Oxford Biochemistry
The Department of Biochemistry at the University of Oxford
- Yesterday we came together to honour Professor Raymond Dwek through the naming of the Raymond Dwek Seminar Room. Raymond's family (pictured) joined the celebration and Raymond was visibly touched, saying: "Thank you for this amazing gesture. I'm humbled by it, but I will treasure it."
- Reposted by Oxford Biochemistry#OnThisDay in 1826, the first paper to be written by a woman was read at a Royal Society meeting. The paper, by noted polymath Mary Somerville, was read at the meeting by her husband, as she wasn't permitted to attend. bit.ly/2A3Cj2N
- Reposted by Oxford BiochemistryA gift of an article from the inimitable Colin Kleanthous as he says a moving farewell to his laboratory. A brave, unrepentant and scientifically brilliant journey is described - please have a read, friends. www.jbc.org/article/S002...
- Reposted by Oxford BiochemistryNEW: We’re honoured to be ranked number one in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings for the tenth consecutive year. 👏
- Congratulations to the Maths and Computing Suffrage Science 2026 cohort of awardees 👏 👏 👏 🎉 These distinguished women were all recognised by peers as pioneers, leaders and inspirational role models. We salute you! Read all about the awardees ⬇️
- Professor Raymond Dwek and colleagues @ox.ac.uk urge renewed investment in host-targeting broad-spectrum antivirals as a ‘global shield’ if vaccines falter. Read more ⬇️
- Congratulations to Professor Nicole Zitzmann, Dr Bevin Gangadharan and Dr Yohan Arman on their work developing a low-cost rapid test to identify heat-damaged vaccines. Their work could protect vaccine effectiveness, particularly in low-resource settings. 🏅Read more ⬇️
- Latest research published in Nature Structure and Molecular Biology from Associate Professor Paul Elliott’s group @elliottlab.bsky.social @ox.ac.uk forms a framework to dissect specific ubiquitination events within cells. bit.ly/202512_elliott
- Reposted by Oxford BiochemistryFantastic work from colleagues @oxfordbiochemistry.bsky.social in @elliottlab.bsky.social! Congratulations Paul and team!
- Excited to share our work into ubiquitin E1-E2 specificity mechanisms. CryoEM visualising #ubiquitin transfer,biochemistry,evolution @labhofmann.bsky.social & tissue expression analyses @psarkies.bsky.social Big thanks to the team,reviewers & handling editor @dimitristypas.bsky.social rdcu.be/eTRdR
- Reposted by Oxford BiochemistryCongratulations Dmitry Ghilarov @oxfordbiochemistry.bsky.social ! So well deserved!
- Congratulations to the new cohort of 28 EMBO Young Investigators! They are joining an international network of more than 800 life scientists – Welcome! Read the press release here: embo.org/press-releases/twen…
- Reposted by Oxford Biochemistry📢New paper alert! Rapid, low-cost tests repurposed by researchers can now detect deadly contaminants in medicinal syrups that could help prevent the tragic child deaths seen worldwide @oxfordbiochemistry.bsky.social @kavlioxford.bsky.social @bevingan.bsky.social 👉
- Reposted by Oxford BiochemistryOur paper on polymyxin interacting with the E. coli outer membrane is out! Simulations by the very talented @dheerajprakaash.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s42... To scale outer membrane protein island simulated at coarse-grained resolution with portions refined at all atom resolution.
- Simple, rapid and inexpensive tests can detect deadly contaminants in medicinal syrups – contaminants that have tragically led to the deaths of hundreds of children worldwide. This important discovery is thanks to the work of researchers here @ox.ac.uk and collaborators. ➡️ bit.ly/202512_gangadharan
- 🙌Congratulations🙌 to group leader and Associate Professor Dmitry Ghilarov @ox.ac.uk who has been selected for the prestigious four-year EMBO Young Investigator Programme in recognition of outstanding achievements in the life sciences. Read more⬇️
- Reposted by Oxford BiochemistryGreat seminar in @oxfordbiochemistry.bsky.social today from Laura Landweber on the awesome world of ciliate DNA elimination- so many different gene regulation/repair pathways come together to achieve this remarkable feat
- Reposted by Oxford BiochemistryNew podcast episode just dropped! @timcoulson.bsky.social I are joined by Simon Newstead and David Bennett who have identified a new genetic link to chronic pain - solved the structure of the protein that the gene encodes and linked its function to pain. youtu.be/ETGzmy_BfCg
- Reposted by Oxford BiochemistryWe are back, soon! The secrets of bacterial cell envelopes' our free online seminar series is due to resume in January 2026 after a long break. Hosted by Georgina Benn and Syma Khalid- supported by the Microbiology Society. More details soon. @microbiologysociety.org Please spread the word
- Reposted by Oxford BiochemistryGreat talk by @philbiggin.bsky.social on proton coupling in membrane proteins - at the @biophysicalsoc.bsky.social thematic meeting in Thessaloniki.
