Seminars & Events

External attendees, if you wish to attend in person please contact Tanmay Bharat: tbharat@mrclmb.ac.uk

Abstract to follow

External attendees, if you would like to attend in person please contact David Favara: dfavara@mrclmb.ac.uk

Abstract: Adhesion GPCRs are among the most intriguing unresolved problems in receptor biology. The key challenge for their understanding is to decipher their input-output relationship. Their unusual architecture and sensitivity to mechanical and adhesive inputs raise a central question: how are extracellular cues converted into defined signalling outputs? Unlike classical GPCRs, they do not merely bind soluble ligands but instead sense and interpret mechanical stimuli through an elaborate molecular architecture built around the GAIN domain and a cryptic intramolecular agonist. I will present recent work that brings this problem into quantitative focus through through a combination of biophysical measurements and method development: tools for acute, time-controlled receptor activation, strategies for engineered ligand engagement, and force-resolved assays that capture GAIN-domain unfolding, receptor dissociation and mechanochemical signalling. Together, these approaches reveal how adhesion GPCRs convert mechanical and adhesive information into distinct downstream responses. This emerging framework recasts adhesion GPCRs as measurable signalling machines and opens a route towards understanding their roles in neural development, tissue organisation, immunity and cancer with molecular precision.

The seventeenth annual LMB-CamAWiSE event!

Are you wondering how best to utilise your scientific skills?
Are you planning your next step in academia or considering pursuing a career away from the bench?
Would you like more information about different scientific careers from a diverse range of speakers?
Then join us to hear from three inspirational speakers who have gone on to do a variety of roles using their scientific knowledge, skills and expertise, the common thread being they have all spent time at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge. We welcome them back to hear about their career paths, and to be inspired by what they have achieved.
This event is run in collaboration with CamAWiSE – Connecting and Inspiring Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Medicine.
ALL are welcome to attend!
Speakers:
Louise Fets, Group Leader, MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences
Carly Dix, Associate Director, AstraZeneca
This event is free and open to all within and outside of the LMB.

External attendees, if you would like to attend in person please contact Tanmay Bharat: tbharat@mrclmb.ac.uk

Abstract: This lecture will describe a chance discovery of a bacterial N-linked glycosylation system from Campylobacter jejuni and its transfer to E. coli cells with the emergence of a new era in glycoengineering. The lecture will describe the use of oligosaccharyltransferases and the development Protein Glycan Coupling Technology to produce recombinant glycoconjugate vaccines against several human and animal pathogens.

External attendees, if you would like to attend in person please contact Leo James: lcj@mrclmb.ac.uk

Abstract to follow

External attendees, if you would like to attend in person please contact Ana Tufegdzic Vidakovic: atv@mrclmb.ac.uk

Abstract to follow

External attendees, if you would like to attend, please contact Inga Hochheiser: hochheiser@mrclmb.ac.uk

Abstract to follow.

Abstract to follow.

External attendees, if you would like to attend in person please contact Tanmay Bharat: tbharat@mrclmb.ac.uk

External attendees please arrive 10 minutes early to sign in at LMB Reception

External attendees, if you would like to attend in person please contact Tanmay Bharat: tbharat@mrclmb.ac.uk

Abstract: Protein biosynthesis consumes a substantial fraction of cellular ATP, making its regulation central to the energy homeostasis of the cell. Ribosome hibernation is a conserved mechanism by which cells suppress translation to enter dormancy, a protective state triggered by nutrient deprivation and other stressors. Dormancy also underpins key developmental transitions across eukaryotes, from plant seeds and fungal spores to oocytes, and is co-opted in disease contexts including cancer and parasitic infection.
By combining cryo-electron tomography, focussed ion beam-milling, sub-tomogram averaging, and single particle cryoEM, we investigate ribosome hibernation across phylogenetically diverse eukaryotic systems. In this talk, I will focus on two organisms with pronounced dormant states: simple intracellular parasites called microsporidia, and mouse embryonic stem cells. I will present structural and sub-cellular data revealing the distinct molecular strategies each system deploys to silence ribosomes as cells transition between active and dormant states. These findings highlight the mechanistic diversity of translational regulation and open new avenues for targeting dormancy in the context of parasitic disease and cancer relapse.

External attendees, if you would like to attend in person please contact Tanmay Bharat: tbharat@mrclmb.ac.uk

Abstract to follow.

External attendees please arrive 10 minutes early to sign in at LMB Reception

https://mrc-lmb-cam-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/94514662338?pwd=QFmpzVDjmvrrMmV476z2wynx6r2aoA.1