Alper Akay
@alperakay.bsky.social
UKRI Future Leaders Fellow / Group Leader. RNA (epi)Genetics of C. elegans. Views are my own. Likes and re-posts are not necessarily for endorsement. www.theakaylab.com
There are a lot of similarities between how UK universities and UKRI are run. In both cases, big decisions are taken and changes made without consultation and often with dire consequences for the academic community and with little to no transparency around decisions, their impact or alternatives.
It's been a busy couple of weeks covering the funding changes at UKRI, to put it mildly
Here are my thoughts on how it's played out
TL;DR...the message that curiosity-driven research is protected is not going to reassure those who are seeing their funding streams disrupted
Here are my thoughts on how it's played out
TL;DR...the message that curiosity-driven research is protected is not going to reassure those who are seeing their funding streams disrupted
Rhetoric on UKRI’s funding reforms offers cold comfort - Research Professional News
Messaging that curiosity-driven research is protected is hard to square with funding reductions and pauses
www.researchprofessionalnews.com
February 11, 2026 at 7:11 PM
There are a lot of similarities between how UK universities and UKRI are run. In both cases, big decisions are taken and changes made without consultation and often with dire consequences for the academic community and with little to no transparency around decisions, their impact or alternatives.
Reposted by Alper Akay
Ian Chapman makes the case that he would not be doing his job properly if he didn't deal with the cost overruns at STFC, which are causing so much grief to physicists
Physics groups are calling on ministers to intervene (presumably with more cash)
And there is now a response from a minister
...
Physics groups are calling on ministers to intervene (presumably with more cash)
And there is now a response from a minister
...
It would be "Irresponsible" not to cut costs at STFC, says UKRI chief Ian Chapman.
Funder would “have to hit all the other communities” to bail out physics, he says.
www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-r...
Funder would “have to hit all the other communities” to bail out physics, he says.
www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-r...
‘Irresponsible’ not to cut costs at STFC, says UKRI chief - Research Professional News
Funder would “have to hit all the other communities” to bail out physics, says Chapman
www.researchprofessionalnews.com
February 11, 2026 at 5:46 PM
Ian Chapman makes the case that he would not be doing his job properly if he didn't deal with the cost overruns at STFC, which are causing so much grief to physicists
Physics groups are calling on ministers to intervene (presumably with more cash)
And there is now a response from a minister
...
Physics groups are calling on ministers to intervene (presumably with more cash)
And there is now a response from a minister
...
Reposted by Alper Akay
“The goal is to break the Palestinian resistance by affecting the social base that embraces it” (...) Israel aimed to “re-engineer the Palestinian human” into a being whose sole cognitive focus is basic survival, rendering them incapable of political thought."
February 7, 2026 at 6:06 PM
“The goal is to break the Palestinian resistance by affecting the social base that embraces it” (...) Israel aimed to “re-engineer the Palestinian human” into a being whose sole cognitive focus is basic survival, rendering them incapable of political thought."
Reposted by Alper Akay
The way UK govt funds science is in the midst of a major transition, with creation of a much more direct link between government priorities & UKRI research funding.
My attempt to set in context the biggest upheaval in UK science funding policy since the 1980s:
softmachines.org?p=3252
My attempt to set in context the biggest upheaval in UK science funding policy since the 1980s:
softmachines.org?p=3252
UK science policy in transition – Soft Machines, by Richard Jones
softmachines.org
February 6, 2026 at 8:48 AM
The way UK govt funds science is in the midst of a major transition, with creation of a much more direct link between government priorities & UKRI research funding.
My attempt to set in context the biggest upheaval in UK science funding policy since the 1980s:
softmachines.org?p=3252
My attempt to set in context the biggest upheaval in UK science funding policy since the 1980s:
softmachines.org?p=3252
The last EU Horizon programme lost £330m from UK science funding
There was a lot in Ian Chapman's appearance at the Commons science committee yesterday
Easy to miss that he said the UK "may wish to explore" only joining one part of FP10 (the next Horizon Europe) and that "we don’t know the detail yet to be able to say that [association] is good value for money"
Easy to miss that he said the UK "may wish to explore" only joining one part of FP10 (the next Horizon Europe) and that "we don’t know the detail yet to be able to say that [association] is good value for money"
UK ‘may wish to explore’ not fully joining FP10, says UKRI chief - Research Professional News
Ian Chapman sees “precedent” for enlisting in only part of EU research programme
www.researchprofessionalnews.com
February 4, 2026 at 6:19 PM
The last EU Horizon programme lost £330m from UK science funding
Reposted by Alper Akay
Last week, RPN broke a string of stories on significant changes to funding across a number of research councils (see thread below)
This morning, UKRI chief executive is appearing at the Commons science committee, where he is being asked about them by MPs
Here are some key moments so far 🧵
This morning, UKRI chief executive is appearing at the Commons science committee, where he is being asked about them by MPs
Here are some key moments so far 🧵
On Friday we revealed that the heads of four large-scale physics infrastructure projects have been informed that they’ve “not been prioritised” for funding.
