Alan Wolffe told me in 1998 that the central goal of chromatin scholarship is to determine which of its states are instructive and which are merely permissive for gene expression. The sum total of rigorous TAD literature since says they are the latter and very rarely the former.

While stories of singular DNA changes that drove evolution of human brain/behaviour remain seductive, advances across multiple fields of biology cast doubt on such simplistic narratives of our origins. A new paper from my lab shows how biobanks may speak to this fundamental question.🧪 Explainer🧵👇1/n

Come and join us at Imperial College to work a project looking at mechanisms in Long Covid and ME/CFS We're looking for: A keen, experienced Research Nurse A gifted molecular immunologist with a strong bioinformatics background www.imperial.ac.uk/.../descript.... www.imperial.ac.uk/.../descript....

Reminder, #MEcfs researchers: all consented data from @decodemestudy.bsky.social is available to researchers, including individual-level genotypes and symptom questionnaire responses institute-genetics-cancer.ed.ac.uk/decodeme-the... Summary stats & questionnaires available: osf.io/rgqs3/files/...

UK to rejoin EU’s Erasmus student exchange programme

PRIME Workshop 1 explores how AI and machine learning can support molecular and genetic biomarker discovery in ME/CFS and Long COVID. 🗓️ 21 January 2026 | 💻 Online With speakers from Harvard, Edinburgh, McGill and others. Organised by PRIME, building research infrastructure for ME/CFS.

NEW: Five years of social media history is only a fraction of what the US Government will shortly demand of overseas visitors. The full requirements will end tourism in the United States. Below is the full, mind-blowing list. 🚨THEY. WANT. YOUR. DNA.🚨 1/

The DecodeME team have done amazing things this year! 👩‍🔬 Really pleased to have this opportunity to celebrate their work ⭐️

Five years after Covid, and given the early predictions about long-term illness, it’s astonishing that a major UK study comparing ME/CFS and Long Covid is only being done now and has to rely on charity. This type of work should have been funded by the government from the start.

1/2: Driving discovery: The ME Association invests £1.1m into pioneering research programme! We are incredibly proud to unveil news of our latest investment into ground-breaking research to help world-leading scientists uncover shared pathways between ME/CFS and Long Covid. #pwME

9) The article also mentions the outbreaks after which the term Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME) was introduced, such as LA, Akureyri, and the Royal Hospital in London in 1955.

My dad abhors any negative comments about immigrants. Asked him recently why he’s so strong on it: ‘Because we’re always happy to take the rich and clever ones. Which means it’s not about disliking immigrants. It’s about disliking the poor and vulnerable. And that’s a bad human instinct.’

WEBINAR TODAY: Our researchers are unpacking the new ME genetics study today - join the live webinar to hear the findings first-hand and get your questions answered. 📅 Today 🕑 2PM GMT 🔗 Register: us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi... #pwME #MECFS #longCOVID #MissingMillions

Find a great project with the @uoe-eid.bsky.social Future Medicine PhD fellowships 2026, including with #IGC's @cgatist.bsky.social, @aryback.bsky.social, Sara Brown and Liz Patton, and IGC affiliates Kelly Blacklock, @avakhamseh.bsky.social and @sjoerdvbeentjes.bsky.social 👇 edin.ac/3MDRZle

(1/4) 🧬 @precisionlife.bsky.social has released exciting results from the LOCOME project Using DecodeME and other datasets, LOCOME has identified a number of genetic signals and biological pathways that may be involved in ME.

New myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME, also known as ME/CFS) genetics study reveals 250+ core genes, shared mechanisms with long COVID, and dozens of drug repurposing opportunities. This would not have been possible without the thousands of people with ME who contributed their data. Thank you.

Delighted how @precisionlife.bsky.social and @actionforme.bsky.social et al used consented @decodemestudy.bsky.social data to -replicate #MEcfs genetic signal & -show its shared/distinct genetics with Long Covid. Next: replicate ME/CFS subtypes w/ targeted therapies www.medrxiv.org/content/10.6...

