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For the first time, academics in the Astbury Centre have recorded the highest mass-to-charge ratios ever measured on an Orbitrap machine. But how did they do it? A recently developed technique, called electron capture charge reduction, reduces charge in biomolecular structures. It’s now offering huge promise for analysing larger sized proteins – a current limitation...
University of Leeds has received a grant of £1.1million to enable world leading research into disease. The grant, which has been awarded by the Wolfson Foundation, will be used to fund high-resolution microscopes which use fluorescent dyes to see into cells in exquisite detail. This new equipment will enable scientists to understand the structure of...
Scientists take one step closer to uncovering new sensing technology. Scientists at University of Leeds are part of an international collaboration that has described a new approach to designing proteins from scratch. The approach uses Transmembrane β-barrel pores (TMBs), nanosized proteins which are extensively used for single-molecule DNA and RNA sequencing –an analysis method that...
Scientists investigating Alzheimer’s disease have determined the structure of molecules within a human brain for the very first time. The study describes how scientists used cryo-electron tomography, guided by fluorescence microscopy, to explore deep inside an Alzheimer’s disease donor brain. This gave 3-dimensional maps in which they could observe proteins, the molecular building blocks of...
Professor Bruce Turnbull, of the School of Chemistry, won the prize for the development and application of bioorthogonal approaches in engineering functional protein and carbohydrate-based systems. The surface of every living cell is covered in a layer of complex carbohydrate structures known as the glycocalyx, and the types of carbohydrates present differ from one cell...
Professor Richard Bayliss, School of Molecular and Cellular Biology, and Dr Charlotte Dodson, University of Bath, reflect on what the latest developments in AlphaFold 3 mean for biologists. AlphaFold 3 is the latest version of an algorithm designed to predict the structures of proteins – vital molecules used by all life – from the “instruction code” in...
New research carried out at the University of Leeds, in collaboration with the CRUK Scotland Institute and the University of Cambridge, has led to the discovery of a nanobody that offers a potential new approach for preventing the spread of cancer, known as metastasis. A protein called Fascin-1, which is found at high levels in...
A huge congratulations to Professor Sheena Radford who has been elected as an international member of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). Membership of the Academy is among the highest honours in science. The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a private, non-profit society of distinguished scholars based in the United States of America. Established by an...
A group of scientists from the University of Leeds and the University of Dundee have discovered new knowledge in how ribosomes – the key machinery that makes proteins for our cells - are rescued. The researchers used an imaging technique called cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) to visualise the 3D structure of UREL bound to the ribosome...
Professor Sheena Radford has been awarded the Biochemical Society’s Centenary Award for 2025. The Centenary Award is awarded annually to a molecular bioscientist based on the impact of their research and a demonstrable commitment to build, support, and nurture talent within the scientific community. Sheena said: "I am delighted and humbled to receive this award. I...