Home — MRC Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine

Study of T-cell receptor activation leads to surprising discovery

A study from Davis Group is the first to describe the structure of the T-cell receptor when bound to an activating ligand. The findings shed light on an important trigger in the immune system, and suggest a completely new process by which cell receptors can be activated.

Biotech spinout MiroBio acquired by Gilead Sciences for ~£332m

Co-founded by Prof. Simon Davis, MiroBio focuses on developing therapeutics for inflammatory diseases.

Artistic representation of early development.

New study shines light on the complex mechanisms of Fetal Growth Restriction in pregnancy

The paper, published in Nature Communications reveals key genes involved in the common developmental disease.

Seven research groups secure LEAF Sustainability Awards

The Laboratory Efficiency Assessment Framework (LEAF) aims to support research groups to embed sustainability into their work.

Ewa Gogola receives Wellcome Early Career Award

Dr Ewa Gogola from the Patel Group in the MRC Molecular Haematology Unit has been awarded funding by the Wellcome Trust for the project ‘DNA damage-induced hepatocyte polyploidisation- how it happens and what are its consequences?’

Structural model of the mosaic-8 RBD-mi3 nanoparticle design.

Fan et al., (in press) https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.06.28.497989v1
Cohen et al., (2022) Science https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abq0839

Novel all-in-one vaccine developed to tackle future coronavirus threats

Up to $30 million in funding has been announced by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) to bring a new nanoparticle vaccine offering protection against a range of coronaviruses to clinical trial.

Linking Fundamental Research to Clinical Innovation

Leading research with the aim of improving human health.

Discover. Translate. Advance.

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

Deep sequencing of short capped RNAs reveals novel families of noncoding RNAs.
Journal article

De Hoon MJL. et al, (2022), Genome Res
Single Cell Transcriptomics identifies a WNT7A-FZD5 Signaling Axis that maintains Fallopian Tube Stem Cells in Patient-derived Organoids
Alsaadi A. et al, (2022)
Longitudinal analysis of ANA in the Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinics (SLICC) Inception Cohort.
Journal article

Choi MY. et al, (2022), Annals of the rheumatic diseases, 81, 1143 - 1150

More Publications

Upcoming Seminars

Chromatin regulators in cancer : molecular medicines and therapeutic opportunities

Monday, 22 August 2022, 12pm to 1pm
Functional and multiome analysis of human hematopoietic stem cell heterogeneity

Tuesday, 30 August 2022, 1pm to 2pm
Design of hematopoietic stem cell culture: Diversity discovery and application

Tuesday, 06 September 2022, 1pm to 2pm
Using systems biology to improve childhood leukaemia treatment

Tuesday, 13 September 2022, 1pm to 2pm
Title TBC

Friday, 23 September 2022, 9.15am to 10.15am

More seminars

MRC WIMM Interactive Timeline

Accessible Version of Timeline

MRC WIMM Image Competition

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.

Myelofibrosis Analysis by Guanlin Wang

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.

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.

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)

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.

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.

Rainbow tree branching out - by Salwa Lin

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

Biacore 8K- by Martin Fellermeyer

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

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.

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.

Scientific Wonderland 3- by Luyao Wang

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

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.

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)

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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Study of T-cell receptor activation leads to surprising discovery

MRC Human Immunology Unit

MRC Molecular Haematology Unit

Centre for Computational Biology

Latest publications

Upcoming Seminars

Chromatin regulators in cancer : molecular medicines and therapeutic opportunities

Functional and multiome analysis of human hematopoietic stem cell heterogeneity

Design of hematopoietic stem cell culture: Diversity discovery and application

Using systems biology to improve childhood leukaemia treatment

Title TBC

MRC WIMM Interactive Timeline

MRC WIMM Image Competition

A budding tail of a zebrafish embryo- by Martyna Lukoseviviute