Tessera

Marko Hyvönen

@markohyvonen.bsky.social

Protein jockey at University of Cambridge, CSO at Qkine, Professor Visitante at USP. Cyclist. https://hyvonen.bioc.cam.ac.uk

55 Posts537 Follower 627 Folgt

Sholto David @sholtodavid.bsky.social · 2w ago

Today I'm posting a blog about another ridiculous antibody blunder. Dozens of papers in the senescence and ageing field have mistakenly used an antibody for E. coli β-galactosidase when trying to stain for the human protein with the same name. forbetterscience.com/2026/07/21/d...

Crystal Fleming クリスタル @alwaystheself.bsky.social · 2mo ago

I'm attending a digital humanities event in Montreal. There was a keynote on AI and something about the talk made me wonder if it had been written by Claude. I said as much in the Q&A. As I posed the question, the speaker shifted, looking slightly uncomfortable. What he said next shocked the room +

Marko Hyvönen @markohyvonen.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Just out is a little cautionary tale by @emmabelcher96.bsky.social Turns out StrepTactin pulls down biotinylated proteins from mammalian cells and anti-FLAG antibody likes its own specific contaminants. Both of which can end up dominating your precious cryo-EM images. You've been warned!

Marko Hyvönen @markohyvonen.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Ok, time to get back on this platform with some science, as exciting things are coming out. Well, I think they are exciting. Let's start with cool FBDD story.Together with Spring group we have come up with a covalent inhibitors for PH domain. Activated lysine in PIP3 binding site, it seems.

Schematic model how a covalent Btk PH domain-binding fragment can inhibit membrane association and, presumably, kinase activation

Reese Richardson @reeserichardson.bsky.social · 2mo ago

The Thermo Fisher situation keeps getting worse. We've now collected 450+ problematic images presented as verification data in TF's antibody catalog. This includes: 🖌️ Dozens more images with duplications or painting 🖨️ Hundreds of blots that all share the same background (behold slideshow below)

Cambridge Biochemistry @cambiochem.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Congratulations to the @markohyvonen.bsky.social Group on its celebration of 25 years this week by 40 alumni! Since 2001, it has welcomed 21 Postdocs, 8 RAs, 15 PhDs, 6 Visiting PhDs, 9 MScs and 46 Undergrads and contributed over 90 publications. 🎂🎉👏 Read more: www.bioc.cam.ac.uk/news/hyvonen...

Kresten Lindorff-Larsen @lindorfflarsen.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Run an MD simulation of any protein in the AlphaFold Protein Structure Database using AF-CALVADOS Thanks to @sobuelow.bsky.social AF-CALVADOS is now on Colab colab.research.google.com/github/KULL-...

Kresten Lindorff-Larsen@lindorfflarsen.bsky.social · 8mo ago

We (@sobuelow.bsky.social & @kejohansson.bsky.social) tested AF-CALVADOS using the recently described PeptoneBench SAXS benchmark that contains SAXS data for >400 proteins with different amounts of order and disorder. The results look pretty good 😇 so we are sharing here while updating the preprint📝

Derek Lowe @dereklowe.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Chemistry in current events: the connections between fertilizer, the Haber-Bosch process, and the Persian Gulf. Read this and your knowledge will exceed that of most of our current political leadership after only a few minutes of light work:

Nitrogen, Ammonia, and the Strait of Hormuz

science.org

Guilherme M. Arantes @garantes.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Interested in a 12-month postdoc in Brazil? 🇧🇷 Join us in vibrant São Paulo for cutting-edge research in biomolecular simulation and design. 🤓 Check out the details here: fulbright.org.br/awards-for-u...

Fulbright Postdoc in Brazil in partnership with FAPESP

The Fulbright Postdoc program in Brazil opens in February 2026 U.S. scholars in all disciplines can apply to the fellowships in partnership with FAPESP

fulbright.org.br

Christian Frezza @frezzalab.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Papers are increasingly challenging to navigate, not only because of the sheer volume of data they contain but also because of their structure. This is a delicate point of discussion that we, as a community, should address. I would love hearing your views on this. network.febs.org/posts/thinki...

