MACKAY & MATTHEWS LAB

Protein structure, function and engineering

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Xmas stroll in the Royal National Park

Joel and Jacqui took advantage of the cool weather to head down the RNP and see what the wildflower situation was like. It's still pretty impressive - and we even spotted some native orchids with amazing dappled petals. The bridge at Audley is very Monet-esque too... And plenty of wildlife on show, mostly in the lizard department. Then there were the Aboriginal carvings hidden away on the Uloola ridge...

You don’t get this aesthetic beauty from Alphafold…

We have just solved a structure working with SOLES colleague Tara Christie (not to mention Toby Passioura and Rich Payne). The structure determination was a bit of a wrestle for Tara (as you'd expect at 3.9 A!), but gee - you can't help but love the packing in the crystal (side-on and end-on views provided). Maybe we should be using this protein to make nanotubes!

Beautiful, but CruEL…

Well, it's one of those classic structural biology stories... Scientist (Anjumara) purifies and crystallizes protein, gets 3-A dataset at synchrotron (with Chandrika's help). Can't be solved, but scientists ask cryoEM colleagues kindly and they acquire some images (thanks Alastair and James!). Images are exquisite and quickly yield a 3-4 A map.....of GroEL. Scientists then have a good model for molecular replacement, and - lo and behold - can now solve crystal structure.... of GroEL... Hard not to admire the beauty of the structure though!

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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A blast from the past…

A blast from the past…

Look what turned up in a lab cleanup a little while ago. What is the probability of finding a gel that has lanes on it from both Jacqui *and* Joel being at the bench at the same time?!?! See it with your own eyes! I would note that the lanes with the best...

Another boy off to Blighty

Another boy off to Blighty

Morgan has fared us well now and headed off to the UK to work with Alessio Ciulli, who works on the structural biology of protein-protein interactions (sounds familiar!) and who is in the process of moving from Cambridge to Dundee. I hope Morgan has packed his...

Blobs

Blobs

Sarah has some *very* exciting data from her new project - but it's top secret, so you'll have to go and ask her about it yourself...(or look at the picture on the board - and *then* ask her).

Boys bound for Blighty

Boys bound for Blighty

Herman and Michael have both succeeded in their quest to leave southern climes for PhDs in the UK. Herman has been awarded a Wellcome Fellowship to fund his PhD at the University of York with Fred Antson,, starting later this year. Michael won a scholarship to fund...

Herman is a winner too!

Herman is a winner too!

In a symbolic event for our historically NMR-focused lab, Herman has won a poster prize at the Asian Crystallography Conference that was held in Adelaide last week. The meeting also featured the Bragg Symposium commemorating the contribution made by the...

Graduation fever

Graduation fever

Tonight, the Sydney Protein Group had their annual Thompson Prize event, pitting PhD students from around the region against each other in 10-minute talks. We had Mitch and Morgan going head to head with students from a range of places, and in a tough context...