News

12 Apr 2018

BBSRC award for wood borer enzyme research

The BBSRC has awarded £2.8M to the BBSRC Marine Wood Borer Enzyme Programme, which involves polysaccharide-active enzyme studies in the group of Professor Paul Dupree.Research by a team of scientists led by Professor Simon McQueen-Mason of the University of York is investigating how marine invertebrates including gribble and shipworms digest wood. …

12 Apr 2018

BBSRC award for Drosophila research

The BBSRC announced the latest tranche of strategic LoLa (Longer and Larger) awards on 11th December 2013.One of these is a £2.8M award to Professor Steve Russell and Professor Alfonso Martinez-Arias of the Department of Genetics, Kathryn Lilley in the Department of Biochemistry, and colleagues from the University of Manchester and UCL. Led by Simo…

12 Apr 2018

Fred Sanger 1918-2013

It was with the deepest of sadness that we learnt of the death of Fred Sanger OM, CH, CBE, FRS, FAA on 19th November 2013.Fred was a legend become real - twice Nobel laureate in Chemistry, Companion of Honour, Order of Merit, FRS and recipient of countless other awards and distinctions. He was also one of the most unassuming, modest and kindly of m…

12 Apr 2018

Insight into immunity

The Gay Group and collaborators have published a paper in PNAS.Nick Gay and his collaborators have published a paper in PNAS entitled "Cytokine Spätzle binds to the Drosophila immunoreceptor Toll with a neurotrophin-like specificity and couples receptor activation". The ability of organisms to detect and respond to infection by microorganisms is fu…

12 Apr 2018

Betaine as a neurotransmittor in nematodes

Department researchers have published a new paper in Nature Neuroscience.Working with scientists from the University of Utah, Cecila Castro, Jules Griffin, Kenneth Murfitt and Eric Miska have published a paper in Nature Neuroscience detailing the role of betaine as a neurotransmitter in the nematode worm (C. elegans). In this study the team examine…

12 Apr 2018

Tom Blundell: Cambridge Philosophical Society Honorary Fellows Prize Lecture

Professor Sir Tom Blundell delivered a lecture entitled "Genomics, structural biology and making new medicines: an opportunity for academia to contribute" on 13th November.Sir Tom has been awarded the Honorary Fellows Prize; past recipients include Niels Bohr, Sidney Brenner, Martin Rees, John Gurdon and Michael Atiyah. He has also just given the L…

12 Apr 2018

Second year PhD students poster competition winners

The Department has just held its annual poster competition for all second year PhD students.The standard of all the entries was extremely high. Thanks are due to Chris and Tom in the Photography and Graphics section for their work in preparing the posters, to all the students who took part and to the team of judges. We also thank sponsors New Engla…

12 Apr 2018

Jean Thomas elected President of Society of Biology

Professor Dame Jean Thomas will succeed Dame Nancy Rothwell as the President of the Society of Biology.Dame Jean has been Master of St Catharine's College, Cambridge, since 2007 and is Emeritus Professor of Macromolecular Biochemistry in the Department. Dame Jean is also Biological Secretary and Vice-President of the Royal Society.

12 Apr 2018

Award for Markus Keller

On Tuesday 24th September, Dr. Markus A. Keller was honoured with the Award for the Best Doctoral Theses by the Austrian Chemical Society (GÖCH), Austria.Dr. Keller investigated metabolic processes involved in the degradation of ether lipids, a special class of lipids with important inter- and intracellular signalling functions (e.g. platelet activ…

12 Apr 2018

Structure of chromosomes revealed

Ernest Laue has collaborated on a new paper published in Nature.Tim Stevens, currently working at the Babraham Institute, and Ernest Laue have published a paper entitled "Single-cell Hi-C reveals cell-to-cell variability in chromosome structure" inNature with colleagues at Babraham and the Weizmann Institute. Read the full story and watch the video…

12 Apr 2018

Further understanding of genomic duplication

The Pellegrini Group have published a new paper in PNAS.Luca Pellegrini's group have published a paper in PNAS entitled "Structures of human primase reveal design of nucleotide elongation site and mode of Pol alpha tethering". DNA synthesis during duplication of the genome depends on primase, the DNA-dependent RNA polymerase that initiates nucleoti…

12 Apr 2018

New appointments

We are pleased to welcome several new members of staff.Marc de la Roche joins us as a University Lecturer, having been working at the MRC LMB. He will be working on oncogenic Wnt signaling in cancer. Jasmin Fisher, who was already associated with the Cambridge Systems Biology Centre and teaching in the Part III course, takes up a 20% position as Un…

11 Apr 2018

Astex Pharmaceuticals sold for $886M

Astex Pharmaceuticals is to be sold to Otsuka Pharmaceutical.It has been announced that Astex Pharmaceuticals, co-founded by Sir Tom Blundell in 1999, is to be sold to Japanese company Otsuka Pharmaceutical for $886M. Astex has been developing drugs to treat cancer and uses fragment-based drug discovery, a method under continued development also in…

11 Apr 2018

Support staff fun

The annual Support Staff Fun Afternoon was held on Tuesday 13th August.This year the theme was loosely based on the TV programme, The Cube and our version of University Challenge! Many congratulations to the winning Green Team, captained by Roger Biamonti.

11 Apr 2018

First annual garden party

The Department today held what we hope will be the first of many annual garden parties.On the hottest day of the year so far, in the best summer we have had for years, staff and students alike were glad of the shade provided in the beautiful surroundings of Peterhouse. Thanks to those in the Department who organised the event and the College who lo…