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Department of Biochemistry

 
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Read more at: Engineering trees to be a more efficient and sustainable feedstock for biomass conversion
Fig. 5: Model of action for callose integration in lignocellulosic biomass. From: Ectopic callose deposition into woody biomass modulates the nano-architecture of macrofibrils

Engineering trees to be a more efficient and sustainable feedstock for biomass conversion

Ground-breaking experiments performed in the Dupree lab by Paul Dupree and Jan Lyczakowski were essential to understanding the ultrastructural effects of callose addition on the engineered wood in a paper published in Nature Plants .


Read more at: Jammy plants!
A gosamt1 gosamt2 mutant Arabidopsis plant in a pot of 'Dupree Lab'-branded jam.

Jammy plants!

The Dupree Group and their collaborators have identified genes that regulate the properties of pectin, with their mutants causing pectin to gel as jam in the plant cell wall.


Read more at: Algae-powered computing: our scientists create a reliable and renewable biological photovoltaic cell
A container holding the blue-green algae that powered a microprocessor.

Algae-powered computing: our scientists create a reliable and renewable biological photovoltaic cell

The Howe Group have used a widespread species of blue-green algae to power a microprocessor continuously for a year - and counting - using nothing but ambient light and water. The system has potential as a reliable and renewable way to power small devices.


Read more at: Effectiveness of antibiotics significantly reduced when multiple bugs present
Laboratory model of human airways.

Effectiveness of antibiotics significantly reduced when multiple bugs present

The Welch Group has found that much higher doses of antibiotics are needed to eliminate a bacterial infection of the airways when other microbes are present. Their study helps to explain why respiratory infections often persist in people with lung diseases such as cystic fibrosis despite treatment.


Read more at: Accelerating cancer drug development by targeting a DNA repair protein
Hotspot map of the DNA-PKcs ATP binding site with inhibitors docked in.

Accelerating cancer drug development by targeting a DNA repair protein

The Blundell Group and our Cryo-Electron Microscopy Facility have published in Nature an exciting breakthrough in understanding how cancer drugs targeting the DNA repair protein DNA-PKcs bind to their target.