Andrew Blackford
@andrewblackford.bsky.social
Associate professor and CRUK Senior Fellow, University of Copenhagen and University of Oxford. My lab researches how DNA repair defects and loss of genome stability cause disease, including cancer.
https://icmm.ku.dk/english/research-groups/blackford-group
https://icmm.ku.dk/english/research-groups/blackford-group
Pinned
DDIAS is a single-stranded DNA-binding effector of the TOPBP1-CIP2A complex in mitosis
DNA double-strand breaks and unresolved DNA replication intermediates are particularly dangerous during mitosis. Paradoxically, cells inactivate canonical DNA repair mechanisms during chromosome segre...
www.biorxiv.org
Excited to share our lab’s latest preprint! We identify DDIAS as a novel single-stranded DNA-binding component of the TOPBP1–CIP2A complex, which acts in a mitotic DNA damage response pathway to protect chromosome integrity. Short summary below, and read it here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Andrew Blackford
Extremely proud to share the impressive work done by Anouk Olthof et al. on how cells maintain healthy levels of RNAPII, and how they respond when levels are too low. Fascinating stuff, we think www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Systems-level feedback loops maintain gene expression homeostasis following RNA polymerase II dosage perturbation
Transcription is regulated by sequence-specific transcription factors and enzymes allowing access to genes in chromatin. However, recent data indicate that the abundance of RNA polymerase II (RNAPII) ...
www.biorxiv.org
September 19, 2025 at 10:55 AM
Extremely proud to share the impressive work done by Anouk Olthof et al. on how cells maintain healthy levels of RNAPII, and how they respond when levels are too low. Fascinating stuff, we think www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Andrew Blackford
New work from the lab! 🔬
We report that DDIAS is a new component of the mitotic CIP2A-TOPBP1 pathway of genome maintenance. 1/n
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
We report that DDIAS is a new component of the mitotic CIP2A-TOPBP1 pathway of genome maintenance. 1/n
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Mitotic single-stranded DNA suppression by DDIAS
Incomplete DNA replication and chromosome breakage during mitosis pose major threats to chromosome segregation. The CIP2A-TOPBP1 complex acts to mitigate this peril, but its exact role is not yet unde...
www.biorxiv.org
September 10, 2025 at 4:50 PM
New work from the lab! 🔬
We report that DDIAS is a new component of the mitotic CIP2A-TOPBP1 pathway of genome maintenance. 1/n
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
We report that DDIAS is a new component of the mitotic CIP2A-TOPBP1 pathway of genome maintenance. 1/n
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Excited to share our lab’s latest preprint! We identify DDIAS as a novel single-stranded DNA-binding component of the TOPBP1–CIP2A complex, which acts in a mitotic DNA damage response pathway to protect chromosome integrity. Short summary below, and read it here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
DDIAS is a single-stranded DNA-binding effector of the TOPBP1-CIP2A complex in mitosis
DNA double-strand breaks and unresolved DNA replication intermediates are particularly dangerous during mitosis. Paradoxically, cells inactivate canonical DNA repair mechanisms during chromosome segre...
www.biorxiv.org
September 10, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Excited to share our lab’s latest preprint! We identify DDIAS as a novel single-stranded DNA-binding component of the TOPBP1–CIP2A complex, which acts in a mitotic DNA damage response pathway to protect chromosome integrity. Short summary below, and read it here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Andrew Blackford
Thrilled that our paper is in print @science.org!!
*Platelets sequester cell free DNA, including free fetal and tumour-derived DNA*
Tweetorial from @l-cmurphy.bsky.social below. Check out the news feature science.org/content/arti... and terrific editorial from Dennis Lo #platelets_in_the_limelight
*Platelets sequester cell free DNA, including free fetal and tumour-derived DNA*
Tweetorial from @l-cmurphy.bsky.social below. Check out the news feature science.org/content/arti... and terrific editorial from Dennis Lo #platelets_in_the_limelight
August 15, 2025 at 5:37 AM
Thrilled that our paper is in print @science.org!!