"What’s New in ME/CFS?" A new Q&A series from Solve M.E. featuring top scientists on breakthroughs, hope, & what’s next. We’re kicking off with Prof. Chris Ponting of @decodemestudy.bsky.social. 🎥 Watch now → youtu.be/26EgGn49osw #MECFS #DecodeME #LongCOVID #SolveME #MEAwarenessHour

A reminder to join our Research Webinar on LOCOME's final findings as the project closes. 📅 Friday 5 December, 2pm-3pm (UK time) 📍 Free online webinar via Zoom Hear from researchers and advocates Dr Steve Gardner, Krystyna Taylor, Helen Baxter, Daphne Lamirel, and Sonya Chowdhury as they share:

Join EMBL's Interdisciplinary Postdoc Programme! 3 years funding, self-designed interdisciplinary project co-led between EMBL PI and PI in one of EMBL's actual, prospect or associate member states. In particular: AI&Theory, use mathem. models, physics principles and AI www.embl.org/about/info/p...

"Our hope is that our research will lead to effective diagnoses and clinical trials in the future." @cgatist.bsky.social talks about his research into Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME) which affects 400k people in the UK. Watch here 👉 edin.ac/4p7CFvO @cmvm-edinburghuni.bsky.social

theredtreeandme.substack.com/p/red-leaves... Huge thanks to all the ME/CFS scientists & clinicians from around the world for the messages of hope given to #TheRedTreeandME for people with ME @chestercathedral.bsky.social @cgatist.bsky.social

I'm delighted to say we have won the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Education with our work on OpenSAFELY, inventing new methods that let researchers analyse NHS GP data while protecting everyone's privacy, and with complete transparency, in a hugely productive platform! www.ox.ac.uk/news/2025-11...

This hit home: "And it felt tremendously tough – depressing much of the time, arduous almost all of the time, but then occasionally joyful, inspiring, even triumphant when it came together." Prof Sir Ian Chapman - new chief executive of UK Research & Innovation (UKRI) www.ukri.org/publications...

This paragraph from Brightling and Evans' report is very concerning. The government stopped the long-term follow-up of cohort studies in 2021. 🤦

Come to Edinburgh to study genomics and human disease! We are recruiting to our 4 year PhD programme - closing date 11th January 2026 institute-genetics-cancer.ed.ac.uk/igc-graduate...

Being interdisciplinary needs the courage to be misunderstood, to never completely fit in, to not get all inside jokes, trends, or status markers. It requires us to sit with the discomfort of simultaneously entertaining opposing views, to resist being shamed or guilted into someone else’s truth.

Becoming interdisciplinary takes longer than mastering one discipline or switching between a few without return. Being Interdisciplinary means switching POV but always returning, like homeostasis. The different disciplines come & go like different phases of breath, breathing an air of understanding.

I'm looking for top-notch candidate for a fully-funded PhD working on role of somatic mutations in ageing immune decline. Ideal for wet-lab or quantitative candidates. Fantastic collaboration with Prof Martin Taylor in Edinburgh THE UK expert in mutations. www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

"It may be uncomfortable to conclude that a widely used study design has been producing spurious results. But the evidence is in, and telling uncomfortable truths is a part of doing science." Problems with twin studies. theinfinitesimal.substack.com/p/the-missin...

I want to extend my full support to staff threatened with compulsory redundancy at the University of Edinburgh. I have today written to the Principal imploring him to change direction.

1) INFO FOR RESEARCHERS: The charity ME Research UK (MERUK) has an open call for PhD-level research funding. Applicants should submit an Outline Proposal Form before Friday, 9 January 2026.

