Welcome to the MRC WIMM blog, a blog aimed at a scientifc, but non-specialist, audience. All posts are written by members of the MRC WIMM!
An interview with Walter Bodmer
28 November 2018
‘An evening with’ are informal events where established scientists with a connection to the MRC WIMM spend an evening with our students and staff, discussing their career and sharing their thoughts with the next generation of scientists. In this new feature in our blog, we interview the scientists who have kindly given their time to join this event, starting with Professor Sir Walter Bodmer, FRS, Emeritus Professor and Head of the Cancer and Immunogenetics Laboratory in the Department of Oncology.
Tri-C tells us which enhancers are in the loop
30 October 2018
How do multiple enhancers control the activity of a single gene? A new paper from Marieke Oudelaar in the Hughes/Higgs labs presents a novel approach called “Tri-C”, which uncovers how cis-regulatory elements interact together in higher-order structures.
Clone Wars: A New Model
25 September 2018
How do rare mutations accumulate in tissues and how can this lead to cancer? In this post, Hannah discusses a new paper from Ed Morrissey's lab that uses mathematical modelling to study this process in the human colonic epithelium.
As a PhD student at MRC HIU, I usually spend my days in a white lab coat peering down a microscope, but this July I temporarily gave all that up to undertake a placement on the science desk at The Guardian newspaper.
Preprints: revolution and resistance
2 August 2018
Erdinc explains what preprints are, why he uses them.. and why he thinks you should too.
A bumpy – emotional – ride towards a PhD
15 May 2018
To mark Mental Health Awareness Week, Gregorio Dias shares his personal journey as a PhD student and discusses how a better work-life-balance and spending more time with friends helped him overcome the stress and anxiety that he faced during his studies.
Deciphering the complexity of blood progenitor cells
Zahra Aboukhalil, Bilyana Stoilova, Dimitris Karamitros
20 February 2018
Blood production by haematopoietic stem and progenitor cells is complex, with multiple proposed models of differentiation. In this blog post, Zahra Aboukhalil, Bilyana Stoilova & Dimitris Karamitros discuss how the Vyas lab is using single-cell technologies to uncover the ways in which blood progenitors generate mature cells.
The intricate biological cascades that fine-tune cellular protein production are hugely complex – and so is the task of deciphering them. We found out more about a new technique developed in the Fulga lab to disentangle this regulatory web.
Lights, Camera, Immuno-action!
19 December 2017
Melissa Bedard, a DPhil student in the Cerundolo Lab , writes about her research on invariant natural killer T cells, and the starring role they may be able to play in the fight against cancer.
Sensing viruses: The alarm system in our cells
14 November 2017
Layal Liverpool, a DPhil student in the Rehwinkel lab, writes about her research on how cells are able to tell the difference between their own molecules and those of invading viruses.