www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-r...
www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-r...
UKRI shelves physics infrastructure projects worth £280m - Research Professional News
Exclusive: Major international collaborations with Cern and US Department of Energy in jeopardy
www.researchprofessionalnews.com
February 3, 2026 at 10:51 AM
Last week, RPN broke a string of stories on significant changes to funding across a number of research councils (see thread below)
This morning, UKRI chief executive is appearing at the Commons science committee, where he is being asked about them by MPs
Here are some key moments so far 🧵
This morning, UKRI chief executive is appearing at the Commons science committee, where he is being asked about them by MPs
Here are some key moments so far 🧵
We cannot rely on “science corrects itself”. We need national independent research integrity offices with powers everywhere. Here is another story about research misconduct——Did a Celebrated Researcher Obscure a Baby’s Poisoning? - The New Yorker apple.news/AO91lC8YBT-K...
Did a Celebrated Researcher Obscure a Baby’s Poisoning? — The New Yorker
After a newborn died of opioid poisoning, a new branch of pediatrics came into being. But the evidence doesn’t add up.
apple.news
February 2, 2026 at 9:21 PM
We cannot rely on “science corrects itself”. We need national independent research integrity offices with powers everywhere. Here is another story about research misconduct——Did a Celebrated Researcher Obscure a Baby’s Poisoning? - The New Yorker apple.news/AO91lC8YBT-K...
The Holocaust survivor judge who issued Netanyahu’s arrest warrant - The Times and The Sunday Times apple.news/AIrDM9zZ1RCK...
The Holocaust survivor judge who issued Netanyahu’s arrest warrant — The Times and The Sunday Times
At this time of year, Theodor Meron often finds himself thinking about his brother. Mietek was five years ahead of Theodor, and their early childhood was an idyllic one: summers on the Vistula, Chopin...
apple.news
January 25, 2026 at 6:46 PM
The Holocaust survivor judge who issued Netanyahu’s arrest warrant - The Times and The Sunday Times apple.news/AIrDM9zZ1RCK...
Reposted by Alper Akay
What's larger, a protein or its templating mRNA ?
> The mRNA is much larger.
⬛ 𝐀 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐞 -- 𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 & 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐬 -- 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡.
The figure shows myoglobin protein drawn to scale next to its mRNA template. The coding sequence of an mRNA ...
> The mRNA is much larger.
⬛ 𝐀 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐞 -- 𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 & 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐬 -- 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡.
The figure shows myoglobin protein drawn to scale next to its mRNA template. The coding sequence of an mRNA ...
January 17, 2026 at 1:29 PM
What's larger, a protein or its templating mRNA ?
> The mRNA is much larger.
⬛ 𝐀 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐞 -- 𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 & 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐬 -- 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡.
The figure shows myoglobin protein drawn to scale next to its mRNA template. The coding sequence of an mRNA ...
> The mRNA is much larger.
⬛ 𝐀 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐞 -- 𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 & 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐬 -- 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡.
The figure shows myoglobin protein drawn to scale next to its mRNA template. The coding sequence of an mRNA ...
Reposted by Alper Akay
Neat RNA papers
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
(polyamine regulation of splicing by direct binding to U2 snRNP proteins)
and
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
(impact of N1-methyl pseudo U on translation)
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
(polyamine regulation of splicing by direct binding to U2 snRNP proteins)
and
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
(impact of N1-methyl pseudo U on translation)
Client Challenge
www.nature.com
January 14, 2026 at 6:09 PM
Neat RNA papers
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
(polyamine regulation of splicing by direct binding to U2 snRNP proteins)
and
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
(impact of N1-methyl pseudo U on translation)
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
(polyamine regulation of splicing by direct binding to U2 snRNP proteins)
and
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
(impact of N1-methyl pseudo U on translation)
Just read an email about a 3 day conference organised by scientists well-known in their field with a capacity of 100 attendees, 33 invited speakers and only 10 slots for selected talks. Conferences are increasingly becoming closed circle meetings.
