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The Astbury Centre
Our members address major questions associated with biological mechanisms in areas as diverse as membrane proteins; protein folding and assembly; viruses; and motor proteins. The Astbury Centre hosts 4-year PhD programmes funded by the Wellcome Trust and BBSRC that equip students with the wide range of expertise that may be used to address fundamental biological questions.
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News
Aromatic persuasion: how a plant toxin unlocks human ion channels
High-resolution protein structures reveal how an intriguing plant-derived molecule activates human ion channels, with a little help from a finely tuned aromatic interaction network. Plants have evolved a dazzling array of natural chemicals to either deter hungry herbivores or attract the animals that help with pollination and seed dispersal. Bitter toxins, irritants and poisons discourage...
RSC awards Dr Briony Yorke with Harrison-Meldola Early Career Prize for Chemistry
A major chemistry prize has recognised a Leeds scientist’s research, which reveals how proteins change in real time. Dr Briony Yorke, from the School of Chemistry and Astbury Centre for Structural Molecular Biology, has been named winner of the Royal Society of Chemistry’s (RSC’s) Harrison-Meldola Early Career Prize for Chemistry, recognising her work developing time-resolved...
New initiatives putting glycoscience on the map
Glycoscience, the ‘science of carbohydrates’, sits at the crossroads of chemistry, biology and physics, shaping how we understand everything from drug design to new materials. Two new initiatives have recently launched that aim to build the glycoscience momentum both in the UK and across Europe. What is glycoscience? We tend to think of sugars as...