We are a biomedical discovery institute breaking down barriers between disciplines. A space where some of the world's most talented scientists pursue big ideas.
Today the UK approved a gene therapy to treat sickle cell disease and thalassemia. It’s the first treatment ever to be licensed using the gene editing tool Crispr and will have huge implications for people living with these conditions.
Yesterday the whole building got together for some afternoon talks and tea to celebrate the Crick’s 5th anniversary.🎈 Huge thanks to every single person who has helped make the Crick what it is today
#TheCrickTurns5
🏅 Congratulations! Our director of clinical research Peter Ratcliffe won the Nobel Prize today with
@Harvard
's William Kaelin and
@JohnsHopkins
' Gregg Semenza!
He earned the award for his work on hypoxia carried out at
@UniofOxford
.
We've offered our scientific resources & expertise to help the Government's fight against
#coronavirus
by increasing
@PHE_uk
's &
@NHSuk
's capacity to test for
#covid19
300 of our researchers have volunteered to help scale up testing. More here ⬇️
We are delighted to announce that Professor Edith Heard has been appointed as our new director and chief executive!
Edith, who is currently director-general at
@EMBL
, will succeed Paul Nurse in leading the Crick from the summer of 2025.
🔗
We’re excited to welcome
@DeepMind
to the Crick where they’ll set up a new lab to apply
#AI
and
#machinelearning
to address biomedical research challenges 🖥️
Science is political and racism is embedded within it. We want to see change and that’s why we stand with all our Black colleagues and friends.
#BlackLivesMatter
We know some people are looking for ways to help. Here are some starting points. ⏬
We're delighted that our Director of Clinical Research, Peter Ratcliffe, has won the
@NobelPrize
in Physiology or Medicine! Congratulations to Peter,
@DanaFarber
’s William Kaelin and
@JohnsHopkins
’ Gregg Semenza!
BREAKING NEWS:
The 2019
#NobelPrize
in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded jointly to William G. Kaelin Jr, Sir Peter J. Ratcliffe and Gregg L. Semenza “for their discoveries of how cells sense and adapt to oxygen availability.”
We’re four years old today! 🎈🎂🥂 On 9 November 2016, the Queen opened the Crick. This week we’ll be looking back on some memories from our first few years.
#TheCrickTurns4
The rapid spread of COVID-19 requires an equally fast response from the research community. We're supporting
@DeepMind
to make possible SARS-CoV-2 protein structures generated by AlphaFold freely available.
Download the dataset. ➡️
We recently announced that we’d volunteered our expertise and resources to boost
#COVID19
testing. We can now share some more detail – we’ve been working with
@uclh
to develop a testing service that we hope to eventually roll out to more London hospitals.
"Some scientists say that stress is part of the job, and wear it like a badge of honour. I want to debunk that myth. With great mental health comes great science."
Read Group Leader
@JamesXY11
in
@NatureCareers
on why he became a mental health first aider
Congratulations to our director Paul Nurse, who has been elected as the next president of the
@RoyalSociety
! 🥂
Paul will take up the role in December 2025, after he stands down as director of the Crick next summer.
It was great to welcome our local MP
@Keir_Starmer
to the
@uclh
vaccination centre at the Crick this morning, where he met with
@SamBarrell1
, Paul Nurse,
@CharlesSwanton
, Keeley Watson,
@MarcelLevi
and Baroness Julia Neuberger, and thanked some of our hard-working volunteers.
📰 Crick researchers have found how changes in the shape of tissues can create ‘super-highways’ that allow cancer cells (like the ones in green here) to move through the body.
Find the full story on our website ➡️
This afternoon, Prime Ministers
@theresa_may
and
@narendramodi
met some of the 33 Indian scientists working at the Crick, as well as getting a flavour of the research taking place here.
Researchers at the Crick, working with
@UCL
and
@ImperialCollegeLon
, have discovered a new biological pathway that drives inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and can be targeted using existing drugs.
UK association with
#HorizonEurope
is finally confirmed! 🎉This agreement is thanks to the hard work of many people working to show the value of international collaboration during negotiations 🇬🇧🇪🇺
We’re excited to be hosting
@uclh
’s newest
#COVID19
vaccination centre, staffed by our amazing clinicians and scientists alongside colleagues from
@NHSuk
,
@ucl
and
@wellcometrust
.
Congratulations to everyone involved in getting it up and running! 💉
Our scientists have developed a new 3D imaging technique to see inside the pancreas in unprecedented detail. 🔬 They found that pancreatic cancers can start and grow in two distinct ways, solving a decades-old mystery of how tumours form.
