Rewriting the language of life: Jason Chin’s group in the LMB’s PNAC Division have synthesised E. coli with just 57 codons instead of the usual 64.
Syn57 required 101000+ codon changes & represents a bold step towards programmable life.
Read more: www2.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk/syn57-repres...
#LMBResearch🧪

We are excited to be a part of a collaboration lead by Tarafder and Bharat titled "Targeted disruption of phage liquid crystalline droplets abolishes antibiotic tolerance of bacterial biofilms" - this work has exciting implications for biofilm-targeted therapeutics.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

We are looking to recruit a tenure track group leader in the field of Chemical/Synthetic Biology (in the broadest sense) to lead a research program within the Division of Protein & Nucleic Acid Chemistry ( www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DNW809/r... ) at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB).

Excited to be at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB) for the first time to present at the Life Sciences Students Symposium. Such impressive venue. No pressure!

Excited to share our latest work! We found transcription factor SPT6 and phosphorylated Pol II CTD help recruit U1 snRNP to elongating Pol II, allowing efficient co-transcriptional splicing.

Glad to be featured in the Editors’ Highlights!

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

#splicing #cryoEM

Highly collaborative efforts that involved 6 lab members and the labs of @yiliangding.bsky.social and @rdaslab.bsky.social. We uncovered a telomerase dimer and its potential role in telomere maintenance.

In the paper, we investigate RNA polymerase ribozymes and their ability to perform rolling circle synthesis (RCS).

We previously showed that RCS is possible, though inefficient. Now, we use cryo-EM and identify a network of unexpected structures (see movie) which affect RCS.

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Interested in how cells respond to genetic change?
Don’t miss this #LMBSeminar from Andy Fire of Stanford University!
Visit our website for more info on how to join: www2.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk/news-and-eve...

Congratulations to @tbharat-lab.bsky.social, Group Leader in the LMB’s Structural Studies Division, who has received the Gold Medal from @embo.org for his research on prokaryotic surface molecules.

Read more here: www2.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk/tanmay-bhara...

#LMBNews

@businessweekly.bsky.social‬ reports that LMB spinout Sortera Bio has raised £7.5m pre-seed investment from AstraZeneca, BioNTech and CIC

Read more: www.businessweekly.co.uk/posts/astraz...

#LMBinthenews

Read this #preprint on @researchsquare: Base modifications reshape RNA folding landscapes and structure–function relationships in synthetic and natural RNAs
www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-6...

How did life on Earth begin? 🌍🧬
New #LMBResearch from Phil Holliger’s group, including James Attwater (now @uclchemistry.bsky.social‬‬ @uclnews.bsky.social) shows how pH-freeze-thaw cycles enables RNA self-replication, overcoming a key evolutionary hurdle.‬
Read more: www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2025/ma...

New paper from my group rdcu.be/eoaRr "Trinucleotide substrates under pH–freeze–thaw cycles enable open-ended exponential RNA replication by a polymerase ribozyme" in Nature Chemistry — great collaboration with attwaterlab.uk.