Thinking Like a Scientist, Part Three: Hypothesis Retrofitting

Scientific papers are more complex than ever, but are we gaining deeper understanding or losing sight of the hypothesis? In this third part of Thinking like a scientist, I reflect on data-driven scien...

network.febs.org

Stephen Curry @scurry.bsky.social · 6mo ago

FOR THE RECORD: one year on, I lay out clearly how Elon Musk FRS has breached the @royalsociety.org’s code of conduct, why the Society’s failure to defend its values has been so damaging, & what they need do to recover their standing in the scientific community. occamstypewriter.org/scurry/2026/...

Colourful image from the webpage of the Royal Society. Background is a mix of images of electronic circuits and silicon wafers. Text reads: "Welcome to the Royal Society. We are the independent scientific academy of the UK, dedicated to promoting excellence in science for the benefit of humanity."

Stephan Hacker @stephanhacker2.bsky.social · 6mo ago

I am very happy that we again managed to invite two world-leading scientists as keynotes for the 6th Virtual @chembiotalks.bsky.social. We are working on an exciting additional program. Stay tuned! Mailing list: fd24.formdesk.com/universiteit... #ChemSky #ChemBio #ChemBioTalks

Sign-up form for the Virtual ChemBioTalks mailing list

fd24.formdesk.com

Virtual ChemBioTalks@chembiotalks.bsky.social · 6mo ago

We are very excited that Michelle Chang (@mchanggroup.bsky.social) and Giulio Superti-Furga (@supertifurgalab.bsky.social) will be our keynote speakers at this year's event on September 29th, 2026. If you do not want to miss anything, sign up for our mailing list: fd24.formdesk.com/universiteit...

Eugene Valkov @eugenevalkov.bsky.social · 7mo ago

We are looking for a postdoc to work on mechanisms of #RNA decay in cancer using #cryoEM with #nanobodies and #minibinders! Please RT

Jonathan Portes @jdportes.bsky.social · 8mo ago

"Migrants who came to the UK on skilled work visas in 2022-23 will make a net contribution of £47bn to the public finances over their lifetime, according to new estimates from the government’s Migration Advisory Committee." Not surprising, but some observations (1/n) www.ft.com/content/10da...

Department of Pharmacology | University of Cambridge @phar.cam.ac.uk · 8mo ago

We are advertising for a Technician in Mammalian Cell Culture (Pharma collaboration) with the Merkle Group, to help generate and characterise human cellular models of obesity💊 Apply here: phar.cam.ac.uk/jobs

Camcycle @camcycle.bsky.social · 8mo ago

We agree, this is horrible - we need a holistic look at the whole city centre (not just the 'Civic Quarter') to better design routes for all modes of transport, beginning with walking, wheeling and cycling.

Marko Hyvönen @markohyvonen.bsky.social · 8mo ago

A sure sign of Christmas coming to Cambridge when shoppers queue on Tennis Court Rd and some impatient drivers race against the oncoming traffic, usually cyclists, turning around a blind corner. Every year the same, a serious accident waiting to happen. Cc. @camcycle.bsky.social

Car being driven on the wrong side of the road, overtaking standing queue.

Marko Hyvönen @markohyvonen.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Congrats @emmabelcher96.bsky.social for a job superbly done! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 Challenging and exciting project, tackled with skill and determination. What more can one hope for? 🙏🏻👍🏻

Emma Belcher@emmabelcher96.bsky.social · 8mo ago

I had a great experience defending my PhD thesis last week! Thank you to my examiners, @torilhol.bsky.social and Daniel Nietlispach, for a fun viva discussion. Thanks to my AZ supervisor, Taiana Maia de Oliveira, and, of course, bossman @markohyvonen.bsky.social 🫡

Dr Yvonne Couch @dryvonnecouch.bsky.social · 9mo ago

👇👇👇👇👇

TrishEM@pematson.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Google has started automatically opting you in to let it read your stuff to train AI. You need to turn this off in SEVERAL places in your settings (not just for Gmail), if you want to maintain privacy and confidentiality. www.malwarebytes.com/blog/news/20...

