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angelofrei.bsky.social
Angelo Frei
@angelofrei.bsky.social
1.2K followers 380 following 48 posts
Medicinal Inorganic Chemistry Group Leader
SNSF Ambizione Fellow
2024- Lecturer in Chemistry, University of York (UK)
Dog Dad, Space Nerd, DnD Enthusiast
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angelofrei.bsky.social
Angelo Frei @angelofrei.bsky.social · Oct 6
After 2 years of work, our flashMOOC about metal-based antibiotics is now out! The goal was to make an accessible video about the urgent problem that is antimicrobial resistance and how metal complexes could be part of the solution. Very happy with how it turned out!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgJq...
Antibiotic Resistance: Could Metals Be the Answer?
YouTube video by Universität Bern
www.youtube.com
Reposted by Angelo Frei
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
Reposted by Angelo Frei
chemjobber.bsky.social
I would like to move chemistry-related conversations to chemchat, seeing as how chem/sky is basically a promotion place now.

I would have liked that to have moderated, but it's bluntly clear that the publishing houses can't change their spots
November 6, 2025 at 6:04 PM
Reposted by Angelo Frei
hollandlab.bsky.social
We are delighted to introduce our Postdoctoral researcher @jwsouthwell.bsky.social 🙌

#MeetTheTeam #chemistry #research #UZH
November 4, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Reposted by Angelo Frei
titzlab.bsky.social
I am delighted to share our recent collaborative progress towards drug-like glycomimetics for lectins with @anneimb.bsky.social and Roche. Published in @angewandtechemie.bsky.social #ChemBio #Glycotime onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
The Parkinson's Disease Drug Tolcapone and Analogues are Potent Glycomimetic Lectin Inhibitors of Pseudomonas aeruginosa LecA
We present Tolcapone and derivatives as a new class of potent glycomimetics for lectin inhibition. Over 3200 Roche in-house compounds were screened experimentally and a subset was biophysically evalu...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
November 4, 2025 at 11:48 AM
Reposted by Angelo Frei
chemepi.bsky.social
We call these mechanism based sirtuin inhibitors SirTraps that trap the enzyme via this ADP ribose adduct onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... 2/
From Pharmacophore to Warhead: NAD+‐Targeting Triazoles as Mechanism‐Based Sirtuin Inhibitors
We report “Sirtuin Trapping Ligands” (SirTraps), mechanism-based 1,2,3-triazole inhibitors that hijack sirtuin (SIRT) catalysis to form covalent triazolium– or triazole–ADP-ribose (ADPR) adducts from...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
November 2, 2025 at 1:20 PM
Reposted by Angelo Frei
stephanhacker2.bsky.social
How can we study target engagement and selectivity of covalent inhibitors? Which electrophilic probes are best suited to study a certain amino acid?

Our study on "Profiling the proteome-wide selectivity of diverse electrophiles" is published in Nature Chemistry.(1/7)

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Profiling the proteome-wide selectivity of diverse electrophiles - Nature Chemistry
Covalent inhibitors are powerful entities in drug discovery. Now the amino acid selectivity and reactivity of a diverse electrophile library have been assessed proteome-wide using an unbiased workflow...
www.nature.com
October 30, 2025 at 10:27 AM
Reposted by Angelo Frei
odedrechavi.bsky.social
Having a PhD means you can find the word “unfortunately” in an email faster that the search function
October 28, 2025 at 3:58 AM
Reposted by Angelo Frei
ronanmccarthy.bsky.social
I'm delighted to share that I have joined the School of Biological Sciences at @unisouthampton.bsky.social as Professor in Microbial Biofilms. I'm very excited about this next step in my academic journey and the opportunity to work more closely with all the great scientists at Southampton and
October 23, 2025 at 5:49 AM
Reposted by Angelo Frei
chemicalscience.rsc.org
Our #ChemSciPicks this week is from Hongzhe Sun (The University of Hong Kong, P. R. China) et al.

