Seminars & Events

This is an in-person talk only with no online option.

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

Dosage compensation is essential to balance gene expression between the sexes, as females carry two X chromosomes while males carry only one. In mammals, this balance is achieved through X-chromosome inactivation, a process by which one X chromosome is transcriptionally silenced in female cells to prevent a potentially deleterious double dose of X-linked gene products. X inactivation has long been viewed as a stable and irreversible mechanism established early in development and faithfully maintained throughout life. However, it is now clear that this process is far more dynamic than previously thought. During early embryogenesis, X inactivation can be reversed, resetting epigenetic states before being re-established in a lineage-specific manner. Moreover, a substantial number of genes can escape silencing in somatic tissues, leading to variable expression from the inactive X chromosome.
My group has contributed to this revised paradigm by investigating the extent and regulation of escape from X inactivation, and by demonstrating the transient nature of silencing during early development. My talk will focus on the molecular mechanisms that underlie both gene silencing and escape, including the roles of chromatin organization, long non-coding RNAs, and nuclear architecture. I will highlight how these findings contribute to our understanding of epigenetic stability and plasticity, with implications for sexual dimorphism and disease.

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

Abstract: The mapping from genotype to phenotype is fundament to biology. It is the substrate on which natural selection occurs. The structure of this space of possibilities has a profound impact on evolutionary outcomes, but its astronomical size makes it challenging to explore at scale. Focusing on structural phenotypes we show how several different genotype-phenotype maps can be examined at a large scale despite their vast size, revealing similar structural properties. These properties shape fitness landscapes in fundamental ways, making them highly navigable. In the context of self-assembly we find that the structure of the genotype-phenotype map is closely linked to the emergence of symmetry in self-assembling biological structures such as protein complexes. We further show that the space of possible protein complexes can be further understood by identifying three fundamental steps of quaternary structure evolution, which in combination give rise to the vast majority of observed protein complex topologies.

External attendees, if you wish to attend in person please contact Julian Sale: jes@mrclmb.ac.uk

Abstract to follow

External attendees, if you would like to attend, please contact Lori Passmore: passmore@mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk

Abstract to follow.

External attendees, if you wish to attend in person please contact Felix Randow randow@mrclmb.ac.uk or Leo James@mrclmb.ac.uk

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

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

Abstract to follow

2-3 July 2026

See website for further information https://www3.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk/sites/gsasymposium/

2-3 July 2026

See website for further information https://www3.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk/sites/gsasymposium/

Register here: https://www.enterprise.cam.ac.uk/events/new-technologies-and-building-successful-biotechnology-companies-to-treat-disease/#harvey-lodish‑register

Celebrating his return to Cambridge and the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB), we are delighted to welcome Professor Harvey Lodish, Professor of Biology and Biological Engineering at MIT, who undertook his postdoctoral research at the LMB with Drs Sydney Brenner and Francis Crick, for a special lecture and discussion.

The event will explore how fundamental scientific discovery can be translated into real‑world benefit and the role universities play in supporting that journey with integrity, responsibility, and long‑term vision.

Professor Lodish will share insights from his academic career and his experience founding and advising biotechnology companies, including perspectives on mentorship, ethics, and the relationship between research excellence and enterprise. The lecture will be followed by a panel discussion, Q&A, and networking over lunch.

This unique opportunity is open to academics, postdoctoral researchers, and staff from across the Biomedical Campus, including the LMB, Clinical Schools, Milner Therapeutics Institute, and partner organisations

Schedule for the day:
10.00 – Arrival & coffee
10.30 – Welcome
10.45 – Special Lecture with Professor Harvey Lodish: New Technologies and Building Successful Biotechnology Companies to Treat Disease: A Personal History
11.45 – Panel & Q&A
12.30 – Lunch
13.30 – Event close

An informal one day meeting organised by MRC LMB, MRC LMS and Imperial College London examining the application of cutting edge biophysical techniques in complex biological settings. Bringing together scientists in both academia and industry for stimulating talks and discussions how these new and emerging technologies may be able to address challenging questions in the future.

For more information see https://www3.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk/sites/nextgen/

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

Abstract to follow

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

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.