevant botulinum
molecules which potentially could be used for lasting
pain relief. After 15 years at LMB, I took up a chair
position at the University of Sheffield in 2012 with the
aim to develop new therapeutics for chronic pain and
cancer. My time at LMB was highly enjoyable since we
spent time doing something that really matters and that
was also creative.
Mario de Bono [email protected]
Cell Biology 1990-1994 (PhD Student), Cell Biology 1999-Current (Group Leader)
I was a Ph.D. student at LMB
between 1990 and 1994, working
with Jonathan Hodgkin on
nematode sex determination and
development. While at LMB I became interested in the
nervous system and behaviour, and sought a complex
behaviour amenable to forward genetics. I settled on
nematode aggregation, a behaviour observed in
wild-caught C. elegans but not the standard Bristol lab
strain. I then spent 4 years developing this model at
UCSF, in the lab of Cori Bargmann. I came back to LMB in
1999, where we have continued to work on the nervous
system by combining genetics, neural imaging, cell
biology, genomics and modelling. We investigate how
genes encode the signalling properties of identified
neurons, and how neurons work together to generate
behavioural sequences. The ability to dissect behaviour
systematically in the nematode is enabling us to assign
in vivo functions to protein of unknown function, work
we plan to extend to mice.
Soraya de Chadarevian [email protected]
Other 1997-2006 (Researcher)
I was a frequent visitor at the LMB
between 1997 and 2006 when I was
working on the book Designs for
Life: Molecular Biology after World
War II (Cambridge University Press 2002) and other
related historical projects based on research in and
around the LMB. Also in this time fell the celebrations for
DNA at 50. I was the main curator of the exhibition
‘Representations of the Double Helix’ that was on display
at the Whipple Museum in Cambridge from January to
December 2003 and was supported by the LMB.
The central show piece of the exhibition was a replica of
the Watson and Crick model specially built by the LMB
workshop. A more recent article building on my work at
the LMB is ‘The making of an entrepreneurial science:
biotechnology in Britain, 1975-1995’ (2011). While I was
at Cambridge my institutional base was at the
Department of History and Philosophy of Science. I am
now a Professor in the History Department and the
Institute for Society and Genetics at the University of
California Los Angeles. I am looking forward to the next
historical milestone in LMB history.
Prescott Deininger [email protected]
During my graduate studies with Carl
Schmid (UC, Davis) and first
postdoctoral studies with Ted
Friedmann (UC, San Diego) I was
involved with early studies of repetitive DNA in humans,
including the identification of Alu elements, as well as the
sequencing of the polyoma virus genome. I joined the
Sanger laboratory for postdoctoral studies when they were
wrapping up the analysis of the lambda genome. I chose to
devote my research efforts to early sequencing and
transcription analysis of the Epstein-Barr Virus Genome.
During the year I also developed the approach of physically
shearing DNA for shotgun sequence analysis. Most of my
career has been focused on the sequence organization of
the human genome with a specialty on the portion
composed of mobile elements. The current focus of my
research is on how mobile elements contribute to human
genetic instability and disease, through insertional
mutagenesis and recombination, particularly in relation to
cancer. I currently hold the position of the Brown
Distinguished Chair in Oncology at Tulane University and
serve as the Director of the Tulane Cancer Center.
http://tulane.edu/som/cancer/research/
David DeRosier [email protected]
In 1969, I joined the Chemistry
Department at the University of
Texas, Austin, where Lester Reed
was doing pioneering
biochemistry on pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDC), a large
multi-enzyme complex. I planned to generate atomic
models of the isolated enzymes of PDC using X-ray
crystallography and then to dock the resulting models
into an EM map of the whole complex. In 1973, I moved
to the Rosenstiel Center and the Physics Department at
Brandeis University where Don Caspar, Carolyn Cohen
and Susan Lowey had started the Structural Biology
Laboratory. I continued work on PDC but also began
structural studies on the actin cytoskeleton with Lew
Tilney and on the bacterial flagellum with Lucy Shapiro
and the late Robert Macnab. After 8 years in the physics
department, I realized I knew more about quarks than
western blots and moved to the department of biology.
In 2005, I semi retired to once again become a postdoc,
a favorite period in my career. On retiring, I gave up my
lab and grants and took up a “postdoc” project with
Gina Turrigiano, a neuroscientist at Brandeis. My project
in the Turrigiano lab was to develop cryo-PALM, a form
of super-resolution fluorescence microscopy.
I developed a cryo-stage with the unusual property of
using a high resolution water-immersion objective
operating at ambient temperature with a frozen
hydrated specimen held below -140 degrees C.
Amedee des Georges [email protected]
Always interested in Structural
Biology, I joined the lab of Linda
Amos to study the biochemistry
and structure of Microtubule
Associated Proteins.This led to a structure of the tip
tracking protein EB1 bound to the microtubule by
cryo-EM and Fourier-Bessel reconstruction, and to the
intriguing observation that it modifies the microtubule
lattice. During my time at the LMB, I could see that the
single-particle approach was gaining momentum, with
the first virus structures below 4Å coming out in 2008.
To learn more about this technique I joined for my
postdoc the lab of Joachim Frank at Columbia University
in New York, where I am still today. There, I am working
on high resolution structures of Eukaryotic Ribosomes as
well as on structures of highly heterogeneous Eukaryotic
Translation Initiation complexes. The aim is to
understand better how translation is regulated in
Eukaryotes, from the unicellular parasites to the higher
Eukaryotes.
Robert Diamond (Bob) [email protected]
Structural Studies 1963-1995
I graduated as a physicist in the
summer of 1953, blissfully unaware
of Watson and Crick’s now famous
paper, then just published. As a final
year undergraduate I had expressed an interest in doing
research in crystallography because of its interesting
mathematics. In the event I was offered only one project,
which was to study the carbonisation of coal! The
prospect appalled me to the point that I nearly did not
take it, but I did, and learnt some useful maths doing it.
I joined LMB in 1963 and have always regretted missing
out on that vital decade, 1953 to 1963, during which the
fundamentals of protein crystallography were laid down.
Optimisation, however, was a topic not yet tackled for
structures which could not be determined at atomic
resolution, so that was what I aimed for. My first step was
to build, computationally, a representation of a protein
analogous to a Kendrew wire model, using copies of
amino acid monomers, allowing for variability in dihedral
angles in single bonds, but constancy in bond lengths
and most inter-bond angles. The second stage was to
treat this as a flexible chain which could be adjusted to fit
the electron density optimally by varying only the
dihedral angles. This depended on the coal maths, and
reduced the number of structural variables by a factor ~6,
or ~1.8 on the resolution.
Ruth Dingle (Ruth Pritchard) [email protected]
Structural Studies 2008-2009 (Research Assistant (Gap Year))
I first came to the LMB in 2005 for a
work experience placement with
the McMahon group and returned
for two subsequent summer
placements. In 2008-9, I was fortunate enough to spend
my gap year working with Dr Brad Amos on the
development of the Mesolens system. Having completed
my under-graduate at Edinburgh, I am now studying for
my PhD at the ISMB, University of London.
Colin Dingwall [email protected]
Structural Studies 1976-1980 (Technical Staff), Cell Biology 1980-1983 (Technical Staff),
Directors 1988-1991 (Scientific Staff)
I came to the LMB in 1976 to work
with Alan Fersht. When Alan
moved to Imperial College I joined
Aaron Klug’s group and then Ron Laskey’s group where
I began working on nuclear protein transport. I moved
with the Laskey and Gurdon labs to the Zoology
Department, Cambridge University and I was appointed
Research Fellow at Clare Hall. I returned to the LMB to
join the HIV group headed by Jon Karn and Mike Gait.
I then spent two years as a visiting scientist at EMBL
followed by three years at the State University of New
York at Stony Brook. I returned to the UK as a Director
with GlaxoSmithKline where I had responsibility for
drug discovery programmes in Alzheimer’s disease.
I returned to academia as Professor and Dean of
Research at Newcastle University and then as Professor
of Biochemistry and head of the Chemical Biology
group in the Pharmaceutical Sciences Division at King’s
College London. I retired in 2010. Currently I am a
Visiting Professor in the Centre for Age-Related Diseases
at King’s College London.
Claire Dobson [email protected]
I was a PhD student in Terry
Rabbitt’s lab at the LMB from 1995
– 1999, working on the role of
fusion proteins in leukaemogenesis.
I then stayed at the LMB as a postdoc in KJ Patel’s lab
before joining Cambridge Antibody Technology (CAT) in
2000 and have been there ever since. CAT has expanded
and changed significantly over the last 14 years and is
now MedImmune, part of the AstraZeneca organisation.
I am currently an Associate Director in the department
of Antibody Discovery and Protein Engineering where
I lead a team of scientists that generate therapeutic
antibodies to treat a variety of diseases. I was a member
of the team that delivered Benlysta® and in addition
I have contributed to the development of 6 therapeutic
antibodies currently in clinical or pre-clinical
development.
Anne Donaldson [email protected]
Following her PhD with John
Kilmartin in the Cell Biology
division (1990-94) Anne
Donaldson was a postdoc for four
years at the University of Washington in Seattle, where
she began to work on DNA replication. Following her
postdoc Anne returned to the UK, where she started
her lab supported by Royal Society University Research
Fellowship and EMBO Young Investigator Awards.
Anne is currently Professor of Chromosome Biology at
the University of Aberdeen, where her lab continues to
work on DNA replication control and mechanisms of
chromosome stability, funded mainly by Cancer
Research UK.
Annette Draeger [email protected]
How does one get from Hamburg to
Bern? Via Cambridge. I grew up in
Bremen and Hamburg, studied
medicine in Aachen, Hamburg,
Lausanne and Melbourne, completed my MD thesis and
obtained a grant to conduct postdoctoral work at the
MRC in Structural Studies with Alan Weeds and Robin
Fitzsimons. We were looking at the development of
human skeletal muscle using the then novel technique of
monoclonal antibody staining. I owe my mentors – and
Janice Anderson from Addenbrooke’s Morbid Anatomy
Department – a thorough introduction into scientific
work as well as to the British way of life. After a brief spell
at being a medical doctor, I joined Vic Small’s Department
at the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Salzburg,
changing from skeletal to smooth muscle structure.
In 1995 I became Head of the Department for Cell Biology
at the Institute of Anatomy at the University of Bern.
Despite teaching 240 young medical students the
essentials of gross anatomy, histology and cell biology,
I am happily able to pursue my research interests, which
shifted from skeletal to smooth muscle, from there to the
organisation of the plasma membrane in general, and to
its Ca2+- mediated reaction to injury in particular.
Hiang Dreher-Teo (Hiang Teo) [email protected]
Structural Studies 1989-1992 (Scientific Officer (Technician))
I joined LMB in autumn 1989 as
Scientific Officer for David
Zimmern. A year later I was
absorbed into the group of Kiyoshi
Nagai. At that time it is expected that if you earn your
PhD with Kiyoshi you will learn to nail agarose gels to
the ceiling. I was SO, three intensive years later I left
LMB for EMBL in Heidelberg. I worked with Dietrich
Suck who was interested in DNA binding proteins.
After seven “productive binding” years I left with one
husband and two boys. In the first millennial year, we
arrived in Switzerland where our youngest daughter
was born.
2001 to 2004 I worked in a small University of Zurich
Spin-off Biotech company, Prionics. Since 2006 I work as
a Research Technician for Rudi Glockshuber at the ETH,
Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology).
Here I will continue to uncover, to discover, to amuse,
to the day I retire. I never earned a PhD, especially
regrettable not in LMB. But in LMB I did meet the man
whom I married and gained the title of Mrs. LMB, EMBL,
ETH I have been to, worked and work in these great
places, met and will meet many silent stars. I am
honoured to be among them, continuously humbled,
eternally grateful, maybe…. I have learned to nail an
agarose gel to the ceiling…. and more. Thank you all.
Mary Lynn Duckworth [email protected]
I arrived in Terry Rabbitts’ lab in
September of 1980 from Winnipeg
for a one-year post doc. My Ph.D
had been in microbiology but
I wanted to learn everything I could about molecular
biology/recombinant DNA technology before returning
to Canada, where these areas were still in their infancy.
The LMB was an exciting place to be and Terry was a great
mentor for a neophyte. On my return to Winnipeg I worked
in the Physiology Department at the University of Manitoba
as a research associate with Henry Friesen, the discoverer of
the hormone prolactin. My research area became the
identification and characterization of the prolactin gene
family, which were developmentally expressed in the
rodent placenta. We were among the first labs in Canada to
carry out Sanger sequencing and clone genes thanks to my
LMB training. I returned to Cambridge in 1990 for a year in
Martin Johnson’s laboratory in the Department of Anatomy,
where I learned the art of making transgenic mice. This
training allowed us to develop one of the few transgenic
mouse facilities in Canada at the University of Manitoba.
In 1992 I became a member of the academic staff in the
Physiology Department where I taught molecular
endocrinology and developmental biology and
supervised graduate students. I retired from this position
in July 2010, but remain a university Senior Scholar.
Wesley Dunnick [email protected]
I was a postdoctoral fellow with
César Milstein from 1977 to 1980.
I then joined the faculty of Microbiology and Immunology at the
University of Michigan Medical School, where I was
eventually promoted to Professor. My laboratory
studied the mechanism and regulation of the
immunoglobulin heavy chain class switch, an area of
study I was initiated into during my postdoc, especially
due to collaboration with Terry Rabbitts. I taught
immunology to graduate students for my entire career
at Michigan, and taught immunology to medical
students for 14 years. I served on the American Cancer
Society Advisory Committee on Immunology (Chair,
1997), the NIH Cellular and Molecular Immunology A
Study Section, and the Special Emphasis Panels for
Immunology fellowships as Chair from 2007-2010.
I retired on August 31, 2013, after 33 years at the
University, and enjoy doing whatever I please for a few
hours every day. My life now centers on my two sons
(Joe, currently lives in Maidenhead, UK, and Josh, who
was born in Cambridge), my wife (Sarah Burns,
approaching our 25th anniversary), and our two
daughters, Phebe (17) and Janie (15).
Richard Durbin [email protected]
Cell Biology 1984-1988 (PhD Student), Directors 1990-1995 (Staff Member)
At the end of my first degree in
mathematics I wanted to switch to
science and approached various
people to explore possibilities.
Somewhat unexpectedly to me, the LMB offered me a
PhD position, and I came to work with John White on the
nervous system of C. elegans. I stayed a couple of years after
my PhD finished, mostly working with John and Brad Amos
on the confocal microscope. After a postdoc sidetracked
by neural modelling, I came back in 1990 to work with
John Sulston on the worm genome sequencing project
- I remember thinking that it would provide an honest
living for a computational biologist. After sequencing a few
percent of the genome we outgrew the LMB, and John
led the establishment of the Sanger Centre (as it was then
- now the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute) and I moved
there definitively in 1995 and am still there. Since then
I have played various roles in the Informatics, Human
Genetics and now Computational Genomics divisions, and
have been involved in development of sequence analysis
methods and the design and data analysis of a series of
large scale projects including the Human Genome Project
and 1000 Genomes Project. My main interests are in how
to manage and use exponentially increasing amounts of
sequence data, in genetic population structure and history,
and in using natural variation for functional genetics.
Alex N. Eberle [email protected]
PNAC 1980-1981 (Researcher)
After completing my PhD and
three years of postdoc at the ETH
Zurich, I got a 2-year leave of
absence from the ETH to join John
E. Walker’s laboratory (1980/81). I was involved in DNA
sequencing and the generation of monoclonal
antibodies against ATP synthase subunits. During this
time I was also trained in oligonucleotide synthesis in
Michael Gait’s laboratory. Between 1983 and the
beginning of the 1990s I was a regular guest in the
laboratory of Robert C. Sheppard where I worked in
automated solid-phase peptide synthesis. From 1982 til
2013 I continued my research at the University of Basel
where I ended my career as Vice Rector for planning and
development. In the last few years, I pursued a joint
research project with John E. Walker and Ian Fearnley on
mitochondrial proteomics in an obese patient
population. Currently, I am a Fellow of the Collegium
Helveticum at the ETH Zurich http://www.collegium.
ethz.ch and http://www.alexeberle.ch
Edward Egelman [email protected]
My focus at the MRC was on actin,
but I began working on bacterial
RecA-DNA complexes before
leaving for my first faculty position,
at Yale University. From Yale I moved to the University of
Minnesota Medical School (1989-1999), and then to the
University of Virginia (1999-present) where I am a
Professor in the Dept. of Biochemistry and Molecular
Genetics. My focus has been using electron microscopy
to understand the structure and function of helical
polymers and nucleoprotein complexes. We have
developed the main method that is now being used for
reconstructing helical filaments, and numerous
applications are currently being made at near-atomic
resolution both in my lab and in others. We continue to
work on actin but also bacterial and archaeal pili and a
number of other polymers. I have been active in the
Biophysical Society, where I am now President-Elect, and
have served as Editor-in-Chief of Biophysical Journal.
http://www.people.virginia.edu/~ehe2n.
Michael Ehrenstein [email protected]
PNAC 1996-1999 (MRC Clinician Scientist)
I worked at the LMB in Michael
Neuberger’s laboratory from
1996-1999 on two separate projects.
The first was the mechanism of
antibody hypermutation and the second was in the role of
natural IgM in immune responses. I initially planned to
stay for only two years but having a dearth of results at
the end of this too short period I remained for a further
two years which were highly productive.
I particularly enjoyed a close collaboration with Cesar
Milstein, Cristina Rada, and Michael in discovering a
molecular link between antibody class switching and
hypermutation. The training and inspiration I received
were a tremendous experience and I have tried to apply
these to research using patient samples when I returned
to academic medicine to understand mechanisms of
disease and develop novel therapies.
Latifa Elantak [email protected]
I obtained my Ph.D. from Marseille
University in France (2004), working
on tetrahemic cytochromes in the
NMR (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance)
group of Francoise Guerlesquin. After my Ph.D., I came to
LMB (2005) to work as a post doc with Peter Lukavsky
(NMR group leader) to study the structural and molecular
organization of the eukaryotic initiation factor 3 (eIF)
which organizes a web of interactions among several eIFs
that assemble on the 40S ribosomal subunit and
participate in translation initiation. During this work we
identified a key complex involved in stringent AUG
selection. I then got a research scientist position at the
CNRS in Marseille (2008). There, I am interested in how
cells regulate cell-surface glycoprotein organization and
signaling through the formation of protein-glycan
lattices. The formation of these lattices on the membrane
have critical physiological and cellular functions
(organizing plasma membrane domains, targeted
delivery of glycoproteins to the surface, modulating the
magnitude or duration of signalling from the cell surface).
Our work on early B cell development allowed us to
provide the structural basis of galectin-1-dependent
pre-B cell receptor activation, which represents the first
checkpoint of B cell differentiation. Recently, we
highlighted a new mechanism by which a cell can modify
the binding equilibria of cross-linked lattices at its cell
surface. These findings provide a new road map for
developing inhibitors targeting galectin-dependent
lattices in pathological situations such as cancers.
John Elvin [email protected]
PNAC 1992-1995 (Junior Research Fellow (Postdoc))
After a BSc. in Microbiology at the
University of Bristol in 1987 I worked
as an MLSO in the Nuffield
Department of Medicine for two
years and then and gained a D.Phil. from University of
Oxford (Trinity College) on antigen presentation of peptides
to T cells with Alain Townsend and Andrew McMichael in
the (Weatherall) Institute of Molecular Medicine. For my
post-doc I was really interested in joining Greg Winter at the
time, but he did not have a position free so on the advice of
Ita Askonas I paid a visit to Michael Neuberger in the PNAC
and subsequently joined his lab as a MRC Junior Research
Fellow in 1995.
While I was thinking about the next step I saw a post
advertised with Cambridge Antibody Technology, and
asked Michael, who I knew was on the SAB if he thought
I would be successful if I applied. Characteristically he said
“Not if there is somebody better” – but I joined in 1995, and
have been with CAT and MedImmune ever since. During
my 19 years in the company, I ended up using the phage
display technology to find new therapeutics, ironically
probably more than if I had joined Greg’s lab in the first
place. My current role involves interaction with external
scientific contacts within universities and government
funded institutions with a view to exploring potential
collaborations and mutually beneficial interactions.
Ian Eperon [email protected]
I joined Fred Sanger’s lab in 1977,
just after he had invented dideoxy
sequencing and thin gels. The
sequencing method had been
developed using single-stranded bacteriophage DNA as
a template, but at that stage most targets were cloned in
plasmids. Fred’s strategy, it appeared to me, was to set a
very difficult challenge and to trust that a solution would
emerge. The research councils would nowadays consider
this approach irresponsibly risky. The challenge was to
sequence human mitochondrial DNA. It took a year to
clone this, in high containment facilities in London, but
several strategies did emerge and we went on to
sequence this and then bovine mtDNA.
Mt DNA was a brilliant choice; there have been few
examples in which so much biology was learnt from a
single sequence. I left in 1981 and went to work with
Joan Steitz at Yale on RNA splicing. I came to Leicester in
1984. I work still on the incredibly complex mechanisms
by which splice sites are selected in mammals, using
single molecule methods to describe the state of the
RNA-protein complexes involved in splicing decisions.
We have nearly reached the point, with smFRET, of being
able to do the experiments I proposed in the application
for my fellowship to Yale. Splicing is becoming an
important therapeutic target, and we are working also on
ways to modulate it. http://www2.le.ac.uk/departments/
biochemistry/staff/eperon/research-interests
Phil Evans [email protected]
Structural Studies 1976-Current (Group Leader, now Emeritus)
Following a chemistry degree in
Oxford, I learned protein
crystallography for my DPhil with
Colin Blake, determining the
structure of phosphoglycerate kinase. I then joined the
LMB in 1976 and spent many years defining the
structural mechanism of the cooperativity and
regulation of the classic allosteric enzyme phosphofructokinase. Following a collaboration with Kiyoshi
Nagai in his early work on protein-RNA complexes,
I solved the first structure of an enzyme that uses
coenzyme B12, methylmalonyl-CoA mutase.
Since the late 1990s I have worked on the structure and
function of proteins involved in vesicle trafficking and
endocytosis, together with Harvey McMahon and David
Owen. As a crystallographer, I have always found it
valuable to collaborate with other groups with
complementary expertise in biochemistry and cell
biology, since the structure alone is not sufficient to
understand function. Now that I am no longer running
a group, I am continuing my long-term interest in
software developments in the techniques of X-ray
crystallography, mainly in the initial processing of
diffraction data.
Jonathan Ewbank [email protected]
I was a PhD student with Tom
Creighton, working on protein
folding. I went with him to the EMBL
when he took up a post there in 1990.
While at the LMB, I’d met Siegfried Hekimi, who was then a
post-doc with John White. We kept in touch and towards
the end of my PhD, he invited me to join his new group at
McGill, together with Tom Barnes, a former student of
Jonathan Hodgkin. So, after a brief stint working with Ulrich
Hartl at the Sloan Kettering, in 1993, I migrated north to
Montreal. There, I spent 4 years (and 5 winters) working on
the C. elegans timing gene clk-1 (required for ubiquinone
biosynthesis). In 1997, I moved for a second post-doc to the
Centre d’Immunologie de Marseille Luminy (CIML), in the
sunny south of France. Again, my research focus shifted; my
original project was studying the effect of Salmonella on
class II-associated antigen presentation. In the evenings,
with the encouragement of my post-doc supervisor,
Jean-Pierre Gorvel and I initiated a project using worms to
look at host-pathogen interactions. I was fortunate enough
to land a permanent researcher position in 1998, and apart
from a sabbatical with Jonathan Hodgkin in Oxford, I’ve
been at the CIML ever since then, working together with my
wife and collaborator, Nathalie Pujol. We’re still investigating
innate immunity and pathogen virulence using worms:
http://www.ciml.univ-mrs.fr/science/lab-jonathan-ewbank/
Elizabeth Fairley [email protected]
I am passionate about using my
knowledge and expertise to develop
services that enable individuals to
manage their health and wellbeing.
As an entrepreneur I enjoy being involved in innovative
enterprises. I graduated with an Honours degree in
Genetics from the University of Aberdeen in 1997 and
obtained my Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge in 2001
where I worked on Emery-Dreifuss Muscular Dystrophy at
the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology. I loved my time at
the LMB working with John Kendrick-Jones and Juliet Ellis –
I made some great friends and it was a real privilege to work
with so many commercially minded, talented people. In
2007, I established my own scientific consultancy business,
which enabled me to rapidly broaden my knowledge base
by working with spin-out, start-up and growing life science
enterprises. I have hands-on experience of the challenges
and how these can be overcome to ensure commercial
success, increased profit and economic growth. I am a
member of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Young Academy
of Scotland, working with the other members to determine
how our generation can influence policy-making processes
and outcomes. I recently completed an executive program
at Babson with the Saltire Foundation and I am currently
working with Scottish Enterprise to drive change within
Scotland’s life science sector and the University of
Strathclyde as a business consultant to seek investment for
a drug discovery spin-out.
Paul Farrell [email protected]
Cell Biology 1980-1983 (MRC Research Fellow)
I did my PhD in Cambridge
Biochemistry Department with Tim
Hunt and Richard Jackson, overlapping there with Hugh Pelham,
also doing his PhD. After a postdoc at Yale on interferon
function, I came to LMB in 1980-1983 as an MRC Research
Fellow in the Cell Biology Division. I was interested in gene
expression and started working on Epstein-Barr virus (EBV),
which Bart Barrell’s group had just started to sequence then.
In 1983 I got my own group in the Ludwig Institute unit that
was located in the MRC Centre at that time and in 1986
moved to St Mary’s Hospital in London, where I developed
a new Ludwig Institute unit and the Section of Virology.
I stayed in the same place but we progressively merged into
Imperial College, where I am Professor of Tumour Virology.
My research is still mainly on EBV but I also have a project
on RUNX molecular biology in human B cells. I greatly
enjoyed my time at LMB. In fact, 30 years since the original
sequencing, there is now renewed interest in EBV sequence
variation in relation to the cancers it causes and we are
much involved in those studies. My work has involved
studying lymphoid cancers and I chair the Leukaemia and
Lymphoma Research grant committee. I enjoy offshore
sailing and I am also chairman of GXSA, a well-known
off-season sailing association.
Wasi Faruqi [email protected]
Structural Studies 1969-2008 (Group Leader), Structural Studies 2008-Current (Scientist(Retired))
After completing a Ph.D. from
Imperial College in the High Energy
Group in 1965, I joined the LMB in
1969 to work initially on microdensitometers for X-ray crystallography followed by about
twenty years developing various techniques for recording
time-resolved X-ray diffraction data from living muscle in
Hugh Huxley’s group – including small angle cameras,
position sensitive detectors and apparatus for integrating
physiological experiments on living muscle. High intensity
X-ray sources, in the form of synchrotron radiation, were just
becoming available ~1971, first in Hamburg and then in
Daresbury, UK. In a collaborative effort with Maurice
Wilkins’ group in London, we built a small angle camera and
did a preliminary evaluation at Daresbury with John
Haselgrove. It was only when a dedicated synchrotron
source (DORIS) became available in EMBL, Hamburg that
exciting results, with millisecond time resolution, could be
obtained. For the past two decades my work has been
directed at improvements in electron detectors for electron
microscopy, mainly with Richard Henderson. In our quest
for the optimum detector we have designed and evaluated
CCD, hybrid detectors (Medipix2) and more recently,
monolithic active pixel sensors based on CMOS (MAPS).
MAPS based detectors have proven most successful in
obtaining near- atomic resolution structures in single
particle structural work. We hope that future improvements
will make these detectors even more efficient.
Annette Faux [email protected]
Operations 2001-Current (Archivist)
All my working life has been spent
in information and library services.
I started out as a book fetcher at the
UL (Cambridge University Library)
and also worked there in the reference library and the
photography department. After five years I moved to the
Cambridgeshire Collection, the local studies library in
Cambridge Central Library for three years. I then did my
degree in Information and Library Studies at the
University of Wales at Aberystwyth, and worked for nine
years as the assistant librarian at Cambridge University’s
Biochemistry Department. I moved to LMB in September
2001 to become the first full-time LMB Archivist.
Since arriving here I have built up the archive collection
so as to provide a wealth of information about LMB, its
work and its scientists, for both internal and external
enquiries. Another key aspect of the role is maintaining
the alumni database and communicating with you, the
LMB alumni. I am also a member of the LMB public
engagement, news and website teams, and am regularly
involved with events and projects. Working at LMB is like
nowhere I have ever worked before and every day is
different. The variety of work and interaction with staff
and scientists, both past and present, makes for a very
interesting and rewarding time – and I have even learnt
lots of science!
Ian Fearnley [email protected]
I arrived in the LMB from Australia in
January 1982, joining John Walker’s
research group and worked largely on
micro-methods for protein sequence
analysis. These techniques were applied to components of
the ATP synthase, and later Complex I, both from bovine
mitochondria and related protein chemical problems,
forming part of my PhD, completed in 1987. My current
interests in protein mass spectrometry stem from 1990
when I initially used an electrospray MS instrument, shared
with the University Chemistry Dept., to measure the
molecular masses of intact subunits of Complex I (with at
the time unimaginable accuracies of 1-2 Da). Later, with the
arrival of the LMB’s own mass spectrometer(s), I used
tandem MS for peptide sequencing as a more sensitive
alternative replacement to the prevalent Edman chemical
degradation. These methods have been subsumed into
Proteomics. In January 2000, I moved with John Walker to
the new Dunn Human Nutrition Unit (now the
Mitochondrial Biology Unit) in the adjacent Wellcome Trust/
MRC building. Here I set up a mass spectrometry laboratory
to analyse the mitochondrial proteome focussing on the
content of the energy transducing inner membrane,
particularly the hydrophobic membrane proteins,
recalcitrant to these analyses. I remain interested in the
identification and functional characterisation of proteins
involved in the processes of oxidative phosphorylation,
its biogenesis and regulation.
Enrico Ferrari [email protected]
I obtained my PhD at the
University of Trieste (Italy) working
on single molecule manipulation
using laser tweezers. During my
first postdoc at the Advanced Technology and
Nanoscience National Laboratory in Trieste, I started to
collaborate with Bazbek Davletov’s group at the LMB
on the interaction of SNARE proteins. I came initially
through a British Council funded exchange
programme and then I joined the group as a postdoc.
My focus at LMB has been the development of a new
protein conjugation technique based on self assembly
of SNARE peptide mimics. This enabling technology
made it possible to assemble together engineered
parts of clostridial neurotoxins expressed separately in
E. coli. The synthesis of novel, modularly assembled,
clostridial bio-therapeutics primarily aims at treating
neurological disorders. Currently, I’m still involved in
the engineering of SNARE-derived peptides at the
University of Lincoln with the aim of extending the
technology to the supra-molecular hierarchical
assembly of nanomaterials.
Alan Fersht [email protected]
Structural Studies 1969-1977 (Group Leader), PNAC 2012-Current (Emeritus Group Leader)
I was recruited by David Blow in the
last year of my PhD in 1968 but was
allowed to spend a year’s post-doc
with Bill Jencks before joining to
work on the mechanism of enzymes whose structures were
being solved at LMB. In 1977 I moved to Imperial College to
a Royal Society Research Professorship to join David Blow
and Brian Hartley. Those early years at LMB shaped my
subsequent career with mentoring from Max and support
and inspiration from the LMB greats. I was funded by MRC
Programme grants until 1988, when I returned to
Cambridge as professor of organic chemistry and awarded
an MRC Unit and then the Directorship of the MRC Centre
for Protein Engineering, next door to LMB, with Greg Winter
as Deputy Director. On my “retirement” in 2010 I was invited
back to LMB as an emeritus group leader. I have spent
the whole of my research career working at the interface
of chemistry and molecular biology on protein structure,
mechanism, folding, misfolding and disease (currently
working on the structure of the tumour suppressor p53 and
rescue of its oncogenic mutants). Greg and I were pioneers
of protein engineering, and our Centre provided the
necessary space for Greg’s antibody engineering, which
bankrolled the funding of the new LMB building.
Amusingly, Greg and I became Masters of Trinity and
Gonville & Caius Colleges, respectively, in October 2012.
Stan Fields [email protected]
PNAC 1977-1981 (PhD Student), PNAC 2006-2006 (Sabbatical Visitor)
I carried out my PhD research at the
LMB with George Brownlee,
working on the sequence analysis
of influenza virus RNA. After a
postdoc with Ira Herskowitz at the University of California,
San Francisco, I joined the faculty at the State University
of New York at Stony Brook in 1985 and moved to the
University of Washington in Seattle in 1995.
Since 1997 I have also been an investigator of the Howard
Hughes Medical Institute. My lab has principally worked
on technology development, most notably with the
description of the yeast two-hybrid assay. More recently,
we have been using high throughput DNA sequencing to
characterize properties of proteins.
http://depts.washington.edu/sfields/
Pauline Finbow [email protected]
Cell Biology 1968-1971 (Cell Boiology - Personal Assistant), Other 1989-1995 (Clinical Oncology
& Radiotherapeutics Unit)
I stumbled upon the LMB quite by
accident when I returned from
Canada at the end of 1967.
I turned up one day asking if there were any jobs and it
was my good fortune that a position had been advertised.
I was interviewed by Francis Crick and started working
there almost immediately. Thereupon began a
connection with the LMB, which has continued to the
present time. As everyone will no doubt concur, the
atmosphere in the LMB was both electric and relaxed.
I left in September 1971 to start a family and many years
later called up one day to ask if I could return on a part
time basis, which I did (to CORU) - until the Unit was
closed down. In between, Francis came to visit me one
day to announce that he and Odile were going to live in
California and asked me to act as agent for his Cambridge
properties in their absence. I visited them in La Jolla in
2003 during the 50th Anniversary celebrations of DNA
and eighteen months later returned for Francis’s
Memorial at The Salk Institute. I have fond memories of
my time at LMB and the people with whom I worked.
It was a privilege and joy to have been part of this
famous institution and I look forward to meeting many
of my former colleagues again.
Paul Fisch [email protected]
I came to the laboratory of Terry
Rabbitts as a “medic” and “cellular
immunologist” and had to learn
Molecular Biology from scratch.
I knew it was going to be difficult, but Terry, Thomas
Boehm, Alan Forster, Neil Dear were very helpful. Overall, it
was a great experience in Cambridge. I left the LMB in
September 1992 and went to Freiburg, Germany where
I started my own research group working on gamma
delta T cells and NK cells. I left Freiburg in 1996 for
Tübingen where I worked for two years as a group leader
in the Department of Immunology with Hans-Georg
Rammensee. Since 1998 I have been a tenured professor at
the Department of Pathology in Freiburg continuing my
research and working in molecular diagnostics. Looking
back, the experience I gained at the LMB in Terry’s lab, set
the grounds for my career in science, mostly due to the
solid practical knowledge (“learning by doing”), as well as
the way to approach scientific problems in general. In a
way it complemented my previous “qualitative” (meaning
“non-quantitative”) experience in cellular immunology at
the laboratory of Paul Sondel, University of Wisconsin in
Madison (1987-90). A related joke of Terry, I will never
forget: Once, when my Hanahan stock for competent
cells was contaminated with plasmid, Terry looked
skeptical and added ‘one drop of vector is a lot of vector”.
http://www.uniklinik-freiburg.de/pathologie/
forschung/ag-fisch.html
Gottfried Fischer [email protected]
PNAC 1991-1993 (Sabbatical)
Then: César, M., had decided to
spend a very prestigious price on
something adequate: a fine piano
from Steinway & Sons; mainly for
the use of Celia, of course, César was more type chorister.
Music-wise, some members of the lab, Jade (professional
curiosity), Molly (knew already most of the pianos in the
region, but not this), Bill (used to them from his former
recitals), and Kiyoshi (always interested in good
instruments), were united in their wish to have a session
with that piano, but did not manage to express this to C.
Fate had led me (and my viola) around that time to C. I
was a) interested to get to know a bit of British lab
practice and b) wanted to make good experiments. Well,
it worked not quite: a) in the laboratory there were many
colleagues coming from Spain, Canada, Cuba and
Germany, and the only, most precious British one rather
burning the midnight oil; b) the experiments, were, very
ambitious, and you should stress the very as much as you
can. So there was in fact a need for a plan B that was
obvious. I could convince César that he wished nothing
else more than to have a piano quintet in his house, and
eventually we had Brahms, Schumann and a landlord
who cooked the Paiella.
Nowadays: Science comparable, but no more Paiella.
Letizia Foroni [email protected]
I studied Medicine at the University
of Verona in Italy, before joining the
Royal Postgraduate Medical School
in London for a PhD with Prof L
Luzzatto. On his advice, I then joined the LMB as a
research assistant in August 1988 in Terry Rabbitts’ group.
I worked on several different projects, focused in the field
of chromosomal abnormalities and animal models of
leukaemia which led to some relevant publications.
It was a most fruitful scientific period and established
long term scientific collaborations and friendship with
many members of Terry Rabbitts’ group. My research and
the LMB continued for several years after I left, and
constituted the basis of my research interests for many
years to come. I still have many excellent friends in
Cambridge and have kept in touch with many of the
members of the team. I treasure the opportunity to
celebrate this wonderful centre in July 2014
Alan Forster [email protected]
PNAC 1975-2009 (Research Scientist)
I joined Terry Rabbitts at the LMB in
August 1975. On my previous visit
for interview as a naive 21 year old
I mistook Fred Sanger for a lift
attendant as he was in the lift when I entered and
remained in when I got out having given me the relevant
directions! I never told him when I realised he was my
head of division but I’m sure he would have smiled.
In the infancy of molecular biology as a group of 2 it took
us weeks to do the equivalent of a Southern blot but we
managed to show Ig variable and constant regions were
separate entities.
As the group expanded and technology improved we
moved into the field of chromosomal translocations with
their resulting tumours, and the development of mouse
models for diagnostic markers and therapeutic
antibodies. With Terry becoming head of division and the
group ever expanding I became the buffer at his door
keeping out even the hierarchy as necessary!! When Terry
left LMB in 2007 I joined Leo James’ newly formed group
in PNAC Biotechnology which I thoroughly enjoyed.
My time in LMB was extremely rewarding and enjoyable
and I look forward to meeting old colleagues.
Jerzy Frączek [email protected]
I graduated in 2009 from the
Jagiellonian University in Krakow,
where I completed my PhD in
immunology and molecular
biology. Soon after graduation I came to the Laboratory
of Molecular Biology in PNAC Division as a Career
Development Fellow. Although I had good experience
with working in world-class laboratories, having spent
almost three years in the Lerner Research Institute in
Cleveland, US, the position obtained in LMB in
Cambridge was a great opportunity to pursue answers to
scientific questions in my field. I learned a lot while
staying in LMB, then moved back to Poland where, after
staying for some time in academia, I work in the National
Science Centre, a government grant funding agency, as a
coordinator of the proposal review process.
Roger Franklin [email protected]
At the LMB I had great fun working
in Kevin Hiom’s laboratory where
I was interested in understanding
the molecular functions of the
BRCA1 tumour suppressor. Although I enjoyed the LMB
very much (I met my wife there after all!), after my PhD
I decided to make the switch into the business world.
Following a year in a Cambridge consulting company
analysing spin-out companies from the university,
I moved to a strategy consulting firm where I spent three
years doing private equity transactions and corporate
strategy work. Having had enough of 15 hour days and
no weekends, I moved to the City as a pharmaceuticals
analyst and swapped the 15 hours days for 6am starts.
After a decade picking up the required experience, I am
now enjoying life as an investment manager in a major
healthcare/biotech venture capital company. Do get in
touch if you have any great start-up ideas!
Theodore Friedmann [email protected]
PNAC 1963-1964 (Postdoc), Structural Studies 1968-1968 (Postdoc), PNAC 1975-1976 (Postdoc)
I first spent 6 months of my
research student time at the
university in 1963-1964 in the lab of
Fred Sanger working on characterization of the Tamm Horsfall mucoprotein. I went back
to LMB briefly in 1971 to work with John Finch and
Aaron Klug on polyoma virus structure. Eventually,
I spent the full academic year 1976-1977 on a sabbatical
year with Fred Sanger. My job was to fill in the few gaps
in the Phi-X174 sequence that were hard to reach by
+/- and dideoxy sequencing. My time in Cambridge
brought to me most of the good things in my life,
including a lovely wife, an introduction to science at the
highest level, a fast of Cambridge life and of course many
wonderful and lasting friends. The best times of my life.
Gabriella Frigerio [email protected]
I came to the LMB in September 91
with a PhD in fly development and
an EMBO fellowship to work on
yeast proteins required for vesicle
transport between the Golgi and the endoplasmatic
reticulum. Once I had finished my genetic work on two
of these proteins at the Sanger Centre I joined Rainer
Duden at the CIMR to work on coatomer-mediated
transport. When he left in 2004 I abandoned the bench
in favour of sequence analysis and investigation of
published literature for Swiss-Prot.
From 2008 I spent a few months going through the
literature for evidence on direct interactions between
proteins found in the NMDA-receptor associated
postsynaptic density for Seth Grant. This brought me
back into close proximity with exciting work on memory
formation and brain function. After another few
months contributing to the reannotation of the human
genome at the Sanger Institute I left Cambridge to
return to Switzerland. I am very much looking forward
to coming back for the Alumni event in July.
Michael Gait [email protected]
After a Ph.D. in chemistry at
Birmingham University and a
postdoc at MIT with Khorana, I came
to the LMB in 1975 to work with the
peptide chemist Bob Sheppard on solid-phase synthesis of
oligonucleotides. It went well and the methods were
applied to synthesize a wide range of oligonucleotides for
application in LMB collaborations in DNA and RNA
sequencing, cloning, mutagenesis etc. After obtaining a
tenured post in 1980, I switched to RNA chemical synthesis
and was asked to start an LMB Oligonucleotide Synthesis
Service, which continued until very recently. I worked also
on cloning of the T4 RNA ligase gene and then switched to
HIV proteins Tat and Rev and their RNA interactions,
working closely with Jon Karn, Jo Butler and others. In
parallel, site-modifed ribozymes were synthesized to try to
understand their mechanisms of action. In the late 1990s,
I began to study synthetic peptides as conjugates of
antisense oligonucleotide analogues to enhance their cell
delivery, initially targeting HIV TAR RNA as a potential
antiviral agent, and later for redirection of splicing in the cell
nucleus. In 2007 I joined with Matthew Wood and
colleagues in Oxford to develop peptide conjugates of
oligonucleotide analogues for exon skipping in Duchenne
muscular dystrophy and other neuromuscular diseases, and
this work is continuing now.
Jenny Gallop [email protected]
Neurobiology 2000-2000 (Summer Student), Neurobiology 2001-2005 (PhD Student),
After an interesting visit to Michel
Goedert’s lab as a summer student,
I returned to do my PhD with
Harvey McMahon and Phil Evans, having met Harvey at
the Sequencer machine. I solved the crystal structure of
the BAR domain of endophilin, and demonstrated
biochemically and structurally that its membrane
curvature activity in endocytosis was inconsistent with
lipid enzyme activity and occurred by a helix insertion
and scaffolding mechanism. I then moved to Marc
Kirschner’s lab at Harvard Medical School for my postdoc,
continuing to elucidate mechanisms operating at the
membrane-cytosol interface. I set-up two systems using
frog egg extracts that reconstitute actin polymerization,
during endocytosis and the filopodia formation.
I discovered that membrane curvature and composition
selects the use of different adaptor proteins in regulating
signaling to actin and that the nucleation of filopodia tip
complexes can occur by spontaneous self-assembly at
the right membrane surface. I returned to Cambridge in
2011 to set up my lab at the Gurdon Institute, funded by
a Wellcome Trust Research Career Development
Fellowship and ERC Starting Grant, where I am continuing
to work on membranes and actin.
Yonggui Gao [email protected]
I came to LMB in April 2008 and
worked on the structure and
function of the ribosome under the
supervision of Venki Ramakrishnan.
I had a very exciting time during my stay in Cambridge.
First of all, I experienced the Nobel Prize coming to the
lab, how happy and how exciting for all people in the lab,
as well as in the whole building. Next, we successfully
discovered a new ribosome crystal form obtained from
ribosomal protein L9 deletion, this allows us to crystallize
translational GTPase factor in complex with ribosome,
shedding light on many aspects on the long-standing
mystery of decoding and translocation. I moved to
Singapore as a Principal Investigator in 2010 with the
support of a National Research Fellowship, and currently
hold a joint position with School of Biological Sciences,
Nanyang Technological University, and Institute of
Molecular & Cell Biology, A*STAR.
Nick Gay [email protected]
PNAC 1979-1985 (PhD Student, Postdoc)
I worked with John Walker at the
outset of the ATPase project,
sequencing the E. coli unc operon
and subsequently characterising
mammalian F1F0 ATPase subunits. I then went to UCSF
for two years working with Tom Kornberg on Drosophila
engrailed before returning the Biochemistry
Department in Cambridge where I am now Professor of
Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry. Our work these
days has transgressed to molecular immunology, most
particularly the molecular mechanisms of innate
immune signal transduction. http://www.immunology.
cam.ac.uk/directory/[email protected].
Peter Gilbert [email protected]
Structural Studies 1966-1970 (PhD), Structural Studies 1970-1973 (Researcher)
I worked on TMV protein as a PhD
student supervised by Aaron Klug
from 1966-70 and continued as a
researcher at LMB until 1973.
We used X-ray diffraction of TMV protein crystals and
3-D reconstruction from electron micrographs to
determine a low-resolution structure. In my final years
at LMB I developed theoretical ideas about how the
circuitry of the cerebellum could be involved in storing
motor memories. These in part utilised the earlier
theoretical work on 3-D reconstruction of electron
micrographs. In 1973 I left LMB and went to SUNY Buffalo
to test the theory with John Eccles and Gary Allen.
I then worked with Tom Thach at Yale and Washington
University St Louis and demonstrated that climbing
fibres acted as teaching inputs to Purkinje cells during
motor learning. After this I left research for about 20
years and worked in finance in the oil industry and in
science policy at the Cabinet Office. Since then I have
been proprietor of a golf course in Northumberland.
I have also returned to my earlier theoretical work on
the cerebellum - attached to Chris Yeo’s group at UCL.
Recently he has demonstrated a role for noradrenaline
in the consolidation of short-term into long-term motor
memories in the rabbit cerebellum – consistent with a
proposal I developed at LMB some 40 years ago.
Reynald Gillet [email protected]
I was a postdoc with Venki
Ramakrishnan at the LMB, studying
the way stalled ribosomes are
delivered by trans-translation,
which is the primary mechanism for bacterial protein
synthesis quality control. Then I joined the College of
Pharmacy of the University of Rennes 1 in France in
2003, as an Assistant Professor, still working on transtranslation. In 2007 I was appointed as Full professor at
the Faculty of Sciences.
My lab studies the molecular and structural biology of
protein synthesis and (mis)folding. We investigate the
structures of trans-translating ribosomes and ribosomal
biogenesis intermediates by cryo-electron microscopy.
We also investigate the ultrastructural organization of
P-bodies in human cancer cells by using immunoelectron tomography. Working at the LMB has been one
of the more intense and stimulating experiences in my
scientific life!
David Gilmore [email protected]
Structural Studies 1968-1973 (Researcher), Structural Studies 1975-1979 (Researcher),
I arrived at LMB in 1968 with a
Ph.D. in space physics from UCL
(University College London) to
work on two-dimensional X-ray detectors with Uli Arndt
in Structural Studies. After an interlude at the Institut
Laue-Langevin (Grenoble, France) I returned to the LMB
and later transferred to PNAC to set up the flow
cytometry facility in that division, working mainly with
Cesar Milstein and Michael Neuberger. In 1994 I made
the radical decision to leave the lab and teach physics
and maths. I took a year out to obtain a PGCE
qualification at Exeter University and then taught in two
state grammar schools and later in the private sector in
the West Country. This presented a very different
challenge from life at the lab but also a new
environment, closer to the sea! I retired in 2012 and
have spent the last 18 months adapting to a new
relaxed life style with time for tennis, sailing and (don’t
tell anyone) folk-dancing!
Rafael Giraldo [email protected]
I was a postdoc in the group of
Daniela Rhodes for three years
(1992-94). We actually initiated
Daniela’s work on yeast telomeres,
studying the role of Rap1 protein in packing telomeric
dsDNA, which led to the crystal structure of the first
telomeric nucleoprotein complex. We also found that Rap1
promoted the assembly of parallel DNA quadruplexes by
the G-rich strand of yeast telomeres, an early example of
a protein chaperoning a kind of DNA structure that it is
nowadays the subject of much research interest. Back to
Spain, in 1999 I got a permanent position at CIB-CSIC
(Spanish National Research Council, Madrid) where I have
studied the molecular basis for DNA replication initiation in
bacteria and yeast. Up to 2006, my main focus was on how
sequence-specific DNA binding induces substantial
conformational changes in the winged-helix domains of
plasmid-encoded Rep proteins. In the synthetic biology
field, we found in 2007 the way to tailor such domains to
become DNA-modulated amyloidogenic devices, having
recently developed a synthetic prion-like module that
recapitulates essential features of mammalian amyloid
proteinopathies in a minimal bacterial host. Since 2010,
I am a Research Professor at the CIB’s Department of
Cellular and Molecular Biology. http://www.cib.csic.es/
en/grupo.php?idgrupo=61
John Girdlestone [email protected]
PNAC 1984-1987 (Postdoc), PNAC 1987-1995 (Staff Scientist)
I arrived at the LMB in 1984 to work
in Cesar Milstein’s laboratory on a
3 year Canadian MRC fellowship,
then stayed on as a staff scientist in
PNAC until 1995. Cesar’s monoclonal antibodies were
invaluable tools for illustrating previously unknown
patterns of protein expression, and I built on the work of
earlier people in the lab to study the transcriptional
regulation of HLA Class I genes by Interferons.
I continued this research after moving to an MRC Centre
at the Birmingham University Medical School in 1995,
then made a move to the biotech world in 2000 by
joining Gendaq, a spin-out from Sir Aaron Klug’s group.