"Unprecedented allosteric inhibition of E. coli malate dehydrogenase by silver(i) from atomic resolution analysis"

Read it here for free: doi.org/10.1039/D5SC...

#ChemSky
October 15, 2025 at 9:11 AM
Reposted by Angelo Frei
kargesgroup.bsky.social
Proud to share our new @ChemRxiv preprint. We report on a novel Metal-to-Metal Electron Transfer Mechanism enabling Hydroxyl Radical Photoredox Catalysis in Hypoxic and Drug-Resistant Cancer Cells, addressing bottlenecks in photodynamic therapy. Please RT! chemrxiv.org/engage/chemr...
October 15, 2025 at 7:04 AM
Reposted by Angelo Frei
jeanninehess.bsky.social
Come work with us! We have a PhD opportunity available with the Sedgwick and Giuliani groups. Please reach out if you are interested.

@CRUKCOLcentre
www.colcc.ac.uk/2026-phd-pro...
2026 PhD Project Sedgwick
Metal-based Photoimmunotherapy Agents for the Targeted Treatment of Neuroblastoma Primary supervisor: Adam Sedgwick, King's College London Secondary supervisor: Jeannine Hess, The Francis Crick Ins...
www.colcc.ac.uk
October 13, 2025 at 7:26 AM
Reposted by Angelo Frei
stephanhacker2.bsky.social
Why is #antibiotic resistance of #bacteria such a huge threat to human #health?
Could #metal complexes help to address this challenge?

If you are interested in these questions, check out this #SciComm video by @angelofrei.bsky.social.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgJq...

#AMR #ChemBio #ChemSky
Antibiotic Resistance: Could Metals Be the Answer?
YouTube video by Universität Bern
www.youtube.com
October 7, 2025 at 9:42 AM
Reposted by Angelo Frei
estherjohnston.bsky.social
This cover gets one of my personal shout-outs for originality and creativity! My favourite cover image of the year so far in Chemical Science. Just the right mix of artistic, clear link to the science, and eye-catching.

Congrats to the authors! Read their paper here: doi.org/10.1039/D5SC...
chemicalscience.rsc.org Chemical Science @chemicalscience.rsc.org · Oct 3
Issue 37 is here! #ChemSciCovers

Our front cover this week features Michelle T. Ma, Rachel E. Nuttall et al 🤩

'Maleic anhydride derived diphosphines: adaptable chelators for receptor-targeted 99mTc, 64Cu and 188Re radiotracers'

🔗 doi.org/10.1039/D5SC...

October 6, 2025 at 6:44 PM
angelofrei.bsky.social
After 2 years of work, our flashMOOC about metal-based antibiotics is now out! The goal was to make an accessible video about the urgent problem that is antimicrobial resistance and how metal complexes could be part of the solution. Very happy with how it turned out!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgJq...
Antibiotic Resistance: Could Metals Be the Answer?
YouTube video by Universität Bern
www.youtube.com
October 6, 2025 at 8:20 AM
Reposted by Angelo Frei
janhjensen.bsky.social
My talk at the #RDKit UGM in Prague youtu.be/TduH7v-biyY?... #compchem
Jan Jensen: Can you find hits by screening only 100 molecules?
YouTube video by RDKit
youtu.be
October 5, 2025 at 9:09 AM
Reposted by Angelo Frei
chemicalscience.rsc.org
Issue 37 is here! #ChemSciCovers

Our front cover this week features Michelle T. Ma, Rachel E. Nuttall et al 🤩

'Maleic anhydride derived diphosphines: adaptable chelators for receptor-targeted 99mTc, 64Cu and 188Re radiotracers'

🔗 doi.org/10.1039/D5SC...

October 3, 2025 at 1:00 PM
Reposted by Angelo Frei
sandykilla.bsky.social
I don’t want to be on a picket line today. I’d rather be teaching my students or in the lab with @kilpatrickgroup.bsky.social - not standing in the rain outside my own workplace.

