Very happy to see this story finally out (link in comments)! We used low-input Capture Hi-C to profile promoter-anchored chromosomal interactions in Type 3 innate lymphoid cells (ILC3s) - rare tissue-resident lymphocytes that lack antigen receptors and regulate barrier immunity.

MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences@mrc-lms.bsky.social · 2d ago

New research published today in Nature Genetics uses a technique called mini-Capture Hi-C to map 3D DNA folding in rare ILC3 immune cells, linking 100+ genes to immune disease risk in this cell type 🧬

I know getting AI to write your paper is bad. But if you are writing in a non naive language, is it acceptable to ask it to tidy your text? I think it should be. Reviewing a paper where the language is a big barrier to communication is painful to reviewer and author alike.

Every commentator saying too many kids go to university has to tell their own kid to not do a degree

Friendly reminder that these things aren't impacted by closing the Strait of Hormuz so maybe, just maybe, we should implement them to avoid being impacted by future conflicts: -Solar panels -Wind turbines -Battery storage -Electric vehicles -Bicycles -Natural fertilizers -Electric heat pumps

UKRI are recruiting for a new Exec Chair for Research England (£160k-£170k). It is a crucial role including QR funding and the REF. I hope they get a great field. But I worry a bit. It's hard to find on their website (see link below) fa-evzn-saasfaukgovprod1.fa.ocs.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid...

UKRI Careers

fa-evzn-saasfaukgovprod1.fa.ocs.oraclecloud.com

Personally, I don’t think the government have a fucking clue what the implications of killing the Higher Education sector are. They’re in for some big, very nasty surprises.

Thrilled to share that our ENCODE enhancer–gene mapping paper is now out in Nature! An encyclopedia of human enhancer–gene regulatory interactions: www.nature.com/articles/s41... Thread 👇 1/

An encyclopedia of human enhancer–gene regulatory interactions - Nature

An encyclopedia of more than 92 million enhancer–gene regulatory interactions created as part of the ENCODE4 project provides a valuable resource for future studies of gene regulation and human geneti...

nature.com

The last few months have proven quite exciting with lots of preprints showing great explainable AI models for biomedical hypotheses... based on very cleaned datasets and public repos. Also the last few months: lots of job ads for Data Curators tidying the data ready for AI pipelines. 👀

Single international student cohort ‘to generate £40bn for UK’. Two constituencies alone to gain over £1bn, with each overseas recruit contributing £100,000, study finds. www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-u...

Single international student cohort ‘to generate £40bn for UK’ - Research Professional News

Two constituencies to gain over £1bn, with each overseas recruit contributing £100,000, study finds

researchprofessionalnews.com

UK research at risk of ‘irreversible’ harm, says British Academy head. Susan Smith urges next prime minister to commission review of higher education and research. Free to read. www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-c...

UK research at risk of ‘irreversible’ harm, says British Academy head - Research Professional News

Susan Smith urges next prime minister to commission review of higher education and research

researchprofessionalnews.com

“I cannot prove that my view of the good life is right; I can only state my view, and hope that as many as possible will agree. My view is this: The good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge.” — Bertrand Russell, What I Believe

Doing grant budgets on a Friday afternoon.. Again. When the sun is shining outside.

I am one of today’s 10000 - because I’ve only just seen this @xkcd.com comic & it is simply brilliant.

Earth Temperature Timeline

xkcd.com

People always say "tell a story" but then don't explain how to do so! How is that helping? If we knew how to tell a story we wouldn't need the advice in the first place. 1/

Stephen Turner@stephenturner.us · last mo.

How to give a bad talk www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Goes without saying that this would destroy universities, and specifically those big and international enough not to be in deep trouble so far. But then destroying universities is probably also their plan.

Peter Walker@peterwalker99.bsky.social · last mo.

NEW: EU nationals in the UK are increasingly alarmed at Reform UK’s plan to target their rights to accommodation and employment, saying this is a betrayal of promises made in the Brexit referendum 10 years ago. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

Happy to share that this work led by @mihkeljesse.bsky.social has now been published at PLOS Genetics! journals.plos.org/plosgenetics... A couple of thoughts below.

