Author: Deborah Oakley

MRC London Institute of Medical Sciences (LMS) update

Irene Miguel-Aliaga and Alessandro Mineo

EMBO Election

Professor Irene Miguel-Aliaga, group head at the MRC LMS, has been elected a member of the European Molecular Biology Organisation (EMBO). “This is a highlight of my career and I’m really pleased,” she said. In further EMBO-related success, Alessandro Mineo a postdoc in Miguel-Aliaga’s lab, has been awarded an EMBO Long Term Fellowship – to find out more about changes in the gut during pregnancy.

Holly Newton
Holly Newton

A hat trick of success for cancer researcher

It has been one success after another for PhD student Holly Newton of the MRC London Institute of Medical Sciences (MRC LMS) recently. First, Newton won a travel grant to attend a conference in Japan. Once there she won the poster competition. On returning home she presented her poster at the LMS retreat, and again scooped the institute’s “Rosa Beddington” poster prize. (more…)

MRC London Institute of Medical Sciences (LMS) update

We’ve changed our name

On1 January 2017 MRC London Institute of Medical Sciences (LMS) became the new name of the MRC Clinical Sciences Centre. This is the start of a new chapter of investment in the LMS. After 20 years of outstanding science, we’re building our reputation for excellence in biomedical research. With a mission to build strong links between science and medicine, the LMS will continue to work in close partnership with Imperial College London at its Hammersmith Hospital campus.

New year’s honour list for LMS director

Amanda Fisher, Director of the MRC London Institute of Medical Sciences, has been made a Dame in the New Year’s Honours List for 2017. (more…)

Clinical Sciences Centre – Institute of Clinical Sciences – January update

The CSC’s Suffrage Science film night

The CSC’s Suffrage Science film night

It was an evening designed to inspire. This was a chance to celebrate the first five years of the CSC’s Suffrage Science scheme, which aims to encourage women into science, and to stay there. With Helen Pankhurst involved, it was also a chance to explore the role of activism today, and the changing nature of women’s activism since her great grandmother’s time as a Suffragette.

The evening, hosted by the Tricycle theatre in North London, began with a screening of Suffragette the film – to remember those who gave the Suffrage Science scheme its name. The film features Carey Mulligan, Helena Bonham Carter, Meryl Streep and others in a frank portrayal of the fight for Votes for Women. It was an uncomfortable watch. Historical details, such as the Cat and Mouse Act, rendered so much more powerful when portrayed in unflinching detail on the big screen.

Before the film head of Communications and Public Engagement at the CSC Susan Watts, sat down with Helen, and talked about how her famous Pankhurst predecessors might view today’s activists; about who inspires her and about whether she sees signs of activism in science and medicine today.

“I think the whole of science is about activism. It’s about looking at a particular discipline and pushing the boundaries of what that discipline can deliver – and often it’s about the relationship between science and humanity and what science can do in terms of changing the world that we humans live in. So to the extent that it enables society to benefit in a hundred ways, that is activism.

Read the full write up and watch the interview.

CSC research

CSC scientists have also published their findings in several high profile papers this month.

A study in Nature Cell Biology shows that we do not yet have the whole story about how fertilised eggs produce the many different types of cell that make up our adult bodies. It is widely accepted that an enzyme called Tet plays an important role, but something else seems to be at play, according to the study.

Scientists including the CSC’s James Ware have found that women who suffer unexplained heart failure towards the ends of pregnancy or shortly after giving birth share certain genetic changes. The finding provides some explanation for this mysterious condition, and suggests that by testing relatives, other women who carry the same genes, and who might face similar risks, could be identified early. They could then be monitored closely and treated more swiftly if needed. In the future preventative treatment might be developed too.

And a study published in Nature Communications is the first to show that an enzyme crucial to keeping our immune system healthy “surfs” along the strands of DNA inside our cells.

Deborah Oakley
Science Communications Officer
MRC Clinical Sciences Centre

MRC’s Clinical Sciences Centre at Imperial College London – October update

Worming our way to a new understanding of behaviour

The wriggling and writhing of worms may hold clues to the inner workings of our brains, according to scientists at the MRC’s Clinical Sciences Centre (CSC). The researchers have developed a pioneering tool to analyse a worm’s posture as it wriggles, and will use the tool to investigate how exactly the worm’s brain controls its movements.

Postdocs were freed to ask “stupid questions” at the inaugural postdoc retreat. The day-long event was organised by postdocs for postdocs.

