Giulia Zanetti, Head of the Membrane Architecture Laboratory at the Crick, UCL and Birkbeck College, has been awarded £1.2m from the Medical Research Council (MRC) to use advanced microscopy techniques to understand complex secretory processes inside animal cells.
Full article can be read here.
Professor Andrea Townsend-Nicholson has been appointed Vice-Dean Health for the Faculty of Life Sciences from 1st August 2024.
Congratulations!
Welcome to the ISMB Symposium 2024! The Institute of Structural and Molecular Biology (ISMB) will hold this year’s biennial ISMB Symposium at UCL’s Bloomsbury campus on Tuesday 25th and Wednesday 26th June.
Traditionally, the Symposium gathers eminent guest speakers and our own ISMB scientists to present talks on the core research themes of the Institute in a two-day event. This year’s programme offers an excellent line-up of speakers, introduced by our postdoctoral fellows and phd students. There will be poster and networking sessions.
The Symposium will close with the ISMB Summer Party in Bentham House on 26th June, 17:30-19:30. Please join us in this opportunity to connect with peers, share thoughts about emerging bioscience research, and be a part of the discussions on our scientific future.
We look forward to seeing you all there!
It is free to attend this event however registration is essential. Please click here to register. Deadline for registration is Monday, 17th June.
Kristine Arnvig’s research group recently published a paper in the Nucleic Acids Journal. Full paper can be accessed here (doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkae338) .
Unexpected complexity of vitamin B12-sensing RNA elements in Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
The bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) lacks the ability to produce vitamin B12, yet this co-factor plays a significant role in Mtb’s metabolism and gene regulation. Research conducted by Tine Arnvig’s team reveals an intriguing additional layer of control exerted by vitamin B12-sensing RNA elements, known as riboswitches, over metabolic and virulence genes in this pathogen. Beyond uncovering the B12-dependent inhibition of translation initiation, the team also uncovered two novel translated uORFs, which influence riboswitch regulation. In one instance, they identified a crucial translational link between the uORF and its downstream gene, facilitating translation re-initiation independently of Shine-Dalgarno sequences, alongside stop codon suppression, resulting in the synthesis of a frameshifted fusion protein. Essentially, Mtb demonstrates the capacity to generate similar proteins with differing N-termini, akin to eukaryotic alternative splicing. Lead author Dr. Terry Kipkorir remarks, “[This] represents yet another example of how Mtb breaks the mould in our understanding of gene expression control.’
Join us for Birkbeck’s Annual Science Week festival at the Faculty of Science which runs from Wednesday 29th – Monday 3rd June 2024 in-person and online.
This is not one to be missed, where we will host engaging and interactive evening events, including the annual Rosalind Franklin Lecture and the Andrew and Kathleen Booth Memorial Lecture.
All events will continue into the evening with opportunities to take a tour of our laboratories on the Wednesday and explore poster exhibitions presented by Natural Sciences (Wednesday), Computing and Mathematical Sciences (Thursday) and Psychological Sciences (Friday).
Attendees will be able to meet the speaker, as well as current faculty researchers and students over a drinks reception which will follow each School event.
Book your place, don’t miss out!
The UCL Faculties of Engineering, Mathematical & Physical Sciences and Life Sciences will lead seven new government-funded Centres for Doctoral Training and be a partner in a further two.
EPSRC has agreed to provide funding for a new Centre for Doctoral Training in Accelerated Medicines Design & Development (AMD&D) (~£7M) with the first student intake scheduled for autumn 2025.
Our CDT will recruit over 50 PhD students to develop the advanced laboratory and computational skills needed to accelerate medicines design and overcome the major obstacles in medicines development. The CDT is a partnership between UCL, the University of Nottingham, and a network of industrial and clinical partners from across the UK pharmaceutical, healthcare and medical technologies sector.