Ultra-fast genetic colocalisation across millions of association signals

Author summary Over 90% of human genetic variants associated with human traits and diseases lie in non-coding regions of the genome, making it difficult to interpret the mechanisms by which these vari...

journals.plos.org

@mihkeljesse.bsky.social · 11mo ago

After 1.5 years of work in @kauralasoo.bsky.social’s lab, we finally published my preprint! We introduce gpu-coloc, a GPU-accelerated implementation of coloc, show comparability to CLPP and aim to provide practical guidelines. Now accessible on BioRxiv: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

I HATE CITATION LIMITS! I do not understand why scientists should be forced to choose which statements to soften or leave unsupported in order to meet antiquated rules based on reducing physical pages!

Act Now NI have shared across civic society groups how they are trying to respond, with others, to the violence and disorder. The messages they are using & recommending may be useful to others www.actnowni.org/talking-poin...

Talking points for navigating conversations around the attack in North Belfast — Act Now NI

The conversations we have today and in the next few days will be key to fighting the hateful narratives being pushed by well-funded people like Nigel Farage and Tommy Robinson.

actnowni.org

Very privileged to have played a small part in this single cell eqtl study of intestinal and blood cells. Led by the fabulous @carlanderson.bsky.social @tobioinformatics.bsky.social @bradleyomics.bsky.social.

Nature@nature.com · 2mo ago

Nature research paper: Cell-type-resolved genetic variation shapes inflammatory bowel disease risk go.nature.com/4o3hSJS

🚨 Fully funded PhD studentship opportunities at #CITIID 🚨 Join Professor Eoin McKinney to be a core part of CG-AGE, a collaborative project between @medcambridge.bsky.social and GSK, focused on the mechanisms and phenotypes of immune ageing. Apply by 18 June:

GlaxoSmithKline-funded PhD studentship: Immune Ageing (Fixed Term)

Applications are invited for fully funded, four-year PhD studentships based at the Cambridge Institute for Therapeutic Immunology and Infectious Disease (CITIID), within the Department of Medicine at…

buff.ly

It seems I see new announcements of university redundancies every few days. Science and scholarship may not be under attack in this country, but with no government response, they are under neglect.

Margot Finn@eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 2mo ago

'The university court - its highest governing body - says the institution faces "stark" challenges and will open an early retirement and voluntary redundancy scheme next week. It says while compulsory redundancies remain a last resort, they cannot be ruled out.' 1/2

Postdoctoral job announcement: come to Cambridge and work on population genetic modelling with environmental and ancient DNA, jointly with @gamzeandgursoy.bsky.social and me. Details at www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/55580/ - applications by June 16th.

Newly elected both as a Fellow of the @acmedsci.bsky.social and Fellow of the @royalsociety.org, John McCafferty has spent more than 3 decades transforming antibodies from natural defenders into medicines that have improved millions of lives. Read our latest feature on his journey: buff.ly/3GBB3Et

John McCafferty: The antibody pioneer

See the story

med.cam.ac.uk

"Student's t-test" was developed by William Sealy Gosset, English chemist & head brewer at Guinness Brewery. He developed statistical methods under pseudonym "Student": t test, z distribution. He looks... exactly like you'd think the person who invented the t-test would look. *Significantly* so.

Looks like we've passed peak academia. www.ft.com/content/8097... via @data.ft.com

Every summer I repost this article on how to spot drowning. Please read it and pass on. In the last few years I’ve had SIX messages from people who saved a kid’s life after clicking on the link from my feed. slate.com/technology/2...

Drowning Doesn’t Look Like Drowning

Drowning is not the violent, splashing call for help that most people expect.

slate.com

tinyurl.com/reuxynmc Very excited to see this work I was a small part of published! We analysed two large scale colocalisation datasets: OpenTargets data and an analysis of immune-mediated disease GWAS/immune cell eQTLs seeking to understand the "colocalisation gap". Some highlights:

Design and interpretation of eQTL-GWAS colocalisation studies: Lessons from a large-scale evaluation

Author summary Most of the genetic variants associated with complex traits are located outside genes, limiting functional interpretation. Genetic colocalisation helps identify candidate causal genes b...

journals.plos.org

I am once again begging, praying, weeping for lists of written instructions rather than videos. I do not want to watch your two minute video in the hope of catching the two seconds where you whizz past what goddamn menu the thing is under. Write. It. Down.

Being a PI is an intricate juggling act that requires tough decisions – intellectual, financial, strategic. Yet we are expected to navigate these dangerous waters with very little support. The solo PI model is deeply problematic. My latest blog post #AcademicSky occamstypewriter.org/mindthegap/2...