🔊 Paper Alert 🗞️ from the group of MtL Fellow @kgoepfrich.bsky.social A Kiss from a Loop! 🌹 These alpha kissing loops greatly expand the repertoire of RNA architectural motifs available for programmable, sequence-defined nanostructure assembly. pubs.acs.org/ancac3/artic...

Programmable Edge-to-Edge Assembly of RNA Nanostructures

Abstract. Building complex RNA nanostructures requires precise molecular connectors for controlled self-assembly. Existing connectors, such as kissing loop

pubs.acs.org

Very happy to share a new preprint characterising the unfolded state of a folding-competent domain at the cusp of folding initiation on the ribosome. Co-led by @julianstreit.bsky.social from my PhD in John Christodoulou's lab. Many thanks to all the co-authors!

The initiation of de novo protein folding on the ribosome

How the earliest structure within the unfolded state is formed during biosynthesis on the ribosome and whether it has any consequences for downstream folding remain open questions. Here, we combine 15...

biorxiv.org

Excited to share this work—we’ve been waiting a long time for it. Can DGRs become a practical platform for continuous evolution? Without HGT, mutant cells do not accumulate efficiently. We developed HGT-DGR to solve this problem. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Continuous target-specific mutagenesis and rapid gene evolution by diversity-generating retroelements in Escherichia coli

Sequence-programmable directed evolution systems have great potential to accelerate bioengineering. Diversity-generating retroelements (DGRs) are natural hypermutation systems widely distributed in pr...

biorxiv.org

When we talk with AI researchers, one question comes up most frequently: do you have datasets focused on mutations at key protein positions? Until now, building libraries for that usually meant a lot of DNA synthesis. We developed HGT-DGR as a faster and cheaper way to make them.

bioRxivpreprint@biorxivpreprint.bsky.social · 2w ago

Continuous target-specific mutagenesis and rapid gene evolution by diversity-generating retroelements in Escherichia coli https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.07.21.739853v1

Congratulations to LMB Group Leaders Emmanuel Derivery, Kelly Nguyen and Julian Sale, who have all been elected members of @EMBO.org! Read more about their research at the LMB here: mrclmb.ac.uk/news-events/... #LMBNews @deriverylab.bsky.social @kellythd-nguyen.bsky.social @juliansalelab.bsky.social

It will be our 10th Next Generation Biophysics Symposium @mrclmb.ac.uk on 16th September. Please join us in person or online and celebrate all things #biophysics www3.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk/sites/nextge...

The LMB is thrilled to announce the appointment of @ivanabukvin.bsky.social as a Group Leader in the PNAC Division. Beginning in January 2027, Ivana’s group will investigate co-translational folding and misfolding of proteins. Read more: mrclmb.ac.uk/news-events/...

🧬Want to synthesise kilobase-scale DNA? We got you covered!🥳 In latest from the lab we explore the "doodling" capabilities of DNA polymerases and ways to guide the sequences produced. Loads of data + beautiful AFM of the molecules themselves. #synbio ... doi.org/10.1038/s414...

Proud to share the yeast telomerase structure, led by the talented @hongmiaohu.bsky.social in collaboration with the Wellinger and Chartrand labs. Discovered 37 years ago and took us nearly 7 years but totally worth the wait 😍. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFE4...

Cryo-EM structure of yeast telomerase

YouTube video by MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology

youtube.com

MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology@mrclmb.ac.uk · 4mo ago

Led by Investigator Scientist @hongmiaohu.bsky.social, @kellythd-nguyen.bsky.social’s group in the LMB’s Structural Studies Division have produced the first ever structure of telomerase from yeast. Read more here: mrclmb.ac.uk/news-events/... #LMBResearch #cryoEM 🧪

Have a look at our latest results on #CDK regulation, just posted as a pre-print! This study was spearheaded by PhD student Amy McGeoch. Amy has determined the #cryoEM structure of the CDK11-cyclin L-SAP30B complex, an important regulator of #spliceosome activation. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Full paper and research summary now out in Science: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/.... Also, an excellent summary of our work in the Times: www.thetimes.com/uk/science/a...

A small polymerase ribozyme that can synthesize itself and its complementary strand

The emergence of a chemical system capable of self-replication and evolution is a critical event in the origin of life. RNA polymerase ribozymes can replicate RNA, but their large size and structural ...

science.org

I am so grateful to the Blavatnik Family Foundation and the New York Academy of Sciences for this honor. Can’t wait to be back to the lab and celebrate with lab members on this special recognition of their hard work.

MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology@mrclmb.ac.uk · 5mo ago

Congratulations to @kellythd-nguyen.bsky.social, Group Leader in the LMB’s Structural Studies Division, who has been named the Life Sciences Laureate at the 2026 Blavatnik Awards in the UK 🎉 Read the full news story here: mrclmb.ac.uk/news-events/... #LMBNews #Blavatnik2026

Great thread by lead author @edogia.bsky.social on our recent Science paper: bsky.app/profile/edog...

