Publication highlights

Go inside our research

Explore a selection of research cases studies from the past five years.

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Intro

Researchers at the Crick are tackling the big questions about human health and disease, and new findings are published every week.

Our faculty have picked some of the most significant papers published by Crick scientists, all of which are freely available thanks to our open science policy.

Highlights

Filter by year of publication

Bone marrow micro-environment in leukemia

A study led by the Bonnet lab looks at how acute myeloid leukemia cells interact with and alter bone marrow. The team has produced an omics repository of potential biomarkers for different bone marrow cell populations.

Integrated OMICs unveil the bone-marrow microenvironment in human leukemia

Published in Cell Reports

Published

New insights into HIV infection

A study from the Bishop lab has looked into HIV-1 uncoating, the process by which the viral core breaks down during infection. Their work suggests that uncoating or remodelling of the HIV-1 capsid lattice occurs at the nuclear pore, and that this step is essential for a productive infection.

HIV-1 requires capsid remodelling at the nuclear pore for nuclear entry and integration

Published in PLOS Pathogens

Published

New tool to control of fruit fly gene expression using light

Researchers in the Vincent Lab, , in collaboration with the group of Yohanns Bellaiche at Institut Curie in Paris, have developed a new tool for robust control of gene expression in Drosophila using light. They successfully used the new method to activate key genes in different tissues and at various developmental stages and demonstrated gain and loss-of-function phenotypes at animal, organ, and cellular levels. Their work provides developmental biologists with the ability to control gene expression with high temporal and spatial resolution, a valuable addition to the Drosophila genetic toolkit.

Rapid and robust optogenetic control of gene expression in Drosophila

Published in Developmental Cell

Published

How mutations change the sense of smell

A study led by Lucia Prieto-Godino has investigated evolutionary changes in ligand preference that occur in a family of olfactory receptors. The work found that different receptors’ odour preferences are linked to particular protein mutations. Some of these mutations appear at the same position over evolutionary distances, highlighting of a “hot-spot” that has a major role in determining ligand preference.

Molecular reconstruction of recurrent evolutionary switching in olfactory receptor specificity

Published in eLife

Published

Antibody levels vary according to vaccine type and previous infection with COVID-19

The Legacy study team found that two doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine generate lower levels of antibodies able to recognise the Delta variant, in comparison with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. Their results also show that antibody levels vary considerably depending on likely prior infection with SARS-CoV-2.

Neutralising antibody activity against SARS-CoV-2 VOCs B.1.617.2 and B.1.351 by BNT162b2 vaccination

Published in The Lancet

Published

Patients with blood cancer found to have lower protection against SARS-CoV-2

As part of the largest study to comprehensively evaluate the response of patients with cancer to COVID-19 vaccines, researchers in the Turajlic lab monitored the immune response of 585 patients with different types of cancer after receiving a first and second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
They found that patients with blood cancer were less likely to have antibodies than individuals of a similar age without cancer or with solid cancer, and when they did have antibodies, the levels were lower against all variants.

Adaptive immunity and neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern following vaccination in patients with cancer: the CAPTURE study

Published in Nature Cancer

Published

How cell size influences cell division

The Nurse lab has investigated how cell division is controlled by cell size. They developed a high-throughput single-cell system to assay CDK activity, which drives cell division. They were then able to identify how cell size influences CDK activity to ultimately ensure that cells divide at the correct size.

CDK control pathways integrate cell size and ploidy information to control cell division

Published in eLife

Published

A therapeutic target for two diseases

Research from the Hill lab has identified the underlying molecular mechanism for two diseases that share a common causal mutation and currently have no effective treatments. The team used optogenetics and live-imaging approaches to show the link between genetic mutation and disrupted signalling that causes these diseases.

Pathogenic ACVR1R206H activation by Activin A-induced receptor clustering and autophosphorylation

Published in The EMBO Journal

Published

Cells from the centre of tumours most likely to spread around the body

Research from a collaborative team at the Crick, Royal Marsden, UCL and Cruces University Hospital has found that cells from different parts of kidney tumours behave differently, and surprisingly, cells within the centre of a tumour are the most aggressive and have the highest chance of spreading around the body.

