Day 2 Paris: excellent series of talks (slides often in English but most talks in French 🇬🇧🇫🇷). Mixture of journal club style with some new data. Very educational.

Day 1 Paris: touristic walk, touristy restaurant (but I did loads of work on the Eurostar, so I don’t feel guilty) 😅🇫🇷

The beginning of a new era. Behold the Dickens lab @thecimr.bsky.social - small but perfectly formed. Excited for what is to come! Thanks @profmarciniak.bsky.social for letting me squat until now…

Je suis ravi de prendre la parole demain à la journée de recherche de Filfoie: Filière de santé des maladies rares du foie (si le train est à l'heure 🤞)

This deserves more attention than it has received. Gove: "we were too anxious as a government to secure those deals in order to show that Brexit was working". Exactly as so many of us warned at the time, and as the government denied at the time. www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/country-and-...

Got my ‘flu vaccine 😇 Thanks @cuh.nhs.uk

Many things at play here, but hard to ignore the fact that the UK left an enormous trading bloc and raised barriers to commerce with its nearest neighbours for petty nationalist reasons based on disinformation. Want economic growth and improved regional investment? Rejoin the EU.

Feeling unwell? If you have COVID symptoms, TEST If you test positive, ISOLATE If you can’t test, MASK Protect yourself and others (especially high-risk people) - it still matters!

Delighted that Ziqi Dong's PhD paper is out for all to read! Hypoxia is fundamental to normal development, and fascinating! Thanks to all of our co-authors including @jamesnathanlab.bsky.social @jellevda.bsky.social authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S...

Also, if you're "in bed with flu", it's almost certainly Covid.

Glad to be up here in Newcastle for the annual Newcastle Edinburgh Cambridge Sheffield (NECS) respiratory research meeting. Always informative, friendly and fun.

Great to host our new @stcatharines.bsky.social medics before their first college dinner 🩺😷🚑🩻⚕️

*gasp*

Cats like to sleep on the left www.cell.com/current-biol...

And look at this graphic abstract….. 😱🤯

Something slightly different for me Just chaired a French language teachers’ conference arranged by Alliance Française d’East Anglia Over 50 teachers joined online to hear about the challenges of teaching French and how we can work together to address them 🇫🇷📚 www.alliance-cam.co.uk/courses/insp...

Ooohhh....GCN1 couples GCN2 to ribosomal state to initiate amino acid response pathway signaling | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Early start as heading to London to participate in the 28th Gordon L. Snider Critical Issues Workshop “AAT Polymers: Disease Pathogenesis, Detection, and Therapeutic Targeting” alpha1.org/wp-content/u...

Today, @NHSEngland delivers the first flu and COVID jabs of the season, to ‘winter-proof’ the vulnerable. Find out how to book if you're eligible: https://www.nhs.uk/nhs-services/vaccination-and-booking-services/

🚨 BREAKING: Gavi-supported vaccines saved a record-breaking 1.7 million lives in 2024 – a staggering 400,000 more than in 2023 and the highest number of lives saved in a single year in Gavi's history. Here’s the overview: bit.ly/4gLxRIW

Day 3 Naples: a full day of fascinating meetings at @tigem.bsky.social. Such outstanding scientists! Many new collaborations will follow Evening of sumptuous local cuisine with Pasquale Piccolo then nap cap at Carmine’s apparemment with views of Vesuvius from his balcony 🌋

Day 2 Naples: productive scientific discussions at @tigem.bsky.social with the great Nicola Brunetti & Carmine Settembre by day, and wonderful Neapolitan cuisine by night. Excellent Manhattans btw🍸🇮🇹

Andy Burnham: I want to rejoin the EU Me: So do I ! www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...

Andy Burnham calls for UK to rejoin EU within his lifetime Wow! Bravo! It has finally been said by a leading Labour politician 👏👏👏🇪🇺🇬🇧 www.theguardian.com/politics/liv...

Pleased to hear from multiple sources that our very own Froher Yasin (FY doctor) did a terrific job at presenting her work in Birt-Hogg-Dubé genetic testing in the UK. #ERScongress @lifearc.bsky.social @cuh.nhs.uk @genomicsengland.bsky.social

Lab news: @lily-wu.bsky.social just received her ALTA award 🥇 at the #ERScongress in Amsterdam ! She’s pictured here with Dr Froher Yasin, an honorary lab memeber; a resident doctor giving a talk for us on Birt-Hogg-Dubé genetic testing in the UK @thecimr.bsky.social @cuh.nhs.uk

Day 1 Naples: a proper pizza at 50 Kalò (a chain, but a good one). Capricciosa evoluta and a glass of Caggiano 2020 H/t to @angelopilotti.bsky.social for local knowledge