This enjoyable period was brought to an end by a
buy-out and I joined Plasticell, started up by Yen Choo,
an LMB alumnus and co-founder of Gendaq. Since 2004
I have been a senior research fellow at NHS Blood and
Transplant where I have been able to direct my
expertise in molecular and cellular biology to the
development of new diagnostics and therapeutics for
recipients of solid organ and stem cell transplants.
Alexander Glazer [email protected]
I completed my PhD studies in
Biochemistry with Emil Smith at
the University of Utah in 1961. In
1961-62, with grant support from
the Jane Coffin Childs Memorial Fund, I was a
postdoctoral fellow with Ephraim Katchalski at the
Weizmann Institute, and then, in 1962-63, with Fred
Sanger at LMB, arriving very shortly after his new lab
was completed. My research at LMB utilized iodine
radioisotopes in micro-sequencing peptides and in
exploring the effects of ligand binding on protein
conformation. Working with Fred was an unforgettable
and defining experience. In 1964, I joined the
Biochemistry Department at UCLA School of Medicine,
and in 1976, moved to the University of California at
Berkeley, where I have remained. In recent years, my
research has largely shifted to environmental issues,
while continuing some work in the “classic” area of
protein structure-function studies.
http://mcb.berkeley.edu/index.php?option=com_
mcbfaculty&name=glazera
Michel Goedert [email protected]
Directors 1984-1990 (Researcher), Other 1991-1994 (Researcher (Genome Studies Section)),
Neurobiology 1995-Current (Researcher), Neurobiology 2003-Current (Sole Head or Joint Head
of Division)
I joined the LMB in 1984, after
having obtained an M.D. at Basel
University and a Ph.D. in Pharmacology at Cambridge
University. I was initially part of the Director’s Section
headed by Sydney Brenner, where I spent much of my
time learning the rudiments of molecular biology and
applying them to the study of Alzheimer’s disease.
In 1987, I became involved in work on the molecular
nature of the paired helical and straight filaments of
Alzheimer’s disease, alongside Aaron Klug, Tony
Crowther, Claude Wischik and John Walker. In 1988, we
showed that tau protein is an integral component of
these filaments. Together with Maria Grazia Spillantini,
we went on to identify the six tau isoforms that are
expressed in adult human brain. Over the next decade,
we helped to establish the concept that the aggregation
of tau protein is sufficient to cause neurodegeneration
and dementia. In 1997 and 1998, with Jakes and
Spillantini, we extended this work by showing that the
protein alpha-synuclein is the major component of the
Lewy pathology, the defining neuropathological
characteristic of Parkinson’s disease and dementia with
Lewy bodies, and of the filamentous inclusions of
multiple system atrophy, a related movement disorder.
In recent collaborative work, we discovered that
aggregated human tau proteins exhibit prion-like
properties and can exist as distinct conformers.
Philip Goelet [email protected]
Directors 1979-1984 (PhD Student)
Philip Goelet, PhD, received his
doctorate in biochemistry from the
University of Cambridge, studying
with Dr. Jonathan Karn at the
Laboratory of Molecular Biology. He then worked as a
Helen Hay Whitney Fellow between 1984 and 1987 at
Columbia University in the laboratory of Dr. Eric Kandel.
In 1990 he founded Molecular Tool, Inc., where he
co-invented SNP (“single nucleotide polymorphism”)
analysis technology. In 1997, he co-founded
RiboTargets, Plc., UK (an RNA structure-based drug
discovery company) with Jon Karn and Gabriele Varani,
on whose board he served until 2000. In 2004, he
co-founded Compass Genetics LLC with Sydney Brenner
and Sam Eletr which led to the formation of Population
Genetics Technologies.
David Goldenberg [email protected]
Before coming to the LMB as a
post-doc in 1981, I was a graduate
student at MIT with Jonathan King,
himself an LMB alumnus.
At the LMB, I worked with Tom Creighton on studies of
protein folding, especially the disulfide-coupled folding
of bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor (BPTI) and
chemically-modified variants. I spent the last year or so
there learning the then-new methods of DNA
sequencing and site-directed mutagenesis, with the
goal of producing BPTI mutants in E. coli. In 1985,
I moved to the Biology Department at the University of
Utah, where I have remained. My research there has
included mutational studies of the BPTI folding
pathway, NMR studies of the effects of mutations on
protein dynamics and, most recently, work on
intrinsically disordered proteins, using small-angle
X-ray and neutron scattering. We have been
particularly interested in the effects of macromolecular
crowding on disordered proteins. I have also been
extensively involved in both undergraduate and
graduate education. http://bioweb.biology.utah.edu/
goldenberg
Betsy Goldsmith (Betsy Heidner) [email protected]
I did postdoctoral studies with Max
Perutz at the LMB in 1972 and
1973. It was incredibly interesting
because Max had just published
the structure of deoxyhemoglobin and we were all
trying to understand how hemoglobin works.
I solved the structure of carbonmonoxy Hb and found
that the CO was bent, did a refinement on methemoglobin, and helped with a paper on spectroscopic
changes. The group and the LMB were great at that
time. I then returned to UCLA for a few years, to work
with Dave Eisenberg again, with whom I had studied for
my PhD. I worked with Robert Fletterick at UCSF in the
early eighties, analyzing structures of glycogen
phosphorylase. In my own job in Biochemistry at
UTSouthwestern Med Center at Dallas I have been
fortunate, contributing to the discovery of TNKase,
which is the first interesting second generation drug,
a modification of TPA. Other big successes were the
structure of latent PAI-1, and the structures of the first
pair of active and inactive kinases solved in the exact
same sequence for the MAP kinase ERK2. Presently, we
are working exclusively on protein kinases, and have
discovered that WNK (with no lysine) kinases are the
long lost chloride sensitive protein kinases. We are also
publishing on the chemical logic of MAP kinase modules.
Ana Gomis [email protected]
I first worked at the LMB when
I was a PhD student and had a
three month summer placement in
the laboratory of Leon Lagnado in
the Neurobiology Division. After finishing my PhD in
Biology at the University of Alicante in Spain I returned
to Leon Lagnado’s lab in January 1997 for a Post Doc.
I was in Leon’s lab for three years studying the synaptic
vesicle cycling in retinal bipolar cells of goldfish.
Then, I went back to Alicante to work at the Institute of
Neuroscience where I started studying the mechanisms
involved in sensory transduction and nociception.
Sensory neurons of the trigeminal and dorsal root
ganglia allow us to detect stimuli to the body surface
that lead directly to the sensations such as touch and
pain. My group is mainly focused on understanding the
cellular and molecular basis of mechanical transduction
by mammalian peripheral sensory neurons. We are also
studying the role of TRP channels in nociceptive
transduction and are determining the function of the
extracellular matrix and the pharmacologic modulators
on the ion channels identified as transductors of
noxious and innocuous mechanical stimuli.
Beatriz Gonzalez [email protected]
I was a Ph.D. Student in Julia
Sanz-Aparicio´s group (Spanish
National Research Council-CSIC)
from 1997-2002. In this period,
I learnt multiple techniques in Protein Crystallography
and studied proteins involved in the methionine
metabolism and synthesis of SAM, the main methyl
donor we have in cells. In January 2003, I started a post
doc at LMB, in Roger Williams’ group. In Rogers´s lab
I started my work on proteins related with cell signalling
and second messenger regulation.
I carried out structural studies on inositide kinases,
comprising PI3K inhibition and the structural
characterization of the analogous protein IP3 3K, which
operates on soluble inositides. From 2008, I have my
own group in Spain (CSIC). We are involved in several
projects mainly focused on the Structural Biology of
inositide kinases. We pursue the understanding on how
proteins recognise, synthesize and regulate second
messengers and essential metabolites as inositide
phosphates.
Africa González Fernández [email protected]
PNAC 1989-1989 (PhD Student), PNAC 1991-1995 (Postdoc), PNAC 2004-2004 (Professor)
After finishing my Medicine studies in
Spain, I arrived at LMB in 1989 during
my PhD period under the supervision
of Dr. Cesar Milstein to learn molecular
biology techniques. I then spent 4 years as post doc with
him in the PNAC division (1991-1995) working on the
somatic hypermutation process (SHP) of the immunoglobulin genes. During that period, we developed a new
method using Peyer´s patches B cells as a short cut for the
study of mutations. We also developed several transgenic
mice to understand the machinery of hypermutation.
I returned to Spain and became professor in the University
of Vigo (Spain). My group is interested in the field of
immune response to vaccines, Nanomedicine and toxicity
and immunogenicity to nanomaterials. In order to learn
new methods, I spent a short sabbatical period in the
laboratory of Dr. Andrew McKenzie, developing some
knockout mice in 2004. Currently I am the director of the
Biomedical Research Center (CINBIO) and coordinator of an
Institutional project funded by the 7th EU program called
BIOCAPS. One of the objectives of this project is to
establish collaborations and twinning activities with
centers. This project has tutor centers, the LMB-MRC being
one of our partnering centers. Michael Neuberger was a
member of our steering committee until his death, followed
by Andrew McKenzie. http://webs.uvigo.es/biocaps/.
http://webs.uvigo.es/inmunologia/
Margaret (“Peggy”) Goodell [email protected]
I was a graduate student with
Andrew Smith working on
methods to detect homologous
recombination events in
mammalian cells. I subsequently pursued post-doctoral
work with Richard Mulligan at the Whitehead Institute
where I initiated my work on hematopoietic stem cells.
There, I developed a new approach for their purification
based on their efficient Hoechst-dye efflux that became
widely used.
Since 1997 I have been on the faculty of Baylor College
of Medicine in Houston, Texas, and am director of the
Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine Center.
My lab is focused on the mechanisms that regulate the
self-renewal and differentiation of hematopoietic stem
cells. Recently we have been particularly interested in
the role of DNA methyltransferases in normal and
malignant hematopoiesis, as well as the importance of
regional variation of DNA methylation in mammals.
Guy Gorochov [email protected]
After medical training in Paris as a
clinical hematologist, I trained as a
Post-Doctoral fellow, first at the
Weizmann Institute (Israel) working
on the first generation of Chimeric Antigen Receptors
(CARs) with Pr. Zelig Eshhar and then at the LMB, working
on antibody engineering in the Greg Winter lab. In the T4
room of the old building we had a hard, but exciting, time
working on the first attempts to rescue original pairs of
antibody genes at single cell level.
I then joined the Department of Immunology of PitiéSalpêtrière Hospital (Paris) in 1994 as Assistant Professor
and where I now conduct my independent research as
UPMC Professor and Inserm team leader. My work is
characterized by its tight links with clinicians colleagues.
We recently focused on the study of the balance between
effector and regulatory T cells and on their relations with
pathogens and commensals, and very recently
developed a platform dedicated to study the interface
between adaptive immunity and gut microbiota.
Jim Graham [email protected]
I was a PhD student at LMB working
on crystallography of the protein
disk of TMV, supervised by Aaron
Klug. My project involved looking
at conformational changes in the disk on binding short
nucleic acid sequences. Immediate colleagues at the
time were Anne Bloomer, John Champness, Jo Butler and
Roger Staden. After completing my PhD I shifted fields
into biomedical image analysis, working initially on
automation of karyotyping systems. The group I joined
was the Wolfson Image Analysis Unit in the (then)
Department of Medical Biophysics at the University of
Manchester. We worked closely with Joyce Loebl Ltd in
Gateshead to make commercially available image
analysis software, and introduced the first karyotype and
metaphase finding software in clinical use in
Rigshospital, Copenhagen in the 1980s. I subsequently
became involved in other avenues in the growing field of
computer vision being appointed lecturer in the
University of Manchester in 1988. I am currently reader
in the Centre for Imaging Science, Institute of Population
Health, the University of Manchester, working on various
applications of medical image analysis. I am programme
director for our MSc programme in Medical Imaging.
http://www.population-health.manchester.ac.uk/staff/
jimgraham
Jim Greenberg [email protected]
PNAC 1988-1989 (Visiting Scientist)
I had the privilege of moving from
the University of Minnesota to join
Terry Rabbitts’ group in the late
1980’s to further my interests in
chromosomal translocation breakpoint structure.
Terry’s work on translocations relevant to T-cell leukemias
was accelerating at that time, and I was fortunate to take
on a project involving the t(11;14) (p15;q11). Working
with extraordinary colleagues, including Tom Boehm, we
found that normal transcription of the translocated gene
from chromosome 11 localized in the embryonic
hindbrain of the developing mouse; an intriguing and
novel finding at that time that offered insight into
potential mechanisms of leukemogenesis. I returned to
Minnesota in the summer of 1989 and subsequently
moved to the Cincinnati Children’s Research Foundation
(Cincinnati, Ohio) and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital
Medical Center where I studied pulmonary vascular
developmental biology for several years, and served as an
attending neonatologist for the Division of Neonatology
and Pulmonary Biology. In 2003 I was appointed Director
of the Division of Neonatology and in 2008, Co-Director
of the Cincinnati Children’s Perinatal Institute. The
institute houses research programs supported by more
than 80 MD and PhD investigators, and our clinical
program cares for more than 18,000 newborns each year.
Ingo Greger [email protected]
I did my PhD at the Sir William
Dunn School in Oxford (1994-98)
working on mRNA processing and
transcriptional interference with
Nick Proudfoot. In 1999 I joined Ed Ziff’s lab at the NYU
School of Medicine in New York, where I studied the cell
biology of excitatory synapses with a focus on AMPAtype glutamate receptors. During this time I started to
get interested in mechanisms underlying assembly of
the AMPA receptor and found that this process is
regulated by RNA processing of the receptor transcripts.
Since my moving to the LMB in 2004 we have continued
to address aspects of the assembly problem using a
combination of biochemistry, structural biology and
electrophysiology. We also investigate AMPA receptor
regulation in their native environment (at synapses) and
are developing receptor modulators, with the hope to
generate clinically relevant drugs. Our long-term aim is
to understand the precise underpinnings of synaptic
memory, a process that critically relies on AMPA
receptor signalling.
Richard Grenfell [email protected]
Directors 1993-2001 (Oligo Synthesis), PNAC 2001-2009 (Flow Cytometry)
I joined Terry Smith and Jan Fogg in
the Oligo synthesis team, then part
of the Directors section but we soon
become part of PNAC with Mike Gait.
Over the years my work evolved from concentrating on
simple short DNA synthesis towards RNA and base
modification incorporation. The instrumentation and
technical side of things was where I felt at home.
This led to taking over running the flow cytometry
instruments, first as a stop gap, but then full time.
The flow core grew over the years to cope with the very
diverse needs of the research groups at the LMB. Not
many places would be sorting mammalian cells, bacteria,
yeast and beads, all on the same day. I have remained in
flow cytometry since leaving the LMB and I’m currently
head of the flow cytometry core facility at the Cancer
Research UK, Cambridge Institute, just across the road
from the new LMB. There have always been many close
links amongst the flow cytometry teams around the area
and these links have grown as the campus expands.
Gillian Griffiths [email protected]
Professor Gillian Griffiths obtained
her PhD at the MRC Laboratory of
Molecular Biology in 1984, studying
affinity maturation of the immune
response with Cesar Milstein. After a post-doctoral
fellowship with Irv Weissman at Stanford, she started
her own lab at the Basel Institute for Immunology. In
1995 she moved to the UK as a Wellcome Trust Senior
Fellow, first at University College London and then at
the Dunn School of Pathology in Oxford. In 2007 Gillian
moved to the Cambridge Institute for Medical Research
(CIMR) as a Wellcome Trust Principal Research Fellow.
She has been Director of CIMR since December 2012.
Gillian’s research interests are focused on understanding
the cell biology of polarised secretion from
lymphocytes, using insights gained from genetic
disease to identify the molecular mechanisms
underlying this process. Her work has identified a novel
role for the centrosome in directing polarised secretion
in several immune cell types and, more recently, her
group has revealed that this is controlled by Hh
signalling.
Jake Grimmett [email protected]
Structural Studies 2007-Current (Head Of Scientific Computing)
I joined the LMB in 2007, having
spent the previous 6 years
managing the Unix computing in
the NMR facility at the National
Institute for Medical Research, Mill Hill. Prior to this, I’d
read Biology in Bristol and done a Biophysics PhD at the
Randall Institute in London. Here I modelled the
self-association of IgG and IgM in Rheumatoid arthritis,
and looked at how IgE might interact with its receptors.
The work took a great deal of computing power and
required me to look after a large number of Silicon
Graphics machines. This was just as Linux was
beginning to mature, and I started buying cheap
machines on Tottenham Court road, putting them to
good use in the lab. I’d met my predecessor, Terry
Horsnell, at MRC computing meetings, and was
delighted to take his place when he retired. My last
seven years at the LMB have been fantastic, I’ve built a
3000 CPU cluster, designed the new LMB scientific
computing facilities and assembled massive data
storage systems to cope with the 2TB/day produced by
the Electron Microscopes. I feel that I’ve made a real
contribution to the Lab, and as the progress in
computing is relentless, I’m excited by what the future
has to offer - doubtless what we use now will appear as
very small fry in the future!
Gerald Grütz [email protected]
PNAC 1994-1998 (Postdoc), PNAC 2005-2005 (Visiting Researcher)
Trained as a Molecular Biologist at
the Humboldt-University Berlin
I worked as a PhD student at the
Institute of Medical Immunology of
the Charité in Berlin on single-chain antibodies against
pro-inflammatory cytokines which originally attracted my
attention to the LMB. I obtained the great opportunity to
join the group of Terry Rabbitts as a Postdoc and focused
there on the analysis of transcription factor complexes
which drive acute T cell leukaemia.
When I returned back to the Charité, I started my own
group to investigate different molecular aspects of
endotoxin tolerance and cytokine regulation on the
epigenetic and posttranscriptional level. Research on an
mRNA-binding zinc finger protein brought me back to
the LMB for the generation of the knock-out mice
thanks to the great support of Richard Pannell and Felix
Randow. Currently, I head a group which is running
specialized immune diagnostics for clinical trials of new
biologicals targeting immune cell functions.
John Gurdon [email protected]
Cell Biology 1971-1983 (Group Leader then Head of Division 1979-83)
Dr Gurdon did his undergraduate
work in Zoology in the University
of Oxford and later a one-year
postdoctoral position at CalTech.
He returned to Oxford and became a university lecturer
in embryology. In 1971 he moved to the MRC molecular
biology laboratory in Cambridge, continuing his work on
Amphibian developmental biology. In 1983 he moved to
the University of Cambridge as John Humphrey Plummer
professor of cell biology. He co-founded a research
Institute of developmental and cancer biology with
Professor Laskey as co-chairman. He remained as
Chairman of this Institute until 2002.
During his career Dr Gurdon has concentrated on
nuclear transplantation in the frog Xenopus. He has also
carried out a range of experiments with this material,
discovering the value of messenger RNA microinjection,
mechanisms of response to morphogen gradients, and,
most recently, mechanisms of nuclear reprogramming
by Xenopus oocytes and eggs. Dr Gurdon served as
Master of Magdalene College Cambridge from 19952002. Dr Gurdon has received various recognitions,
including, most recently, the Lasker Award for Basic
Medical Science, and the Nobel Prize for Physiology or
Medicine in 2012.
Giles Hardingham [email protected]
Neurobiology 1994-1998 (PhD Student), Neurobiology 1998-2002 (MRC Research Fellow)
After a degree in Natural Sciences
at Cambridge I joined the LMB in
1994 as a PhD student in the
laboratory of Hilmar Bading where
I worked on the regulation of gene transcription by
spatially distinct calcium signals. I then obtained a MRC
Research Fellowship to remain with Hilmar to study
neuroprotective and neurotoxic pathways downstream
of the NMDA receptor. I left the LMB in 2002 to set up
my own lab at the University of Edinburgh where
I currently hold a MRC Senior Non-Clinical Research
Fellowship and Chair in Molecular Neurobiology.
We investigate the genes, signals and de novo
mutations that influence the vulnerability of the brain
to disease-causing agents.
Richard Harland [email protected]
Cell Biology 1977-1980 (PhD Student), Cell Biology 1980-1981 (Postdoc)
At LMB I worked with Ron Laskey on
the regulation of DNA replication in
Xenopus eggs, showing that specific
origins of replication are not
required for regulated replication. I went on to postdoc
with Hal Weintraub (Seattle) and collaborated with Steve
McKnight to study transcriptional regulation in frog
oocytes. After moving to the University of California,
Berkeley, my group has studied early development of
Xenopus. High points include the identification of Wnt
signaling as an early dorsalizing signal, the demonstration
that the Spemann organizer controls vertebrate
development by releasing a cocktail of antagonists,
notably Noggin, a BMP antagonist, and the first neural
inducer identified from embryos.
We determined that planar cell polarity signaling is
needed for polarized cell movements in vertebrate
gastrulation and neurulation. We developed methods to
isolate genes by RNA injection (expression cloning),
visualize their expression (by whole mount in situ
hybridization) and determine their functions. In recent
years we have contributed to the genome assemblies of
X.tropicalis and X. laevis, used these to study regulation of
splicing, and have developed X. tropicalis as a genetically
tractable animal. I currently hold the C.H. Li Distinguished
Chair, and Chair the Department of Molecular and Cell
Biology at UC Berkeley, am a fellow of the American
Academy of Arts and Sciences, have been president of
the Society of Developmental Biology, and was awarded
the 2014 Conklin medal by SDB.
Reuben Harris [email protected]
PNAC 1998-2003 (Postdoctoral Fellow)
I have always been fascinated by
mechanisms of mutation. My
doctoral work with Susan Rosenberg
at the University of Alberta focused
on a unique mechanism of stationary phase mutation in E.
coli (1993-7). After helping move my Ph.D. lab to Baylor
College of Medicine (1997-8) and a short postdoctoral stint
at Yale University with Nancy Maizels (1998), I moved to
Cambridge to work with Michael Neuberger on ‘getting a
handle’ on the molecular mechanism of somatic
hypermutation (1998-2003). During this exciting period, we
discovered the DNA deaminase activity of AID and
proposed the now textbook model for somatic
hypermutation and class switch recombination. We also
learned that DNA cytosine deamination is the hallmark
activity of the AID and the larger family of APOBEC enzymes
to which it belongs. This stimulated additional work to
demonstrate a DNA deamination for retrovirus restriction
by APOBEC3G, and subsequently by several other family
members. I am now a Professor at the University of
Minnesota, where I have been since 2003. My lab continues
to investigate the physiological roles of these enzymes in
providing innate immunity to a broad number of parasitic
elements including HIV-1. In addition, we recently
discovered that at least one family member (APOBEC3B)
provides a major source of mutations in multiple human
cancers, and we are very interested in learning more about
the underlying mechanisms. http://harris.cbs.umn.edu
Stephen Harrison [email protected]
Structural Studies 1964-1965 (Visiting PhD Student), Structural Studies 1977-1977 (Sabbatical Visitor)
I was a visiting student at LMB in
1964-65 (with Aaron) and returned
in 1977 for six months as a visiting
scientist. As a student (guided by
Reuben Leberman and Bill Longley), I characterized
crystals of turnip crinkle virus. When I joined a contingent
of the laboratory to attend David Phillips’ unveiling of the
lysozyme structure at the Royal Institution, I came to the
naive conclusion that myoglobin and lysozyme
embodied all the basic problems in protein structure and
that I should therefore keep working on viruses.
So returning to Harvard as a PhD student, I set out to
determine the structure of tomato bushy stunt virus
(TBSV). Twelve years later, when I returned to LMB (no
longer a student, fortunately) for a second sojourn,
Gerard Bricogne and I were preparing for a summer
workshop in Paris that would allow us to compute a 2.9Å
resolution map of TBSV. We managed to do so. I am still
at Harvard, studying large macromolecular assemblies,
many but not all of them related to viruses and their cell
entry mechanisms.
Brian S. Hartley [email protected]
1949-52, Ph.D Leeds; 1952 ICI Fellow,
Cambridge; 1958 Whitney Fellow,
Seattle: 1960 Member Fred Sanger’s
MRC group; 1962. Group Leader, LMB.
Major achievements of my research group were : Bill Gray
Research student 1959-63. The DANSYL-Edman sequencing
technique. Jim Brown 1963- 66: An S-S bridge diagonal
electrophoretic technique. Larry Smillie 1964-66: S-S bridge
homologies in serine proteases. Dorothy Kauffman 1945:
S-S bridges of trypsin and elastase. Jordan Tang 1966-67:
A diagonal technique for methionine peptide purification.
Alan Weeds RS 1964-66: The thiol peptides of myosin. David
Blow & Brian Hartley (1969): The charge relay mechanism in
serine proteases. Harvey Kaplan 1969-1970: Competitive
labelling of surface amino groups. Staffan Magnusson 196870: The S-S bridges of thrombin. David Shotton RS 1970-74:
The sequence and structure of porcine elastase. Chris
Bruton RS 1966-69: Studies of E.coli Met-tRNA synthetases.
Gordon Koch: 1972-74: Repeating sequences in aminoacyl
tRNA synthetases. Brian Reid 1972-74: Crystals and X-ray
diffraction of Tyr tRNA synthetase. Peter Rigby RS 1969-72:
Experimental evolution of ribitol dehydrogenase (RDH).
Sue Taylor 1970-71; RDH purification and sequence. Dan
Burleigh 1972-74: Wild type and mutant RDH enzyme
kinetics. Mary Jane Gething 1973-74: P1CM phage transfer
of the RDH gene to E. coli. The list shows that LMB
produced not only great science, but also great scientists.
I left LMB in 1974 to set up Molecular Biology and later
Biotechnology at Imperial College.
Michael Hastings [email protected]
Neurobiology 2001-Current (Group Leader then Joint Head of Division)
I graduated from the University of
Liverpool (1977) with a BSc in
Marine Biology and a PhD in
Marine Ecology (1980). I studied
tidal and lunar rhythms in intertidal crustaceans. After a
PGCE in Manchester (1981) I took a post-doc with Joe
Herbert (Dept of Anatomy, Cambridge) to investigate
the role of melatonin and circadian clocks in seasonal
fertility of mammals. I was appointed to a Junior
Lectureship in Anatomy in 1984, a Lectureship in 1988
and Fellow & College Lecturer at Queens’ College
(1987-1990). My interests moved towards the neurobiology of entrainment of the supra-chiasmatic nucleus,
the brain’s principal circadian clock. I was appointed
Reader in Neuroscience in 1998.
In 2001 I became a Programme Leader in Circadian
Neurobiology at the LMB. This enabled me to develop a
molecular genetic approach to the problems of circadian
neurobiology. In 2008 I was elected to Fellowship of the
Academy of Medical Sciences and President of the
Society for Research on Biological Rhythms. In 2010 I was
elected to Fellowship of the Royal Society. In October
2013 I was appointed Joint Head of the Division of
Neurobiology. My research remains focused on the
molecular neurobiology of circadian “body clocks”.
This internal timing system is most obvious to us in the
normal control of sleep and wakefulness, but it also
regulates most aspects of physiology and behaviour and
vital metabolic functions.
Robert Hawkins [email protected]
PNAC 1979-1981 (Summer Student), PNAC 1989-1992 (PhD Student),
Other 1992-1996 (Senior Clinical Research Fellow)
As a summer student during my
pre-clinical studies in 1979 I was
able to work with David Secher /
Cesar Milstein so beginning my interest in antibodies and
immunology. After clinical training and specializing in
medical oncology I returned to the LMB in 1989 as a
PhD student in Greg Winter’s group at a very exciting
time in antibody engineering. Continuing as a post-doc,
I worked with Greg Winter and Stephen Russell
combining antibody engineering and gene therapy with
the aim of developing novel therapeutics. I subsequently
moved to the University of Manchester / Christie Hospital
in 1998 to direct a clinical department and set about
delivering clinical trials exploiting this and other
immuno-therapeutic approaches to the treatment of
cancer. Focusing on the development of engineered
T-cells we collaborate widely with other European and
International groups. After many scientific and clinical
challenges the approach is producing exciting clinical
results in cancer patients. The continuing advances in
molecular biology and immunology mean there are
many exciting approaches to improving clinical results,
which we continue to develop through the University
and a spinout company.
Ramanujan Hegde [email protected]
I completed my graduate and
medical training at UCSF before
starting my group at the US
National Institutes of Health. After
eleven happy years at the NIH, I first visited the LMB in
the summer of 2010 for an “informal seminar” and
immediately loved this place! My lab moved to LMB a
year later and we’ve never looked back. Our research
centers around the process of secretory and membrane
protein biosynthesis. We are especially interested in how
integral membrane proteins are properly targeted,
inserted, and assembled into functional products, how
the cell deals with inevitable mistakes during protein
biogenesis, and the implications of these pathways for
diseases of protein misfolding. We apply a range of
approaches from in vitro reconstitution, structural
analysis, and physiologic studies in cells to investigate
different aspects of these problems. The rich,
mechanistically-oriented environment at LMB provides
an ideal setting for our research and we look forward to
many years of productive interactions with our
colleagues.
Richard Henderson [email protected]
Structural Studies 1966-Current (PhD Student then Group Leader then Head of Division
then Director)
I was a Ph.D. student at LMB from
1966-70 working on chymotrypsin
with David Blow and Tom Steitz.
I then spent 3 years at Yale trying to work on voltagegated sodium channels and beginning the work on
bacteriorhodopsin (in the labs of Tom Steitz and Don
Engelman) that became my main research interest for
many years. Since 1973, I have been back at LMB,
working on bacteriorhodopsin and other membrane
proteins. During this time, I became more and more
deeply involved with electron microscopy, initially in
collaboration with Nigel Unwin and then extending this
early work to help develop improved methods for
electron cryomicroscopy (cryoEM) of two-dimensional
crystals and most recently single particle cryoEM. Our
group has started to be interested in voltage-gated
sodium channels again as well as other suitable
specimens, using single particle cryoEM methods to
obtain structure without the need for crystals. The
recent developments of better detectors, better
microscopes and better computer programs has made
us all very optimistic about what can be achieved
during the next few years.
Winship Herr [email protected]
I spent 6 months of 1982 in Fred
Sanger’s lab - as there was no space
for me, I had my solutions on a
trolley and would go from bench to
bench as they became available owing to vacations,
etc.; Greg Winter was a gracious host for a good bit of
the time. I had just finished my doctoral studies with
Walter Gilbert at Harvard University. I came for a
“vacation” postdoc to test an idea for in vitro mutagenesis using Sanger sequencing strategies before
moving on to Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) for
my “real” postdoc. The idea never worked but at the end
of my stay I managed to sequence 5 kb of the AKV
retrovirus in three weeks - I think possibly an individual
record at that time. My postdoc at CSHL stretched out
to 22 years - I was appointed to the CSHL staff in 1984
and remained until 2005, when I moved to the
University of Lausanne in Switzerland. At CSHL,
I spearheaded the establishment of the Watson School
of Biological Sciences, for which I was its founding dean
from 1998–2004. Currently, in addition to being
professor, I direct the University of Lausanne Bachelor
and Master biology programmes. My research focuses
on the regulation of human gene expression for the
control of cell proliferation and differentiation; it is
described at http://www.unil.ch/cig/page8702.html
Matt Higgins [email protected]
Neurobiology 1997-2001 (PhD Student, Postdoc), Structural Studies 2002-2005
I was a Ph.D. student at the LMB
from 1997-2001 with Nigel Unwin
and then returned for a postdoc
with Gebhard Schertler from
2002-2005. In 2006, I moved to the Biochemistry
Department in Cambridge, where a Royal Society URF
allowed me to start my own group to study the
structural basis for host-parasite interactions.
At the start of 2010 I moved to a lectureship at the
Department of Biochemistry in Oxford where I continue
to investigate how parasite surface proteins interact
with host molecules, as well as teaching some very
smart students. In 2014 I was awarded an Investigator
Award by the Wellcome Trust to fund our malaria
surface protein studies. http://www.bioch.ox.ac.uk/
aspsite/index.asp?pageid=808
David Hirsh [email protected]
I arrived at the LMB in September
1968 to start a postdoctoral stay
with Sydney and Francis. During
my first two years, I worked on
nonsense suppressors. I identified trp-tRNA as the UGA
suppressor. I sequenced it with Bart Barrell’s extraordinary help but the suppressor mutation was not in
the anti-codon as was anticipated. This remained an
enigma. Forty years later though, Venki Ramakrishnan
did solve it. It’s especially gratifying the solution
happened at the LMB.
I then worked with Sydney on C. elegans and continued
looking at early development after I left LMB for the
University of Colorado. Then I worked on RNA splicing
and found trans-splicing in C. elegans. After a biotech
stint in the 1980’s in a company I co-founded, I moved
to Columbia where I continued my work on C. elegans
and served a long while in the administration. I still am
at Columbia where I continue reflecting on those
glorious days at LMB and all of the wonderful people
there.
Sarah Hitchcock-DeGregori (Hitchcock) [email protected]
Memories of the three years I spent
in Structural Studies as Hugh
Huxley’s postdoc have been
heightened following his sudden
death in July, 2013. I began working with Hugh when he
was on sabbatical at Brandeis University with Andrew
Szent-Gyorgyi in 1971. He invited me to the LMB in 1973
to do three dimensional reconstructions of the regulated
actin filament, following Peter Moore, David DeRosier, Jim
Spudich and Taki Wakabayashi. I shared the lab on the
first floor with Nigel Unwin, Murray Stewart, John Murray
and the Phillips 300 electron microscope that was
frequented by Linda Amos and John Finch. Alan Weeds,
Jake Kendrick-Jones and their groups were across the hall.
I did some EM, but mostly biochemistry and protein
chemistry on muscle regulatory proteins and actin
polymerization. In 1976 I returned to a faculty position at
Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
and in 1985 moved to Rutgers University in New Jersey.
My research focus has remained actin filament regulation,
but curiosity has taken me to new areas of biochemistry,
biophysics including NMR structure determination, cell
biology, molecular evolution and fission yeast. I have no
doubt that the excitement and discussions of new
discoveries and approaches with colleagues at Coffee,
Lunch and Tea broadened my thinking and gave me the
confidence to try new things, to keep “old” proteins
fascinating.
Jonathan Hodgkin [email protected]
Cell Biology 1971-1974 (PhD Student), Cell Biology 1976-2000 (Group Leader)
I was a PhD student at LMB from
1971 – 1974, working on the
genetics and neurobiology of
C. elegans under the supervision of
Sydney Brenner. I then spent two years at Stanford as a
postdoc in the laboratory of Dale Kaiser, studying
gliding motility in Myxobacteria. On returning to the
UK, I became a staff scientist at LMB, where I remained
for most of the next 23 years, pursuing research on
developmental genetics and the molecular basis of sex
determination in C. elegans. In the year 2000, I moved
to the University of Oxford as Professor of Genetics in
the Department of Biochemistry, and since then have
mainly been investigating nematode-bacterial
interactions and innate immunity.
Philipp Holliger [email protected]
PNAC 2000 -Current (Group Leader)
I came to the LMB in 2000 as
tenure track after having
previously been a PhD student and
then postdoc with Greg Winter at
the Centre for Protein Engineering. The work of my
group is focused on the chemical logic and the origins
of the genetic apparatus shared by all life on earth.
Our work has shown that the fundamental functions of
DNA and RNA in biology, that is the capacity for genetic
information storage, propagation and evolution, is
shared by a range of alternative nucleic acid scaffolds
(XNAs) not found in nature. We are also interested in
RNA self-replication and the role that structured media
such as water ice may have played in its emergence, a
process closely connected to the origin of life itself.
Kenneth Holmes [email protected]
Structural Studies 1962-1968 (Staff Member)
Ken Holmes obtained his B.A. at St.
Johns College, Cambridge in 1955.
He obtained his Ph.D. in 1959 at
Birkbeck College London working on
the structure of tobacco mosaic virus with Rosalind
Franklin. Tragically, Franklin died during this period and the
work was completed with Aaron Klug. After a post-doc
(1960-61) at Childrens’ Hospital Boston, with Don Caspar, he
returned to the Laboratory of Molecular Biology in
Cambridge. Here he developed methods and X-ray sources
and optics for the analysis of structures by X-ray fibre
diffraction. He worked with Aaron Klug on the structure of
tobacco mosaic virus and with Hugh Huxley and J.D. Pringle
(Oxford) on muscle. He demonstrated that the myosin
cross-bridge could take on two conformations. In 1968 he
moved to Heidelberg to open the Department of
Biophysics at the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research
where he remained as director until his retirement in 2003.
During this time he solved the structures of a number of
protein molecules by protein crystallography including the
structure of actin. He solved the structure of the actin
filament using X-ray fiber diffraction data in combination
with crystal data. Since then he has worked on the
molecular mechanism of muscle contraction. In 1970 he
pioneered the use of synchrotron radiation as a source for
X-ray diffraction and founded the EMBL outstation at DESY
Hamburg. http://homes.mpimf-heidelberg.mpg.
de/~holmes/
Lucy Holt [email protected]
1997-2001 working on direct
screening for antibody antigen
interactions with Ian Tomlinson.
I then joined the fledgling biotech company, Domantis
that Ian founded jointly with Greg Winter. Since that
time, I have worked as a scientist first in Domantis and
from 2007 (when Domantis was acquired by
GlaxoSmithKline) as a GSK employee. I have contributed
to developing many of the core Domantis technologies
(domain antibodies, AlbudAbs, dual targeting
antibodies) with the main focus of my own work being
AlbudAbs. These are albumin-binding domain
antibodies that can be coupled to a drug or bioactive
molecule of choice to increase half life and alter the
efficacy/tolerability profile. One of the AlbudAb
molecules for which I contributed significant early work
(a GLP-1 analogue) has subsequently been the subject
of a phase I trial for type II diabetes. Over time my role
has evolved starting from a lab-based position and
moving to a role as a lead biologist or scientist on
preclinical drug discovery programs. Currently I lead a
group of biologists within a unit dedicated to
innovation in biopharmaceuticals. I also head up a team
focussed on building interactions with external
collaborators, mainly from academia.
Matthew Holt [email protected]
I was a student at LMB in the
Lagnado group from 1998-2002,
working on the physiology of
synaptic vesicle recycling in
neurons, through the application of advanced microscopy methods. This was followed by post-doctoral
training in biochemistry, at the Max Planck Institute for
Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen, Germany, where
I spent many happy years working with the groups of
Reinhard Jahn and Erwin Neher trying to understand
how the molecular content of synaptic vesicles affects
their recruitment to the plasma membrane and ultimate
exocytosis. In 2012, I decided to leave neurons behind
and tackle a new problem.
For the past few years, I have concentrated on the role of
astrocytes in the CNS. Astrocytes are a particularly
mysterious cell; although they are known to be essential
for CNS formation and function, the exact molecular
mechanisms underlying these roles are still largely
unknown. My research is focussed on the mechanisms
underlying astrocyte polarization in relation to blood
brain barrier formation and maintenance, which is
especially important in the context of neurodegenerative
disease and delivery of therapeutics to the CNS. This work
is being conducted at the VIB Center for the Biology of
Disease in Leuven, Belgium, where I now head the
Laboratory of Glia Biology http://www.vib.be/en/
research/scientists/pages/matthew-holt-lab.aspx
Martin Hooper [email protected]
Cell Biology 1968-1971 (PhD)
My PhD in John Smith’s lab involved
a structure-function analysis of
E. coli mutant amber suppressor
tRNAs. For my postdoctoral
research I wanted a eukaryotic system to which I could
apply a similar biochemical genetic approach and chose
to work on mouse teratocarcinomas with Boris Ephrussi
in Gif-sur-Yvette, France. This led directly to the work
I pursued for the rest of my career, first in Glasgow in the
Cancer Research Campaign Somatic Cell Genetics Group,
and then between 1980 and 2007 at the University of
Edinburgh. My colleagues and I initially continued with
embryonal carcinoma cells derived from teratocarcinomas and subsequently moved to work on their
normal embryo-derived counterparts, embryonic stem
(ES) cells. We were involved in developing the
technology of using gene targeting in ES cells to modify
genes in the mouse germline, and applied it to elucidate
the functioning of a number of cancer-related genes.
I retired in 2007 and the University of Edinburgh granted
me the status of Professor Emeritus in 2008.
Stefan Hoppler [email protected]
Cell Biology 1992-1994 (PhD Student then Postdoc)
After completing a PhD (’92-’93)
and a short postdoc (’94) with
Marian Bienz in the Cell Biology
Division, Stefan Hoppler undertook
postdoctoral training at the University of Washington in
Seattle with Randall Moon before returning to Cambridge
for another short postdoc to the then Wellcome/CRC
Institute. Stefan then established his own research group
in Scotland in 1997. He continues to study Wnt signalling
mechanisms and biological function in early embryonic
and heart development with support from the BBSRC,
the Wellcome Trust and the British Heart Foundation.
Peter Howe [email protected]
Structural Studies 1992-1995 (PhD)
After my PhD studying the
structure of the U1A protein:RNA
complex with David Neuhaus,
Kiyoshi Nagai and Gabriele Varani,
I held two postdoctoral positions at Leicester University
with Professor Gordon Roberts and Copenhagen
University with Professor Jens Led. Since 1998, I have
worked at Syngenta’s Jealott’s Hill Research Centre using
NMR spectroscopy to support the discovery and
registration of new crop protection products.
Rob Howes [email protected]
I was Matt Freeman’s first PhD
student and I spent a very
enjoyable 4 years completing my
PhD. After the LMB I spent 2 years
in the USA as a postdoc in the lab of Roel Nusse at
Stanford University under a Wellcome Trust travelling
research fellowship. I returned to the UK and spent a
further 2 years as a postdoc in Sarah Bray’s lab in
Cambridge. I then switched gears and in 2001 moved to
a Cambridge biotech company called RiboTargets
joining their Oncology team. I spent several years there
running their Screening group during which the
company enjoyed a very exciting existence as British
Biotech and finally Vernalis. I left in 2008 to establish
Horizon Discovery in Cambridge where I was their early
stage Research Director and latterly ran their Centres of
Excellence program. In late 2013 I joined MedImmune
as the Associate Director in charge of their High
Throughput Screening group.
Ru-Chih Huang [email protected]
PNAC 1972 (Sabbatical Visitor)
P.C.Huang came to LMB in 1969 as
a special fellow of EMBO Winter
Course on Nucleic Acid Sequence
Analysis, under the mentorship of
Fred Sanger. Bart Barrett was in charge of the laboratory
sessions. It was an intellectually and experimentally rich
experience. P.C. and Ru-Chih joined LMB in 1972 as
visiting scholars in Sanger’s lab, spending their
sabbatical leave year from the Johns Hopkins University.
P.C. was then Associate Professor in Biochemistry and
Molecular Biology, and Ru-Chih Associate Professor in
Biology, both at JHU. Along with them at Cambridge
were Suber (son) and Suzanne (daughter). At LMB, P.C.
worked on RNA maturation and modification, and
Ru-Chih on chromatin structure and function. The
Huangs remain active today as professors on Hopkins
faculty, contributing to teaching and research in the
areas of biochemistry, biophysics and molecular biology.
P.C. Huang [email protected]
PNAC 1972 (Sabbatical Visitor)
P.C.Huang came to LMB in 1969 as
a special fellow of EMBO Winter
Course on Nucleic Acid Sequence
Analysis, under the mentorship of
Fred Sanger. Bart Barrett was in charge of the laboratory
sessions. It was an intellectually and experimentally rich
experience. P.C. and Ru-Chih joined LMB in 1972 as
visiting scholars in Sanger’s lab, spending their
sabbatical leave year from the Johns Hopkins University.
P.C. was then Associate Professor in Biochemistry and
Molecular Biology, and Ru-Chih Associate Professor in
Biology, both at JHU. Along with them at Cambridge
were Suber (son) and Suzanne (daughter). At LMB, P.C.
worked on RNA maturation and modification, and
Ru-Chih on chromatin structure and function. The
Huangs remain active today as professors on Hopkins
faculty, contributing to teaching and research in the
areas of biochemistry, biophysics and molecular biology.
Peter Hudson [email protected]
PNAC 1975-1979 (PhD Student), PNAC 1991-1991 (Visiting Fellow)
Peter is currently Director of the
Victorian Cancer Biologics consortium
for development of antibody
therapies and CSO of AviPep Pty Ltd.
Peter is also Co-chair of HUPO-HAI (the Human Proteomics
Antibody Initiative). Peter was awarded a PhD at LMB for the
primary sequence analysis and X-ray structural elucidation
of the allosteric enzyme phosphofructokinase (Phil Evans
supervisor, 1975-1979). Peter then used genetic engineering
to clone the relaxin gene family at the Howard Florey
Institute 1980-1984, wrote the first genetic engineering
patents in Australia, and joined CSIRO to clone many other
mammalian genes in the 1980’s. Peter then focussed on
antibody-based therapeutics at CSIRO from 1990, which
included several collaborative visits with Greg Winter. Peter
has translated his basic discoveries in improved antibody
design into effective tumour targeting therapeutics and has
initiated a clinical trial for prostate and ovarian cancer. He
was the founder and Chief Scientific advisor of the CSIRO
spin-outs Evogenix Pty Ltd and Avipep Pty Ltd. Peter was
formerly Deputy CEO and Scientific Director of the CRC for
Diagnostics (1995-2007) and a CSIRO Program and Theme
Leader (1990-2008). He was also Chair of commercialisation
for the AIBL Alzheimer’s Disease cluster and the CRC for
Mental Health (2009-2012). Peter was appointed the
inaugural Adjunct Professor (Department of Biochemistry,
La Trobe University) and was elected to the ATSE Academy in
2002 and has over 100 publications and 25 patents.
Stephen Hunt [email protected]
I was a PhD student in
Neuroscience at UCL from 19691973 and after 5 years as a postdoc
in Zurich, Switzerland and SUNY,
New York, USA moved to Cambridge to join the MRC
Neurochemical Pharmacology Unit directed by Leslie
Iversen. The Unit passed through several transitions
before being incorporated into LMB as the
Neurobiology Division. My research interests are broad
but essentially I have always been fascinated by the
contribution of particular genes to behavior. Bill Wisden,
Rick Livesey and Carmen de Felipe were members of my
lab and contributed hugely to its success. Using
molecular, imaging and behavioural techniques we
have explored the relationship of various genes to
diseases that give rise to chronic pain states, ADHD and
degeneration of the nervous system. I moved to UCL
Department of Cell and Developmental Biology in 1998
where I continue with this research.
Clyde Hutchison [email protected]
PNAC 1975-1976 (Sabbatical Visitor), PNAC 1987-1988
I spent a sabbatical year in Fred
Sanger’s lab (75-76) helping to
sequence the genome of phage
phiX174, the first DNA molecule
completely sequenced. There I met Michael Smith, also
a sabbatical visitor. Following our sabbaticals we
collaborated to develop oligonucleotide directed
site-specific mutagenesis. I returned to the LMB for a
second sabbatical (87-88) in Bart Barrell’s lab to
participate in sequencing the human cytomegalovirus
genome. I was a Yale graduate (1960), and there was
introduced to biological research by Carl Woese (a
Postdoc of Harold Morowitz). I next moved to Caltech,
where I did PhD thesis work concerning the genetics of
phage phiX174 with Robert Sinsheimer.
In 1968 I move to The University of North Carolina in
Chapel Hill, where I remained on the faculty until 2005.
During most of this time I worked closely with Marshall
Edgell, first on phiX174, then on beta-globin genes in
the mouse, and on the major mammalian retrotransposable element L1. In 1990 I began to study
mycoplasmas, because their very small genomes made
them attractive candidates for sequencing. This led to a
collaboration with Craig Venter and Ham Smith to
sequence the genome of Mycoplasma genitalium, and
to a quest for the “minimal cell” that is still ongoing. In
2005 I joined the J. Craig Venter Institute, where I am a
member of Ham Smith’s Synthetic Biology Group (JCVI
La Jolla campus).
Tony Hyman [email protected]
As a graduate student at the LMB,
I worked under the supervision of
Dr. John White and wrote my PhD
thesis about “The establishment of
division axes in early C. elegans embryos.” After that,
I moved to San Francisco where I did my postdoctoral
research in the lab of Dr. Tim Mitchison at the University
of California, San Francisco, investigating the mechanism
of chromosome movement studied in vitro. In 1993, I
became Group Leader at the European Molecular Biology
Laboratory in Heidelberg. In 1999, I moved to Dresden,
Germany as one of the founding directors of the Max
Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics,
where I remain today. My group focuses on the
molecular and biophysical basis of cytoplasmic
organization; understanding how cells form nonmembrane bound compartments; mitotic spindle
assembly and function, focusing on centrosomes;
distribution of force-generating mechanisms necessary
for the first asymmetric division; and establishment of
cortical polarity. We primarily work in C. elegans embryos,
but also study aspects of these problems in human cells
using the emerging techniques of BAC transgenesis.
hymanlab.mpi-cbg.de
Philip Ingham [email protected]
Cell Biology 1986-1986 (Group Leader)
I first visited the LMB in the late
1970s – I was a graduate student at
the University of Sussex, where
I had discovered the Drosophila
trithorax mutant and I came up to Cambridge on several
occasions to discuss my findings and seek inspiration
from Peter Lawrence and Gary Struhl. After post-docs in
Strasbourg and the ICRF in Mill Hill, I joined the LMB as a
Research Scientist in 1986. My stay was rather short – less
than one year – as I was lured back to the ICRF (where
I remained for the next ten years) with promises of
microscopes and students! But those few months at the
LMB were probably the most stimulating and productive
of my career, resulting in three papers in Cell, Nature and
Development that set the scene for much of my
subsequent research. It was at the LMB that together
with Alfonso Martinez-Arias, I performed the first
molecular analyses of the Drosophila segment polarity
mutants, studies that led ultimately to the elucidation of
the Hedgehog signaling pathway, a pathway that
remains a major focus of my research to this day.
I now divide my time between my own research and my
duties as vice Dean for Research at the Lee Kong Chian
School of Medicine, a partnership between Imperial
College, London and Nanyang Technological University,
Singapore.