January 13, 2026 at 7:06 PM
Just read an email about a 3 day conference organised by scientists well-known in their field with a capacity of 100 attendees, 33 invited speakers and only 10 slots for selected talks. Conferences are increasingly becoming closed circle meetings.
Reposted by Alper Akay
We've got ISSUES. Literally.
We scraped >100k special issues & over 1 million articles to bring you a PISS-poor paper. We quantify just how many excess papers are published by guest editors abusing special issues to boost their CVs. How bad is it & what can we do?
arxiv.org/abs/2601.07563
A 🧵 1/n
We scraped >100k special issues & over 1 million articles to bring you a PISS-poor paper. We quantify just how many excess papers are published by guest editors abusing special issues to boost their CVs. How bad is it & what can we do?
arxiv.org/abs/2601.07563
A 🧵 1/n
January 13, 2026 at 8:27 AM
We've got ISSUES. Literally.
We scraped >100k special issues & over 1 million articles to bring you a PISS-poor paper. We quantify just how many excess papers are published by guest editors abusing special issues to boost their CVs. How bad is it & what can we do?
arxiv.org/abs/2601.07563
A 🧵 1/n
We scraped >100k special issues & over 1 million articles to bring you a PISS-poor paper. We quantify just how many excess papers are published by guest editors abusing special issues to boost their CVs. How bad is it & what can we do?
arxiv.org/abs/2601.07563
A 🧵 1/n
Reposted by Alper Akay
"Results from experiments with N = 4 or less are shown to be highly misleading (...). For a cut-off of 2-fold expression differences, we find an N of 6-7 mice is required to consistently decrease the false positive rate to below 50%, and the detection sensitivity to above 50%"
Optimized murine sample sizes for RNA sequencing studies revealed from large scale comparative analysis - Nature Communications
Determining the appropriate sample size (N) for bulk RNA sequencing experiments is critical to ensure reliable results. Here the authors perform an unusually large N experiment (N = 30 per group), ana...
www.nature.com
December 27, 2025 at 3:51 PM
"Results from experiments with N = 4 or less are shown to be highly misleading (...). For a cut-off of 2-fold expression differences, we find an N of 6-7 mice is required to consistently decrease the false positive rate to below 50%, and the detection sensitivity to above 50%"
Reposted by Alper Akay
Happy to share our latest work by Shivani Gahlot and Subodh,
published in @febsj.bsky.social. We show that the amino acid Trp is highly toxic to C. elegans, and that this toxicity is driven by bacterial metabolism of Trp into indole.
febs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
published in @febsj.bsky.social. We show that the amino acid Trp is highly toxic to C. elegans, and that this toxicity is driven by bacterial metabolism of Trp into indole.
febs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
FEBS Press
Bacterial metabolism of tryptophan causes toxicity in C. elegans. E. coli takes up tryptophan and catabolizes it to indole via tryptophanase (TnaA). Indole can freely diffuse through lipid membranes ...
febs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
December 27, 2025 at 6:26 AM
Happy to share our latest work by Shivani Gahlot and Subodh,
published in @febsj.bsky.social. We show that the amino acid Trp is highly toxic to C. elegans, and that this toxicity is driven by bacterial metabolism of Trp into indole.
febs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
published in @febsj.bsky.social. We show that the amino acid Trp is highly toxic to C. elegans, and that this toxicity is driven by bacterial metabolism of Trp into indole.
febs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Don’t we, as scientists, have any responsibility in society to defend human life and humanity? Or will we continue to focus solely on research funding and impact factors in 2026? 2/2
December 27, 2025 at 5:42 PM
Don’t we, as scientists, have any responsibility in society to defend human life and humanity? Or will we continue to focus solely on research funding and impact factors in 2026? 2/2
2025 has been terrible with atrocities and indifference. I'm particularly disappointed in my scientific community. How can we claim to care about human life and health in papers and grants but stay silent when children are being killed daily? 1/2
December 27, 2025 at 5:42 PM
2025 has been terrible with atrocities and indifference. I'm particularly disappointed in my scientific community. How can we claim to care about human life and health in papers and grants but stay silent when children are being killed daily? 1/2
December 20, 2025 at 8:00 AM
Finally, our collaborative work with Maria Dimitriadi’s group on the spinal muscular atrophy gene SMN-1 and how it affects RNA splicing academic.oup.com/hmg/advance-...
