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Auf wiedersehen Jakob…
Jakob Helmbrecht bravely ventured down under, risking crocodile attacks and leech bites to work in the lab under the tutelage of Clement and Lucien for 5 months - and he is now setting sail back to Germany to polish his Masters off by embarking on a little more research. It sounds like he might have itchy feet to venture overseas again, so who knows - we might see him back in Australia before too long... His farewell dinner featured Clement presenting his present - and Jakob's last chance (for the time being) to sample Australian Thai food...
Lab alumnus Michael Webster publishes his first last-author paper – in Cell!
Michael, a BSc Hons student in the lab in 2012, now has an independent group leader position at the highly regarded John Innes Center for Plant Science in the UK. He has just reported his structure of the RNA polymerase from plant plastids - in a paper in Cell - in the same issue as a rival group published a similar study! Our very own (well, until recently) Jason Low gave them a helping hand by collecting XLMS data on their complex, which helped them place subunits into the electron potential map that they obtained from single-particle cryoelectron microscopy data. Super start to one's independent career.
Lab walk in the Blue Mountains
We ventured out into the lower Blue Mountains for a day hike on Sat 24 Feb. The forecast was that there might be some rain. And there was. The first couple of hours were persistent - though not heavy - rain. Fortunately the canopy protected us from some direct rainfall, but all of the surrounding shrubbery was saturated, and so we all were too. Still, it was warm enough that it didn't feel too miserable! The leeches were pretty happy about the weather though - and they were very keen to join us on our walk. In the end, I think Lucien might have won the prize for the most leech-friendly hiker, with about 20 bites - not that it was a competition. First, we headed down from Springwood on...
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!
Did I already mention that there are a lot of lab babies appearing lately?
Announcing the arrival into the world of Oren Lucev O’Connell, born on last Saturday morning at 3:49 am (GMT -4) and weighing in at 8lb 2oz. Direct report from new dad Mitch: "Mum (Annabelle) and baby are doing wonderfully, and we’re having fun adjusting to our new...
*Another* lab baby! Where are they all coming from?
Well, this one is coming to us courtesy of Jason and his wife Mel (mostly Mel) - he hasn't been given a name yet, so I think we'll just call him X. Actually, that could be quite a cool name... Here is is pictured with his elder brother Michael - who looks much...
Welcome to Adnan Shaik!
Dr Anjumara Shaik, who has been working with our collaborator Alyson Ashe on transgenerational epigenetic inheritance, has just become a new mother on 3 June - and here you can see her husband Asif Pasha and her new son Adnan (who doesn't look that pleased about...
Joel’s Braidwood-Bermagui bike weekend
With the lack of international bike touring possibilities at the moment, Joel's been looking for options closer to home. Last weekend, he loaded up his gravel bike and headed south to do a loop from Braidwood to Bermagui on the coast, and back a different way...
Lorna weaves (well, knits) her magic!
Lorna has been busy preparing for the Sydney Royal Easter Show - and has come up with the goods. Her knitted fingerless mittens have snared first prize at the Show in the Adult Knitted Accessories division. Storming work Lorna. I'm expecting a lab coat...
Joel hits the trails in the UTA 50-km race
A friend of Joel's had to pull out of the Ultra Trail Australia 50-km race in the Blue Mountains recently and offered Joel his entry at short notice. Given that he wasn't in 'race shape' - whatever that means - he went for the social option and ran the event...
Ahhh – it’s still one of my favourite sights in science…
...a sweet 15N-HSQC titration. Last minute effort to add that extra piece of preliminary data to the grant application - and who would have believed that it would actually pan out - but it did! All thanks to Ingrid's protein production skills and Alex Norman's...
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...
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...
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...
Ngaio, Mario and Martina
Although the proud parents missed the opportunity to give the new addition to their family a name ending in "o", we're still excited that they have recently announced baby Martina to the world. It sounds like she's reading the journals already, and planning to join...
Joels NBD…
...which means New Bike Day in bike geek lingo... Joel has spent a bit of time (well, quite a bit of time) building up a new all-road touring bike based on a custom Ti frame built by titanproduct in China. Kitted out with an old Ultegra crankset (+38T Wolftooth...