Benjamin Schuster-Böckler
@dagams.bsky.social
Group leader at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research in Oxford. Computational genomics and bioinformatics.
Also find me on genomic.social, a free and non-profit Mastodon instance for genomics (@bensb@genomic.social)
Also find me on genomic.social, a free and non-profit Mastodon instance for genomics (@bensb@genomic.social)
Reposted by Benjamin Schuster-Böckler
A Sharon Begley byline, almost 5 years after her death.
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
James Watson, dead at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers
James Watson, the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA who died Thursday at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers.
www.statnews.com
November 8, 2025 at 1:39 PM
A Sharon Begley byline, almost 5 years after her death.
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
Reposted by Benjamin Schuster-Böckler
The costs of the UK’s Global Talent Visa looks a trifle high in comparison to competitor countries - largely through the Immigration Health Surcharge (which critics say is a form of double taxation as they contribute to the NHS through normal tax on their earnings)
October 21, 2025 at 5:57 AM
The costs of the UK’s Global Talent Visa looks a trifle high in comparison to competitor countries - largely through the Immigration Health Surcharge (which critics say is a form of double taxation as they contribute to the NHS through normal tax on their earnings)
I am looking to get my hands on some #Illumina 5-base methylation data - does anyone have a bam file that I could use for some testing? Please RT for reach!
October 21, 2025 at 9:36 AM
I am looking to get my hands on some #Illumina 5-base methylation data - does anyone have a bam file that I could use for some testing? Please RT for reach!
Reposted by Benjamin Schuster-Böckler
Our latest work is out in Nature today. In this paper, we introduce an improved version of NanoSeq, a duplex sequencing protocol with <5 errors per billion bp in single DNA molecules, and use it to study the somatic mutation landscape of oral epithelium in >1000 people www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Somatic mutation and selection at population scale - Nature
A new version of nanorate DNA sequencing, with an error rate lower than five errors per billion base pairs and compatible with whole-exome and targeted capture, enables epidemiological-scale studies of somatic mutation and selection and the generation of high-resolution selection maps across coding and non-coding sites for many genes.
www.nature.com
October 8, 2025 at 4:31 PM
Our latest work is out in Nature today. In this paper, we introduce an improved version of NanoSeq, a duplex sequencing protocol with <5 errors per billion bp in single DNA molecules, and use it to study the somatic mutation landscape of oral epithelium in >1000 people www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Benjamin Schuster-Böckler
RIP John Gurdon
October 7, 2025 at 6:06 PM
RIP John Gurdon
I have a special memory of my one encounter with John Gurdon: In 2014, I attended a conference in Oxford where he gave a keynote. At lunch, the last free seat was next to him. We ended up having the most amazing 1h conversation about science and life in general. Very sad to hear of his passing.
It is with great sadness that the University shares the news of the death of Professor Sir John Gurdon, founder of the @gurdoninstitute.bsky.social
Read our tribute to the visionary Nobel Laureate and watch an interview from 2012, just after he won: https://bit.ly/4mM8o3r
Read our tribute to the visionary Nobel Laureate and watch an interview from 2012, just after he won: https://bit.ly/4mM8o3r
October 7, 2025 at 9:01 PM
I have a special memory of my one encounter with John Gurdon: In 2014, I attended a conference in Oxford where he gave a keynote. At lunch, the last free seat was next to him. We ended up having the most amazing 1h conversation about science and life in general. Very sad to hear of his passing.
Reposted by Benjamin Schuster-Böckler
Become my colleague @oxfordbiochemistry.bsky.social !
2 Associate Professorships in the areas of
- prokaryotic/eukaryotic microbiology
- metabolism
my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru...
2 Associate Professorships in the areas of
- prokaryotic/eukaryotic microbiology
- metabolism
my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru...
Job Details
my.corehr.com
September 29, 2025 at 9:25 AM
Become my colleague @oxfordbiochemistry.bsky.social !
2 Associate Professorships in the areas of
- prokaryotic/eukaryotic microbiology
- metabolism
my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru...
2 Associate Professorships in the areas of
- prokaryotic/eukaryotic microbiology
- metabolism
my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru...