Mike Irwin [email protected]
1973-1976 working with David
Blow analysing the 3-D crystal
structure of a tRNA synthetase
protein. After finishing my PhD I decided to sample a few
other research career paths before finally ending up back
in Cambridge in 1980 where I started a research career in
astrophysics at the Institute of Astronomy. I am currently
Director of the Cambridge Astronomical Survey Unit, an
autonomous research group based at the Institute of
Astronomy that specialises in optimising the statistical
analysis and processing of data from large area sky surveys.
David Ish-Horowicz [email protected]
I was a research student with Brian
Clark working on tRNA structure,
after which I did postdoctoral work
on Drosophila molecular genetics
with Walter Gehring in Basel, Switzerland. I subsequently
established my own lab at the ICRF (now Cancer Research
UK), initially in their Mill Hill Labs, then at the Developmental Biology Unit in Oxford and, finally, at their main
London laboratory at Lincoln’s Inn Fields. I am currently
based jointly at University College London and Oxford
University. My particular research interests lie in
understanding molecular and genetic mechanisms that
establish, maintain and elaborate spatial organisation in
developing embryos. I have worked with both
Drosophila and vertebrate systems to study a variety of
pathways that direct embryonic patterning. Studies of
embryonic segmentation (the establishment of reiterated
pattern) and the generation of cell-type diversity have led
me to work on a diverse set of regulatory mechanisms,
including transcriptional repression, RNA transport by
molecular motors, Notch signalling and cyclic gene
expression.
Robert Jack [email protected]
PNAC 1970-1973 (PhD Student), 1982-86 (Visitor)
I finished my Ph.D. sequencing
yeast aldolase in Ieuan Harris’s
group in 1972 and then moved to
Klaus Rajewsky’s lab in Cologne to
learn about immunology and work on the development
of lymphoid cells in the mouse teraratoma. After that
I moved to Walter Gehring’s group in the Biozentrum in
Basel where I worked on sequence specific DNA binding
proteins - work which I continued when I returned to
the LMB and in a subsequent spell in the Genetics
Institute in Cologne. In Cologne I had a chance to learn
mouse knock out technology and from then on used
this approach in the Immunology Institute in Greifswald
to ask questions about the functioning of the innate
immune system.
Bent Jakobsen [email protected]
Dr Jakobsen is Chief Scientific
Officer of Immunocore Limited.
Bent founded Avidex Ltd. in 1999
and became Chief Scientific Officer
and Executive Board member in July 2000. Bent founded
Avidex whilst he was at the Institute of Molecular
Medicine (IMM) in Oxford, where he was head of the
Immune Receptor Group from 1993 to July 2000.
This group is recognised as one of the leading
international laboratories in molecular immunology and
is a world leader in recombinant immune receptor
technology. Prior to this, he was a Senior Research Fellow
of the Danish Natural Research Council, Aarhus, Denmark.
This followed three years as a Post-doctoral researcher at
the Laboratory of Molecular Biology of the Medical
Research Council in Cambridge. In 2006, Avidex was
acquired by MediGene AG, but in 2008 Immunocore Ltd.
was spun out to focus entirely on the T cell receptor (TCR)
technology originating from Avidex’ research. As CSO,
Bent is responsible for all Research at Immunocore Ltd.
Bent is also CSO of Adaptimmune Limited, Immunocore’s
sister company focused on adoptive T cell therapy.
Leo James [email protected]
Structural Studies 1996-2000 (PhD), PNAC 2003-2006 (Postdoc), PNAC 2007-Current (Group Leader)
I studied for a PhD in the Structural
Studies Division between 19962000, determining the structure of
the therapeutic antibody ‘CAMPATH’
with Anne Bloomer. In 2000-2003, I worked with Dan
Tawfik in the CPE where we demonstrated that antibodies expand their antigen specificity by isomerising
between multiple binding site conformations. In 2003
I joined Greg Winter and the Protein and Nucleic Acid
Division, where I worked on molecular mechanisms of
antibody pathogenicity. In 2007 I established an
independent group at the LMB to study intracellular
immunity. In 2010 my group discovered that humoral
immunity, which for over 100 years was thought to
provide only extracellular protection, mediates both
signalling and effector responses inside cells and
prevents fatal viral infection.
Marie Janson [email protected]
I came to Cambridge from Sweden
in 1989 to carry out part of my PhD
work in the Molecular Genetics
Unit, using PFGE for physical
mapping of the region for the MEN1 gene. I went back
to Sweden to graduate with an MD and PhD, and then
moved to Britain permanently.
I have worked in business consultancy and the not-forprofit sector since then. In recent years I have focused
on raising millions for medical research into dementia
through in my role as Development Director at
Alzheimer’s Research UK. I have just returned to the
Addenbrooke’s campus, having joined Addenbrooke’s
Charitable Trust as Head of Trusts and Major Gifts.
John Jarvis [email protected]
PNAC 1963-2002 (Research Assistant)
After finishing full time education
at the Cambridge Grammar school
I obtained a laboratory assistant
post at the Cambridge University
Department of Biochemistry where I worked until 1963
(the grant was withdrawn). Cesar Milstein was doing his
PhD at this time in the same department. Whilst I was in
the biochemistry department Fred Sanger had a group
whose members were later to become part of the first
PNAC division at LMB. Having known these people
I was able to obtain a research assistant position working
as personal technical assistant to Dr Cesar Milstein with
whom I remained until his death in 2002. During this
time I assisted with research into immunoglobulin
structure involving protein and DNA sequencing and
studies on antibody diversity and monoclonal antibody
production. Cesar was awarded,with Georges Kohler,
a Nobel prize for this monoclonal work. I retired as a
senior scientific officer from the LMB in Dec 2002 and
recently moved from Cambridge to live in East Sussex.
Gregory Jefferis [email protected]
Neurobiology 2008-Current (Group Leader), Cell Biology 1996 (Summer Student)
I first came to LMB as a summer
student between my first and second
years as Natural Sciences undergraduate. I joined the worm group,
working with Patty Kuwabara on patched family proteins
and often came back during the remainder of my degree.
I returned to LMB in 2008 as a group leader in the
Neurobiology division. We are interested in the neural
circuit basis of behaviour, using Drosophila as a model
system. We presently focus on odour processing relevant to
innate behaviour. For example, we have recently described,
for the first time in any animal, a sexually dimorphic
circuit switch in the brain. This reroutes sex pheromone
information to different target neurons in male and
females brains, likely explaining the differential response
of the sexes to the same pheromone.
Claire Johnson [email protected]
I was a PhD student at LMB
between 1993 and 1997 in the
Neurobiology department,
supervised by Hilmar Bading.
I researched calcium signalling pathways and the
control of transcription in neuronal cells. I spent
12 years working in drug discovery for Pfizer at their
Sandwich research labs on a wide range of projects
including wound healing, obesity and pain.
In 2010 I returned to Cambridge and joined EMBLEuropean Bioinformatics Institute.
Since joining EMBL I have been project manager for EBI’s
contribution to EMTRAIN (the European Medicines
Research Training Network, www.emtrain.eu), including
developing the on-course® catalogue (a comprehensive
database of postgraduate courses in biomedical
research: www.on-course.eu). My responsibilities
comprise developing a common framework for
continuing professional development in biomedical
research, quality metrics for training, and making it
easier for course providers to find information on
training methodologies and tools.
Alison Jones [email protected]
Neurobiology 1993-2003 (Research Support)
After graduating from Imperial
College in 1977, I moved to
Cambridge to work in Peter
Lachmann’s MRC MITI Unit.
I then left research for a number of years during which
I studied ‘German as a foreign Language’ at the
University of Heidelberg, raised children and taught
A level Chemistry.
I returned to research in 1989 to work in the MRC MIP
Unit. Four years later I moved to the LMB Neurobiology
Unit, where I stayed until 2003, working firstly with Bill
Wisden and then with Bal Khakh. I then made a second
attempt to leave research and studied Optometry but
returned to work at the Garvin Institute in Sydney and
finally the Hutchison/MRC Research Centre with Anna
Philpott.
Peter T. Jones [email protected]
PNAC 1973-1974 (JTO), PNAC 1984-2011 (Scientist)
After graduating in 1973, I joined
LMB PNAC division, working in
Brian Hartley’s lab. The following
year I moved with Brian to Imperial
College, where I stayed for a number of years. I then
moved to the Cambridge University Biochemistry
Department, where I worked with Jean Thomas for a year
before before going to EMBL, Heidelberg for 4 years.
I returned to PNAC in the spring of 1984 to work with
Greg Winter, where I remained until my retirement in
2011. During my time at the MRC I worked in the field of
antibody engineering including humanising, expression
of antibody fragments and library display. During my
time at the LMB I collaborated with others in the
division to solve protein structures by X-ray
crystallography and by NMR.
Peter Jones [email protected]
After completing my PhD I did a
post doc in the Dept of Pathology,
Cambridge, continuing working
with YAC’s but academic life was
not for me so decided to get into commercial biotech
and so helped found one company and then took
another one from the spare bedroom to trade sale in
5 years, automation was a large feature of CMT as well
as reagents and a genomics service. That gave me
exposure to the pros and cons of venture capital, IP,
management and industrial research and spend a few
years working for a German biotech as CBO, and a few
enjoyable years working for OGT in licensing their array
IP. Since then I have remained in commercial biotech,
mostly as a consultant including a couple of Time Team
appearances, profiling roman skeletons and helping to
found Inforce a charity dealing with mass atrocities.
Currently I am working with a few small Biotech’s as well
as the Australian Dept of Defense and the MOD to
identify 250 WW1 solders killed at the battle of
Fromelles, which is a fabulous combination of science,
families and a humanitarian cause.
Luca Jovine [email protected]
Structural Studies 1994-1998 (Ph.D. Student), Structural Studies 1999-2000 (Postdoc)
I had the privilege of being a Ph.D.
student at the LMB between 1994
and 1998, when I worked on signal
recognition particle in the group of
Kiyoshi Nagai. After finishing to determine the structure
of SRP RNA domain IV while in the lab of Titia Sixma at
the NKI in Amsterdam, I went back to the LMB to finalize
the work at the end of 1999. During the same period,
together with Daniela Rhodes I re-determined the
classic structure of yeast Phe-tRNA at 2.0 Å resolution,
using synchrotron radiation and 15-year old crystals.
In 2000 I moved to the laboratory of Paul Wassarman at
Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, where
I completely changed subject by working on
biochemical and cell biological aspects of mammalian
fertilization - a topic that deeply fascinated me since my
university studies in Milano. I came back to Europe in
2005, to open my own laboratory at Karolinska Institutet
in Stockholm. Here I combined my experiences in
structural and cell biology to start a long-term
investigation of the molecular basis of egg-sperm
interaction. After solving the structure of sperm
receptor ZP3, my group is now focusing on a number of
macromolecular complexes whose formation is
essential for gamete recognition at the beginning of a
new life. http://jovinelab.org.
Marinos Kallikourdis [email protected]
PNAC 1999 (Undergraduate), PNAC 2000-2007 (PhD and Postdoc)
I was an undergraduate in Trinity
College, Cambridge studying Physics,
when having Michael Neuberger as a
supervisor drew me to Biochemistry
and a 6-month project in his group in the LMB. Intrigued by
immunology, I stayed on in PNAC for a PhD and a postdoc
with Alex Betz, working on immunosuppressive regulatory
T cells (Treg) and chemokines. Our work demonstrated the
requirement for Treg cells in pregnancy (as they block the
immune response of the mother against the paternal
alloantigens of the fetus) and explained how and why
autoimmune disease symptoms often disappear during
gestation. In 2007 I moved to Milan, Italy, for a postdoc with
Antonella Viola, maintaining a focus on T cells and
chemokines. Using retrogenics and 2-photon microscopy,
I uncovered a novel mechanism for some of the previously
unexplained symptoms of the rare immunodeficiency
WHIM. In the last few years I have been running my own
group in the Humanitas Institute, in Milan, and I am an
Assistant Professor of Immunology and General Pathology
in the University of Milan. My group studies how the
immune system affects the pathology of tumor,
cardiovascular disease and neurodegeneration. We seek to
understand the mechanisms underlying these interactions,
and use the findings to design and attempt proof-ofprinciple therapeutic strategies.
Roger Karlsson [email protected]
I finished my PhD in cell biology at
Stockholm University in 1984 and
entered a postdoc at LMB the year
after to work in Alan Weeds’
laboratory on E.coli expression of actin using an
expression system developed by Kiyoshi Nagai.
During the 2nd year I switched to use yeast as expression
organism and at the time of my return to Sweden and
Stockholm University in 1987 I had a functioning system
to perform structure-function of mammalian nonmuscle actin. After a period at Uppsala University
I entered a position in molecular cell biology at
Stockholm University in 1994 where I have remained
since then. My work is still related to actin and is focused
on its control in mammalian cells. Currently my lab
searches to understand why we find profilin which is a
regulator of actin polymerization to be closely associated
with microtubules.
Jonathan Karn [email protected]
Cell Biology 1976-1979 (Postdoctoral Fellowship, Helen Hay Whitney Foundation), Other
1979-1993 (Scientific Staff, Cell Biology, Directors; then Senior Scientific Staff Career
Appointment, Directors, Genome Sciences, PNAC ), Directors 1986-1991 (Established
Investigator, American Heart Association), PNAC 1994-2002 (Scientific Staff Special
Appointment, Directors, Genome Sciences)
After completing my PhD at The Rockefeller University,
I arrived at the MRC in October 1976 and soon began
working with Sydney Brenner, exploring the molecular
biology of muscle in C. elegans and developing
recombinant DNA methods. Together with John Sulston
we created a physical map of C. elegans , an early foray
into genomics. Sydney also got me involved with the
Journal of Molecular Biology and I served as the
Executive Editor from 1989 to 2011. With the
encouragement of Aaron Klug and Max Perutz I found
myself unexpectedly involved with the MRC AIDS
Directed Program starting in 1987. Our work on HIV
focused on transcriptional control mechanisms and one
of the key outcomes was the discovery that the HIV
regulatory proteins Tat and Rev are RNA binding
proteins. In 1997 I founded Ribotargets (now part of
Vernalis, PLC), a futuristic biotech company using
structure based design to develop small molecules
targeting RNA. In 2002 I returned to the US as the
Reinberger Professor of Molecular Biology and
Chairman of the Department of Molecular Biology and
Microbiology at Case Western Reserve University School
of Medicine, and Director of the Case Center for AIDS
Research (CFAR). Our studies of HIV transcription have
morphed into studies of how HIV enters and exits from
latency, an issue that is central to current efforts to
eradicate the virus and develop a functional “Cure”.
Eugene Katz [email protected]
Other 1966-1968 (PhD Student), Cell Biology 2003-2004 (Visiting Scientist)
I arrived in Cambridge in the Fall of
1966 with a US Churchill Foundation
Scholarship and the expectation of
spending one year. I had hopes of
doing research at the LMB (we just called it the MRC back
then), and I had a letter of introduction to Sydney Brenner
from one of my professors at Brown University.
I met with Sydney and he agreed to let me work with
Leslie Barnett. I hadn’t done any phage work before, so
Leslie tutored me in T4 rII genetics. The first real
experiments I did turned out amazingly well, and we
soon had strong evidence the UGA, the only undefined
triplet in the genetic code, was actually a third nonsense
codon. Sydney quickly wrote the manuscript, and he
asked me if it was OK to put Francis’ (Crick) on the paper
since some of the experiments had come out of
discussions with him. I readily agreed. At the end of my
year I asked Sydney if I could stay on as a PhD student
and he agreed. All the members of the lab were doing
phage and bacteria work except Sydney who was
already well on his way towards developing the
C. elegans system. I feel very fortunate to have been
part of the “golden age” of molecular biology, and to
have been a witness to the birth of a new one.
Robert Kay [email protected]
I first visited the LMB in 1969 as a
biochemistry undergraduate from
UCL who was in search of a PhD
position; I left impressed but
slightly baffled, after hearing about CoT curves of
nematode DNA and axonal branching. I also attended
the famous ‘LMB Summer school’ on Spetsai at the end
of my PhD (spent isolating nuclear membranes with
Irving Johnston), but did not return to the LMB itself
until 1984, when I joined Cell Biology as a staff member.
I had spent much of the intervening years at the ICRF
Mill Hill Labs where, influenced by John Cairns and
Julian Gross, I studied development and hunted
morphogens in Dictyostelium. I continued with
Dictyostelium development after I joined the LMB, but
later my interest switched to genomics, and then in a
late career flourish, to cell motility, and most recently to
macropinocytosis. It’s all been good fun.
http://www2.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk/groups/rrk/
Nicholas Keep [email protected]
Structural Studies 1988-1993 (PhD Student), Structural Studies 1996-1998 (Postdoc)
I have continued as a protein
crystallographer, rising to be
Professor of Biomolecular Science
and Executive Dean of the School
of Science at Birkbeck. While academic administration
is a large part of my career, I continue to research in
structural biology of Tuberculosis and Muscular
Dystrophy. In particular my group has made a
particular study of the structures of protein
upregulated on entry into dormancy in Tuberculosis
and the proteins that signal for the emergence from
the dormant state.
Ann Kelley [email protected]
Structural Studies 1988-2000 (Research Assistant), Cell Biology 2000-2003 (Research Assistant),
Structural Studies 2003-2013 (Research Assistant)
I arrived at the LMB in 1988 to work
with Jo Butler, initially on TMV then
on the protein/RNA interactions of
HIV Rev protein. In 2000 I moved to the Cell Biology
division to carry out a genetic screen in Drosophila
looking for new genes in the Wnt signaling pathway
with Mariann Bienz.
I returned to Structural Studies in 2003 to work with
Venki Ramakrishnan, carrying out a central role in the
group working on crystal structures of the ribosome.
As well as lots of lab work I was responsible for the
day-to-day management of the lab and organisation of
the move to the new LMB building. I am currently living
on a narrowboat travelling the waterways of Britain.
John Kendrick-Jones (Jake) [email protected]
Structural Studies 1970-2005 (Group Leader), Structural Studies 2005-Current (Emeritus Researcher)
I arrived in LMB in 1970 following a
post-doctoral fellowship working
with Andrew Szent-Gyorgyi and
Carolyn Cohen in Brandeis
University, USA, where we discovered myosin-linked
regulation of muscular contraction. Hugh Huxley
encouraged me to continue this work in LMB and we
established that in specific muscles, the light chains on
the myosin are the regulatory subunits and calcium or
phosphorylation are the regulatory signals controlling
functional activity. Switching our focus to non-muscle
cells and taking advantage of the rapidly developing
expertise within LMB in molecular cloning/DNA
sequencing, we demonstrated that all cells contain a
vast array of different myosins; for example, in humans
we now know that 40 myosins belonging to 12 distinct
classes are expressed. The long-term goal of our group
has thus been to characterise selected classes of
myosins in sufficient detail so as to understand their
precise roles in cellular trafficking pathways; specifically
how they recognise and transport cargo around the cell
and how defects in these motors cause a diverse range
of pathological processes.
Amy Kenter [email protected]
After completing my PhD at the
Albert Einstein College of
Medicine in 1982, I arrived at the
LMB as a postdoctoral fellow to
work with Cesar Milstein and Terry Rabbitts and focus
on immunoglobulin gene rearrangements, particularly
class switch recombination. This area has remained my
major research interest for many years. After leaving
the LMB I joined the faculty at the University of Illinois
College of Medicine in Chicago. Over time my interests
evolved to include the analysis of chromatin structures
required to facilitate immunoglobulin gene
recombination and protect against genome instability.
My lab investigates the three-dimensional chromatin
architecture that facilitates Ig gene rearrangement
events by examining long range chromatin looping
interactions in combination with novel computational
approaches. We have also been studying the flexible
ordering of Ig class switch recombination and V(D)J
joining gene expression programs during early B cell
ontogeny. The recognition that class switch can
precede V(D)J joining has important implications for
both adaptive humoral immunity as well as associated
pathologies.
Georgina Kerr (Mosedale) [email protected]
My first experience of the LMB was
as a summer student with Roger
Williams in 1998. This was my first
taste of lab work and I thoroughly
enjoyed it. I decided on a research career and started a
PhD with KJ Patel in 1999. KJ was great fun to work with
and I’m really proud of how successful he has become.
I left KJ’s lab after completing a short post-doc with him
and joined Ian Hickson’s lab in Oxford, and subsequently
Alex Bullock’s group (another LMB alumnus), where I am
currently working on the genetic bone disorder
Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva. I still really enjoy
academic research and contributing to our
understanding of the basis of human genetic diseases.
The LMB was a hugely inspirational and challenging
place to work and I always look on my time there very
fondly. I was involved in really interesting research,
learnt lifelong skills that have served me well, made
some fantastic friends and met my husband Martin over
a cheesy scone!
Martin Kerr [email protected]
I moved to the LMB to join
Matthew Freeman’s lab in January
2003 for my first postdoc, having
completed my PhD in my hometown, Glasgow. I worked with Matthew until December
2006, studying Drosophila EGFR signalling. I moved to
the University of Oxford in 2007 and switched fields to
cancer research, and I have been in Oxford ever since
leaving Cambridge.
My research interests now lie in radiation biology and
radiosensitising drugs for the treatment of bladder
cancer. I met some very dear friends and many
amazing scientists during my time at the LMB, with the
canteen always at the hub of interaction. In fact, it was
the LMB canteen where I met my wife, Georgina (née
Mosedale) so needless to say, I hold my time spent at
the LMB very close to my heart.
Alex Knight [email protected]
I did my PhD research at LMB with
John Kendrick-Jones, in Structural
Studies, from 1990-94. The aim of
my research was to understand the
diversity and functions of the myosin motor protein
family. The main approach was to identify, clone and
sequence new myosins, and to infer something about
their structure and functions from sequence analysis and
antibody localisation. In my post-doctoral work (first at
the Whitehead Institute with Paul Matsudaira and then
at York with Justin Molloy) I continued to study motor
proteins but changed tack and used single-molecule
biophysical approaches to investigate their mechanism,
including building and applying optical tweezers and
single molecule fluorescence imaging set-ups.
In 2002 I moved to the National Physical Laboratory as a
founding member of the new Biotechnology group.
Recent work has been focussed on super-resolution
microscopy, developing our own instruments and
software for localisation microscopy (dSTORM) and
structured illumination microscopy (SIM). We have
worked on approaches to minimise artefacts and ensure
data analysis and interpretation are robust, and with
collaborators, applied these methods to a range of
challenging questions in the life sciences. We continue
to work on improving these methods and are always
looking for new applications.
http://www.npl.co.uk/people/alex-knight.
Yuji Kohara [email protected]
Directors 1988-1990 (Visitor)
I came to the LMB as a visiting
scientist hosted by John Sulston.
At the LMB I joined the C. elegans
genome mapping project led by
John; it was really fun that my experience on physical
mapping of the E. coli genome in Japan contributed to it.
I also learned about the worm very much and have
carried out the worm cDNA project after coming back to
the National Institute of Genetic (NIG), Japan in 1990.
Our gene expression data throughout developmental
stages have been integrated in the database NEXTDB ,
based on which a lot of collaboration have been carried
out. Additionally, I have been running a DNA sequencing
facility and have contributed to genome sequencing of
various organisms, red algae, ciona, medaka fish,
Coelacanth and so on. Although I had to spend a lot of
time to administrative work since I served as the DirectorGeneral of the NIG for 8 years (2004-2012), now I am
happy to return to full work at my lab and our current
focus is a genome analysis of a parthenogenetic
nematode as well as mRNA localization mechanisms in
early C. elegans embryo.
Aleksandra (Ola) Kołodziejczyk [email protected]
I was at LMB twice, first in 2008 as a
summer student in the lab of Alan
Fersht, where Dmitry Veprintsev
supervised me. Then I rejoined LMB in autumn 2012 for
my PhD in the lab of Sarah Teichmann.
David Komander [email protected]
I came to LMB in 2008 after a PhD in
Dundee with Dario Alessi and a
postdoc at ICR London with David
Barford, and am a group leader in
PNAC. I will never forget the phone call by Michael
Neuberger the day after my interview: We all liked you
very much, when do you want to start? I started a
month later. In David Barford’s lab I had become
interested in protein ubiquitination, and at LMB I
proposed to start working on ‘atypical’ ubiquitin chains,
which are abundant posttranslational modifications of
proteins but remain poorly understood.
Our work has provided much needed tools to study these
chains themselves, and has revealed surprising linkagespecificity in ubiquitin chain assembly enzymes (E2 and
E3 enzymes) and ubiquitin chain cleaving
deubiquitinases, as well as ubiquitin binding proteins.
Structural analysis of linkage-specific proteins has
revealed several novel mechanisms and concepts of
specificity in the ubiquitin system. We are now trying to
understand the biology that is regulated by atypical
ubiquitination, and are in the process of establishing
CRISPR technology and mouse models to address our
questions.
Paul Kong [email protected]
I had been a lab member from 1987
till 1992 working with the late Dan
Brown. I was involved in the
synthesis of degenerate/universal
bases and their incorporation in oligonucleotides.
Those modified bases/oligonucleotides could be used
in DNA sequencing and in PCR for mutagenesis and
protein evolution. After leaving LMB in 1992, I secured
an academic position at the Robert Gordon University,
School of Pharmacy and Life Sciences, Aberdeen,
Scotland. I have not moved since then. I currently hold
the position of Professor of Medicinal Chemistry and
Pharmaceutical Teaching Group Leader within the
school. I am a fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry
and the Higher Education Academy. For a number of
years I have contributed to the delivery and
management of many undergraduate and post graduate
courses. My current research interests include the
following: (i) Targeting Histone Deacetylase Enzymes
with novel compounds in cancer cell lines (ii) Regulation
of apoptosis and DNA damage in cancer cells (iii) Design
and synthesis of multi target molecules against cancer
(iv) Anti-inflammatory drug design based on natural
products (v) The design and application of novel drug
delivery systems (vi) Chemical profiling and biological
activities of plant pomace extracts.
Tony Kouzarides [email protected]
PNAC 1981-1984 (Visitor), PNAC 1984-1986 (Postdoc)
I spent a long time at the LMB in
Bart Barrell’s lab during my PhD at
the University of Cambridge
during 1981 – 1984, and then did a
postdoc in Bart’s lab until 1986. I then went to New
York to work in Ed Ziff’s lab as a postdoc on the
oncogene c-Fos where I worked on the leucine zipper
dimerisation structure.
I returned to Cambridge in 1989 to take up a group
leader’s position at the newly founded and now renamed Gurdon Institute. I have been there ever since
and am now the Deputy Director. Our work is focused
on Epigenetic modifications, trying to understand their
biological role and their involvement in cancer. I have
co-founded two companies, Chroma Therapeutics (drug
discovery) and Abcam plc (antibody reagents).
Robert Kretsinger (Bob) [email protected]
Massachusetts Institute of
Technology 1960 - 1964 (Ph.D.),
1964 - 1965 (Researcher, M.R.C.),
1966 - 1967 (Researcher, Laboratoire
de Biologie Moleculaire, Université de Genève) 1967 (Faculty, Department of Biology, University of Virginia)
I completed my dissertation research on the synthesis
of collagen and the crystal structure of zinc histidine at
M.I.T. under the supervision of Alex Rich. At the MRC, at
the suggestion of John Kendrew, I determined the
crystal structures of the HgI3- and the I3- complexes
with myoglobin. Quite unanticipated, both were planar.
In Geneva I studied phage genetics with Eduard
Kellenberger. At U.Va. I got my own lab and funds to
buy two sealed tube x-ray generators, four precession
cameras, and the first rotating drum densitometer.
I also persuaded the Virginia Game Commission to help
me catch lots of carp – source of easily crystallized
parvalbumin. Its crystal structure consisted of helix C,
calcium binding loop, helix D and related by an
approximate two fold axis helix E and helix F – the
prototype “EF-hand” subsequently found in nearly a
hundred different proteins. In our physics department
we developed a multiwire area detector for x-rays.
We have continued a research program investigating
the structures, functions, and evolution of several
families of proteins.
Peter Kristensen [email protected]
I joined the group of Greg Winter in
1995 and initiated work with the
aim of establishing a method to
use phage display to select for
structure and stability. During my time at the LMB,
I also became involved in projects aiming to select for
catalytic properties. In 1998 I returned back to
University of Aarhus, where I have been ever since.
I have continued working with development and
applications of the phage display technology. Today
most of our work is centered around finding novel
biomarkers on rare cells, such as circulating cancer cells.
I also have a keen interest in finding antibodies which
can be applied in the study of regulation of the vascular
system. Within the field of protein engineering we are
continuing our work centered around high-throughput
technologies for optimization of enzymatic properties
and stability of enzymes.
Rebekka Krumbach [email protected]
I joined the LMB in 2004 to work on
TLR9 signaling in the innate
immune system in Felix Randow’s
lab. Having completed my PhD
I moved into preclinical oncology with the CRO Oncotest
in Freiburg, Germany. The main aspect of my research
was using patient-derived xenograft models of solid
tumours to learn about tumour properties governing
sensitivity and resistance to targeted therapies.
Later, I was in charge of their molecular biology lab.
In November 2013 I joined Immunocore Ltd in
Oxfordshire with the aim to identify and validate novel
targets for immunotherapy of cancer. Immunocore at
this point has one drug in early clinical development,
showing proof of principle for ImmTACs (soluble T-cell
receptors modified with anti-CD3 to recruit T cells to
target cells) in cancer therapy, and is poised to expand
the reach of the technology by employing new targets.
Werner Kühlbrandt [email protected]
Werner Kühlbrandt studied
chemistry and crystallography at
the Free University Berlin, and
biochemistry and biophysics at
King’s College London. He did his PhD with Nigel Unwin
at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in
Cambridge, UK, investigating the structure of twodimensional ribosome crystals by electron microscopy.
He turned to structural studies of membrane proteins as
a postdoc, first at the ETH Zürich, and then at Imperial
College London. After a short stay at UC Berkeley, CA,
he became a group leader at the EMBL Heidelberg in
1988. Since 1997 he is a director at the Max Planck
Institute of Biophysics in Frankfurt, Germany, where his
department of Structural Biology studies the structure
and mechanisms of membrane proteins by X-ray and
electron crystallography, single-particle cryo-EM,
electron tomography and biophysical methods.
Arek Kulczyk [email protected]
Structural Studies 1999-2003 (PhD), Structural Studies 2003-2004 (Postdoc)
After earning M.Sc. from Jagiellonian
University in Poland, I started
searching for a perfect place to
pursue Ph.D. studies in biophysics.
My search ended when I received an acceptance letter
from the University of Cambridge. At the LMB under
supervision of David Neuhaus, I worked on NMR
structure determination of zinc-finger (Zf) domains from
DL3 and PARP, the two medically important proteins
involved in DNA repair that function by binding to
breaks in DNA phosphodiester backbone.
We determined a structure of the Zf from DL3 and
characterized its interaction with DNA. After earning a
Ph.D. and a short subsequent stay in David’s laboratory,
I moved to Harvard University and began postdoctoral
studies in the field of DNA replication.
Under mentorship of Charles Richardson and in
collaboration with Antoine van Oijen, we developed
novel single-molecule techniques for monitoring
enzymatic activities of the replication proteins.
In collaboration with Tom Ellenberger I worked on X-ray
structure determination of the replication complexes.
Recently, I determined a structure of a megadalton-sized
bacteriophage T7 replisome using single-particle
cryo-EM. At the beginning of 2013, I became an
Instructor in Biological Chemistry at Harvard Medical
School; the faculty appointment provides an
opportunity to establish an independent research
program, with the goal to integrate structural
approaches and single-molecule biophysics to
understand the role of mitochondrial DNA repair and
replication in cancer and neurological disorders.
Edmund Kunji [email protected]
After I finishing my PhD studies in
Mathematics and Natural Sciences
at the University of Groningen,
I came to the LMB in 1996 for a
post-doc in the group of Richard Henderson. There
I could explore freely many aspects of membrane protein
biology, such as the expression of eukaryotic membrane
proteins, different purification methods, and structural
techniques, including electron crystallography.
In 2000 I became a research group leader at the MRC
Mitochondrial Biology Unit, directed by John Walker.
There my group is working on the structure and
function of mitochondrial transport proteins, which link
the metabolic pathways of the mitochondrial matrix
and cytosol by transporting metabolites and co-factors
across the inner membrane of mitochondria.
The experiences in the LMB have very much shaped my
interests as well as the approaches and philosophy that
I apply in my work today.
Patricia Kuwabara [email protected]
I joined the Cell Biology division of
LMB in 1993 to pursue research on
the mechanisms underlying the
genetic pathway of sex
determination in C. elegans, which I had initiated as a
postdoctoral fellow with Judith Kimble in Madison.
In 1999, I was seconded to the Wellcome Trust Sanger
Institute, where I began functional genomic studies and
investigated cell signaling pathways involving Patched
membrane proteins and calpain regulatory proteases in
C. elegans. I moved to the School of Biochemistry at the
University of Bristol in 2003 as the William P Coldrick
Professor of Genomics and am presently the Graduate
Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Veterinary Sciences.
Adriana La Volpe [email protected]
Directors 1987-1988 (Visiting Scientist)
I started my scientific career
working for about a decade on
ribosomal genes in Drosophila,
Xenopus and mammals.
While involved in those studies I spent two years at the
Mammalian Genome Unit of the MRC in Edinburgh in
Adrian Bird’s laboratory. I visited the laboratory of John
Sulston at the LMB in Cambridge in 1987/88 at a
turning point of my career when, as a young scientist,
I decided to choose a suitable model system for studies
on genome instability. This was a very helpful
experience and since then I have devoted my studies to
DNA repair, meiosis and germline apoptosis in C. elegans
establishing my own laboratory at the CNR in Naples.
James Lake [email protected]
Structural Studies 1983 (Sabbatical Visitor)
I first met Aaron Klug and Hugh
Huxley when they organized a 3D
Image Reconstruction Summer
School. I was really impressed and
in 1983 spent a wonderful sabbatical at the LMB. But
that year Aaron was distracted by his Nobel Prize - I can’t
imagine why? My wife Laura and I had a great time and
were impressed by the warmth and generosity of our
hosts. I enjoyed the conversations with everyone at
lunch and the weekly wine tastings organized by Hugh.
I liked biking to work from Churchill College, where
Hugh had arranged to make me an Overseas Fellow.
We always enjoy our return visits and look forward to
seeing many of you again. My current research involves
using genomes to reconstruct the history of life on
Earth. The move from structure to evolution has been
exciting. Our early work on the evolution of animals, the
New Animal Phylogeny, is now widely accepted and was
recognized by the Darwin-Wallace Medal in 2011 from
the Linnean Society of London. Also our early and
continuing studies on the Eocyte beginnings of
Eukaryotes are now getting extensive attention and
support, most recently on the pages of Nature.
Thank you so much.
Meindert Lamers [email protected]
I did my PhD at the Netherlands
Cancer Institute in Amsterdam in
the group of Titia Sixma.
During my PhD I worked on the
DNA mismatch repair protein MutS. For my postdoc
I moved to John Kuriyan’s group at UC Berkeley to work
on DNA replication.
Since 2009 I have my own group at the LMB, where
I continue to work on bacterial DNA replication and
translesion DNA synthesis. The two main aims of my lab
are to understand how the 15 proteins of the DNA
replication machinery work together and how the
translesion DNA polymerases can switch with the
replicative DNA polymerase at the site of a lesion.
Angus Lamond [email protected]
Cell Biology 1981-1985 (PhD Student plus one year of Postdoc with Hugh)
My first experience of the LMB was
as an undergraduate, when, in
1980, I worked as a summer
student with Andrew Travers in Cell
Biology. I was delighted that Andrew then accepted me
back to work with him as a PhD student in 1981, after
I finished my undergraduate degree in Glasgow.
For my PhD I studied the biochemistry and regulation of
tRNA transcription in E.coli and have continued ever
since to study gene expression in human cells and
model organisms. When I finished my PhD with Andrew
I stayed at the LMB for another year in Hugh Pelham’s
laboratory and started working on gene expression in
human cells.
I left the LMB in 1985 to join Phillip Sharp’s group at MIT
and work on the mechanism of pre-mRNA splicing,
which I continued after moving to the EMBL in
Heidelberg, as a group leader, in 1987. I returned to the
UK in 1995 and have worked since then at the University
of Dundee. My group continues to study mechanisms
involved in regulating gene expression and we also
study the functional organisation of the cell nucleus.
We have been busy in recent years developing and
applying methods for system-wide studies on gene
expression, using mass spectrometry-based proteomics
approaches, in conjunction with quantitative imaging
methods using fluorescence microscopy.
www.LamondLab.com
Claudia Lange [email protected]
Neurobiology 1992 (Summer Student), Neurobiology 1994-1995 (Diploma), Neurobiology
1995-1996 (Research Assistant), Neurobiology 1996-2000 (PhD)
I first came to the LMB as a summer
student in 1992. While reading
Biochemistry at the Free University
in Berlin, I turned to Richard Henderson, asking whether
he could help in my search for some practical lab
experience. He did, and I spent the summer in Hilmar
Bading’s brand new lab digesting the fos gene. Hilmar
then offered me a bench and a project to complete the
practical part of my German Diploma thesis. I stayed a
bit longer, trying to figure out whether intragenic
sequences contribute to the transcription of c-fos and
– numerous RNase protection assays later – finished
with a PhD. A great experience, but it was time to
change career direction and take up an editorial
position at Springer Verlag in Heidelberg, helping to
establish their series of encyclopaedic reference books.
Since 2003 I am back in Cambridge working for the
Journal of Cell Science, and am now properly on the
other side of the fence.
Ron Laskey [email protected]
Cell Biology 1973-1983 (Postdoc and Group Leader)
I came to the LMB in 1973 to rejoin
John Gurdon. I had been a
graduate student with him in
Oxford, transplanting nuclei to
show that adult somatic cells can be pluripotent and
I had then been a post-doc at ICRF (now CRUK LRI).
At LMB my group found the first nuclear localisation
sequence (NLS), found remarkable plasticity in DNA
replication origins, developed cell-free nucleosome
assembly and invented fluorography and the use of
intensifying screens at -700C to improve isotope
detection. In 1973, John and I accepted University
chairs in the Department of Zoology, but raising
funding for a new Institute (appropriately now called
the Gurdon Institute). My group continued to study
transport between the nucleus and cytoplasm, the
control of DNA replication and early diagnosis of the
common carcinomas. My last ten years before
retirement were spent directing a new MRC Cancer Cell
Unit near the old LMB building. I have now returned to
the Department of Zoology.
Peter Lawrence [email protected]
I worked at the LMB for nearly 40
years, from 1969 until I reached the
dreaded age of 65 in 2006.
I was recruited by Sydney and
Francis to Cell Biology and pursued my own interests in
the developmental genetics of pattern formation
— using insects, mostly Drosophila.
The LMB changed enormously while I was there. From a
relatively small institute with about one administrator
(Miss Martin plus dog) it gradually metamorphosed into
a large institute with very many administrators.
Now I am supported by the Wellcome Trust and work in
the University of Cambridge, Department of Zoology.
Guillaume Lebon [email protected]
As a PhD student with Professor
Vehary Sakanyan (2003-2006) in
Nantes University, I studied
bacterial RNA polymerase subunit
assembly for the conception of transcription inhibitor.
In December 2006, I joined the Lab of Dr Ed Hulme,
NIMR London, to elucidate the binding and activation
mechanism of new selective agonist of the muscarinic
G protein-coupled receptor, by using site-directed
mutagenesis and molecular modelling. I then moved to
the Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB), to join Chris
Tate. During four exciting years at the LMB (2007-2011),
I studied 3D structure of the agonist bound
conformation of the human A2A receptor and solved
the 3D structure of the receptor bound to its natural
agonist adenosine. In September 2011, I joined the lab
of Jean Philippe Pin in Montpellier to work on structural
studies and molecular pharmacology of class C GPCR
and I was awarded the ATIP AVENIR grant. I pursue, as
an independent scientist, my effort to decipher at the
molecular level how GPCRs including Class C GPCRs,
internalise an extracellular stimulus and activate
intracellular signalling partner such as the trimeric
G protein.
Marie-Paule Lefranc [email protected]
PNAC 1981-1983 (Visitor ), PNAC 1984-1985 (EMBO Fellow)
My first visit to LMB was in April
1981. For several years my husband
Gérard Lefranc had been working
on the serological immunoglobulin
markers or allotypes in Lebanon (68-76), and then in
Tunisia (76-83). An allotype study led us to discover a
simultaneous absence of several subclasses (IgG1, IgG2,
IgG4 and IgAl) in a healthy 75-year-old Tunisian woman,
from a consanguineous family. To our international call
letter addressed to Leder, Tonegawa, Honjo and Rabbitts
for collaboration, Terry Rabbitts was the first one to
answer. Molecular analysis revealed that the Tunisian
woman was homozygous for an extensive DNA deletion
including the functional G1, G2, G4 and A1 genes. The
pattern of the deletion enabled to predict an order for
cosmids identified in Terry’s lab and to propose an order
of the IGHC genes. In 84-85, I isolated for the first time
the T cell receptor gamma (TRG) genes in humans and
my research in Terry’s lab, with Alan Forster’s invaluable
help, led to the complete description of the human TRG
locus. Although I left LMB nineteen years ago, the
Laboratoire d’ImmunoGénétique Moléculaire in
Montpellier maintained strong links with MRC.
In 1989, I started IMGT®, the international
ImMunoGeneTics information system®, for the genetics,
structure, polymorphism and functions of the IG and TR,
which is the global reference in immunogenetics and
immunoinformatics. This would never have been
achieved without the years spent at LMB.
Maria Leptin [email protected]
Cell Biology 1984-1987 (Postdoc), 1988-1989 (Staff Scientist), Cell Biology
Maria Leptin received her PhD in
1983 for work on B cell activation
carried out at the Basel Institute for
Immunology, Switzerland, under
the supervision of Fritz Melchers. She switched to the
study of development in Drosophila when she joined
the laboratory of Michael Wilcox at the Medical
Research Council’s Laboratory of Molecular Biology
(LMB) in Cambridge, UK, for her postdoctoral work on
Drosophila integrins. After a research visit at the
laboratory of Pat O’Farrell at the University of California
San Francisco (UCSF), where she began her work on
gastrulation, she spent 1989-1994 as a group leader at
the Max Planck Institute in Tübingen, Germany.
In 1994, she became Professor at the Institute of Genetics
University of Cologne. In January 2010, Maria Leptin
became the Director of EMBO and established a research
group in Heidelberg at the European Molecular Biology
Laboratory (EMBL). The group studies cell biology and
biophysics of cell shape changes and the mechanism of
innate immunity. Professor Leptin is an elected member
of EMBO and the Academia Europaea. She also serves on
the editorial boards of Developmental Cell and
Developmental Biology and on the advisory boards of
several academic institutions. She has chaired and is a
member of one of the evaluation panels for European
Research Council (ERC) Advanced Investigator Grants.
Arthur Lesk [email protected]
Structural Studies 1981-2003 (Visitor)
While at the Laboratory of
Molecular Biology I collaborated
with Cyrus Chothia on a series of
studies of protein structure and evolution, and I have
continued to be active in this area.
Andrew Leslie [email protected]
After completing a part II in
Crystallography at Cambridge, I did
my PhD at Manchester in Lipson’s
department. I then worked as a
postdoc with Struther Arnott and Michael Rossmann at
Purdue, before joining David Blow’s group at Imperial
College. I came to LMB in 1988, initially working on
serpins with Robin Carrell. I began a collaboration with
John Walker on ATP synthase in 1990, and that work
continues to this day. The first structure, published in
1994, provided clear evidence for a rotary catalytic
mechanism, and this was convincingly demonstrated a
few years later by single molecule experiments.
The structure of the membrane rotor has also been
determined for several species, but a high resolution
structure of the intact ATP synthase that is required to
understand how proton translocation generates
rotation still proves elusive. Other projects have
included the intact capsid core of the hepatitis B virus,
while more recently I have been collaborating with
Gebhard Schertler and Chris Tate on G protein coupled
receptors (GPCRs), an important pharmacological
target. This has included the structures of the inactive
state of the beta1 adrenergic receptor and a partially
activated form of the A2a adenosine receptor.
For many years I have also been developing the
MOSFLM program for processing diffraction data, and
have served on scientific advisory committees and users
groups for several synchrotrons in Europe and USA.
Michael Levitt [email protected]
Structural Studies 1968-1971 (PdD Student), Structural Studies 1971-1972 (Staff Member),
Structural Studies 1974-1979 (Group Leader)
Born in South Africa, I visited
London aged 16 to be profoundly
influenced by John Kendrew’s 1944
BBC TV series “The Thread of Life”. After a BSc in London
and a year with Shneior Lifson and Arieh Warshel at the
Weizmann Institute in Israel, I joined Structural Studies in
1968 as Bob Diamond’s student. My thesis on Protein
Conformation Analysis described use of classical forcefields, introduced energy refinement and showed
lysozyme was too soft to sterically deform substrate.
I went back to Israel as an EMBO postdoc with Lifson.
Collaboration with Warshel resulted in new multi-scale
approaches to molecular modeling: Coarse-grained models
that merge atoms to allow folding simulation and hybrid
models that combine classical and quantum mechanics
to explain how enzymes work by electrostatic strain.
In 1974, I returned to LMB for three years, spent two years
with Francis Crick at Salk and seven years at Weizmann,
before moving to Structural Biology at Stanford from
1987. My diverse interests include RNA & DNA modeling,
protein folding simulation, classification of protein folds &
protein geometry (Chothia) antibody modeling (Lesk &
Chothia) x-ray refinement (Jack), antibody humanization
(Queen), side-chain geometry (Wodak & Janin), torsional
normal mode (Sander & Stern), molecular dynamics in
solution (Sharon), secondary structure prediction,
aromatic hydrogen bonds (Perutz), structure databases
(Brenner), and mass spectrometry (Kalisman).
Current postdocs work on protein evolution, the phase
problem and Cryo-EM refinement.
Sam Li [email protected]
Structural Studies 1998 (Visitor), Structural Studies 1999 (Visitor), Cell Biology 2001-2008
(Postdoc)
I visited LMB in the summers of 1998
and 1999. As a Ph.D student advised
by Wes Sundquist in the University
of Utah, I came to LMB to learn electron cryomicroscopy
(cryoEM) and helical reconstruction from John Finch, trying
to use these techniques to solve the structure of HIV capsid
assembly. The LMB’s excellent scientific environment
attracted me so I spent next few years (2001-2008), as a
postdoc with John Kilmartin, studying the assembly of
yeast spindle pole body by using both X-ray crystallography
and electron cryotomography (cryoET). I left LMB to join
David Agard’s lab in UCSF in 2008. Currently I am using
cryoET and other biochemical methods to study the
assembly and function of microtubule organizing centre
(MTOC), these include the spindle pole body, the basal
body and centrosome.
Julien Licchesi [email protected]
PNAC 2007-2011 (Postdoc), PNAC 2011-2013 (Investigator Scientist)
After completing a PhD on Barrett’s
Oesophagus at Cranfield University,
I moved to the laboratory of
Professor James G. Herman at the
Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, USA, to
work on cancer epigenetics. During that time I developed
an interest in the regulation of Wnt signalling pathways,
a signal transduction pathway that is dysregulated in
cancer and in particular colorectal cancer.
In 2007 I joined the lab of Mariann Bienz to work on the
deubiquitylating enzyme TRABID where I carried out, in
collaboration with David Komander, structure-function
studies of TRABID. In June 2013 I was recruited as
Lecturer in Cellular Biochemistry at the University of
Bath, Department of Biology & Biochemistry, where my
research focuses on ubiquitin signalling in health and
diseases.
Hans J. Lipps [email protected]
Cell Biology 1976 (Postdoc)
I met Francis Crick at a meeting in
Iran in 1975 and he invited me to
his lab to study nucleosome repeat
length variation in the different
nuclei of ciliated protozoa. During my stay I worked
together with Ron Morris and Vaughn Jackson but also
learned how to clone the first ciliate nanochromosomes
from a postdoc in John Gurdon’s lab. Since that time
I continued to work on chromatin dynamics during
nuclear differentiation and had a most fruitful
collaboration with Daniela Rhodes on the regulation of
telomeric G-quadruplex structure.
Sai Liu [email protected]
My interest in science began at an
early age at my local comprehensive in Camden and it
progressed onward with a BSc in
Chemistry and Biochemistry at Imperial College and
then onto Cambridge University. I joined Selwyn
College and the Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB)
in 2001 under Dr Murray Stewart in the Structural
Studies Division.
My doctoral research involved investigating the
molecular basis of nucleocytoplasmic trafficking by
X-ray crystallography. Thereafter, I continued on at
Oxford University, with post-doctoral research at the
Dunn School of Pathology investigating influenza
protein transport in host cells, and then at the New
Biochemistry Department investigating protein
transport in bacteria. I look forward to visiting the new
LMB building!
Jan Löwe [email protected]
Structural Studies 1996-1998 (Postdoc), Structural Studies 1998-Current (Group Leader),
Structural Studies 2012-Current (Joint Head of Division)
After studying chemistry in
Hamburg and a PhD in crystallography at the MPI in Martinsried
I came to the LMB in 1996 to work as an EMBO longterm fellow with Linda Amos. Since tubulin would not
want to crystallise we decided to switch to FtsZ, which
turned out to be tubulin’s bacterial homologue.
After two years LMB offered me an independent
position and since then, my group has worked mostly
on the bacterial cytoskeleton, including the discovery
of bacterial actin MreB, excursions into plasmid
segregation systems and aspects of bacterial cell
division. Lately we have been trying to bridge the gap
between atomic structures and cell biology by using
electron cryotomography on bacteria, visualising
aspects of the filaments that form the cytoskeleton.
I also work on the structure of eukaryotic cohesion in a
long-term collaboration with Kim Nasmyth in Oxford.