📰 New today in
@nature
- Crick researchers have identified the ten states that the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein can adopt when it’s binding to human virus receptor ACE2.
#COVID19
|
#cryoEM
| Read the full story on our website ➡️
🇪🇺 The UK leaves the European Union tonight, but we will still be a part of European science.
📝 Read the joint letter from our director Paul Nurse,
@embl
director general Edith Heard and
@sangerinstitute
director Mike Stratton.
📰 Research has found that CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing can lead to unintended DNA mutations.
The work, which looked at samples from early human embryos, shows the need for more research into CRISPR-Cas9 effects, especially when editing human DNA in the lab.
Come start your group at the Crick! 💡 We're looking for creative researchers from all areas of biology and biomedicine to join our early career faculty community.
#AcademicJobs
|
#ECRChat
Learn more and apply by 6 October ⤵️
It was an honour to welcome His Majesty Emperor Naruhito today as part of the Japanese state visit with
@JAPANinUK
🇯🇵🇬🇧
The Emperor met Crick staff with personal connections to Japan and heard about the wide range of research happening at the Crick.
Five years ago today, the Queen officially opened the Francis Crick Institute! 🎂🎉✨
Over the next year, we'll be celebrating the first five years of the Crick, and sharing some of our plans for the future 🔮
Congratulations to
@CharlesSwanton
on being awarded the 2024
@LouisJeantetFDN
Prize for Translational Medicine 🥳
The prize recognises Charlie’s work leading the
@CR_UK
-funded TRACERx study on how tumours evolve, spread, and develop resistance to drugs.
Crick researchers have engineered a ‘smart house’ for mice, that allows them to study the animals’ behaviour with minimal disturbance for up to 18 months. 🐭
@AndreasTSchafer
👨🔬
@PLOSONE
📖
💡🧠 This neuron has been modified to express the protein GCaMP6s, meaning that we can see the activity of the neuron as bursts of green light.
🎥 by Crick PhD student
@Marg_Silvestre
Today we welcomed
@WHO
DG
@DrTedros
and
@CMO_England
Chris Whitty to discuss the work of the Worldwide Influenza Centre, based here at the Crick, plans for pandemic preparedness, and to hear from some of our scientists about their work and global research collaborations.
📰 Early in the pandemic, Crick researchers spotted a green colour while producing viral proteins for SARS-CoV-2 testing. When they finally had time to examine the green proteins, they uncovered a trick that the virus uses to avoid antibody recognition.
🔗
Join us at the Crick!
We're looking for researchers working in all areas of science to set up their first group at the Crick. 👩🏿🔬👩🏻💻👨🏽🏫👨🏼🔬👨🏾💻
Find out more about what it's like to be an early career group leader at the Crick and apply by 10 October. ➡️
We're celebrating today with our newest Nobel laureate Peter Ratcliffe! 🧁 ☕🎈 After giving a great talk this morning, here he is with our director and fellow laureate Paul Nurse.
@NDMOxford
|
@magdalenoxford
|
#NobelPrize
"Science needs fluidity, permeability and the interaction of ideas and people."
We're delighted to announce our new collaborative agreement with
@embl
, supporting existing European scientific collaborations and encouraging new ones.
Read more ⤵️
Congratulations to group leader
@KathaSchmack
who was awarded over £5 million from
@wellcometrust
to study the effects of antipsychotic drugs on the immune system.
The eight-year study includes collaborators Adrian Hayday,
@tompollak
and
@ThomasKabir
📰 We've worked with
@britishlibrary
,
@uclh
and Health Services Laboratories to open a new drive-through
#coronavirus
testing service for
@NHSuk
staff.
The facility is located next door to the Crick and is also accessible on foot. |
#COVID19
📝
@nikifaulkner
and
@KevinWNg
have used a test they developed to show that some antibodies that match up with the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein aren’t just found in
#COVID19
patients, and might also be found in people who have had certain colds in the past.
The Crick couldn’t have been built without the help of a massive £100million raised by
@CR_UK
.
Medical research charities play an integral role within the UK research ecosystem and now they need
@beisgovuk
's support.
#ResearchAtRisk
📝
Congratulations,
@_Priya_R
! 🎉
Rashmi heads up our Organ Morphodynamics Lab and has received more than £2m from
@wellcometrust
to study how hearts develop, using zebrafish as a model 🐟
Most of our labs at the Crick use genome editing as a tool in their research and we’re delighted to see it recognised in this year’s
#ChemNobel
. Congratulations to Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna! 🧬🍾
BREAKING NEWS:
The 2020
#NobelPrize
in Chemistry has been awarded to Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A. Doudna “for the development of a method for genome editing.”
