Amber Hall
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amberhall.bsky.social
Amber Hall
@amberhall.bsky.social
190 followers 670 following 11 posts
She/Her
🧬 Scientist || 🎨 Artist || 🪲 Bug, frog and mushroom-enthusiast
PhD at UEA
Interested in Gene-Editing, Protein Engineering, Insect Development and Plant-Insect Interactions!
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Amber Hall
hansonmark.bsky.social
We wrote the Strain on scientific publishing to highlight the problems of time & trust. With a fantastic group of co-authors, we present The Drain of Scientific Publishing:

a 🧵 1/n

Drain: arxiv.org/abs/2511.04820
Strain: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...
Oligopoly: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...
A table showing profit margins of major publishers. A snippet of text related to this table is below. 1. The four-fold drain 1.1 Money Currently, academic publishing is dominated by profit-oriented, multinational companies for whom scientific knowledge is a commodity to be sold back to the academic community who created it. The dominant four are Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley and Taylor & Francis, which collectively generated over US$7.1 billion in revenue from journal publishing in 2024 alone, and over US$12 billion in profits between 2019 and 2024 (Table 1A). Their profit margins have always been over 30% in the last five years, and for the largest publisher (Elsevier) always over 37%. Against many comparators, across many sectors, scientific publishing is one of the most consistently profitable industries (Table S1). These financial arrangements make a substantial difference to science budgets. In 2024, 46% of Elsevier revenues and 53% of Taylor & Francis revenues were generated in North America, meaning that North American researchers were charged over US$2.27 billion by just two for-profit publishers. The Canadian research councils and the US National Science Foundation were allocated US$9.3 billion in that year. A figure detailing the drain on researcher time. 1. The four-fold drain 1.2 Time The number of papers published each year is growing faster than the scientific workforce, with the number of papers per researcher almost doubling between 1996 and 2022 (Figure 1A). This reflects the fact that publishers’ commercial desire to publish (sell) more material has aligned well with the competitive prestige culture in which publications help secure jobs, grants, promotions, and awards. To the extent that this growth is driven by a pressure for profit, rather than scholarly imperatives, it distorts the way researchers spend their time. The publishing system depends on unpaid reviewer labour, estimated to be over 130 million unpaid hours annually in 2020 alone (9). Researchers have complained about the demands of peer-review for decades, but the scale of the problem is now worse, with editors reporting widespread difficulties recruiting reviewers. The growth in publications involves not only the authors’ time, but that of academic editors and reviewers who are dealing with so many review demands. Even more seriously, the imperative to produce ever more articles reshapes the nature of scientific inquiry. Evidence across multiple fields shows that more papers result in ‘ossification’, not new ideas (10). It may seem paradoxical that more papers can slow progress until one considers how it affects researchers’ time. While rewards remain tied to volume, prestige, and impact of publications, researchers will be nudged away from riskier, local, interdisciplinary, and long-term work. The result is a treadmill of constant activity with limited progress whereas core scholarly practices – such as reading, reflecting and engaging with others’ contributions – is de-prioritized. What looks like productivity often masks intellectual exhaustion built on a demoralizing, narrowing scientific vision. A table of profit margins across industries. The section of text related to this table is below: 1. The four-fold drain 1.1 Money Currently, academic publishing is dominated by profit-oriented, multinational companies for whom scientific knowledge is a commodity to be sold back to the academic community who created it. The dominant four are Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley and Taylor & Francis, which collectively generated over US$7.1 billion in revenue from journal publishing in 2024 alone, and over US$12 billion in profits between 2019 and 2024 (Table 1A). Their profit margins have always been over 30% in the last five years, and for the largest publisher (Elsevier) always over 37%. Against many comparators, across many sectors, scientific publishing is one of the most consistently profitable industries (Table S1). These financial arrangements make a substantial difference to science budgets. In 2024, 46% of Elsevier revenues and 53% of Taylor & Francis revenues were generated in North America, meaning that North American researchers were charged over US$2.27 billion by just two for-profit publishers. The Canadian research councils and the US National Science Foundation were allocated US$9.3 billion in that year. The costs of inaction are plain: wasted public funds, lost researcher time, compromised scientific integrity and eroded public trust. Today, the system rewards commercial publishers first, and science second. Without bold action from the funders we risk continuing to pour resources into a system that prioritizes profit over the advancement of scientific knowledge.
November 11, 2025 at 11:52 AM
amberhall.bsky.social
We love these signs at UEA
#nosit
November 5, 2025 at 9:56 PM
Reposted by Amber Hall
sarahmackattack.bsky.social
The amount of AI generated art in slides at this conference, primarily used by older scientists, is killing me. Scientists please. Don’t use these ai platforms to make your figures or slides. They look bad and I have yet to see them meaningfully improve the message of talks.
October 31, 2025 at 3:09 AM
Reposted by Amber Hall
nickdesnoyer.bsky.social
Friday Flower 008: Tulip 🌷

Tulip’s pastel colors and waxy cuticle that scatters light give them a soft watercolor look.