Duo Lu [email protected]
I came to LMB in February 1996
and got some training in molecular
biology at Aaron Klug’s group,
while I was a PhD student at
Institute of Materia Medica in China. After completing
my PhD back in China, I rejoined Aaron’s group in
November 1997 to study the interaction between 5S
RNA and TFIIIA zinc-fingers. I left LMB in 2006 for
Imperial College London, and eventually moved back
to Institute of Materia Medica in Beijing to start a
research group in structural molecular biology.
Our group currently works on zinc-finger mediated
protein-protein interactions for their roles in
transcription regulation.
Leonard Lutter [email protected]
Structural Studies 1975-1979 Postdoc)
I was a Ph.D. student with Chuck
Kurland in Madison and Uppsala
working on ribosome structure.
I then came to the LMB in 1975 as
a postdoc with Francis Crick and then Aaron Klug and
worked on the nucleosome structure. I left in 1979 to
take a faculty position in the Biological Chemistry
department in the University of Michigan, working on
chromatin structure of mammalian cells as well as
Simian Virus 40. I moved my lab to the Molecular
Biology Department at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit
in 1987, where we continued studying chromatin
structure. During these studies we developed a
method using DNA topology to measure bend angles
in DNA as well as bending and twisting in transcription
complex DNA. I retired in 2010.
Francesca Magnani [email protected]
While studying, I had come across
several recollections of the
discoveries made at LMB and it
seemed the best amusement park
that a scientist would wish for. I arrived at the LMB in
2005, after a PhD in Biochemistry at Trinity College
Dublin: I was not disappointed! During the 4 years of
my postdoc with Chris Tate and Richard Henderson,
I was involved in developing a new methodology to
crystallise G protein-coupled receptors. Alan Coulson’s
(whom I shared the bench for a few months) motto
“Another day, another miniprep” quickly became my
mantra for the following two years of exten…sive
mutagenesis. But the work paid off: we proved that
these receptors could be made more stable by cycles of
mutagenesis coupled to a stringent selection, and that
these “rocks” could be crystallised in different
conformational states. The supporting facilities at the
LMB were stunning and I have fond memories of the
lovely people at the mechanical and electrical
workshops, the stores and the media kitchen that made
our work a breeze, going from idea to experiment in a
bolt. Even though like most of my pals and junior
colleagues I budded off, many of the friendships and
collaborations that I established at the time are still
going strong 9 years later.
Yanlan Mao [email protected]
During my time at the LMB I was a
PhD student in Matthew Freeman’s
lab. I left at the end of 2008 to start
my postdoc in the group of Nic
Tapon at CRUK London Research Institute. In October
2013 I started my own research group at MRC Laboratory
for Molecular Cell Biology, UCL. I am currently supported
by a UCL Excellence Fellowship and a 5 year MRC Career
Development Award to pursue my interests in how
mechanical forces can affect tissue growth and
regeneration. We use a combination of genetics,
quantitative live imaging, biophysics, and computational
modelling to address the question of how forces can
sculpt and model a tissue.
G. Steven Martin [email protected]
I was a graduate student at the
LMB from 1964 to1968, working
with Sydney Brenner on RNA
synthesis in E. coli. From 1968 to
1971 I did postdoctoral work on the genetics of Rous
sarcoma virus with Harry Rubin at the University of
California, Berkeley. After a four-year stint at the
Imperial Cancer Research Fund laboratory in London,
I joined the faculty at Berkeley, where I have been ever
since; I am currently Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology and Dean of Biological Sciences.
My major research interests have centered on the
characterization of the v-src gene of Rous sarcoma virus
and the signaling pathways activated by v-src that lead
to the malignant transformation of fibroblasts. This in
turn led to work on the roles of these signaling
pathways in normal cells. Diversions have included
studies on dual-specific protein kinases in budding
yeast and DNA replication and checkpoint control in
fission yeast. Recent interests include the role of small
GTPases in the formation of podosomes, invasive
adhesions characteristic of certain tumor cells, and the
mechanism of oncogene addiction, the dependence of
tumor cells on continued function of the initiating
oncogene for survival.
Michael Mathews [email protected]
After a PhD studentship split
between Cambridge and Sussex,
I joined the LMB to work with Kjeld
Marcker on the initiation of
translation in eukaryotes – a theme that has been a
continuous thread throughout my research career.
When Kjeld left for Denmark, I stayed on under the gentle
mentorship of Fred Sanger. Collaborations flourished
within the division as well as with members of other
divisions in LMB. I also had the opportunity to work with
and forge enduring friendships with scientists from around
the globe. Eventually I left Cambridge for the customary
sojourn in America. This began at the University of
California-San Francisco and has not yet ended. Its principal
phases have been at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, where
I worked on DNA tumor viruses and became a lab chief/
program director, and at New Jersey Medical School (now
part of Rutgers University), where I have been a department
chair for 18 years. Work in my lab focuses on HIV-1 and
AIDS. We showed that the key viral regulatory protein Tat
stimulates transcription of the viral genome through
interactions with a cellular transcription elongation factor,
P-TEFb. Now we are developing a new antiviral strategy,
using approved medicines to eradicate HIV-infected cells.
Drugs that block the post-translational modification of a
cellular protein, eIF5A, inhibit viral transcription and trigger
apoptosis selectively in HIV-infected cells. A recent pilot
clinical trial has yielded encouraging results.
Luzia Mayr [email protected]
After my Masters degree at the
University of Vienna I joined the
PNAS division of the LMB as a PhD
student where I studied the
migration behavior of regulatory T cells in the group of
Alex Betz. I then moved to the USA for my postdoctoral
work at New York University, working on HIV vaccine
development. I just recently moved back to Europe
(Strasbourg, France) where I will continue to investigate
broadly neutralizing HIV-1 antibodies.
John McCafferty [email protected]
PNAC 1990-1991 (Visiting Worker)
I was one of the scientific founders
of Cambridge Antibody Technology
(CAT) and worked as a visitor in
Greg Winter’s lab within PNAC from
January 1990. During this period we demonstrated for
the first time display of functional antibodies on the
surface of filamentous phage. Within a year of starting
we had published a paper in Nature describing antibody
phage display and had filed a patent that went on to
underpin CAT in the decades that followed. During a
second period in 1991 I contributed to a group effort
demonstrating selection of human antibodies from a
naïve antibody display library.
Phage display technology proved to be robust and has
led to the generation of Humira which is now the world’s
biggest selling drug. Paralleling the success of the
technology, the company flourished and was sold to
Astra Zeneca in 2006 for £700m. After 12 years at CAT
I established labs at the Sanger Institute and then at
the University of Cambridge utilizing phage display
technology to develop functionally blocking antibodies
with potential in cancer and stem cell biology.
More recently I formed IONTAS, a small innovative
biotechnology company using phage display to
develop novel antibody therapeutics.
www.iontas.co.uk
William McClain (Bill) [email protected]
My work at LMB focused on
precursor RNA processing to
mature tRNAs with Sydney Brenner,
Francis Crick and Fred Sanger. I left
LMB (following a 6-week mumps delay, during which
time colleagues brought young children to eat ice cream
with me) in April 1971 for the University of Wisconsin
where I received tenure. At Wisconsin, we dissect
RNA-protein recognition primarily through genetic means.
Our work in bacterial precursor RNA processing to mature
tRNA is a paradigm of tRNA synthesis. We defined a
seven-step pathway leading from transcribed DNA to
large RNA intermediates that accumulated in successions
of mutant cells lacking germane processing enzymes and
whose sequences define the ordered steps, including
formation of tRNAs 3’-CCAOH end for amino-acid
acceptance. Beginning in late the 1970s, we implemented
original computer programs using mathematical set theory
to map tRNA sequence onto tRNA function, thereby
directing base changes made to tRNA that switch its
amino acid acceptor function. Crystal structures show that
aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases interact with tRNAs via bases
and backbone moieties, some of the latter exclusive of base
interactions. Redundant base sequences occur in rare (≤
10-5) genetic tRNA variants, whose functional properties
mimic normal tRNA. The backbone contacts are
functionally essential, so the mutant bases must configure
backbone moieties like normal tRNA. Taken together, our
results imply the smallest structure-function unit in RNA
is a group of nucleotides, not a single nucleotide.
Andrew McKenzie [email protected]
I obtained my PhD at University
College London where I developed
my fascination in immune
regulation. To pursue this interest
I moved to work as a post-doc, first at the MRC-NIMR in
Mill Hill and then in the biotech DNAX Research Institute
(USA). Throughout this period I focussed on the identification and analysis of immune-regulatory cytokines.
I have been at the LMB since 1994 and have developed a
programme aimed at understanding the cellular and
molecular mechanisms by which immune-regulatory
cytokines elicit protective immunity and disease e.g.
asthma and allergy. Our recent work has identified a
previously unrecognised blood cell that we believe plays
key roles at the interface of innate and adaptive
immunity.
Andrew McLachlan
Joined Structural Studies in 1968
after 10 yrs of electron spin
resonance of radicals in Cambridge
chemistry. First task to build X-ray
map models of haemoglobin for Max Perutz. Judd Fermi
and I spent many happy days peering into Richard’s box,
and tried to probe cooperative interactions that Max later
discovered. I shared room with Bob Diamond, famed for
his Real-Space Refinement and BILDER. We also had Jane
Ladner’s baby on the window sill (tRNA project), and Jens
Birktoft (chymotrypsin, Blow), who smoked cigars under
Max’s nose. Michael Levitt joined us, as a youthful genius
with amazing insights. 1971: I thought about protein
evolution and invented the first quantitative computer
method for comparing amino-acid sequences.
This could find repeats and gene duplications. 1974: with
Alan Weeds and Murray Stewart -tropomyosin, troponin.
1979: proteins with internal repeats. 1980: Richard
Henderson and helical arrangement of bacteriorhodopsin. 1982: myosin rod with Jonathan Karn.
1984: Fred Sanger, Rodger Staden, codon usage.
1985: zinc fingers with Aaron Klug. 1987: David Eisenberg
sequence profiles. 2000: unsuccessful attempts to solve
X-ray phases by a pairing method. Retired with Uli Arndt,
John Finch. The great driving spirit of the LMB
throughout these times was the energy, optimism,
cooperation, the belief that all things were possible.
Lucky to have this succession of great directors: Max,
Sydney, Aaron, Richard, who with widely different styles,
encouraged our best efforts.
John McMurray [email protected]
After earning a B.S. in Biochemistry
from the Pennsylvania State
University (1977) I worked as an
analytical chemist at Erie Testing
Laboratories in Erie, PA, USA for two years. I earned a
Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry (1986) at the University of
Houston with Doug Dyckes, an LMB alumnus.
During post-doctoral studies at the LMB under Bob
Sheppard I developed solubilizable peptide synthesis
resins that were immunogenic. In 1988 I started
research in peptide-based inhibitors of aberrant signal
transduction pathways in cancer at the University of
Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.
Our current work centers on the design of SH2 domaintargeted phosphopeptide mimics which involves
developing high affinity ligands as well as chemistries
to deliver organophosphates to cells and tissues.
We are targeting Stat3 and have developed
systemically active phosphopeptide mimics that inhibit
tumor growth. We are designing prodrugs targeting
Stat6 that reverse asthma symptoms in murine models.
We have proto-type inhibitors targeting the SH2
domain of p85, the regulatory unit of phosphatidylionisitide-3-kinase. In addition to these programs,
my group designed cyclic peptide inhibitors of Src
kinase and peptide ligands for Notch and inhibitors of
G protein couple receptor kinases. As part of these
programs, we have developed organic reactions such
as 1,4-beta-lactam cleavage reactions, a novel catalytic
transfer hydrogenation technique, and new
methodologies for the synthesis of amino acid
surrogates and peptidomimetics.
Jan E. Mellema [email protected]
Structural Studies 1970-1972 (Visiting Postdoc)
Stayed at the Dept. of Structural
Studies (Dr. A. Klug) and moved
afterwards to the University of
Leiden (the Netherlands). Later on took up managerial
positions at the Dutch Food Industry.
Jack Mellor [email protected]
I followed an undergraduate
degree in Neurophysiology at
Cambridge with a PhD in the
Neurobiology division of the LMB
under the supervision of Andy Randall studying the
biophysical and pharmacological properties of GABAA
receptors. I subsequently moved to California for several
years to do a postdoc at UCSF with Roger Nicoll
investigating the processes underlying synaptic
plasticity - a field in which I have remained. In 2002
I moved back to the UK and started my lab at University
of Bristol. We study the processes and impact of synaptic
plasticity and neuromodulators in the hippocampus and
continue to collaborate with many LMB alumni.
John Menninger [email protected]
I joined LMB in 1963 in the genetics
group, directed jointly by Francis
Crick and Sydney Brenner.
We were attempting to understand
protein chain termination, but I missed it. I kept after
that issue at the University of Oregon, then became
charmed by the enzyme peptidyl-tRNA hydrolase and
how and why peptidyl-tRNAs dissociate from ribosomes
during translation. I retired from the Department of
Biology, University of Iowa, in 2011. My last research
projects concerned lengthening the replicative life span
of S. cerevesiae by treating with the antibiotic erythromycin and identifying very low usage di-codons in
bacterial genomes. My last teaching was lectures in
general biology for undergraduate majors, cell biology
and molecular genetics. My wife Lesley died in late 2003.
The babies born at the Evelyn Nursing Home in 1964 and
1966 and initially raised in a thatched cottage in
Haslingfield are now, respectively, teaching German/
European history in Texas and managing outreach for
the University’s Museum of Art.
Julian Mercer [email protected]
I completed my PhD in
biochemistry with Bob Symons at
the University of Adelaide in 1972.
After a postdoc at the ANU,
I arrived at LMB to work with Bob Sheppard on the
partial synthesis of bovine trypsin inhibitor in order to
study the effect of amino acid changes on protein
folding. Following my two years in the Sheppard group
I returned to Australia where I established the first
molecular biology lab in the Royal Children’s Hospital
Genetics Research Unit in Melbourne, headed by Prof
David Danks. Here I developed an interest in the
genetic disorders of copper homeostasis, which led to
the isolation of the gene affected in the X-linked copper
deficiency, Menkes disease. In 1998 I established the
Centre for Cell and Molecular Biology at Deakin
University in Melbourne, where I served as Director until
2013. I continue to research the role of copper in
neurological disorders such as Parkinson, Alzheimer and
motor neuron diseases.
Daniela Merlo [email protected]
I obtained a PhD in Biotechnology
and Molecular Medicine at the
University of Rome Tor Vergata
(1995) working on purinoceptors
and glutamate-evoked cytotoxicity. I joined the LMB in
1996 as a Marie Curie post-doctoral fellow working for
three years in William Wisden’s lab. My research
experience and interests were focused on GABA(A)
receptor diversity and transgenic methods for directing
gene expression to specific neuronal types using gene
targeting by homologous recombination in mouse
embryonic stem cells. Then, I went back to Rome to
work at the National Institute of Health as senior
scientist where my research group started to be
interested in the mechanisms of neurodegeneration.
In particular, we have been focused on human
neurodegenerative disorders by investigating the
mechanisms regulating synaptic plasticity, neuronal
death and, more recently, DNA damage and repair.
I have been recently appointed Head of Molecular
Neurobiology Section at the Department of Cell
Biology and Neuroscience.
Gos Micklem [email protected]
Gos Micklem (http://www.
micklemlab.org) identified one of
the first eukaryotic DNA
replication origin binding factors,
ORC2, during his Ph.D. in Kim Nasmyth’s group at LMB,
and then helped Maria Leptin set up her lab at MPI
Tubingen. After further yeast work at the then ICRF in
London, he switched to bioinformatics at the Wellcome
Trust Sanger Institute. His work on human genomic
sequence annotation was the basis for the ENSEMBL
annotation pipeline. After three years he joined a
biotech start-up company to head bioinformatics and
four years after that joined the University of Cambridge
Genetics Department, where his group develops the
InterMine data integration platform that is in use by a
number of the world’s major model organism
databases. Other research interests include genome
sequencing and analysis, Toxoplasma genomics, and
synthetic biology. Since 2005 he has co-organised the
Cambridge team for the International Genetically
Engineered Machines (iGEM) undergraduate summer
competition in synthetic biology, with the Cambridge
team winning the grand prize in 2009 against 110
teams from across the world. In 2004 he was made
Director of the Cambridge Computational Biology
Institute.
Adriana Erica Miele [email protected]
I was a Biochemistry PhD student
with Maurizio Brunori at the
University of Rome “Sapienza”
(Italy), and then a Wellcome Trust
postdoctoral fellow at the LMB, where I was trained in
structural biology by Phil Evans. That was a period of
great changes and achievements in science and I greatly
enjoyed and appreciated working with many different
people at the LMB. Then I came back to Italy as a
researcher, and in 2007 I was appointed Associate
Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics for the Faculty
of Pharmacy and Medicine of the University of Rome
“Sapienza”. Here I joined the group working on tropical
neglected diseases and I am in charge of the structural
genomics projects on Schistosoma mansoni, a human
parasite second only to malaria for the number of
people infected. The main aim is to find suitable
targets for two purposes: rational drug design and
molecular diagnostics. Beside being a major health
threat, this parasitic worm is also a powerful tool in
indirectly understanding the plasticity of the human
immune system, and studying the mechanisms for
onsetting cellular Th2 immune response.
Jenny Miller-Gallacher (Miller) [email protected]
I came to the LMB in 2008 from
Cape Town where I completed my
undergrad and masters in Structural
Biology. I really enjoyed my PhD
with Chris Tate and Richard Henderson exploring the
structure of the β1-adrenoceptor at a very exciting time,
just as the first non-rhodopsin GPCR structures were
being solved. This has ignited my interest in GPCRs and
I am currently working at a Cardiff medical diagnostics
company, RSR Ltd., on another GPCR, the thyroidstimulating hormone receptor and developing tools to
diagnose autoimmune thyroid disease.
Ron Milligan [email protected]
Structural Studies 1978-1980 (Research Support)
Nigel Unwin introduced me to
Italian lizards, African clawed frogs,
chicken embryos and other
interesting species that inhabited
the basement of LMB in the years 1978-1980. He was
my PhD mentor at Stanford 1980-1984. In 1987, after
postdoctoral study at EMBL and Stanford, I joined
Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla California, and
have been there ever since. My research has
concentrated on elucidating the structure-function
relationships of nuclear pore complexes and the
molecular motors myosin and kinesin. Most recently,
the interests of my lab have expanded to include
microtubule-binding proteins of the mitotic spindle.
Ian Mills [email protected]
I started my scientific career by
studying Biochemistry at Oxford
University before taking a PhD in
Liverpool working on endosome
fusion. I joined Dr. Harvey McMahon’s lab at the LMB in
2000 as an MRC Postdoctoral Fellow and enjoyed
working in an interdisciplinary centre. This enabled us
to develop a number of well-integrated structurefunction studies focusing on endocytic adaptors and
their contribution to clathrin recruitment and the
induction of membrane curvature.
I left the LMB in 2003 and since then have been
establishing and running research groups focusing on
signal transduction and transcriptional regulation in
prostate cancer. I established the first of these working
alongside Professor David Neal in the Department of
Oncology in Cambridge, subsequently moved to the
Cambridge Research Institute and have now established
a group in an EMBL Partner Centre in Oslo, Norway.
I retain my links to Cambridge through a visiting
research fellowship in the Department of Oncology.
http://www.ncmm.uio.no/research/groups/prostatecancer/
Celia P. Milstein [email protected]
PNAC 1980-1981 (Visitor)
I did my undergraduate studies at
the Faculty of Ciencias Exactas,
Físicas y Naturales at the University
of Buenos Aires (Argentina).
I obtained an MSc under the supervision of Kenneth
Bailey (Structural Studies on Pinna nobilis tropomyosin)
at the Department of Biochemistry (Cantab). At my
return to Buenos Aires I did my doctorate in Chemistry.
In 1963 came back to U.K. and worked as Senior
Scientific Officer with Sir John H.Gaddum in the
Institute of Animal Physiology,A.R.C., Babraham.
Later I was promoted to Principal Scientific Officer and
worked on the structure of light chains of immunoglobulins. In 1980-81 I joined as a visitor Dr.Terry H.
Rabbitts at the LMB, where I worked on DNA
sequencing of immunoglobulin D. At my return to
Babraham I introduced and set up these techniques
there and I left Babraham in 1985. In this year
I obtained an ScD from Cambridge University.
I continued working until my retirement, in 1988 as a
visitor, in the Pathology Department at the University
of Cambridge.
Dan Minor [email protected]
Neurobiology 1996 (Burroughs-Wellcome, Hitchings-Elion Postdoctoral Fellow)
I was a Ph.D. student at MIT with
Peter Kim where I studied protein
folding and design. I came to the
LMB as a postdoc with Nigel Unwin
to begin studies of ion channel structure. I was then a
postdoc at UCSF with Lily and Yun Nung Jan where
I pursued further studies of ion channel structure,
function and mechanism. I have been a faculty member
at UCSF since 2001 in the Cardiovascular Research
Institute. My lab continues to study ion channels by
integrating structure, function, and chemical biology
approaches. We are focused on understanding the
mechanisms of various members of the voltage-gated
ion channel superfamily and in developing new
pharmacological tools that can be used to probe and
manipulate channel function.
http://www.cvri.ucsf.edu/~dminor/
Konrad Misiura [email protected]
I joined Mike Gait’s group at the
LMB coming from Poland.
I worked on the oligonucleotide
labelling and the use of these
probes for DNA and RNA detection. Our studies were
done with a collaboration with Amersham, which later
commercialized some of our results. Now I am
professor at the Faculty of Pharmacy Nicolaus
Copernicus University in Bydgoszcz, Poland. My actual
research concentrates on the synthesis, mode of action
and biological activity studies of new antitumour and
antifungal compounds.
Jane Mitchell [email protected]
I came to LMB in the fall of 1984 as
a post-doc with John KendrickJones and worked on determining
binding sites on myosin for its light
chains and actin, first using biochemistry and then
site-directed mutagenesis of C. elegans myosin S1.
On my return to Canada, Katy, born in 1987 at the “Rosie”,
then Grace (1993) kept life busy and I continued as a
researcher working on the characterization of human
placental Transforming Growth Factor Beta Receptors.
In 1997, I joined a start-up biotechnology company to
work on the characterization and specifications of
monoclonal antibodies and to prepare INDs/clinical trial
applications to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Since 1999, I have worked as a regulatory scientist with
two consulting companies in the pharmaceutical sector.
I am currently an Associate Director, Regulatory
Operations with Optum (formerly CanReg), in its
regulatory affairs business unit near Toronto. During the
past 8+ years, a good part my time has been spent on
the design and development of electronic repositories
and tracking systems for use as world-wide product
information tools within online portals for clients.
My LMB experience was warm, exciting, challenging,
valuable and inspiring... Thank you so much for holding
this event!
Martin Montgomery [email protected]
PNAC 1993-1999 (Research Officer)
I joined John Walker’s group in
1993 working on ATP synthase.
Following John’s Nobel Prize in
1997, he was appointed Director
of the MRC Dunn Human Nutrition Unit (now the MRC
Mitochondrial Biology Unit). The group moved with
him from LMB in 1999 and we continue our studies on
ATP synthase. I am currently a senior research officer in
the ATP synthase group and manager of the Unit’s
protein crystallography facility.
Andrew Moore [email protected]
I joined the LMB in 2003 in Phil
Evans’ group; my task: crystallizing
phosphofructokinase-2. Finding it
extremely hard to get crystals
suitable for X-ray diffraction, I soon moved on to a more
challenging protein to crystallize: one involved in vesicle
fusion in yeast. But yeast wasn’t sexy enough, so I tried
my hand at co-expressing and crystallizing a complex of
the membrane-bound SNAREs and SNAP 25, involved in
neurotransmitter vesicle docking/fusion with the
pre-synaptic membrane in animals. That got me into
some really interesting mega-high-molecular weight
aggregating stuff that - whilst no good for crystallization
- was ideal for learning a variety of biochemical and
biophysical analytical techniques, from electron
microscopy, through ultra-centrifugation and circular
dichroism, to peptide digests and mass spec. With such
varied and copious data - and a pretty accurate
hypothesis as to the structure of the complex, and how it
worked in membrane fusion - I wrote up my PhD, and
thereafter studied dynamin for a while. After working as
a scientist in pharmaceutical trials for one year, I started a
9-year stint at the European Molecular Biology
Organization, Heidelberg, as manager of a programme
for science communication and policy, and as an editor of
EMBO reports. In 2008 I became Editor-in-Chief of
BioEssays, the reviews-and-features journal in cell and
molecular biology, in Weinheim, Germany.
Peter B. Moore [email protected]
I was a postdoctoral fellow in Hugh
Huxley’s group from the fall of
1967 to the spring of 1969. At the
time I got to Cambridge, David
DeRosier and Aaron Klug had just obtained a threedimensional model for the tail of bacteriophage T4
starting with an EM image of that structure embedded
in negative stain, a landmark achievement. My job was
to help David develop that technology further, and to
apply it to some of the EM images Hugh had of the
helical assemblies that are found in striated muscle.
These activities stimulated an interest in structural
biology that has motivated me ever since. From the
spring of 1969 onwards, I was a member of the faculty
at Yale. Determination of the three-dimensional
structures of RNAs, and most particularly the threedimensional structure of the ribosome was the
objective of most of the work my group did between
1969 and 2010, the year I retired.
Howard R. Morris [email protected]
PNAC 1972-1975 (Staff Member)
I joined LMB in late 1972 as a staff
member, having been called to
interview by Max Perutz and Fred
Sanger, who were interested to
apply the new MS strategies I’d developed to LMB’s
research. I spent three fruitful years working alongside
pioneers including Brian Hartley, Cesar Milstein and Ieuan
Harris. Mine was an unusual position insofar as the lab
had no mass spectrometer! The Chemical Laboratory,
where I’d started a small group in 1970, also wanted me
to stay and lead their mass spectrometry research.
Eventually, I retained lab space in Lensfield Road in
addition to Hills Road, and the MRC/LMB took ownership
of the MS902 instrument.
There followed exciting times developing the MS
technology in de novo sequencing projects including
Ribitol Dehydrogenase, Chloramphenicol Transacetylase,
the discovery of GLA in Prothrombin, and pivotal small
molecule work including the characterisation of the first
endogenous opiate in brain, Enkephalin. In 1975 Brian
Hartley was offered the Chain chair at Imperial and asked
me to join him. Although my Imperial career progressed
well, with appointment as Professor of Biological
Chemistry in 1980, HoD (’85-’88), and now Professor
Emeritus/Senior Research Investigator, I look back on my
Cambridge days with fond memories of the privilege of
working in a unique laboratory created by the vision of
Max Perutz and his contemporaries.
Brooke Morriswood [email protected]
2002-2006, working with Jake
Kendrick-Jones. At the time, the
group was researching the
functions of myosin VI in non-muscle cells, and my
project concerned the interaction of myosin VI with
TRAF6-binding protein (T6BP) and Nuclear Dot Protein
52 (NDP52). This interaction has subsequently been
shown to play a key role in autophagy. After finishing
my PhD, I joined the group of Graham Warren at Yale.
In 2008, the group relocated to the Max F. Perutz
Laboratories in Vienna, Austria, where I’ve been based
ever since. I wanted to do something a bit different for
my postdoc, and my project in Graham’s group has
focused on the cytoskeleton of the unicellular parasitic
protist Trypanosoma brucei (the causative agent of
Sleeping Sickness). I’ve been characterising a novel
cytoskeletal structure called the bilobe, and more
recently made a return to my roots and started looking
at the trypanosome myosins. All being well, I will start
my own group next year. While in Vienna, I’ve also
managed to export a little bit of LMB culture and have
been writing and directing a Christmas play for the
campus each December.
Angela Mott (Campbell then Mott) [email protected]
Structural Studies 1962-1969 (Computer Girl (from 1961))
I started in 1961 in the hut, working
for Michael Rossmann and using
EDSAC II in the Maths lab. I well
remember the exciting arrival of our
first card punch and the even more exciting departure to
the New Lab. When Michael joined the Brain Drain to
America in 1964 I was moved to Aaron’s group and
worked for Ken Holmes on TMV, often with John
Barrington Leigh. Ken encouraged me to learn programming which I did with much help from Tim Gossling who
had come from Ferranti to set up the Argus to run the
diffractometers. Francis Crick failed to teach me to skate
backwards when the Cam froze and Max gave us the day
off. We thrashed the scientific team at soft ball.
Densitometers churned out their traces and Nobel
celebrations over-ordered champagne. FORTRAN
versions came and went. I stayed happily at the Lab till
1969 often enduring cracks of “You still here!” from
revisiting scientists. After that I joined the MRC Computer
Unit in London then the Imperial Cancer Research Fund
and “ended up” an Information Specialist in the NHS.
Understanding, as I did, only about 1% of the science, it
was always the presence of Max which provided me with
the certainty of my extreme good fortune in being there
at that time. He was thrilled by it all, which was what
counted.
Ilka Mueller [email protected]
I trained as a chemist in Göttingen
(Germany) and got interested in
X-ray crystallography when
I joined George Sheldrick’s group
in 2000 for my final project. I stayed on for my PhD,
studying enzyme structure-function relationships.
I came to the LMB in 2004 to study nuclear pore
proteins with Murray Stewart. In 2007 I joined Sareum,
a local structure-based drug discovery company, where
I started to work as a structural biologist at the
interface between biology and computational
chemistry. Since 2008 I’m with BioFocus at the
Chesterford Research Park, who provide integrated and
stand-alone structural biology services to a diverse set
of clients, ranging from big pharma and biotech
companies to NGOs and university groups.
I’m occasionally returning to academia, as I’ve led the
Structural Biology module in the MPhil Programme in
Computational Biology at the DAMTP for the past two
years.
Sean Munro [email protected]
Cell Biology 1983-1987 (PhD), Cell Biology 1989-Current (Group Leader), Cell Biology
2012-Current (Head of Division)
In 1983 I came to the LMB to do a
PhD with Hugh Pelham. Despite
intending to study transcription
I worked instead on the function of heat shock proteins.
Our stumbling across the KDEL sequence that retains
proteins in the endoplasmic reticulum stimulated an
interest in membrane traffic, and after a postdoc with
Tom Maniatis at Harvard I returned to the LMB in 1989
to start my own lab in this area.
We investigate how proteins are directed to specific
organelles within the cell, with a particular focus on the
Golgi apparatus. After initially concentrating on the
integral membrane proteins of the Golgi, we have
mostly studied peripheral membrane proteins that are
recruited from the cytoplasm. Our findings have lead to
our current interest in the role of small G proteins as the
landmarks that allow different organelles to be
recognised by proteins and transport vesicles.
Alan Munro [email protected]
In 1960, I obtained my PhD
working with Asher Korner in
Cambridge. After a sabbatical
leave with Ed Lennox at the Salk
Institute, I decided to focus on cellular immunology and
was invited to join LMB in 1968 to set up a cellular
immunology programme looking at T cell B cell
interactions in vitro. After three years, I returned to the
University in 1971, to work in the Immunology Division
of the Pathology Department. Following a sabbatical
leave at Celltech plc in 1988, the following year I left the
University to co-found the successful Cambridge-based
biotech company Cantab Pharmaceuticals plc (now part
of Celtic Pharma), specialising in therapeutic vaccines
and immunotherapy. After 6 years as Cantab’s Chief
Scientific Officer in 1995, I left the Company and later
that year, became the Master of Christ’s College,
Cambridge. Since retiring from the College in 2002,
I have been fortunate in retaining various roles in the
Biotech industry and being involved in the interesting
interface of academia with industry. While I have
reduced these activities, I have retained my interests in
Immunology.
John Murray [email protected]
Structural Studies 1975-1977 (postdoc), Structural Studies 1978-1980
I came to the LMB as a post-doc
with Hugh Huxley doing timeresolved low-angle X-ray diffraction
of muscle. In the way of the LMB,
serendipity and chance conversations at morning coffee
or afternoon tea led to a second project with Sarah
Hitchcock looking for regulators of actin polymerization,
and a third with Nigel Unwin studying a membranemicrotubule complex by EM. None of these produced a
lasting record, but the time was a grand success because
I met my future wife, Kazuko Nishikura, a graduate
student from Japan working with Max Perutz. Both
romance and science were interrupted by a medical
residency back in the US for me and completion of her
PhD back in Japan for Kazuko. Science resumed with my
return to LMB as post-doc with Nigel, and when Kazuko
came back as a post-doc with Eddie de Robertis in John
Gurdon’s lab, life was perfect. We both went to Stanford
when Nigel moved, then on to faculty positions in
Philadelphia. At the University of Pennsylvania I
continued studying various cytoskeletal assemblies and
muscle by EM. In 2010, early retirement from UPenn and
moving to Indiana University as a de facto post-doc let
me go back to the lab bench full time, and life is again
nearly perfect. http://www.bio.indiana.edu/faculty/
directory/profile.php?person=murrayjo
Garib Murshudov [email protected]
I did my undergraduate studies in
the Azerbaijan State University in
Applied Mathematics and then
I did my PhD in the Institute of
Crystallography, Moscow. In 1993 I moved to the
University of York and started to work on development
of computational methods and their implementation
for Macromolecular Crystal Structure Analysis. Starting
from July 2012 I work at LMB as a leader of Computational Crystallography group (http://www2.mrc-lmb.
cam.ac.uk/group-leaders/h-to-m/garib-murshudov/).
The focus of my group’s research is on application of
mathematical, statistical and computational tools for
analysis of macromolecular three-dimensional structure
analysis. We try to use all available information
including computational chemical, structural and
various experimental data (MX, NMR, EM) to derive
reliable atomic models of macromolecules. Recently we
started working on interpretation of cryoEM maps using
chemically and structurally sensible atomic models.
It seems that models generated by cryoEM are now at
sufficiently high resolution to enable to build accurate
atomic models.
Alexey Murzin [email protected]
Structural Studies 1991-1993 (Visiting Scientist), Structural Studies 2009-(Group Leader)
I first came to the LMB in 1991
when I received an EMBO longterm fellowship to work with Cyrus
Chothia on the principles of protein
structure. Our collaboration and my informal affiliation
with the LMB continued after I moved to the CPE (Centre
for Protein Engineering) in 1993. In 1994 we, together
with Tim Hubbard and Steven Brenner, established the
Structural Classification of Proteins (SCOP) database, an
essential public resource for the investigation of protein
structures and sequences. SCOP is an ongoing project
that celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. It has been
central to my research on the discovery of new structural
and probable evolutionary relationships amongst
proteins of known structure and prompted many
successful collaborations with structural biologists and
other researchers all around the world. I returned to the
LMB in 2009 together with the dedicated SCOP group
that I started at the CPE in 2001.
Kiyoshi Nagai [email protected]
Structural Studies 1981-Current (Postdoc, Group Leader)
I first joined LMB as a visiting
student between September 1974
and April 1976 and worked with
John Kilmartin and Max Perutz.
In 1981 I returned to LMB and joined Max’s group as a
postdoc. My project was to produce mutant haemoglobins using oligo-nulceotide direct mutagenesis but
no one had yet over-produced eukaryotic proteins in
E. coli.
I developed a fusion protein expression vector and, with
Hans-Christian Thogersen, developed a method to
cleave fusion proteins specifically at the fusion junction
using factor Xa. I made human Hb mutants and carried
out functional and structural studies. I also worked on a
Zn-finger protein, myosin light chain. I became a group
leader (tenured) in 1987 and started to work on DNAand RNA-binding proteins. Since 1990 I have been
working on the spliceosome.
Atsushi Nakagawa [email protected]
I worked at the LMB with Phil Evans
and Filippo Mancia on the structure
analysis on methylmalonyl-CoA
mutase from 1994 to 1995.
Before I joined Phil’s group, I worked at the Photon
Factory, a synchrotron radiation facility in Japan.
After I returned to Japan, I joined Graduate School of
Science, Hokkaido University, and then moved to the
Institute for Protein Research, Osaka University in 1999.
My research group works on X-ray crystallography on
various proteins and virus particles. In addition to the
structural studies of biological macromolecules, we are
operating a synchrotron radiation beamline at SPring-8.
This beamline is designed for data collection of
diffraction data from crystals of large biological
macromolecular assemblies.
David Neuhaus [email protected]
I trained initially as an organic
chemist at Oxford and then Imperial
College, but I was always fascinated
by NMR spectroscopy and after my
PhD I moved to ETH Zürich for a postdoc with Kurt
Wüthrich. That was a particularly exciting time, learning
about protein structure determination by NMR just as the
technique was being developed. Next, during a postdoc
with Ray Freeman, l learned more about the fundamentals of the method. When Aaron Klug became
director, one of his initiatives was to bring NMR to LMB,
and in 1988 I was appointed to set up the technique and
collaborate with scientists throughout the lab on projects
where NMR could best contribute. I doubt there can be
many, if any, places better than LMB in which to follow that
job description, and essentially that is what I have been
doing ever since. The projects have been many and varied,
including work on DNA and RNA recognition, DNA repair
proteins and PAR (poly-adenosine ribose) recognition, as
well as proteins and interactions involved in splicing,
nuclear import/export, chromatin modification, F1
ATPase and vesicle trafficking. During my time at LMB
I have seen many structural techniques make huge
advances. This of course includes NMR, which offers a
unique window into solution structure, dynamics and
interactions, and which I am sure will continue to
complement the other methods available for studying
macromolecular complexes.
Heinz Neumann [email protected]
Postdoc with Jason W. Chin on
engineering orthogonal translation
systems. Junior Group Leader at
the University of Goettingen since
2009. We are using tools from Synthetic Biology,
especially the incorporation of unnatural amino acids, to
study the dynamic nature of chromatin.
http://www.uni-goettingen.de/de/121502.html
Petra Neumann-Staubitz (Neumann) [email protected]
My scientific career in the UK
started at the University of
Cambridge working on endocytosis
at the Biochemistry department.
Once, Leo James told of his theory how the cytosolically
expressed Fc-receptor TRIM21 sees its binding partners,
the antibodies.
It soundedd so interesting and novel that I wanted to
work on this project. As I came to the LMB I started on
the relationship of TRIM21 and Salmonella as an
antibody carrier. Later I went back to Germany,
continuing my scientific life. Currently, I am developing
and giving practical training for young students and
pupils at an institute called “Xlab”.
Duy Nguyen [email protected]
I arrived at LMB in October 2008 as
a Ph.D. student with Jason Chin,
working on directed evolution of
the pyrrolysyl-tRNA synthetase for
unnatural amino acid incorporation.
I am currently working as a postdoc with Jim Wells at
UCSF, aiming to integrate recent advances in genome
engineering with chemical biology approaches to
identify novel druggable cancer targets.
Ben Nichols [email protected]
Cell Biology 1996-1999 (Postdoc), Cell Biology 2001-Current (Group Leader)
I was a post-doc in Hugh Pelham’s
lab. We used yeast as a model to
study the role of SNARE proteins
in membrane fusion, and the role
of these proteins in the overall organisation of the
secretory pathway. Since 2001 I have had my own
group in the Cell Biology division.
We have studied two interlinked questions. How are
proteins and lipids organised in the plasma membrane,
and what are the mechanisms that mediate endocytosis from the plasma membrane? More recently we
have used mouse models to study caveolae, which may
have a very specialised role in endocytosis and other
aspects of plasma membrane homeostasis.
Penka Nikolova [email protected]
CPE 1996-2001 (Postdoctoral Fellow)
I obtained my PhD in biochemistry
from the university of Waterloo in
Canada in 1993. After finishing
NSERC of Canada postdoctoral work at the UBC 1994-96,
Vancouver, at the Protein Engineering Network of
Centres of Excellence, I joined the MRC CPE group of
Prof. Sir Alan R Fersht (Sept 1996-Dec 2001).
My research interests were in the field of protein
engineering, folding and disease using the tumour
suppressor p53 protein as a model system. Specifically,
I was interested to understand how key p53 cancerassociated mutations lead to abrogation of the p53
function. I have continued my research in the field of
p53 family of transcription factors and their role in
cancer and other human disorders at my current position
at King’s College London, School of Biomedical Sciences,
where I have been a Senior Biochemistry Lecturer and PI
since January 2002.
Ahuva Nissim [email protected]
CPE 1992-1995 (Postdoctoral Fellow)
I graduated in Molecular
Immunology in 1992 from the
Weizmann Institute of Science in
Israel and was trained as a
postdoctoral fellow at the MRC Centre for Protein
Engineering until 1995. During this period I built a
phage display semi-synthetic human antibody library.
In 1996 I became a scientist at the Hebrew University
and participated in development of molecular
therapeutics in a 50 million USD funded initiative.
In November 2000 I was appointed as a Senior Lecturer
at Queen Mary University of London, William Harvey
Research Institute.
My main research goal has been to develop the concept
that pathogenic proteins are in fact post-translationally
modified (PTM) proteins that are formed specifically in
the disease tissue. This platform technology led to the
discovery that antibodies to self-proteins (collagen type
II) modified by free radicals are novel biomarkers in
rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Based on this concept a
platform technology for targeting biotherapeutics
specifically to the diseased tissue namely, damaged
cartilage in RA was developed. Research into validation
of antibodies to PTM collagen type II is in advanced
stage. In addition, I continue developing new libraries
for diagnostic and immunotherapeutic application.
Markus Noll [email protected]
My first encounter with the LMB was
in summer 1971 when I presented
my work on bacterial protein
synthesis. For me, the LMB and
Cambridge were love at first sight. Luckily, I arrived at the
LMB as a one-year postdoc on October 1st, 1973. It was the
first day of the yearly LMB lab lectures, which gave me an
excellent overview of the work performed in the various
labs, the high quality of which deeply impressed me.
My second stroke of luck was that I was able to work
under the guidance of Francis Crick and, particularly,
Roger Kornberg who had weeks before arrived at a new
model of chromatin structure based on a chromatin
subunit, later called nucleosome. Finally, I was lucky that
in the tiny lab next to mine was Peter Lawrence who
worked on morphogenetic gradients and compartments
in Drosophila, which greatly influenced my later career.
Continuing work on chromatin, I started my own group
at the Biocenter in Basel in October 1975. In autumn 1982,
my small group and I switched from working on chromatin
to problems of Drosophila development and evolution.
In spring 1989, I moved with my group to the Institute for
Molecular Biology in Zurich, where we continued to work
on development and evolution, and began behavioral
studies, using Drosophila as model organism. Though
retired, I am still working on these problems.
Harry Noller [email protected]
PNAC 1965-1966 (Postdoc), PNAC 1976 (Sabbatical Visitor)
After doing my undergrad and
graduate studies at UC, Berkeley
and University of Oregon, I came to
the MRC as a postdoc to work with
Ieuan Harris on sequencing of glyceraldehyde-3phosphate dehydrogenase, at 333 amino acids the
largest protein sequence ever determined at the time.
The motivation came from crystals that had already
yielded high-resolution native and MIR datasets. But the
structure was solved only much later by Michael
Rossman, revealing the Rossman Fold. After a second
postdoc in Alfred Tissieres’ lab in Geneva, I took a faculty
position at UC, Santa Cruz, where I have worked on
ribosome structure and function ever since. My second
visit to the MRC was a sabbatical visit to Fred Sanger’s lab
in 1976 to learn DNA sequencing from Bart Barrell, which
we used to sequence the rRNA genes. The decision to
work on ribosomes was set by a conversation with
Sydney Brenner at a sherry party at King’s during my
postdoctoral stay in Cambridge. My time in Cambridge
has had a profound effect on my career. When I think of
“real science” and “real scientists” the MRC at that time
was the gold standard. I feel very lucky to have had the
opportunity to taste it first-hand.
Fiona Norwood [email protected]
I came to the LMB to study
dystrophin protein biochemistry
with Jake Kendrick-Jones. It was a
great oportunity to learn and apply
practical techniques and I spent three enjoyable years
doing this. I then returned to hospital work and, as time
has gone on, have developed a subspecialist clinic in
genetic muscle disease where I see patients with a wide
range of muscle disorders, some common such as
dystrophinopathies and some extremely rare. Having
been at the LMB with the chance to look in depth at
molecular pathogenesis continues to stand me in good
stead.
John O’Neill [email protected]
Neurobiology 2002-2006 (PhD Student), Neurobiology 2006-2007 (PostDoc), Cell Biology
2013-Current (Group Leader)
I joined the LMB in 2002, as a PhD
student with Michael Hastings,
when we investigated the role of
second messenger signalling in the mammalian
circadian pacemaker. This engendered my continuing
interest in understanding the cellular and molecular
mechanisms that underlie circadian rhythms and sleep.
Changing model organism to the picoeukaryotic alga
Ostreococcus tauri, I continued to study biological clocks
in a green context under the auspices of Andrew Millar
at the University of Edinburgh.
I then returned to Cambridge in order to work with
Akhilesh Reddy upon non-transcriptional mechanisms
of timekeeping, most notably in isolated human
erythrocytes. In 2011, I was awarded a Wellcome Trust
Career Development Fellowship to pursue these novel
post-translational oscillations. Last year I was delighted
to return to the (new) LMB as a group leader in the Cell
Biology division. At present my group is focused on
delineating the hierarchy of regulatory interactions
between metabolism, signal transduction and biological
rhythms in mammalian cells.
Sara O’Rourke [email protected]
I was a postdoc with PJG Butler
between 1994-1997, working on
the HIV envelope protein.
I am currently working on HIV vaccine development
and gene therapy as a Staff Scientist at the University of
California Santa Cruz.
Alessandra Oberto [email protected]
April 1999 - July 2000 Postdoctoral
Fellowship from “Marie Curie
Research Training Grant”,
Biotechnology program. LMB
(supervisor Dr William Wisden) Research projects: 1) in
situ hybridization analysis of the expression of Y1 receptor
mRNA in mice after anxiolytic and anxiogenic drug
treatments. 2) Molecular biology techniques for making
knock out mice using homologous recombination in
Embryonic Stem cells. 2001-2003: Guest worker, MaxPlanck–Institute, Heidelberg. Laboratory of Molecular
Neurobiology of Dr Rolf Sprengel. Research projects:
1)generation of conditional Y1R knock out transgenic
mice using the doxicyclin regulated tet off system.
2) generation of Y1RVenus/Y5RtTA transgenic mice.
2001-to date: Assistant professor in Pharmacology and
Toxicology, Department of Neuroscience, Medical School,
University of Turin. From 2010 the laboratory has moved
to the NICO: Neuroscience Institute Cavalieri-Ottolenghi,
Cavalieri-Ottolenghi Foundation, Orbassano. Research
Interests: Functional interaction between GABAergic and
NPYergic transmission in the amygdala in Y1R/LacZ
transgenic mice. The hypothalamic circuit of food
behavior, leptin and NPY. Generation of Y1R conditional
knock-out mice, using the doxicycline regulated tet/off
system and Cre/loxP recombinase, to better understand
the importance of Y1R in the regulation of anxiety
behavior. Y1 and Y5 receptors gene modification for the
creation of mouse models for the study of anxiety, stress
and food disorders. Epigenetic mechanisms that regulate
cell differentiation during embryonic development.
Maternal care as a tool to study epigenetic modification
of Y1R gene. http://www.nico.ottolenghi.unito.it/
Arkadiusz Oleksy (Arek) [email protected]
I received my Ph.D. degree from
University of Wroclaw (Poland),
working on structural mechanisms
of specificity of nucleotide exchange
factors (GEFs) acting on Rho GTPases with Prof. Jacek
Otlewski. During this time I acquired an expertise in
diverse biochemical and biophysical methods to study
protein structure, stability and protein-protein interactions.
I arrived at LMB in 2009 to start my Career Development
Fellowship with Dr Roger Williams, in one of the worldleading research groups in the structural characterisation
of phosphatidylinositol-3 kinases (PI3Ks). It was always
a great pleasure to work for Roger and despite the
relatively short time of my stay at LMB (15 months)
I managed to contribute substantially to studies on
regulation mechanism of Vps34 kinase. Furthermore,
I was also privileged to closely collaborate with Greg
Winter’s group on a bicycle inhibitors project. At the end
of 2010 I left LMB to work for Isogenica, a drug discovery
company south of Cambridge. Currently, I am a Senior
Scientist at MRC Technology (Mill Hill, London).
Maria A. Oliva (Marian) [email protected]
Structural Studies 2003 (Visiting PhD Student), Structural Studies 2005-2009 (Postdoc)
During my PhD at the CSIC (Spain)
I studied the function of essential
cell cytomotive elements. I found
that structural studies are key to
understanding the conformational changes involved in
the dynamicity of those filaments. A short stay of 5
months in Jan Löwe’s lab in 2003 introduced me into the
amazing world of protein structure determination by
X-ray crystallography. At the end of my PhD in 2005
I decided to rejoin Jan’s group to get further skills in
crystallography and study different aspects of the
bacterial cytoskeleton. After 4 years of postdoctoral
research, I moved back to Spain in 2009 as Junior
Researcher, undertaking the study of type III DNA
segregation machinery. There are many questions to
answer related to the functional mechanism of
molecular machines. Now, I am seeking new challenges
but always taking into account that the diversity of
biological functions are linked to protein 3D structures.
Mary Osborn [email protected]
Cell Biology 1969-1972 (Staff Scientist)
I have had the good fortune to
work on many different systems :
SDS gels at Harvard in Jim Watson`s
lab, in vitro protein synthesis at
LMB, SV40 T antigen at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
and cytoskeletal structures in mammalian cells after
joining the MPI for biophysical Chemistry in 1975.