*Platelets sequester cell free DNA, including free fetal and tumour-derived DNA*
Tweetorial from @l-cmurphy.bsky.social below. Check out the news feature science.org/content/arti... and terrific editorial from Dennis Lo #platelets_in_the_limelight
*Platelets sequester cell free DNA, including free fetal and tumour-derived DNA*
Tweetorial from @l-cmurphy.bsky.social below. Check out the news feature science.org/content/arti... and terrific editorial from Dennis Lo #platelets_in_the_limelight
Reposted by Andrew Blackford
One week left to apply for the postdoc position in my lab at Oxford @ox.ac.uk
Join our exciting cancer immunology research at @oncology.ox.ac.uk, @oxfordcancer.bsky.social & @oxcio.bsky.social.
Deadline: 11 August 2025 (noon).
Join our exciting cancer immunology research at @oncology.ox.ac.uk, @oxfordcancer.bsky.social & @oxcio.bsky.social.
Deadline: 11 August 2025 (noon).
We're recruiting a postdoc to join my lab at @oncology.ox.ac.uk & @oxcio.bsky.social to understand immune regulation in cancer and develop new approaches for cancer prevention and metastasis.
Deadline: 11 August 2025
my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru...
Lab info: www.oncology.ox.ac.uk/team/jie-yang
Deadline: 11 August 2025
my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru...
Lab info: www.oncology.ox.ac.uk/team/jie-yang
Job Details
my.corehr.com
August 4, 2025 at 10:56 AM
One week left to apply for the postdoc position in my lab at Oxford @ox.ac.uk
Join our exciting cancer immunology research at @oncology.ox.ac.uk, @oxfordcancer.bsky.social & @oxcio.bsky.social.
Deadline: 11 August 2025 (noon).
Join our exciting cancer immunology research at @oncology.ox.ac.uk, @oxfordcancer.bsky.social & @oxcio.bsky.social.
Deadline: 11 August 2025 (noon).
Reposted by Andrew Blackford
We’re #hiring, please share! A fully funded #postdoc position is available in my lab to work on DNA damage response mechanisms.
Please get in touch with your CV if you are interested; closing date: 27th June 2025.
More details here: candidate.hr-manager.net/ApplicationI...
Please get in touch with your CV if you are interested; closing date: 27th June 2025.
More details here: candidate.hr-manager.net/ApplicationI...
Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Blackford Group
A position as Postdoctoral Research Associate is available at the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, in the group headed by Dr. Andrew Blackford. Th
candidate.hr-manager.net
May 29, 2025 at 11:26 AM
We’re #hiring, please share! A fully funded #postdoc position is available in my lab to work on DNA damage response mechanisms.
Please get in touch with your CV if you are interested; closing date: 27th June 2025.
More details here: candidate.hr-manager.net/ApplicationI...
Please get in touch with your CV if you are interested; closing date: 27th June 2025.
More details here: candidate.hr-manager.net/ApplicationI...
We’re #hiring, please share! A fully funded #postdoc position is available in my lab to work on DNA damage response mechanisms.
Please get in touch with your CV if you are interested; closing date: 27th June 2025.
More details here: candidate.hr-manager.net/ApplicationI...
Please get in touch with your CV if you are interested; closing date: 27th June 2025.
More details here: candidate.hr-manager.net/ApplicationI...
Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Blackford Group
A position as Postdoctoral Research Associate is available at the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, in the group headed by Dr. Andrew Blackford. Th
candidate.hr-manager.net
May 29, 2025 at 11:26 AM
We’re #hiring, please share! A fully funded #postdoc position is available in my lab to work on DNA damage response mechanisms.
Please get in touch with your CV if you are interested; closing date: 27th June 2025.
More details here: candidate.hr-manager.net/ApplicationI...
Please get in touch with your CV if you are interested; closing date: 27th June 2025.
More details here: candidate.hr-manager.net/ApplicationI...
Reposted by Andrew Blackford
I am overjoyed to share that I have been selected as a Lundbeck Fellow 2025. Thank you to @lundbeckfonden.bsky.social for their trust in me - My lab and I cannot wait to get started on this important work.
Stort tillykke til de nyligt udnævnte LF Fellows 2025!
Vi er glade for at kunne tildele vores LF #Fellowship til syv yderst talentfulde forskere.
Hver forsker modtager DKK 10 mio. til at støtte deres forskerprojekts udvikling over fem år. ow.ly/LKRh50VMYAP
Vi er glade for at kunne tildele vores LF #Fellowship til syv yderst talentfulde forskere.
