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Cambridge Institute for Medical Research

CIMR’s mission is to determine the molecular mechanisms of disease in order to advance human health.

 

CIMR Research Advances

Read more at: Orientia tsutsugamushi: comprehensive analysis of the mobilome of a highly fragmented and repetitive genome reveals the capacity for ongoing lateral gene transfer in an obligate intracellular bacterium

Orientia tsutsugamushi: comprehensive analysis of the mobilome of a highly fragmented and repetitive genome reveals the capacity for ongoing lateral gene transfer in an obligate intracellular bacterium

Obligate intracellular bacteria - those only capable of growth inside other living cells - have limited opportunities for horizontal gene transfer with other microbes due to their isolated...


Read more at: Evidence of a genetic background predisposing to complex regional pain syndrome type 1

Evidence of a genetic background predisposing to complex regional pain syndrome type 1

Complex regional pain syndrome type 1 (CRPS-1) is a rare, disabling and sometimes chronic disorder usually arising after a trauma. In a recent study, the Woods lab examined whether patients with this...


Read more at: The structure of a Plasmodium vivax Tryptophan Rich Antigen domain suggests a lipid binding function for a pan-Plasmodium multi-gene family

The structure of a Plasmodium vivax Tryptophan Rich Antigen domain suggests a lipid binding function for a pan-Plasmodium multi-gene family

Plasmodium vivax is the most geographically widespread cause of malaria, with nearly 3 billion people at risk of infection, mostly in Latin America and Asia. There is no approved vaccine for P. vivax...


Read more at: Super resolution microscopy reveals how autophagosomes form from finger-like phagophores

Super resolution microscopy reveals how autophagosomes form from finger-like phagophores

Conserved from yeast to humans, autophagy is a pathway whereby cells engulf cytoplasmic contents in double-membraned autophagosomes, which traffic their contents to lysosomes for degradation. This...


Read more at: Unpicking the complex genetics underpinning a rare disease

Unpicking the complex genetics underpinning a rare disease

Shwachman-Diamond syndrome (SDS) is an inherited condition caused by faulty ribosomal assembly. Individuals with SDS are at high risk of progression to blood cancers including myelodysplasia and...


Read more at: New CIMR research identifies cell surface markers of severe COVID-19
 tSNE visualization of 6 × 105 live PBMCs sampled from each class E donor, colored by cell population

New CIMR research identifies cell surface markers of severe COVID-19

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) continues to present a significant public health risk. Although many are now protected by natural immunity or vaccination, a minority...


Read more at: A new mechanism for a human virus to evade cellular defences
AlphaFold multimer model highlighting the predicted BILF1 and MAVS interaction domain and residues.

A new mechanism for a human virus to evade cellular defences

Prof Mike Weekes’s lab works to understand how viruses including human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) interact with and evade host cell antiviral proteins. EBV is associated with...


Read more at: Ectocytosis renders TCR signaling self-limiting at the immune synapse

Ectocytosis renders TCR signaling self-limiting at the immune synapse

Prof. Gillian Griffiths’s lab studies cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) - serial killers which destroy multiple targets in succession. A new Science paper from the lab describes a unique mechanism for...


Latest news

Read more at: Highly Cited Researcher Award

Highly Cited Researcher Award

23 November 2023

Prof David Rubinsztein has been named as a highly cited researcher by Clarivate™. Each year, they identify the small fraction of the global research scientists and social scientists who have...


Read more at: CIMR welcomes two new Principal Investigators

CIMR welcomes two new Principal Investigators

16 November 2023

CIMR is delighted to welcome two new PIs to the Institute, Dr Melissa Gammons and Dr Jonathon Nixon-Abell, both of whom have been awarded prestigious Wellcome Career Development Awards. Dr Nixon-...


Read more at: Optimising a vaccine for Plasmodium vivax malaria

Optimising a vaccine for Plasmodium vivax malaria

24 October 2023

The Rayner lab are part of a new international consortium, OptiViVax, working to develop an effective vaccine against Plasmodium vivax parasites. P. vivax is one of the principal causes of malaria...