In Göttingen antibodies specific for actin, tubulin and
the different intermediate filament proteins allowed
Klaus Weber and I to document the distribution and
function of microfilaments, microtubules and
intermediate filaments using immunofluorescence
microscopy and resulted in strikingly beautiful images of
their arrangements in cultured cells. We could show that
intermediate filaments in different cell types are built
from distinct but related proteins and that intermediate
filament proteins can distinguish the major tumor types
and therefore are useful markers in the differential
diagnosis of human tumors. Later work focussed on
NuMA and on RNA interference before I stopped running
an active lab in 2005. Somehow there was also time for
other activities e.g. chair of the scientific advisory board
at EMBL, a trustee of the Foundation for Strategic
Environmental Research in Stockholm and President of
the International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular
Biology (IUBMB). Most fun were the juries concerned
with funding young scientists to start their own
independent research programs and a 20 year
commitment to speaking out on the issue of Women
and Science. https://www.mpibpc.mpg.de/de/osborn
Godson Osuji [email protected]
Professor Godson Osuji: PhD
Biochemistry, 1975, from the
University of East Anglia, Norwich,
England. I was a British Commonwealth scholar, 1972-1975 at the John Innes Institute,
Norwich, England. I hold B.Sc. Chemistry, 1971, from the
University of Ibadan, Nigeria. I received MRC Laboratory
of Molecular Biology post-doctoral fellowship, 1975/76 to
conduct research under Dr. Fred Sanger as he was fondly
addressed. I met Dr. Nigel Brown working for Dr. Sanger,
and I left before him. Nigel was excellent in sequencing.
Coulson, A.R. was highly skilled in casting sequencing gels.
Several international scientists created friendly research
ferment there. I returned to Nigeria in September 1976 to
the Department of Biochemistry, University of Nigeria,
Nsukka. In 1982 I was appointed a full Professor of
Biochemistry, Anambra State University of Technology,
Enugu, Nigeria, where I served as pioneering Head of
Department of Applied Biochemistry, Dean of Graduate
School, and in 1985/86 I received Fulbright visiting
Professorship for research on sweet potato and yam tuber
metabolism at the USDA SRRC, New Orleans, Louisiana,
USA. From 1989 to date, I have been a research scientist,
Prairie View A&M University, Prairie View, Texas, USA; and
my research has unfolded the molecular processes
(metabolic permutation) by which plant metabolism
circumvent and mitigate some adverse effects of climate
change. Metabolic permutation biotechnology is now
being applied to maximize and to double crop yields for
improved food security.
Justin Pachebat [email protected]
I was a PhD student at the NIMR
working on malaria proteins
involved in red blood cell invasion.
Straight after that I moved to Paul
Dear’s Single Molecule Genomics Lab at the LMB to
work on the Dictyostelium discoideum genome HAPPY
map as part of the genome consortium. This was a
technically challenging project which involved
manipulation of sub-genomic quantities of DNA, whole
genome amplification steps, multiplex PCR and many
thousands of hemi-nested PCRs and acrylamide gels, as
well as weeks on the computer performing linkage
analyses and coordinating with genome sequencing
centres. The lab work was aided by the ‘Beast’ - a
multifunctional robot designed and built by Paul which
is still the most adaptable and useful lab robot I have
ever come across. The Dictyostelium community were
very friendly and welcoming; 14 years later I still
collaborate with Rob Kay and Gareth Bloomfield. I have
many pleasant memories of the old LMB building, lunch
in the CPE/PNAC coffee room, playing in the badminton
and squash ladders, 5-a-side football, and the pleasure
of being in a cerebral environment where you could just
bounce ideas off each other. I learned a huge amount
under Paul’s guidance and still apply many of the single
molecule techniques we developed to my current
research on microbial meta-genomics and clinical
diagnostics at Aberystwyth.
Michael Pacold [email protected]
From 1999 to 2002 I was a PhD
student in Roger Williams’
laboratory. I’m currently a
Radiation Oncologist at the
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and a postdoctoral fellow
in the laboratories of David Sabatini (Whitehead
Institute, MIT) and Nathanael Gray (Dana-Farber).
I’m interested in developing inhibitors of metabolic
enzymes essential for the survival and progression of
malignancies and studying the effects of these
inhibitors on intermediary metabolism by mass
spectrometry.
Bojana Panic [email protected]
After obtaining my BSc in
Molecular Biology at Belgrade
University I came to Cambridge.
I spent four fruitful years in Sean
Munro’s lab where I really enjoyed doing science and
spending time with my lab mates. I collaborated
extensively with Olga Perisic and Roger Williams which
gave me the opportunity to have a closer look into
protein structure. In 2003 I was awarded the Max Perutz
prize of which I am very proud.
My decision to go back to my homeland, Belgrade,
Serbia, has changed my career and directed it to applied
science. Since 2000, I have worked in the field of
Forensics. First, I worked for the Serbian Police Force
(2000-2004), following which I co-founded and have
been running a private company (www.dnk.rs).
The company specialises in various DNA analyses:
forensic and medical. The work is not as exciting as
research but I feel pleased whenever my DNA analyses
help to solve a crime or to establish a proper diagnosis.
Monika Papworth [email protected]
I received my first degree in Biology
from the University of Warsaw,
Poland and moved to the UK to
undertake a PhD project in the
molecular biology of EBV at the Paterson Institute for
Cancer Research in Manchester. Following a postdoctoral
project on HSV1 at the Marie Curie Research Institute
I joined Aaron Klug’s Group at the LMB in 1998. It was a
triumphant time for applications of zinc fingers with the
formation of Gendaq Ltd in 1999, to which a number of
Aaron’s research staff moved over the next 2 years. As a
biologist in Structural Studies I was surrounded by
biochemists and mathematicians but they all made me
feel very welcome. Initially I applied my virology
experience to work on a model system of inhibition of
HSV1 by designer zinc-finger transcription factors. Later,
my colleague Michal Minczuk and I initiated a project on
the use of designer zinc-finger nucleases for therapy of
mitochondrial diseases (we wrote the project proposal
for Aaron on a napkin in LMB canteen). Michal and I
were Aaron’s last 2 post-docs. In 2006, when Aaron’s
group finally folded, I moved to CAT (now MedImmune)
where I still work as a scientist in the Aaron Klug
Building!
Lori Passmore [email protected]
Structural Studies 2004-2009 (Postdoc), Structural Studies 2009-Current (Group Leader)
After completing my PhD with
David Barford in London, I came to
LMB as a postdoc in 2004 to work
with Venki Ramakrishnan and
Richard Henderson. During this time, I studied the
structure of the yeast small ribosomal subunit by
electron microscopy. I was fascinated by how and why
proteins stably associate into large complexes, and
function together in fundamental cellular processes.
I started my own lab at LMB in 2009 to investigate the
molecular mechanisms of the multiprotein complexes
that mediate mRNA polyadenylation and
deadenylation. We are studying the structures of these
complexes as well their activities and regulation to gain
insight into how they regulate gene expression.
KJ Patel [email protected]
PNAC 1989 -1994 (PhD), PNAC 1996-1999 (Postdoc), PNAC 1999-Current (Group Leader)
I consider myself very much an
LMB lifer. I came up from London
having trained as a liver physician
to do a PhD with Michael
Neuberger. At the time my vocation was to get my
research under my belt and then climb up some greasy
academic pole in a teaching hospital. The three and half
years working for Michael completely transformed me
into a scientist – he was inspirational to work for.
I completed my PhD in B cell immunology and then
made the mistake to go back to a hospital. This did not
last long because I returned to the LMB to start a post
doc with Ashok Venkitaraman – whom I had known
when he was Michael’s post-doc. Ashok was then a
tenure track scientist and in fact he had taken over room
5005 in the old LMB from Michael. I was involved in
showing that BRCA2 – a common gene mutated in
inherited breast cancer – was a DNA repair protein.
Ashok moved out of lab 5005 and Terry Rabbits offered
me a tenure track post at the LMB in 1999. So I started
out my independent career in room 5005. I have been
working on inherited defects in DNA repair since then,
our most well known work claims to explain how
alcohol damages DNA. I moved out of 5005 last year
into the wonderful new LMB.
Marta Paterlini [email protected]
Neurobiology 1998-2000 (Postdoc), 1997-1998 (Visiting PhD Student from Italy)
I am a neurobiologist and
freelance science writer based in
Stockholm. I have a PhD in
neuroscience and have worked at
LMB as a visiting PhD student from Italy and then as a
postdoc in Bill Wisden’s lab between 1997 and 2000.
After my five years postdoc at Rockefeller University in
New York, where I focused on the molecular basis of
schizophrenia, I moved to Stockholm.
Currently, I am part of the faculty of the Human
Regenerative Map Project at Karolinska Institute.
I hold a master in science communication from the
International School of Advanced Studies, Trieste, Italy
and I collaborate with international magazines such as
Science, Nature, The Lancet and EMBO Reports.
And, most importantly, I wrote a book, “Piccole Visioni”
(Small Visions) the history of structural biology through
the life of Nobel Laureate Max Perutz!
James Paulson [email protected]
In 1975, while working on
bacteriophage T4 assembly with Uli
Laemmli in Princeton, I attended
the course on Image Processing of
Electron Micrographs organized by Aaron Klug and Tony
Crowther in Cambridge. After the course, I stayed on at
LMB for several weeks to apply those methods to my
micrographs of T4 head precursor particles. I completed
my Ph.D. on phage in 1976, spent another year with Uli as
a postdoc doing electron microscopy of histone-depleted
chromosomes, and came to the LMB in the fall of 1977 for
what turned out to be a 4 year postdoc. My major project
involved low angle X-ray diffraction of cells, nuclei, and
mitotic chromosomes, a collaboration with John
Langmore. However, while at LMB I also became
interested in the enzymes involved in histone
phosphorylation and dephosphorylation at mitosis.
Since 1984 I have been in the Department of Chemistry
at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. Although my
primary role is teaching biochemistry to undergraduates,
I have also continued studies of histone phosphorylation,
chromosome structure and condensation, and exit from
mitosis using vertebrate cells and yeast. I have been
fortunate to be able to spend very useful sabbaticals in
the laboratories of Jean Thomas in Cambridge, Viesturs
Simanis in Lausanne, and Bill Earnshaw in Edinburgh.
Dominique Payet Bornet (Payet) [email protected]
I was a PhD student at the Centre
de Biophysique Moléculaire
(Orléans-France) working on the
antitumoral drug cisplatin under
the supervision of Marc Leng. Then between 1995 and
1998 I performed my post-doctoral training in Andrew
Travers group, LMB Cell Biology division. I investigated
the interaction of HMG-D protein with DNA. After 4
years at LMB, I moved back to France and joined the
Centre d’Immunologie de Marseille Luminy (CIML).
At CIML, I am a CNRS researcher and my main interests
are immature T-cells. First, I investigated the regulation
of V(D)J recombination which is the process generating
antigenic receptor diversity. Now, I’m mainly focused on
oncogenic networks of T-cell Acute Lymphoblastic
Leukemias (T-ALL) which are malignant proliferations of
T-cell progenitors abnormally arrested at various stages
of their maturation.
Hugh Pelham [email protected]
Cell Biology 1981-Current (Group Leader), Cell Biology 1992-2006
(Head of Division (Joint to 1995)), 2006-Current (Director)
Biochemistry Department at
Cambridge University, working on
in vitro translation with Richard Jackson and Tim Hunt.
There followed two years at the Carnegie Institution in
Baltimore, learning about the transcription of 5S rRNA
genes with Donald Brown, before I came to LMB as a
group leader in 1981. Apart from a sabbatical in Zürich
in 1987/8, I have been here ever since. Initially I worked
on the transcriptional control of heat shock genes, but
became interested in the functions of the heat shock
proteins, and their relatives in the endoplasmic
reticulum (such as BiP, which we initially cloned by
accident). Wondering why these resident ER proteins
were not secreted led to an interest in the rapidly
developing field of membrane traffic, and many years of
unravelling the machinery and principles of membrane
protein sorting and targeting, in both yeast and animal
cells. Latterly, we have concentrated on the role of
ubiquitination in protein sorting, and have spent some
time trying to make inhibitors of ubiquitin ligases.
In recent years I also spent a lot of time on the enjoyable
but immense project of the new LMB building, which
happily we are now enjoying.
Inmaculada Pérez-Dorado [email protected]
I did my PhD at the Institute of
Physical Chemistry Rocasolano of the
Spanish Research Council in Madrid
under the supervision of Prof. Juan
A. Hermoso. The focus of my pre-doctoral research was
the structural characterization of Choline-Binding Proteins
(CBPs) using X-ray crystallography. CBPs are involved in
host-pathogen interactions in Streptococcus pneumoniae
and pneumococcal phages. They are virulence factors and
very interesting pharmacological targets. I also worked on
the crystallographic characterization of redox proteins from
diverse organisms participating in fundamental processes
such as photosynthesis (Anabaena) or nitrogen fixation
(Rhodobacter capsulatus). After finishing my PhD, I joined
the LMB as a postdoctoral researcher to apply X-ray
crystallography under the supervision of Dr. Phil Evans
(2009-2013). During this time I was interested in proteins
involved in membrane trafficking and membrane
biogenesis events. The focus of my studies was the
characterization of the human complex of Rab32 and its
effector Varp, which is involved in melanosome biogenesis.
After my postdoc at the LMB I decided to go back to the
study of host-pathogen interactions in order to center my
own future research on proteins with pharmacological
importance and the search of novel antimicrobial
compounds. For that purpose, I have joined Dr. Ernesto
Cota’s group at Imperial College London as a postdoctoral
researcher to work on host-pathogen interactions in
Candida albicans and acquire additional skills to conduct
my own line of research.
Richard Perham [email protected]
PNAC 1962-1965 (PhD (and from 1961 in pre-LMB days)
I began as a PhD student in 1961 in
Fred Sanger’s MRC group in the
Department of Biochemistry,
University of Cambridge, working
with Ieuan Harris on glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate
dehydrogenase. Fred’s group were founder members of the
new MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, formally opened
in May 1962. After a post-doc as a Helen Hay Whitney
Fellow with Fred Richards at Yale, working on tobacco
mosaic virus, I returned to the Department of Biochemistry
successively as Lecturer (1969), Reader (1976) and Professor
of Structural Biochemistry (1989). As Head of Department
I was particularly pleased to oversee the construction of the
new Sanger Building in Tennis Court Road and opened by
Fred himself in 1997. My research interests have centred on
molecular machines and self-assembly, in particular the
structure and mechanism of multifunctional enzymes and
complexes (dynamics and design, substrate channelling
and swinging arms on mobile domains), and helical viruses
(TMV, filamentous bacteriophage capsids, molecular tape
measures and novel forms of DNA packaging). We have
successfully exploited both cubic point group and helical
structures as molecular scaffolds for multiple peptide and
protein display, in vaccine design and as molecular devices.
Svend Petersen-Mahrt [email protected]
Although I was born in Hamburg
Germany, my life’s stopovers in
Texas, Boston, and Uppsala
ensured that prior to my arrival at
the LMB in 1999, I had been fully internationalised.
As a post-doc at the LMB, I had the privilege to work in
the lab of Michael Neuberger in the PNAC devision; with
the unique environment of the LMB providing me with
the scientific breakthrough and colleagues for a lifelong
scientific career. In Michael’s lab we uncovered the
mechanism of mutagenic antibody diversification via
DNA deaminases, providing a stepping stone for many
careers within his group.
Moving a few miles south, I was then heading up a
laboratory at Cancer Research UK’s London Research
Institute. Here we uncovered that cytosine deaminases
can also influence the epigenome through the
induction of DNA demethylation, induce genome
instability during meiosis, while at the same time
identifying the DNA deaminases as mutagens that can
be stimulated by the environment. Understanding the
physiological balance of the DNA deaminases, on the
one side aiding the immune system and epigenetics on
the other inducing oncogenic transformation, is also the
focus of my current lab at the IFOM in Milan, where
translational research meets the patient.
John Petruska [email protected]
Structural Studies 1975-1976 (LMB Visiting Scholar)
My sabbatical year in Cambridge as
LMB Visiting Scholar, 1975-76, was a
highlight of my life and that of my
wife Marti and sons David and Mark.
Having studied the important structural protein collagen,
as Caltech post-doc and USC tenured professor, I now
had the opportunity to transition from protein to DNA
studies. Since collagen has GlyPro repeated at amino
acid intervals of 3, 6, 9, etc., I proposed to find collagen
gene fragments of 9, 18, 27 bp, etc., by using a restriction
enzyme that cuts DNA at GGXCC encoding GlyPro.
Although a GGXCC-cutting enzyme was not available,
Fred Sanger provided HaeIII that cuts GGCC, a possible
GGXCC component if X = G or C. By digesting calf DNA
with HaeIII, I obtained a very intense band at 18 bp, but
much lower intensity at 9 bp and 27 bp indicated a
source other than collagen genes. Examination of longer
fragments revealed that the 18 bp band came from a very
abundant 1400 bp unit repeated in tandem arrays called
calf Satellite I DNA. Although the huge abundance of
Satellite I DNA obscured the less abundant collagen
genes, it raised interesting questions, such as “how are
such repetitive DNA sequences formed in genomes?”.
After returning to USC, I began to study the enzymology
of DNA mutagenesis and repeat expansion, in an effort to
explore the biochemistry of evolution.
Sabine Petry [email protected]
I was a PhD student with Venki
Ramakrishnan at the LMB and
joined Venki’s lab shortly after the
structures of the small and large
ribosomal subunits were solved. The next challenge
was to understand how translation factors drive protein
synthesis on the 70S ribosome, which was an exciting
time in the lab. My thesis research focused on
understanding how class I release factors recognize stop
codons in the ribosomes using X-ray crystallography.
For my post-doctoral research, I joined Ron Vale’s lab at
UCSF, where I pursued the study of a less understood
and larger molecular entity, the mitotic spindle.
My research focused on understanding how
microtubule nucleation is regulated in the mitotic
spindle. It led to the discovery of a new microtubule
nucleation mechanism, in which microtubules arise by
nucleation from existing microtubules, which helps
explain many unresolved aspects of how the mitotic
spindle is assembled. I recently started my own lab in
the Molecular Biology Department at Princeton
University (http://molbio.princeton.edu/labs/petry).
My lab combines high-resolution microscopy methods
along with structural studies to study how the
microtubule cytoskeleton builds cellular structures.
Simon Phillips [email protected]
Structural Studies 1976-1982 (Researcher)
I was a postdoctoral fellow in the
chemistry department at the
University of British Columbia in 1976
when I met Max Perutz, who was
there on a short sabbatical. I came to the LMB later that
year to work with Max on the X-ray crystal structures of
oxymyoglobin and mutant variants of haemoglobin.
I managed to obtain a neutron crystal structure of oxymyoglobin using data collected during a brief stay at the
Brookhaven National Laboratory (USA). We also worked
with Don Abraham on binding of potential anti-sickling
drugs to haemoglobin. I became increasingly interested in
computing and refinement, and spent some time getting
Jack-Levitt refinement up on the new LMB VAX computer.
I left LMB to join Roberto Poljak at the Institut Pasteur (Paris)
for a couple of years where, with Roy Mariuzza, we solved
the crystal structure of the first protein antigen-antibody
complex, which helped Greg Winter with his early designs
for humanized antibodies. I had to come back to LMB for
the initial model building because we had no molecular
graphics at the Pasteur. I then spent many years at the
University of Leeds, working on protein-DNA and -RNA
complexes (repressors, activators, restriction enzymes and
resolvases), virus structures and structural enzymology.
I am now back in the MRC fold at the Research Complex at
Harwell working on resolvases, DNA repair and drug design.
Roger Phillips [email protected]
My first post-doctoral job was in
86/87 with Carlos Cabrera and
Peter Lawrence in the LMB,
working on the Drosophila
wingless gene which had been cloned the year before
by Nick Baker. Carlos was an impressive teacher of
molecular biology which was all new to me and it is a
great loss to science that he died so young.
After this year I moved to the University of Sussex to
work with Robert Whittle on the patched gene. And I
have been here ever since! For the last decade, I have
been teaching microscopy and facility manager for the
Sussex Centre for Advanced Microscopy. I continue to
use flies as a model system in developing new microscopy techniques. I am currently working on a Light
Sheet Microscope for fluorescent lifetime imaging.
George Pieczenik [email protected]
PNAC 1972-1987 (Visitor)
George Pieczenik came to LMB
(1972-73) as a visitor, during his
graduate student years while he
was a Ph.D. student at Mount Sinai
Hospital in New York with Len Ornstein and Baruch
Davis, and for shorter periods subsequently. He made
early contributions and has patents in the field of
combinatorial peptide libraries. He published two
papers from his time at LMB. The first involved a study
of RNA in bacteriophage φ80-infected cells with Bart
Barrell and Malcolm Gefter. His second paper, coauthored with Francis Crick, Sydney Brenner and Aaron
Klug, was unique in having three Nobel prize-winning
coauthors. It presented “A speculation on the origin of
protein synthesis” and discussed the early nature of the
genetic code. Since then, he has worked on a variety of
topics in molecular biology with a strong emphasis on
novel ideas. During Norton Zinder’s last years, they
collaborated on various combinatorial phage library
experiments of great import.
Olivier Pierrat [email protected]
My past and current expertise is the
development of biochemical and
cellular assays, enabling high
throughput screening for
modulators (inhibitors or activators) of enzyme activities.
As such, my project at the LMB, in the laboratory of
Matthew Freeman, consisted of assay development and
screening for rhomboid intramembrane protease, a
non-validated drug target. My current employment at
the Institute of Cancer Research is very much in line with
biochemical assay development and HTS. This time I am
targeting a protein-protein interaction: this class of target
is the focus of attention of many groups involved in cell
signalling and cancer.
Stephanie Pilkington [email protected]
PNAC 1987-1994 (PhD Student, Postdoc)
My time at the LMB was spent
cloning, sequencing and
attempting to express mitochondrial polypeptides, in John
Walker’s very friendly group. After finishing at the LMB,
I moved into the pharmaceutical industry, working on
inflammatory conditions at Fisons, which became part
of Astra. Whilst there, my interest in Intellectual
Property developed, and in 1997 I joined Eric Potter
Clarkson (now Potter Clarkson LLP) in Nottingham as a
trainee patent attorney. Seventeen years later I am still
there, now as qualified Chartered Patent Attorney and
European Patent Attorney, and recently-appointed
Board member. My IP experience covers a wide range of
biomedical technologies, from molecular biology to
medical devices, for clients ranging from individual
inventors to SMEs to multinationals. It is a privilege to
work (as during my time at the LMB) with such a range
of talented and driven people, on an ever-changing
array of scientific, commercial and legal challenges.
Much of my work involves advising on filing and
prosecution strategy as well as oppositions, appeals and
due diligence. An intense and rewarding experience is
representing clients in person at hearings before the
European Patent Office, for example. A particular
interest is advising on IP aspects of personalised and
stratified medicine, which I have been doing for many
years, for both industrial and academic clients.
Vitor Pinheiro [email protected]
PNAC 2006-2013 (Career Development Fellow and Investigator Scientist)
I started my post-doctoral career in
2006 when I joined the LMB to work
with Phil Holliger on the engineering
of DNA polymerases. The work
successfully demonstrated that synthetic nucleic acids
(XNAs) can be developed into novel genetic materials.
Alongside the work, I helped start the LMB’s postdoctoral association. I left in 2013 to start my own
group at UCL and to continue exploring the limits of
how biology stores and transfers information, including
establishing an XNA episome in vivo.
http://vbpinheiro.wordpress.com/
Benjamin Podbilewicz [email protected]
I was a postdoc at the LMB with John
White. I pioneered the studies of
cell-to-cell fusion during C. elegans
development. Cell fusion is essential
for fertilization and the formation of diverse organs (e.g.
bones, placenta, muscles, eye lens). Previously, I studied
Chemistry Bacteriology and Parasitology at the Instituto
Politecnico Nacional in Mexico City. I did my PhD at Yale
with Ira Mellman studying endocytosis and transferrin
recycling in vitro. Since 1996, I have been at the TechnionIsrael Institute of Technology in Haifa.
Our lab investigates how cells fuse to sculpt organs and
we found the first family of cell fusion proteins. We are
uncovering the mechanisms of cell membrane fusion
using worms, cells in culture, pseudotyped viruses and
cell free systems. We found that the fusion protein EFF-1
also self-fuses and sculpts dendrites in arborized neurons
in C. elegans. In collaboration with the lab of Felix Rey
(Pasteur), we recently discovered the structural basis of
eukaryotic cell fusion, 20 years after our first report
describing cell fusions at the LMB.
Liz Pryke (Madgett) [email protected]
PNAC 2003-2007 (PhD Student), Operations 2007-Current
(Postgraduate & Public Engagement Manager)
I came to LMB in October 2003
and completed my PhD in PNAC
under the supervision of Kevin
Hiom, focusing on checkpoint function and replication
dynamics in brca1 and bard1 DT40 cells. During my
PhD I was co-president of the GSA and realized I was
more suited to organizing events and people than a
career as an academic, but I still wanted to stay
associated with science. I looked into roles such as
managing grants and scientific event management,
and then the new role of Postgraduate and Public
Engagement Manager was advertised at LMB near the
end of my third year, to which I applied and was
successful. In January 2007 I began my new role
managing the PhD programme and public engagement
at LMB, and I stopped carrying out bench work. My
role includes ensuring the LMB recruits world-class
students who successfully complete their PhD,
coordinating and supporting all public engagement
activities such as science festival exhibits and school
activities, and managing LMB external communications
including the website and LMB news. It’s a really varied
and interesting role, and I very much enjoy working
with many different people at LMB.
Pamela Rabbitts (Hamlyn) [email protected]
Having completed my Ph.D in the
Biophysics Department of Kings
College London, in 1975 I joined
the PNAC division of LMB as a
post-doc, supervised by César Milstein and George
Brownlee, working on the structure of immunoglobulin
genes by developing a method for sequencing RNA.
In 1981, I moved to the adjacent, newly opened, Ludwig
Institute working with Terry Rabbitts, extending the
interest in Ig genes to their involvement in chromosomal
trans-locations seen in Burkitt’s lymphoma. I maintained
my interest in tumour-related chromosomal abnormalities after I moved to the MRC Clinical Oncology and
Radiotherapeutics Unit in 1988, again adjacent to LMB,
but switched to searching for genes located in common
deleted regions in lung tumours. When the MRC Unit
closed in 1996, I continued this work as an external
member of MRC staff in the Cambridge University
Department of Oncology creating mouse models,
recapitulating chromosomal damage seen in human
lung tumours, together with Terry Rabbitts and Andrew
Smith. In 2004, I left Cambridge to work at UCL and then
Leeds Institute of Molecular Medicine taking a more
translational approach to the role of chromosomal
abnormalities in cancer.
http://www.precancer.leeds.ac.uk
Terence Rabbitts (Terry) [email protected]
PNAC 1973-2006 (Group Leader), PNAC 1988-2002 (Head of Division)
I was a PhD student at the National
Institute for Medical Research, Mill
Hill working on mitochondrial
nucleic acids from 1971-1973.
While at Mill Hill, I became interested in antibody diversity,
stimulated by Peter Medawar’s immunology work. I spent
a year in the Dept of Genetics, Edinburgh, starting my
work on antibody genes that became my main research
interest when I moved to join César Milstein’s group at LMB
in 1973. I was an LMB PNAC Group Leader from 1976-2006
and Joint Head of the PNAC Division from 1988-2002.
I was involved in planning of the new LMB building and
Ares. I chaired the SAB of Cambridge Antibody Technology
until its IPO. At the LMB, I developed cDNA cloning, a gene
map for human antibody genes, chimaeric antibodies (with
Michael Neuberger), gene knock-in technology and de
novo chromosomal translocation mimics. Working on
human antibody and T cell receptor genes led us to
discover new chromosomal translocation oncogenes
responsible for T cell cancers and subsequently to work on
new technologies for cancer therapy using antibody
fragments (macrodrugs) inside cells. Recent developments
synthesising small molecule emulators of single domains,
suggest a new generation of therapeutics that may be
used to combat chromosomal translocation protein
products. http://www.imm.ox.ac.uk/prof-terence-rabbitts
Cristina Rada [email protected]
PNAC 1989-1993 (PhD Student), PNAC 1994-1998 (Postdoc), PNAC 1999-2006 (Researcher),
PNAC 2006-Current (Joint Group Leader)
I trained as a medical doctor in Madrid
(Spain), at the Universidad Autonoma,
but was attracted to basic science and
Immunology, spending a couple of summer holidays in the
laboratory of Jonathan Howard in Cambridge. In 1998 after
qualifying I joined Trinity College and the LMB as a PhD
student. I was hooked on the intriguing question of
antibody diversity and the molecular basis of mutation and
on the exciting atmosphere around César Milstein (my PhD
mentor) in the Division of Protein and Nucleic Acid
Chemistry. Understanding the molecular basis of antibody
mutation and latterly on the mechanisms that promote
mutagenesis in the immune system has proven a long-term
project. I remained in the LMB and in 2006 joined forces
with Michael Neuberger as a principal investigator. We
shared a lab and the same scientific interests until late 2013,
when the antibody producing cells that we studied for years
overwhelmed Michael and sadly multiple myeloma ended
his brilliant life. There are still a lot of fun questions to
answer while trying to understand how the immune system
deals with nucleic acids and how mutation and
inflammation feed off each other in the development of
cancer. I hope that the next years will remain as exciting for
my work and for the LMB as its fantastic past.
Venki Ramakrishnan [email protected]
Structural Studies 1999-Current (Group Leader), Structural Studies 2005-Current
(Joint Head of Division), 2013-Current (Deputy Director)
After initially obtaining a Ph.D. in
physics at Ohio University, Venki
Ramakrishnan switched to studying
biology in 1976 as a graduate student at the University of
California, San Diego. His interest in ribosomes dates
back to 1978 when began work as a postdoc at Yale
University in the laboratory of Peter Moore (himself an
LMB alumnus). He began his independent career at
Brookhaven National Laboratory in 1983. Following a
sabbatical year at the LMB in 1991-2 to learn crystallography, he moved to the University of Utah in 1995 to
become a professor of biochemistry. Finally, in 1999, he
moved to his current position as a scientist at the MRC
Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, England.
In the past, he has also been interested in chromatin
structure and in X-ray crystallographic methods.
He currently focuses entirely on ribosome structure and
function. In 2000, his laboratory determined the atomic
structure of the 30S ribosomal subunit and its complexes
with ligands and antibiotics. This work has led to insights
into how the ribosome “reads” the genetic code, as well as
into various aspects of antibiotic function. In the last few
years, Ramakrishan’s lab has determined the highresolution structures of functional complexes of the entire
ribosome at various stages along the translational
pathway, which has led to insights into its role in protein
synthesis during decoding, peptidyl transfer, translocation
and termination.
Nicola Ramsay [email protected]
I joined Phil Holliger’s group in
2002 & worked on evolving DNA
polymerase enzymes that
incorporate unnatural nucleotides.
Subsequently, whilst still at the LMB, I was employed by
Domantis Ltd. continuing to work on the directed
evolution of DNA polymerase enzymes in Phil’s lab.
When Domantis was acquired by GlaxoSmithKline
I moved from the LMB to the Cambridge Science Park
where I am now involved in R&D efforts to isolate
domain antibodies against various disease targets.
Felix Randow [email protected]
I joined LMB in 2003 as a PNAC
group leader after having done
postdoctoral work with Brian Seed
in Boston. I am interested in innate
immunity, particularly in the ability of individual cells to
defend themselves against pathogens. Cell-autonomous
immunity is the oldest form of immunity; it predates the
evolution of professional immune cells in metazoans
and is sufficient to protect unicellular organisms against
infection. While investigating why the mammalian
cytosol, despite its abundant nutrient resources, is
colonized only by a small number of highly specialized
bacteria, we came to appreciate how basic principles of
cellular organization are redeployed for the purpose of
cellular self-protection. We discovered that human cells
deploy cytosolic receptors to survey the integrity of
their endomembranes and that they interpret endomembrane damage as a telltale sign of pathogen
invasion. Further examples of compartmentalization
and other basic cell-biological principles are currently
investigated for their contribution to cell-autonomous
immunity.
William Rawlinson [email protected]
Between May 1989 and December
1994 I was a PhD student at the
LMB supervised by Bart Barrell, as
well as Tony Minson from virology,
working with Mark Chee and Helen Farrell on human
cytomegalo-virus (CMV) mRNA splicing and murine
CMV sequencing. I still remember how great it was to
see the murine CMV sequence come together –
something that now takes a morning’s work rather than
a year. Since returning to Australia, I continue to work
on CMV, concentrating on congenital infection with
human CMV. I am at The University of NSW and Prince
of Wales Hospital in Sydney, using a placental model
infected with different CMV strains.
We examine cytokine and cellular responses to infection,
in collaboration with groups in Limoges (Sophie Alain)
and Erlangen (Manfred Marschall). We aim to understand
how CMV modifies trophoblasts to cross the placenta
from mother to fetus, as this occurs in only one third of
mothers infected during pregnancy. We have visiting
PhD and postdocs from our collaborators, which has
more recently lead to studies of compounds (including
siRNAs) that modify CMV infection in the placental
explant model we use. As congenital CMV is the second
most common cause of severe malformation at birth in
Australia and many other countries, we all believe it is
an important area of study, and one that continues to
provide important insights into virus-cell interactions.
Julian Rayner [email protected]
After undergraduate education in
New Zealand and a PhD at the MRC
Laboratory of Molecular Biology in
Cambridge, Dr. Julian Rayner began
working on malaria parasites as a post-doctoral fellow at the
CDC in Atlanta. In 2002 he became a faculty member at the
University of Alabama at Birmingham, before returning to
Cambridge in 2008 to join the Wellcome Trust Sanger
Institute. At Sanger, Julian’s group uses genome sequencing,
proteomics and protein-protein interaction screens to
understand how the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum
invades human erythrocytes. Erythrocyte invasion is essential
to both parasite survival and malaria pathogenesis and is
therefore a potential intervention target. In recent years his
group has helped to identify a receptor that is essential for
erythrocyte invasion and has clear vaccine potential, trace the
origins of P. falciparum in African apes, and develop scalable
tools for the efficient genetic manipulation of Plasmodium
parasites. Julian also has a strong interest in education and
communicating science to the broader public. He regularly
gives talks to school students and community groups and
takes part in teacher training programmes. He has also
helped develop web resources for public engagement and
collaborated with artists on publicly displayed work and plays
broadcast on Radio 4. He has served as Director of Graduate
Studies for the Sanger Institute and was recently appointed
Director of Scientific Conferences and Engagement for the
Wellcome Trust Genome Campus.
Michael Reedy [email protected]
Structural Studies 1963-1966 (NIH Postdoctoral Fellow)
When my 1960 med-student electron
micrographs showed square basketweave Z-band lattices, my discovery
added “Thesis Honors” to my 1962
M.D., and led to my 1963-66 NIH postdoc with Hugh Huxley
at the LMB-MRC lab. There, Holmes and Tregear helped me
combine thin-section EM with their X-ray fiber diffraction to
show (Nature 1965) that myosin crossbridges tilt 45° in rigor
(ATP absent), but project at 90° when ATP-relaxed. Lesson
learned was that good muscle experiments are favored by
correlating EM imaging with fiber diffraction and muscle
mechanics. This has held true through 50 years of follow-up
on our Nature paper’s implications, using time-resolved
synchrotron diffraction (includes diffraction movies!) from
Hamburg to Argonne, ~297 fibers individually slam-frozen
for later EM during 8 years working with Yale Goldman,
uncountable exquisite thin sections of freeze-substituted
quick-frozen fibers from Mary Reedy, and 3-D imaging plus
advanced electron tomography by Ken Taylor. FOUR
ADVANCES: Strong clarification and models have come from
RJ Perz-Edwards’ X-ray diffraction movies explaining
stretch-activated in insect flight muscle. Wu & Taylor’s
tomography discriminates strong-binding versus weakbinding crossbridges. X-ray diffraction of embedded muscle
shows preserved order to 1.3 nm, but thin section images
(same block!) only recover ~5 nm resolution. Cryo-X-ray
micro-beaming of 100° K fibers produces high-quality
patterns from beaming one end of a vitrified fiber, sparing
the un-irradiated end for freeze substitution and EM
tomography of that same fiber.
Stefanie Reichelt [email protected]
Structural Studies 1995-1997 (PhD Student), Cell Biology 2000-2005 (Independent Research Scientist)
I joined John Kendrick-Jones group
during my PhD to work on a myosin
VIII, which had been sequenced and
cloned by Alex Knight. I then went to
UC Berkeley and London to return to the LMB in 2000.
For 5 years, I worked with Brad Amos on imaging developments
and applications. I was one of the first to use a 405 nm
(violet) laser in a confocal microscope and also worked on a
high- resolution spectral confocal development, as well as a
compact point-scanning confocal microscope, which was
commercial-ized by a company (BioRAD). Since 2005, I have
been the Head of the Light Microscopy Laboratory at the CRUK
Cambridge Institute. My research includes the development
of new imaging techniques for cancer diagnostics. www.cruk.
cam.ac.uk/core-facilities/light-microscopy-core. Last year we
developed a CARS Raman multiphoton imaging system, which
could help in eliminating the staining in translational imaging
experiments. I am also a photographer and have exhibited
widely. My images were projected onto Senate House during
the 800-year Cambridge Anniversary Celebration and are part
of the science photo library collection. vimeo.com/8768073.
A recent project ‘Traces of Genius’ aims to record the ‘traces’
left behind by the scientists, creating a visual ‘memento mori’
for the old LMB building. tracesofgenius.wordpress.com.
When joining CRUK, I founded ArtCell Gallery, an exhibition
space on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus for local artists
and the science community. http://www.stefaniereicheltphotographyandprints.com/artcell.html
Ada Repiso [email protected]
After finishing my PhD in human
genetics and biochemistry in
Barcelona, I felt the need of moving
to a more basic research field, so
I moved to the LMB in 2005 for a four years post-doc
with Peter Lawrence in the Cell Biology division. With
Peter I studied the molecular basis of Planar Cell Polarity
(PCP) establishment in Drosophila. I have very good
memories of my stay in the LMB in general and with Peter
in particular; from him I learned that a scientist can be
enthusiastic during all his career and that there are still
group leaders able to work in the bench. Also I think the
scientific way of doing of the LMB should be copied by
other institutes around the world and I try to keep it in
my day-to-day work. After the LMB I moved back to
Barcelona where I spent three years in the Genetics
Department studing the role of PCP during regeneration
in Drosophila wing imaginal discs. I´m currently working
in the Scientific Parc of Barcelona studying the molecular
basis that makes a regenerating tissue turn into a tumor.
Daniela Rhodes [email protected]
I joined LMB in 1969 as a
technician and after studying for a
PhD with Aaron Klug, I obtained a
tenured Research Scientist
Position in 1987. On my retirement in 2011, I joined
Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.
Amongst other activities, I chaired EMBO Council and
the ERC Advanced Grants LS1 Committee. I was elected
Official Fellow of Clare Hall in 1992, EMBO Member in
1996, FRS in 2007 and Member of the Academia
Europaea in 2011. My research has focused on nucleic
acid structure and function and, in particular, how DNA
is packed into chromatin and recognized sequence
specifically by proteins. My scientific achievements
include crystallizing the nucleosome core in 1976 and
the determination of the 7Å structure, determining the
helical periodicity of DNA in solution resolving the
chromatin linking number paradox, and determining
the crystal structure of classical zinc-fingers and nuclear
hormone receptors in complex with DNA. In the mid
90s I turned to telomere structure and determined the
first crystal structures of yeast RAP1, and human TRF1
and TRF2 in complex with DNA. With Hans Lipps, I went
on to obtain the first evidence that G-quadruplex DNA
is present at telomeres in vivo and that its formation is
regulated by telomere end-binding protein.
Very recently we have determined the first threedimensional structure of full-length human telomerase
using single particle EM.
Tim Richmond [email protected]
Structural Studies 1978-1987 (Postdoc, Group Leader)
I received my BS degree in
Biochemistry from Purdue
University in 1970 (lab of Michael
Rossmann) and my PhD in
Molecular Biochemistry and Biophysics from Yale
University in 1975 (labs of Tom Steitz and Fred Richards).
After 3 years of post-doctoral study at Yale, I moved to
the LMB (lab of Aaron Klug) as a post-doctoral fellow
and was later promoted to group leader. I accepted my
professorship at the ETH Zürich in 1987 where my lab’s
structural studies on chromatin grew from their start at
the LMB. I became professor emeritus this year.
Nevertheless, my ETH lab continues supported by the
European Research Council (ERC) and other sources.
My lab’s research comprises structural and biochemical
elucidation of chromatin remodeling and modification
complexes as well as chromatin higher-order structure.
The methods we employ are biochemistry and imaging
using X-ray crystallography and cryo-electron
microscopy.
Peter Rigby [email protected]
PNAC 1968-1971 (PhD Student), PNAC 1971-1973 (Scientific Staff)
I was a graduate student at LMB
from 1968 until 1971, and then
spent two years on the Scientific
Staff. I worked in Brian Hartley’s
laboratory on a project he and Sydney Brenner devised in
which we tried to evolve the specificity of an enzyme.
In 1973 I went to Stanford as a Helen Hay Whitney Fellow
to work with Paul Berg because I wanted to study
eukaryotic cells and tumour viruses were then the
obvious entry point. I continued this work when I set up
my own laboratory at Imperial College, to which there
had been a major migration of LMB scientists, including
Brian Hartley, David Blow and Alan Fersht.
Quite by accident, in the early 1980s I became interested
in developmental biology which led to my move to the
MRC National Institute for Medical Research. For over
twenty years I have worked on how skeletal muscle is
made in the embryo. From 1999 to 2011 I was Chief
Executive of the Institute of Cancer Research, where
I remain as Professor Emeritus of Developmental Biology.
I am currently a Governor of the Wellcome Trust, Chair of
the Board of the Babraham Institute and of the Scientific
Advisory Board of Oxford Gene Technology, and a
member of the Council of Marie Curie Cancer Care and
of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Australian
Regenerative Medicine Institute.
Margaret (Scottie) Robinson [email protected]
I came to the LMB in 1982 with an
NIH postdoctoral fellowship to work
with Barbara Pearse on clathrincoated vesicles (CCVs). The aim of the
fellowship was to try to understand how CCVs recognise
their cargo. It was during this time that Barbara and
I discovered the adaptor protein (AP) complexes, AP-1
and AP-2, which were subsequently shown by Barbara
and others to link the clathrin to cargo proteins in the
vesicle membrane. We also showed that AP-1 localises to
intracellular membranes and AP-2 to the plasma
membrane. After a second postdoctoral fellowship and a
series of short-term scientific staff appointments at the
LMB, I managed to get a Wellcome Senior Fellowship to
set up my own lab in the Cambridge Department of Clinical
Biochemistry and then at the CIMR, where I am currently
Professor of Molecular Cell Biology. We continue to work on
CCVs and adaptors to this day, having discovered that there
are other CCV adaptors in addition to the AP complexes,
and other AP complexes that are not associated with
CCVs. However, we have moved in some unexpected
directions, including the hijacking of clathrin and
adaptors by an HIV-encoded protein, Nef; genetic disorders
involving some of the other AP complexes; and the
evolution of AP complexes and how this relates to the
evolution of the earliest eukaryotes over 2 billion years ago.
Cornelius Roemer [email protected]
Cell Biology 2013 (Summer Student)
The LMB offered me my first time
ever research experience. As a first
year undergraduate I had the
pleasure to work in John O’Neill’s
group mainly inquiring the effect of heavy water on the
period of circadian clocks in cell culture. Even though
I would have considered myself before the internship as
something of a hard core physicist who just by accident
landed in a molecular biology lab, I soon started to
appreciate the joys of experimental research. Soon,
I was not only exploring circadian rhythms in cells on
dishes but also in myself. This did not impede my
research efforts though and I managed to acquire a
good phenomenological picture of what D2O does to
homogeneous mammalian cells in culture, something
no one had looked at before. For those who are
interested: The effect is the same as in vivo, not
surprisingly, heavy water slows the clock down.
Though the precise mechanism remains unclear,
perhaps someone will be able to build on my work and
propose one. All in all, I learned a lot of experimental
techniques and the stimulating environment at the LMB
strengthened my determination to pursue a career in
science, even though perhaps in physics rather than in
biology.
John Rogers [email protected]
Directors 1981-1987 (Postdoc)
I obtained my Ph.D. in molecular
biology at UCLA in 1981, from
studies of immunoglobulin genes
and RNA splicing. This was
followed by post-doctoral positions at LMB from 1981
to 1987. Then I moved to the University of Cambridge
as a lecturer in what is now the Department of
Physiology Development and Neuroscience.
My research has mainly focussed on molecular aspects
of the nervous system, including: identification of
calretinin as a marker for neuronal populations; roles of
ephrins and their Eph receptors in development; roles of
matrix-degrading enzymes in neural injury and neural
repair; and most recently, expressing the bacterial
chondroitinase enzyme in viral vectors as a potential
treatment in spinal cord injury.
Katja Röper [email protected]
Cell Biology 2011-Current (Independent Investigator Scientist)
I started off into my life in science
studying Biochemistry at the Free
University of Berlin. During my PhD
work at the Department of
Neurobiology at the University of Heidelberg, I studied
the apical sorting of proteins in polarised epithelia. I left
the mouse model system and came to the Gurdon
Institute (then Wellcome CRC Institute) in Cambridge to
‘learn Drosophila’ in Nick Brown’s lab. With a DavidPhillips Fellowship from the BBSRC I set up my own group
at the Department of Physiology, Development and
Neuroscience at the University of Cambridge in 2005.
My lab moved into the Cell Biology Division at the LMB at
the end of 2011.
Since my postdoc, my research interest has always been
to understand and unravel how control of the cytoskeleton and cell adhesion in epithelial cells brings
about the complex and beautifully orchestrated
morphogenetic movements that shape our organs.
We still use Drosophila as our tool to study this, with a
particular focus on the formation of tubular organs.
Failure in tubulogenesis can lead to developmental
defects such as spina bifida, but also to problems in organ
homeostasis such as Polycystic Kidney Disease. Our recent
research has shown how factors that polarise epithelial
cells also control the organisation of the cytoskeleton,
and how crosstalk and interaction between different
cytoskeletal systems is crucial for proper organ formation.
Alan Roseman [email protected]
I was a post doc with Tony
Crowther from 1998 to 2007 using
cryoEM to study virus structure.
We discovered conformational
changes related to the maturation of the hepatitis B
virus, and analysed the interaction of specific epitopes
with antibodies. I also wrote software for EM image
analysis, automatic particle finding, and molecular
density docking. I had previously done my PhD and a
1 year post doc on molecular chaperones with Helen
Saibil at Birkbeck College, London. I am now a Lecturer
at the University of Manchester where I have set up and
established a new cryoEM lab for the Faculty of Life
Sciences, and I am Academic Director of the EM core
facility. I have also been key in setting up the CCP-EM
project, a collaborative computing project for molecular
EM practitioners in the UK, parallel to CCP4 for X-ray
crystallography. My research is still very much involved
with cryoEM imaging and image analysis to deconvolute dynamic structures of protein complexes and
molecular machines. Current projects include a novel
de novo virus-like particle designed to be a malaria
vaccine, molecular motors, and structures of
cytoskeletal proteins. We have also applied my image
analysis programs to other medical imaging areas, such
as tumour detection in mammograms.
Peter Rosenthal [email protected]
I studied physics at Harvard
College and then obtained a PhD
in the Harvard biophysics program
working with Don Wiley on the
crystallography of virus surface glycoproteins. I moved
to the LMB as a postdoc thanks to a Human Frontiers
Fellowship and later an Agouron Institute Fellowship.
At the LMB I worked with Richard Henderson on the
development of methods for single particle electron
cryomicroscopy of proteins. Since 2005 I have been a
group leader at the MRC National Institute for Medical
Research in Mill Hill, London where we apply
cryomicroscopy to studies of the structure of lipidenveloped viruses and endothelial cell architecture.
My laboratory will move to the Francis Crick Institute
when it opens in central London in 2015.
Anna Laura Ross [email protected]
Anna Laura Ross is the Head of
International Affairs and Scientific
Relations at the ANRS. In this
position Dr Ross is in charge of the
development and implementation of the Agency’s
international scientific strategy, including in particular the
identification and promotion of scientific partnerships
with institutional organisations, including research
institutes, funding bodies, UN agencies and global health
partnerships. Dr Ross also provides scientific and
strategic coordination to the IAS Towards an HIV cure
Initiative. Anna Laura Ross previously served as Head of
the Vaccine Research Office, coordinating and managing
the ANRS’ comprehensive programme dedicated to the
development of HIV vaccines, in close collaboration with
the programme’s scientific director. Prior to joining the
ANRS, Dr Ross completed her postdoctoral training at the
Medical Research Council LMB (Cambridge, UK) and the
Institut Pasteur (Paris, France) where she carried out
research on innate mechanisms of restriction to HIV-1.
Anna Laura Ross has also completed HIV public health
training placements in Cameroon and Cambodia.
Dr Ross holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge,
UK and a post-graduate qualification in Global Health
Policy from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical
Medicine.
Arthur Rowe [email protected]
Structural Studies 1962-1964 (Beit Senior Research Fellow)
Following on my PhD work (on
muscle proteins) and postdoctoral
studies at the Colloid Science
Department, Cambridge I came to
work (late)1962-1964 in Hugh Huxley’s Laboratory. I was
an early learner of use of an electron microscope, taught in
the Cavendish Laboratory by (later Professor) Bob Horne.
Surprisingly, my most notable publication from that time
was a ‘sideline’ study, with Arnold Feinstein (Babraham)
which defined the flexibility of IgG and localized & named
the ‘hinge’ region. I then spent 1964-1966 as an Official
Harvard Fellow in the Bio Labs, where my work included
the first definition of the motor protein ‘dynein’ and of the
protein soon after named ‘tubulin’.
Thereafter my academic/scientific work was conducted at
Leicester University, as Director of the EM Laboratory in
the Bio/Medical Sciences. My continued interest in motor
proteins included the definition of the 3-fold symmetry
and subfilament structure of the vertebrate muscle thick
filament. However a long interest in hydrodynamics saw
me working in that field, and founding (jointly with a
former PhD student of mine, Steve Harding of
Nottingham University) the National Centre for Macromolecular Hydrodynamics. In 1998 I retired from
Leicester and took up a position in the NCMH,
Nottingham University. My work now centres around
developing new methodologies for defining weak
interactions and concentrated solutions.