The “broken” petals of Semper Augustus, created by a virus, became some of the most famous and valuable flowers in history... and their genome is 34Gb 🤯
October 24, 2025 at 9:04 AM
Reposted by Amber Hall
alexjmcclelland.bsky.social
1/13 Thankfully, both you and your plants have a lot of sophisticated ways to fight off invading pathogens.
In our new preprint, we describe a new way in which animals and plants share a common strategy to ward off harmful bacteria.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
A secreted citrus protease cleaves an outer membrane protein of the Huanglongbing pathogen
Plants secrete a variety of proteases as a defense response during infection by microbial pathogens. However, the relationship between their catalytic activities and antimicrobial functions remains la...
www.biorxiv.org
October 10, 2025 at 2:15 PM
amberhall.bsky.social
I didn’t know this was today!! Cuttlefish are one of my favourite animals! To celebrate, here’s a very blurry picture of one (or what I think was one) I saw in the ocean when I was in Symi, Greece earlier this year :) 🦑
October 10, 2025 at 3:45 PM
amberhall.bsky.social
Petunias are so cool - defo one of the best flowers 😎
nickdesnoyer.bsky.social Nick Desnoyer @nickdesnoyer.bsky.social · Oct 10
Friday Flower 007: Petunia 💮✨

Petunias carry the active transposon dTph1, which powers mutant screens and paints stripey patterns as it jumps.

Their five petals are fused, with diverse color designs tracing the corolla’s fusion seam.
October 10, 2025 at 3:37 PM
amberhall.bsky.social
Thanks Nick! Really enjoying working on this project - can’t wait for the next few flowers!! 🌸🌺🌼
nickdesnoyer.bsky.social Nick Desnoyer @nickdesnoyer.bsky.social · Oct 3
And shoutout to @amberhall.bsky.social the marker artist behind all these flower designs!
October 3, 2025 at 2:21 PM
Reposted by Amber Hall
nickdesnoyer.bsky.social
Friday Flower 006: Aquilegia 🌸🦋

Columbines vary in stamen number, making them a powerful model for how floral whorls expand.

Darwin marveled at their long nectar spurs, which co-evolve with hawkmoth tongues to reward pollinators that brush the stamens ✨
October 3, 2025 at 11:19 AM
Reposted by Amber Hall
entobiologist.bsky.social
I'M LATE FOR BUGS
digital illustration of a person in a white t-shirt and jeans and a green backpack running while checking their watch. they're also holding an insect net
September 25, 2025 at 4:34 AM
Reposted by Amber Hall
nickdesnoyer.bsky.social
Friday Flower 002: Mirabilis jalapa🌺✨

Four O’Clocks, like other Caryophyllales, produce red (betacyanins) and yellow (betaxanthins) petal sectors through differential regulation of betalain biosynthesis during corolla development.
August 29, 2025 at 9:59 AM
Reposted by Amber Hall
nickdesnoyer.bsky.social
Friday Flower 001: Mimulus lewisii 🌸✨

Monkeyflowers are masterpieces of design with nectar-guide spots formed by an activator–inhibitor system of MYB transcription factors. These generate reaction–diffusion patterns across the ventral petal.
August 22, 2025 at 3:51 PM
Reposted by Amber Hall
nickdesnoyer.bsky.social
First of the Friday Flower Concepts series coming tomorrow! 🌹✨

Can you guess the first flower?
August 21, 2025 at 6:36 PM
amberhall.bsky.social
1st western blot vs. 128th western blot 🧪
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#science #westernblot #predoc #labscientist
August 13, 2025 at 10:44 AM
Reposted by Amber Hall
delfreddy.bsky.social
💡Can we use network structure 🏁 to infer underlying genetics 🧬 of host – parasite coevolution?

🔎Find out in our new paper 🥳, published in the latest issue of @journal-evo.bsky.social 👇
academic.oup.com/evolut/artic...
#Parasite #EvolutionaryBiology #MicrobialEvolution

1/2
Mixed network structure in a coevolving host–parasite system
Abstract. Genetic interactions between parasites and hosts determine how these antagonists coevolve. Networks depicting infection outcomes between host and
academic.oup.com
August 12, 2025 at 11:33 AM
Reposted by Amber Hall
karensnatureart.bsky.social
Finally finished the right page on my August 2021 moth survey from my IL Prairie Nature Journal. Just love the diversity of all these moths from the Midwest!
#SciArt #moths #naturejournal #prairie
Two page spread of realistic watercolor paintings of a diversity of moths plus handwritten inked information including the common name, wingspan, and larval foods. The moths have shadows beneath them which makes it look like they're on a white sheet ready to take off. The moth survey is from August 18, 2021 at the Schulenberg Prairie at the Morton Arboretum in Lisle, IL.
August 6, 2025 at 9:07 PM
amberhall.bsky.social
WHAT DO YOU MEAN THERE’S ONLY EIGHT LEIBNIZ!?!?
August 6, 2025 at 4:19 PM
Reposted by Amber Hall
matteogravino.bsky.social
🎉Thrilled to share our latest work, now published in @newphyt.bsky.social!