- Alex Cook @alexandercook.bsky.social in the Matt Higgins @parasitematt.bsky.social lab here @ox.ac.uk has been awarded a Wellcome Career Development Award to start his own laboratory @york.ac.uk . Congratulations Alex! We are delighted for your success but will be sad to see you go. 🏆🎉👏👏👏
- Reposted by Oxford BiochemistryFabulous talk by Haruhiko Koseki today @oxfordbiochemistry.bsky.social followed by a fun dinner with Neil Brockdorff and @aleksszczurek.bsky.social ! Thanks for visiting Haruhiko!
- The Wellcome Trust has awarded a prestigious Discovery Award to Professor Matt Higgins to support his research on “Molecular mechanisms of erythrocyte invasion in malaria”. 👏👏👏 Read the full story: ⬇️
- Reposted by Oxford BiochemistryBecome my colleague @oxfordbiochemistry.bsky.social ! 2 Associate Professorships in the areas of - prokaryotic/eukaryotic microbiology - metabolism my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru...
- Reposted by Oxford BiochemistryWe're hiring (again)! We are looking for an associate professor in cell and molecular biology, with a particular focus on immunology (defined broadly) If you have a great record and exciting plans, consider joining our thriving and welcoming department www.path.ox.ac.uk/vacancy/asso...
- Reposted by Oxford BiochemistryDouble celebration on our floor @oxfordbiochemistry.bsky.social with @guifengwei.bsky.social from the Brockdorff lab and Dounia and Sherry from Fisher lab having their papers published today! And I hear there is more to come... www.nature.com/articles/s41... www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- Reposted by Oxford BiochemistryPlease re-post: If you know (or are!) somebody who might fancy doing a PhD (Oct 2026 start) in my group @oxfordbiochemistry.bsky.social, working on chromatin evolution in prokaryotes (or other things we're interested in), please have a look at www.bioch.ox.ac.uk/supervisors-...
- Reposted by Oxford BiochemistryAlways fun to catch up with Lukas Stelzl. Lukas is a group leader at the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz and an alumnus of @oxfordbiochemistry.bsky.social. Delighted to hear of all his success.
- Read the full story here: 📣Breakthrough discovery reveals new gene linked to chronic pain ➡️ bit.ly/202508_newst...
- Great to be able to share the news about the potential of this new research to positively impact the lives of people living with chronic pain. Fantastic work from Simon Newstead, David Bennett and colleagues. 👏 👏 👏
- 📣 NEW: Breakthrough discovery of a genetic link to pain co-led by NDCN's Prof David Bennett and Prof Simon Newstead @oxfordbiochemistry.bsky.social The results of the research, published in @nature.com, could lead to a promising new target for the treatment of #chronicpain.
- Great work! 🙌
- Archaea are often surrounded by bacteria. But is there ever active conflict between the two? Can archaea kill bacteria? If so, how do they do it? Work by @romainstrock.bsky.social shows that some archaea can kill bacteria by secreting peptidoglycan hydrolases. journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...
- A wonderful project that opens up scientific discovery to children in a fun and innovate way! 👏👏👏
- Last month @oxfordbiochemistry.bsky.social kindly hosted us in the biochem-cafe to present our science magazine project. Beyond the delicious snacks and friendly chats with everyone, our project was widely supported and new collaborations were made! See full post here :) #STEM4Kids #ScienceEd
- Ben Berks has been awarded the prestigious ERC Advanced Grant to fund cutting edge research in bacterial cell biology @ox.ac.uk . Congratulations Ben! 🙌 bit.ly/202507-berks...