Hver forsker modtager DKK 10 mio. til at støtte deres forskerprojekts udvikling over fem år. ow.ly/LKRh50VMYAP
May 6, 2025 at 6:07 PM
I am overjoyed to share that I have been selected as a Lundbeck Fellow 2025. Thank you to @lundbeckfonden.bsky.social for their trust in me - My lab and I cannot wait to get started on this important work.
Reposted by Andrew Blackford
this week 20 years ago, Nature published two seminal papers showing for the first time that BRCA-mutant cells were selectively sensitive to PARP inhibitors, paving the way for clinical trials and approval of PARP inhibitors for patients with BRCA-mutant ovarian and breast cancers, and beyond.
April 15, 2025 at 12:07 PM
this week 20 years ago, Nature published two seminal papers showing for the first time that BRCA-mutant cells were selectively sensitive to PARP inhibitors, paving the way for clinical trials and approval of PARP inhibitors for patients with BRCA-mutant ovarian and breast cancers, and beyond.
Reposted by Andrew Blackford
A must for all DNA repair aficionados!
Egmond DNA Repair Meeting → April 19–24, 2026 🇳🇱
✔️ Confirmed top speakers
✔️ Ample opportunities for talks & posters
Don’t miss it: dnarepairmeeting-egmond2026.com
Egmond DNA Repair Meeting → April 19–24, 2026 🇳🇱
✔️ Confirmed top speakers
✔️ Ample opportunities for talks & posters
Don’t miss it: dnarepairmeeting-egmond2026.com
April 9, 2025 at 8:05 AM
A must for all DNA repair aficionados!
Egmond DNA Repair Meeting → April 19–24, 2026 🇳🇱
✔️ Confirmed top speakers
✔️ Ample opportunities for talks & posters
Don’t miss it: dnarepairmeeting-egmond2026.com
Egmond DNA Repair Meeting → April 19–24, 2026 🇳🇱
✔️ Confirmed top speakers
✔️ Ample opportunities for talks & posters
Don’t miss it: dnarepairmeeting-egmond2026.com
Reposted by Andrew Blackford
Very excited to share that my thesis work is out in Molecular Cell! We trained a Structure and Omics informed Classifier (SPOC) to score binary AlphaFold multimer (AF-M) predictions by structural quality and consistency with experimental omics datasets. www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
Predictomes, a classifier-curated database of AlphaFold-modeled protein-protein interactions
Schmid and Walter train a classifier that discerns functionally relevant structure
predictions in proteome-wide protein-protein interaction (PPI) screens using AlphaFold-Multimer,
and they use this co...
www.cell.com
February 26, 2025 at 6:14 PM
Very excited to share that my thesis work is out in Molecular Cell! We trained a Structure and Omics informed Classifier (SPOC) to score binary AlphaFold multimer (AF-M) predictions by structural quality and consistency with experimental omics datasets. www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
Postdoctoral Fellow position available in the DDR Biology and Functional Genomics teams at AstraZeneca in Cambridge UK. Closing date: 30-Jan-2025 astrazeneca.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/Emerging-Tal...
Postdoctoral Fellow – DNA Damage Response Inhibitor Sensitisation in Cancer
Postdoctoral Fellow – DNA Damage Response Inhibitor Sensitisation in Cancer The Discovery Centre, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, UK Competitive salary and benefits Introduction to role: Do you have expe...
astrazeneca.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com
January 9, 2025 at 4:26 PM
Postdoctoral Fellow position available in the DDR Biology and Functional Genomics teams at AstraZeneca in Cambridge UK. Closing date: 30-Jan-2025 astrazeneca.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/Emerging-Tal...
Reposted by Andrew Blackford
Excited to see the final published form of this amazing @drewberry.bsky.social animation of DNA repair go live! Watch your favourite friends BRCA1/2, RPA, RAD51, Exo1, BLM, PCNA, MRN, primase and DNA polymerase perform their recombination magic. Cool educational & scientific tool for our community.
Delighted to publish my new molecular animation:
DNA Break Repair by Homologous Recombination
youtu.be/Xe-83tBcxhs
DNA Break Repair by Homologous Recombination
youtu.be/Xe-83tBcxhs
DNA Break Repair by Homologous Recombination (2024) Drew Berry wehi.tv
YouTube video by WEHImovies
youtu.be
December 4, 2024 at 1:46 AM
Excited to see the final published form of this amazing @drewberry.bsky.social animation of DNA repair go live! Watch your favourite friends BRCA1/2, RPA, RAD51, Exo1, BLM, PCNA, MRN, primase and DNA polymerase perform their recombination magic. Cool educational & scientific tool for our community.
