December in Oxford

Poppit the Classics School dog is getting into the festive spirit and wishes all her fans the very best.

Wise words from @profpaulbehrens.bsky.social! You can hear more from Paul here on our podcast: How To Build A Sustainable World - Paul Behrens. youtu.be/VQrGldPO7P8 @timcoulson.bsky.social

England batting collapse…. And I land back at Heathrow in time for the Liverpool game- it’s just all too uplifting 🤦🏽‍♀️

Watching Crawley bat is pure pain

Our paper on polymyxin interacting with the E. coli outer membrane is out! Simulations by the very talented @dheerajprakaash.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s42... To scale outer membrane protein island simulated at coarse-grained resolution with portions refined at all atom resolution.

"Why do we put hurdles in the way of the people that are actually going to drive our economy? It makes zero sense." Prof Sir Paul Nurse, Nobel prize winning scientist, says the UK's scientific future is being put at risk www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

My department at California State University Northridge is hiring! We're looking for a new colleague studying microbiology or molecular/cellular biology. I'm not on the search committee, but happy to answer questions about the department and campus, and life in LA buff.ly/Pc1KOaC

I appear to be in Heidelberg

Better ditch my horse & cart for the last bit of the trip to EMBL.

New podcast episode just dropped! @timcoulson.bsky.social I are joined by Simon Newstead and David Bennett who have identified a new genetic link to chronic pain - solved the structure of the protein that the gene encodes and linked its function to pain. youtu.be/ETGzmy_BfCg

OMG no-one has every explained what "MD simulations" actually means before and I think @sykhalid.bsky.social has given me a sufficient understanding in about two minutes - amazing!

May have yelled a few expletives at the television tonight. Was justified I think. Cannot fathom what is happening with LFC. Really bizarre.

Football and cricket can get in the bin. Henceforth, I shall focus my attention on tiddlywinks

Get Archer back on to nip out Starc

We are back, soon! The secrets of bacterial cell envelopes' our free online seminar series is due to resume in January 2026 after a long break. Hosted by Georgina Benn and Syma Khalid- supported by the Microbiology Society. More details soon. @microbiologysociety.org Please spread the word

This was incredible. Think you know about how we interact with bacteria? Think again. Some really eye-opening stuff here- including how our gut bacteria can influence our personalities. youtu.be/Q8Yew7XanNo

Congratulations Scotland! What a win. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Great @scienceofthetimes.bsky.social podcast on the science of the microbiome with the brilliant @auraulo.bsky.social and @eveliinahanski.bsky.social. Can't recommend it enough. @sykhalid.bsky.social @biology.ox.ac.uk

The music in Thessaloniki airport, hotels, restaurants and bars really is a charming trip down memory lane. One exception is the version of ‘My Way’ we are currently being subjected to at the airport - it’s torturous.

Great talk by @philbiggin.bsky.social on proton coupling in membrane proteins - at the @biophysicalsoc.bsky.social thematic meeting in Thessaloniki.

The ancient and the contemporary - Thessaloniki. Enjoying the @biophysicalsoc.bsky.social thematic meeting on peripheral membrane proteins in this wonderful city

I appear to be in Thessaloniki

@mjafreeman.bsky.social can we invite him to Oxford to give a seminar?

On a flight, listening to an old episode of Desert Island Discs - Arsene Wenger. He’s quite a man, a good man - really impressive. Highly recommend.

The Wellcome Trust has awarded a prestigious Discovery Award to Professor Matt Higgins to support his research on “Molecular mechanisms of erythrocyte invasion in malaria”. 👏👏👏 Read the full story: ⬇️

53 minutes in and Liverpool have had more shots on target than any other side against Real Madrid this season (7)

Real Madrid wear Connor Bradley PJ’s

Liverpool restricted Real Madrid to just 0.45 xG tonight. That's the lowest figure Madrid have registered in any game in over a year (0.47 vs Villarreal Oct 2024). #LIVRMA #UCL

Two papers accepted and Liverpool beat Real Madrid - am I dreaming? This week is delivering

Welcome to Anfield

In a pub in Jericho, Oxford, watching football - the amount of mansplaining is mind boggling. Running commentary by chaps who are clearly football tactics geniuses and are wasted in academia. FFS

A trip away has kept me away from socials, but @scienceofthetimes.bsky.social continues. Latest episode is out! Quantum computing. What is it? How does it work? Will you have quantum laptop soon? All the answers you could ever want www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPTy... @sykhalid.bsky.social

Really interesting interview. @timcoulson.bsky.social and I were also fortunate to chat with David Baker on our podcast which you can catch here: Science Of The Times EP7 Pt2 - Interview with 2024 Nobel Prize winner for Chemistry David Baker youtu.be/jShxgJ3XrWA

Thrilled with this find at @oxfamgb.bsky.social bookshop on St Giles, Oxford. The complete scripts.

My sister has come up some cracking #vintage #knitwear designs recently as part of her sustainable knitwear initiative. This is my fav- love the mirrors. Check out on Etsy: www.etsy.com/uk/shop/Grac...

Quantum computers - what are they and how will they change things? Have a listen/watch here: @timcoulson.bsky.social and I chat with Ian Walmsley, newly appointed director of the Oxford Quantum Institute: The Science and Promise of Quantum Computing youtu.be/sPTyvBKJruU

Over-reliance on social media is seriously irritating. Social media is great for many things, but it cannot surely replace written articles, and seriously constructed text? Seeing a highly irritating trend among folk to want to disseminate everything through social media. Yes, I know I’m grumpy

Precious pre-breakfast coffee & papers at St Anne’s. The term time ritual..

I’ve been focussing mostly on women’s cricket this weekend #justsaying

The new Life and Mind building is pretty swanky. @biology.ox.ac.uk Just awaiting arrivals of first year undergrads. Let’s see what they make of computational biochemistry

The Heatley lecture at @dunnschool.bsky.social was given by Prof Bonnie Basslet from Princeton on quorum sensing in bacteria but actually also across kingdoms. Truly inspirational. I find it mind boggling how much stuff bacteria chuck out & the sheer complexity of their inter & inter species comms 😳

What’s it like to be bat? How do bats see the world? Science of the Time Ep 28 How do Bats see the world youtu.be/0NCDzKVEV6w

Congratulations Omar Yaghi on your Nobel prize in Chemistry!! Delighted we called it on @scienceofthetimes.bsky.social 😉 Joking aside, thrilled to hear this news. @timcoulson.bsky.social

Really fun visit to @cssbhamburg.bsky.social in Hamburg as a scientific advisory board member. It’s not over yet tho’ - more work for the board tomorrow.

Our beautiful city 😍 📷 Instagram | Juncao_Oxford

Just about to officially notify applicants of the outcome of the latest HECBiosim funding round for High Performance Computing time on national and regional facilities. We were the first consortium to recognise the need to match applications with the appropriate computing resources.

May as well hand Arsenal the league right now. @mjafreeman.bsky.social

Omar Yaghi - inspirational academic and a brilliant chemist - tells us about the vision that led to the development of metal organic frameworks: MOFS Science of the Times Ep 27 Lego chemistry youtu.be/2tGPleb8DiY