- Special congratulations and celebrations for Ayaka Hogg who is recognised with the Biochemical Society Undergraduate Recognition Award 2025! 🎉🎉🎉 bit.ly/202507-BSPhogg
- Well done to all our undergraduate students and special congratulations for all our outstanding prize-winners for 2025. We salute you! bit.ly/202507-awards
- Delighted to share this work. Well done to the teams involved and a particular shout out to our own Simon Newstead ⬇️
- #TuesdayReads: In a multi-institutional collaboration, the Stephen Tucker & Simon Newstead Groups help reveal the structure of THIK-1, offering insights into its role in #neuroinflammation and therapeutic potential. 🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s41... #CryoEM #IonChannels #ALS #Alzheimers
- Congratulations to Linzy (Ye) Zhao on her superb achievement of attaining the highest percentage of her cohort in her Biochemistry degree @ox.ac.uk ! As a result, Linzy has been awarded the Royal Society of Biology Top Student Award. 👏 👏 👏 Well done, Linzy! Read more ⬇️ bit.ly/202507-RBS
- Reposted by Oxford BiochemistryWe (with @bendavisgroup.bsky.social) were using NHS chemistry for some protein conjugation when we noticed some odd prominent side products. It turns out thio-nhs reagents (a major class of reagents) has some notable side reactions that happen all the time. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- Great news for the Advanced Proteomics Facility based here in Biochemistry @ox.ac.uk ! The Wolfson Foundation is supporting the acquisition of a state-of-the-art mass spectrometer – the first of its kind in the UK – opening up possibilities for breakthroughs in human health ⬇️ bit.ly/202507-apf
- Reposted by Oxford Biochemistry
- “A genuine tool for biological discovery.” Professor @lschermelleh.bsky.social from @ox.ac.uk talks super-resolution microscopy and shares some beautiful imagery.
- Happy almost-anniversary with us, @rberrens.bsky.social and co 🙌🎉
- Thank you for our funders @wellcometrust.bsky.social BBSRC and BHF and our colleagues @oxfordbiochemistry.bsky.social for welcoming us last August to the Department.
- Reposted by Oxford BiochemistryWork from the Barr lab @oxfordbiochemistry.bsky.social keeps on coming. Fantastic mechanistic work!
- Reposted by Oxford Biochemistry🎉 Excited to share my first paper as 2nd author! From the Barr & Gruneberg labs, this work explores the structure of the Chromosome Passenger Complex (CPC) and suggests a ‘pivot–tether’ model for how it binds H3pT3-phosphorylated nucleosomes @oxfordbiochemistry.bsky.social @dunnschool.bsky.social
- Reposted by Oxford BiochemistryHappy to share our latest work from the Barr lab is now published in @embojournal.org 👉 WIP1 mutations suppress DNA damage triggered bypass of the mitotic timer | EMBO Journal #cellcycle @oxfordbiochemistry.bsky.social www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....
- Reposted by Oxford BiochemistryBlown away by the quality of the talks by the DPhil students. Absolutely top notch. Well done all. @wellcometrust.bsky.social
- Looking forward to a day of science from our Wellcome Phd programme coordinated by @oxfordbiochemistry.bsky.social @diamondlightsource.bsky.social and the Rosalind Franklin Institute
- Reposted by Oxford BiochemistryLooking forward to a day of science from our Wellcome Phd programme coordinated by @oxfordbiochemistry.bsky.social @diamondlightsource.bsky.social and the Rosalind Franklin Institute
- Fantastic news! 👏👏👏 How the #malaria #parasite evades the immune system… and how the human body fights back: @sam-chamberlain.bsky.social and @parasitematt.bsky.social @ox.ac.uk make ground-breaking discovery, just published in @nature.com. Read more ⬇️
- Extremely happy to share the first paper of my postdoc work with @parasitematt. It is the product of a great collaboration with Akihito Sakoguchi, Hisashi Arase and Shiroh Iwanaga at Osaka University as well as Marcus Widdess and Mike Dustin here in Oxford. rdcu.be/eqx2J 🧵 1/6
- Reposted by Oxford BiochemistryGreat work from @haroldgrosjean.bsky.social and Kate Fieseler on how to extract SAR from HT crystallographic evaluation of fragment elaborations in crude reaction mixtures! @oxfordbiochemistry.bsky.social @diamondlightsource.bsky.social @oxfordstatistics.bsky.social chemrxiv.org/engage/chemr...