Stephen Royle [email protected]
I completed my PhD in membrane
trafficking at the University of
Cambridge in 2002 and then
moved to a post-doctoral position
at the LMB (Neurobiology Division) in Leon Lagnado’s
lab. While I was at the LMB (2002-2006), I worked on
clathrin-mediated endocytosis of synaptic vesicles, but
also discovered a novel mitotic function for clathrin.
I set up my own group at University of Liverpool as a
Lecturer in 2006, moving to University of Warwick in
2013, where I am an Associate Professor and Senior
Cancer Research UK Fellow. Our interests are in the
molecular cell biology of mitosis and of membrane
trafficking. Specifically, we are interested in how the
microtubules of the mitotic spindle are stabilised and
how this may be altered in cancer. We continue to work
on the molecular mechanisms of endocytosis and how
membrane trafficking is regulated by the cell cycle.
http://mechanochemistry.org/royle/
Gerry Rubin [email protected]
I received my bachelor’s degree
from MIT in 71 and joined the Cell
Biology Division as a PhD student
with Andrew Travers where
I sequenced yeast 5.8S RNA (at 43 pages, I believe I hold
the LMB record for the shortest PhD thesis). I then did
postdoctoral work at Stanford with David Hogness
(74-76; where I began working with Drosophila using
the newly developed recombinant DNA methods).
I have held faculty positions at Harvard Medical School
(77-80), Carnegie Institution of Washington (80-83;
where Allan Spradling and I developed methods to
make transgenic Drosophila in 1982), and the
University of California, Berkeley as the John D
MacArthur Professor of Genetics (83-2000; where
I worked on cell fate determination, signal transduction
pathways and sequencing the fruit fly genome). I was
appointed a HHMI investigator in 1987, and became
HHMI’s vice president for biomedical research (00 to
02), vice president and director of planning for Janelia
Farm (02-03) and since 2003 have served as vice
president and executive director of the Janelia Farm
Research Campus. My own research laboratory
currently works on developing and applying methods
for the elucidation of neuronal circuits in the fruit fly.
Philip Rudland [email protected]
Cell Biology 1967-1971
1967-71 working on the initiation
of bacterial protein synthesis with
Brian Clark in Francis Crick and
Sydney Brenner’s Division of Molecular Genetics.
I then spent 3 years at the Salk Institute as a Helen Hay
Whitney Fellow working in Renato Dulbecco and Bob
Holley’s Labs where I co-discovered the fibroblast
growth factors (FGFs) and investigated their
mechanism of action. I returned to England as Staff
Member at Imperial Cancer Research Fund under
Renato Dulbecco and Michael Stoker and used the
FGFs to isolate the first breast stem cell line. From
1979-1986 I was Head of Department of Cell and
Molecular Biology at the Ludwig Institute in Surrey,
where I isolated and characterised rat and human
benign and malignant breast cell lines. From 1986
I have been Professor of Biochemistry in Liverpool
University and used my cell lines to codiscover with
Roger Barraclough the metastasis-inducing proteins
(MIPs). From 2000-date I demonstrated enhanced
occurrence of MIPs is associated with early demise of
breast cancer patients and with Roger some of their
mechanisms of action, induction and 3D structures
with colleagues in Liverpool. Unlike the oncogenes of
Renato Dulbecco, our MIPs do not form tumours but
cooperate with them to provoke many of the common
cancers to metastasise.
Steven Sacks [email protected]
I was fortunate to complete my
PhD on monoclonal antibodies
under the guidance of Ed Lennox
and Cesar Milstein (1978-81).
My experience at the LMB gave me a fundamental
skill-set guided by example and generated long-lasting
affinity for an extraordinary group of people and a piece
of history. I have indelible memories of Cesar for his
humanity, vision and mentorship. After the LMB,
I continued medical training in Cambridge then Oxford,
and became an academic nephrologist in London in
1988. In 2007 I started up the MRC Centre for
Transplantation at King’s College London. For the past
15 years my own research has focused on complement
and the impact of cell-endogenous components on cell
injury.
My achievements include producing the first
commercially successful monoclonal antibody ABO
blood typing agents, which continue to be used in
blood typing labs; characterising the cellular sources
and complement proteins that unleash the complement
system during transplantation; finding how common
urinary tract organisms exploit this innate barrier; and
employing cell-protective strategies that induce
resistance to complement-mediated injury in the donor
organ. My current aim is to see at least some of these
developments through to health and economic benefit.
In 2011, I co-founded Complement UK, which has
provided interactive and educational support for this
mission. Current position: Director, MRC Centre for
Transplantation, King’s College.
http://transplantation.kcl.ac.uk/sections/site/about-us
Julian Sale [email protected]
PNAC 1996-1999 (PhD, MRC Clinical Training Fellow), PNAC 1999-2001 (MRC Clinician Scientist)
PNAC 2001-present (Group Leader)
I trained in Medicine in Cambridge
and practised for four years before
joining the lab of Michael Neuberger at the Laboratory
of Molecular Biology to study immunoglobulin gene
somatic hypermutation. After completing my PhD,
I continued in Michael’s lab as an MRC Clinician Scientist
working on immunoglobulin gene conversion in the
chicken cell line DT40. During this time I developed
ideas for my own research programme to study the
regulation of the then rapidly expanding family of
vertebrate translesion polymerases, and in 2001 I started
my own group. More recently, our work has expanded
from its initial focus on DNA lesion bypass to examine
the replication of structured DNA and the impact of DNA
replication impediments on epigenetic memory.
I am also a Fellow of Gonville & Caius College,
Cambridge, where I teach Pathology and am Director
of Graduate Studies at LMB.
Maria Jose Sanchez-Barrena [email protected]
I did my Ph.D. at the Spanish
National Research Council (CSIC)
from 2001-05 working on the
structural biology of calcium
sensors and kinases that mediate plant response to
environmental cues. In 2006 I moved to the LMB to work
with Phil Evans and in collaboration with Harvey
McMahon and Mariann Bienz. During my three-year
postdoc at the LMB I improved my crystallographic skills
and also learnt a whole range of structural, biochemical
and cell biological techniques that have been key in my
career. In 2009 I moved back to Spain to start my own
group as an independent researcher at the CSIC. My
group is interested in understanding protein-protein
interactions at the molecular level that mediate signal
transduction processes in plants and mammal cells, that
may yield to biomedical and biotechnological
applications. Currently, we are working with E3 ligase
complexes that control plant cell growth and also with
calcium sensor complexes that regulate synapse
function.
Milka Sarris [email protected]
I joined the LMB first as a summer
student and then as a PhD student of
Alex Betz in 2003. During this time,
I became interested in how cells of
the immune system communicate in order to ensure
appropriate responses to infection and identified
mechanisms that help lymphocytes establish long-lived
functional contacts. I then became preoccupied by how
immune cells move and find their way within tissues.
Leukocyte behaviour has traditionally been interrogated in
vitro and remarkably little is still known about how these
cells search tissues and read guidance cues in situ. Eager to
explore new approaches to this problem, I moved to the
Institut Pasteur in Paris in 2009 to join the group of Philippe
Herbomel, who had established the zebrafish as a model
for live imaging studies of the immune system.
By exploiting the transparency and genetic tractability of
zebrafish, I described mechanisms through which
chemokines (the most prominent guidance cues in
vertebrates) form functional gradients and instruct
leukocyte migration to infection sites. In April 2014 I was
awarded an MRC Career Development Award to initiate my
group in the University of Cambridge, at the Department of
Physiology, Development and Neuroscience. I very much
look forward to returning to Cambridge this summer to
continue my studies on leukocyte navigation mechanisms.
Leonid Sazanov [email protected]
I obtained Ph. D. in Biophysics from
Moscow State University, Russia and
came to UK in 1992, to work on
mitochondrial transhydrogenase
with Baz Jackson in Birmingham. My research interests
always lay in structure and function of large membrane
protein complexes, and so in 1994 I moved to Imperial
College to work on complex I with Peter Nixon. Ever since
I continued research on complex I, the largest enzyme of
the respiratory chain, moving to LMB in 1997 to work with
John Walker. Since 2000 I lead a research group in the MRC
Mitochondrial Biology Unit in Cambridge. We have
solved all currently known atomic structures of this huge
molecular proton pump (containing 9 Fe-S clusters and
64 TM helices), starting from crystal structures of
subcomplexes and finally solving recently an entire
complex. The structures suggest an unusual model for
coupling between electron transfer and proton
translocation via long-range conformational changes.
Future work will be focused on the experimental
elucidation of the mechanism and on structural studies
with related membrane protein complexes.
Sjors Scheres [email protected]
I studied Chemistry at Utrecht
University, where I also obtained
my PhD in protein crystallography
(with Piet Gros). Having developed
a keen interest in methods development for structural
biology, I then decided to switch to the much younger
field of cryo-EM structure determination. Therefore, in
2003 I joined the image processing group of Jose-Maria
Carazo in Madrid. During a seven-year post-doc in that
group, I contributed to their image processing package
XMIPP and developed my own research line of
maximum-likelihood image classification methods.
In 2010, I started as a group leader at LMB. Since then,
I have written a new software package, called RELION
for REgularised LIkelihood OptimisatioN. This program
is currently being used by many groups world-wide and
has been instrumental in obtaining a range of atomicresolution cryo-EM structures at LMB in the past year or so.
Gebhard F.X. Schertler [email protected]
Structural Studies (Postdoc then GroupLeader) 1989-2011
I arrived at LMB from the Max
Planck Institute in Munich with an
EMBO Fellowship held with Richard
Henderson. I had met him on two
3-D membrane crystallization courses. His enthusiastic
presentation of molecular electron microscopy had
immediately captured me. I worked for 20 years on my
EMBO proposal and made a successful career in GPCR
structure out of it. LMB was an extremely exciting
research environment with engineers, physicists and
biologists extending the capabilities of structural
biology at the time.
I fondly remember my colleagues that helped me with
biochemistry Claudio Villa, Pat Edwards and Tony Warne.
I very much appreciated my collaborations with JM
Baldwin, Jade Li and Andrew Leslie and Chris Tate.
In my final phase I resonated with Madan Babu which
produced a beautiful bionetwork analysis based review
of the GPCR receptor world at this moment. Now I am
heading the department of Biology and Chemistry at
the Paul Scherrer Institute and I am a Professor at the
Biology Department of the ETH Zurich. My brought
experiences I was able to gain at LMB helped me every
day to manage my diverse portfolio of science.
Tilman Schirmer [email protected]
After graduating at the MaxPlanck-Institute for Biochemistry,
Martinsried, in the group of Robert
Huber, I joined Phil Evans at the
LMB to work on bacterial phosphofructokinase, in
particular its mechanism of allosteric regulation.
I then moved to the Biozentrum in Basel, where I am
still staying.
First I joined the group of Johan Jansonius to work on
aminotransferases and later, as a independent
researcher, on the structure and function of porins,
pore forming proteins in the bacterial outer membrane.
In recent years, my group has focussed on the structure,
enzymatic function and regulation of proteins involved
in the synthesis and degradation of the second
messenger cyclic di-GMP.
Daniel Schlieper [email protected]
Before joining Jan Löwe’s group at
the LMB to work on bacterial
rhomboid and the bacterial tubulin
BtubA/B, I studied Biology and did
my PhD in Cologne, Germany. After a few years at the
Marie Curie Research Institute in Oxted, Surrey I went to
the Heinrich Heine University in Düsseldorf, Germany.
At the moment, my main interest is the structure of ATP
synthase, but I also work on Hsp90 and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase using protein crystallography and
small angle scattering.
Jonathan Scholey [email protected]
Structural Studies 1977-1981 (PhD Student), Structural Studies 1981-1982 (Staff Scientist)
I am Professor of Cell Biology and
Biochemistry in the Department of
Molecular and Cell Biology at the
University of California at Davis,
USA. Having obtained my BSc degree at the MRC Cell
Biophysics Unit/King’s College Department of Biophysics,
London University, majoring in Cell and Molecular
Biology I did my PhD in Molecular Biology at the LMB
studying the molecular mechanisms and regulation of
muscle contraction and myosin-based motility with
Dr Jake Kendrick-Jones. Subsequently I undertook
postdoctoral research on mitotic motors and the
mechanisms of mitosis with Dr Dick McIntosh in the
Department of Molecular, Cell and Developmental
Biology at the University of Colorado in Boulder. As an
independent principle investigator, I continued to pursue
my interest in Cell and Molecular Biology, focusing on the
Molecular Mechanisms of Mitosis and Ciliogenesis and
Cytoskeletal Motor Protein Function. Our specific
NIH-funded projects are: 1. Mechanisms of Mitosis in the
Drosophila embryo and 2. Kinesin-2 Motors, Intraflagellar
Transport and Ciliogenesis in C. elegans neurons.
My laboratory utilizes a range of technical approaches,
including: molecular biology and protein biochemistry;
light microscopy and the elucidation of protein dynamics
and function in cells; and quantitative modeling.
I teach classes in biochemistry, biophysics, cell and
molecular biology at UC Davis’ Department of MCB and
at Bogazici University’s Department of Molecular
Biology and Genetics, Istanbul, Turkey.
http://biosci3.ucdavis.edu/FacultyAndResearch/
FacultyProfile.aspx?FacultyID=281
Melina Schuh [email protected]
I am a Group Leader at the MRC
Laboratory of Molecular Biology.
My laboratory studies how
fertilisable eggs develop in
mammals. The long-term goal of my laboratory is to
identify and analyse mechanisms that lead to aneuploid
eggs and pregnancy loss in mammals. I studied biochemistry at the University of Bayreuth and completed
my master thesis with Stefan Heidmann and Christian
Lehner at the Bayreuth Centre for Molecular Biosciences
(BZMB) in 2004. I then did my PhD at the European
Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in the group of Jan
Ellenberg, where I studied the mechanism of spindle
assembly and asymmetric spindle positioning in mouse
oocytes. After receiving my PhD in 2008, I moved to
Cambridge, where I have been a Group Leader at the
MRC LMB since 2009. http://www2.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk/
group-leaders/n-to-s/melina-schuh/
Clarence Schutt [email protected]
I received my Ph.D. (Applied
Mathematics) from Harvard
University in 1976 under the
direction of Steve Harrison, where
I worked on the structure of TBSV with Fritz Winkler and
Gerard Bricogne. At the MRC-LMB (1977-1984)
I worked with Aaron Klug, Daniela Rhodes, and John
Langmore on the higher order structure of chromatin
until I was introduced to the highly unusual profilin:
actin crystals by Richard Henderson. This began a
collaboration with Uno Lindberg which has lasted until
the present day. Since 1984 I have been at Princeton
University (www.princeton.edu/~actin/) where I have
worked on a variety of structural problems and taught
courses on Structural Neurobiology, Honors Chemistry,
Integrative Systems, and Architectonics. I have been
extensively engaged for over two decades in advancing
a scientific understanding of autism by raising funds,
running symposia, establishing and funding research
collaborations, clinics, and advocacy organizations.
I am presently the Director of the Nancy Lurie Marks
Family Foundation (www.nlmfoundation.org). I visit
England regularly to visit my daughter and grandchild,
as well as to battle with Peter Lawrence and Sir Michael
Berridge on the sacred hills of the Gog Magog Golf
Course, where I scored a hole-in-one in 1982 witnessed
by two members of the Royal Society. My golf clubs are
stored during my absence in the Master’s Lodge of
Trinity College (courtesy of Sir Gregory Winter).
William Scott [email protected]
I was a postdoc with Aaron Klug
from July 1993 until the end of
1996. We obtained one of the first
crystal structures of a ribozyme, a
minimal hammerhead self-cleaving sequence, and
then successfully observed catalytic activity in the
crystal. Previously, I was a Chemistry PhD student with
Sung-Hou Kim at UC Berkeley, and am now a Professor
of Chemistry and Biochemistry and Member of the
Center for the Molecular Biology of RNA at UC Santa
Cruz. Our research group focuses upon trying to
understand RNA structure, function, and catalysis and
its relevance to gene expression, to viral pathogenesis,
and to the origin of life. http://scottlab.ucsc.edu
David Secher [email protected]
PNAC 1970-1986 (PhD Student, Postdoc, Group Leader)
I was introduced to LMB while an
undergraduate at Cambridge,
through lectures by Crick, Perutz,
Hartley and Brenner. (As Part ll
students we were forbidden to attend the latter, but my
cousin and I went anyway!) A PhD was a last-minute
decision for me and I was introduced to Cesar Milstein
by Brian Hartley. It was a very exciting time. American
post-docs, such as Steitz, Ziff, Sedat, were chasing
Sanger to develop nucleic acid sequencing. Milstein
was interpreting antibody protein sequence data to
interpret the structure of antibody genes. I started
looking for a model of antibody gene mutation.
Cotton arrived from Australia via Oxford and brought
cell fusion. Karpas taught us all how to maintain cell
cultures. When Georges Kohler brought plaque assays
from Basel, the scene was set to look for rare mutations
in hybrid lines producing anti-sheep red blood cell
antibodies - the first monoclonal antibodies. In the
political, and ill-informed, furore over monoclonal
antibody patents, I became interested in the practical
applications of monoclonals. Collaborating with Derek
Burke of Warwick, I made the first monoclonal antibody
to human interferon. The patenting and commercialisation of this antibody stimulated an interest in
technology transfer of academic inventions and I have
spent the rest of my career working in that area.
In 2007 I received a Queen’s Award for my contributions.
Maria Selmer [email protected]
I did my PhD with Anders Liljas at
Lund University, Sweden working
on bacterial translation factors.
In 2002 I joined Venki
Ramakrishnan as a postdoc to work on crystallographic
studies of functional 70S ribosome complexes.
The environment at LMB, and the team spirit in the
“ribo lab” was fantastic. After many synchrotron trips
and months in the dark graphics room we could
publish our high-resolution 70S structure. In 2006
I moved to Uppsala to start my own group working on
ribosome biogenesis and antibiotic resistance.
Louise Serpell [email protected]
Neurobiology 1997-2000
After a postdoc in Toronto, I joined
the LMB in the Neurobiology
division in 2000 and started my
own research programme. My work
aimed to elucidate the structure of amyloid fibrils and we
(Jude Short and I) made excellent headway using the old
Hitachi cryoEM to visualise the cross-beta structure in
fibrils. I also developed X-ray fibre diffraction which has
since become a central theme of my research.
In 2003, I was awarded a Wellcome Trust fellowship and
moved next door to the CIMR where I continued the
research into self-assembling proteins. I moved to
University of Sussex in 2003 and since then, I have run a
research group that combines research into the
mechanisms and causes for Alzheimer’s disease, with
exploiting the material properties of amyloidogenic
peptides.
Maria Serrano-Vega [email protected]
I started my scientific career in
Seville, at the Instituto de la Grasa,
where I completed a PhD in
molecular biology. In 2005 I arrived
at the LMB as a Post Doctoral researcher in the Richard
Henderson and Chris Tate group with the aim to stabilise
a G-Protein Coupled Receptor (GPCR) for crystallographic
purposes. This project was very successful, not only for
the specific protein I concentrated on, but also for other
receptors that were being stabilised within the group.
Our investigation generated several patents, scientific
articles and also contributed to the creation of Heptares
Therapeutics, a company pioneering GPCR structure-
based drug design. Following a second postdoc in
Bilbao where I improved my techniques in protein
expression, purification and crystallisation, I sought a
new challenge outside academia. This brought me back
to the UK where I took up a Senior Scientist position at a
much expanded Heptares, where growth had been
fuelled by several partnerships with leading
pharmaceutical companies. I have been at Heptares
over two years now, working in a vibrant environment of
molecular biologists, biochemists, pharmacologists and
chemists. We still retain a close, collaborative
relationship with the LMB, enabling me to keep contact
with the team that helped me start this exciting journey.
Boaz Shaanan [email protected]
I did my Ph.D. studies in Chemical
Crystallography under the
supervision of Uri Shmuely in the
Department of Chemistry at Tel-Aviv
University. The subject of my thesis was Structure and
Dynamics of Charge Transfer Complexes. In January 1979
I joined the group of Max Perutz as a postdoc. I worked
primarily on determining the structure of human oxyhaemoglobin and also collaborated with Judd Fermi on the
high-resolution structure of deoxyhaemoglobin. In 1982
I returned to Israel and joined the Weizmann Institute
where I started to work on plant lectins. Between 1988
and 1992 I worked at NIDDK-NIH in David Davies group
as a visiting scientist. At NIH I also collaborated with the
group of Marius Clore and Angela Gronenborn on
combining experimental information from solution NMR
and X-ray crystallography as a way of improving structural
information on macromolecules. Between 1992 and 1998
I worked at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem after which
I spent two years as a visitor in the group of Roger Kornberg
at Stanford. In 2000 I joined the Department of Life
Sciences in Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.
I established the macromolecular crystallography
laboratory and started collaborations with several groups.
Currently, the main interest of my group is protein-DNA
interactions in the halophilic hyper-saline environment.
Robert Sheppard [email protected]
At age 39 a rather late arrival in
LMB in 1971 following an
invitation from Max Perutz to form
a sub-division specialising in
peptide synthesis. I had previously obtained a Ph.D. in
the Cambridge chemistry lab followed by a postdoctoral year with R.B. Woodward in Harvard.
During this time my Ph.D. supervisor George Kenner,
moved to head the organic chemistry department in
Liverpool, and in 1958 I joined him there and remained
for 13 years. In 1972 I was joined by two very able
colleagues Eric Atherton and Doug Dykes, and together
we established an active chemistry group. Solid phase
peptide synthesis was explored at a fundamental level,
and a better understanding obtained of the chemical
processes involved within the polymer matrix.
This enabled new and substantially improved synthesis
procedures to be developed. Simultaneously a study
was made of partially synthetic routes towards protein
synthesis. Both studies were used to prepare peptides
for biological studies elsewhere in LMB. The peptide
group continued for 23 years and with the arrival of
Mike Gait expanded to include synthesis of oligonucleotides. On reflection, my outstanding memories
are of the dedication, ability, friendliness, and good
humour of so many young chemists who passed
through the group. I am grateful to them all for the
outstanding results they achieved.
Paul Sherrington [email protected]
PNAC 1988-1992 (Research Associate/PhD)
I started my working life as a
cytogeneticist, initially in a
hospital laboratory and then in
Cambridge at the University
Department of Haematological Medicine. Here I had
the good fortune to meet Terry Rabbitts and joined his
group in 1988.
I really enjoyed life at the LMB and working with Terry
and his group, but was lured away in 1992 by the
promise of a permanent job in Haematology at the
Royal Liverpool Hospital/University of Liverpool.
I moved to the ‘dark-side’ in 2006, working in Medical
Affairs at Bristol-Myers Squibb, Pierre-Fabre Ltd and
now at Celgene, based in Switzerland.
Moira Simanis (Cockell) [email protected]
Structural Studies 1979-1985 (Research Assistant), Structural Studies 1988 (Visiting Student),
Structural Studies 1989 (Visiting Student)
Freshly graduated from Edinburgh
University’s Molecular Biology
degree course, in Aaron Klug’s
group I helped produce crystals for Tim Richmond’s 7Å
nucleosome diffraction studies and attempted to
accurately measure the Micrococcal nuclease-cutting
pattern of DNA on nucleosome cores. In 1985 I moved
to the Lausanne-based, Swiss Institute for Cancer
Research (ISREC) where I remained on temporary
contract for 21 years. Between 1987 and 1990 I was
enrolled with the Council for National Academic Awards
(CNAA). My PhD project, to investigate the basis of
acinar-pancreas-specific gene expression, was not
directly related to Aaron’s own research interests,
however this arrangement involved him being my
“official” joint supervisor, with Daniela Rhodes also
providing invaluable guidance and mentorship
throughout. During several visits to the LMB, I made
high-resolution densitometric analyses of the in vitro
DNase I footprinting data that I generated at ISREC.
Between 1991 and 2001 I studied chromatin-mediated
silencing mechanisms in budding yeast, working in
Susan Gasser’s group at ISREC. On her departure from
the institute, I switched groups and model organisms
once again, learning to work with C. elegans; first (with
Pierre Gönczy) to study Lis-I, a dynein-associated motor
protein involved in spindle pole and chromosome
movements during mitosis; then (with Joachim Lingner)
to study telomere length control. A (temporary) brush
with illness prompted my premature retirement from
bench work in 2007, providing an opportunity to branch
into other spheres.
Symeon Siniossoglou [email protected]
Symeon Siniossoglou received his
PhD from EMBL and the University
of Heidelberg studying nucleocytoplasmic traffic in Ed Hurt’s group.
In 1999 Symeon joined Hugh Pelham’s group in the LMB
as an EMBO postdoc fellow to work on intracellular
membrane traffic. In 2004 he set up his laboratory in
the Cambridge Institute for Medical Research, funded
by a Wellcome Trust Career Development Fellowship
and in 2008 he was awarded a MRC Senior Fellowship.
The aim of Symeon’ s group is to understand how lipids
regulate the structure and function of biological
membranes and organelles. His current studies focus
on lipins, a conserved family of lipid phosphatases with
essential roles in membrane biogenesis and triglyceride
metabolism.
Rita Sinka [email protected]
I obtained my PhD from University
of Szeged, Hungary, working on the
germ cell formation in Drosophila,
in Miklós Erdelyi’s lab.
Then I studied the cell cycle in David Glovers’ lab for two
years and I moved to the LMB in 2005, where I worked in
Sean Munro’s lab for four years. I learned a lot about
membrane transport in his lab, during studying the
function of the Golgi coiled-coil proteins. Since my post
doc, I have been interested in understanding the function
of membrane transport during development so when
I moved back to Hungary in 2009 and started my own lab,
we have started to study spermatogenesis from the
aspect of lipid biosynthesis and membrane transport.
Roberto Sitia [email protected]
I trained in Clinical and
Experimental Hematology at the
University of Genoa, Italy. Science
attracted me more than clinical
practice, and I decided to leave the wards and study
membrane immunoglobulins, which Ben Pernis
(a professor at my Medical School) had discovered a few
years before. Having isolated a lymphoma switching Ig
class upon command, I joined Cesar Milstein’s lab to
clone the switch recombinase. That eventually had to
wait, but the constructs that Michael Neuberger and
I prepared showed really surprising subcellular
localizations in our transfectants. This led me to study
protein quality control in the endoplasmic reticulum,
and later the mechanisms that regulate disulfide bond
formation and redox homeostasis/signalling. In 1990,
I moved to Milan to found, with other courageous
scientists, the Department of Biology and Technology
(DiBiT) within San Raffaele Hospital. In 1998, we created
a Medical School, which, like DiBiT, rapidly occupied a
leading position in Italy. Going back to science and B cell
differentiation, we recently understood how defective
proteostasis limits the lifespan of antibody secreting
cells, ending humoral immune responses. These findings
have profound implications in the treatment of Myeloma
and Systemic amyloidosis, bringing me back to the
clinics. http://sites.google.com/site/proteintransport
andsecretion/Home
Mark Skehel [email protected]
PNAC 1988-1998 (Higher Scientific Officer/PhD student), Cell Biology 2012-Current (Head of
Biological Mass Spectrometry and Proteomics)
Having received a B.Sc (Hons) in
Chemistry with Biochemistry from
King’s College, London (1988),
I took a position as Higher Scientific Officer in John E.
Walker’s lab at the LMB, applying state of the art
protein sequencing techniques for the subunit
characterisation of bovine mitochondrial NADH:
Ubiquinone Oxidoreductase. I was awarded a Ph.D. in
1994. In 1998 I left the LMB, joining SmithKline
Beecham (SB) in their recently established Bioanalytical
and Proteomics Group. Following the merger of SB
with Glaxo Wellcome, I held a number of positions in
this new organisation (2001-2002: Head of Protein
Characterisation - Toxicoproteomics and Bioanalytical
Group; 2002-2007: Investigator – Disease & Biomarker
Proteomics Mass Spectrometry Dept.). In 2007
I returned to academic science, moving to Cancer
Research UK, London Research Institute (LRI), Clare Hall
Laboratories, to set up a new biological mass
spectrometry lab. In 2012 I returned to the LMB as
Head of Biological Mass Spectrometry and Proteomics.
The aim of my lab in addition to its core technology
responsibilities, is to use chemical cross-linking
combined with mass spectrometry for the structural
analysis of proteins and protein complexes.
Mike Skinner [email protected]
Directors 1988-1990 (MRC AIDS-Directed Programme Research Fellow)
I joined LMB in March 1988 from Jeff
Almond’s group in Reading, where
I had been elucidating the
secondary structure of the 740 base
poliovirus 5’ non-coding region. I was keen to work on
RNA-protein interactions and on the emerging virus of
the 1980s, not the 1950s, so I was delighted to join the
new HIV programme led by Jon Karn and Mike Gait.
Colin Dingwall was appointed at the same time and we
joined Shaun Heaphy who was already working with
Mike. It was an exciting, mind-expanding time, as we
struggled to control the oscillations of the “tat binds TAR
RNA” <> “tat binds tar DNA” pendulum. Ingemar Ernberg
joined us for a while and tried to educate me about
Wittgenstein; Alan Cann returned from Irvin Chen’s lab to
teach us about retroviruses; Shaun showed us that
anybody could use a Mac; Andrew Griffiths (who did his
PhD alongside my wife Judith in Ian Eperon’s Leicester
lab) brought his boundless enthusiasm to Greg’s lab
along the corridor; Brad Amos let me play on the
prototype MRC-500 confocal microscope in the lab next
door! We also had our first daughter - which after 9
postdoc years prompted thoughts of secure employment
so I left to join the AFRC in Houghton, then Compton,
working on the much larger poxviruses, which eventually
took me to Imperial College London in 2005.
Clarke Slater [email protected]
Cell Biology 1969-1974 (MRC Staff Member)
I was on the Scientific Staff of the
LMB from 1969-1974. After a year
at the University of Oslo, I joined
the Muscular Dystrophy Group
Research Laboratory at the University of Newcastle upon
Tyne, ending up as the first Professor of Neuroscie0nce at
Newcastle University, and retiring in 2005. My main
research interest has been to try to understand the
functional organization and development of mammalian
neuromuscular junctions (NMJ). This has involved the
application of various combinations of electrophysiology,
EM, immunolabelling and in situ hybridization to both adult
and developing animals, including humans. The main
outcome has been a much better understanding of how
structural features of the NMJ, such as nerve terminal size
and the extent of postsynaptic folding, contribute to the
reliability of neuromuscular transmission. It was gratifying
to be able to use this understanding to interpret structural
and functional abnormalities in human patients with
inherited diseases that impair neuromuscular transmission. That work involved developing procedures for
obtaining a wide variety of structural, functional molecular
information from single biopsy samples of human muscle,
something that has only been done by a few labs worldwide. Since retirement I have continued writing about the
NMJ and indulging in some consulting work. In addition
I have maintained an active musical life playing the ‘cello
and helping to run two local orchestras.
Alan Smith [email protected]
PNAC (1967-70)
Alan Smith was a graduate student
at LMB with Kjeld Marcker in
1967-70 after an undergraduate
biochemistry degree in Cambridge.
He showed that the eukaryotic initiator tRNA was
met-tRNAF recognising AUG, whereas the tRNA for
methionine in internal positions was met-tRNAM.
He moved to ICRF during the 1970s to work on tumour
antigens and oncogenic viruses particularly SV-40,
polyoma and RSV and subsequently to NIMR. In 1984
he was headhunted to Integrated Genetics, a biotech
start-up company that merged with Genzyme a few
years later, to work, among other things on mammalian
expression of recombinant proteins. As CSO at Genzyme
for 15years, he helped grow the company to several
thousand people focussed on commercialisation of
recombinant enzymes that provide treatments for a
number rare genetic diseases. Genzyme was acquired
by Sanofi in 2011 and since then Alan has taken
positions on a number of boards, including start-ups in
Cambridge, and Chair of Cambridge in America.
He is a Lady Margaret fellow at Christ’s College.
Corinne Smith [email protected]
Neurobiology 1995-1996 (Postdoc), Cell Biology 1996-1999 (Postdoc)
I did my PhD on protein folding with
John Holbrook at Bristol and a
post-doc with John Collinge and Tony
Clarke before moving to the LMB to
study cryo-electron microscopy in 1995. I spent a year
with Nigel Unwin working on acetylcholine receptors
before moving to Barbara Pearse’s group in 1996 to
investigate the structure of clathrin. I was fortunate in being
able to build on the pioneering work of Vigers, Crowther and
Pearse (1986) who obtained the first cryo-electron
microscopy structure of clathrin by averaging structures of
clathrin hexagonal barrels calculated from tomographic
data. Working with Tony Crowther and Niko Grigorieff, who
was keen to try out his new ‘Frealign’ single particle image
processing programme, I obtained a new clathrin cage
structure at a resolution which allowed us to see for the first
time how individual clathrin triskelions fitted together to
form the striking cage lattice. Since then have I pursued my
interests in clathrin-mediated endocytosis and the structure
and function of macro-molecular assemblies, first at
Birkbeck College in Helen Saibil’s lab and then at Warwick
University in my own group. We are currently investigating
clathrin assembly and disassembly mechanisms using a
range of biophysical techniques including cryo-electron
microscopy, dynamic light scattering and single molecule
fluorescence. By understanding the molecular interactions
which drive these mechanisms, we hope to understand
their contribution to the function of endocytic structures.
Ruth Sperling [email protected]
At LMB I was a postdoc with Aaron
Klug and studied virus assembly and
3-D image reconstruction of helical
viruses from electron micrographs.
After my postdoc at LMB I returned to Israel and started
working on the structure and assembly of histones and
chromatin in my own laboratory. After a Sabbatical at
Stanford, I returned to Israel, to the Hebrew University, where
I am now. I started working on splicing and pre-mRNA
processing, combining chemistry, molecular biology and
structural biology to study the structure function relations of
the splicing machine, in collaboration with Joseph Sperling of
the Weizmann Institute. The splicing machine isolated from
mammalian cell nuclei is a huge 21 MDa ribonucleoprotein
complex termed supraspliceosome. The entire repertoire of
nuclear pre-mRNAs, independent of their length or number of
introns, is individually assembled in supraspliceosomes.
We have used cryo-electron tomography to study the
structure of the supraspliceosome, and cryo-EM single particle
techniques to solve the structure of the native spliceosome
(one of the four subunits of the supraspliceosome) at a
resolution of 20 Å. Functional studies of the supraspliceosomes revealed it as a multi-task machine that can regulate
all processing activities that a pre-mRNA has to undergo: 5’
and 3’ end processing, RNA editing, splicing, alternative
splicing, biogenesis of miRNAs embedded in introns, and
Suppression of Splicing (SOS), a quality control mechanism
required to ensure the production of proper mRNA.
Maria Grazia Spillantini [email protected]
Directors 1987-1996 (87-88 (Researcher), 88-91 (PhD Student), 92-96 (Researcher))
After a Laurea in Biological Sciences
from the University of Florence and
research periods in Rome, Paris and
the MRC Neurobiology Unit in
Cambridge, I landed at the LMB in Michel Goedert’s
group in 1987. Michel had cloned the amyloid precursor
protein gene and my first task was to detect the APP
isoform mRNAs by in situ hybridization. In 1988 I started
a PhD at Cambridge University with Michel Goedert as
supervisor. Following a break in 1991 as staff scientist at
the CNR Institute of Cell Biology in Rome, I returned to
Cambridge in the Director’s Section headed by Aaron
Klug until 1996, when I moved to the Brain Repair Centre
in the Department of Clinical Neurosciences of the
University of Cambridge where I am now a Professor.
Working at the LMB was a unique experience that
introduced me to the excitement of scientific discoveries
and the world of rigorous science. When I joined Michel’s
group, they had just identified the microtubuleassociated protein tau as the integral component of the
filaments that form the neurofibrillary tangles in
Alzheimer’s disease, it was great fun to be in this exciting
environment. Later, with Michel, Ross Jakes and Tony
Crowther we described alpha-synuclein, and showed that
it is the main component of the filaments that form the
Lewy pathology of Parkinson’s disease. My lab now
investigates the mechanisms of alpha-synuclein and tau
toxicity.
Giulietta M. Spudich [email protected]
I ‘hopped the pond’ from California
to Cambridge in order to carry out
postdoctoral research in biochemical
studies of Myosin VI in John
Kendrick-Jones’ lab at the LMB (2002-2006). It was a great
introduction to living and working in the UK, where I still
reside. I appreciate the support, friendship, and scientific
energy the LMB community offered throughout my
postdoc. Previous to that, I obtained my PhD for work on
the folding pathway of E.coli RNase H in Susan Marqusee’s
lab in the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology at the
University of California, Berkeley in 2002. While I
sometimes miss doing minipreps (really!) I like the focus of
my current job as it allows me to support a wide range of
research, and to work in the exciting and fast-paced field
of genomics. I am now the outreach project leader for
Ensembl at EMBL’s European Bionformatics Institute (EBI).
The Ensembl project freely provides high quality
annotation such as genes, sequence variation, and whole
genome alignments across mainly vertebrate genomes.
I lead a small team that organises and delivers training
courses worldwide, and supports scientific communication
about our project. I act as a translator to bring this
comprehensive bioinformatics resource to wet-lab and
other researchers in order to empower scientific
understanding. In addition, I help our developers
understand the biological context of the tools they
provide to the scientific community.
Jim Spudich [email protected]
Structural Studies 1969-1971 (Postdoctoral Fellow), Structural Studies 1978 (Sabbatical Visitor)
63-67 (PhD biochemistry Stanford), 68
(postdoctoral genetics Stanford),
69-70 (postdoctoral structural biology
MRC-LMB), 71-77 (faculty UCSF), 77(faculty Stanford). I was a postdoctoral fellow at LMB from
1969-70 working on calcium regulation of muscle
contraction with Hugh Huxley. After purification,
reconstitution and biochemical characterization of the
actin-tropomyosin-troponin complex, with help from John
Finch, I determined the structure of the complex by helical
reconstructions from electron micrographs leading us to
propose a steric blocking mechanism for tropomyosintroponin function. These studies started me on my life-long
interest in the biology of contractile proteins – specifically on
actin and myosin biology and how myosin converts
chemical energy of ATP hydrolysis into mechanical motion.
Starting in 1971 at UCSF and then at Stanford University, my
laboratory established Dictyostelium as a model eukaryotic
system for studying non-muscle myosin. In the 1980s we
developed in vitro motility assays for myosin movement
along actin, and in the early 1990s we took the motility assay
to the single molecule level using laser trap technology.
These advances allowed us to extensively characterize
structure-function relationships of myosins II, V and VI over
the next 20 years. In the last few years, we have initiated a
major program to study hyper-trophic and dilated
cardiomyopathy mutations on force production and
power output by human β-cardiac myosin.
John Spudich [email protected]
Structural Studies 1999-2000 (Professor on Sabbatical)
My wife and coworker Elena
Spudich and I came to the LMB on
a half-year sabbatical to Richard
Henderson’s lab in the fall of 1999.
It was a wonderful 6 months both scientifically and
personally and a great way to start the new millennium!
Our experience at LMB helped us add a strong structural
biology component to our research program and
crystallography has been a crucial part of our research
ever since.
In our laboratory at the University of Texas Medical
School at Houston we study molecular mechanisms of
microbial sensory rhodopsins, focusing on phototaxis
receptors, the first of which we discovered in
prokaryotes and homologs that we found later in algae
(now known as channelrhodopsins). We both have
wonderful memories of the LMB and Cambridge and of
the friends we made there. There is a unique excitement
and warmth and sense of science history at the LMB, a
special place.
Andrew Stachulski [email protected]
Andrew Stachulski, a postgraduate
student of Professor Sir Alan
Battersby, received his Ph. D. at
Cambridge in 1974. After postdoctoral fellowships at the MRC, with Dr Bob Sheppard
(1974-1976) and Oxford with Dr. John Jones (19761978), he worked in antibiotic research at Smith Kline
Beecham (1978–1991). He then moved to Ultrafine
Chemicals (Manchester), where he became research
manager.
In 2001 he moved to the University of Liverpool,
becoming Senior Lecturer (2003), and has remained
there apart from a Research Fellowship at the
University of Oxford (2010–2011). His research interests
continue to be in natural products and related
synthetic studies, including carbohydrates and a
recently revived interest in peptides. Additionally he
has collaborated on many DMPK projects, especially
regarding glucuronides. He is an FRSC (1998) and has a
total of about 100 publications.
Joerg Standfuss [email protected]
After my PhD studies at the
Max-Planck Institute of Biophysics
in Frankfurt in the group of Prof.
Werner Kühlbrandt, I joined the
LMB in early 2006 as an EMBO and Marie-Curie Fellow.
In the group of Gebhard Schertler we worked on
understanding G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR)
activation on the example of the visual photosensor
rhodopsin. We established expression of rhodopsin in
HEK293 cells and solved the first crystal structure of a
recombinantly produced GPCR. Later we included
constitutively active mutations to trap the G protein
activating metarhodopsin-II conformation for
crystallisation and structure determination. Comparison
with our initial structure of ground-state rhodopsin
suggested how the agonist all-trans retinal induced the
common conformational changes upon GPCR
activation. In 2010 I left the LMB to start an
independent research group at the Paul Scherrer
Institute in Switzerland right next to the Swiss Light
Source synchrotron. Here we solved several crystal
structures of rhodopsin mutants that cause blindness by
retinitis pigmentosa. Currently we are extending our
studies towards the structure determination of such
mutants in complex with potential small molecular
drugs designed by the local pharmaceutical industry.
Another important goal of our lab is to understand the
structure and function of complete GPCR signaling
complexes. http://www.psi.ch/lbr/standfuss_-joerg
Mary-Ann Starkey [email protected]
Neurobiology 1992-2014 (Divisional Administrator)
I arrived at the LMB building in
1983 and worked for the next five
years as administrator in the
Ludwig Institute for Cancer
Research (LICR) - Director Karol Sikora. LICR was
supported by LMB Centre with some administrative
tasks and the provision of general lab facilities, so we
were well integrated with LMB staff. On the closure of
the LICR in 1988 I joined the MRC Molecular Genetics Unit
(MGU) as Unit Administrator under the directorship of
Sydney Brenner. When he retired from the MRC in 1992,
I was fortunate that an new administrator position
became available, since the LMB was in the process of
establishing a new Neurobiology Division with Nigel
Unwin as its first Head. I worked simultaneously for
Max Perutz until his death in 2002. Michel Goedert
became Joint Head of Division with Nigel in 2003, a
working partnership that lasted until Nigel stepped
down in 2008 and returned to the lab bench.
Since then I have assisted Michel with the Divisional
administration and in 2013 Michael Hastings became
the current Joint Head of Division. From its inception
22 years ago, the Neurobiology Division has hosted
more than 300 hundred scientific staff, visitors and
students who have been involved in cutting-edge
research in the LMB. It has been an enormous privilege
to have played a small part in this exciting work until
my retirement in May 2014.
Joan Argetsinger Steitz [email protected]
Other 1967-1970 (Postdoc)
Armed with a freshly minted PhD
from Jim Watson’s lab at Harvard,
I arrived with my husband Tom at
the LMB in November 1967 to join
the Division of Molecular Genetics. Mark Bretscher gave
me a bit of lab bench and lots of advice, which
culminated in my obtaining the first sequences of
ribosome binding sites comprising the beginnings of
the genes for the three proteins encoded by the RNA
bacteriophage R17. Tom and I left Cambridge in
November 1970 to take up positions at Yale in the
Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry,
where we have remained ever since. In 1979, my
student Michael Lerner discovered that small nuclear
(sn)RNAs bind proteins that are targets of patient
autoantibodies, leading to the identification of snRNPs
and their essential roles in pre-mRNA splicing. My love
affair with non-coding (nc)RNAs continued with the
discovery of a plethora of small nucleolar (sno)RNAs of
the Box C/D class, small Cajal body RNAs (scaRNAs) and
of the snRNPs of the minor (U12-dependent) spliceosome. More recently, we have studied the biogenesis
and function of microRNAs. For many years, the roles of
abundant ncRNAs made gamma herpesviruses,
including EBV and KSHV, have remained enigmatic;
only now are modern technologies enabling us to gain
insights into how these oncogenic viruses have
acquired ncRNA genes from their host cells and cleverly
manipulated their functions to serve the virus.
Tom Steitz [email protected]
I obtained my Ph.D. at Harvard
working on the structure of
carboxypeptidase A with Bill
Lipscomb and then spent 3 years
at the LMB working on chymotrypsin with Richard
Henderson in the group of David Blow. After moving to
Yale I spent nearly 10 years working on the structure of
hexokinase (at the suggestion of Brian Hartley), with
and without bound glucose. For the subsequent 35
years my lab has concentrated on obtaining the
structure basis for understanding Crick’s Central Dogma
of Molecular Biology – DNA makes RNA makes proteins.
A major focus in the last 20 years has been on obtaining
the structure of the ribosome captured in the various
functional states of protein synthesis. Since the
ribosome is a major target of antibiotics, we have
obtained the structures of complexes with many
families of antibiotics, which are now being used by a
biotech company founded by myself, Peter Moore and
others to design and create new antibiotics that are
effective against antibiotic resistant bacterial strains.
Rolf Sternglanz [email protected]
Cell Biology 1983-1984 (Visiting Scientist)
I retired recently after 43 years as a
member of the faculty at Stony
Brook University in New York.
Although I stopped teaching, I am
continuing to do research. I went on five sabbaticals in
outstanding labs during my time at Stony Brook.
By far the most productive and one of the most
enjoyable was the one I took at the LMB in 1983-84.
I had the good fortune to work in Kim Nasmyth’s lab.
Kim was already a rising star and he had an outstanding
group during the time I was there, including postdocs
David Shore and Linda Breeden, and graduate students
Andrea Brand and Alan Miller. Using a clever
suggestion from Kim, I cloned the yeast topoisomerase
I gene during that year, and Alan Bankier and Bart
Barrell sequenced it for me. That was the first
eukaryotic topoisomerase to be cloned. I also started
working on yeast transcriptional silencing in Kim’s lab
and that became a major focus of my lab for many
years after that.
Murray Stewart [email protected]
After a postdoc working on the
structure of carbon fibres in
Australia I came to work with Hugh
Huxley on muscle structure from
1973 to 1976 and this changed my life. In 1976 I returned
to Australia to work with CSIRO in their Computing
Research Division in Canberra, but still concentrated on
Biological problems.
I leapt at the opportunity to return to the LMB as a Group
Leader in 1981 and have been here ever since working on
muscle, cell motility, and nuclear trafficking using mainly
EM and crystallography. My current research concentrates
on determining the structural basis for the way in which
the nuclear export on mRNA is integrated with preceding
steps in the gene expression pathway and especially how
Nab2 and the TREX2 complex facilitate this.
Daniela Stock [email protected]
PNAC 1996-1999 (Postdoc), Neurobiology 2000-2006 (Group Leader)
After studying Mineralogy and
Crystallography, I did my Ph.D. with
Robert Huber at the MPI of
Biochemistry in Martinsried,
Germany, working on the X-ray structures of
proteasomes and chaperonins. This was followed by
postdoctoral work in John Walker’s group on the
structure of ATP synthase, first in PNAC and later at the
Dunn Human Nutrition Unit.
In 2000 I moved to Neurobiology with an MRC Career
Development Award to start working on structures of
“molecular machines” including rotary ATPases and the
bacterial flagellar motor. In 2006 I moved my lab to the
Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute in Sydney,
Australia, where I continue to work on these projects as
well as on method development to study membrane
protein complexes.
Martin Stocks [email protected]
Following my PhD at the Kennedy
Institute of Rheumatology, and a
first postdoc in the laboratory of
Mike Lerner in the Howard Hughes
Medical Institute at Yale University, I joined the LMB in
1993 in the research group of Terry Rabbitts. My work
focussed on the development of intracellular agents
(RNA- and protein-based) that would specifically disrupt
the function of fusion-oncogenes as tools, and potential
therapeutics, for certain haematological malignancies.
This, and other work, ultimately led to Terry and I setting
up a new biotechnology company, Iclectus Ltd, which
I ran for three years (2002-5). Since then I have
remained in the commercial science sector. I currently
manage the healthcare and medical portfolio for Plant
Bioscience Limited, a fully commercial technology
transfer and commercialisation company, based on the
John Innes Centre site in Norwich.
David Stokes [email protected]
After finishing my Ph.D. with David
DeRosier at Brandeis Univ in
Boston, I came to England for a
postdoc in 1987. The NIH didn’t
think that bacteriorhodopsin was a good thing to work
on, so I went to Mill Hill to work on Ca-ATPase with
Michael Green. Once I got some interesting crystals,
I couldn’t stay away from the LMB and moved into the
model room next to Joyce Baldwin for weekly visits to
use the VAX computer, the CM12 cryo-electron
microscope, and even Wasi Faruqi’s fiber diffraction
X-ray setup. I took advantage of the laboratories of
Richard Henderson and Nigel Unwin and accomplished
a great deal before leaving in 1991 for a starting faculty
position at Univ. of Virginia. In 1995 I moved to New York
University where I continue to study membrane protein
structures by cryo-EM. We are still using 2D crystals of
membrane protein pumps and transporters to obtain
structures and to try to understand their transport
mechanisms.
Juergen Stolz [email protected]
After finishing my PhD and a first
postdoc at Erlangen University in
Germany, I was lucky to receive an
EMBO fellowship to work with
Sean Munro in the Cell Biology division. Previous
members of his group have made huge progress in
analysing glycosyltransferases in the yeast Golgi
apparatus that were involved in extending the
N-glycans of yeast extracellular glycoproteins. One of
the key findings was that the enzymes were arranged
in apparently huge multi-protein complexes and my
task was to find out which function the individual
proteins performed within the complexes.
From my stay at LMB I still remember the openness
of the structures, the highly inspiring atmosphere,
the warmth of all the support staff and the impressive
dedication and helpfulness of my colleagues. After
returning to Germany, I founded my own group at
Regensburg University to work on yeast vitamin
transport proteins. Today, I am a lecturer at Technische
Universität München in the field of nutritional
physiology.