Our director Paul Nurse became an ambassador for international education and science for Ukraine’s fundraising platform United 24. Paul describes his visit to Ukraine, highlighting the resilience and hope shown by those he met in the face of devastation.
"Sometimes the best solutions to complex biological questions, are remarkably low-tech" -
@HenriquesLab
Researchers have come up with an inexpensive solution to imaging biological samples using LEGO ➡️
25 April marks the 70th anniversary of the discovery of the structure of DNA. In the run-up to the anniversary, we’re exploring how some of the science related to the discovery has evolved since then.
Today we’re taking a quick look at DNA replication with
@DiffleyLab
#DNADay23
Huge congratulations to the nine (!) Crick postdocs who have been awarded fellowships recently. 🎉🍾🥂
Ashley, Aleksandra, Sergio, Nicola, Sarah, Jacob, Shiran, Hannah and Melvin successfully applied for fellowships from
@wellcometrust
,
@EMBO
and
@HFSP
.
📝Hear from our director Paul Nurse in the
@ObserverUK
today on how the pandemic has already changed the way science operates, and what this might mean for the future.
Huge congratulations to leading Crick scientists Sir Keith Peters GBE and Robin Lovell-Badge CBE who have received
#NewYearsHonours
for their contributions to science
Today we welcomed
@CyrilRamaphosa
Prince Edward,
@SteveBarclay
and
@grantshapps
to discuss our research and the
@CrickAfricanNet
Both nations also signed Memorandums of Understanding to cooperate on global health, science, technology, research & innovation.
After more than 80,000 vaccines, the
@uclh
vaccination centre at the Crick is closing today. We want to say a huge thank you to the hundreds of people who helped, and to everyone who visited us to get vaccinated over the past seven months! 🌠💉💪
📝 "The story of the
#COVID19
vaccine is not a narrow nationalistic one. It’s a tale of dedicated scientists around the world freely sharing their knowledge and expertise for the good of humanity."
Hear from our director Paul Nurse in
@DailyMailUK
today.
Visual proteomics lets researchers see how proteins move in cells – but it can need huge amounts of money and expertise.
A new
@cziscience
grant will help
@EM_STP
,
@HenriquesLab
and
@imperialcollege
’s Paul French develop a more accessible version 🔬🌍
🔗
In this
@nature
article our director Paul Nurse discusses why the next Government must prioritise strengthening the UK research ecosystem.
A strong scientific standing is vital in achieving key political strategies and objectives.
Meet our newest group leader,
@fmorreale_ester
! 👋
Ester will be heading up our new Targeted Protein Degradation and Antibiotic Research Laboratory and working to find new targets for antibiotics.
Find out more about Ester's plans for her group ⤵️
Congratulations to
@pontus_skoglund
on being awarded €2 million from
@ERC_Research
to study the evolution of dogs from wolves over the last 100,000 years 🥳🐶
📰 Researchers from the Crick and
@KingsCollegeLon
's
@HaydayLab
and
@GSTTnhs
have found that a group of
#COVID19
patients with severe symptoms had low T-cell levels and a loss of immune cells called basophils – two clues to how the virus operates.
Congratulations to
@LabVousden
,
@eriksahailab
, George Kassiotis and John Diffley! 🍾🥂
Four Crick group leaders have received
@ERC_Research
Advanced Grants to study different aspects of cancer.
#ERCAdG
🇪🇺 | Find out more about the funded projects ➡️
🎉 Congratulations to the Crick's Caetano Reis e Sousa! His work showing that aspirin can boost the effect of cancer immunotherapies has won the first Bial Prize.
Find out more about the award and Caetano's work in
@P__Ciencia
(£, in Portuguese). ⬇️
📰 The RT-LAMP coronavirus testing method is cheaper, simpler and faster than the conventional method, and the team have shared all the information needed for labs and organisations to start using it.
Download the protocols ➡️
Applications to our PhD programme are now open! We're looking for graduates of any nationality 🌍 with backgrounds in biology, physics, chemistry, maths, engineering or computer science to join us in 2021 🧫🧪💻📊
Find our more and apply by 12 November ➡️
Happy International Women’s Day! 👩🏾🔬👩🏻💻👩🏿🏫👩🏼🎓👩🏽⚕️ This year’s theme is
#ChooseToChallenge
.