- Reposted by Oxford Biochemistry#TuesdayReads Collaboration from the Robinson, Benesch & Khalid groups: Native MS reveals MlaC's PG selectivity in E. coli lipid transfer, offering insight into how the Mla system preserves outer membrane asymmetry. Read the full paper 👇 doi.org/10.1073/pnas...
- Reposted by Oxford BiochemistryBacterial cell envelope wonders. Always fascinating to learn about cell envelope biogenesis and see all the ingenious molecular tricks we can use to study it. Great work from the Colin Kleanthouse lab @oxfordbiochemistry.bsky.social Check at rb.gy/akaugi @pnas.org
- A huge congratulations to @parasitematt.bsky.social and all the other newly elected fellows
- Congratulations to #KavliOxford Professors Molly Stevens DBE, Simon Draper and Matt Higgins on being elected Fellows of the Academy of Medical Sciences 2025. Read the @acmedsci.bsky.social news article 👇 acmedsci.ac.uk/more/news/ac...
- Reposted by Oxford BiochemistryCongratulations to #KavliOxford Professors Molly Stevens DBE, Simon Draper and Matt Higgins on being elected Fellows of the Academy of Medical Sciences 2025. Read the @acmedsci.bsky.social news article 👇 acmedsci.ac.uk/more/news/ac...
- Reposted by Oxford BiochemistryAn emotional day today @oxfordbiochemistry.bsky.social where leaders in the cell cycle field gathered to celebrate the life of Bela Novak and the huge impact he had on their work! www.bioch.ox.ac.uk/article/prof...
- Reposted by Oxford Biochemistry🧵1/ 🚨Check out our significantly updated preprint, now out on @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social. Together with Sasi Conte lab, we characterize a novel role for intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs) in promoting RNA-binding selectivity in RNA binding proteins (RBPs): www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
- Reposted by Oxford BiochemistryCongratulations! @jansenlab.bsky.social @oxfordbiochemistry.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- Glox Therapeutics, a company co-founded by Prof Colin Kleanthous has raised £4.3M in early-stage funding to develop effective targeted therapeutics against antibiotic-resistant gram-negative bacteria. bioch.web.ox.ac.uk/article/4.3m...
- Reposted by Oxford BiochemistryHeading into the Easter break & reflecting on the last few months at work. It’s been bittersweet for reasons outside of anyone’s control. But I’m hugely thankful for supportive colleagues at @oxfordbiochemistry.bsky.social @stannesoutreach.bsky.social @dunnschool.bsky.social @biology.ox.ac.uk 🙏🏽💪🏾
- Reposted by Oxford BiochemistryPhysical simulation still very much a key computational technique in elucidating biochemical mechanisms and drug discovery #DSIT
- Reposted by Oxford BiochemistryHey, @biology.ox.ac.uk @oxfordbiochemistry.bsky.social , did you see @scienceofthetimes.bsky.social has dropped another episode? This @sykhalid.bsky.social and I talk to bespoke protein engineers. Venomous snakes just got a little less scary. podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/s...
- Reposted by Oxford BiochemistryFresh of the press! rdcu.be/egmY0 We discovered key chromatin modifications that are heritably maintained through mitotic cell divisions in the absence of continued transcription. These hold a memory of past exposure to interferon-gamma, priming cells for future activation of gene expression.
- Reposted by Oxford BiochemistryGreat to see the term ‘computational microbiology’ being used increasingly! A phrase Colin Kleanthous and I came up with a few years ago for our ‘put as many details in as possible’ approach to computational systems. A departure from traditional reductionist computational approaches
- Reposted by Oxford BiochemistryBiochemistry annual recess day. A fantastic idea for learning about what research is happening across the department and chatting to colleagues! @oxfordbiochemistry.bsky.social
- Reposted by Oxford BiochemistryGreat day of science at the annual @oxfordbiochemistry.bsky.social retreat at St Catz in Oxford! A showcase of research from across the range of scales and topics, mostly students and postdocs presenting. Inspiring to be part of such a great community!
