Author: Ben Stieglitz

We are excited to announce that the LSBC Autumn meeting will take place on Friday 21 November, 15:00–17:00 in the Clark Kennedy Lecture Theatre, Queen Mary Innovation Centre, 5 Walden Street, London (5 min walk from Whitechapel station; entrance via Walden Street). The programme features talks from Shannon Mostyn (Imperial), Tim Knot (King’s), Barry Liu (Crick) and Sasi Conte (King’s). From 17:00, there will be a networking session with refreshments. The meeting is free and open to all – please register via Eventbrite so we can plan catering. We look forward to welcoming the LSBC community again at QMUL!

We are excited to announce a new PhD position in the Stieglitz Lab exploring how pathogenic effectors hijack and rewire the ubiquitin system to subvert innate immunity during infection. This interdisciplinary project will combine quantitative biochemistry with structural methods including cryo-EM and X-ray crystallography to define enzyme specificity and mechanism at atomic resolution. The studentship is open to applicants eligible for China Scholarship Council funding and based within Queen Mary’s Centre for Structural Biology. Applications close on 28 January 2026. More details about the project and how to apply can be found here.

She did it! Nishi is now Dr Sultana – well done!

Join us at the LSBC Spring meeting which will be held on Wednesday, 2nd April from 15:00-17:00 in in the Clark Kennedy Lecture Theatre, Queen Mary Innovation Centre, 5 Walden Street, London. The Queen Mary Innovation Centre is just a 5 min walk from Whitechapel tube station (https://maps.app.goo.gl/VXsuw6n122q66xS2A ; entrance via Walden Street).

Programme

• Tom Calcraft, Francis Crick Institute (Rosenthal Lab):

“CryoEM structure of a foamy virus illuminates retrovirus evolution”

• Jonasz Patkowski, Imperial College London (Costa Lab): 

“How to steal a bacteriophage tail? The first structural insight into capsid-forming phage-inducible chromosomal islands”

• Kailin Qin, King’s College London (Bergeron Lab):

“Structure of the complete extracellular bacterial flagellum reveals mechanism for flagellin incorporation”

• Vlad Pena, The Institute of Cancer Research:

“Catalytic activation of the spliceosome by the helicase Aquarius and four cofactors”

From 17:00: Networking session with refreshments.

The event is free and everyone is welcome.  Please register via Eventbrite if you wish to attend so we can know numbers for catering.

Anna passed her viva! Well done, Dr Liu!

N4BP1 functions as a dimerization-dependent linear ubiquitin reader which regulates TNF signalling

Project 1: Understanding the mechanism of ubiquitin ligases in host-pathogen interactions

Project 2: Exploring the ubiquitin system in innate immunity

Both projects will be funded by the Chinese Scholarship Council.

Applicants must be:

– Chinese students with a strong academic background.

– Students holding a PR Chinese passport.

– Either be resident in China at the time of application or studying overseas.

We are hiring a Research Technician who will work on a new MRC funded project on ubiquitin conjugation in innate immune signalling: 

Please get in touch if want to know more about this role.

The closing date is 30.10.23

If you are interested to work on the structural biology of the ubiquitin system and like to join our team here at QMUL in London, then please apply using the following link: https://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DDD602/postdoctoral-research-associate-in-structural-biochemistry. Feel free to get in touch to hear more about the project: b.stieglitz@qmul.ac.uk