No shit. Looking forward to tanking my career once and for all when number 2 arrives this summer.

New online: Microtubules in the axon are GDP bound but adopt a stable GTP-like expanded state

Another fake disease AI thought was real was "Kyloren syndrome." It showed up in Google's AI Overview. It was from a hoax paper that @neuroskeptic.bsky.social wrote to expose a predatory journal. See "The garbage'll do", July 2017, in my hoax anthology, Stinging the Predators: bit.ly/StingPred

🚨📜Our new paper out in @AdvSciNews: ER shape matters for neuronal health - disrupting ER continuity halts neuro-firing as it slows Ca2+ store refill, explaining selective neuronal vulnerability to ER problems in neurodegeneration 🧠 a thread to follow advanced.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Finally, a GABA-A receptor question on University Challenge. Knew that PhD was good for something. Sadly only the dog around to witness my prowess and she’s asleep…

Just spotted “Philly hates Trump more than the Cowboys” 😂

Massive thanks to @jhenninger.bsky.social for the thoughtful preview of @katiegelder.bsky.social's recent story on CBP-IDRs. It’s fantastic to see her findings situated in the broader context of one of biology’s most dynamic fields* #IDRs #transcription #condensates www.cell.com/cell-reports...

CBP-IDRs regulate acetylation and gene expression

“Every person of means who spent time in Epstein’s world has a moral debt. Not a legal one, but a human one. The kind that an apology doesn’t discharge.”

Yesterday @ukri.org highlighted transparency in its new budget approach, stating: “We have changed how we account for budgets to make us as transparent as possible” and “Far from being deprioritised, applicant‑led funding – the central pillar of blue‑skies research – is growing substantially.” 🧵

Odd to claim transparency when saying "applicant-led funding – the central pillar of blue skies research – is growing substantially" while being silent on disciplinary changes within that budget e.g. blue skies funding in old MRC delivery plan was c.£200m pa is £113m pa in UKRI budget explainer

Happy to share that the study is now published in Advanced Science 🙌🥳 : advanced.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... I want to thank my co-authors and my amazing PI @lauraschaedel.bsky.social for all the help, lovely discussions and encouragement😀

Really pleased to share the *final* version of @katiegelder.bsky.social's super work, profiling the functional roles of #IDRs in CBP. Published today 🎉 🔗https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2026.117109 #IDRs #condensates #transcription #CBP #generegulation #enhancers (1/7)

Save the date for #NeuroBioUK26 Do you like neurons? Maybe glia? Molecules? Cell biology? - The venue is booked and we are excited to see you and your incredible science there on the 11th of September! Please do join our email list to stay up to date. neurobiouk.sites.sheffield.ac.uk

Plasmids are available now! "A universal protein ladder for standardisation of diverse FRET assays" www.addgene.org/browse/artic...

Fancy a fresh preprint for Friday? When we were first getting involved with single molecule FRET, there weren't any standard protein molecules that suited our applications to help us develop our pipeline. So we built some! A universal protein ladder for FRET. 🧵 1/

This is a telling quote on the super tight timeframe for bids to run a £40m AI lab “The labs being targeted will be able to meet the turnaround time because they have that kind of resource” Quite a top down approach to research funding? Not the first recent example of that ...

This piece is mostly about the big problems in STFC's budget, but Vallance also gave an important update on what's happening with the MRC funding calls that have been on pause since December He said calls would reopen in May at which point the council would set out “the totality” of its funding

UKRI shares first detailed comparisons of past and future spending under new ‘bucket’ model💐💐💐 Bucket 4 looks intentionally leaky This is the follow up from the committee hearing. The committee's challenge to change the bucket terminology hasn't been met. committees.parliament.uk/committee/13...

Can anyone think of an example of government spend of this magnitude and speed (excluding covid)?? 4 weeks from call announcement to submission (no advance warning) and within that only 2 weeks to flag your intention to submit. £40M total - individual awards £9.4M www.ukri.org/opportunity/...

Some good UK science policy select committee sessions to look forward to next week, in both the Commons and the Lords: 🍿 Tuesday 3 Mar - Lords S&T Committee quizzing Liz Kendall, Patrick Vallance and Emran Mian (DSIT Perm Sec). I imagine they'll be trying to get a handle on those buckets (ahem).

Our article on how GSK3b controls microtubule bundling in axons is live 🎉 Here's our #notthecover attempt www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

💯 "'[Elon’s] used the products of science to make his personal AI assistant Grok a mass engine of misogyny & white supremacy. I don’t understand how that isn’t scientific misconduct." - @dozenoaks.bsky.social of @royalsociety.org

Women's voices have been curiously absent from the media coverage of the Epstein files. Kudos to @jkutzie.bsky.social for publishing this excellent piece. If you consider yourself to be an ally please take a moment to consider the impact of the ecosystem created by men at the top.