At our annual
#IWD2021
event today, Crick scientists and staff shared their experiences and advice on tackling obstacles, challenging the status quo, and accelerating gender parity.
We're three today! 🎈 The Queen officially opened the Crick on 9 November 2016.
Hear from some of our colleagues on their highlights of the past three years. ➡️
Merry Christmas from everyone at the Crick! 🎄✨❄️
We want to say a huge thank you to our colleagues, partners and friends for all their work during a difficult year, and we hope that everyone is able to have restful and safe festive period.
"This morning at work, while I was making agar gels, I thought about making a vegan cake and using chickpea water (aquafaba) to make Swiss meringue."
Crick scientist
@YannyBakes
explains why science and
#GBBO
aren't really that different. 🧫🎂
On
#InternationalWomensDay
, we're celebrating the contributions of female scientists! 👩🔬👩🔬👩🔬
Why not revisit some of our researchers sharing their female role models in science?
#WomenInSTEM
#IWD2019
🚨 Biomedical science in the UK is facing an uncertain future after the pandemic put millions of pounds’ worth of
#ResearchAtRisk
.
💰 We’re calling for the Government to step in and support medical research charities before more cuts have to be made.
Congratulations to Group Leader James Turner 🥳
James was elected as a Fellow of the
@royalsociety
in recognition of his contributions to mammalian sex chromosome biology.
@lab_turner
Postdoc
@Tobyandrews
in our Organ Morphodynamics Lab shows us how he and his lab-mates create 3D videos of beating zebrafish hearts 🐟🫀
Being able to properly visualise this process can help advance our understanding of heart development defects
#BOARD24
Fantastic
@NatureJobs
feature on Cristina Lo Celso, the first woman to receive the
@acmedsci
Foulkes Foundation Medal. Great to hear that
@HSCwatcher
enjoys working with the Crick's 'army of amazing biologists'! 👩🏼🔬👩🏼🔬👨🏼🔬
Applications for our 2024 PhD programme are open! Join us for…
🔬Innovative science
🗺️International, collaborative environment
🤝Structured programme, training and career support
💰£26,125 tax-free stipend + tuition and visa fees
Apply by 9 November ⤵️
🎙️ Our director Paul Nurse spoke to
@BBCr4today
this morning and spelled out the risks that a no-deal Brexit poses for science.
Listen to the full interview here from 2:50:00 ➡️
🇪🇺🇬🇧 |
#DealForScience
Cells produce ‘stress granules’ when their membranes are damaged, but the purpose of these granules has been unclear.
Researchers have shown that the granules actually patch up holes in the membranes to help keep infections under control 🩹
Our resident post-it artists Michael, Mickael and Philip have made a Christmas-themed addition to the windows overlooking our cafeteria.
These windows often feature fun designs from the Crick’s information team, and we’re excited to see what they come up with next!
Why does pregnancy last different amounts of time in different species? Work led by
@t_rayon
has found that it's protein stability that sets the pace.
Think of it as the same piece of music, but played at different tempos, as illustrated by
@joadelas
!
📰
UK visa costs are some of the highest in the world.
Reviewing and addressing these high costs is a necessary step in attracting and retaining international scientific talent.
The cost of visas for scientists at our research institutes is set to rise by 44% in a year. This will discourage scientists from coming to work in the UK and take vital funds away from our life-saving research. We’re calling on the new government to make its
#First100Days
a
Congratulations to
@SwantonLab
and
@BonfantiLab
! 🥂
The Crick and
@ucl
group leaders have received new
@ERC_Research
Advanced Grants to study the thymus and lung cancer in people who have never smoked.
#ERCAdG
🇪🇺 | Read more about their projects ⤵️
We’ve joined together with sixteen other research organisations to call for an immigration system that works for science and engineering and supports researchers at all career stages.
Read our joint statement on
@CRUK_Policy
’s website:
Congratulations to
@KevinWNg
, who's received a
@SchmidtFellows
fellowship! 🎉
Kevin’s project aims to speed up the process of selecting promising vaccine candidates 💉
📰 More than 40% of frontline NHS staff tested as part of the
@SAFERuclh
study showed evidence of having been infected with SARS-CoV-2 at the time of London's peak in
#COVID19
cases, and many didn’t show symptoms for at least seven days.
Our new free exhibition
#HelloBrain
opens today 🧠
Pop in to discover more about the billions of neurons and trillions of connections that come together to make you… you!