🧬Want to synthesise kilobase-scale DNA? We got you covered!🥳 In latest from the lab we explore the "doodling" capabilities of DNA polymerases and ways to guide the sequences produced. Loads of data + beautiful AFM of the molecules themselves. #synbio ... doi.org/10.1038/s414...

Proud to share the yeast telomerase structure, led by the talented @hongmiaohu.bsky.social in collaboration with the Wellinger and Chartrand labs. Discovered 37 years ago and took us nearly 7 years but totally worth the wait 😍.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFE4...

Depictions of the structure of CDK11-cyclin L-SAP30BP. Four cryo-EM densities are shown at the top, two molecules models at the bottom. CDK11 is green, cyclin L is purple, and SAP30BP is yellow.

Have a look at our latest results on #CDK regulation, just posted as a pre-print! This study was spearheaded by PhD student Amy McGeoch. Amy has determined the #cryoEM structure of the CDK11-cyclin L-SAP30B complex, an important regulator of #spliceosome activation.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

A small polymerase ribozyme that can synthesize itself and its complementary strand The emergence of a chemical system capable of self-replication and evolution is a critical event in the origin of life. RNA polymerase ribozymes can replicate RNA, but their large size and structural ...

Full paper and research summary now out in Science: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/.... Also, an excellent summary of our work in the Times: www.thetimes.com/uk/science/a...

I am so grateful to the Blavatnik Family Foundation and the New York Academy of Sciences for this honor. Can’t wait to be back to the lab and celebrate with lab members on this special recognition of their hard work.

Great thread by lead author @edogia.bsky.social on our recent Science paper: bsky.app/profile/edog...

Grateful to the unique environment and long-term support of the MRC-LMB (@mrclmb.bsky.social) & Holliger lab, and a big thank you to the rest of the team: Sam Kwok, @chrisjwan.bsky.social, Kevin Goeij, @bryceclifton.bsky.social, @escolizzi.bsky.social, James Attwater, @philholliger.bsky.social.
12/n

Bridging the gap from chemistry to life: discovery of a tiny RNA that can copy itself | MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology Led by Edoardo Gianni, Philipp Holliger’s group in the LMB’s PNAC Division have identified a small self-replicating catalytic RNA (ribozyme), providing new ...

Have a look at the Insight on Research story on our Science paper www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... on the @mrclmb.bsky.social website: mrclmb.ac.uk/news-events/... including a great little animation from LMB VisLab.

A small polymerase ribozyme that can synthesize itself and its complementary strand The emergence of a chemical system capable of self-replication and evolution is a critical event in the origin of life. RNA polymerase ribozymes can replicate RNA, but their large size and structural ...

Great summaries of our paper www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... in Science: www.science.org/doi/epdf/10.... and New Scientist: www.newscientist.com/article/2515... and in the Science museum blog: blog.sciencemuseum.org.uk/in-the-begin...

New paper from my group in @science.org : "A small polymerase ribozyme that can synthesise itself and its complementary strand" www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Outstanding work by @edogia.bsky.social

How did life arise from simple chemical building blocks?

New #LMBResearch led by @edogia.bsky.social in @philholliger.bsky.social group has identified a small self-replicating ribozyme that could be the answer.

Read more: mrclmb.ac.uk/news-events/...

Required reading for everyone interested in the synthetic genomics - @adrianwoolfson.bsky.social's new book 'On the Future of Species' is published today (Charles Darwin's birthday). Here's the man himself at the launch last night at @dauntbooks.bsky.social in Marylebone. (Photo: Wes Robertson)

Just posted our latest, led by Consuelo Perez and Pierre Murat, showing the intimate relationship between transcription, DNA supercoiling and chromatin architecture during human stem cell differentiation. Thanks to all at @mrclmb.bsky.social doi.org/10.64898/202...

A beautifully crafted summary of the extraordinary discovery in the lab of my @mrclmb.bsky.social colleague @philholliger.bsky.social of a tiny RNA that can replicate RNA.