🧑‍🔬 @matteogravino.bsky.social, @samtmugford.bsky.social, @saskiahogenhout.bsky.social et al., @johninnescentre.bsky.social

#️⃣ #PlantScience #PlantImmunity

📄 Read the full paper👇
nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/share/8QSRJ9...
Model: Activation and suppression of defences in plant–aphid interactions. Upper left panel: aphid stylet penetration of the cell wall releases oligogalacturonides (OGs), which induce PAMP/DAMP-triggered immunity (PTI/DTI) in a process dependent on BRASSINOSTEROID INSENSITIVE 1-ASSOCIATED RECEPTOR KINASE 1 (BAK1), ENHANCED DISEASE SUSCEPTIBILITY 1 (EDS1), and CPK5/6/11 (data herein). The stabilisation of pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) and coreceptors at the plasma membrane may rely on the deubiquitination (DUB) activity of ASSOCIATED MOLECULE WITH THE SH3 DOMAIN OF STAM (AMSHs; Gravino et al., 2024). Upper right panel: the Mp10 effector, introduced by aphids into the cell cytoplasm (Mugford et al., 2016), suppresses OG-induced reactive oxygen species (ROS) (data herein) and flg22-induced PTI (Bos et al., 2010). Mp10 targeting of plant AMSHs is implicated in these processes (Gravino et al., 2024). EDS1 is essential for Mp10-mediated ROS suppression and PRR destabilisation (data herein), acting through an unidentified mechanism (denoted by the double-sided arrow with an asterisk). Lower left panel: effector-triggered immunity (ETI) is activated through EDS1, either directly or indirectly, upon recognition of Mp10 and/or its activities by a TNL (Gravino et al., 2024; Rao et al., 2024). Salicylic acid glucosyltransferase 1 (SGT1) is also required for TNL/ETI activation (Bos et al., 2010). Lower right panel: aphids secrete additional effectors, such as cathepsin B proteins (e.g. CathB6), which target EDS1 to suppress ETI (Liu et al., 2025). Solid arrows, increased activation; solid blunt-ended arrows, increased suppression; Dashed arrows, reduced activation; Dashed -blunt-ended arrows, reduced suppression.
August 1, 2025 at 12:40 PM
amberhall.bsky.social
oh the irony …
Picture depicts a Greek restaurant called “Acropolis” At the bottom of a flight of stairs
June 28, 2025 at 7:11 PM
Reposted by Amber Hall
plasmidsaurus.bsky.social
This is exactly what happens inside our sequencing machines. 😌
June 13, 2025 at 1:02 PM
Reposted by Amber Hall
samtmugford.bsky.social
We are excited to share our latest preprint from the Hogenhout lab (@matteogravino.bsky.social @saskiahogenhout.bsky.social
, @johninnescentre.bsky.social
) on plant-aphid interactions, showing that the aphid effector Mp10 balances suppression of DAMP responses and activation of ETI via EDS1.
biorxiv-plants.bsky.social bioRxiv Plant Bio @biorxiv-plants.bsky.social · Feb 28
Aphid effector Mp10 balances immune suppression and defence activation through EDS1-dependent modulation of plant DAMP responses https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.02.26.640334v1
March 1, 2025 at 10:08 AM
Reposted by Amber Hall
tcheaven.bsky.social
Our preprint is now live! We have sequenced the genomes of three psyllid species. These insects pests transmit devastating plant diseases like 'zebra chip' in potatoes and 'carrot yellows' in carrots. 🥕

#MolecularEntomology #MPMI #PlantPathology #psyllids #liberibacter
December 6, 2024 at 9:15 PM
amberhall.bsky.social
Really enjoyed giving my talk today for APH day on the work I’ve done for my predoc project so far! 🧪
#science
Me standing at a lectern on a stage giving a talk on characterising and engineering different phytoplasma effectors
December 5, 2024 at 8:51 PM
Reposted by Amber Hall
qunliu07.bsky.social
We're happy to present a pre-print from the Hogenhout lab (@saskiahogenhout.bsky.social), describing how a family of proteases in aphid oral secretions suppress plant immunity.
November 21, 2024 at 10:45 AM
Reposted by Amber Hall
samtmugford.bsky.social
We’re delighted to share our latest preprint from the Hogenhout lab (@saskiahogenhout.bsky.social) on the molecular mechanisms on plant-aphid interactions. Here we show how the aphid Mp10 effector protein acts as a local anaesthetic to suppress the plant perception of aphid attack
November 18, 2024 at 9:58 AM