Reposted by Andrew Blackford
Happy to share a review written with the wonderful @jstingele.bsky.social on transcription-coupled DPC repair, featuring an overview of new methods, close comparison with TC-NER, comments on clinical implications and plenty of discussion of the unknowns.
www.cell.com/trends/cell-...
www.cell.com/trends/cell-...
Transcription-coupled repair of DNA–protein crosslinks
DNA–protein crosslinks (DPCs) are highly toxic DNA lesions that are relevant to multiple
human diseases. They are caused by various endogenous and environmental agents, and
from the actions of enzymes...
www.cell.com
December 2, 2024 at 7:39 AM
Happy to share a review written with the wonderful @jstingele.bsky.social on transcription-coupled DPC repair, featuring an overview of new methods, close comparison with TC-NER, comments on clinical implications and plenty of discussion of the unknowns.
www.cell.com/trends/cell-...
www.cell.com/trends/cell-...
Reposted by Andrew Blackford
Happy to share our study by Francien Talens and many colleagues on RAD51 foci formation as a functional marker for PARPi sensitivity in ovarian cancer PDX models. academic.oup.com/narcancer/ar...
RAD51 recruitment but not replication fork stability associates with PARP inhibitor response in ovarian cancer patient-derived xenograft models
Abstract. Poly(ADP‐ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitors (PARPis) are currently used to treat BRCA1/2 mutant cancers. Although PARPi sensitivity has been at
academic.oup.com
November 30, 2024 at 8:56 AM
Happy to share our study by Francien Talens and many colleagues on RAD51 foci formation as a functional marker for PARPi sensitivity in ovarian cancer PDX models. academic.oup.com/narcancer/ar...
Reposted by Andrew Blackford
Our article "MCM double hexamer loading visualized with human proteins" published in Nature today! ❄️🔬🧬🎉🥳
Great collaboration with John Diffley's lab. Congratulations to Florian Weissmann, Julia Greiwe and all other authors!
rdcu.be/d1F7m
Great collaboration with John Diffley's lab. Congratulations to Florian Weissmann, Julia Greiwe and all other authors!
rdcu.be/d1F7m
November 27, 2024 at 5:24 PM
Our article "MCM double hexamer loading visualized with human proteins" published in Nature today! ❄️🔬🧬🎉🥳
Great collaboration with John Diffley's lab. Congratulations to Florian Weissmann, Julia Greiwe and all other authors!
rdcu.be/d1F7m
Great collaboration with John Diffley's lab. Congratulations to Florian Weissmann, Julia Greiwe and all other authors!
rdcu.be/d1F7m
Reposted by Andrew Blackford
Time for our first post here 🥳 Our latest paper is online 🙌
We show that UV activates the ribotoxic stress response, which causes inflammation, cell death and thickening in skin. Read about a role for the RSR separate from DNA damage signaling in response to sunburn: ✨☀️ www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
We show that UV activates the ribotoxic stress response, which causes inflammation, cell death and thickening in skin. Read about a role for the RSR separate from DNA damage signaling in response to sunburn: ✨☀️ www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
The ribotoxic stress response drives acute inflammation, cell death, and epidermal thickening in UV-irradiated skin in vivo
The acute skin reaction to sunburn, encompassing keratinocyte cell death, inflammation,
and epidermal thickening, has traditionally been ascribed to DNA damage responses.
Using a mouse model deficient...
www.cell.com
November 26, 2024 at 10:02 AM
Time for our first post here 🥳 Our latest paper is online 🙌
We show that UV activates the ribotoxic stress response, which causes inflammation, cell death and thickening in skin. Read about a role for the RSR separate from DNA damage signaling in response to sunburn: ✨☀️ www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
We show that UV activates the ribotoxic stress response, which causes inflammation, cell death and thickening in skin. Read about a role for the RSR separate from DNA damage signaling in response to sunburn: ✨☀️ www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
Reposted by Andrew Blackford
Really interesting and important deep dive into what all scientists kind-of-know but haven't quantified
by @hansonmark.bsky.social
@paolocrosetto.bsky.social
@pagomba.bsky.social
@danbrockington.bsky.social
by @hansonmark.bsky.social
@paolocrosetto.bsky.social
@pagomba.bsky.social
@danbrockington.bsky.social
The strain on scientific publishing: we set out to characterise the remarkable growth of the scientific literature in the last few years, in spite of declining growth in total scientists. What is going on?
direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...
