The latest Business updates from the science industry


by Heather Hobbs MRC Scientist Wins 2017 Nobel Prize in Chemistry


Our congratulations go to Richard Henderson of the MRC’s Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB) who has been awarded the 2017 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, alongside Professor Jacques Dubochet and Dr Joachim Frank (LMB alumnus) “for developing cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) for the high-resolution structure determination of biomolecules in solution.”


This is the eleventh Nobel Prize awarded for work undertaken at the LMB, which has earned the nickname of ‘the Nobel Prize factory’. Since its establishment over 100 years ago, the total number of Nobel prizes awarded to MRC-funded scientists is now 23. Richard will receive his Nobel Prize in Sweden in December, the MRC were delighted to announce.


Born and educated in Scotland, Richard received a PhD at Cambridge then worked at Yale University before returning to the LMB where, since 1973, his work has helped to advance the use of electron microscopy to solve complex membrane protein structures. Together with Nigel Unwin he successfully determined the fi rst structure of 2-D crystals of the membrane protein bacteriorhodopsin using electron microscopy in 1975. This insight and Richard’s drive and determination over the next two decades led to the development of better detectors for electron microscopes and better software to analyse the images. This revolutionised the technique of cryo-EM, which involves fl ash-cooling molecules in a thin layer of aqueous solution before imaging them, a crucial method invented by Jacques Dubochet and his colleagues in the early 1980s. Computational processing the images is a key step, to which Joachim Frank made major early contributions.


Richard has been presented with many awards for his work and was recently awarded the Gjonnes Medal in electron crystallography by the International Union of Crystallography. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society and the Academy of Medical Sciences, and was Director of the LMB from 1996-2006.


On winning the Nobel Prize, Richard commented: “I am delighted for everybody in the fi eld that the Nobel Prize for Chemistry has been awarded to acknowledge the success of cryo-EM. I am particularly pleased that Jacques Dubochet has been recognised as the key person who kick-started the fi eld in the early 1980s with his method of rapid freezing to make a specimen of amorphous ice, a crucial advance.”


Professor Sir John Savill, CEO of the MRC, said: “We’re delighted to congratulate Dr Richard Henderson on being awarded the 2017 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, for developing cryo-electron microscopy for the high-resolution structure determination of biomolecules in solution. In his ground-breaking work over decades at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology he has helped solve a number of the technical and conceptual problems which limited electron crystallography and by 1990, he and his colleagues succeeded in obtaining through EM analysis the fi rst three-dimensional image of a protein at atomic resolution. This Nobel prize is a wonderful recognition of his tireless efforts in developing and applying cutting-edge technologies to challenging and important structural biology questions.


MRC LMB Biologist Richard Henderson. Pic credit: MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology


Professor Sir Hugh Pelham, Director of the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, commented: “My warmest congratulations to Richard Henderson as well as Jacques Dubochet and Joachim Frank. This is a fantastic recognition of very many years of work developing this technology, which is already helping to solve key problems related to human health. It is incredible what can now be done. The impact will be profound and I am proud that the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology has played such a central role in this.”


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FlowcytometryUK 2017- London


The new look Advances in Cytometry meeting, taking place at Charles Darwin House in London on 16 November, is now known as the fl owcytometryUK. This one day meeting will highlight the diverse areas in which cytometry is a vital resource.


Mixing invited talks and TechnoBites, this meeting will highlight some of the latest developments made both in cytometry research


and the products. The talks cover fl ow, imaging and mass cytometry and will be presented by some great names in the fi eld from across the UK.


The exhibition taking place alongside this meeting provides a great chance to network with colleagues both academic and commercial and to make new contacts. Scientifi c Organisers: Derek Davies,


Francis Crick Institute and Rachael Walker, Babraham Institute, Cambridge.


The programme is available to view online and registration is open. Visit: www.rms.org.uk


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Electron Microscopy of Catalysts -


Diamond Light Source


Microscopy and catalysis is going through a tremendous transformation on many fronts and this meeting will address the recent developments made in this rapidly emerging fi eld. The new Electron Microscopy of Catalysts meeting is taking place on Friday 17 November at the Diamond Light Source in Harwell where we will be looking at quantitative imaging (atom counting) and the tomographic techniques that are producing nanoparticle structures that are being used by modellers to predict activity and selectivity.


We will also be reviewing how EDX and EELS are delivering not just compositional information but also chemical state maps; also shedding light on how advances of in situ techniques and holders have benefi tted the area of multi length scale characterisation.


There will also be the opportunity to see the new I14 nanoprobe beamline together with EPSIC facilities available at the Harwell site.


Scientifi c Organiser of this event: Dogan Ozkaya, Johnson Matthey Technology Centre Organiser Scientifi c: Dogan Ozkaya, Johnson Matthey Technology Centre. Visit: www.rms.org.uk


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Scottish Microscopy Group – Annual Meeting Glasgow


The Scottish Microscopy Group will hold its annual meeting, the 45th symposium, on Wednesday 22nd November at the Beatson Institute at the Garscube Campus in Glasgow. The theme this year is ‘Resolution’.


There will be talks by experts in their respective fi elds working at the limits of resolution in a range of techniques ranging from acoustic imaging, fl ow cytometry with microscopy, through to super-resolution imaging and electron microscopy. With the recent announcement of the 2017 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the development of cryo-EM we are proud to have several speakers on this topic in the line-up.


As always there is room for talks from submitted abstracts and poster presentations. As part of the meeting, three microscope facilities in Glasgow will be featured in short presentations. Workshops on high-resolution LM imaging and OMERO will be held during an extended lunch break and there is a trade show and an imaging competition.


Keynote speakers are Ricardo Henriques, UCL, London and Gaia Pigino, MPI, Dresden. Other speakers include: Sandy Cochran, Glasgow; Fabio Nudelman, Edinburgh; Katie Hughes, Glasgow; Mhairi Towler, Dundee; David Bhella, Glasgow; Ian MacLaren,


Glasgow; Leo Carlin, Glasgow


Facilities: Beatson Microscopy Facility, Kelvin Nanocharacterisation Centre, National CryoEM Facility.


Full details of the programme are available on www. scottishmicroscopygroup.org.uk


Entries are still being accepted for the Scottish Microscopy Group’s Image Competition which carries 1st Prize of £100 and a second Prize of £50.


These can consist of micrographs, short videos or animations, or diagrams based on microscopical data and must include your name (and any additional authors) and affi liation(s), a title for the entry, a short description and how the image was generated (instrument, magnifi cation, software etc.). Use high resolution for the images (300 dpi) so they can be printed at a reasonable size (A4 or larger if possible). Up to two entries per person can be submitted.


Please submit your entry by the deadline of 15th November by email to: Leandro.LembruberSoares@glasgow.ac.uk.


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