With Eugene Koonin, we propose a concept of “the selfish ribosome”, under which evolution of life is viewed as a ribosomal takeover, where the ribosome evolved to consume most of the cell’s resources, while other cellular componentry ensures the propagation of the ribosome. arxiv.org/abs/2602.23268

Our story on #FBXW7 and #biotin in #glutamine_addiction is now peer-reviewed and published in Molecular Cell! Heroic work led by the very first postdoc of the lab @miriamlisci.bsky.social. Have a look! www.cell.com/molecular-ce...

This is correct

My objection to LLMs is not about form but substance: writing is about the only thing a PI actually produces. LLM coaching makes writing yet another task where we're managers instead of makers. It's the final victory of the managerial model – same reason why I'm also against outsourcing research

This is absolutely the opposite of how I understand academic writing

Excited to share the latest research from the group! We have a new paper out in @asbmbjournals.bsky.social led by our first PhD student! Here we look at the enzyme SAMHD1, a key player in dNTP metabolism and chemotherapy resistance www.jbc.org/article/S002... cc @scilifelab.se @ki.se 🧵

20 new Technology Development Projects funded as call strengthens collaboration across and beyond SciLifeLab. 🧪 A goal of the TDPs is that the developed technologies will eventually be offered as new services to the user community. More & list of projects ↓

This work shows that gene function is not fixed but dynamically shaped by a cell’s environment, and that mapping those shifts can reveal biology invisible to single-condition screens. Download the full paper: www.cell.com/molecular-ce...

Congratulations to Sonomi Yamaguchi for her paper at @nature.com. Sonomi discovered Clover defense and explained how nucleotide signals control each step of viral sensing, immune regulation, and viral restriction – named for her beautiful "four-leaf" structures 🍀 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

A Pan-Cancer Ex Vivo Drug Screen Atlas for Functional Precision Oncology https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.02.14.705918v1

Recognizing dUTPase as a mitotic factor essential for early embryonic development https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.01.16.699898v1

Excited to share the latest research from the group! We have a new paper out in @asbmbjournals.bsky.social led by our first PhD student! Here we look at the enzyme SAMHD1, a key player in dNTP metabolism and chemotherapy resistance www.jbc.org/article/S002... cc @scilifelab.se @ki.se 🧵

We carried out a mechanistic study on how the PCBP1 protein destabilizes i-motifs. Understanding these interactions helps clarify fundamental mechanisms that control genome function. Grateful for the long-term support we have received! @kawresearch.bsky.social @mbb-umu.bsky.social rdcu.be/e2pIv

Unrepaired DNA-protein crosslinks cause a process that leads to premature aging and embryonic lethality in mice. The findings in Science reveal a previously unrecognized link between defective DNA repair and immune-driven inflammatory disease. https://scim.ag/4qdZWf9

"authors also express frustration at the amount of work expected for a single publishable unit, a concern we share (while humbly noting that it may not be held by the same authors when they serve as reviewers of other work)" <-THAT www.nature.com/articles/s41... ht @ritastrack.bsky.social

apropos of absolutely nothing, a lot of scientists could profit from reading this editorial from legendary Conan Kornetsky upon retiring from an editor position. link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Dear Colleagues, Delighted to share that our first lab paper is now published in Nature.!!! 😊😊😊 We identify a previously concealed “safety limit” in DNA replication program: cells intrinsically rate-limit PCNA via PAF15, shaping strand-specific and global replication dynamics. 👉 rdcu.be/e1bBt

Obesity rewires nucleotide metabolism in immune cells, making inflammatory responses via NLRP3 inflammasome much easier to trigger www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... @science.org @zhenyuzhong.bsky.social @utswim.bsky.social

Want to get the data out of a PDF figure? As in, the actual data – not a rough trace-along-the-lines version? I made an app you might like: adamkucharski.github.io/pdf2plot/ It all started a few years ago... 🧵

Defending PhD student, looking over their thesis: “If I knew then what I know now, I could’ve done all of this in like 9 months.” A thread about my favorite pioneering cave explorers and why I don’t think AI will ever “solve” biology.

@science.org Deep contrastive learning enables genome-wide virtual screening | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

I guess I should re-post from the Bird Site "The Rules For Academic Success here": I always get asked for advice about starting/surviving the tenure track. Here are the rules I've found useful. Thought I'd put it out there for the masses... This list gets longer all the time

This is a great and welcome acknowledgment that we need more publishing venues explicitly dedicated to limiting publication bias journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

It feels to me as if this is missing something about getting out of projects that are floundering with *something* to show for the effort and investment of funds.

Blog post: Just quit Quitting projects in science is hard, but we should be doing a lot more of it. open.substack.com/pub/arjunraj...