Doing your own research isn’t a bad thing, I tell my patients. But just how will they spot the fraudulent papers? | Ranjana Srivastava

New Booklet: Prevalence of ME/CFS in the UK This new booklet summarises the latest research and historic estimates, how many people in the UK have ME/CFS, and the impact of Covid-19 on these estimates. Download the booklet: https://meassociation.org.uk/yb89 #pwME #MECFS #Prevelance #LongCovid

1) 🇺🇸 The RECOVER study published its data on Long COVID trajectories. Of those infected with SARS-CoV-2 infection, 5% had persistently high Long COVID-related symptom burden. An additional 12% had a high burden that fluctuated but did not improve over time.

Available to buy now: One Red Leaf at a Time Greetings Cards. All proceeds go to our #MEcfs research @uoe-igc.bsky.social. Thank you @drjogreer.bsky.social & Dr Clare Raynor! theredtreeandme.substack.com/p/one-red-le... #oneredleafatatime

New📢 Between molecular and human traits is a yawning gap: What do molecules do to single cells? We tested *all* human or mouse miRNA mimics for their cell morphological effects on 5 cell lines. To do so, we applied Cell Painting at the *single cell* level (100,000+ images). doi.org/10.1101/2025...

Available to buy now: One Red Leaf at a Time Greetings Cards. All proceeds go to our #MEcfs research @uoe-igc.bsky.social. Thank you @drjogreer.bsky.social & Dr Clare Raynor! theredtreeandme.substack.com/p/one-red-le... #oneredleafatatime

New📢 Between molecular and human traits is a yawning gap: What do molecules do to single cells? We tested *all* human or mouse miRNA mimics for their cell morphological effects on 5 cell lines. To do so, we applied Cell Painting at the *single cell* level (100,000+ images). doi.org/10.1101/2025...

Welcome to the consequences of our burning of fossil fuels, our plane journeys, our submission to oil companies. Here are the consequences today, and they may well be lapping at your door, coming up through your floor, or your family’s/friends’ soon. Turn the tide. www.facebook.com/reel/2089524...

Regretfully (for the sake of the authors and journal staff), I have this morning declined an invitation to review for a @royalsociety.org journal because of the Society’s continued refusal to stand up for its values in dealing with Elon Musk FRS.

Come and join us here in Cambridge! Applications open for a new faculty position, for a researcher in computational and/or theoretical biology, based jointly in Genetics and Mathematics. Happy to answer questions about research, teaching and working here. www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/faculty...

Thank you to the HCP who wrote to us about the real-world impact of our @decodemestudy.bsky.social study:

When people celebrate the individual genius of folks in science, they should also mourn the collective loss of genius of folks who were actively discouraged or disadvantaged from a career in science because of the same person(s)

Interested in ME/CFS research? Want to do a PhD with @aryback.bsky.social, @avakhamseh.bsky.social, @sjoerdvbeentjes.bsky.social & @cgatist.bsky.social? Then apply for a *funded* Future Medicine PhD Fellowship. See: www.findaphd.com/phds/project... Please contact us to discuss before applying.

Ration flying now True impact of your flying several times higher than commonly used CO₂ calculators suggest For example current calculations for first class from Singapore to Zurich on B777 plane, say it emits 5000 kg when in fact its 14,000 kg #climate www.newscientist.com/article/2502...

In collaboration with WWTF (a big non-profit in Vienna dedicated to science), the WE&ME has created ME/CFS fellowships: 6-month research stays with funding of up to € 40,000. www.wwtf.at/funding/prog... Screenshot from latest Science for ME weekly update #ChronicFatigueSyndrome #MEcfs #CFS #PwME

We've just launched the first large, site-less (home, direct to participant) randomized trial for treatment of #LongCovid, testing tirzepatide (a GLP-1 drug) vs placebo. Please help spread the word www.scripps.edu/news-and-eve...

New Publication: Genome-Wide Aggregated Trans Effects Analysis for Circulating Proteins Indicates a Key Role of Immune Checkpoints in Type 1 Diabetes @uoe-igc.bsky.social diabetesjournals.org/diabetes/art...