Doing the periodic cleaning of used plasmid miniprep columns and realized in honor of Earth Day it may be worth reminding you molecular biologists: Plasmid miniprep columns can be cleaned and reused essentially indefinitely! Just add 1 M HCl, soak overnight and wash 3x w/ water. Save $ and plastic

Am I reading this correctly that normal applicant-led @ukri.org grants will be decided by interview? Peer-review is not mentioned, so is it only the panel that decides? Not sure how this is a better system for anyone involved, but we still need clearer communications... www.ukri.org/news/mrc-cur...

MRC curiosity-driven research reopens with new approach

The Medical Research Council (MRC) unpauses curiosity driven research funding and improves the funding process.

ukri.org

I am glad to say that the first manuscript from the lab is now available on BioRxiv https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10.30.685496v1 We set out to answer a simple question: If the fruit fly #Drosophila cannot see clearly, how would they #sleep?

'Yesterday, I learned that one of my students, who applied for a Marie Curie Fellowship, did not get it. My first reaction was to ask what could be done to improve the application in the future. Then I saw the score: above 93 points!.' substack.com/home/post/p-...

When Science Funding Becomes a Lottery

or, how Europe’s funding schemes turned evaluation into ritual

substack.com

Started my fellowship in January - just gearing up to submit my first independent grant and everything has been cancelled! This letter provides no reassurance for ECRs in my position. And why was there no consulation or warning that this was going to happen!? www.ukri.org/news/open-le...

Open letter from Ian Chapman to research and innovation community

UKRI Chief Executive outlines changes to UKRI investment approach, addressing concerns about research funding and the financial position of STFC.

ukri.org

Does anyone have a protocol for homebrew HCR in situ probes? I've seen several published protocols for designing inititators to use with molecular instruments amplifiers - but it looks like they wont share their sequences anymore!?

Always shocking to see these kinds of data collected together. "[publishers made]US$12 billion in profits between 2019 and 2024" - That's $12 billion diverted away from actual research or materially supporting the community - these are disgusting numbers.

Mark A. Hanson@hansonmark.bsky.social · 9mo ago

We wrote the Strain on scientific publishing to highlight the problems of time & trust. With a fantastic group of co-authors, we present The Drain of Scientific Publishing: a 🧵 1/n Drain: arxiv.org/abs/2511.04820 Strain: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/... Oligopoly: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...

Really confused about what problem LLMs like qed are meant to be solving? Is it meant to be for people writing papers - in which case we already have well established mechanisms for feedback (i.e. speaking with human colleagues), or for reviewers - obviously problematic for so many reasons!?

PREACH! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Reaffirming the value of model organisms in training scientific minds - Nature Cell Biology

As biomedical research prioritizes human models and translational promise, classic model organisms are increasingly dismissed. Here we argue that they have a lasting value, both in enabling discovery and in cultivating scientific thinking, by training researchers in systems reasoning, integrative thinking and independent inquiry.

nature.com

We currently have a call for support that has gone out to European labs, to support FlyBase-UK. We are asking our colleagues from labs in the US and other countries to wait for a similar call to them that will go out in the near future, to support the US sites. We thank you for your patience.

Mark A. Hanson@hansonmark.bsky.social · last yr.

URGENT: FlyBase has lost practically all its funding overnight; even user fees are tied up in denied grant funding. 🤬🤯 Any lab using @flybase.bsky.social please donate using the link in post below. This incredible community, on whose backs our #Drosophila labs depend, can't be left out to dry.

SUSTAINABILITY & #DROSOPHILA - If you keep flies & have tried to re-use containers but then given up on it, please could you let us know & tell us the reasons? We urgently need statements for a publication about sustainability in fly labs. Please, contact Andreas.Prokop@manchester.ac.uk

URGENT: FlyBase has lost practically all its funding overnight; even user fees are tied up in denied grant funding. 🤬🤯 Any lab using @flybase.bsky.social please donate using the link in post below. This incredible community, on whose backs our #Drosophila labs depend, can't be left out to dry.

Marc Dionne@marcsdionne.bsky.social · last yr.

My lab studies bacterial infections. We spend a lot of time looking at (or for) species-specific genetic and genomic databases for hosts and microbes. FlyBase is the best of all—there is literally no comparison. Its existence is under threat. Please donate. www.philanthropy.cam.ac.uk/give-to-camb...