A new community-driven lab handbook for reducing conflict and creating more positive and equitable work environments gets strong support from a survey of 200 researchers. buff.ly/K7CGFLV

Our call for 27 PULSE #postdocs is OPEN! PhD within the last 3 years looking to grow your life science career? SciLifeLab PULSE (MSCA Cofund) offers 3-year postdoc fellowships at Swedish universities with academic & industry secondments 🧪 🖥️ 🧬 📅 Apply Dec 15, 2025-Mar 16, 2026 👉 bit.ly/3MD7Pwz

Increasing TET expression and 5-hydroxymethylcytosine formation by a carbocyclic 5-aza-2'-deoxy-cytidine antimetabolite https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.26.690736v1

Treatment with ATC, an investigational azanucleoside, invariably leads to BCP-ALL in immunodeficient mice. Read the full article in Blood Neoplasia: buff.ly/wnGzwQt

NUDT5 regulates the global efficacy of nucleoside analog drugs by coordinating purine synthesis and PRPP allocation https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.20.689348v1

Our data complements recent works from the Yang, Kubicek/Huber, DeBerardinis, and Jourdain labs to position NUDT5 as a core regulator of nucleotide metabolism and rheostat of NA drug efficacy. A huge thanks to the Altun lab, SciLifeLab DDDP, @seanrudd.bsky.social, and others. 3/n

We find that NUDT5-depleted cells are stuck in de novo purine biosynthesis (DNPB) with impaired nucleotide salvage. NUDT5 binds PPAT, the rate-limiting enzyme of DNPB, and appears to regulate its activity and PRPP availability to impair salvage-mediated NA drug activation. 2/n

Happy to share a new preprint on NUDT5's role in regulating nucleoside analog (NA) drug efficacy. 🔗 👇 🧵: We show that perturbing NUDT5 abundance by RNAi or a PROTAC (DDD2), but not inhibition with TH5427, desensitizes cells to thiopurines and most NA drugs in a titratable manner. 1/n

1/New paper from Zheng Wu, Phong Nguyen et al. @cri-utsw.bsky.social shows how cells balance the two pathways that produce purine nucleotides: de novo purine biosynthesis (DNPB) and purine salvage. The surprising mechanism involves NUDT5, a Nudix hydrolase www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

New preprint from the lab for any DNA repair or replication stress geeks out there! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

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

From descriptive to quantitative biocatalysis “The 1913 study ‘Die Kinetik der Invertinwirkung’, by Michaelis and Menten, marked a pivotal advancement in enzymology by illustrating the application of mechanistic models and quantitative kinetics to biocatalysis.” doi.org/10.1038/s419...

Ribonucleotide incorporation into mitochondrial DNA drives inflammation www.nature.com/articles/s41... Congratulations to the Langer lab @mpiage.bsky.social, Amir, and the rest of the team!

Excited to share our lab’s latest preprint! We identify DDIAS as a novel single-stranded DNA-binding component of the TOPBP1–CIP2A complex, which acts in a mitotic DNA damage response pathway to protect chromosome integrity. Short summary below, and read it here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Excited to share our discovery of potent TRIM21 molecular glues with anticancer activity, online today @CD_AACR: "Defining the antitumor mechanism of action of a clinical-stage compound as a selective degrader of the nuclear pore complex". 1/18

Glioblastoma, an aggressive brain cancer, depends on the amino acid serine as a fuel source go.nature.com/4mIcCtD

My first post on bsky to share our latest research in @nature.com: “DNA2 enables growth by restricting recombination-restarted replication” - defines DNA2’s essential function & elucidates links with primordial dwarfism and cancer. Thanks to the lab, collaborators & @ukri.org @acmedsci.bsky.social

Check our new website – night-science.org – and consider also helping us to launch the Night Science Institute!

It is not always safe to repair DNA Damage. Sometimes, cells "just bypass it". During DNA replication, repair of lesions on DNA can be dangerous. Cells instead "tolerate" DNA damage and focus on finishing replication. Read our review and find out why and how: doi.org/10.1016/j.ti...

Classical macrophage activation reprograms nucleotide metabolism by suppressing de novo synthesis and enhancing salvage pathways (through nitric oxide...) @natmetabolism.nature.com doi.org/10.1038/s422... 🧪 Great N&V's on metabolic immune control by @ryanlab.bsky.social www.nature.com/artic...

High tide or low tide: the transport and metabolism of mitochondrial nucleotides portlandpress.com/biochemj/art...

new out in Nature www.nature.com/articles/s41...

A missing enzyme-rescue metabolite as cause of a rare skeletal dysplasia share.google/dUNL7g7DkUle...

New review: Mellor, Larson, and @drmengwang.bsky.social discuss the molecular mechanisms of mammalian genomic instability arising from folate deficiency and how this impacts genome biology in health and disease. rupress.org/jcb/article/... #CellMetabolism

"if we do the work only for rewards and recognition, we have gone astray. It becomes hollow. Creative work of every sort (not just science) occurs in a niche where the inner drive to understand or express and the outer drive to be rewarded achieve some balance."