Selection of metastasis competent subclones in the tumour interior

Published in Nature Ecology and Evolution

Published

Glial cells crucial to maintaining healthy gut immunity

Researchers from the Pachnis lab have uncovered a fundamental role of glial cells in the gut nervous system in maintaining a healthy intestine. These cells have been found to coordinate the immune responses of the gut following pathogen invasion and could be key targets when exploring new treatments for inflammatory bowel conditions.

Regulation of intestinal immunity and tissue repair by enteric glia

Published in Nature

Published

Gene-editing used to create single sex mice litters

Researchers in the Turner lab, in collaboration with the University of Kent, used gene editing technology to create female-only and male-only mice litters with 100% efficiency. Targeting the Top1 gene, which is essential to DNA replication and repair, their method uses CRISPR-Cas9 to induce sex-linked lethality before embryo implantation, allowing only the desired sex to develop. This proof of principle study demonstrates how the technology could be used to improve animal welfare in scientific research and perhaps also agriculture.

CRISPR-Cas9 effectors facilitate generation of single-sex litters and sex-specific phenotypes

Published in Nature Communications

Published

The molecular basis behind transposition

Research from Ian Taylor’s lab has investigated the molecular basis of Ty1 transposition, which is regulated by copy number control. Their work presents the structural, biophysical and genetic analyses of p18m, a key protein that directs copy number control through disruption of Ty1 virus-like particle assembly.

Structure of a Ty1 restriction factor reveals the molecular basis of transposition copy number control

Published in Nature Communications

Published

Researchers identify role of key gene in embryonic development

A zebrafish study by researchers in the Hill lab has provided new insights into the role of the SMAD4 protein in vertebrate embryo development. Very early in development, SMAD4 was thought to be required to transmit signals from two closely related members of the TGF-β protein family, BMP and Nodal, which are responsible for organising different parts of the body plan of an embryo. Surprisingly, when the Smad4 gene was deleted in zebrafish, the parts of the embryo patterned by BMP signalling were severely disrupted, but those for which Nodal was responsible were far less affected. SMAD4 is thus differentially required for signalling by different TGF-β family members, which has implications for diseases such as cancer where it is mutated or deleted.

Smad4 controls signaling robustness and morphogenesis by differentially contributing to the Nodal and BMP pathways

Published in Nature Communications

Published

Researchers identify new PKCε target as key to successful cell division

Researchers in the Parker lab have unpicked the action of protein kinase C (PKC) in modulating cell growth and division. The team developed a novel trap for proteins regulated by PKC by engineering UV-photocrosslinkable amino acids into PKCε to produce a sort of molecular flypaper. They captured a previously unknown PKCε target, the RNA-binding protein SERBP1, and showed that SERBP1 was required for successful chromosome segregation and cell division. Their work provides a new insight into how cells protect their genome during division and also which regulatory processes could play a key role when cells become cancerous.

A genetically-encoded crosslinker screen identifies SERBP1 as a PKCε substrate influencing translation and cell division

Published in Nature Communications

Published

Stem cells can use same method as plants and insects to protect against viruses

Research from the Reis e Sousa lab has found a mechanism, previously thought to have disappeared as mammals evolved, that helps protect mammalian stem cells from RNA viruses such as SARS-CoV-2 and Zika virus. The lab suggest this could one day be exploited in the development of new antiviral treatments.

An isoform of Dicer protects mammalian stem cells against multiple RNA viruses

Published in Science

Published

New insights into malaria drug target

A study led by Ed Tate and Tony Holder has looked at how the NMT inhibitor blocks the human malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum. The team found at least three mechanisms where inhibition of NMT can disrupt parasite development, and therefore demonstrate the importance of P. falciparum NMT as a drug target.

Inhibition of protein N-myristoylation blocks Plasmodium falciparum intraerythrocytic development, egress and invasion

Published in PLOS Biology

Published