But the threat of compulsory redundancies and cuts to @leicesterchem.bsky.social 🇬🇧🥈leaves us no real choice.
October 1, 2025 at 9:17 AM
Reposted by Angelo Frei
jeanninehess.bsky.social
🧪 Excited to share our new work on reactive metallo-scaffolds (r-mS)! We combine metal complexes with chemoproteomics to discover new liganding sites across the proteome! Shout out to a great collaboration with GSK! Fantastic team effort 🫶🏻 chemrxiv.org/engage/chemr...
Proteome-Wide Target Identification Using Reactive Metallo-Scaffolds (r-mS): A Platform for Metallodrug Discovery
Metal complexes offer unique opportunities as scaffolds in chemical biology and drug discovery, with tuneable geometry, modular coordination environments, and structural features not readily accessibl...
chemrxiv.org
September 23, 2025 at 12:10 PM
Reposted by Angelo Frei
chemistrynathan.bsky.social
Today we're dissolving gold in aqua regia! Gold is expensive, but in the scheme of things for a synthesis lab the price (~$183/g) is not that different to other speciality chemicals. ##ChemSky #OzChem
Small pellets of 24 carat gold. Gold pellets in a beaker also containing aqua regia. Gold dissolving into aqua regia. The solution is orange and bubbles are visible at the top.
September 25, 2025 at 12:37 AM
Reposted by Angelo Frei
jnb-lab.bsky.social
@elisafadda.bsky.social’s post is spot on about LinkedIn vs Bluesky. I like the thoughtful and critical nature of Bluesky but if you want little dopamine hits, LinkedIn will do that for you (as will many other social media sites)
elisafadda.bsky.social Elisa Fadda @elisafadda.bsky.social · Sep 16
That's quite true ⬇️ now, but I am hoping the science community here will manage to reverse the order 🤓

I find LinkedIn borderline intolerable, as a continuous list of self congratulatory posts 99% of starting with "I am delighted to announce" or add your synonym for delighted.. 🙄 1/n
rolanddunbrack.bsky.social Roland Dunbrack 🏳️‍🌈 @rolanddunbrack.bsky.social · Sep 16
So for posting science now: LinkedIn >> Bluesky >>>> X.
September 16, 2025 at 8:07 AM
Reposted by Angelo Frei
maxplanck.de
Early-career researchers: want to run your own lab? 🌟Max Planck Research Groups offer 6+ years, up to €2.7M in funding, open-topic freedom, team support & tenure-track opportunities. Intrigued? 😃Apply by Oct 14, 2025! www.mpg.de/max-planck-r...
Graphic with a blue background and light green dots. The text 'call for applications' appears in green, and 'Ausschreibung' in white. A white arrow on the right points diagonally upward.
September 15, 2025 at 9:27 AM
Reposted by Angelo Frei
benpatrickwill.bsky.social
Academic authors, here's a peek into the black box of journal publishing from an journal editor if you can bear it:
September 6, 2025 at 11:09 PM
angelofrei.bsky.social
The Frei Lab returns from an intense week of Bioorganometallic Chemistry at ISBOMC25 in Paris. Congratulations to David Husbands for giving an excellent talk and Athi Welsh (Prize-winner🏆) , Çağrı Özsan and Kwok Hei Chau for presenting their posters.
August 31, 2025 at 10:39 AM
angelofrei.bsky.social
Bringing our automated modular synthesis to 384 well plates... but first some fun! (Second Try with Video)
July 25, 2025 at 4:08 PM
Reposted by Angelo Frei
thebabaklab.bsky.social
👩‍🔬 We trained a deep learning model to create a new platinum complex. It works.
Our latest research, “Overcoming Cisplatin Resistance via Deep Learning–Assisted De Novo Design of Platinum Complexes,” is now live on ChemRxiv! 🔬
Link in comments 👇
#AI #Oncology #Metallodrugs
June 21, 2025 at 1:49 PM