MRC WIMM Blog

A bumpy – emotional – ride towards a PhD

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

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.

Breaking the link – how robust are gene expression networks?

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!

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

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.

Building a blood factory

On 29 September the University put on its largest-ever public engagement activity across several locations and well into the evening. The Curiosity Carnival aimed to engage people from all over Oxford in the exciting and varied research that goes on within the University. Dannielle Wellington, a postdoc in the Dong lab, spent the last 4 months organising one of the highlights of the night – The Blood Factory. In this piece she tells us more about what it was like to be involved.

Deciphering the power of the leukaemia stem cell

Sensing viruses: shape matters

A recent study from Jan Rehwinkel’s lab in the MRC Human Immunology Unit has revealed a new way in which cells sense and respond to invading viruses.

Breaking boundaries in our DNA

An important open question in biology is how different cells get directed to the right part of this manual to find the instructions for their specific tasks. A new study, published in in Nature Cell Biology today, by a team of scientists co-led by Doug Higgs and Ben Davies shines light on the underlying structural processes that help the cells work out which part of the manual to read to establish their identity.

The stem cell that keeps you topped up with blood

Have you ever wondered where all the different cells in the blood come from? Believe it or not it is down to one type of cell, called hematopoietic stem cells, which can give rise to which ever blood cell type the body needs. Christina Rode discusses and visually explains where these cells come from, what they do and why they are so important.

The slimy jelly that helps us respond to infection

David Jackson

26 June 2017

A fully functioning immune system is dependent on good communication between many different types of cell. We know that one set of cells detects damage and infection, while another leaps into action to defend the body. But we weren’t entirely clear how the two ‘talked’ to each other. New research by the Jackson lab suggests that a special type of carbohydrate acts as the broker between the two.

A zebrafish genetic toolkit to understand development

Development is complex business – from the moment a sperm fertilises an egg, a cascade of biological processes is set in motion, and small changes in this cascade can cause a number of different developmental conditions. A new method developed by the Sauka-Spengler Lab can help understand the nuts and bolts that regulate these developmental changes in a very special set of cells.

INTERFERing: the immune responses helping cancer cells resist treatment

Cancer treatments like chemotherapy and radiotherapy generally work by causing damage to the DNA of cancer cells. Unfortunately, cancer cells can become resistant to this DNA damage and therefore resistant to the treatments. Recent collaborative research in the WIMM between labs in the Department of Oncology and the MRC Human Immunology Unit sheds light on this process, revealing new markers of treatment resistance in patients and potential future drug targets.

Multiple Sclerosis – Action and Reaction

The Fugger lab reports on their participation in 'Brain Diaries', an exhibition that aimed to show to the public how the latest neuroscientific research is transforming what we understand about our brain – from birth to the end of life. how they got on presenting their exhibit to those that attended Super Science Saturday.

Cells have a skeleton, and a very clever way of organising it

Just like humans, each of our cells have a skeleton in order to maintain their shape. Up until recently, we didn’t have the ability to see their skeleton in great detail. But with new technology creating ever-more powerful microscopes, we can now see the skeleton and the patterns it creates to maintain the cell’s structure. In this blog post, Dr Marco Fritzsche discusses his recent paper published in Nature Communications in collaboration with Prof Christian Eggeling and Prof Eric Betzig, researching exactly how the skeleton of a cell is organized.

CRISPR computers: how to program a cell

Inside every cell in your body, a complex network of signals are constantly being sent, received, interpreted and acted upon. These signals tell the cell how and when to perform its particular specialised task, in concert with all the other cells surrounding it. Understanding how these networks operate is critical to developing a full understanding of biological systems, but until recently, scientists have lacked tools with sufficient precision to probe these networks accurately.

What are the consequences of severe anaemia for mothers and babies?

Thalassemia is an inherited blood disorder that results in the production of abnormal red blood cells, resulting in the inefficient transport of oxygen around the body. To coincide with Rare Disease Day, Dr Duantida Songdej (a consultant haematologist in Thailand) and her DPhil co-supervisor Dr Chris Babbs tell us about their work creating a registry of survivors of this rare form of anaemia

Stopping the spread: towards new treatments for childhood cancer

Cancers of the blood, or leukaemias, that involve mutations in a gene called Mixed Lineage Leukaemia (MLL) have a very poor prognosis and are particularly prevalent in young children. Due to the aggressive nature of this type of cancer, there is an acute need for the development of more effective therapies to help treat the children who suffer from this devastating condition.

The science behind the headlines

Tomasz Dobrzycki describes just how rewarding it was to participate in the 'Super Science Saturday' at the Museum of Natural History in Oxford, a special themed event on the science behind the headlines.

How students see scientists: Part XV

In early December last year, a group of five undergraduate students from PETROC College in Plymouth visited the WIMM in order to get a taste of what life as a research scientist might really be like. In this blog, Sarah Huxtable (Programme Manager and Lecturer, Genetics and Physiology) tells us just how rewarding the students found their visit, and how great the cake was!