Professor Eric Jacobsen Delivers 2025 MSD Lectureship
Image credit: Michael Webb, Photography and Reprographics, Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry.
On 8–9 December 2025, the Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry hosted the Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD) Lectureship, featuring Professor Eric Jacobsen from Harvard University, a world-leading researcher in enantioselective catalysis. The lectureship programme and symposium were organized and led by Professor Matthew Gaunt and included a supporting lecture by Dr Izzat Raheem of Merck US (MSD).
Researchers from Cambridge and UT Southwestern have, for the first time, visualised molecules inside chromatin droplets, revealing how these structures organise and support cell function.
Breakthrough Imaging Reveals Parkinson’s Protein Clusters in the Brain
The image shows alpha synuclein oligomers (yellow) inside microglia, the immune cells of the brain. These structures have long been hypothesised to exist but not previously directly observed in Parkinson’s disease. Photo credits: TheLeeLab
For the first time, scientists have directly visualised and measured the tiny protein clusters, called alpha-synuclein oligomers, thought to trigger Parkinson’s disease in human brain tissue.
