Petros Andrikopoulos

Science funding needs fixing — but not through chaotic reforms The changes announced by a major UK science funder are putting scientists — and the future of research — in a difficult position.

The changes announced by a major UK science funder UKRI are putting scientists — and the future of research — in a difficult position, says John S. Tregoning

go.nature.com/45ZO1KL

I watched much of Ian Chapman's (Head of @ukri.org) appearance this morning at @ukparliament.parliament.uk Science, Innovation and Technology Committee..

A few points and new information that bioscientists may find interesting...

A 🧵

Times letters: Relevance of the Church in the 21st century Sir, AN Wilson’s article (“More liturgy, fewer lectures please, archbishop”, Jan 31) is rather like the curate’s egg — good in parts

Sir Paul Nurse PRS writes in today's Times on cuts to UKRI funding: "If [discovery-driven science] is not properly supported, we lose the seed-corn of discovery research, harming subsequent science translation, societal improvement and economic growth." Read more(£): www.thetimes.com/comment/lett...

It has been two weeks since the unexpected death of Peer Bork, and all of us in his research group are deeply missing him. His scientific vision brought us together as a team, and we are immensely grateful for the time we spent together. 🧵

Recruitment for the EMBL International PhD Programme is officially open! 🔊

At EMBL, we train young scientists to become skilled and creative future leaders in academia, industry and other sectors. Start your career in the life sciences with us!

🔎 Read more here:
tinyurl.com/4jdt2ra5

Integration of modern technologies to advance dietary assessment - Nature Food Accurately measuring dietary intake has long been a challenge in nutrition research. Integrating emerging tools with multisampling strategies and a dietary assessment methodology aligned with the rese...

Check out our review on emerging technologies for diet tracking in Nature Food. 👇

This paper was led by @catalinacuparencu.bsky.social, with @cdiener.com and others: www.nature.com/articles/s43...

@isbscience.org @uwbioe.bsky.social @uwgenome.bsky.social

Covers of the 2 leading science journals this week
@science.org and @nature.com
www.science.org/content/arti... www.nature.com/immersive/d4...

So sorry for your loss

In remembrance of Peer Bork  | EMBL EMBL and its community are deeply saddened by the death of Peer Bork, the organisation’s Interim Director General.

Sad day. @borklab.bsky.social bring so much to Science and notably in the #microbiome

RIP Peer thank you for all your legacy.

www.embl.org/news/embl-an...

Very sad news....

Inhibition of IRAK4 by microbial trimethylamine blunts metabolic inflammation and ameliorates glycemic control - Nature Metabolism The microbial metabolite trimethylamine (TMA), the precursor of TMAO, which is associated with adverse cardiometabolic outcomes, is shown to have beneficial metabolic and anti-inflammatory effects in the host in the context of obesity.

RESEARCH | J Chilloux, @marcedumas.bsky.social et al. (Imperial College London)

The microbial metabolite TMA (precursor of TMAO) has beneficial metabolic and anti-inflammatory effects🧪

London is beautiful this time of the year

Industrial and agricultural chemicals exhibit antimicrobial activity against human gut bacteria in vitro - Nature Microbiology Screening of 1,076 compounds reveals 168 chemical pollutants with inhibitory effects on gut bacteria and genetic screens indicate commonality between pollutant and antibiotic resistance.

Excited to share our latest research in @natmicrobiol.nature.com . We uncover hundreds of inhibitory interactions between common chemical pollutants and human gut bacteria. A thread🧵 (1/10) #microbiomesky #microsky @kiranrpatil.bsky.social lab @mrc-tu.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...

I'm guest-editing a collection on "Enhancer-promoter interactions" at Genome Biology. Please send us your exciting stories!

link.springer.com/collections/...

Waste not: how researchers harness pee and poo for science It might seem gross, but these materials are treasure troves for research.

It might seem gross, but pee and poo are treasure troves for research

go.nature.com/4oSOtBW

A photo of a Nobel medal

BREAKING: The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded jointly to Mary E. Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell, and Shimon Sakaguchi "for their discoveries concerning peripheral immune tolerance"

Stay tuned for more.
#NobelPrize

Only Mikhail Tal Could Solve This Crazy Puzzle! [Even Kasparov Failed] YouTube video by Remote Chess Academy

If you like chess check out Igor Smirnov's brilliant channel, for example this crazy puzzle (and the historic story around it): youtu.be/IyyRCwKtChM?...

