Laboratory of Molecular Biology

Not to be confused with MRC Laboratory for Molecular Cell Biology at University College London.
MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology

The new building of the LMB viewed from the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway bridge in June 2013
Location
Coordinates 52°10′35″N 0°08′35″E / 52.1763°N 0.1430°ECoordinates: 52°10′35″N 0°08′35″E / 52.1763°N 0.1430°E
Parent organization
 Medical Research Council
Website www2.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk

The Medical Research Council (MRC) Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB) is a research institute in Cambridge, England, involved in the revolution in molecular biology which occurred in the 1950–60s, since then it remains a major medical research laboratory with a much broader focus.[1] A new £212m replacement building constructed close by to the original site on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus was opened in May 2013.[2] The road outside the new building is named Francis Crick[3] Avenue after the 1962 joint Nobel Prize winner, who co-discovered the helical structure of DNA in 1953.

Administrative structure

A public lecture at the new building

The LMB has a deliberately simple administrative environment.[4] From outside the LMB, the parent MRC ensured that the triennial assessment had a light touch: only a brief explanation of past achievements and an indication of where future plans lay were required by the external committee. Their recommendations were simply advisory, leaving the division leaders a free hand as to how to run their affairs: they were assumed to know best.

Within the LMB, Perutz’s criterion of how to arrange things was that the act of doing science should be facilitated at all levels. The LMB had a single budget: there were no personal budgets or equipment — everything was communal. It had state of the art equipment and was well financed by the MRC. Chemical reagents, glassware and other expendables could be withdrawn from a single store with only a signature required. Key to the smooth functioning of the lab was Michael Fuller, who was responsible for its day-to-day running.

There was no overt hierarchy; everyone was on first-name terms. Most members of the lab met freely in the canteen, which was said to assist inter-divisional communication and collaboration.[5] Today the LMB has around 400 scientists, of whom 130 are postdoctoral researchers and 90 students. The new building (situated on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus) was opened in 2013[2] and has four seminar rooms named after LMB scientists: Sydney Brenner,[6] Aaron Klug,[7] the late César Milstein[8] and Frederick Sanger,.[9] as well as another lecture theatre named after the late Max Perutz.[10]

Groups at the LMB

As of 2015 there are around fifty group leaders[11] Groups are part of one of the four divisions of the LMB: Cell Biology, Neurobiology, Protein and Nucleic Acid Chemistry and Structural Studies. As of 2015 group leaders include the following people:

  • M. Madan Babu
  • David Barford
  • Anne Bertolotti
  • Alexander Betz
  • Mariann Bienz
  • Tiago Branco
  • Mark van Breugel
  • Simon Bullock
  • Andrew Carter
  • Jason Chin
  • Mario de Bono
  • Alan Fersht
  • Paula da Fonseca
  • Michael Gait
  • Michel Goedert
  • Ingo Greger
  • Michael Hastings
  • Ramanujan Hegde
  • Richard Henderson
  • Philipp Holliger
  • Leo James
  • Gregory Jefferis
  • Rob Kay
  • David Komander
  • Meindert Lamers
  • Andrew Leslie
  • Jan Löwe
  • Andrew McKenzie
  • Harvey McMahon
  • Sean Munro
  • Garib Murshudov
  • Alexey Murzin
  • Kiyoshi Nagai
  • David Neuhaus
  • Ben Nichols
  • John O'Neill
  • Lori Passmore
  • Hugh Pelham
  • Cristina Rada
  • Venki Ramakrishnan[12]
  • Felix Randow
  • Daniela Rhodes
  • Katja Röper
  • Julian Sale
  • William Schafer
  • Sjors Scheres
  • Melina Schuh
  • Murray Stewart
  • John Sutherland
  • Chris Tate
  • Marco Tripodi
  • Roger Williams

Emeritus

The LMB is also home to a number of Emeritus Scientists, pursuing their research interests in the Laboratory after their formal retirement[11] including:

History

Beginnings: 1947-61

Max Perutz, following an undergraduate training in organic chemistry, left Austria in 1936 and came to the University of Cambridge to study for a PhD, joining the X-ray crystallographic group led by J.D. Bernal. Here, in the Cavendish laboratory, he started his lifelong work on hemoglobin. The death of Lord Rutherford led to his successor, Lawrence Bragg, a pioneer in X-ray crystallography, becoming the new Cavendish professor of physics in 1938. Bragg became a major supporter of Perutz and his group in those early days.

After World War II, many scientists from the physical side of science turned to biology, bringing with them a new way of thinking and expertise. John Kendrew joined Perutz’s group to study a protein closely related to hemoglobin — myoglobin — in 1946. In 1947, the Medical Research Council (MRC), under the guidance of its Secretary Harold Himsworth, decided to form and support the “MRC Unit for the Study of the Molecular Structure of Biological Systems”. The group, which by 1948 also included Hugh Huxley working on muscle, was joined in 1949 by Francis Crick, who worked initially on protein crystallography. In 1951 they were joined by James Watson.