A 🧵 1/n
#AcademicSky #PhDchat #ScientificPublishing #SciPub
direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...
A 🧵 1/n
#AcademicSky #PhDchat #ScientificPublishing #SciPub
November 19, 2024 at 5:49 PM
Really interesting and important deep dive into what all scientists kind-of-know but haven't quantified
by @hansonmark.bsky.social
@paolocrosetto.bsky.social
@pagomba.bsky.social
@danbrockington.bsky.social
by @hansonmark.bsky.social
@paolocrosetto.bsky.social
@pagomba.bsky.social
@danbrockington.bsky.social
Reposted by Andrew Blackford
Let's get this site started. I'm excited to share that our work on transcription-coupled DNA repair is now published! We recapitulated TC-NER in Xenopus egg extract and identified STK19 as a core repair factor that couples lesion-stalled RNA Pol II to TFIIH. 🧬🐸
➡️ cell.com/cell/fulltex...
➡️ cell.com/cell/fulltex...
STK19 positions TFIIH for cell-free transcription-coupled DNA repair
Together with structural analyses, a cell-free system for transcription-coupled nucleotide
excision repair (TC-NER) shows that STK19 is an integral component of the TC-NER complex
that couples RNA pol...
cell.com
November 14, 2024 at 4:18 PM
Let's get this site started. I'm excited to share that our work on transcription-coupled DNA repair is now published! We recapitulated TC-NER in Xenopus egg extract and identified STK19 as a core repair factor that couples lesion-stalled RNA Pol II to TFIIH. 🧬🐸
➡️ cell.com/cell/fulltex...
➡️ cell.com/cell/fulltex...
Hi BlueSky! It's great to be here. Here's a handy Starter Pack of DNA repair & genome stability groups that I found so far go.bsky.app/NvFWKvL
November 13, 2024 at 9:03 AM
Hi BlueSky! It's great to be here. Here's a handy Starter Pack of DNA repair & genome stability groups that I found so far go.bsky.app/NvFWKvL
Reposted by Andrew Blackford
👀
NIAID releases alternative to BioRender, all illustrations freely available in public domain
bioart.niaid.nih.gov
bioart.niaid.nih.gov
November 12, 2024 at 1:58 PM
👀
Reposted by Andrew Blackford
Nice to be here! Take a look at our recent paper. Hope you like it: www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
RAD51 protects abasic sites to prevent replication fork breakage
Hanthi et al. found that RAD51 recognizes and binds to abasic sites. Together with
BRCA2, RAD51 prevents the accumulation of abasic site-induced replicative DNA gaps
(caused by DNA methylation, oxidat...
www.cell.com
November 12, 2024 at 10:37 AM
Nice to be here! Take a look at our recent paper. Hope you like it: www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
Reposted by Andrew Blackford
First post here!
New paper from the lab! Profound synthetic lethality between FANCM and SMARCAL1: www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
New paper from the lab! Profound synthetic lethality between FANCM and SMARCAL1: www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
Profound synthetic lethality between SMARCAL1 and FANCM
Feng et al. uncover a critical genetic interaction between the DNA translocases SMARCAL1
and FANCM. Their combined loss leads to catastrophic genome instability, particularly
at simple-repeat sequence...
www.cell.com
November 10, 2024 at 11:46 AM
First post here!
New paper from the lab! Profound synthetic lethality between FANCM and SMARCAL1: www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
New paper from the lab! Profound synthetic lethality between FANCM and SMARCAL1: www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
Reposted by Andrew Blackford
New updates to the upcoming DNA repair/Genome Stability conferences over 2024/2025. Please let me know if you have meetings to add:
docs.google.com/spreadsheets...
docs.google.com/spreadsheets...
DNA REPAIR/GENOME STABILITY CONFERENCES
docs.google.com
November 12, 2024 at 4:58 AM
New updates to the upcoming DNA repair/Genome Stability conferences over 2024/2025. Please let me know if you have meetings to add:
docs.google.com/spreadsheets...
docs.google.com/spreadsheets...