Kvido Strisovsky [email protected]
I did my PhD at the Charles
University in Prague, Czech
Republic, and in 2005 I joined the
lab of Matthew Freeman in the Cell
Biology Division as a Marie Curie fellow to work on
intramembrane proteolysis and signalling. I continued
as an EMBO long-term fellow, and in 2011 I left the LMB
to start my own lab in Prague, Czech Republic, as an
EMBO installation grantee. I am interested in the
structure and mechanism of intramembrane proteases
of rhomboid family and rhomboid-like proteins and
how these conserved integral membrane proteins
influence membrane protein trafficking and maturation.
Kevin Struhl [email protected]
I obtained my PhD at Stanford
Medical School with Ron Davis
developing techniques to clone
yeast genes and manipulate the
yeast genome and initiating studies on mechanisms of
eukaryotic gene regulation in living cells. I came to the
MRC in part to continue this work and in part to work
on nematodes with Sydney Brenner; the latter didn’t go
very far. Since moving to Harvard Medical School in
1982 (where I still am), I have continued to work on
many different aspects of gene regulation using
molecular genetic and genomic approaches.
Specific areas of inquiry include the basic transcription
machinery, mechanisms of transcriptional initiation
and elongation, mechanisms of activators and
repressors and their recruited co-activators and
co-repressors, nucleosome occupancy and positioning,
histone modifications, mRNA stability, stress responses,
functional evolutionary experiments, and epigenetics.
Over the past decade, my laboratory has also worked in
the cancer field, specifically an epigenetic switch
linking inflammation to cancer, cancer stem cells, the
potential use of metformin (the major drug for type 2
diabetes) for cancer prevention and treatment.
Lubert Stryer [email protected]
Structural Studies 1962-1963 (Postdoctoral Fellow)
I was a postdoctoral fellow in John
Kendrew’s laboratory and worked
closely with Herman Watson on the
structure of the azide derivative of
myoglobin. In 1963, I joined the faculty of the Department of Biochemistry at Stanford, where I carried out
fluorescence studies of the structure and dynamics of
proteins and developed fluorescence resonance energy
transfer as a spectroscopic ruler. In 1969, I moved to Yale,
where I joined the new Department of Molecular
Biophysics and Biochemistry and initiated a research
program on the mechanism of visual excitation. While at
Yale, I also wrote the first of four editions of a textbook of
biochemistry that was very much influenced by my year
at LMB: structural biology became an integral part of the
teaching of biochemistry. In 1976, I returned to Stanford
to establish a Department of Structural Biology and
continued to explore how a photon triggers a nerve
signal in retinal rod cells. Four years later, my laboratory
elucidated the molecular mechanism of amplification in
visual excitation. I also spent a year on sabbatical as
scientific director of Affymax (the precursor of Affymetrix),
where I participated in the development of lightactivated parallel chemical synthesis and DNA chips.
In 1993, I joined the Department of Neurobiology, where
I am now an active emeritus professor. Andrea and I have
warm memories of our wonderful stay in Cambridge
more than fifty years ago.
Sriram Subramaniam [email protected]
Structural Studies 1992 (Visitor), Structural Studies 1997-2000 (Visitor)
The time I spent at the LMB was
formative in numerous ways.
My two visits (in 1992 and from
1997-2000) provided me with an
education in structural biology that forms the basis of
my present work at the NIH. The scientific discussions at
the canteen were, in some respects, the most important
elements of my training, and provided me with a lifelong foundation to enjoy science by learning to spend
most of the time thinking and talking about experiments
before actually doing them. I don’t feel that I have really
left LMB, because a piece of the LMB “life-force” has been
with me ever since my time there. Recent breakthroughs in the field of cryo-electron microcopy provide
new opportunities for determination of the structures of
a variety of macromolecular assemblies that are not
amenable to analysis by X-ray crystallography or NMR
spectroscopy. In addition, advances in technologies for
analyzing whole cells and tissues in 3D have opened up
new vistas in cellular imaging. The long-term mission of
our research program is to explore biological
mechanisms by combining advanced 3D imaging
technology with novel methods for image segmentation
and computational analysis. Specific areas of current
interest include: (i) structural biology of HIV entry, (ii)
mechanisms of membrane transport, (iii) molecular
architectures of protein complexes involved in
metabolism and (iv) ultrastructural analysis of cell-cell
interactions in the immune system.
Wes Sundquist [email protected]
I was a Chemistry PhD student
with Steve Lippard at MIT and then
a postdoc with Aaron Klug at the
LMB, studying telomeric DNA
structure. I joined the Biochemistry Department at the
University of Utah in 1992 and haven’t moved since.
Our lab studies the molecular and structural biology
of retroviruses, with a particular emphasis on HIV.
We investigate the architecture and assembly of the
viral particle, the role of the ESCRT pathway in
mediating enveloped virus budding, and the
mechanisms of innate anti-retroviral immune responses.
We have also recently been working on the abscission
stage of cytokinesis because we believe that the
primordial ESCRT pathway function is to separate the
two daughters at the final stage of cell division.
John Sutherland [email protected]
I came to the LMB in 2010 having
previously been a Lecturer in
Organic Chemistry at Oxford then
Professor of Biological Chemistry at
Manchester. My research group works on the origin of
life, and we are interested in uncovering prebiotically
plausible syntheses of the informational, catalytic and
compartment–forming molecules necessary for the
emergence of life. By reconciling previously conflicting
views about the origin of life, we have uncovered a
cyanosulfidic protometabolism which uses UV light and
the reducing power of hydrogen sulfide to convert
hydrogen cyanide, and a couple of other prebiotic
feedstock molecules, into nucleic acid, peptide and lipid
building blocks. We are now studying how these
building blocks can (synergistically) assemble into
macromolecules, and how the resultant system can
undergo a transition from the inanimate to the animate
state. This key transition is considered in the context of
there being intermediate stages of partial ‘aliveness’.
Jisnuson Svasti Jisnuson Svasti
I was born in Bangkok, Thailand,
but studied in the UK from the age
of 6. After graduating from the
Department of Biochemistry,
University of Cambridge, I studied for my Ph.D. at LMB
under the supervision of César Milstein in 1968-1972.
Actually, my major interest was in protein chemistry
rather than in immunology, and my thesis work involved
sequencing of mouse immunoglobins to provide
information on antibody diversity. I then returned to
Thailand in 1972, and joined the Department of
Biochemistry, Faculty of Science, Mahidol University,
eventually becoming Professor. Becoming Emeritus
Professor after retirement in 2012, I continue to work
50% time as Head of the Laboratory of Biochemistry,
Chulabhorn Research Institute. My research in Thailand
has always focused on the study of proteins and
enzymes in various systems, such as in male
reproduction or plant systems. I have also enjoyed
working for academic societies, and was President of
the Federation of Asian and Oceanian Biochemists
(1990-1992), President of the Science Society of
Thailand (2008-2011) and Founding President of the
Protein Society of Thailand (since 2010).
http://www.sc.mahidol.ac.th/scbc/Svasti_J.htm
http://www.cri.or.th/en/rs_biochem.php
Deborah Sweet [email protected]
I joined the LMB in 1989 to work
towards my PhD in membrane
trafficking under the expert
guidance of Hugh Pelham. After
graduating, I moved to The Scripps Research Institute in
California, to work with Larry Gerace on nuclear import/
export. In 1996 I transitioned to scientific publishing as
the Editor of Trends in Cell Biology, based once again in
Cambridge. I then moved back across the Atlantic to Cell
Press (Cambridge as well, but MA) in 1999, working
initially as a scientific editor on Cell and Molecular Cell,
then becoming the Editor of Developmental Cell in 2004.
I have been the Editor of Cell Stem Cell since its launch in
2007, and currently also make a broader managerial and
strategic contribution to Cell Press as one of the
Publishing Directors.
Song Tan [email protected]
I joined the LMB as a graduate
student in 1985 on a Marshall
Scholarship to work with Tim
Richmond on crystallographic
studies of a yeast mating type transcription factor/DNA
complex (a project in collaboration with Kim Nasmyth
and Gustav Ammerer). Little did I know that I would
work with Tim for the next 13 years, which included
moving with him to ETH-Zurich in 1987. My time at the
LMB made me realize the importance of structural
studies, chromatin and tackling significant problems.
Since joining the Department of Biochemistry and
Molecular Biology at Penn State in 1998, my laboratory
has focused on using crystallographic and biochemical
approaches to understand how chromatin enzymes,
particularly chromatin modification epigenetic
enzymes, recognize and act on their nucleosome
substrate. http://www.personal.psu.edu/sxt30/
Chris Tate [email protected]
I joined the LMB in 1992 after being
awarded a Postdoctoral Research
Fellowship at Girton College to
work on the structure determination of integral membrane proteins. My initial
project, to determine the structure of the serotonin
transporter, was incredibly optimistic (I am still working
on this today…) but fortunately my back-up project on
the structure determination of the multidrug transporter
EmrE was far more successful. It was through working
with both very stable and unstable transporters that led
to the idea of developing a generic process for the
thermostabilisation of membrane proteins to facilitate
their structure determination.
This resulted in the process of conformational
thermostabilisation, a technique to thermostabilise
membrane proteins in a specific conformation by
scanning mutagenesis coupled to thermostability assays,
and culminated in the structure determination of a
number of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs; the
β1-adrenoceptor, the adenosine A2A receptor and the
neurotensin receptor). This technology was used as the
basis to found the drug discovery company Heptares
Therapeutics in 2007, which uses the thermostabilisation
technology to develop drugs to GPCRs by structurebased drug design. Our group is now expanding this
technology to determine the structures of unstable
transporters, ion channels and GPCR complexes.
Kenneth Taylor [email protected]
Structural Studies 1976-1980 (Postdoc), Structural Studies 1981-1981 (Visiting Faculty),
Structural Studies 1985-1985 (Visiting Faculty)
I arrived at the LMB in September,
1976 from Robert Glaeser’s
laboratory at U. C. Berkeley where we
started the field of cryoEM. At the LMB, I worked initially on
cryosectioning of muscle with Hugh Huxley. I later
switched to helical reconstruction of acto-S1, during which
time I had the pleasure of working with Linda Amos.
In my last year I collaborated with John Kendrick-Jones
and Jonathan Scholey, then a graduate student, on the
regulation of non-muscle myosin assembly and started a
project with Jim Deatherage on 3-D imaging of an S-layer
from a thermophilic bacterium for use in the first course on
3-D image reconstruction of 2-D crystals.
I left the LMB in July of 1980 for a faculty position at Duke
University Medical Center. I have returned to the LMB twice;
briefly in 1981 to complete the S-layer project and again in
1985 for six months to work with Tony Crowther on
oblique section reconstruction. At Duke I worked with
Michael Reedy on 3-D imaging of insect flight muscle, a
collaboration that continues to this day. Although my
research continues to emphasize structural studies of
muscle, myosin and actin assemblies, I have done structural
work on the Ca2+ATPase, integrins, and the viruses HIV,
SIV and AAV. Although I started at the LMB with helical
reconstruction and later doing 2-D crystals, my current
work largely emphasizes electron tomography.
Susan Taylor [email protected]
Postdoctoral fellow with Brian
Hartley at the LMB (1968-1970).
I completed my PhD with Edward
Heath at the Johns Hopkins
University in Physiological Chemistry and then joined the
LMB as a postdoctoral fellow with Brian Hartley. I worked
on the nascent ribitol dehydrogenase evolution project
where my task was to sequence ribitol dehydrogenase.
It was my introduction to protein structure and function
and being surrounded by crystallographers like Max
Perutz and David Blow I learned the importance of
merging structural biology with protein chemistry.
This was the fundamental knowledge that I took with me
when I moved with my husband, Palmer, to the new
University of California, San Diego. My first project at
UCSD was a collaboration between Nate Kaplan and
Michael Rossmann (another LMB alumni) to sequence
LDH. This involved many trips to Purdue to fit my
sequence into Michael’s Richards Box model of LDH and
solidified by rigorous training in protein structure and
function, and these were the lessons I brought to the
table when I began my studies of cAMP-dependent
protein kinase (PKA) soon after I came to UCSD. I later
spent a sabbatical year with Aaron Klug and Ron Laskey,
and returned to UCSD with a renewed determination to
solve the crystal structure of PKA.
Madan Thangavelu [email protected]
PNAC 1999-2003 (Postdoc - Leverhulme Fellow)
At the MRC LMB and later at the
Medical Research Council - Cancer
Cell Unit and Department of
Oncology, University of Cambridge,
I developed novel single DNA molecule and single cell
methodologies for analysis of genomes, genome
dynamics and variation. These techniques provide very
high resolution insights into nuclear, mitochondrial and
epigenomic plasticity and novel ways to map and
describe subtle DNA changes in normal processes like
aging and complex disease like cancer, cardiovascular,
metabolic and epigenetically inherited diseases. DNA
copy counting continues to be the most sensitive
approach for monitoring DNA level changes at single cell
resolution and also for analysing time-resolved processes
like replication and differentiation-dependent changes in
replication. I continue to extend these single DNA
molecule and single cell techniques for genome analysis
to appreciate better the implications of extreme
individuation at the level of the individual and single
cells and other descriptors like the microbiome and
epigenome. These new approaches are enabling facile
and sensitive DNA diagnostics for personalized and
single-cell genomics and applications in the agricultural,
veterinary, environmental and life sciences for
biodiversity assessment and management. As a Trustee
of the Research Council of Complementary Medicine
(www.rccm.org.uk/) I am also involved in refining The
Science of the Metaorganism, the challenges this poses
for policy and visioning novel innovations in health
services, education and research and sustainable
products and services.
Jean Thomas [email protected]
I joined LMB in 1967 as a new PhD
in organic chemistry, and a Beit
Memorial Fellow, excited by the
possibility of ‘doing chemistry’ on
proteins and DNA, having done thesis work on small
(14-membered ring) molecules. I worked with Ieuan
Harris in Fred Sanger’s division on the active centre of
glyceraldehyde 3- phosphate dehydrogenase. In 1969
I was appointed to the academic staff of the Biochemistry
Department in Cambridge and have remained there ever
since (past official retirement age now but still running a
small lab). A couple of years later I began to work on
chromatin structure, initially in collaboration with Roger
Kornberg who had recently joined LMB as a postdoc; our
work on histone associations led to the proposal of
chromatin as a repeating array of ‘subunits’ (nucleosomes)
with a histone octamer core. I have continued to work on
various aspects of chromatin structure over the decades,
particularly the role of proteins that stabilise (linker
histones, and more recently HP1) and destabilise
(HMGB1) the structure, and hence regulate accessibility
of the DNA. I have served enjoyable and interesting
terms as, inter alia, Biological Secretary and Vice-President
of the Royal Society, Governor of the Wellcome Trust, and
President of the Biochemical Society. I have been Master
of St Catharine’s College, Cambridge since 2007 and was
recently elected President of the Society of Biology.
Barry Thompson [email protected]
I was a PhD student with Mariann
Bienz in the Cell Biology Division,
performing genetic screens in
Drosophila for new Wnt signalling
components and identifying a novel protein called Pygopus
that acts in the nucleus with Armadillo/beta-catenin.
I then went to EMBL, Heidelberg, to do a post-doc with
Stephen Cohen to study signalling pathways controlling
tissue growth and form in Drosophila. This work led me
to examine Notch, BMP and Hippo signalling pathways.
I then went to the IMP in Vienna to perform a large-scale in
vivo RNAi screen in Drosophila, which identified many new
genes regulating tissue growth and form. In my own lab at
the Cancer Research UK - London Research Institute, we
are examining these new genes and how they affect cell
polarity and proliferation in developing tissues and cancers.
We now aim to take these advances into mouse models
of tissue homeostasis and cancer.
Simon Thompson [email protected]
I joined the LMB following a
post-doctoral position at The
Whitehead Institute for Biomedical
Research in Cambridge
Massachusetts. In Terry Rabbitt’s lab I worked on the
development of retroviral vectors that express antibody
fragments as a potential gene therapy platform.
Subsequently I joined Novartis and led a molecular
biology lab that was using genetic engineering
strategies to overcome the immune rejection of
transplanted tissues. In industry I have led projects in
tissue transplantation, diabetes and oncology based on
a variety of immune-based technologies. Currently
I manage a portfolio of projects in metabolic disease
and oncology from early research to early clinical
development at MedImmune, the biologics arm of
AstraZeneca. I also have responsibility for a number of
research alliances across therapeutic areas.
Teresa Thurston [email protected]
I joined the Randow lab (PNAC) in
2006 for my PhD. After dabbling in
some human genetics I became
super interested in innate
antibacterial immune responses. Having really enjoyed
my PhD I decided to continue research into host-
pathogen interactions for a postdoc. I joined the lab of
Prof. Holden at Imperial College and have recently
obtained a Junior Research Fellow enabling me to
continue this avenue of research (http://www.imperial.
ac.uk/people/t.thurston). The LMB was a superb place
to learn and start a scientific career as well as good fun!
Ian Tomlinson [email protected]
PNAC 1990-1994 (Phd Student), PNAC 1995-1998 (Postdoc), PNAC 1999-2001 (Group Leader)
Michael Neuberger was my Director
of Studies when I was an undergraduate at Trinity College in the
late 80’s and my first work
experience was at the LMB in Michael’s group after
I graduated with a rower’s, or to be strictly correct, a cox’s
degree. During the few weeks I was there in the Summer
of 1990 Michael introduced me to Terry Rabbitts and Greg
Winter and they offered me a job working on an HGMP
funded programme to sequence and map all human
antibody genes. These were the days when sequencing
and mapping were really hard work, especially as we
(Meirion, Gerald, Graham and I) were part of the advance
party in the brand new CPE labs and were setting things up
from scratch. An Open University PhD, Research Fellowship
at Trinity, and MRC Tenure Track position all followed under
Greg’s leadership. During the latter part of my 11 years at
the LMB, I realised there might be life as a scientist outside
academia and set up a biotech company called Domantis.
I left the LMB in 2001 to become Chief Scientist of Domantis
and after growing the company to some 70 people sold it
to GSK in 2007. Not knowing quite what to expect I
enthusiastically embraced the big Pharma culture and
became Head of Biopharmaceuticals R&D in 2008 and three
years ago took on an extra job as Head of Worldwide
Business Development for GSK. I now sit on the R&D
Leadership Team for GSK and am GSK’s representative on
various company boards including ViiV Healthcare, our HIV
business, the Stevenage Biosciences Catalyst, an incubator
for biotech start-ups and the UK’s BioIndustry Association.
Kathleen Too [email protected]
PNAC 2004-2007 (Career Development Fellow)
I did my postdoctoral work at the
MRC-LMB, working with Daniel M.
Brown, David Loakes and Philipp
Holliger (2004-2007) in PNAC.
Prior to joining the LMB, I was a PhD Chemistry student
with Ronald Grigg at the University of Leeds. At the LMB,
I was impressed by the power of greater collaboration
between the sciences to help solve difficult scientific
problems. This passion for interdisciplinary work in
emerging areas has led to my current role with the Royal
Society of Chemistry (RSC). I joined the RSC as an
Assistant Editor and then Deputy Editor for several RSC
Journals. I have worked on flagship journals such as:
Chemical Communications, Green Chemistry, Lab on a
Chip, Molecular BioSystems. I have also helped to launch
3 new Journals: Integrative Biology, Food & Function and
RSC Advances. After 5 years in RSC Publishing, I began
my new role as the International Development Manager
covering the Asia territories. I help to foster RSC-Asia
exchange and collaborations, build our networks with
researchers in academia and industry, government and
funding bodies within the target countries.
Adrian Gabriel Torres [email protected]
I was born in Argentina, where
I studied Biology. I was awarded
the Cesar Milstein Scholarship to
undertake my PhD studies at the
LMB. I joined the LMB in January 2008 working in Mike
Gait’s group. We focused on designing and testing
oligonucleotide analogues of different chemistries to
target microRNAs for therapeutics (anti-miRs).
The project was fun because it involved both chemistry
and biology and we managed to develop potent
anti-miRs as well as understanding the basic biology on
how anti-miRs find and inhibit microRNAs at the cellular
and molecular level.
I finished my PhD in November 2011 and went back to
Argentina for some months to spend time with my family
and carefully choose my next destination. I came back to
Europe for a postdoc in 2012 with a Marie Curie
Fellowship and joined the Institute of Research in
Biomedicine (IRB) in Barcelona, Spain, where I currently
reside. I am studying naturally occurring posttranscriptional chemical modifications on tRNAs and how
such modifications affect tRNA function and protein
translation. I am also still very much interested in
translational research so I am focusing my studies on the
role the lack of some of these modifications might have
in human diseases.
Richard Treisman [email protected]
Directors 1984-1988 (Group Leader)
I joined LMB in summer 1984, after
a postdoc with Tom Maniatis in
Boston. I came because I didn’t
really know what to work on, apart
from the fact it had to be something to do with how
transcription is activated: in this situation Sydney’s offer
of a bench, a stores account and complete freedom to
sink or swim, coupled with the breadth of science at LMB,
was much more attractive than more formal positions
elsewhere. With my background in studying oncogenes
during my PhD, I had been intrigued by the finding that
mitogenic stimuli activated c-myc transcription. Sharing
a lab in Sydney’s section in the infamous Block 7, I tried to
develop a transfection assay to map the promoter
elements involved. While this was in progress, Ed Ziff at
NYU reported that serum stimulation activated c-fos and
β−actin transcription, so I started looking at c-fos as well.
It quickly became clear that c-fos was the way to go - with
hindsight giving up Myc was one of the best decisions
I ever made - and this set the direction of my research
until my move to ICRF in London in 1988. We have
pursued aspects of growth-factor regulation ever since,
and currently study how the MRTF transcriptional
coactivators, and other members of the RPEL family of
G-actin binding proteins, are regulated by signal-induced
fluctuations in actin treadmilling.
Marco Tripodi [email protected]
laboratory of Michael Bate in the
department of Zoology in
Cambridge. For my Ph.D.
I characterised the functional and genetic mechanisms
that control the organization of motorneurons’
dendritic arbor. I then moved to Switzerland where
I worked with Silvia Arber.
There, I implemented a novel viral based approach to
characterise motor circuit connectivity in vivo.
Our results highlight basic organizational principles
underlying the assembly and function of neural circuits
controlling locomotion. Recently, I joined the LMB to
carry on with my work on the characterization of the
genetic mechanisms governing neural circuits
connectivity and function in health and disease.
Julie Tucker [email protected]
Structural Studies 1994-1997 (Research Associate)
I joined the LMB in 1994 as a research
associate with Reinhard Grisshammer
working on the recombinant
expression of neurotensin receptor
(NTR). Fresh from an undergraduate degree in chemistry at
the University of York, I had no idea how difficult membrane
proteins were to work with, let alone obtain structures
for. Nor had I appreciated that I would be taking coffee,
lunch and tea breaks with Nobel prize-winners (actual and
future) in the 5th floor canteen. After three years with no
crystals in sight despite vastly improved yields of active
receptor, my impatience got the better of me and I moved
to Oxford to study for a DPhil with Jane Endicott on cell
cycle kinase regulation. From Oxford I joined AstraZeneca
as a protein crystallographer. After 12 enjoyable, yet
increasingly turbulent years working on a variety of
enzymes in the cancer and infection therapeutic areas, I
stepped back into academia last October as a senior
research associate in the Drug Discovery and Imaging team
at the Northern Institute of Cancer Research in Newcastle
(see: http://www.ncl.ac.uk/nicr/staff/profile/julie.
tucker). In August of 2012, I had the exciting privilege of
returning to Cambridge to hear Reinhard present the
structure of NTR after 21 years of effort. My time at LMB
provided hard work, rigorous training and truly inspiring
experiences, and I look forward to the reunion.
Emma Tuddenham (Emma Connell) [email protected]
I started my PhD with Bazbek
Davletov in the Neurobiology
Division in Autumn 2005, working
with a great group of post-docs on
the molecular mechanisms underlying synaptic vesicle
release. During my PhD I was lucky enough to work in
a fascinating field, gaining experience in molecular and
cell biology, as well as in protein biochemistry. I also
made some great friends!
I moved to London in 2009 to start a career within the
NHS as a clinical biochemist. Having trained for three
years at St George’s, Tooting, I now work as a Senior
Clinical Scientist within the South-West London
Pathology Network. Despite the many exams I am still
in the process of taking, I really enjoy my job and am
grateful to the LMB for the opportunity to develop as a
research scientist before I branched out into the clinical
realm.
Victor Tybulewicz [email protected]
Victor Tybulewicz obtained his PhD
at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular
Biology, Cambridge, working with
John Walker on ATP synthases.
He then carried out postdoctoral research at the
Whitehead Institute, MIT with Richard Mulligan,
developing methods for gene targeting in mice.
In 1991 he moved to the MRC National Institute for
Medical Research, London where he runs an
independent research group working in two main areas.
1: signal transduction in lymphocytes, exploring the
roles of signaling molecules in B and T cell development,
activation and survival. 2: in collaboration with Elizabeth
Fisher, he is using mouse genetics to understand the
pathology of Down Syndrome. Together they generated
the first ever transchromosomic mouse strain, Tc1, which
carries a freely-segregating copy of human chromosome
21, and shows phenotypes resembling the human
condition. He is a Member of the European Molecular
Biology Organization and a Fellow of the Academy of
Medical Sciences. http://www.nimr.mrc.ac.uk/research/
victor-tybulewicz/
Iban Ubarretxena-Belandia [email protected]
I came to the LMB for my second
postdoc in 2002 to work with Chris
Tate and Richard Henderson on the
structure determination of the
multidrug transporter EmrE by electron crystallography.
Originally a chemist from the Basque Country I obtained
my PhD in Biochemistry in the center for Biomembranes
and Lipid Enzymology at Utrecht University in The
Netherlands. My PhD work focused on the biochemical
and structural characterization of outer membrane
phospholipase A. For my first postdoc I went to Yale
University to study the biophysics of biological
membranes in the laboratory of Don Engelman. I am
currently an associate professor at Mount Sinai School of
Medicine in New York City and our research focuses on
studying the molecular basis for the pathogenesis of
Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease using biochemical
methods and cryo-EM.
Natasa Utjesanovic [email protected]
I joined the group of Alex Betz as a
PhD student in 2008, after having
completed a BSc in Biochemistry
and Cell Biology at the Jacobs
University Bremen in Germany. During my PhD I worked
on the role of Nrp-1 in generation and maintenance of
CD4 T cell-mediated immunological memory. After
completing my PhD I decided to transfer my interest in
immunology to a more applied field, and am currently
pursuing a degree in medicine at the University of
Edinburgh.
Viia Valge-Archer [email protected]
I received my PhD from MIT, where
I worked with Anjana Rao (Harvard
/ DFCI) and Anthony Sinskey on
gene regulation in T cells, which
kick-started my abiding interest in immunology.
In 1991, I joined the LMB as a Human Frontier Science
Program Fellow in the laboratory of Terry Rabbitts in
PNAC, to work on protein-protein interactions of the
LMO family of leukemia oncogenes. At the end of my
post-doc, I decided to pursue an interest in discovery of
new medicines to treat diseases such as leukemia.
I joined Cambridge Antibody Technology (now
MedImmune) in 1996, initially to work on protein
purification, and have remained at CAT and
MedImmune ever since. During the last 17 years, I have
managed multiple therapeutic antibody discovery
programs, as well as external collaborations and
alliances. In my current role as Principal Scientist,
Oncology, I am able to combine my research interests in
immunology and oncology as a leader in MedImmune’s
Immune Mediated Therapy of Cancer (IMT) area, as well
as chairing the global team responsible for new targets
entering the oncology pipeline.
José M. Valpuesta [email protected]
During my stay in Cambridge
(1986-1989) I was a postdoc with
Richard Henderson and John
Walker, and worked with them on
the structural characterisation, using electron microscopy and image processing techniques, of different
mitochondrial membrane proteins.
I returned to Spain in 1989 and since then I have been
working on the structural and functional characterisation
of various macromolecular complexes, in particular those
formed by different molecular chaperones, cochaperones
and their substrates. I’m currently Professor at the
Centro Nacional de Biotecnología, in Madrid, where
I have been its Director for five years (2007-2013).
Carlo van Mierlo [email protected]
I obtained my Ph.D. from
Wageningen University in The
Netherlands, and used within the
group of Franz Müller multidimensional NMR spectroscopy to elucidate the threedimensional structure of a flavoprotein. I did my postdoc
at the LMB from 1990 to 1992 and tackled the folding of
bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor using NMR
spectroscopy, with Tom Creighton and David Neuhaus.
I then moved back to Wageningen University and set up my
own group as a fellow of the Royal Netherlands Academy of
Sciences. My research focuses on experimental elucidation
of how proteins fold, on probing energy landscapes of
protein folding, and on protein misfolding and molten
globule formation and its harmful consequences. Use is
made of heteronuclear NMR spectroscopy and of
hydrogen/deuterium (H/D) exchange, as well as of (singlemolecule) fluorescence spectroscopic techniques, like
Förster resonance energy transfer and time-resolved
anisotropy. Recently, we embarked on elucidating how a
protein folds while it is synthesised by the ribosome. Our
knowledge of transient structure in unfolded apoflavodoxin
and of subsequent formation of a molten globule provides
an excellent opportunity to shed light on nascent chain
folding of apoflavodoxin. This research should contribute
to a molecular description of protein folding in the cell.
Cassandra Vandenberg [email protected]
My research career began in the
Department of Biochemistry at the
University of Otago (New Zealand),
as a PhD student in the laboratory
of Clive Trotman. My thesis project was very much
basic research, investigation of invertebrate haemoglobin from both a biochemical and evolutionary
perspective. Following this I really wanted to work in
an area of research with relevance to human health,
and I was particularly interested in the DNA damage
response. So, in September 2000, I moved to the LMB
for a postdoc position with Kevin Hiom. Our major
focus during this time was the tumour suppressor
protein BRCA1, its function as an E3 ubiquitin ligase
and role in homologous recombination. Suzanne Cory
spoke at the LMB while I was there and sparked an
interest in the use of mouse models of cancer. In 2005
I joined Suzanne’s lab at The Walter & Eliza Hall Institute
(Melbourne, Australia), investigating the involvement
of members of the Bcl-2 family of proteins, which
control apoptosis, in cancer initiation and treatment
response. It’s been very exciting to be part of the
highly collaborative apoptosis research program and
having the opportunity to be involved in pre-clinical
trials of a new class of cancer therapeutics, the BH3
mimetics.
Martine Verhoeyen [email protected]
I did my PhD in Ghent (Belgium)
with Walter Fiers, studying the
molecular mechanism of shift and
drift in influenza virus. In 1984
I joined Greg Winter at the LMB, as part of a small team
‘humanising’ antibodies by CDR grafting. Three years
later I left the LMB to set up an antibody engineering
team at Unilever’s Medical Products Group, focusing
initially on ‘humanised’ antibodies, moving on later to
various smaller formats. Around 1996 I joined Unilever’s
Plant Science team, to manipulate plant metabolism.
Our main achievements were the creation of high
flavonoid tomatoes by overexpressing a petunia
chalcone isomerise gene, and potatoes with modified
starch composition, using ‘plantibodies’ against a key
biosynthetic enzyme. Further development of my career
in R&D involved leading multidisciplinary groups with
widely varying remits from tea genomics to skin and hair
science, supporting different business Categories. A few
years ago I left Unilever to retire and enjoy the good life
in the country! Looking back, I can say I have been very
lucky to have been involved in such a variety of exciting
and often challenging projects. My time in the LMB was
a particular highlight and a strong foundation for my
R&D career. It was a privilege to be there amongst all
these great minds and I am looking forward to meeting
my old colleagues again in July!
John Wade [email protected]
I worked as a postdoc on a Nuffield
Foundation Award with Dr RC (Bob)
Sheppard on the development of
novel methods of solid phase
chemical synthesis of peptides and proteins. After three
wonderful years, I returned to Australia in 1983 as a
Research Fellow at the Howard Florey Institute. I am
pesently an NHMRC Principal Research Fellow (since
2004) and Senior Principal Research Fellow at the Florey
Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health with
conjoint appointments as Professor at both the School of
Chemistry (2008-) and Florey Department of
Neuroscience and Mental Health (2013-) at the University
of Melbourne. I am head of the Peptide & Protein
Chemistry and Drug Design & Development division at
the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health
that is principally engaged in the chemical biology of
insulin-like peptides. Our flagship project is on our
patented hormone relaxin which recently passed Phase III
clinical trials for the treatment of acute heart failure, the
first new heart therapy in 40 years. I also greatly enjoyed
two mini-sabbaticals at the LMB, one in 1989 with
Dr Sheppard and the other more recently in 2010 with
Dr Mike Gait on PNA/PMO chemistry.
Bonnie Ann Wallace [email protected]
After my PhD at Yale in Molecular
Biophysics and Biochemistry, I
spent a year at Harvard as a Jane
Coffin Childs postdoctoral fellow,
and then transferred my fellowship to the LMB in 1979
for (nearly) a year, to work with Richard Henderson on
electron microscopy of 2D crystals and modelling of
bacteriorhodopsin. I then returned to the States as an
Assistant, and then Associate Professor of Biochemistry
at Columbia University, before moving to Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute as Professor of Chemistry and
Director of the Center for Biophysics in 1985, where my
lab focused on the structure and function of membrane
proteins and peptides. I moved my lab permanently to
London in 1990 following a sabbatical visit as a Fogarty
Fellow to Birkbeck College, University of London.
My interests have focused both on ion channels (most
notably sodium channels) where we have combined
crystallography with spectroscopic and computational
studies to examine their structure and dynamics,
complementing electrophysiological functional studies
and drug binding and design. My lab has also been
involved in the development of new methods and
bioinformatics tools for characterising proteins by
circular dichroism and synchrotron radiation circular
dichroism spectroscopic techniques.
Diana Watson (Singleton) [email protected]
Structural Studies 1963-1967 (Computor - renamed sadly to Junior Technical Officer)
I worked for David Blow as one of
the “computors” from 1963-1967.
The routine of processing
chymotrypsin data included
measuring the tracings from the microdensitometers
and creating punch cards for computing. Model
building and drawing as well as the computing courier
runs to Edsac II in the Maths Lab and the computers in
London, at IBM and later Imperial College, gave me a
wonderful variety of tasks. In 1967, I emigrated to
Australia and worked for IBM before taking up piano
lessons. After 20 years teaching piano to beginners, and
then a brief period working as a Strata Manager
managing blocks of units and offices, I did a degree in
Information Studies at the University of Technology,
Sydney (UTS). Since 2008 I have worked as a casual
librarian on the Research Help Desk at UTS. For the past
10 years I have been promoting sustainable living by
organising workshops and teaching Permaculture
Design in Sydney.
Ian Watt [email protected]
After doing my Ph.D. at Cardiff
University and a postdoc at UBC in
Vancouver, I joined Michael
Neuberger’s group in 2003.
During my time there I helped to develop biochemical
assays to characterise the specific cleavage patterns of
various members of the APOBEC family. Subsequently
I joined John Walker’s group in the MRC Mitochondrial
Biology Unit where we are engaged in structural
studies of F1Fo ATP Synthase from a variety of species.
Michael Way [email protected]
Structural Studies 1985-1988 (PhD), Structural Studies 1989-1992 (Postdoc)
I started my Ph.D. with Alan Weeds
studying the actin binding properties
of Gelsolin in 1985 immediately after
finishing my undergraduate in the
Biophysics Dept. King’s College, University of London.
After finishing my Ph.D, I remained in Alan’s lab for three
years continuing to look at gelsolin as well as alpha-actinin,
dystrophin but never managed to beat Brian Pope at
squash. In 1992 I moved to Boston, for a second postdoc
with Paul Matsudaira (an ex-LMB postdoc) at the Whitehead
Institute, MIT, USA. In 1995, I started own group, studying
how vaccinia virus stimulates actin polymerization in the
Cell Biology Programme at the European Molecular Biology
Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany.
In 2001, I headed back to London to run the Cell motility
group in the London Research Institute, Cancer Research
UK. We use a variety of quantitative imaging and
biochemical approaches to study how vaccinia virus
takes advantage of its host as a model system to
understand signalling networks, cytoplasmic transport
and cytoskeletal dynamics. Outside the context of
vaccinia infection, we also examine the mechanisms
regulating the assembly and function of invadopodia as
well as the cellular function of Tes, a tumour suppressor
that regulates Mena-dependent cell migration. I am an
honorary Professor at University College, London and a
Professor of Virology, Imperial College, London since
October 2013 .
Mary Miu Yee Waye [email protected] or [email protected]
PNAC 1982-1984 (Postdoc), Structural Studies 1984-1985 (Postdoc), Structural Studies 19851986 (Type II Research Scientist)
After studying for my B.Sc. from the
University of Western Ontario, and
then Ph.D. from the University of
Toronto (Medical Biophysics), I received a King George V
Fellowship that enabled me to go to LMB as a Canadian
National Cancer Institute Research Fellow. I was in PNAC
(in the lab of Greg Winter) and later also worked in the
Structural Studies (in the labs of Tim Richmond and Aaron
Klug). I returned to Toronto, in 1986 as an assistant
professor for the Medical Research Group in Periodontal
Physiology, University of Toronto. I then went back to
Hong Kong in 1992 as a lecturer of the Department of
Biochemistry (later under the School of Biomedical
Sciences) and have been there ever since, as a professor
at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. I was one of the
members of the International HapMap consortium and
helped in the sequencing of the SARS genome in Hong
Kong, which led to my appointment as the founding
director of the Croucher laboratory for Human Genomics
in 2004. I was elected as the president of the Hong Kong
Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in 2006 and
founded the society’s journal in 2011. I then became more
and more interested in neurobiology, studying those
genes associated with developmental dyslexia, language
development, possession of perfect pitch, susceptibility
to suicide and psychiatric diseases such as bipolar disorder.
Alan Weeds [email protected]
Protein Chemistry Division 19621967; Structural Studies 1968-2005.
I joined the LMB as a Ph.D. student
with Brian Hartley 1962 to work on
myosin. After a year with Susan Lowey in Boston, I returned
to set up a muscle biochemistry lab with Hugh Huxley,
focussing on subfragment-1 ATPase activity, myosin light
chains and myosin isoenzymes. In 1976 I began work on
actin in blood platelets; with Hatty Harris, we discovered
plasma gelsolin in 1979 and with Jim Bamburg, chick Actin
Depolymerising Factor (ADF). These proteins remained my
main focus thereafter. In 1993, with Hans Mannherz and
Paul McLaughlin, we solved the X-ray structure of the
segment-1 domain of gelsolin and in 2003 with Linda Ball
and Karen Zierler-Gould, the NMR structure of human
cofilin. Brian Pope and John Gooch greatly helped me over
very many years and collaboration with Hans Mannherz has
continued since my retirement in 2005, with a final paper
on interactions of ADF/cofilin, thymosin beta-4 and the
Arp2/3 complex published earlier this year. I served as
Director of Studies at the LMB on 2 occasions and together
with Michael Neuberger as teaching fellows at Trinity
College, we forged strong relationships between Trinity and
the Lab. I was appointed an Honorary Director of the MRC
Pension Fund in 1997 and have remained a member of the
investment subcommittee until this year.
Marcel Wehrli [email protected]
Cell Biology 1989-1993 (PhD)
I joined the late Michael Wilcox at
the MRC-LMB in 1989 to learn
about Drosophila and integrins,
performing an external Ph.D. thesis
in his lab (University of Zurich, mentored by Markus
Noll). After leaving the LMB in 1993, I investigated
planar tissue polarity in Andrew Tomlinson’s lab at
Columbia University in New York, which led me to study
Wnt signaling with Steve DiNardo at the University of
Pennsylvania. In 2001, I moved to OHSU in Portland,
Oregon, where my group focuses on dissecting the
Wnt/beta-catenin signaling pathway in Drosophila.
John Weir
The multi-functionality of Wnt pathway components
has precluded identification of their Wnt signaling
pools and detection of the signaling mechanism in
intact tissues or cells. To get around this problem and
identify interacting components in vivo, we adapted
bimolecular fluorescence complementation methods.
By combining this approach with genetic tools, we are
able to establish dynamic interactions in space and
time as the Wnt signal is transduced. These findings
suggest a novel mechanistic model that differs
significantly from current models.
[email protected]
Structural Studies 2004-2006 (Technician)
I completed my undergraduate
degree in Leeds in 2004 and then
had the good fortune to work for
Venki Ramakrishnan at the LMB.
The two years in the Ribo group ignited my interest in
structural biology and I subsequently undertook a PhD
with Elena Conti.
I started my PhD at the EMBL in Heidelberg, then moved
with Elena in 2007 to the MPI in Martinsried studying
factors regulating the RNA exosome. After my PhD
I moved to another Max-Planck institute, this time in
Dortmund, where I am currently with Andrea Musacchio
investigating the structure and function of the inner
kinetochore.
H Markus Weiss [email protected]
I joined the LMB after completion
of my PhD thesis at the MaxPlanck-Institute for Biophysics in
Frankfurt/Germany in summer
1998 and continued to work on G protein-coupled
receptors. My postdoc at the LMB was with Reinhard
Grisshammer and Richard Henderson and focused on
expression, purification and characterization of the
adenosine A2a receptor also including 2D crystallization
attempts.
End of 2000 I left Cambridge to work for a German
start-up company producing ELISA based diagnostic
kits for autoimmune disease. I later changed to
Novartis in Basel/Switzerland, where I now work in
clinical pharmacology. One focus of my work is to
support transition of compounds into first clinical trials,
including dose selection employing quantitative and
model based approaches. This work fits to my interest
in human physiology that made me study human
biology back in 1989.
Nick Weise [email protected]
Structural Studies 2010 (Summer Student)
After my first year as an
undergraduate at the University of
Manchester I wanted to experience
the life of an academic researcher.
I took advantage of the LMB Summer Studentship
scheme, working in the Ramakrishnan group on
structural studies of the prokaryotic ribosome.
Through my experience of experimental work,
attendance of LMB seminars and conversations with
world-class scientists, I decided that a career in research
was for me.
After my time at the LMB I returned to Manchester and,
after subsequent summer internships at the Institute of
Cancer Research, London and the Wellcome Trust
Sanger Institute, graduated with a B.Sc. (Hons) in
Molecular Biology. Since then I have been working
towards a PhD under Professor Nicholas Turner at the
Centre of Excellence in Biocatalysis, part of the
Manchester Institute of Biotechnology. The research is
centred around the discovery, design and engineering
of enzymes for the synthesis of industrially-relevant
fine chemicals and pharmaceutical intermediates.
Albert Weixlbaumer [email protected]
After my undergraduate studies in
Biology at the University of Vienna,
Austria I joined Venki Ramakrishnan’s
lab as a graduate student in January
2004. I was involved in building and interpreting the
high-resolution crystal structure of the bacterial 70S
ribosome. Subsequently I worked on the role that modified
tRNA nucleotides play in modulating the decoding capacity
of the ribosome and also solved a complex of the 70S
ribosome in complex with ribosome recycling factor.
I defended in 2007 but stayed for an additional year. During
my final year in the Ramakrishnan lab we crystallized the
ribosome in complex with translation termination factor
RF2. This gave us a detailed picture on stop codon
recognition by a protein factor, and allowed us to propose a
mechanism for peptide bond hydrolysis. I left Cambridge in
September 2008 to join Seth A. Darst’s lab at the Rockefeller
University in New York as a postdoctoral fellow. In the Darst
lab I worked on transcriptional pausing, a process involved
in regulating gene expression. Several crystal structures of
paused RNA polymerase elongation complexes in
combination with biochemistry gave us insights into this
process and provide a framework for understanding
transcriptional termination. Since April 2014 I have led my
own research team at the IGBMC in Strasbourg, France.
Here I focus on structural studies of complexes involved
in the regulation of transcription. http://www-igbmc.ustrasbg.fr/research/department/3/team/119/
Michelle West [email protected]
I carried out my PhD working on
Epstein-Barr virus transcription
factors with Martin Rowe at the then
CRC Department for Cancer Studies
(now School of Cancer Sciences) at the University of
Birmingham. I then continued to pursue my interest in
the regulation of gene expression in my first postdoctoral position working on translational control of
c-myc with Anne Willis at the University of Leicester.
I joined the LMB PNAC division in October 1996 to
rekindle my interest in transcriptional control and viruses,
working as a postdoctoral researcher with Jon Karn on the
regulation of HIV transcription. I left the LMB in late 2001
after obtaining a Wellcome Trust Career Development
Fellowship to set up my own group at the University of
Sussex , returning to my roots working on Epstein-Barr virus
transcription and transformation mechanisms. I became a
member of permanent faculty at Sussex in 2006 and my
group still has a strong interest in gene expression control
mechanisms. We are currently using a combination of
genome-wide binding analysis, chromosome conformation
capture and biochemical techniques to study the
transcriptional control of host cell genes by Epstein-Barr
virus transcription factors and are also studying the
transcriptional and translational regulation of a cell-cycle
gene deregulated in Epstein-Barr virus transformed cells.
Kathy Weston [email protected]
PNAC 1983-1986 (PhD), PNAC 1986-1987 (Postdoc)
After a PhD with Bart Barrell in
PNAC, sequencing cytomegalovirus, and a one-year postdoc with
the wonderful Michael Neuberger,
I did a postdoc in Mike Bishop’s lab at the University of
San Francisco Medical Center. I was there for two very
happy years, bracketed by the 1987 hurricane in Britain
the day after I left, and the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake
in California the week after I returned home. For the
next 20 years, I ran a lab at the Institute of Cancer
Research in London, working on the function of the
Myb oncogene in haematopoiesis. In 2009, both the ICR
and I realised that it would be a good time to close
down my lab, and so, to much mutual relief, I left bench
science for a new career as a science writer and
communicator. Since then, amongst other things,
I’ve published a book, “Blue Skies and Bench Space:
Adventures in Cancer Research”, which is a slightly
quirky account of the CRUK London Research Institute’s
greatest scientific hits, and am thoroughly enjoying life
outside the lab. Currently, as well as freelancing,
I’m working part time at CRUK Head Office in London,
providing science information to multiple internal
departments, including the Strategic Research Funding
division (SRF). Those who know me well will appreciate
the irony of this latter acronym!
John White [email protected]
I joined Sydney Brenner’s group at
the LMB in 1969 at the time when
Sydney was gearing up to study
the nematode C. elegans.
Initially, I worked on developing a computer system to
reconstruct the nervous system from electron micrographs
of serial sections. In the course of this work I found
myself becoming increasingly interested in the function
and development of the neural structures that we were
piecing together. My PhD dissertation was submitted in
1974 by which time I was focussed on the anatomical
reconstruction of C. elegans; this was completed in 1986.
A new interest emerged as the anatomy project neared
completion: the mechanisms of cell cleavage and
polarity establishment in the early embryo of C. elegans.
For this work we switched to the light microscope in
order to capitalise on fluorescence techniques that have
the potential to label specific proteins. Initially we were
frustrated with the poor images we were getting, but
after some experiments with a prototype confocal
microscope built in the LMB workshops, we found we
could get good 3D visualisation of the cytoarchitecture
in developing embryos. After we had acquired basic
structural descriptions of the nervous system and early
embryo, my interest turned to how these structures are
perturbed in behavioural and development mutants,
work I pursued until I left the LMB in 1993.
Bill Whybrow [email protected]
Cell Biology 1963-1987 (Technician), Operations 1987-1997 (Safety Officer)
I started at LMB in August 1963 in
Cell Biology, working with Alfred
Tissieres for about a year (having
moved from the Department of
Physiology in Cambridge). I then worked with Brian
Clark until he moved to Denmark, then with Sydney
Brenner on a number of projects. In the late 1980’s
I was appointed MRC Centre Safety Officer, and helped
Jo Butler with Biological Safety. I married Judy Firth in
1988 and our son Ben was born in 1993. After 33 years
at the Lab, I retired in 1997.
Judy Whybrow (Firth) [email protected]
PNAC 1981-1984 (Secretary to Cesar Milstein & Ed Lennox), PNAC 1984-1992 (Divisional Secretary)
I arrived at LMB in July 1981,
straight out of secretarial college,
and at the grand age of 19 found
myself in my first job trying to
organise the working life of a future Nobel laureate
(3 years on). Initially I was secretary to Cesar Milstein
(PNAC) and Ed Lennox (Director’s Section) and their
respective groups, and Margaret Brown and Peggy
Dowding swiftly took me in hand and taught me more
than I ever learned in college. When Fred Sanger and
Peggy retired in 1983, Cesar and I took their respective
places as PNAC’s Head of Division and Divisional
Secretary. I was privileged to continue to work for Cesar
(and later Terry Rabbitts as Joint Head of PNAC) until I left
in December 1992 to have Ben (now 21). The LMB
provided me with a husband (Bill and I married in 1988),
an incredible first job, lifelong friends and some
wonderful memories. Lots of hard work supporting some
brilliant people, but also a lot of fun (how many great
Christmas parties did we organise?). After a lot of
agonising I decided not to return to the lab after Ben was
born, but I did the Canteen Committee accounts for a
while from home, and only went back to working
full-time when Bill retired and Ben started school in 1997.
I am looking forward to seeing some ‘old faces’!
Marvin Wickens [email protected]
Cell Biology 1978-1983 (Postdoc also Summer Student)
My first experience at the MRC was
a summer undergraduate internship with Alan Weeds, while I was
at Berkeley. Five years later, after
doing my PhD work with Bob Schimke at Stanford,
I returned to the MRC in late 1978 to work with John
Gurdon. With John, I studied how genes were expressed
in oocytes, which grew into studies of RNA processing
and translational control during development.
I was exceptionally lucky to be at the MRC with a
collection of students, post-docs and staff who were
not only talented, but soon became good friends.
In 1983, I moved to the Biochemistry Department of
the University of Wisconsin in Madison, where I have
remained since. My lab studies mechanisms and
networks of mRNA control.
Philip Wigge [email protected]
I did my PhD with John Kilmartin.