1953 was an annus mirabilis: Watson and Crick discovered the double-helical structure of DNA, which revealed that biological information was encoded in a linear structure and how this information could be duplicated during cell division. Perutz discovered that the detailed three-dimensional structures of proteins, such as myoglobin and hemoglobin could, in principle, be solved by X-ray analysis using a heavy metal atom labeling technique. Hugh Huxley discovered that muscle contraction works by a sliding filament mechanism.

In 1957 the group’s name was changed to the “MRC Unit for Molecular Biology”. Also that year, Vernon Ingram discovered that the disease sickle cell anaemia is caused by a single amino acid change in the hemoglobin molecule and Sydney Brenner joined the Unit. In 1958, Crick’s review “On Protein Synthesis” appeared: this laid out, for the first time, the central dogma of molecular biology, the sequence hypothesis and the adaptor hypothesis. In 1961 Brenner helped discover messenger RNA and, in the same year, he and Crick established that the genetic code was read in triplets.

All this work was accomplished in a single-storey temporary building (The Hut), a few rooms in the Austin Wing, a room with a lean-to glass front (The Greenhouse) and a short sealed off corridor (The Gallery) within the Cavendish laboratory.[5]

Opening of the LMB: 1962

The LMB building until 2012. The white structure is a new lecture hall added to the old building.

The MRC built a new Laboratory on the outskirts of Cambridge — the LMB — into which the Unit from the Cavendish moved in early 1962. Additionally, Fred Sanger’s Unit which had been housed in the University’s Biochemistry department joined them, as did Aaron Klug from London. Sanger had invented methods for determining the sequence of amino acids in a protein: he was awarded the Nobel prize for chemistry in 1958 for the first protein sequence, that of insulin. The new laboratory was opened by Queen Elizabeth II in 1962. Later that year, Kendrew and Perutz shared the Nobel prize for chemistry and Crick and Watson received a share of the Nobel prize for physiology or medicine.

The new LMB had Perutz as its chairman and contained 3 divisions: Structural Studies, headed by Kendrew; Molecular Genetics (Crick); Protein Chemistry (Sanger). In all, there were about 40 scientists but this number rapidly increased, particularly with a large influx of post-doctoral visitors from the US.[5]

Molecular Biology: 1962-

During the next decade, molecular biology the world over flourished, the outline bones of the 1950s now having flesh put on them. The detailed 3-D atomic structures of a series of proteins, and how they function, were deduced. These included myoglobin, hemoglobin and chymotrypsin, the last by David Blow. The genetic code, from evidence around the world, was assembled by Crick. Punctuation signals in the messenger RNA — where to start translating the RNA into a protein sequence, and where to stop — were discovered. Crick suggested how the tRNA molecules — his original adaptors — read the messenger in his wobble hypothesis. Sanger devised new methods for sequencing RNA molecules and then later for DNA molecules (for which he received a second Nobel prize in chemistry in 1980). Much later, this line was extended to include determining the sequence of whole genomes, in which John Sulston played a key role. How tRNA precursor molecules are processed to give a functional tRNA was elucidated by John Smith and Sid Altman, and this later led to the discovery of ribozymes. The atomic structure of the first tRNA molecule was solved and zinc fingers discovered by Klug (who received the Nobel prize for chemistry in 1982). The structure of the ATP synthase was solved by John E. Walker and Andrew Leslie, for which Walker shared the Nobel prize for chemistry in 1997.[5] The structure of the ribosome was solved by Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, for which he shared the Nobel prize for chemistry in 2009.[15]

1960s: Development and C.elegans

A laboratory at the new LMB building in June 2013

Towards the end of the 1960s decade, it seemed that new problems in biology could be solved using the approaches which proved so successful in molecular biology.

Sydney Brenner started working on the genetics of the nematode C.elegans in 1965. This group expanded, especially with many foreign visitors who today form the core of C.elegans research. Sulston determined the cell lineage of this small worm and John White the entire wiring diagram of its nervous system. Robert Horvitz, who helped in the cell lineage, was to share the Nobel prize for physiology or medicine with Brenner and Sulston in 2002. Jonathan Hodgkin established the genetic pathway in C.elegans which controls sex determination. John Gurdon developed the use of the frog oocyte to translate mRNAs, sharing the 2012 Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine for his earlier work showing that genetic information remains intact during development.

Peter Lawrence came to study pattern formation, helping discover how compartments in Drosophila determine the fly’s body plan. Under his influence, Crick also became interested in morphogenetic gradients and how they may help specify biological patterns.

Immunology

César Milstein had over many years been working on antibody variation. He was joined in this by Georges Köhler and, together, they discovered how to produce monoclonal antibodies. For this they shared the Nobel prize for physiology or medicine in 1984. This area was extended by Greg Winter who pioneered antibody engineering to make novel human antibodies and antibody fragments. Both monoclonal antibodies and their fragments are now of major medical importance.

Michael Neuberger discovered the mechanism by which antibody diversification occurs by Activation-induced (cytidine) deaminase. This fundamental discovery is the keystone to understanding the molecular mechanism by which organisms can produce a diverse repertoire of antibodies to recognise new pathogens. This of wider importance in understanding the role of directed mutagenesis and DNA repair in physiology. Finally, the molecular mechanisms elucidated by Neuberger may be of great importance in understanding the mutational pattern of kataegis in breast cancer. Sadly, Michael Neuberger died from myeloma - the irony of which was not lost on him.