Edoardo Gianni@edogia.bsky.social · 6mo ago

How could a simple self-replicating system emerge at the origins of life? RNA polymerase ribozymes can replicate RNA, but existing ones are so large that their self-replication seems impossible. Could they be smaller? Excited to share our latest work in @science.org on a new small polymerase. 1/n

Grateful to the unique environment and long-term support of the MRC-LMB (@mrclmb.bsky.social) & Holliger lab, and a big thank you to the rest of the team: Sam Kwok, @chrisjwan.bsky.social, Kevin Goeij, @bryceclifton.bsky.social, @escolizzi.bsky.social, James Attwater, @philholliger.bsky.social. 12/n

Have a look at the Insight on Research story on our Science paper www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... on the @mrclmb.bsky.social website: mrclmb.ac.uk/news-events/... including a great little animation from LMB VisLab.

Bridging the gap from chemistry to life: discovery of a tiny RNA that can copy itself | MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology

Led by Edoardo Gianni, Philipp Holliger’s group in the LMB’s PNAC Division have identified a small self-replicating catalytic RNA (ribozyme), providing new ...

mrclmb.ac.uk

Great summaries of our paper www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... in Science: www.science.org/doi/epdf/10.... and New Scientist: www.newscientist.com/article/2515... and in the Science museum blog: blog.sciencemuseum.org.uk/in-the-begin...

A small polymerase ribozyme that can synthesize itself and its complementary strand

The emergence of a chemical system capable of self-replication and evolution is a critical event in the origin of life. RNA polymerase ribozymes can replicate RNA, but their large size and structural ...

science.org

New paper from my group in @science.org : "A small polymerase ribozyme that can synthesise itself and its complementary strand" www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... Outstanding work by @edogia.bsky.social

How did life arise from simple chemical building blocks? New #LMBResearch led by @edogia.bsky.social in @philholliger.bsky.social group has identified a small self-replicating ribozyme that could be the answer. Read more: mrclmb.ac.uk/news-events/...

Required reading for everyone interested in the synthetic genomics - @adrianwoolfson.bsky.social's new book 'On the Future of Species' is published today (Charles Darwin's birthday). Here's the man himself at the launch last night at @dauntbooks.bsky.social in Marylebone. (Photo: Wes Robertson)

Just posted our latest, led by Consuelo Perez and Pierre Murat, showing the intimate relationship between transcription, DNA supercoiling and chromatin architecture during human stem cell differentiation. Thanks to all at @mrclmb.bsky.social doi.org/10.64898/202...

A beautifully crafted summary of the extraordinary discovery in the lab of my @mrclmb.bsky.social colleague @philholliger.bsky.social of a tiny RNA that can replicate RNA.

Science Museum@sciencemuseum.org.uk · 6mo ago

Researchers have discovered a little RNA molecule - small enough to potentially form spontaneously, yet sophisticated enough to begin to copy itself - that could explain how life on Earth began over four billion years ago, Science Director @rogerhighfield.bsky.social reports: https://bit.ly/3ZvPS6s

Our beloved and long-serving @mrclmb.bsky.social PNAC Divisional Administrator Michele Hare has retired. We gathered to wish her well and a long, happy and music-filled retirement.

Excited to share our latest work on dissecting the mechanism of processive telomeric DNA synthesis by telomerase. Led by amazing PhD student Sebastian Balch in collaboration with lab members,@automnenine.bsky.social @rachael-kretsch.bsky.social,@rdaslab.bsky.social. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

To complement the launch of our new LMB website, we’ve shared a new introductory video on our YouTube channel. Meet some of our scientists and support staff, take a look around our wonderful building and see how we come together to unravel how life works. youtu.be/JmC17_4bEMA?...

Through the doors of discovery - an introduction to the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology

YouTube video by MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology

youtu.be

🌐Our new LMB website is live!🌐 Fresh design, better navigation, same first-class science. Take a look around ➡️ mrclmb.ac.uk

I wrote some personal reflections about being physically embedded in a world-leading molecular biology lab @mrclmb.bsky.social, learning to communicate with experimentalists, back-breaking wet lab work, scientific rigour, and skin in the game! 💌: chaitjo.substack.com/p/an-ai-rese...

An AI Researcher in the Cathedral of Molecular Biology

How we designed catalytic RNA functions, and what I learned holding a pipette at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology.

chaitjo.substack.com

Excited to release the fully open-source code for gRNAde - our wet-lab validated, generative AI framework for 3D RNA inverse design 🚀⭐️ I pride myself on open-science & this is probably the most intense release I've done!

Time for a new pre-print! How do dendritic cells control pore formation in their own endocytic compartments? Our work shows that the unique transmembrane anchor of perforin-2 does not protect DC membranes, but instead it enables antigen escape during cross-presentation doi.org/10.64898/202...

A key step towards human genome synthesis. With thanks to @wellcometrust.bsky.social @mrclmb.bsky.social #SynHG doi.org/10.1126/scie...

High-fidelity human chromosome transfer and elimination

The synthesis of human genomes and other gigabase-scale genomes will require new strategies. Here, we realized key steps in our pipeline for building synthetic human chromosomes. We established: (i) t...

doi.org

New pipeline to implant human chromosomes into mouse cells and back again signals first step in mammoth undertaking to synthesise the human genome. Read more about the achievement from LMB’s PNAC Division as part of the SynHG project: www2.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk/transplant-o... #LMBResearch