This, 100%. The UK gov is self-destructing and handing the country to the fascists by trying to out-compete Reform on immigrant-bashing. I'm revolted, and deeply concerned, about this race to the bottom.
My family came here 50 years ago. They've worked, paid taxes, raised families, been good citizens.
My many colleagues and friends who were either born elsewhere, or their parents were, the same.
It's so offensive to be told you're here on sufferance.
My many colleagues and friends who were either born elsewhere, or their parents were, the same.
It's so offensive to be told you're here on sufferance.
Just fuck off with this. How about start the conversation by highlighting how much immigrants contribute to the UK - not least by propping up the NHS and social care system!
Also - forced volunteering is not volunteering, it's unpaid labour.
Also - forced volunteering is not volunteering, it's unpaid labour.
September 29, 2025 at 9:57 AM
This, 100%. The UK gov is self-destructing and handing the country to the fascists by trying to out-compete Reform on immigrant-bashing. I'm revolted, and deeply concerned, about this race to the bottom.
Reposted by Benjamin Schuster-Böckler
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 Benjamin Schuster-Böckler
All journalists should bend the knee to the work of the obituarist, the one discipline which enables the practitioner to get a byline from beyond the grave. Ronald Bergen predeceased his subject Robert Redford by 5 years, but left behind a truly masterful obit.
www.theguardian.com/film/2025/se...
www.theguardian.com/film/2025/se...
Robert Redford obituary
One of Hollywood’s greats who starred in All the President’s Men, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and The Sting
www.theguardian.com
September 17, 2025 at 9:05 PM
All journalists should bend the knee to the work of the obituarist, the one discipline which enables the practitioner to get a byline from beyond the grave. Ronald Bergen predeceased his subject Robert Redford by 5 years, but left behind a truly masterful obit.
www.theguardian.com/film/2025/se...
www.theguardian.com/film/2025/se...
Reposted by Benjamin Schuster-Böckler
@mariasecrier.bsky.social & I are looking for an enthusiastic & excellent data scientist for a 4-year postdoc to understand cell cycle dysregulation in cancer.
Deadline 15th October. Get in touch if you have any questions.
Please repost!
More details:
www.imperial.ac.uk/jobs/search-...
Deadline 15th October. Get in touch if you have any questions.
Please repost!
More details:
www.imperial.ac.uk/jobs/search-...
Description
Please note that job descriptions are not exhaustive, and you may be asked to take on additional duties that align with the key responsibilities ment...
www.imperial.ac.uk
September 18, 2025 at 8:02 PM
@mariasecrier.bsky.social & I are looking for an enthusiastic & excellent data scientist for a 4-year postdoc to understand cell cycle dysregulation in cancer.
Deadline 15th October. Get in touch if you have any questions.
Please repost!
More details:
www.imperial.ac.uk/jobs/search-...
Deadline 15th October. Get in touch if you have any questions.
Please repost!
More details:
www.imperial.ac.uk/jobs/search-...
Reposted by Benjamin Schuster-Böckler
Angela Rayner (MP) deprived taxpayers of £40 grand. She lost her job. Michelle Mone (Baroness) deprived tax payers of £136m, according to the government. She's enjoying life on the yacht you paid for.
September 5, 2025 at 1:00 PM
Angela Rayner (MP) deprived taxpayers of £40 grand. She lost her job. Michelle Mone (Baroness) deprived tax payers of £136m, according to the government. She's enjoying life on the yacht you paid for.
This infuriates me: Thames Water should be nationalised at a value that factors in the costs to turn it back into a functioning _public service_. The creditors should f* off and learn that ransoming a public good like water comes with a risk. Grow a spine, Labour!
Reeves says Thames Water should find ‘market-based solution’
Chancellor aims to reassure creditors but says ministers are planning for all options including special administration
www.theguardian.com
September 1, 2025 at 12:36 PM
This infuriates me: Thames Water should be nationalised at a value that factors in the costs to turn it back into a functioning _public service_. The creditors should f* off and learn that ransoming a public good like water comes with a risk. Grow a spine, Labour!
Reposted by Benjamin Schuster-Böckler
'[...]analysis of platelets can potentially improve screening tests, including for cancer.'
