News

This year's ISMB Postgraduate Research Symposium was held at the Birkbeck Clore Management Centre, on 15th and 16th June. The symposium provides an opportunity to find out about the research studies of PhD students within the ISMB. The second day of the symposium featured a talk by keynote speaker, Dr. Michael Blackman from The Francis
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The biennial ISMB Retreat is returning this year on 4th - 5th July, at Clare College Cambridge. This year's retreat will feature keynote speakers such as Sir Tom Blundell (University of Cambridge), Professor Charlotte Deane (University of Oxford Department of Statistics), Professor Sonia Gandhi (The Francis Crick Institute Neurodegeneration Biology Laboratory), Dr Jan Lowe (MRC
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In recognition for his outstanding contributions to science, ISMB member Professor David Jones (UCL Computer Science) has been elected Fellow of the Royal Society. Full article here.

New research, published in Cell, illuminates the molecular “trains” that transport cargoes essential for human health and development. Virtually every cell in the human body grows an antenna-like structure on its surface, which is used to receive vital signals from the body and the outside world. Perturbations in this process cause a wide range of human
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Researchers in Biological Sciences at Birkbeck, in collaboration with a group at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne, have determined the structure of a protein assembly used by the immune system to kill unwanted cells. The immune system uses cytotoxic T lymphocytes and natural killer cells to act as executioners when it detects the
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The Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2021 has been awarded to German Benjamin List and British David MacMillan.Prof Stefan Howorka from the ISMB at UCL Chemistry explains: ‘The two researchers have developed a new class of catalysts that are inspired by Nature. Enzymes are widely used in biology as they initiate and specifically control biochemical
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Transcription is carried out by evolutionary conserved RNA polymerases and subject to regulation by different strategies. The control of individual genes is enabled by a plethora of DNA-binding transcription factors that respond to changes in the environment and enable the up- or downregulation gene expression; the structural basis and mechanisms of genespecific regulation has been
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The Wallace Group has recently received a 3-year grant from the Rosetrees Trust for work on: ‘“Seeing" General Anaesthetics Bound to Sodium Channels: Using Novel Structure/Function Information for Molecular Understanding and Design, Enabling Improved Function and Safety’ - a collaboration with Professor Hugh Hemmings’ Lab at the Weill Cornell Medical Centre in New York.