Home — MRC Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine

Linking Fundamental Research to Clinical Innovation

Leading research with the aim of improving human health.

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The MRC WIMM's core mission is to improve human health through the pursuit of fundamental research the development of new technology and the translation of discoveries to the clinic.

MRC WIMM Research Areas

Research at the MRC WIMM spans 5 core areas.

MRC Human Immunology Unit

Human immunology and the development of treatments against infectious diseases, cancer, allergy and autoimmune disease.

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MRC Molecular Haematology Unit

Understanding how mature blood cells are normally made from stem cells and how this is perturbed in common blood disorders.

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Centre for Computational Biology

Using computational biology to help understand complex biological systems and combat a range of human diseases.

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Latest publications

Investigation of the potential mechanisms underlying nuclear F-actin organization in ovarian cancer cells by high-throughput screening in combination with deep learning
Journal article

AHMED A. et al, (2022), Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology
Epigenome-Wide Association Study of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in Children with Down Syndrome
Journal article

Li S. et al, (2022), Blood Advances
Developmental dynamics of the neural crest-mesenchymal axis in creating the thymic microenvironment.
Journal article

Handel AE. et al, (2022), Sci Adv, 8

More Publications

Upcoming Seminars

CryoEM imaging of virus infection in cells

Monday, 30 May 2022, 1pm to 2pm
Using structural biology to target synthetic lethal targets for new cancer therapeutics

Monday, 06 June 2022, 1pm to 2pm
T cells go a-Rye: An Atlas of Celiac Disease

Friday, 10 June 2022, 9.15am to 10.15am
Transcriptional and epigenetic mechanisms controlling hematopoietic precursor entry into the T-cell program

Monday, 13 June 2022, 1pm to 2pm
Cell intrinsic control of viral infection

Wednesday, 15 June 2022, 1.30pm to 2.30pm

More seminars

MRC WIMM Interactive Timeline

Accessible Version of Timeline

MRC WIMM Image Competition

Langerhans Cells in healthy skin - by Randeep Singh

Langerhans cells (LC) are tissue-resident DCs found in the epidermal layer of the skin. CD1a is an MHC class - I like protein abundantly expressed on LCs. LCs have crucial roles in immune surveillance and homeostasis, however, lipid antigens presented by CD1a has been shown to amplify inflammatory responses in skin inflammation. The image shows CD1a staining on LCs in healthy skin – the dendrites protruding in the epidermal layer sensing for antigens

Stained Glass Segmentation by David Grainger

Over-segmentation of the posterior of an eight-day old mouse embryo using a watershed algorithm. Each region has been assigned a random colour creating a stained-glass effect.

Rainbow tree branching out - by Salwa Lin

The image shows over 130k cells of human HSPCs from both healthy individuals and myelofibrosis patients. Each dot is a single cell and the colour refers to different lineages. Large expanded purple ‘tails’ are the cancer cells in myelofibrosis patients.

iPSC-MK's forming proplatelets - by Abdullah Khan

Megakaryocytes are the rarest and largest cells of the bone marrow, responsible for the generation of blood platelets by making unique, long beaded extensions called pro platelets. Here we use Megakaryocytes derived from induced pluripotent stem cells to look at the effects of genetic mutations on pro platelet formation.

Tale of tails- development of an early zebrafish tailbud - by Martyna Lukoseviviute

A view of an early zebrafish embryo dorsal tailbud. Hybridisation chain reaction method was used to simultaneously visualise multiple transcripts driving neuromesodermal progenitor fates. These progenitors will contribute to the zebrafish spinal cord and muscles.

Analysis of Nanobodies using Surface Plasmon Resonance by Martin Fellermeyer

Depicted are real-time binding curves of nanobodies analysed by SPR using the Biacore 8K. Parts of the machine are seen on the right.

Vascular Organoids- by Abdullah Khan

Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) can be used to generate primitive ‘organoids’ which reproduce physiological structures, and allow us to more accurately study disease pathologies. Here, iPSCs are differentiated to mak a vascularised organoid which we use to study the effects of Covid19 on the microvasculature.

At a Junction- by Louise Johnson

Whole mount immunofluorescence confocal microscopy of a lymphatic vessel within mouse dermis, with junctions between individual endothelial cells stained with for LYVE-1 (blue) and VE-cadherin (red), and a VE-cadherinhi LYVE-1- blood capillary in the background.

in vitro endothelial cells network - by Salwa Lin

Co-culture of tumour cells (red cells) on top of a layer of endothelial cells (image acquired using bright-field microscopy at WIMM)

Sugar-coated leukocytes- by Louise Johnson

Super-resolution Airyscan confocal imaging of a human dendritic cell, with CD44 (green) and the glycosaminoglycan hyaluronan (red) at the cell surface, detected by antibody and biotinylated hyaluronan binding probe VG-1 respectively, and nucleus counterstained with DAPI.

The image shows over 130k cells of human HSPCs from both healthy individuals and myelofibrosis patients. Each dot is a single cell and the colour refers to different lineages. Large expanded purple ‘tails’ are the cancer cells in myelofibrosis patients.

Myelofibrosis Analysis by Guanlin Wang

Scientific Wonderland 3- by Luyao Wang

WIMM is the scientific wonderland, gives me a fantastic scientific journey.