A chart of "Major concerns of PhD candidates." The top text says, "Financial pressures top the list of concerns faced by PhD candidates, but concerns differ among the sexes. Those studying in the United States rank the political landscape as their main worry." The chart shows that in the full survey, political landscape is the biggest concern for about 20% of students (a bit higher for women than men) but there's an annotation saying "In US PhD students, this rose to 64%". Overall, the highest-rated concern was financial pressures at around 40%.

That's quite the chart annotation.

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

a cartoon of two girls with the words " it 's all about which way you look " ALT: a cartoon of two girls with the words " it 's all about which way you look "

If you are leading a team, you have a responsibility to be a “pragmatic optimist”. Otherwise, you risk being disloyal to the amazing young people you work with. #FridayThoughts

a yellow sign that says we 're hiring ALT: a yellow sign that says we 're hiring

Spread the news! We are excited to expand our research team, working on cellular senescence, at the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, University of Cambridge.

jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/52026/
jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/52027/

Postdoctoral position in human gut microbiome and bioinformatics - VIB About the Lab Thelab of JeroenRaes(VIB, KU Leuven) is home to a vibrant, dynamic and international group of researchers in the field of gut microbial ecology and its

We're hiring a postdoc!🚨

Study human-associated microbial communities in health & disease.

🔬Requirements:
- PhD in bioinformatics, microbiology, or related field
- Expertise in omics data analysis
- Micro & molecular bio techniques are a plus!

Apply now!🌟
jobs.vib.be/j/119682/pos...

Great to see this work from Shiv Radhakrishnan and colleagues out in #GutMicrobes - using network analysis to explore #microbiome #metabolome interactions in an #IBD inception cohort: doi.org/10.1080/1949... @imperialmdr.bsky.social @imperialhepatology.bsky.social #IBDSky #GISky

Description Please note that job descriptions are not exhaustive, and you may be asked to take on additional duties that align with the key responsibilities ment...

We’re looking for an exceptional academic leader to Head our Department of Metabolism, Digestion and Reproduction @imperialmdr.bsky.social

Apply by 4 August 2025

www.imperial.ac.uk/jobs/search-...

Programme Leader Track - MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences We are recruiting Programme Leader Track positions focusing on 1) Metabolic Physiology using murine and/or human in vivo models and 2) Immunometabolism.

We're recruiting junior team leaders @mrc-lms.bsky.social This time we're looking for those working in human metabolic disease.

It's a great place to start your lab. Fantastic colleagues, exciting science, world class facilities. Join us!

lms.mrc.ac.uk/work/vacanci...

Event carbon calculator - the Node I am excited to announce the release of our event carbon calculator, our latest resource to support the creation of sustainable events. Estimate your

Calling all meeting organizers… @biologists.bsky.social now have a calculator to estimate your event’s carbon footprint and to test various reduction scenarios.

thenode.biologists.com/event-carbon...

Eureka! The brain science behind lightbulb moments Nature - Experiences of insight come with a burst of brain activity — and a memory boost.

Neuroscientists have revealed which regions of the brain are active and how they interact when discovery strikes

https://go.nature.com/4k7wpkd

New drug offers potential cure for ultra rare inherited condition A teenage patient who helped discover a rare condition is the first to benefit from a new treatment.

Great to see this story as Mary becomes the first patient in the UK and Europe to receive a targeted treatment for a rare, inherited immunodeficiency (APDS) identified by Cambridge researchers, including those from the Institute, in 2013.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Image of Matt Hurles, Director of the Sanger Institute on the right-hand side. Quote reads: ““The 25 years since the announcement of the completion of the human genome transformed our understanding of biology in both predicted and unpredicted ways. Now, we are looking to the future, applying the same collaborative approach to new, ambitious projects that aim to continue to build on the legacy of the Human Genome Project.”

25 years ago today, the first draft of the human genome was announced, a breakthrough that changed science forever 🧬

Read more about this achievement and the future of genomics over the next 25 years, here ⤵️

www.sanger.ac.uk/news_item/25...

Metabolic modeling reveals determinants of synbiotic efficacy in a human intervention trial. Synbiotic interventions show variable effects across individuals, likely driven by ecological interactions with the endogenous microbiota and the host diet. Rationally predicting individual-specific s...

Our latest preprint is online @medrxivpreprint.bsky.social:

"‪Metabolic modeling reveals determinants of synbiotic efficacy in a human intervention trial." www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...

Amazing work here by postdoc Nick Quinn-Bohmann @isbscience.org

🧵...