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/...

A table showing profit margins of major publishers. A snippet of text related to this table is below.

1. The four-fold drain
1.1 Money
Currently, academic publishing is dominated by profit-oriented, multinational companies for
whom scientific knowledge is a commodity to be sold back to the academic community who
created it. The dominant four are Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley and Taylor & Francis,
which collectively generated over US$7.1 billion in revenue from journal publishing in 2024
alone, and over US$12 billion in profits between 2019 and 2024 (Table 1A). Their profit
margins have always been over 30% in the last five years, and for the largest publisher
(Elsevier) always over 37%.
Against many comparators, across many sectors, scientific publishing is one of the most
consistently profitable industries (Table S1). These financial arrangements make a substantial
difference to science budgets. In 2024, 46% of Elsevier revenues and 53% of Taylor &
Francis revenues were generated in North America, meaning that North American
researchers were charged over US$2.27 billion by just two for-profit publishers. The
Canadian research councils and the US National Science Foundation were allocated US$9.3
billion in that year.

A figure detailing the drain on researcher time.

1. The four-fold drain

1.2 Time
The number of papers published each year is growing faster than the scientific workforce,
with the number of papers per researcher almost doubling between 1996 and 2022 (Figure
1A). This reflects the fact that publishers’ commercial desire to publish (sell) more material
has aligned well with the competitive prestige culture in which publications help secure jobs,
grants, promotions, and awards. To the extent that this growth is driven by a pressure for
profit, rather than scholarly imperatives, it distorts the way researchers spend their time.
The publishing system depends on unpaid reviewer labour, estimated to be over 130 million
unpaid hours annually in 2020 alone (9). Researchers have complained about the demands of
peer-review for decades, but the scale of the problem is now worse, with editors reporting
widespread difficulties recruiting reviewers. The growth in publications involves not only the
authors’ time, but that of academic editors and reviewers who are dealing with so many
review demands.
Even more seriously, the imperative to produce ever more articles reshapes the nature of
scientific inquiry. Evidence across multiple fields shows that more papers result in
‘ossification’, not new ideas (10). It may seem paradoxical that more papers can slow
progress until one considers how it affects researchers’ time. While rewards remain tied to
volume, prestige, and impact of publications, researchers will be nudged away from riskier,
local, interdisciplinary, and long-term work. The result is a treadmill of constant activity with
limited progress whereas core scholarly practices – such as reading, reflecting and engaging
with others’ contributions – is de-prioritized. What looks like productivity often masks
intellectual exhaustion built on a demoralizing, narrowing scientific vision.

A table of profit margins across industries. The section of text related to this table is below:

1. The four-fold drain
1.1 Money
Currently, academic publishing is dominated by profit-oriented, multinational companies for
whom scientific knowledge is a commodity to be sold back to the academic community who
created it. The dominant four are Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley and Taylor & Francis,
which collectively generated over US$7.1 billion in revenue from journal publishing in 2024
alone, and over US$12 billion in profits between 2019 and 2024 (Table 1A). Their profit
margins have always been over 30% in the last five years, and for the largest publisher
(Elsevier) always over 37%.
Against many comparators, across many sectors, scientific publishing is one of the most
consistently profitable industries (Table S1). These financial arrangements make a substantial
difference to science budgets. In 2024, 46% of Elsevier revenues and 53% of Taylor &
Francis revenues were generated in North America, meaning that North American
researchers were charged over US$2.27 billion by just two for-profit publishers. The
Canadian research councils and the US National Science Foundation were allocated US$9.3
billion in that year.