I was really lucky to have a great
project, and I got to learn
biochemical purifications from one
of the greats. Having worked on budding yeast, a chance
conversation with Mariann Bienz led me to apply for a
postdoc at the Salk with Detlef Weigel, who introduced
me to the wonders of plant biology. After positions at
Max Planck Tuebingen and the John Innes Centre, Norwich,
I have not ceased exploration and have ended near to
where I started: in the new Sainsbury Laboratory in the
Botanic Gardens. We study temperature perception
mechanisms in plants and yeast which is very exciting.
After my recounting a dazzling seminar, John would
often ask, “Ah, but do they know how it actually works?”
This line for me captures what a special place LMB was
and is. How life works, now that’s a puzzle worth
pursuing. How lucky we’ve been to be part of it.
wiggelab.org
Rainer Wilcken [email protected]
CPE 2008-2011 (Visiting PhD Student), PNAC 2011-2013 (Postdoc)
My first encounter with the LMB
was as a first-year PhD student,
visiting Alan Fersht’s group at the
CPE in late 2008. My PhD project
was divided into two areas - molecular modelling
which was done at the LMU Munich and University of
Tuebingen in Germany, and bench work done in
Cambridge. I spent nearly a year overall at the CPE in
2008-10, learning protein engineering techniques as
well as biophysics and NMR for my work on mutant p53.
It most impressed me that whatever the problem
I faced during my experiments, there was an expert in
the building that I could ask about it. Following the
completion of my PhD, I formally joined Alan’s lab as a
Career Development Fellow. I was volunteered to
become a ‘move champion’ to help organise the lab’s
move to the new building in 2013, but left the LMB in
April 2013 to take up a new position at Novartis Basel,
just over a month short of the official opening of the
building.
Roger Williams [email protected]
I obtained my Ph.D. at the
University of California, working on
X-ray crystallography of proteins
with Alex McPherson.
My postdoctoral work involved computational chemistry
and protein crystallography, at Cornell University with
Harold Scheraga and at Rutger’s University with Eddy
Arnold. In 1991, I joined the MRC as a group leader in
the Centre for Protein Engineering, and I became a group
leader in the LMB in 1997. My work in the LMB concerns
structural principles of intracellular signalling and
sorting complexes that function on lipid membranes.
Our work on the structures of the phosphoinositide
3-kinases (PI3Ks) formed the basis for development of
PI3K inhibitors for anti-cancer and anti-inflammation
applications. We have also elucidated the structural
mechanisms by which receptor tyrosine kinases, Ras
and heterotrimeric G proteins regulate these signalling
enzymes. In our most recent efforts with PI3Ks, we have
used new methods of hydrogen-deuterium exchange
mass spectrometry to map out protein-protein and
protein-membrane interactions and to facilitate X-ray
crystallography for large protein complexes.
This enabled us to understand the mechanism of some
of the most common somatic mutations in human
cancer biology. Our work on PI3Ks also led to our studies
of protein sorting within cells. We have used structural
and biophysical approaches to understand the assembly
of protein complexes on membranes that regulate
transport to lysosomes via autophagy, multivesicular
bodies and phagocytosis.
Gregory Winter [email protected]
PNAC 1973-1976 (PhD Student), PNAC 1978-1981 (Postdoc), PNAC 1981-2014 (Group Leader),
PNAC 1994-2008 (Head of Division)
I first came to the LMB as a summer
student in 1972 to work with David
Blow on building a Labquip model
of chymotrypsin, and then in 1973 as a PhD student to
work with Brian Hartley on the protein chemical sequencing of amino acyl tRNA synthetase enzymes. In 1977
I was awarded a Junior Research Fellowship at Trinity
College, undertook postdoctoral work with George
Brownlee on sequencing of the RNA genes of influenza
virus (together with Stan Fields), and in 1981 became a
member of staff at the LMB. Subsequently my career
has been in protein engineering, first of enzymes,
collaborating with Alan Fersht in a study of active sites,
and then of antibodies. A particular interest has been the
creation of humanized and human antibodies, and the
underpinning technologies including the development
of antibody repertoires. This work led me into the
biotechnology industry, and while continuing to work at
the LMB I have acted as co-founder of three companies,
Cambridge Antibody Technology, Domantis (with Ian
Tomlinson, a former PhD student) and Bicycle
Therapeutics (with Christian Heinis, a former postdoc).
In 2012 I became Master of Trinity College.
William Wisden [email protected]
At the MRC LMB in the mid-1990s,
Wisden and colleagues produced
some of the first mouse knockout
studies on GABA-A receptor genes.
The aim was to understand how the brain uses this
inhibitory diversity. He and his colleagues found a
particular subtype of GABA-A receptor specialized for
extrasynaptic transmission. Wisden’s laboratory, using gene
knockouts, then did substantial work on the function of the
TASK-1 and -3 potassium channels in the brain. These mice
were invaluable to medical physiologists working on
oxygen sensing (defective in the knockouts), and blood
pressure regulation (model for hypoaldosteronism).
Wisden has since become interested in developing
genetic methods that would reveal how neuronal
microcircuits function. He and his colleagues invented
one of the first pharmacogenetic methods: rapid and
reversible modulation of defined GABAergic synapses
in vivo. Wisden’s laboratory has also made neuronal
cell-type selective impairments of GABAA receptors to
investigate how fast inhibition contributes to memory
formation and network properties. His laboratory has
used genetic silencing to investigate how inhibitory
interneurons contribute to working memory formation.
Most recently, he has used mouse genetics to investigate
sleep-wake circuitry. Wisden currently holds the Chair in
Molecular Neuroscience in the Dept of Life Sciences,
Imperial College London. http://www.imperial.ac.uk/AP/
faces/pages/read/Home.jsp?person=w.wisden&_adf.ctrlstate= 6ooyhlyg7_3& _afrRedirect=375457972880000
Steven Wooding [email protected]
Over the course of my career
I’ve steadily turned from a
molecular biologist into a social
scientist. I came to the LMB to do
my PhD in 1994, working with Hugh Pelham, visualising
the Golgi apparatus in yeast using GFP. After finishing
I decided to get out of the lab and went to work for the
Biochemical Society as Assistant Director of Professional
and Education. A role in which I learned far too much
about the minutae of Learned Society politics.
From there I moved to the Wellcome Trust running projects
in the Public Engagement Development group, before
moving to RAND Europe, a not-for-profit public policy think
tank that carries out research to inform, and hopefully
improve, policy making. At RAND Europe I head up the
Innovation and Technology Policy team and spend my time
doing research on how science works, and the long road
between medical research and changes in patient care. For
more see http://www.rand.org/about/people/w/wooding_
steven.html or follow me @drstevenwooding.
John Wootton [email protected]
Almost my entire academic life was
spent at Cornell, where I received
the BS and MS before a two-year
interruption running a clinical
biochemistry reference and control lab for the US Army.
I completed the PhD under the mentorship of George
Hess in 1960 and a postdoc with Charles Vernon at
University College London studying aspartate aminotransferase. I joined the Cornell Faculty in 1962 where I’ve
been ever since, retiring in 2004 but continuing to teach
through 2012 interrupted by four sabbatical leaves in
England and one at Stanford. My research interests have
related to protein structure-function relationships,
initially with the pancreatic serine proteases and
extending to intestinal aminopeptidases, calmodulin
and the vitamin D steroid dependent Calcium transport
system. The academic year 1969-70 was spent at the
LMB in Max Perutz’ laboratory investigating the
molecular basis of the Bohr effect(s) with John Kilmartin.
After three years (1980-83) serving as Associate Dean of
the Graduate School, I returned to my academic
department and my research activities changed
direction as I began a long-term collaboration with
David Trentham, John Corrie, Annette Dolphin and Rod
Scott involving the synthesis, and characterization of
caged mononucleotides and their use in the study of
signal transduction, particularly modulation of neuronal
ion channels. As well as efforts in my own lab, three
sabbatical leaves as well as several shorter ones were
spent at the NIMR at Mill Hill.
H. Tonie Wright [email protected]
I came to David Blow’s group at LMB
in 1969 from the University of
California, San Diego, where I had
worked on the crystal structure of
chymotrypsinogen in Joe Kraut’s group. David’s group
had earlier determined the structure of α-chymotrypsin
and we were still trying to figure out what the important
changes were that conferred activity on the enzyme.
LMB was a wonderful, stimulating place to work among
people with unbounded enthusiasm for their research.
I particularly enjoyed Richard Henderson’s incisive
common sense thoughts and his lively enthusiasm.
I returned to Princeton in 1971, happy to have left
proteases behind. There I worked with Jacques Fresco on
tRNA and aminoacyl-tRNA ligases and became interested
in how diphtheria toxin enters cells. In 1980 I moved to
Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine,
glad to leave RNA behind, and worked on diphtheria
toxin, serine hydroxymethyl-transferase and oxyR transcriptional regulator. I was drawn back into work on
proteases through structure studies on ovalbumin, of all
things, which introduced me to serpins and their
mechanism and launched my continuing studies on the
interaction of Alzheimer’s Aβ peptide with serpins – antichymotrypsin, of course. I also returned after over 20 years
to RNA in a study of a snoRNA decapping enzyme. William
Faulkner might have been writing about my research path
when he said that the past is never dead. It’s not even past.
Lai-Chu Wu [email protected]
I completed my PhD studies at
University of Oxford and then did
my postdoc with Terry Rabbitts at
the LMB. During that time, the
enzymes involved in somatic rearrangement of the
antigen receptor genes were largely unknown, so
we cloned several proteins that bind to the signal
sequences of V(D)J recombination. I joined the
Department of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry at
the Ohio State University in 1990 and continued
working on one of the clones (Rc/HIVEP3/ZAS3), which
encoded a zinc finger protein. Gene knockout
experiments revealed only subtle changes in T cell
differentiation but no change in TCR diversity in mice
lacking ZAS3. Unexpectedly, those mice showed
dramatic postnatal increase of bone mass.
Most recently, we studied how ZAS3 is involved in
autoimmune diseases as well as skeletal development
by controlling T lymphocyte, osteoblast and osteoclast
commitment and activation.
Samantha (Sam) Wynne [email protected]
Structural Studies 1995-1999 (Postdoc), Structural Studies 1999-2014 (Research Support),
Operations 2014-Current (Public Engagement Manager (Maternity Cover))
I arrived at LMB in 1995 as a
postdoc with Andrew Leslie and
Tony Crowther to work on the
Hepatitis B core protein. We determined the structure,
firstly to 7.4Å with Bettina Böttcher by cryo-EM, and
then to higher resolution by X-ray crystallography.
I stayed in Andrew’s lab as his research support staff,
studying engineered DNA polymerases and membrane
transporter proteins, until earlier this year. In addition
to my structural research, I have been chairman of the
canteen committee since 2008, organiser of the annual
Crystal Growing Competition for Schools, and
choreographer and ham-actor of many Christmas Skits!
In April I joined Operations as Public Engagement
Manager (maternity cover), supporting outreach and
public engagement events such as this Alumni
Symposium, science festival exhibits and schools visits.
This role also includes managing external LMB
communications and LMB news. I am really enjoying
working with lots of different people and helping to
support LMB science.
Yao-Zhong Xu (Yao) [email protected]
After finishing my PhD with Prof.
Wang Yu at Shanghai Institute of
Organic Chemistry, Chinese
Academy of Sciences (CAS),
I received a CAS fellowship and came to spend a year
(1988-1989) with Dr. Michael Gait at the LMB,
developing methods for chemical synthesis of RNA
oligomers. After that, I worked with Prof. Peter Swann
at UCL on chemical synthesis of base-modified DNA.
In 2001, I joined the then Department of Chemistry,
now Life, Health and Chemical Sciences at the Open
University and have not moved since. While teaching
organic and medicinal chemistry to both undergraduates and post-graduates is my primary activity,
I also explore the possibility of developing nucleosides
and nucleotides containing thio-base (such as
4-thiothymine) as UVA-light aided drugs for cancer and
other diseases. http://science-people.open.ac.uk/y.z.xu
Kanmin Xue [email protected]
I undertook PhD research with the
late Michael Neuberger as part of
the combined MB-PhD program for
clinical medics at Cambridge.
Perhaps time distorts memories, but I remember it to be
a blissful period doing ‘real science’ at a bench in the
end room of the old PNAC, under the generous
guidance of Cristina, Gareth, Javier and Zizhen, making
regular groups trips to the canteen, and occasional
forays to tissue culture zombie land. Even the low
points of spinning irreplaceable cells to the bottom of
the centrifuge or bending the axle of the ultracentrifuge
seem like life’s meaningful lessons. I am now an
ophthalmology registrar working in Oxford. With the
advent of gene therapy and stem cell treatment of eye
conditions, I hope it would soon be possible to use the
pipetting and centrifuging skills to help my patients see
better.
Mitsuhiro Yanagida [email protected]
Structural Studies 1968-1969 (Visiting Scholar (EMBO Short-term Fellowship))
I was very lucky to present my
optical diffraction data for electron
micrographs of bacteriophage T4
‘polyheads’ in front of Aaron Klug in
1968 at a small gathering held at Cambridge. He asked
me to come to LMB later that year for further analysis
using the optical filtration method developed in his
group. Raymond Appleyard, the first EMBO executive
secretary, informed me that I was awarded an EMBO
short-term fellowship, as I was eligible for it as an
‘assistant’ at the Institute of Molecular Biology, University
of Geneva, Switzerland. This incidence and subsequent
short visits to LMB gave me greatest opportunities to
experience how to be a scientist and to learn how to
enjoy being a scientist. Since then, my research in Geneva
went well. After briefly staying in Naples and Baltimore,
I got a faculty job in Kyoto University in 1971. Until my
definitive retirement in 2011, I had an enthusiastic group
studying chromosome dynamics and segregation.
I am now having a laboratory in Okinawa Institute of
Science and Technology (OIST) Graduate University, and
truly enjoying my own style of research topics.
Jose Yelamos [email protected]
I completed my PhD at the
University of Sevilla (Spain) and
came to LMB in August 1993 as a
postdoc with César Milstein at the
PNAC Division. During this time, I was contributing to
understanding the molecular mechanisms controlling
antibody maturation. In 1999 I joined the University of
Murcia (Spain) as a group leader for eight years.
Later on, in 2007, I moved to the Institut Hospital del
Mar d´Investigacions Médiques (Barcelona, Spain) and
haven´t moved since. The aim of my lab is to
investigate the role of poly(ADP-ribosyl)ation of nuclear
proteins, catalysed by PARP family members (especially
PARP-1 and PARP-2), as a critical signaling pathway at
nuclear level, both in innate and acquired immune
responses. More recently, our group has become
interested in studying the specific role of PARP-1 and
PARP-2 in the DNA damage response. We are now
studying the molecular and functional interplay
between poly(ADP-ribosyl)ation and phosphorylation
(mediated by ATM and ATR kinases) in the response to
DNA breaks in lymphocytes, and investigating the
relevance of such coordination in the context of
genomic instability and cancer.
C. Yung Yu [email protected]
PNAC 1987-1993 (Postdoctoral Fellow)
I was a postdoc fellow with Dr. César
Milstein between 2/1987 and 6/1990.
My project was to establish a detailed
physical map linking all five genes
for human leukocyte differentiation antigens, CD1a to
CD1e. I did pulsed field gel electrophoresis for long
range genomic mapping and constructed libraries to
isolate CD1 clones. I learned from César to extract useful
information against background noise particularly when an
experiment appeared to work only partially. César enjoyed
debating with us on a variety of issues in immunology
and science, and teasing us by asking if we had forgotten
to add a reagent to an experiment that yielded “absurd”
results! After the postdoctoral fellowship, I took a faculty
position with the Ohio State University and Columbus
(Nationwide) Children’s Hospital, and have been in Ohio
since 1990. My research interest remains on immunogenetics. My research team established the phenomenon of common gene copy number variations (CNVs)
for several innate immunity genes. We work on the
genetic basis of human autoimmune diseases including
systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), dermatomyositis,
rheumatoid arthritis and type 1 diabetes. The irony is
that our immune system attacks our own proteins,
including binding proteins for RNA or lipids, and doublestranded DNA molecules. Until now, the molecular
biologic basis of immune tolerance remains a major
puzzle for us to crack!
Xiang Yu [email protected]
Cell Biology 1995-1998 (PhD student)
I was a summer student and then
PhD student at the LMB, working
with Mariann Bienz on Wnt/βcatenin signaling in fly embryos.
Benefiting from the shorter duration of the British PhD
program, I took the adventure of learning something
new and different by joining the laboratory of Robert
Malenka at Stanford University, to study synaptic
plasticity in the rodent brain. In 2005, I joined the
Institute of Neuroscience, Chinese Academy of Science,
in Shanghai, China as group leader.
My laboratory is interested in understanding the
morphological and synaptic bases of experiencedependent neural circuit development, as well as the
molecular mechanisms mediating these processes.
We recently showed that early sensory experience
promoted global and crossmodal development and
plasticity in the rodent sensory cortices through
oxytocin-mediated signaling. My LMB imprinting is not
all lost, as we have identified several important functions
for β-catenin in activity-dependent neural circuit
development in the rodent brain.
Max Yun [email protected]
I completed my PhD studies at LMB
under the supervision of Kevin
Hiom (PNAC, 2005-2009). During
my PhD I investigated the interplay
between different DNA repair pathways and their
regulation, with a focus on the protein CtIP. My time at
the LMB contributed to deepening my interest in
academic science, thus I went on to take a Research
Fellowship at the Brockes lab (UCL), where I have been
conducting studies in the area of regenerative biology.
In particular, I am seeking to unravel the fundamental
problem of how adult cells can be reprogrammed to less
differentiated states during regeneration in certain
regeneration-competent species, such as salamanders.
I also seek to understand how regenerative capacity
changes with ageing in different species. My research
aims to find explanations to these problems in order to
understand why some species can regenerate while
others cannot, and to guide strategies for the promotion
of regeneration in humans. I am very interested in the
promotion and communication of scientific findings,
hence at the end of 2013 I established the London Tissue
Repair and Regeneration meeting series (LTRR), a new
series of seminars which aims to bring together all
London-based scientists in our research area to share
recent findings, ideas and future plans.
Edward Ziff [email protected]
I was a post doc with Fred Sanger
from 1970 to 1973. My fellow post
docs, John Sedat and Francis
Galibert, and I published the first
DNA sequence determined directly from DNA (48
residues of phi-X174 DNA). This required about 1 curie
of 32PO4 and more than a year of work and was a full
article in Nature. Times have changed! After leaving
Cambridge, I worked on DNA tumor viruses at the
Imperial Cancer Research Fund Laboratory in London
(now Cancer Research UK) and Adenovirus transcription
at Rockefeller University. I moved to New York University
School of Medicine where I studied growth factor
regulation of gene expression and then made a big
switch to the nervous system, studying rodent CNS
synapses and their regulation at the molecular level.
My lab’s current interests focus on mechanisms of
synaptic plasticity, including homeostatic plasticity
and how they relate to brain reward system function
and the formation of behavior. Despite the great
change in focus, I still often take inspiration from my
3 years at the LMB.
Benoit Zuber [email protected]
I obtained a PhD at the University
of Lausanne in Jacques Dubochet’s
group on the structure of synapses
by cryo-electron microscopy of
vitreous sections (CEMOVIS). I then did a postdoc at
LMB in Nigel Unwin’s lab and studied the architecture of
acetylcholine receptor clusters by cryo-electron
tomography. I am now assistant professor at the
University of Bern. My group works on various aspects
of synaptic function with a structural approach. We also
develop tools to facilitate the practice of CEMOVIS.
List of Attendees
Page numbers for those with Biosketches
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Saba Abdul Hussein
John Abelson
Donald Abraham
Jan Pieter Abrahams
Jerry Adams
PNAC 1967-1968
Boris Adryan
David Agard
Sudhir Agrawal
PNAC 1985-1986
Julie Ahringer
Gillian Air
PNAC 1970-1976
Hanif Ali
PNAC 2006-2007
Maria Isabel Aller Alvarez
Sidney Altman
Danièle Altschuh
Leigh Anderson
Stephen Anderson
PNAC 1978-1982
Alex Appert
PNAC 1999-2004
Ignacio Arechaga
PNAC 1994-1999
Yair Argon
PNAC 1980-1984
Linda Ariza-McNaughton
Other, Neurobiology 1987-2000
Jesús M. Arizmendi
PNAC 1990-1992
Fiona Arnold
Eric Atherton
PNAC 1972-1985
David Atkinson
Madan Babu
Structural Studies 2006-Current
Hilmar Bading
David Baillie
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Mark Bajohrs
Nicholas Baker
Joyce Baldwin
Ales Balik
David Banfield
Alan Bankier
PNAC 1972-2009
David Barford
Francisco J. Barrantes
Bart Barrell
PNAC 1963-1993
Christine Barrie
Structural Studies, Cell Biology, Operations
1989-1990, 1994-1998, 2009-Current
Nick Barry
Cell Biology 2009Donald Bashford
Nicolas Basse
PNAC 2009-2012
Andrew Bassett
Alex Bateman
Batista Facundo
PNAC 1996-2001
Peter Bayer
Stephan Beck
PNAC 1985-1988
Rudy Behnia
Agustin Bellosi
PNAC 2006-2010
David Bentley
PNAC 1978-1982
Claudia Berek
PNAC 1982-1992
Elise Bernard
PNAC 2009-2013
Anne Bertolotti
Neurobiology 2006-Current
Alex Betz
PNAC 1990-1994, 1997-Current
Mariann Bienz
Cell Biology, PNAC 1981-1986, 1991-Current
Fiona Birnie
Operations 2013-Current
Olivier Bornet
177 / Molecular Biology at 50 and beyond
List of Attendees
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37
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Ross Boswell
Structural Studies 1982-1983, 1987
Bettina Böttcher
Emmanuel Boucrot
Andrew Bradbury
PNAC 1983-1989
Janet Bradley
Other (Cell Biology) 1963-1965
Tiago Branco
Andrea Brand
Jeronimo Bravo
PNAC 1998-2002
Sydney Brenner
Andrew Bretscher
Mark Bretscher
Barbara Bretscher (Pearse)
PNAC, Structural Studies, Cell Biology
1972-2013
Philippa Brice
Gerard Bricogne
Structural Studies
1972-1981, 1987-1992, 1993-2000
Michael Briese
Jenny Brightwell
Structural Studies, Directors 1978-2009
Nick Brindle
PNAC 2011-2012
Henrik Bringmann
Cell Biology 2008
Ditlev Egeskov Brodersen
Andre Brown
Katherine Brown
George Brownlee
PNAC 1963-1980
M Susan Brownlee
Juliane Brümmer
Structural Studies 2008
Simon Bullock
Cell Biology 2004-Current
Per Bullough
Structural Studies 1985-1989, 1994-1996
Laki Buluwela
PNAC 1984-1990
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40
40
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Fabienne Burlina
PNAC 1997-1998
Keith Burridge
Juan Burrone
Oscar R. Burrone
PNAC 1979-1983
Emanuel Busch
Mark Bycroft
Elena Cabezón
PNAC 1997-1999
Linda Cammish
PNAC 1981-1987
Roberto Canales
Other 2001-2007
Florencia Cano
PNAC 2003-2007
Rodrigo Carbajo
Adelaide Carpenter
Robin Carrell
Teresa Carretero
Directors 1993-1994
Andrew Carter
Structural Studies 1999-2003, 2010-Current
Donald L D Caspar
Structural Studies
1955-1956, 1957-1961, 1962-1975
Ruben Cauchi
PNAC 2008-2009
Tom Ceska
Martin Chalfie
Lynda Chapman
Structural Studies, Cell Biology
1965-1971, 1989-2011
Varodom Charoensawan
Sangeeta Chawla
Mark Chee
PNAC 1986-1991
Jason Chin
PNAC 2003-Current
Wah Chiu
Yen Choo
Cyrus Chothia
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Daniel Christ
PNAC 1999-2007
Yiu-Loon Chui
PNAC 1986-1991
Mair Churchill
Brian Clark
Mike Clark
PNAC 1978-1981
Lesley Clayton
Structural Studies 2000–2001
Bill Clemons
Anna Codina
Paul Cole
Ian Collinson
PNAC 1991 - 1996
Silvestro Conticello
PNAC 2002-2007
Graham Cook
PNAC 1985-1996
Anne Cooke
Sarah Cooper
Suzanne Cory
Other 1966-1969
Richard Cotton
PNAC 1972-1973
Alan Coulson
PNAC 1967-1993, 2003-2007
Thibault Coursindel
PNAC 2011-2012
Robert Cross
Tony Crowther
Francisco Cruzalegui
A. Claudio Cuello
Neurobiology
1972-1973, 1975-1978, 1992-1993
Sarah Cumbers
PNAC 1997-2000
Paula da Fonseca
Jim Dahlberg
PNAC 1966-1968
Piona Dariavach
PNAC 1989-1991
Angelika Daser
PNAC 2002-2005 2006-2011
Dalia Daujotyte
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Megan Davies
Other 1996 - 2011
Tina Daviter
Bazbek Davletov
Mario de Bono
Cell Biology 1990-1994, 1999-Current
Soraya de Chadarevian
Other 1997-2006
Paul Dear
PNAC 1992-Current
Prescott Deininger
PNAC 1980-1981
David DeRosier
Amedee des Georges
Robert Diamond
Ruth Dingle
Colin Dingwall
Structural Studies, Cell Biology, Directors
1976-1983, 1988-1991
Snezana Djordjevic
Claire Dobson
PNAC 1995-2000
Anne Donaldson
Martin Dougherty
Operations 2011-2014
Jocelyn Dow
Other 1971-1975
Annette Draeger
Hiang Dreher-Teo
Mary Lynn Duckworth
PNAC 1980-1981
Rober Dudler
Ramona Duman
Christine Dunham
Wesley Dunnick
PNAC 1977-1980
Richard Durbin
Cell Biology, Directors 1984-1988, 1990-1995
Alex N. Eberle
PNAC 1980-1981
Edward Egelman
Michael Ehrenstein
PNAC 1996-1999
List of Attendees
59
60
60
60
61
61
61
62
62
62
63
63
63
64
64
64
65
65
65
66
66
David Eisenberg
Latifa Elantak
John Elvin
PNAC 1992-1995
Ian Eperon
PNAC 1977-1981
Ingemar Ernberg
PNAC 1988-1990
Sebastian Eustermann
Phil Evans
Jonathan Ewbank
Elizabeth Fairley
Paul Farrell
Wasi Faruqi
Annette Faux
Operations 2001-2013
Ian M. Fearnley
PNAC 1982-1999
Enrico Ferrari
Alan Fersht
Structural Studies, PNAC
1969-1977, 2012-Current
Stan Fields
PNAC 1977-1981, 2006
Pauline Finbow
Cell Biology, Other 1968-1971, 1989-1995
Paul Fisch
PNAC 1990-1992
Gottfried Fischer
PNAC 1991-1993
Robin Fitzsimons
Structural Studies 1983-1987 approx
Robin Flynn
PNAC 2008-2009
Letizia Foroni
PNAC 1988-1991
Alan Forster
PNAC 1975-2009
Jerzy Frączek
PNAC 2009-2011
Roger Franklin
PNAC 2002-2005
Stefan Freund
Theodore Friedmann
PNAC, Structural Studies
1963-1964, 1968, 1975-1976
66
67
67
67
68
68
68
69
69
69
70
70
70
71
71
71
72
72
72
73
73
73
74
74
Gabriella Frigerio
Cell Biology 1991 - 1994
Mike Fuller
Other 1952-2012
Michael Gait
PNAC 1975-Current
Jenny Gallop
Neurobiology 2000, 2001-2006
Yonggui Gao
Rafael Garesse
Cell Biology 1982
Nick Gay
PNAC 1979-1985
Peter Gilbert
Reynald Gillet
David Gilmore
Structural Studies, PNAC 1968-1973, 1975-1994
Rafael Giraldo
John Girdlestone
PNAC 1984-1995
Alexander Glazer
PNAC1962-1963
G. Nigel Godson
Other 1976-1978
Michel Goedert
Directors, Other, Neurobiology 1984-Current
Philip Goelet
Directors 1979-1984
David Goldenberg
Elizabeth (Betsy) Goldsmith
Ana Gomis
Beatriz Gonzalez
PNAC 2003-2004
Africa González-Fernández
PNAC 1989, 1991-1995, 2004
John Gooch
Margaret (Peggy) Goodell
PNAC 1986-1990
Guy Gorochov
PNAC 1991-1994
Jim Graham
Jim Greenberg
PNAC 1988-1989
Ingo Greger
Richard Grenfell
Directors, PNAC 1993-2009
List of Attendees
74
75
75
75
76
76
76
77
77
77
78
78
78
79
79
79
80
80
80
81
81
81
Gillian Griffiths
PNAC 1980-1985
Jake Grimmett
Gerald Grütz
PNAC 1994-1998, 2005
Joerg Gsponer
Chunjing Gu
Martin Gunthorpe
John Gurdon
Giles Hardingham
Richard Harland
Reuben Harris
PNAC 1998-2003
Stephen Harrison
Brian Hartley
PNAC 1963-1974
Jim Haseloff
Structural Studies 1983-1985; 1993-1999
Michael Hastings
Robert Hawkins
PNAC, Other 1979 - 1981, 1989-1996
Manu Hegde
Richard Henderson
Winship Herr
PNAC 1982
Matt Higgins
Neurobiology, Structural Studies
1997-2001, 2002-2005
Guy Hill
David Hirsch
Sarah Hitchcock-DeGregori
Jonathan Hodgkin
Cell Biology 1971-1974, 1976 - 2000
Irmgard Hofmann
Philipp Holliger
PNAC 2000-Current
Kenneth Holmes
Lucy Holt
PNAC 1997-2001
Matthew Holt
82
82
82
83
83
83
84
84
84
85
85
85
86
86
86
87
87
87
88
88
88
89
Max Holzer
Martin Hooper
Stefan Hoppler
Terry Horsnell
Peter Howe
Rob Howes
P.C. Huang
PNAC 1972
Ru-Chih Huang
PNAC 1972
Peter Hudson
PNAC 1975-1979, 1991
Stephen Hunt
Clyde Hutchison
PNAC 1975-1976,1987-1988
Tony Hyman
Tijana Ignjatovic
Structural Studies 1998, 1999-2003
Philip Ingham
Cell Biology 1986
Mike Irwin
Other 1973-1976
David Ish-Horowicz
Gabriela Ivanova-Berndt
PNAC 2004-2008
Bob Jack
PNAC 1970-1973, 1982-1986
Bent Jakobsen
Leo James
Structural Studies, PNAC
1996-2000, 2003-Current
Rekin’s Janky
Marie Janson
Other 1989-1992
John Jarvis
PNAC 1963-2002
Greg Jefferis
Cell Biology, Neurobiology 1996, 2008-Current
Claire Johnson
Alison Jones
David Jones
Peter T. Jones
PNAC 1973-1974, 1984-2011
List of Attendees
89
89
90
90
90
91
91
91
92
92
92
93
93
93
94
94
94
95
95
95
96
96
Peter Jones
Other 1989-1992
Luca Jovine
Marinos Kallikourdis
PNAC 1999, 2000-2007
Galina Kaneva
PNAC 2009-2011
Roger Karlsson
Jonathan Karn
Cell Biology, Other, Directors, PNAC
1976-2002
Eugene Katz
Cell Biology 1966-1968, 2003-2004
Rob Kay
Nicholas Keep
Structural Studies
1988-1993,1996-1998
Ann Kelley
Bernard Kelly
PNAC 1997-2005
John Kendrick-Jones
Amy Kenter
PNAC 1982-1985
Georgina Kerr
PNAC 1999-2005
Martin Kerr
John Kilmartin
Jonathan King
Alex Knight
Yuji Kohara
Directors 1988-1990
Paulina Kolasinska-Zwierz
Aleksandra (Ola) Kołodziejczyk
Structural Studies 2008, 2012
David Komander
PNAC 2008-Current
Paul Kong
PNAC 1987-1992
Tony Kouzarides
PNAC 1981-1986
Robert Kretsinger
Peter Kristensen
PNAC 1995-1998
Rebekka Krumbach
PNAC 2004-2008
96
97
97
97
98
98
98
99
99
99
100
100
100
101
101
101
102
102
102
103
103
Werner Kühlbrandt
Arek Kulczyk
Edmund Kunji
Patricia Kuwabara
Adriana La Volpe
Directors 1987-1988
Siegfried Labeit
Other 1982-1983
James Lake
Meindert Lamers
Angus Lamond
Kathrin Lang
Claudia Lange
Neurobiology 1992, 1994-2000
Judith Langenick
PNAC 2008-2011
John Langmore
Ron Laskey
Peter Lawrence
Guillaume Lebon
Marie-Paule Lefranc
PNAC 1981-1985
Maria Leptin
Arthur Lesk
Andrew Leslie
Adelaine Leung
Michael Levitt
Sam Li
1998, 1999, 2001-2008
Julien Licchesi
PNAC 2007-2013
Conrad Lichtenstein
Victor Ling
PNAC 1969-1971
Hans J. Lipps
Cell Biology 1976
Sai Liu
List of Attendees
103
104
104
104
105
105
105
106
106
106
107
107
107
108
108
108
109
109
Jan Löwe
Duo Lu
Leonard Lutter
Francesca Magnani
Bidesh Mahata
Eckhard Mandelkow
Structural Studies late 70’s
Eva-Maria Mandelkow
Structural Studies late 70’s
Hans Georg Mannherz
Yanlan Mao
Kjeld Marcker
Roy Mariuzza
PNAC 1985-1986
G. Steven Martin
Alfonso Martinez Arias
Michael Mathews
PNAC 1969-1972
Pascale Mathonet
PNAC 2005-2005
Luzia Mayr
PNAC 2005-2009
John McCafferty
PNAC 1990-1991
Bill McClain
Other 1969-1971
Andrew McKenzie
PNAC 1994-Current
Grahame McKenzie
PNAC 1994-1998
Andrew McLachlan
John McMurray
PNAC 1986-1988
Jan E. Mellema
Jack Mellor
John Menninger
Julian Mercer
PNAC 1975-1977
Daniela Merlo
Markus Metzler
PNAC 2003-2006
109
110
110
110
111
111
111
112
112
112
113
113
113
114
114
114
115
115
115
116
Mark Metzstein
Other 1990-1991
Kerstin Meyer
PNAC 1987-1991
Gos Micklem
Adriana Erica Miele
Jennifer Miller-Gallacher
Ron Milligan
Ian Mills
Celia Milstein
PNAC 1980-1981
Michal Minczuk
Daniel Minor
Neurobiology 1996
Konrad Misiura
PNAC 1988-1990
Jane Mitchell
Graeme Mitchison
Martin Montgomery
PNAC 1993-1999
Andrew Moore
Peter B. Moore
Alexey Morgunov
PNAC 2010-Current
Howard Morris
Brooke Morriswood
Angela Mott
Ilka Mueller
Elizabeta Mukaetova-Ladinska
Other 1989-1994
Alba Muñoz Suano
PNAC 2008-2011
Alan Munro
Sean Munro
Frank Murphy
John Murray
Garib Murshudov
List of Attendees
116
116
117
117
117
118
118
118
119
119
119
120
120
120
121
121
121
122
122
122
123
123
123
Alexey Murzin
Kiyoshi Nagai
Atsushi Nakagawa
Kim Nasmyth
Andreas Neef
Neurobiology 2000
David Neuhaus
Heinz Neumann
PNAC 2006-2009
Petra Neumann-Staubitz
PNAC 2008-2009
Andy Newman
Duy Nguyen
PNAC 2008-2013
Ben Nichols
Penka Nikolova
CPE 1996-2001
Ahuva Nissim
CPE 1992-1995
Markus Noll
Harry Noller
PNAC 1965-1966, 1976
Fiona Norwood
John O’Neill
Neurobiology, Cell Biology
2002-2007, 2013-Current
Sara O’Rourke
Alessandra Oberto
John Offer
PNAC 1994-1999
Arkadiusz Oleksy
PNAC 2009-2010
Maria A. Oliva
Mary Osborn
Godson Osuji
PNAC 1975-1976
Justin Pachebat
PNAC 2000-2007
Michael Pacold
PNAC 1999-2002
Damon Page
Bojana Panic
124
124
124
125
125
125
126
126
126
127
127
127
128
128
128
129
129
129
130
130
130
131
131
131
Monika Papworth
Lori Passmore
KJ Patel
PNAC 1989-1994, 1996-Current
Marta Paterlini
James Paulson
Dominique Payet Bornet
Xue Yuan Pei
PNAC 1994 - 1997
Hugh Pelham
Jose Manuel Pérez Cañadillas
J Inmaculada Pérez Dorado
Richard Perham
PNAC 1961-1965
Svend Petersen-Mahrt
PNAC 1999-2003
John Petruska
Sabine Petry
Roger Phillips
Simon Phillips
George Pieczenik
PNAC 1972-1987
Olivier Pierrat
Stephanie Pilkington
PNAC 1987-1994
Vitor Pinheiro
PNAC 2006-2013
Benjamin Podbilewicz
Liz Pryke
PNAC, Operations 2003-Current
Pamela Rabbitts
PNAC 1975-1981
Terry Rabbitts
PNAC 1973-2006
Reinhard Rachel
Cristina Rada
PNAC 1989-Current
Venki Ramakrishnan
Andres Ramos
List of Attendees
132
132
132
133
133
133
134
134
134
135
135
135
136
136
136
137
137
137
138
138
138
139
139
139
140
140
Nicola Ramsay
PNAC 2002-2007
Felix Randow
PNAC 2003-Current
William Rawlinson
PNAC 1989-1994
Julian Rayner
Michael Reedy
Stefanie Reichelt
1995-1997, 2000-2005
Ada Repiso
Daniela Rhodes
Simon Rice
Operations 2010-Current
Tim Richmond
Peter Rigby
PNAC 1968-1973
Margaret (Scottie) Robinson
Cornelius Roemer
Cell Biology 2013
John Rogers
Directors 1981-1987
Katja Röper
Alan Roseman
Peter Rosenthal
Anna Laura Ross
PNAC 2001-2006
Andrew Routh
Arthur Rowe
Stephen Royle
Gerry Rubin
Philip Rudland
Steven Sacks
Other 1978-1981
Julian Sale
PNAC 1996-Current
Maria Sanchez-Barrena
Milka Sarris
PNAC 2003-2008
Leonid Sazanov
PNAC 1997-1999
140
141
141
141
142
142
142
143
143
143
144
144
144
145
145
145
146
146
146
147
147
147
148
Sjors Scheres
Gebhard Schertler
Structural Studies 1989 - 2009
Tilman Schirmer
Daniel Schlieper
Martin Schmeing
Jonathan Scholey
Melina Schuh
Clarence Schutt
William Scott
Margaret (Sandra) Searles
David Secher
PNAC 1970-1986
Maria Selmer
Louise Serpell
Maria Serrano-Vega
Boaz Shaanan
Hayley Sharpe
Robert Sheppard
PNAC 1971-1992
Paul Sherrington
PNAC 1988-1992
Carol Shoulders
PNAC 1978-1980
Moira Simanis-Cockell
Structural Studies 1979-1985, 1988, 1989
Mohinder Singh
PNAC 1979-2003
Symeon Siniossoglou
Rita Sinka
Roberto Sitia
PNAC 1986-1987
Mark Skehel
PNAC, Cell Biology 1988-1998, 2012-Current
Mike Skinner
Directors 1988-1990
Clarke Slater
Alan E Smith
PNAC 1967-1970
List of Attendees
148
148
149
149
149
150
150
150
151
151
151
152
152
152
153
153
153
154
154
154
155
155
155
Corinne Smith
Neurobiology, Cell Biology 1995-1999
Peter Sorger
Ruth Sperling
Avi Spier
Maria Grazia Spillantini
Directors 1987-1996
Elena Spudich
Giulietta Spudich
Jim Spudich
John Spudich
Andrew Stachulski
PNAC 1974-1976
Joerg Standfuss
Mary-Ann Starkey
Joan Steitz
Other (Cell Biology) 1967-1970
Thomas Steitz
Rolf Sternglanz
Murray Stewart
Daniela Stock
PNAC, Neurobiology 1996-2006
Martin Stocks
PNAC 1993-2001
David Stokes
Juergen Stolz
Tony Stretton
Kvido Strisovsky
Robert Stroud
Kevin Struhl
Lubert Stryer
Sriram Subramaniam
Wes Sundquist
John Sutherland
PNAC 2010-Current
156
156
156
157
157
157
158
158
158
159
159
159
160
160
160
161
161
161
162
162
162
163
Jisnuson Svasti
PNAC 1968-1972
Deborah Sweet
Song Tan
Michael Tarry
Chris Tate
Kenneth Taylor
Structural Studies 1976-1980, 1981, 1985
Susan Taylor
PNAC 1968-1970
Madan Thangavelu
PNAC 1999-2003
David Thomas
Jean Thomas
PNAC 1967-1969
Barry Thompson
Simon Thompson
PNAC 1992-1996
Teresa Thurston
PNAC 2006-2010
Henning Tidow
Other 2004-2008
Ian Tomlinson
PNAC 1990-2001
Kathleen Too
PNAC 2004-2007
Adrian Torres
PNAC 2008-2011
Andrew Travers
Richard Treisman
Directors 1984-1988
Marco Tripodi
Julie Tucker
Emma Tuddenham
Bill Turnell
Victor Tybulewicz
PNAC 1981-1986
Iban Ubarretxena-Belandia
Nigel Unwin
Structural Studies, Neurobiology
1968-1980; 1988-2008
Natasa Utjesanovic
PNAC 2008-2012
Viia Valge-Archer
PNAC 1991-1996
List of Attendees
163
163
164
164
164
165
165
165
166
166
166
167
167
167
168
168
168
169
169
169
170
170
170
171
José M. Valpuesta
Carlo van Mierlo
Cassandra Vandenberg
PNAC 2000-2005
Ashok Venkitaraman
PNAC 1988-1998
Dmitry Veprintsev
PNAC 2007-2010
Martine Verhoeyen
PNAC 1984-1987
Tennie Videler
John Wade
PNAC 1979-1982
John Walker
PNAC 1974-1998
Bonnie Wallace
Diana Watson (Singleton)
Ian Watt
PNAC 2003-2005
Michael Way
Mary Miu Yee Waye
PNAC, Structural Studies 1982-1986
Alan Weeds
Marcel Wehrli
John Weir
H. Markus Weiss
Nick Weise
Albert Weixlbaumer
Michelle West
PNAC 1996-2001
Kathleen Weston
PNAC 1983-1987
John White
Bill Whybrow
Cell Biology, Operation 1963 -1997
Judy Whybrow
PNAC 1981 - 1992
Marvin Wickens
Phil Wigge
Rainer Wilcken
CPE, PNAC 2008-2013
171
171
172
172
172
173
173
173
174
174
174
175
175
175
176
176
176
Roger Williams
PNAC 1991-Current
Greg Winter
PNAC 1973-1976, 1978-2014
William Wisden
Verena Wolfram
Steven Wooding
John F Wootton
H. Tonie Wright
Lai-Chu Wu
PNAC 1987-1990
Art Wuster
Samantha Wynne
Structural Studies, Operations 1995-Current
Yao-Zhong Xu
PNAC 1988-1989
Kanmin Xue
PNAC 2005-2008
Mitsuhiro Yanagida
Yu Ye
PNAC 2008-2012
Jose Yelamos
PNAC 1993-1999
C. Yung Yu
PNAC 1987-1993
Xiang Yu
Max Yun
PNAC 2005-2009
Guido Zampighi
Amanda Zeffman
Edward Ziff
PNAC 1970-1973
Benoit Zuber
Further Information
Transport
Attendees are expected to make their own way to the LMB and to
evening venues. Maps and further information below.
Buses
Addenbrookes bus station has buses Citi 1, 2, 7 and 8 that go to the
city centre. Bus Uni 4 goes to West Road (until 8pm). There is also the
guided bus to the city centre which leaves from Robinson Way.
Taxis
Taxis will be at your own expense. We suggest you order taxis in
advance, especially for the college receptions.
Parking
There is limited parking at the LMB, and it will be on a first-come,
first-serve basis. There are two nearby multi-storey car parks (charges
apply).
Parking in
Cambridge
City Centre
Parking at the colleges is limited to disabled visitors.
There are car parks at the Grand Arcade and Park Street, and limited
on-street parking on West Road and Queen’s Road (the Backs).
Dress code
For all events, including the evening events, the dress code is informal/
casual. There is no requirement to dress smartly, although you are very
welcome to if you prefer.
Wifi
The LMB has a guest wireless network.
To access use: Username: guest Password: molecular1
Photography
Our photographic team will be taking photos during the symposium.
Please note that the images may be used for MRC publicity, information
and exhibition purposes including via the internet. Attendees may take
photos for personal use only.
Tours
There will be various tours of the LMB building during the symposium.
For more information go to the Tours meeting desk in the Atrium.
First Aid
For any First Aid requirements, please ask at Reception.
Saturday
The dinner on Saturday evening will take place at three different
College Dinner Colleges and you will be assigned to one of these. You will be given
a dinner ticket indicating the college you should attend. You need to
bring this with you to the College dinner on Saturday. If you lose this,
please visit us at the LMB information desk. Your ticket will tell you if
you have specified a special dietary requirement. This will need to be
visible at the dinner for the caterers to ensure you get the correct food.
There is no formal seating plan for the majority of attendees.
Map of Central Cambridge showing Colleges
P
rk
Pa
Guided Bus
BU S
BU S
King St.
lS
t.
ue
an
S
m
Str
e
Ter
rac
e
a
Pl
ce
m
Pe
Parker’s
Piece
ne
ill La
et
re
St
ad
n
to
t Ro
e
Str
nt
ge
our
is C
Re
n
Ten
ng
pi
m
u
Tr
Sidgwick Road
et
Pa
rk
t.
sS
rew
M
ng
am
rC
Street
ni
ve
4
A113
Silver
w
Do
et
tre
eS
k
bro
Ri
Queen’s
Backs
St.
d
An
St
ning
BU
P
Pa
rke
r
Em
Cambridge
Corn Exchange
t.
sS
S
rew BU
King’s Para
de
d
An
’s Road
Queen
Gonville
& Caius
College
- Harvey
Court
Grand Arcade
Dow
West Road
BUS 4
St XI
TA
Petty Cury
King’s College
Chapel
Em
ma
nu
St.
et
Stre
Christ’s
Pieces
d.
ney
M
St.
et
ark
e
Hobson
St.
Sid
Gonville & Caius
College
Trinity .
St
t.
eS
Trinity Lane
en
Gre
s Lan
el R
idg
Trinity
College
Jesu
Malcolm St.
St.
Br
Sidney
Sussex
College
et
4
A113
Barton Road
Sports Ground
oad
d.
Coe’s
Fen
ls R
Hil
ld R
sfie
Len
To LMB
A6
03
A1134
P
CAR PARK
CAR PARK ACCESS
(ONE WAY STREET)
COLLEGE ACCESS
01223 715715
01223 704704
01223 52 55 55
07424 102145
01223 243453
01223 242424
01223 523523
01223 843488
01223 834499
07989 197816
Panther Taxis
CamCab Taxis
A1 Cabco
Ace Taxis
LP Taxis
CamTax Cabs
Diamond Taxis
Shelford Taxis
AMC Taxis
Silver Service Taxi
BUSW
Buses to / from
the City Centre:
Guided bus
GUIDED
AY
Deliveries
B
MRC
LM
Goods
In
E
Public Vinci
Car Park
Bus stop
to town
U
Reception
4
13
LO
NG
Bus stop
from town
RO
AD
IC
OM
BE
Flats
W
Public
NCP Car
Park
AY
Flats
ROBINSON WAY
Addenbrooke’s Hospital
Sports
Centre
DD
Staff
Car Park
PU
Staff
Car Park
130
D A
Haverhill, M11
(London, Stansted Airport)
Bus
Station
Uni 4
Buses to West Road:
Citi 1
Citi 2
Citi 7
Citi 8
Buses to / from the
City Centre:
City centre (2.5 miles)
Train station (1.5 miles)
MRC LMB, Francis Crick Avenue, CB2 0QH
RAH
Trumpington Park & Ride,
A603, M11 (London, Stansted Airport) & A14 (West)
Phone number
Name
A1
N
BI
RO
Trumpington Park & Ride,
A10, A603, M11 & A14 (West)
HILLS R OAD
FRA
EN
AV
CK
CRI
NCI
S
oad
Long R orm
Sixth F ge
Colle
CR
UK
AY
W
SO
N
LOCAL TAXI FIRMS
Map of the Cambridge Biomedical Campus showing Transport
BAB
OA
AM R
7
S
S
T
GARDEN
SEATING
AREA
T
S
N
LIBRARY
To Garden
S
L
D
SR
S
F
Ground Floor
Level 1
T
T
S
TOURS
S
L
SR
POSTERS
S
MM
SR
S
D
S
L
S
Plan of the LMB
T
T
R
L
R
T
M
C
R
TOILETS
T
ARCHIVE TABLE
DRINKS
FOOD
A
D
F
MEETING POINT
FOR TOURS
LIFTS
L
TOURS
STAIRS
S
REGISTRATION
R
FIRST AID
FIRE EXITS
TO LECTURE THEATRE
LT
MEMORIES
M
TO SEMINAR ROOMS
SR
MM MULTIMEDIA DISPLAY
T
S
MAIN
ENTRANCE
INFORMATION
SYMPOSIUM KEY
A
S
CLOAKROOM
SR
D
C
DISPLAY
S
LT
T
S
LMB Alumni Symposium Organising Group:
Richard Henderson
Annette Faux
Christine Barrie (Wiggins)
Fiona Birnie
Liz Pryke (Madgett)
Samantha Wynne
Hugh Pelham
Mario de Bono
Jenny Brightwell
Michael Hastings
Leo James
KJ Patel
Cristina Rada
David Secher
Nigel Unwin
Alan Weeds
Greg Winter
With special thanks to Visual Aids, the Restaurant, Stores
and everyone at the LMB who has helped with this Symposium.

Biosketches for Attendees

Transcription

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