“The science was great, but I think the biggest benefit is networking and getting to know the community in which we work. Finding out what people are working on so you know who to approach when you want to speak specifically about an area of research that you’re unfamiliar with is invaluable,” said Dr Angela Woods, a senior investigator scientist in the CSC’s Cellular Stress group.

Watch a video of the postdoc retreat at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjH_Ybjtiqc

Vahid Shahrezaei is the new mathematician–in-residence at the CSC.

He’s been running a biomathematics group in the maths department of Imperial College since 2008, and is now taking up a visiting position that teams him up with the CSC’s biologists.

He’s looking forward to bumping into biologists day-to-day, and though hasn’t yet sat in a lab with the CSC’s scientists, he’d like to try that out too. Regular interaction with biologists, Vahid says, is an important part of the atmosphere of the CSC, and key to creative collaborations.

Watch Miguel-Aliaga’s interview at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ewZtr4H7zY

The Journal of Cell Science has selected Irene Miguel-Aliaga, who leads the CSC’s Gut Signalling and Metabolism and is a Reader at Imperial College, as a ‘Cell Scientist to Watch’.

Miguel-Aliaga is one of four chosen so far by the journal for a series it says will “support the next generation of cell biologists.”

Last week, the journal published a two-page article and a video interview with Miguel-Aliaga in which she discusses how a TV series about lizard aliens invading Earth inspired her to become a scientist.

She also talks about setbacks in science. “I think sometimes the roadblocks are your own set of preconceptions,” says Miguel-Aliaga. She also thinks that we can be our own worst enemy: “Human nature means that, even if we try not to be, we tend to be too hypothesis driven.”

Also this month

In our series of scientific seminars, Art Arnold from the University of California, warned CSC scientists that preclinical experiments must not exclude female cells and animals. He said that it has traditionally been thought that females, with menstrual cycles and fluctuating hormone levels, are poor test subjects. But research in his lab shows that this is a myth. According to Arnold, when it comes to scientific research, women and men are comparable subjects.

Find out more about the latest news, events and activities at the CSC: http://csc.mrc.ac.uk/news/

Deborah Oakley
Science Communications Officer
MRC Clinical Sciences Centre

MRC Clinical Sciences Centre – summer update

Miniature messenger molecules released by cells in the pancreas (green) may hold the key to early diagnosis of diabetes
Miniature messenger molecules released by cells in the pancreas (green) may hold the key to early diagnosis of diabetes

Scientists at the MRC’s Clinical Sciences Centre (CSC) in West London are the first to show that a small molecule circulates in the blood of people who are in the early stages of type 1 diabetes. A simple blood test could detect this biological marker years, maybe decades, before symptoms develop.

“If we can identify and treat patients earlier, we may be able to help them to avoid secondary complications. This could ultimately extend a patient’s life,” said Mathieu Latreille, who leads the CSC’s Cellular Identity and Metabolism research group, and who carried out the research in collaboration with scientists at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. Latreille presented the results to doctors at Hammersmith Hospital this month.

Further interesting findings came from a CSC study which has shown that a gene, called Jarid2, may play a wider role than previously thought in co-ordinating the way that stem cells change in a developing embryo to form the specialised cells that make up our bodies.

Scientists know already that Jarid2 is important in organising the healthy formation of many organs, including the neural tubes that become the brain and spinal cord, the liver, spleen, thymus and cardiovascular system. But its central role very early on in embryo development is “surprising”, according to professor Amanda Fisher, director of the CSC, and head of the Institute of Clinical Science at Imperial College London, whose team published its findings in Cell Reports on July 16.

Also this month, in our series of scientific seminars, Simon Andrews of the Babraham Institute in Cambridge, warned CSC scientists that experiments to sequence human genes can, and do, go wrong. Rapid advances in technology mean scientists can now sequence entire human genomes in a matter of hours, and for less than £1000. But Andrews explained that even the latest technology doesn’t stop scientists from making mistakes. “I’m showing you some of the ugly sides of sequencing experiments,” he said.

Winners team ‘Mansfield’ celebrate their rounders victory
Winners team ‘Mansfield’ celebrate their rounders victory

Another seminar in the series saw James Ware, who works with the CSC’s Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Genetics research group, update researchers on the latest in his quest to understand the genetics of dilated cardiomyopathy, a heart condition which affects 1 in 250 people and can lead to sudden death.

Outside of the lab, CSC scientists and staff competed in the Institute’s annual rounders tournament, a relaxing interlude from serious science. Defending champions team ‘Mansfield’ came out on top.

Find out more about the latest news, events and activities at the CSC: http://csc.mrc.ac.uk/news/.