This is one of the most heart-breaking & important articles I have ever read - from someone whose voices are so rarely heard, a teenaged girl. If you want to understand online misogyny in all its devastating impact, please read this shattering piece. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

There's been a bit of a change of tone in how UKRI leadership is talking about the funding reforms underway Ian Chapman acknowledged this week that “uncertainty about funding is an unhelpful overlay when already faced with great challenges” and said UKRI would engage “more concertedly” ...

Another update from #UKRI CEO on #UKsciencefunding #UKRI www.ukri.org/news/ukri-ce... No new information and fails to address/explain the severe funding rate cuts taking place at MRC for the round currently under review (Sept2025). That's 2025/26 budget so should *not* be affected by SR.

Sunday thoughts. Nurse’s reason for not expelling Musk from the Royal Society is “fellows should only be expelled for fraudulent science” www.theguardian.com/science/2026... Worth remembering - in 2018, Nurse was pretty ambivalent about repercussions for fraud too www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Mention of a “meaningful consultation” in this thread. We can dream I guess? In practice we still know diddly squat about what’s going on.

The International Day of Women and Girls in Science is definitely one to celebrate. We have come a long way, and the future is bright and hopeful. But to get there, we need to keep acknowledging the systemic biases that sadly still exist nowadays 👇🏻

Further clarifications yesterday. Thanks for flagging @nisaccom.bsky.social

the cutoff scores for #MSCA postdoc fellowships are very high this year. has the score distribution shifted compared to previous years? I made a plot with scores from past years. if scores are at ceiling level, the process becomes essentially a lottery, because minor issues can lead to deductions.

The files show a long list of storied scientists willing to spend time with Epstein after his 2008 conviction. We wade through ‘muck’ as women in science, everyday. This is the evidence. Whatever their protestations they were entirely comfortable putting the victims to one side for financial gain.

So now we have it- not only the reduction from 12-13 to 3 grants from each board recommended for funding but the budget for applicant-led research to be reduced from £200 million to £113 million per year. This is appalling, Especially given all that is happening with medical research in the US.

#neuroskyence #neurosci #PainResearch 🧪💊 By @physoc.bsky.social A brilliant scientist and leader has left us. I taught about Dr. Dolphin's work on calcium channels and gabapentin in our pharmacology curriculum. Remembering Annette Dolphin (1951 – 2026)

Four senior UKRI leaders appeared at a press briefing this morning in the wake of RPN stories over the last week about a shake-up to research council funding Our story that the MRC is expecting to fund fewer grants through applicant-led calls that closed in September last year was confirmed ...

This gets to some important points. There was always something cold, even chilling, about Brockman's "Edge" culture. That feeling still pervades some scientific circles. There's a real problem here that won't go away with Epstein. www.theverge.com/2019/9/19/20...

The peer reviewed and updated version of this work is now online (although not quite the fully formatted version). We had an existential crisis about kinesin-1 regulation while developing this work, but we are super proud of everything we put into this project. www.cell.com/iscience/ful...

In recent days there have been a number of reports about cuts to UKRI budgets and grant funding pauses. www.sciencecampaign.org.uk/analysis-and...

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 🧵

I think Ian Chapman's focus throughout this process has been excessively PI-centred and ignores early career researchers and training. A big funding pause doesn't cause them to worry about their jobs. It causes them to lose their jobs. And to be unable to get new ones. Their careers will be ended.

Asked if UKRI is failing to take the research community with it on reforms, Chapman said: "We have not done our communications in the right way over the last month or so" "We have not done a good enough job of engagement...that happened because of information security not being good enough"

Context - Ian Chapman is in front of the Parliamentary Science, Innovation and Technology Select Committee this morning.

Next, @isaacbarbosa1.bsky.social writes that researchers have warned that changes to applicant-led funding opportunities at the MRC and the BBSRC are hitting morale and could put jobs at risk. www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-r...

Oh great

Leaks everywhere and finally we get an official statement, one that somehow manages to say a lot while; No timelines. No clarity. No acknowledgement of impact on ECRs whose careers depend UKRI funding. “Later this year” isn’t a plan. And the sector deserves better than reassurance without detail.

Pushing this out on a Sunday night is something of an acknowledgment of the epic failure in communication over the past week. There’s no apology though and not much in the way of explanation.

Today, we're sharing an open letter from our Chief Executive, Professor Sir Ian Chapman, outlining changes to UKRI investment approach, and addressing concerns about research funding and the financial position of STFC. Read his letter here: www.ukri.org/news/open-le...

At a time when the UK should be capitalising on its global reputation as a great place to do science, this is an enormous own goal. I am so sorry for all those who jobs are going to be impacted.