Prof Gareth Williams is the UCL CDT Director and will run the CDT together with UCL Co-Directors Prof Simon Gaisford, Prof Helen Hailes, Professor Rio Torii, Professor Jonathan Knowles and colleagues from Nottingham who are CoIs on the grant.
Read the article on UCL website here.
The Engineering Biology Mission Hubs aim to harness cutting-edge engineering biology research from across the UK to address global challenges from health to the environment. The six hubs will receive up to £12 million each from the UKRI Technology Missions Fund and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC).
The P3EB Mission Hub (funded with £12.3M) aims to tackle the urgent environmental challenge of plastic pollution and create new ways for the sustainable deconstruction of synthetic plastics as the UK transitions towards a circular plastics economy. The hub will be led by Professor Andrew Pickford (University of Portsmouth), with support from scientists from seven leading UK institutions, including UCL co-investigators: Professor Helen Hailes (UCL Chemistry), Dr Jack Jeffries (UCL Biochemical Engineering), Professor Mark Miodownik (UCL Mechanical Engineering), Professor Paola Lettieri (UCL Chemical Engineering), Dr Andrea Paulillo (UCL Chemical Engineering), Dr Brooks Paige (UCL Centre for Artificial Intelligence), Professor Christine Orengo (UCL Biosciences).
Read the story here.
Dive into the intriguing world of technological trust with us at the Science Museum’s thought-provoking event, “Can We Trust Computers?”. Join us on Thursday, 9 May 2024, from 18:30 to 19:30, at the IMAX: The Ronson Theatre, for a captivating panel discussion featuring leading experts like Dr. Alessandra Vizzaccaro and Professors Paul Brenner, Tim Palmer, and Peter Coveney, chaired by BBC broadcaster and journalist, Timandra Harkness.
We tackle pressing questions surrounding AI, computer reliability, and the complexities of digital versus analogue worlds. Is it prudent to entrust nuclear weapons to AI? This event promises a deep exploration into these vital questions, framed by real-world implications and expert insights.
Tickets are just £5, and doors open at 18:00. Reserve your spot now for an evening of engaging dialogue on the future of our trust in computers.
For more details and to book your tickets, please visit the Science Museum’s event page: Can We Trust Computers?.
A bid team which included UCL’s Professor Konstantinos Thalassinos has secured £49.35m from the UKRI Infrastructure Fund to establish a nationwide mass spectrometry infrastructure.
Critical Mass UK (C-MASS) will be a national hub-and-spoke infrastructure that will integrate and advance the UK’s capability in mass spectrometry, a technique that identifies the characteristics of molecules.
Mass spectrometry is used across a wide range of scientific research and C-MASS will enable large-scale screening and accelerated data access and sharing.
It will bring together cutting-edge instrumentation at a range of laboratories connected by a coordinating central hub that will manage a central metadata catalogue.
This will enable researchers to enhance their understanding of new materials required for quantum technologies, semiconductors, batteries, catalysts, medicines and more.
C-MASS will also be a critical health resource for the UK, for example by allowing researchers to combine datasets leading to key information about respiratory health from patients’ blood which can be compared with data on air quality.
Professor Konstantinos Thalassinos, academic lead of the UCL Mass Spectrometry Science Technology Platform, said: “I am thrilled by the funding secured for this groundbreaking mass spectrometry infrastructure. This investment will equip numerous labs across the UK with state-of-the-art mass spectrometers, fostering a collaborative approach to tackle significant challenges that are beyond the reach of any single lab.
“A cornerstone of this initiative is the establishment of a comprehensive data hub. This hub will not only coordinate activities but also crucially store data and metadata.
“The availability of such a resource will not only enable us to gain unprecedented insights from the data but will also be instrumental in advancing AI efforts. As we all know, these approaches heavily rely on large volumes of high-quality data, which the C-MASS data hub will provide. By harnessing the power of AI, we can unlock the full potential of this data, driving innovation and discovery in ways we can’t even imagine yet. This is a monumental step forward for scientific research in the UK, and I am thrilled to be part of this journey.”