- A study from the Berks lab at Oxford's Department of Biochemistry — 'A new structural paradigm for outer membrane protein biogenesis in the Bacteroidota' — provides a major breakthrough in understanding outer membrane biogenesis in this important group of organisms. Read more⬇️ bit.ly/202502-biorxiv
- Reposted by Oxford BiochemistryCongratulations to Harold Grosjean, Anthony Aimon, Storm Hassell-Hart and Warren Thompson, on their latest work appearing in @angewandtechemie.bsky.social, where small-molecule binders can be extracted directly from crude-reaction mixtures - cool! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
- Reposted by Oxford BiochemistryOn this International Day of Women and Girls in Science, let's take a moment to remember Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin, winner of the 1964 Nobel Prize in Chemistry - at the time only the third woman to do so.
- The Barr lab @ox.ac.uk has discovered the important role of cell division timing mechanisms in the formation of cancer. The research, funded by Cancer Research UK, provides valuable insight into how damaged cells are normally stopped from growing. ⬇️ bit.ly/202502-barr
- Reposted by Oxford BiochemistryI think we (well certainly I) don’t say the good stuff often enough, to reverse that trend - I’m hugely grateful for the excellent colleagues I have at @oxfordbiochemistry.bsky.social - really supportive & super talented- the research seminar from @dnatopologylab.bsky.social today was brilliant! 🔥
- Research @oxfordbiochemistry.bsky.social @ox.ac.uk supported by the Wellcome Trust (UK) and NIH (USA) reveals essential new player in the process of deciding whether genes should be made or not. Great work @jesskelley.bsky.social @robklose.bsky.social @edimitrova.bsky.social 👏 bit.ly/202502-klose
- Reposted by Oxford BiochemistryVery nice to see the work of Matt Warren and Isak Valsson just out with Charlotte Deane, Aniket Magarkar and @garrettmm.bsky.social where we show how augementation can dramatically improve ML affinity predictions to close to FEP accuracy. rdcu.be/d88Wm
- A collaborative study between @oxfordbiochemistry.bsky.social and @unibirmingham.bsky.social could identify potential avenues for improved treatment approaches for pancreatic cancer through understanding differences in prognosis between different pancreatic tumours. More...⬇️ bit.ly/202502-bashf...
- Reposted by Oxford BiochemistryCongratulations to Graduate student Yohan Arman (DPhil, Biochemistry) who is lead author of paper identifying method to discover fake vaccines, working with Vaccine Identity Evaluation (VIE) collaboration @oxfordbiochemistry.bsky.social www.st-hughs.ox.ac.uk/st-hughs-gra... #fakevaccines #bioscience
- Reposted by Oxford BiochemistryA postdoc position for someone interested in joining the fantastic team working on outer membrane protein organisation in bacteria. Based at @oxfordbiochemistry.bsky.social my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru...
- Reposted by Oxford Biochemistry🚨Thanks to generous support from @cancerresearchuk.org, we have multiple postdoctoral positions available in our lab (www.mardakhehlab.info) @oxfordbiochemistry.bsky.social to study ribosomes synthesis in cancer. Get in touch if you’re interested + RT and spread the word! 📣 #cancer #RNA 🚨
- Start of week 3 of Term. The Department is a hive of activity.
- Reposted by Oxford Biochemistry#TuesdayReads: Lindsay Baker & Emma Silvester discuss using #molecular tagging (e.g., gold #nanoparticles) with electron #cryotomography to identify specific proteins in high-resolution biological images. 👇 @ox.ac.uk @medsci.ox.ac.uk @kavlifoundation.bsky.social @oxfordbiochemistry.bsky.social
- Reposted by Oxford BiochemistryFabulous work from our colleagues in the Barr lab showing how the CPC binds the nucleosome! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
- Reposted by Oxford Biochemistry#MeetTheLab This week, we are happy to introduce the Zitzmann Lab from @oxfordbiochemistry.bsky.social The lab focuses on developing antiviral therapies to address #HepatitisB ( #HBV), #HepatitisC ( #HCV), human immunodeficiency virus ( #HIV), #DengueVirus ( #DENV), #Ebola, and #influenza.
- Reposted by Oxford BiochemistryHad a wonderful day at @oxfordbiochemistry.bsky.social with great science chats and interactions with postdocs and PhD students. Many thanks to @sykhalid.bsky.social for having been a fantastic host!
- Reposted by Oxford BiochemistryDelighted to speak to prospective undergraduates as part of the Women & Non-binary People in STEM series - to give a taster mini tutorial and take questions on studying Biochemistry at St Anne’s College and @oxfordbiochemistry.bsky.social