New CIMR publications

Salje lab (mSphere, 2023)
Orientia tsutsugamushi: comprehensive analysis of the mobilome of a highly fragmented and repetitive genome reveals the capacity for ongoing lateral gene transfer in an obligate intracellular bacterium | mSphere (asm.org) 

Woods lab (Journal of Medical Genetics, 2023)
Evidence of a genetic background predisposing to complex regional pain syndrome type 1

Rayner/ Deane labs (Nature Communications, 2023)
The structure of a Plasmodium vivax Tryptophan Rich Antigen domain suggests a lipid binding function for a pan-Plasmodium multi-gene family

Rubinsztein lab (Developmental Cell, 2023)
Mammalian autophagosomes form from finger-like phagophores

Warren lab in a collaboration co-led with the Nangalia lab [Wellcome Sanger Institute; Cambridge Stem Cell Institute] and Kent lab [University of York] (Nature Communications, 2023)
Convergent somatic evolution commences in utero in a germline ribosomopathy 

Weekes lab (Cell Reports, 2023)
Proteomic analysis of circulating immune cells identifies cellular phenotypes associated with COVID-19 severity

Weekes lab in collaboration with Gewurz lab [Harvard Medical School] (Molecular Cell, 2023)
An Epstein-Barr virus protein interaction map reveals NLRP3 inflammasome evasion via MAVS UFMylation

Griffiths lab (Science, 2023)
Ectocytosis renders T cell receptor signaling self-limiting at the immune synapse

Rubinsztein lab (Neuron, 2023)
Microglial-to-neuronal CCR5 signaling regulates autophagy in neurodegeneration

Deane lab (PNAS, 2023)
Altered plasma membrane abundance of the sulfatide-binding protein NF155 links glycosphingolipid imbalances to demyelination

Warren lab (Nucleic Acid Res., 2023)
Cryo-EM reconstruction of the human 40S ribosomal subunit at 2.15 Å resolution

Gershlick lab (J. Cell Biology, 2023)
The exocyst complex is an essential component of the mammalian constitutive secretory pathway

Read lab (Acta Crystallographica Section D, 2023)
Likelihood-based docking of models into cryo-EM maps

Ron lab in collaboration with Elisa De Franco and Andrew Hattersley [University of Exeter] (EMBO Mol. Med 2023)
Infancy-onset diabetes caused by de-regulated AMPylation of the human endoplasmic reticulum chaperone BiP

Read group in collaboration with Tom Terwilliger [Los Alamos National Laboratory] and other members of the Phenix collaboration (Acta Crystallographica Section D, 2022)
Putting AlphaFold models to work with phenix.process_predicted_model and ISOLDE

Deane lab in collaboration with the Sharpe lab, Babraham (eLife, 2022)
Molecular mechanism of Afadin substrate recruitment to the receptor phosphatase PTPRK via its pseudophosphatase domain

Warren lab in collaboration with the Bergler lab [Graz] and Haselbach lab [Vienna] (Nature Structural & Molecular Biology 2022)
Visualizing maturation factor extraction from the nascent ribosome by the AAA-ATPase Drg1

Larrieu lab (Nucleic Acids Research, 2022)
BAF A12T mutation disrupts lamin A/C interaction, impairing robust repair of nuclear envelope ruptures in Nestor–Guillermo progeria syndrome cells

Rubinsztein lab (Nature Communications, 2022)
Compounds activating VCP D1 ATPase enhance both autophagic and proteasomal neurotoxic protein clearance

Marciniak lab (Science Advances, 2022)
Z-α1-antitrypsin polymers impose molecular filtration in the endoplasmic reticulum after undergoing phase transition to a solid state

Warren lab (Nature Communications, 2022)
eIF6 rebinding dynamically couples ribosome maturation and translation

Weekes lab (PNAS, 2022)
Human cytomegalovirus protein RL1 degrades the antiviral factor SLFN11 via recruitment of the CRL4 E3 ubiquitin ligase complex

Warren lab in collaboration with the Minczuk and Whitworth labs, MRC-MBU (Nature Communications, 2022)
A late-stage assembly checkpoint of the human mitochondrial ribosome large subunit

 

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