MACKAY & MATTHEWS LAB

Protein structure, function and engineering

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April graduation!

Last week, we had one of the first live graduations we'd had for some time, and it was a bumper one - Angus, Marcus and Jen all graduated with their undergraduate degrees, as did Lou Irish from Ann's lab. So, it was all over to the old quad to congratulate them and grab a photo or two! Congratulations all - thoroughly deserved...

Ingrid becomes a mother….again!

Ingrid was as organized as usual, and gave birth to baby Scarlett at 7:20 am on April 9. Current reports are that Scarlett has not learned yet to cry, but communicates in a series of small toy-like squeaks - they can only hope that continues for some time... Ingrid, Scarlett - and Percy - are all doing well and no doubt girding their loins for an increased level of child care for the next 20 years or so...!

New research funding to develop selective insecticides!

Joel and Ron, teamed up with fellow SOLES academic Dr Emily Remnant, have been successful in procuring funding from Horticultural Innovation Australia (HIA) to create new insecticides that are safer and more selective. HIA collect levies from a wide range of produce growers and fund research into areas that will directly benefit those growers. Joel, Ron and Emily's project will focus on pollinator health, using structure-guided design approaches to create molecules that will selectively act on the honeybee pests Varroa destructor and/or the small hive beetle, while remaining innocuous to the honeybees themselves. The funding will complement a generous philanthropic donation that has...

Have been off X for months but had to log in to see response to AF3. I am much less smart than the authors - but am I (and Erin) the only ones to think that the helical afros that it makes out of IDRs is totally weird? Am I missing something?

Amazing story from the lab down the corridor - @RezwanSidd working with Sandro Ataide and Ruth Hall in @SydneySOLES at @Sydney_Science - now they will be thrown into the gladiators' pit I suspect with the other protagonists that prowl this landscape! 🙂 Great piece of work!

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Taylor Goes to New Zealand!

Taylor Goes to New Zealand!

Over the holiday shutdown period, Taylor jumped over the Tasman for her first New Zealand visit (in the 11th hour of her PhD of course). It was an 8 day solo adventure with a jam packed schedule. One night in Auckland, 2 days in Rotorua, a...

New lab paper accepted FEBS J

New lab paper accepted FEBS J

Mario's long journey to publish the carefully methodical work he and others have done on the inter-subunit interaction network within the NuRD complex has finally come to fruition as his paper is now accepted in FEBS J. We're quite fond of the paper because it...

Science in the swamp

Science in the swamp

As part of Science Week, Taylor, our outreach and media darling, has been demonstrating solar power (with robots of course) at the Science in the Swamp event, to an audience captivated small children... Note the "Nutty Scientists"...

Neil is done and dusted…

Neil is done and dusted…

...with that PhD thing. Congratulations to Neil who got completion letter this week letting him know that has satisfied the requirements for the award of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Officially we can't call him Dr Neil until the actual graduation ceremony,...

Katschi becomes a mum!

Katschi becomes a mum!

Katschi Bendak, formerly from Joel's lab and now working across at CCIA in Randwick, has taken a little time off to become a mum - and the result of her efforts is Olivia Marie Wilson, born on her due date (with German punctuality) of 15/03/17 at 51 cm and 3.4 kg....