molecular biology

Topic description and stories

Plant ‘thermometer’ triggers springtime budding by measuring night-time heat

27 Oct 2016

A photoreceptor molecule in plant cells has been found to moonlight as a thermometer after dark – allowing plants to read seasonal temperature...

Dr Frederick Sanger has died, age 95

20 Nov 2013

Dr Frederick Sanger, recognised by many as the “father of genomics”, died yesterday at the age of 95. The founding member of the MRC Laboratory of...

Her Majesty the Queen opens the new MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology

23 May 2013

The new building for the Medical Research Council (MRC) Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB) in Cambridge was officially opened by Her Majesty the...

Structure of the Fenna-Matthews-Olson complex

Unlocking nature’s quantum engineering for efficient solar energy

06 Jan 2013

Quantum scale photosynthesis in biological systems which inhabit extreme environments could hold key to new designs for solar energy and nanoscale...

Ak, in his laboratory in the Institute of Metabolic Science

'Extreme Sleepover #5’ - a night in the life of a shift-working medic and clock biologist

26 Dec 2011

In the fifth of a series of reports contributed by Cambridge researchers, medic and scientist Dr Ak Reddy describes the challenges of disrupting our...

Trinity College Fellow wins Nobel Prize in Chemistry

07 Oct 2009

A Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, has been awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

Cambridge graduate wins Nobel Prize in medicine

05 Oct 2009

Elizabeth Blackburn, an alumna of Darwin College and a recipient of an Honorary Doctorate of Science from the University earlier this year, has been...

Structure of Ral (pink) binding to RLIP(grey) solved by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy

Hunting for hotspots in protein interactions

01 May 2008

Two biochemists have recently won an MRC grant to investigate potential targets in the treatment of cancer.