Our beloved and long-serving @mrclmb.bsky.social PNAC Divisional Administrator Michele Hare has retired. We gathered to wish her well and a long, happy and music-filled retirement.

Excited to share our latest work on dissecting the mechanism of processive telomeric DNA synthesis by telomerase. Led by amazing PhD student Sebastian Balch in collaboration with lab members,@automnenine.bsky.social @rachael-kretsch.bsky.social,@rdaslab.bsky.social.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Through the doors of discovery - an introduction to the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology YouTube video by MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology

To complement the launch of our new LMB website, we’ve shared a new introductory video on our YouTube channel.

Meet some of our scientists and support staff, take a look around our wonderful building and see how we come together to unravel how life works.

youtu.be/JmC17_4bEMA?...

🌐Our new LMB website is live!🌐
Fresh design, better navigation, same first-class science.
Take a look around ➡️ mrclmb.ac.uk

An AI Researcher in the Cathedral of Molecular Biology How we designed catalytic RNA functions, and what I learned holding a pipette at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology.

I wrote some personal reflections about being physically embedded in a world-leading molecular biology lab @mrclmb.bsky.social, learning to communicate with experimentalists, back-breaking wet lab work, scientific rigour, and skin in the game!

💌: chaitjo.substack.com/p/an-ai-rese...

Excited to release the fully open-source code for gRNAde - our wet-lab validated, generative AI framework for 3D RNA inverse design 🚀⭐️

I pride myself on open-science & this is probably the most intense release I've done!

Pre-pore and cis pores formed by full length perforin-2 during antigen escape from early phagosomes

Time for a new pre-print! How do dendritic cells control pore formation in their own endocytic compartments?

Our work shows that the unique transmembrane anchor of perforin-2 does not protect DC membranes, but instead it enables antigen escape during cross-presentation

doi.org/10.64898/202...

High-fidelity human chromosome transfer and elimination The synthesis of human genomes and other gigabase-scale genomes will require new strategies. Here, we realized key steps in our pipeline for building synthetic human chromosomes. We established: (i) t...

A key step towards human genome synthesis. With thanks to @wellcometrust.bsky.social @mrclmb.bsky.social #SynHG doi.org/10.1126/scie...

SynHG logo, with letters Syn coloured orange, H represented by an image of a paired chromosome, followed by capital G in black.

New pipeline to implant human chromosomes into mouse cells and back again signals first step in mammoth undertaking to synthesise the human genome.

Read more about the achievement from LMB’s PNAC Division as part of the SynHG project: www2.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk/transplant-o...

#LMBResearch

Check out the latest paper from Leo James and William McEwan which explains the science behind LMB spin out TRIMTECH Therapeutic's TRIMTAC® degraders ⤵️

Great culture can save lives. Literally.

Amazing letter in today’s @thetimes.com about Tom Stoppard

Congratulations!

Ana Tufegdžić Vidaković at a lab bench

Congratulations to @anatv.bsky.social, Group Leader in the LMB’s PNAC Division, who has joined @embo.org’s Young Investigator Programme!
Read more about the programme and Ana’s research here: www2.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk/ana-tufegdzi...
#LMBNews

Pilar raises her Asgard bridge from the sea!

Introducing gRNAde: our own little "AlphaGo Moment" for RNA design! 🧬🚀

📝: tinyurl.com/gRNAde-paper

Unlike proteins, RNA design has long relied on "wisdom of the crowd" (human experts) or the slow crawl of directed evolution — gRNAde changes that! 🧵👇

Generative inverse design of RNA structure and function with gRNAde The design of RNA molecules with bespoke three-dimensional structures and functions is a central goal in synthetic biology and biotechnology. However, progress has been limited by the challenges of de...

4/ This was a massive team effort bridging AI and biology, from one end of Cambridge to another 🤗🚲

Thanks to Edo Gianni* @edogia.bsky.social, Sam Kwok*, @simonmathis.bsky.social, Pietro Liò, and @philholliger.bsky.social for this journey!

📄 Preprint: tinyurl.com/gRNAde-paper