Widespread intron retention and exon skipping characterise alternative splicing changes in a C. elegans model of spinal muscular atrophy
Abstract. Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is a neurodegenerative disease caused by reduced levels of the survival motor neuron (SMN) protein, an essential co
academic.oup.com
December 20, 2025 at 8:00 AM
Finally, our collaborative work with Maria Dimitriadi’s group on the spinal muscular atrophy gene SMN-1 and how it affects RNA splicing academic.oup.com/hmg/advance-...
Next, we established a simple method to measure vitamin B12 led by own Kasia Hencel, journals.biologists.com/bio/article/...
A simple, fast and inexpensive approach using E. coli to detect and estimate vitamin B12 content in microbial extracts
Summary: E. coli methionine auxotroph strain B834 (DE3) and a multi-well spectrophotometer can be used to detect and estimate the levels of vitamin B12 from biological samples at picomolar concentrati...
journals.biologists.com
December 20, 2025 at 8:00 AM
Next, we established a simple method to measure vitamin B12 led by own Kasia Hencel, journals.biologists.com/bio/article/...
Next, we had an amazing collaboration with @kaiserlab.bsky.social on tRNA modifications www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
NAIL-MS Elucidates Crucial tRNA U34 Modifications in Response to Heat Stress across Eukaryotes and Prokaryotes
Global warming leads to rising temperatures, necessitating organismal adaptation at the cellular level. One potential mechanism for maintaining proteo…
www.sciencedirect.com
December 20, 2025 at 8:00 AM
Next, we had an amazing collaboration with @kaiserlab.bsky.social on tRNA modifications www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Thanks to all lab members of the lab and our collaborators for a productive year. We had 4 papers, another successful PhD defence and some challenging methods established. Our first paper was in colab with @alexeimaklakov.bsky.social lab on ageing onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
Optimising Age‐Specific Insulin Signalling to Slow Down Reproductive Ageing Increases Fitness in Different Nutritional Environments
We found that reducing insulin signalling in adult worms slows down their reproductive ageing and extends their lifespan without negative side effects. Moreover, combining it with IF further enhances...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
December 20, 2025 at 8:00 AM
Thanks to all lab members of the lab and our collaborators for a productive year. We had 4 papers, another successful PhD defence and some challenging methods established. Our first paper was in colab with @alexeimaklakov.bsky.social lab on ageing onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
Reposted by Alper Akay
We are pleased to host Prof Ying Wang on Wednesday 3rd December 2pm @johninnescentre.bsky.social . Please join us for this exciting talk. @yiliangding.bsky.social @whaerty.bsky.social @alperakay.bsky.social @earlhaminst.bsky.social @biouea.bsky.social @rnasociety.bsky.social Lexogen
November 30, 2025 at 10:46 PM
We are pleased to host Prof Ying Wang on Wednesday 3rd December 2pm @johninnescentre.bsky.social . Please join us for this exciting talk. @yiliangding.bsky.social @whaerty.bsky.social @alperakay.bsky.social @earlhaminst.bsky.social @biouea.bsky.social @rnasociety.bsky.social Lexogen
Reposted by Alper Akay
We are pleased to host Prof Danny Incarnato @incarnatolab.bsky.social on 5th December 9:30am @johninnescentre.bsky.social. Please join us for. @yiliangding.bsky.social @whaerty.bsky.social @alperakay.bsky.social @earlhaminst.bsky.social @biouea.bsky.social @rnasociety.bsky.social Lexogen
November 30, 2025 at 10:50 PM
We are pleased to host Prof Danny Incarnato @incarnatolab.bsky.social on 5th December 9:30am @johninnescentre.bsky.social. Please join us for. @yiliangding.bsky.social @whaerty.bsky.social @alperakay.bsky.social @earlhaminst.bsky.social @biouea.bsky.social @rnasociety.bsky.social Lexogen
Reposted by Alper Akay
Can we *please* stop rewarding bullying behavior in academic social media?
November 23, 2025 at 9:59 PM
Can we *please* stop rewarding bullying behavior in academic social media?