Just returned from an incredible 3-day multi-lab retreat with the teams of Daniele Fachinetti, Nick @naltemose.bsky.social, and Dominika Gruszka in Pêra, Portugal. Sunshine😎, great company 🤗 and fantastic centromere and chromatin science 🔬! Thanks to all the teams for this wonderful gathering!

Pls re-post: My department @oxfordbiochemistry.bsky.social are recruiting for several new faculty positions (links below). Broad search in molecular biology/biochemistry, across prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Interested in understanding life at the molecular level, this job might be for you! 1/n

I had a lot of fun putting this together with @suminkim.bsky.social and @andersshansen.bsky.social! Glad to have had the chance to work on it!

Come to hear Alan's great new story on SET1/MLL proteins and transcription next Wednesday. @fnucleosome.bsky.social

Unbelievably, #DuvetKnowItsChristmas generates such good will on social media that over the years we've raised somewhere approaching a quarter of a million quid for homeless charities. If you can spare a bob or two, sling some to Centrepoint, and here's the link: www.gofundme.com/f/duvet-know...

This year I'm hosting Christmas in my 1-bed flat. My brother has inherited last year's airbed setup and I've upgraded to an actual bed! Just a (freezing) 10-minute cycle down the road to my friend's house to get to it... I get to hang out with Imogen though so I'm still happy #DuvetKnowItsChristmas

Excited to share our new preprint from the Klose lab, where we investigate how SET1/MLL complexes shape H3K4me3 and regulate transcription in mouse ES cells. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Very proud to have our latest work now online in @natsmb.nature.com. A wonderful team effort across the centromere community, across @jansenlab.bsky.social @naltemose.bsky.social @dfachinetti.bsky.social and Giunta labs. Happy reading! 1/4 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

This October I’m drawing 1 molecule a day inspired by proteins in pdb @rcsbpdb.bsky.social Day 20/31 Prompt RIVALS Pdb: 8V27 & 8G6S Two rival histone modifications on a nucleosome. Ubiquitination of H2BK120 activates genes while H2AK119 represses them. Next: BLAST Suggestions?

Time to talk about one of my favourite Oxford buildings, 26-27-28 Cornmarket!! Popularly known as The Old Pret

If you're looking for Oxford local news that actually reports local news, the Oxford Clarion is worth a follow and subscribe!

Who can work in science, EVERYONE #pride

EPIGENETIC HULK READY TO SMASH AGAIN! GET IN LOSERS!

🔬 New from the Farnung Lab: We established a fully in vitro reconstituted chromatin replication system and report the first cryo-EM snapshots of the human replisome engaging nucleosomes. Brilliant work by @felixsteinruecke.bsky.social with support from @jonmarkert.bsky.social! tinyurl.com/replisome

RNA xkcd.com/3056

Research @oxfordbiochemistry.bsky.social @ox.ac.uk supported by the Wellcome Trust (UK) and NIH (USA) reveals essential new player in the process of deciding whether genes should be made or not. Great work @jesskelley.bsky.social @robklose.bsky.social @edimitrova.bsky.social 👏 bit.ly/202502-klose

@bencarty.bsky.social and the team did a fantastic job in a wonderful collaboration with @naltemose.bsky.social as well as Dani Fachinetti and Simona Giunta’s teams to help define the molecular basis for maintaining centromeric chromatin size and position. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

I love scientists

Do you know a UK-based wheelchair user who works in a lab and would be willing to user-test our prototype of what is believed to be the first-ever lab coat adapted for wheelchair users? Please share far & wide! Interest form: forms.office.com/e/66FhcQjqRT More info: www.ucl.ac.uk/ucl-east/new...

So I'll be back around then. We'll be trying to raise a bit of money for Centrepoint, bearing in mind that there are a bunch of people who have nowhere to go this evening. gofund.me/637d21d0 ENDS FOR NOW 🎄🛏️

I finally get to join an honoured festive tradition in #DuvetKnowItsChristmas Parents are stopping over in my 1-bed flat before we go join the family gathering in the morning. They get my bed, I get the airbed on my own living room floor. Also featuring camping chair to supplement my 2-seat sofa

Googling Stuff: Then v Now.

We have had multiple discussions about why people have not previously observed the very dramatic reduction in transcription upon PNUTS depletion. So I looked at our own TT-seq data and analysed it without including the spike-in. The numbers speak for themselves! Spike-in calibration is important!

Join Oxford Biological Physics! #KavliOxford is inviting applications for Fellows to establish independent research groups in this dynamic, interdisciplinary field. Apply now: kavli.web.ox.ac.uk/article/2025...

Turns out that, for me, news sites are a great way to become usefully informed about what's happening in the world, and Twitter is a great way to get uselessly stressed about it.

Nice thread collating all these exciting new reviews! My 'to read' list has definitely just got even longer...

On the reading list

This paper is genuinely amazing! Not only is the science very cool, it is also a masterclass in scientific writing, as are most @robklose.bsky.social lab papers!

Repost for the morning crowd! ICYMI, our new paper on PNUTS-PP1 in transcription pause release is out now:

Go team PNUTS! @jesskelley.bsky.social @aleksszczurek.bsky.social @neilblackledge.bsky.social @robklose.bsky.social and Maciek!

Very excited that our paper describing a critical role for the PNUTS-PP1 phosphatase complex in transcription pause release is up online! This was a massive team effort with @edimitrova.bsky.social and the rest of the @robklose.bsky.social lab www.cell.com/molecular-ce... A short thread: (1/8)

Coming to an internet near you very very soon 👀