In Naples for couple of days for work, but have a little spare time Monday. What should I see? 🇮🇹 And restaurant recommendations in the Chiaia quarter please 🍝🍕

Having finished September’s #Wokeratibookclub book early, I thought I’d make a start on the book I’d picked for October. It’s certainly enjoyable but since my maths & physics are _very_ rusty (A-levels when Margaret Thatcher was still in power), I wonder if I’ve bitten off more than I can chew 😂

Our new reviewed preprint now available in @elife.bsky.social “A GCN1-independent activator of the kinase GCN2” First authors, PhD student @jessyzhu-jiayi.bsky.social & PDRA @giulia-ema.bsky.social Pleased to be exploring the new eLife publishing model #ISRliterature doi.org/10.7554/eLif...

How sighing regulates pulmonary surfactant structure and its role in breathing mechanics. Via ScienceAdvances www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

A fascinating article about ex-Brexit party MEP “The former leader of Reform UK in Wales has pleaded guilty to bribery charges relating to statements in favour of Russia in the European Parliament” www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

#OTD in 1918, the Indianapolis News reported an outbreak of influenza at Fort Harrison. By October 2, the epidemic had spread into the community and the "Indianapolis Board of Health essentially shut down all public gatherings in the city." indyencyclopedia.org/1918-spanish...

What do you do when your media org is captured? You start your own. Introducing....The Nerve!!! @thenerve-news.bsky.social We're all-female, journalist-owned & launching next week. Please help us build a truly independent, progressive new media!👊👊👊

Data supporting the feeling many of us have that “there’s a lot of Covid about at the moment” assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/68d502...

Nice to see that officials at the highest levels can eventually be brought to justice. On an unrelated note, have the origins of overseas funds supporting leave in the Brexit referendum ever been adequately explained?

“UK wants to end pricing feud with drugs companies, says science minister” FT Interesting question raised: should the QALY be adjusted for inflation? Rather than £20-30K per qualify adjusted life year, should it now be £35-45K (inflation adjusted)? Health economists? www.ft.com/content/4715...

uniQure press release rather than peer reviewed publication, but still, very exciting “Three years after surgery there was an average 75% slowing of the disease based on a measure which combines cognition, motor function and the ability to manage in daily life” www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Had a day off today, so spent it with Greenwood Academy Trust CEO Wayne Norrie visiting schools in Corby. I’m a GAT trustee and our schools like meeting the board. The schools are inspirational, with passionate staff and wonderful, hardworking, polite pupils.

“Does paracetamol cause autism? The short answer is: no. Genetics plays a major role in autism, but scientists are also investigating the potential role of environmental factors such as parental age, premature birth and prenatal exposure to drugs, environmental chemicals or infections.”

PhD-done ✅ 🙌 Huge thanks to my examiners @profmarciniak.bsky.social from University of Cambridge and Dr. James Harker from @imperialcollegeldn.bsky.social for such a thorough & engaging viva voce - a journey thru immune mechanisms of fibrotic lung disease Grateful & excited for what’s next! 🎓✨

NHS guidelines stand In the UK, paracetamol (acetaminophen in USA) is the first choice of painkiller if you're pregnant. It's commonly taken during pregnancy and does not harm your baby www.nhs.uk/medicines/pa...

“An American university has launched an investigation into an archaeology professor suspected of being an 'antifa'” “"We know that he said in front of witnesses, 'Nazis, I hate those guys.' This is radical hate speech," said Laura Loomer, a conservative columnist.” #IndianaJones 😁

Peer review in politics Genius !

I totally agree. Summaries may be fine for some forms of science communications but scientists need the detail to make up their minds on the veracity of claims in papers.

💙 Our new findings show that babies younger than 3 months, whose mothers received the maternal RSV vaccination, were 80% less likely to end up in hospital than those whose mums hadn’t been vaccinated. Find out more 🔽 publichealthscotland.scot/news/2025/au... #VaccinesWork

Reading papers is a basic skill (and dare I say duty?) of scientists, and I include medical doctors in that group. Keeping abreast of the literature is a foundational part of our professions. There aren’t good shortcuts. In any case, reading papers regularly is fun. arstechnica.com/ai/2025/09/s...

Two children died of whooping cough in Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, sharing concerns over the historic outbreak, in a statement he says in part, "No child in Louisiana should die from a vaccine-preventable disease. Please protect your children with a vaccine." www.wdsu.com/article/whoo...

It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Will academics and specialists in R&D industries pay or will this drive talent abroad, 🇨🇦🇪🇺🇬🇧🇦🇺🇯🇵?