New preprint! We have discovered that the splicing factor Sex lethal (Sxl - well known for its role in sex determination) binds to chromatin and regulates tRNA synthesis in neurons by interacting with RNA Pol III! Highlighting Sxl as a novel modulator of neuronal homeostasis. tinyurl.com/s44s2z95

Sex-lethal is recruited to chromatin to promote neuronal tRNA synthesis in males through RNA Polymerase III regulation

The RNA-binding protein Sex-lethal (Sxl) is classically known as a master regulator of sex determination and mRNA splicing in Drosophila melanogaster. However, this role is not conserved across specie...

tinyurl.com

Pedestrians killed by car drivers in UK annually: >400 Cyclists killed by car drivers in UK annually: >100 Pedestrians killed by cyclists in UK annually: <3 So which of these is the most scary and worthy of more laws? www.theguardian.com/news/2025/ap...

Cyclists who kill pedestrians could be jailed for life under new law in England and Wales

Reckless cycling is currently prosecuted under legislation from the 1860s, with a maximum two-year jail sentence

theguardian.com

🔔 Reminder: RES #InsectWelfare Survey 🦗 We’re gathering perspectives on the ethical treatment of insects in research. If you’re in #InsectResearch, your voice is essential! Deadline: 1 April 🔽 buff.ly/kEmqgdr #EthicsInScience #InsectEthics #AnimalResearch

1/ Transposable elements are often called "jumping genes" because they mobilize within genomes. 🧬 But did you know they can also jump 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘯 cells? 🤯 Our new study reveals how retrotransposons invade the germline directly from somatic cells. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... A short thread 🧵👇

Why academia is sleepwalking into self-destruction. My editorial @brain1878.bsky.social If you agree with the sentiments please repost. It's important for all our sakes to stop the madness academic.oup.com/brain/articl...

I had that nightmare again. The one where I’m a postdoc.

To me, a Nazi salute means, "I want to murder your family." There can be no irony about it: It puts deep anger and hatred in my heart to see it done and I will never forgive anyone who justifies or minimizes it.

I've been a bit slow to post about this, but our work on RBL2-linked disease is now available online in #Brain. We provide a comprehensive characterisation of clinical phenotypes, and explore the neurological function of the #Drosophila orthologue, Rbf. (1/2) doi.org/10.1093/brai...

Clinical and genetic characterization of a progressive RBL2-associated neurodevelopmental disorder

RBL2 dysfunction, which disrupts cell-cycle gene expression, has been linked to a severe neurodevelopmental disorder. Aughey et al. characterize a cohort o

doi.org

Delighted to have been selected to give a talk on 3rd March at the 4th Crick Rare Diseases Conference @crick.ac.uk - there's still time to register (and free to register for students!) www.crick.ac.uk/whats-on/4th...

4th Crick Rare Diseases Conference

crick.ac.uk

Bird nests made from anti-bird spikes?! 🤯 Hi, I'm a nest researcher 👋 and new here on BlueSky, sharing the craziest #bird nests I've ever found. 👀 Today, I’m sharing my discovery of rebellious birds that build nests out of anti-bird spikes. And honestly, it's like telling a joke... A thread. 🧵

Was wondering what had been going on. Please stop this - flybase is my emotional support database - I need to visit several times just to get through the day!

FlyBase@flybase.bsky.social · 2y ago

Once more with feeling! Hey! Are you using a script to scrape FlyBase? Just stop. NOW. You're crashing the site for everyone. Yes, we mean YOU.

If anyone happens to need it this week for...reasons...this is the best graphic on the complexity of human sex determination I've ever seen. I use it in an undergrad course on gene regulatory mechanisms. Shoutout to @unamandita.bsky.social! www.scientificamerican.com/article/beyo...

Beyond XX and XY: The Extraordinary Complexity of Sex Determination

A host of factors figure into whether someone is female, male or somewhere in between

scientificamerican.com

The birth of fruit fly's central nervous system imaged with multicolor #adaptive #lightsheet microscopy. The microscope self-aligns to a signal that appears during imaging. www.nature.com/articles/nbt...

We're hiring a postdoc! Please forward to people you know who are looking for positions. Interested in studying how metabolism is wired to support fertility? 🔬🪰 Come join us! Ad to go live next week, but informal enquiries encouraged.

Our new preprint is out - please share! We asked: How can we make CRISPR knockouts in vivo more efficient? And set up an assay that enables detection of CRISPR cutting with 100s-1000s of sgRNAs over entire chromosome arms in living animals. Grab a ☕ and let’s dive in. 🧵🧪 1/n #CRISPR #geneediting

Would you like to see @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social add a share to blue sky button?! I know I would! Share this post to let @richardsever.bsky.social @erictopol.bsky.social and others at bioarxiv know!

Thrilled to present our latest BioRXiv on brain/body interactions during defensive freezing behaviour! (www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...). You might think that a frozen animal has, well, frozen muscle activity, right? Wrong! Underneath the still surface of a fly, something in the legs is beating… 🧵