Zebrafish neural crest development -by Martyna Lukoseviviute

A lateral view of a 14 somite stage zebrafish embryo, head to tail. Immunofluorescence staining was performed to visualise neural crest cells expressing different transcription factors.

CloseConnections- by Louise Johnson

A monolayer of primary human dermal lymphatic endothelial cells captured by confocal microscope. Cells were immunostained with antibodies again the junctional adhesion molecule CD31 (green) and transcription factor Prox-1 (red).

Tail of tails- development of an early zebrafish tailbud- by Martyna Lukoseviviute

A view of an early zebrafish embryo, dorsal tailbud is located on the left. Hybridisation chain reaction method was used to simultaneously visualise multiple transcripts driving neuromesodermal progenitor fates. These progenitors will contribute to the zebrafish spinal cord and muscles.

Megakaryocytes on a 2D monolayer of endothelium -by Abdullah Khan

Megakaryocytes (green) are imaged on a monolayer of endothelial cells (magenta) with which they interact to generate platelets.

3D rendering of vascularised hydrogel - by Abdullah Khan

Generating artificial vasculature is an area of significant interest in the tissue engineering field. The production of branching networks supported by pericytes in a 3D mixed matrix hydrogel is imaged here.

Patterning the embryo by Martyna Lukoseviviute

A dorsal view of a zebrafish tailbud. Hybridisation chain reaction method was used to simultaneously stain transcripts of transcription factors controlling neuromesodermal progenitor and neural crest fates.

$Super-resolution STED microscopy, performed at a custom-made system, versus confocal microscopy image. Human fibroblast cells transfected with the peroxisomal matrix marker GFP-SCP2 (blue) fixed and immunolabelled for peroxisomal receptor PEX5 (red) and mitochondria marker Tom20 (green). STED microscopy reveals details beyond the diffraction barrier, paving the way to new biological insights.$ © Silvia Galiani

Three-colour Confocal vs STED -by Silvia Galiani

Super-resolution STED microscopy, performed at a custom-made system, versus confocal microscopy image. Human fibroblast cells transfected with the peroxisomal matrix marker GFP-SCP2 (blue) fixed and immunolabelled for peroxisomal receptor PEX5 (red) and mitochondria marker Tom20 (green). STED microscopy reveals details beyond the diffraction barrier, paving the way to new biological insights.

Networking- by Louise Johnson

Whole mount immunofluorescence confocal microscopy of mouse dermis, with lymphatic vessels stained with anti-LYVE-1 (blue) and blood vessels stained with anti-perlecan (red)

Zebrafish embryo wrapped around its yolk - by Martyna Lukoseviviute

A ventral view of a 14 somite stage zebrafish embryo, head to tail. Hybridisation chain reaction was used to simultaneously stain transcripts of two soxtranscription factors involved in central nervous system development and a wnt gene coding for a signalling protein important for embryo patterning.

A budding tail of a zebrafish embryo- by Martyna Lukoseviviute

A dorsal view of an optical section of a zebrafish tailbud. Hybridisation chain reaction method was used to simultaneously stain transcripts (in magenta and yellow) of transcription factors controlling neuromesodermal progenitor fates. Nuclei were stained with DAPI (in cyan).

Painting the bone marrow microenvironment -by Michela Colombo

The image shows a section of the human bone marrow from a myelofibrotic patient, analysed by imaging mass cytometry using the Hyperion Cytof recently acquired by the WIMM.

X marks the Spot- by Louise Johnson

Whole mount immunofluorescence confocal microscopy of a junction between endothelial cells of a lymphatic vessel within mouse dermis. Individual lymphatic endothelial cells overlap, with LYVE-1+ flaps (blue) anchored by VE-cadherin (red), “buttoning” the cells together.

Zebrafish embryo- by Martyna Lukoseviviute

This is an image of the failed, but unexpectedly beautiful, experiment. A young zebrafish embryo (70% epiboly stage) was unspecifically stained for three different fluorescently labelled transcripts using the hybridisation chain reaction technique. I like this image because it resembles an image of a planet.

Biacore 8K- by Martin Fellermeyer

Shown is the inside of the Biacore 8K during a run to analyse the affinity of nanobodies.

Brilliant Blue- by Martin Fellermeyer

Dissolving as little as 1 gram of the Coomassie Brilliant Blue Dye in 10% acetic acid and 40% methanol.

The Embryonic Rainbow- by David Grainger

Pseudo-colouring the overlapping domains of expression of three marker genes for paraxial, intermediate and lateral plate mesoderm in a transverse section of an eight-day old mouse embryo creates a rainbow effect. Each spot in the rainbow is a single mRNA molecule stained by hybridisation chain reaction.

Linking Fundamental Research to Clinical Innovation

MRC Human Immunology Unit

MRC Molecular Haematology Unit

Centre for Computational Biology

Latest publications

Upcoming Seminars

CryoEM imaging of virus infection in cells

Using structural biology to target synthetic lethal targets for new cancer therapeutics

T cells go a-Rye: An Atlas of Celiac Disease

Transcriptional and epigenetic mechanisms controlling hematopoietic precursor entry into the T-cell program

Cell intrinsic control of viral infection

MRC WIMM Interactive Timeline

MRC WIMM Image Competition

Langerhans Cells in healthy skin - by Randeep Singh