@bethpsaila.bsky.social comments on newly published research findings that could transform approaches to the early detection and prevention of #Cancer.
www.oxcode.ox.ac.uk/news/platele...
@bethpsaila.bsky.social comments on newly published research findings that could transform approaches to the early detection and prevention of #Cancer.
www.oxcode.ox.ac.uk/news/platele...
Platelets shown to store DNA in study that could transform cancer screening
Oxford-led study uncovers previously unknown function of platelets as DNA ‘vacuum cleaners’ in the blood, with profound implications for cancer diagnosis and prenatal screening.
www.oxcode.ox.ac.uk
August 18, 2025 at 10:50 AM
'[...]analysis of platelets can potentially improve screening tests, including for cancer.'
@bethpsaila.bsky.social comments on newly published research findings that could transform approaches to the early detection and prevention of #Cancer.
www.oxcode.ox.ac.uk/news/platele...
@bethpsaila.bsky.social comments on newly published research findings that could transform approaches to the early detection and prevention of #Cancer.
www.oxcode.ox.ac.uk/news/platele...
New paper out today in @science.org! Very proud that my team was able to contribute to this fantastic work from @bethpsaila.bsky.social's group. In short: platelets contain a fair amount of cfDNA taken up from the surrounding! Read the summary by lead author @l-cmurphy.bsky.social:
🚨 New paper alert! 🚨 I’m thrilled and proud to share that our latest work has just been published in @science.org! 🎉 🧽
📖 Read our paper here: doi.org/10.1126/sci...
🎬 Watch a summary: youtu.be/MttCA3GGWEM
🧵 Or keep reading for the key points! 🔑 1/19
📖 Read our paper here: doi.org/10.1126/sci...
🎬 Watch a summary: youtu.be/MttCA3GGWEM
🧵 Or keep reading for the key points! 🔑 1/19
August 15, 2025 at 8:16 AM
New paper out today in @science.org! Very proud that my team was able to contribute to this fantastic work from @bethpsaila.bsky.social's group. In short: platelets contain a fair amount of cfDNA taken up from the surrounding! Read the summary by lead author @l-cmurphy.bsky.social:
Reposted by Benjamin Schuster-Böckler
❗Applications are now open for up to two Medical Research Scotland funded Daphne Jackson Fellowships.
🕛Deadline: 12 noon, Monday 29th September 2025.
🔗 Apply now: daphnejackson.org/fellowship/m...
#ReturnToResearch #MedicalResearchScotland #DaphneJacksonTrust #FellowshipOpportunity
🕛Deadline: 12 noon, Monday 29th September 2025.
🔗 Apply now: daphnejackson.org/fellowship/m...
#ReturnToResearch #MedicalResearchScotland #DaphneJacksonTrust #FellowshipOpportunity
August 13, 2025 at 12:41 PM
❗Applications are now open for up to two Medical Research Scotland funded Daphne Jackson Fellowships.
🕛Deadline: 12 noon, Monday 29th September 2025.
🔗 Apply now: daphnejackson.org/fellowship/m...
#ReturnToResearch #MedicalResearchScotland #DaphneJacksonTrust #FellowshipOpportunity
🕛Deadline: 12 noon, Monday 29th September 2025.
🔗 Apply now: daphnejackson.org/fellowship/m...
#ReturnToResearch #MedicalResearchScotland #DaphneJacksonTrust #FellowshipOpportunity
Reposted by Benjamin Schuster-Böckler
R35 suspended. One senior postdoc, one senior graduate student, one postdoc who started this week, one rotation student doing well and planning on taking on in our lab. Fingers crossed things get resolved soon and so thankful for all the great people I have that I didn’t have to make my lab big…
August 2, 2025 at 1:18 AM
R35 suspended. One senior postdoc, one senior graduate student, one postdoc who started this week, one rotation student doing well and planning on taking on in our lab. Fingers crossed things get resolved soon and so thankful for all the great people I have that I didn’t have to make my lab big…
Reposted by Benjamin Schuster-Böckler
It has been the honor of my life to serve as Commissioner of BLS alongside the many dedicated civil servants tasked with measuring a vast and dynamic economy. It is vital and important work and I thank them for their service to this nation.