Cell biology

The emphasis on classical molecular biology shifted towards cell biology and development, so that the Molecular Genetics division was renamed Cell Biology. Mark Bretscher discovered the topological way proteins are arranged in the human erythrocyte membrane and its phospholipid asymmetry. Richard Henderson and Nigel Unwin developed electron crystallography to determine the structure of two-dimensional arrays, applying this to the bacterial purple protein, bacteriorhodopsin. Barbara Pearse discovered the major components of clathrin-coated vesicles, structures formed during endocytosis, and a low resolution structure of the cage-like lattice around them was determined. How proteins become localised to different parts of the cell — such as to the endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi apparatus or the plasma membrane — and the role of this in cell polarity, have been elucidated by Bretscher, Hugh Pelham[16] and Sean Munro. The spindle pole bodies — the large structures in yeast cells which act as the foci to which chromosomes are moved during mitosis — have been purified and a low resolution structure of them deduced by John Kilmartin.[14]

A continuing interest has been the structure of chromosomes. This was initiated by a visitor, Roger Kornberg, who discovered the first level of condensation of DNA, the nucleosome, and continues with the focus on understanding the higher orders of folding DNA.

Neurobiology

A new division of Neurobiology was created in 1993 with a wide variety of topics. Unwin has further developed electron crystallography and solved the structure of the acetylcholine receptor, which activates many neurons. Michel Goedert has identified variant proteins associated with Alzheimer's disease.

Instrumentation

Scientific advances often depend on technological advances: the LMB has been at the forefront of many of these. Some major examples include nucleic acid sequencing, protein and antibody engineering, construction of new X-ray equipment and the invention of the scanning confocal microscope.[5]

Famous alumni

Atrium of the new building at night

Scientific staff of the LMB who have been awarded individually or have shared Nobel prizes[17][18][19] are:

Visitors who received a Nobel prize for work done, or initiated at the LMB and alumni include:

References

  1. ↑ Raper, V. (2011). "A Nobel Prize-Winning Culture". Science. doi:10.1126/science.caredit.a1100063.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Her Majesty the Queen opens the new MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology". Cambridge University. 23 May 2013. Retrieved 20 June 2013.
  3. ↑ Rich, A.; Stevens, C. F. (2004). "Obituary: Francis Crick (1916–2004)". Nature 430 (7002): 845–847. doi:10.1038/430845a. PMID 15318208.
  4. ↑ Wong, Min-Liang (2012). "LMB Cambridge: Bureaucracy bypass let research flourish". Nature 490 (7421): 487–487. doi:10.1038/490487e. ISSN 0028-0836.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 John Finch; A Nobel Fellow On Every Floor, Medical Research Council 2008, 381 pp, ISBN 978-1-84046-940-0
  6. ↑ Friedberg, Errol C. (2008). "Sydney Brenner". Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology 9 (1): 8–9. doi:10.1038/nrm2320. ISSN 1471-0072.
  7. ↑ Amos, L.; Finch, J. T. (2004). "Aaron Klug and the revolution in biomolecular structure determination". Trends in Cell Biology 14 (3): 148–152. doi:10.1016/j.tcb.2004.01.002. PMID 15003624.
  8. ↑ Rajewsky, Klaus (2002). "Obituary: César Milstein (1927–2002)". Nature 416 (6883): 806–806. doi:10.1038/416806a. ISSN 0028-0836. PMID 11976669.
  9. ↑ Walker, John (2014). "Frederick Sanger (1918–2013) Double Nobel-prizewinning genomics pioneer". Nature 505 (7481): 27. doi:10.1038/505027a. PMID 24380948.
  10. ↑ Blow, D. M. (2004). "Max Ferdinand Perutz OM CH CBE. 19 May 1914 - 6 February 2002: Elected F.R.S. 1954". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society 50: 227–256. doi:10.1098/rsbm.2004.0016. JSTOR 4140521. PMID 15768489.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 "Group Leaders - MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology". 2015. Archived from the original on 2014-10-26.
  12. ↑ Nair, P. (2011). "Profile of Venkatraman Ramakrishnan". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 108 (38): 15676–15678. doi:10.1073/pnas.1113044108. PMC 3179092. PMID 21914843.
  13. ↑ CHOTHIA, Cyrus Homi. Who's Who 2014 (online Oxford University Press ed.). A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc. (subscription required)
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 MARTIN, Dr John Vincent. Who's Who 2015 (online Oxford University Press ed.). A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc. (subscription required)
  15. ↑ Nobel Laureates in Chemistry 2009
  16. ↑ PELHAM, Sir Hugh (Reginald Brentnall). Who's Who 2015 (online Oxford University Press ed.). A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc. (subscription required)
  17. ↑ John Finch; 'A Nobel Fellow On Every Floor', Medical Research Council 2008, 381 pp, ISBN 978-1-84046-940-0; this book is all about the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge.
  18. ↑ LMB Archives
  19. ↑ The Nobel Laureates of the LMB