The costs of inaction are plain: wasted public funds, lost researcher time, compromised
scientific integrity and eroded public trust. Today, the system rewards commercial publishers
first, and science second. Without bold action from the funders we risk continuing to pour
resources into a system that prioritizes profit over the advancement of scientific knowledge.

Paolo Crosetto @paolocrosetto.bsky.social · 9mo ago

What is the most profitable industry in the world, this side of the law? Not oil, not IT, not pharma. It's *scientific publishing*. We call this the Drain of Scientific Publishing. Paper: arxiv.org/abs/2511.04820 Background: doi.org/10.1162/qss_... Thread @markhanson.fediscience.org.ap.brid.gy 👇

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

Marko Hyvönen @markohyvonen.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Cambridge Amgen Scholars Programme 2026 is now open. Great opportunity for undergrad students from UK and Europe to join Cambridge labs. Happy hear from anyone interested in joining our group at @cambiochem.bsky.social amgenscholars.bio.cam.ac.uk

Home | Amgen Scholars Programme

amgenscholars.bio.cam.ac.uk

Henrik Strahl @henrikstrahl.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Looking for an AMR-themed PhD project? Join us to investigate antibiotic tolerance in Staphylococcus aureus through a fully funded MRC DTP PhD studentship starting in September 2026. This project is close collaboration with @kateduncan.bsky.social and @mycobacterium-ncl.bsky.social.

MRC DiMeN Doctoral Training Partnership: Resensitisation of antibiotic-tolerant Staphylococcus aureus small colony variants at Newcastle University on FindAPhD.com

PhD Project - MRC DiMeN Doctoral Training Partnership: Resensitisation of antibiotic-tolerant Staphylococcus aureus small colony variants at Newcastle University, listed on FindAPhD.com

findaphd.com

John Burn-Murdoch @jburnmurdoch.ft.com · 9mo ago

NEW from me: Political hostility, high visa fees and (in the case of the UK) stagnant incomes are making the UK and US less attractive destinations for top international talent. That steep decline in the appeal of moving to the US after 2016 is 👀

Toril Holien @torilhol.bsky.social · 12mo ago

📣 Save the date 📣 The next FASEB Science Research Conference on TGF-β Family in Development and Disease will take place: July 26-30, 2026 in Porto, Portugal! @faseborg.bsky.social With Mythreye Karthikeyan @mythreye.bsky.social, Rosemary Akhurst and Andrew Hinck web.cvent.com/event/af5f6d...

Sophien Kamoun @kamounlab.bsky.social · 12mo ago

We just published: Why you should sequence your plasmids (and how to do it for free) Through @GetGenome scientists in 100 countries can access free whole-plasmid sequencing —giving researchers the confidence to move their experiments forward. medium.com/p/why-you-sh...

Why you should sequence your plasmids (and how to do it for free)

Through GetGenome, scientists in 100 countries can access free whole-plasmid sequencing — removing barriers, improving quality control…

medium.com

John Holbein @johnholbein1.bsky.social · 12mo ago

truth

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

The "reproducibility crisis" in science constantly makes headlines. Repro efforts are often limited. What if you could assess reproducibility of an entire field? That's what @brunolemaitre.bsky.social et al. have done. Fly immunity is highly replicable & offers lessons for #metascience A 🧵 1/n

Cambridge Biochemistry @cambiochem.bsky.social · last yr.

The Bornelöv Group is seeking a Research Assistant to work on gene regulation using deep learning. This is an exciting opportunity to use AI-based methods to uncover the molecular mechanisms behind mRNA processing and fate. Apply here by 8 July 2025: www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/51812/

FBLDConference @fbldconference.bsky.social · last yr.

FBLD 2025 | Final Call for Abstract Submissions! Abstract submissions close this Friday, 27 June 2025. Don't miss your chance to share your research with global experts at FBLD 2025. For more information go to: fbldconference.org/2025-abstrac...