August 2, 2025 at 2:18 AM
It has been the honor of my life to serve as Commissioner of BLS alongside the many dedicated civil servants tasked with measuring a vast and dynamic economy. It is vital and important work and I thank them for their service to this nation.
Reposted by Benjamin Schuster-Böckler
The massive list of suspended UCLA grants came out today: 300 NSF and 500 NIH grants. I am miraculously not on the list, but this is devastating. Science will be lost, progress will be frozen, people will lose jobs, and careers in science and medicine are being destroyed. This is not ok.
August 1, 2025 at 8:49 PM
The massive list of suspended UCLA grants came out today: 300 NSF and 500 NIH grants. I am miraculously not on the list, but this is devastating. Science will be lost, progress will be frozen, people will lose jobs, and careers in science and medicine are being destroyed. This is not ok.
Reposted by Benjamin Schuster-Böckler
Wow
Karolinska Institutet is recruiting 20 outstanding early-career researchers for assistant professor positions
ki.se/en/about-ki/...
Karolinska Institutet is recruiting 20 outstanding early-career researchers for assistant professor positions
ki.se/en/about-ki/...
Call for 20 Assistant Professor positions
Karolinska Institutet is a world-leading medical university with a long and proud history of ground-breaking research. We are now recruiting outstanding early-career researchers with particularly exce...
ki.se
July 25, 2025 at 10:29 PM
Wow
Karolinska Institutet is recruiting 20 outstanding early-career researchers for assistant professor positions
ki.se/en/about-ki/...
Karolinska Institutet is recruiting 20 outstanding early-career researchers for assistant professor positions
ki.se/en/about-ki/...
Reposted by Benjamin Schuster-Böckler
Become our colleague! Tenure-track Assistant Professor position at The Center for Integrative Genomics, University of Lausanne, Switzerland. unil.ch/cig/en/home....
More details for how to apply are here:
www.nature.com/naturecareer...
More details for how to apply are here:
www.nature.com/naturecareer...
July 21, 2025 at 10:18 AM
Become our colleague! Tenure-track Assistant Professor position at The Center for Integrative Genomics, University of Lausanne, Switzerland. unil.ch/cig/en/home....
More details for how to apply are here:
www.nature.com/naturecareer...
More details for how to apply are here:
www.nature.com/naturecareer...
Reposted by Benjamin Schuster-Böckler
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
July 18, 2025 at 10:19 AM
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
Reposted by Benjamin Schuster-Böckler
🎉 Excited to share my first paper as 2nd author! From the Barr & Gruneberg labs, this work explores the structure of the Chromosome Passenger Complex (CPC) and suggests a ‘pivot–tether’ model for how it binds H3pT3-phosphorylated nucleosomes
@oxfordbiochemistry.bsky.social @dunnschool.bsky.social
@oxfordbiochemistry.bsky.social @dunnschool.bsky.social
July 15, 2025 at 8:29 PM
🎉 Excited to share my first paper as 2nd author! From the Barr & Gruneberg labs, this work explores the structure of the Chromosome Passenger Complex (CPC) and suggests a ‘pivot–tether’ model for how it binds H3pT3-phosphorylated nucleosomes
@oxfordbiochemistry.bsky.social @dunnschool.bsky.social
@oxfordbiochemistry.bsky.social @dunnschool.bsky.social
Reposted by Benjamin Schuster-Böckler
We congratulate Ludwig @ox.ac.uk’s Helen Byrne on her receipt of the Naylor Prize and Lectureship in Applied Mathematics from the London Mathematical Society for her incisive modeling of the heterogeneity, topological features and immune landscapes of tumors. bit.ly/4eysUlG
#CanSky #OncoSky
#CanSky #OncoSky
July 7, 2025 at 4:43 PM
We congratulate Ludwig @ox.ac.uk’s Helen Byrne on her receipt of the Naylor Prize and Lectureship in Applied Mathematics from the London Mathematical Society for her incisive modeling of the heterogeneity, topological features and immune landscapes of tumors. bit.ly/4eysUlG
#CanSky #OncoSky
#CanSky #OncoSky