Michael Webster

PRESS RELEASE - Major funding boost to bring world leading researchers to the John Innes Centre

We have been awarded an equal share of the new £54 million Global Talent Fund, to attract and support leading researchers and their teams to relocate to the UK:

www.jic.ac.uk/press-releas...

Optical Microscopy Support Specialist | John Innes Centre An exciting opportunity has arisen for an Optical Microscopy Support Specialist to join the Bioimaging Platform at the John Innes Centre.

VACANCY - We’re seeking an Optical Microscopy Support Specialist to join our Bioimaging Platform, to help train users on light microscopes, collaborate on imaging projects and provide technical support.

www.jic.ac.uk/vacancies/op...

Closing date - 11 August 2025
Contract - Full time, indefinite

We’re pleased to announce two new vacancies for senior roles at our institute:

Group Leader in Discovery Plant Sciences: www.jic.ac.uk/vacancies/gr...

🗓️ Closes 25 August

Independent Fellowship in Plant-Associated Microbial Interactions: www.jic.ac.uk/vacancies/in...

🗓️ Closes 5 September

🚨 New @biorxivpreprint alert! 🚨
We are thrilled to share our latest findings—building on our earlier work on suppressors of helper NLRs of the NRC family—a Phytophthora infestans L-shaped effector captures resistosome assembly intermediates of tomato NRC3!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
1/10

Group Leader in Discovery Plant Sciences | John Innes Centre The John Innes Centre (JIC) seeks a visionary Group Leader to lead research on Discovery Plant Science.

GROUP LEADER VACANCY

JIC is recruiting a Group Leader in Discovery Plant Sciences.

If you think your research would synergise and thrive at JIC, please apply.

www.jic.ac.uk/vacancies/gr...

Norwich has a great structural biology community, join us :)

A kinetic ruler controls mRNA poly(A) tail length Poly(A) tails of newly synthesized mRNAs have uniform lengths, arising through cooperation between the cleavage and polyadenylation complex (CPAC) and poly(A) binding proteins (PABPs). In the budding ...

New work from Matti Turtola showing that mRNA poly(A) tail length is controlled by a kinetic ruler. A real pleasure to work with him!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

That's a fancy video. I was certainly surprised to see the Very Important Protein in Plants discovered in a tropical jungle🌴😅. It's pure marketing ofc (The Krios: Now in Black), but I do like the messaging about discovering the molecular world all around us-- including plants and cyanobacteria🧪🧶🧬🔬🌾🌊

Structurally heterogeneous ribosomes cooperate in protein synthesis in bacterial cells - Nature Communications Cells can simultaneously produce structurally dissimilar ribosomes, suggesting functional specialization of distinct ribosome populations. Here, the authors show that distinct ribosomes cooperate rath...

New cryo-EM/ET story - a brilliant collaboration with Sergey Melnikov's lab in Newcastle @sergeymelnikov.bsky.social and Stefan Pfeffer's lab in Heidelberg @pfeffercryolab.bsky.social. Great work in particular by Karla Helena-Bueno and @sophiekopetschke.bsky.social

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

The final version of our work on the in-cell architecture of the mitochondrial respiratory chain is now online in @science.org 🎉
You can find the full story here www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
@verenaresch.bsky.social did a wonderful job on the cover and animation, she really brought it to life 👩‍🎨

Been thinking about creating a collection of good protein structure figures, as inspiration for my own work.

#1 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

@kamounlab.bsky.social

#2 doi.org/10.1016/j.ce...

Nice comparison of structures within the context of a larger complex

Thank you for this whole thread!🙏 I occasionally worry I invest too much time making figures, but this one post makes 100s of hours seem worth it!

Professor Uauy appointed as Director of the John Innes Centre | John Innes Centre Following an international search, Professor Cristóbal Uauy has been appointed as the next Director of the John Innes Centre. Professor Uauy is internationally recognised for his significant…

PRESS RELEASE - Professor Uauy appointed as Director of the John Innes Centre

Following an international search, we are delighted to announce that Professor @cristobaluauy.bsky.social has been appointed as the next Director of the John Innes Centre.

www.jic.ac.uk/press-releas...

@ukri.org

Amazing!

Image of a blue John Innes Centre building and vibrant green grass courtyard with rippling pond set against clear, blue skies on a sunny day

Introducing JIC 👋

We are an independent, international centre of excellence in plant science, genetics and microbiology.

Our institute aims to translate innovative and pioneering research into environmental and societal benefits 🌾🌍

Look out for new content soon and tag us in your posts!

Our latest work is out in Nature today! Using smFRET, we directly visualized recruitment of the eIF4F complex to the 5' cap of eukaryotic mRNAs and formation of an activated mRNA. Our findings reveal new and surprising roles for each eIF4F component. 1/3 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Thanks Kate! 🙏

Molecular basis of mRNA delivery to the bacterial ribosome Protein synthesis begins with the formation of a ribosome-messenger RNA (mRNA) complex. In bacteria, the small ribosomal subunit (30S) is recruited to many mRNAs through base pairing with the Shine-Da...

CryoEM turns protein complexes into comic strips. 😍

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

High-resolution template matching of the human ribosome in situ by Lippincott-Schwartz Lab @hhmijanelia.bsky.social @hhmi.bsky.social. >40 conformations within together reveal molecular dynamics of the elongation cycle with previously unknown bending and “spring-like” motion.

Great work Phil!

Molecular basis of mRNA delivery to the bacterial ribosome Protein synthesis begins with the formation of a ribosome-messenger RNA (mRNA) complex. In bacteria, the small ribosomal subunit (30S) is recruited to many mRNAs through base pairing with the Shine-Da...

Amazing work revealing the mechanisms by which mRNAs are delivered to the bacterial ribosome! 🤯 Congrats to the Weixlbaumer lab and their collaborators in the Walter and Rappsilber labs! 🍾

Molecular basis of mRNA delivery to the bacterial ribosome Protein synthesis begins with the formation of a ribosome-messenger RNA (mRNA) complex. In bacteria, the small ribosomal subunit (30S) is recruited to many mRNAs through base pairing with the Shine-Da...

This week in @science.org Molecular basis of #mRNA delivery to the bacterial #ribosome www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Correct! And I miss it very much.

Molecular basis of mRNA delivery to the bacterial ribosome Protein synthesis begins with the formation of a ribosome-messenger RNA (mRNA) complex. In bacteria, the small ribosomal subunit (30S) is recruited to many mRNAs through base pairing with the Shine-Da...

Molecular basis of mRNA delivery to the bacterial ribosome.

By the great @michaelwebster.bsky.social et al.

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Molecular basis of mRNA delivery to the bacterial ribosome Protein synthesis begins with the formation of a ribosome-messenger RNA (mRNA) complex. In bacteria, the small ribosomal subunit (30S) is recruited to many mRNAs through base pairing with the Shine-Da...

How are mRNAs recruited to the ribosome small subunit in bacteria? Super cool story highlighting the role of bS1. Long standing basic questions answered there 🔬
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Thanks Pablo 😊

😍

This is amazing! @shervinnia.bsky.social resurrected our cryoEM-papers bot. At it's peak we had over 12k followers on Twitter, but the bot became defunct by a silly Musk policy (and it all went downhill from there).
If you want to keep up with #cryoEM papers, follow:
cryoempapers.bsky.social