Ben Hall
@hallben.bsky.social
Professor in computational cancer biology at UCL interested in disease, mutations, and aging. Funded by CRUK, MRC and Royal Society.
Personal account for science, code, music, photography! “Tired is the new awake”
Personal account for science, code, music, photography! “Tired is the new awake”
Pinned
Ben Hall
@hallben.bsky.social
· Nov 3
UCL – University College London
UCL is consistently ranked as one of the top ten universities in the world (QS World University Rankings 2010-2022) and is No.2 in the UK for research power (Research Excellence Framework 2021).
www.ucl.ac.uk
Very excited to share an advert for a new lecturer position in Computational Cancer at UCL! Permanent position at assistant professor level- join a growing community at UCL in a cutting edge discipline.
Please share widely!
www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...
Please share widely!
www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...
Reposted by Ben Hall
We all should remember that by publishing in a journal, we financially support their existence, and intellectually support their values and approach to publishing. Publish in journals that give back to your discipline, that give back to science. Such as Development and Developmental Biology
"revision requests can expand beyond what is feasible...we've been told reviews are unnecessarily harsh... reviews can seem formidable but usually represent constructive critiques"
Interesting reflections and introspection from editors of Development 1/n
journals.biologists.com/dev/article/...
Interesting reflections and introspection from editors of Development 1/n
journals.biologists.com/dev/article/...
The hard truth about how hard it is to publish in Development
Every researcher knows the anticipation and trepidation that come with submitting a paper to a journal. Years of effort have been distilled into a few thousand words and a handful of figures containin...
journals.biologists.com
January 3, 2026 at 7:33 PM
We all should remember that by publishing in a journal, we financially support their existence, and intellectually support their values and approach to publishing. Publish in journals that give back to your discipline, that give back to science. Such as Development and Developmental Biology
Reposted by Ben Hall
"revision requests can expand beyond what is feasible...we've been told reviews are unnecessarily harsh... reviews can seem formidable but usually represent constructive critiques"
Interesting reflections and introspection from editors of Development 1/n
journals.biologists.com/dev/article/...
Interesting reflections and introspection from editors of Development 1/n
journals.biologists.com/dev/article/...
The hard truth about how hard it is to publish in Development
Every researcher knows the anticipation and trepidation that come with submitting a paper to a journal. Years of effort have been distilled into a few thousand words and a handful of figures containin...
journals.biologists.com
January 3, 2026 at 4:23 PM
"revision requests can expand beyond what is feasible...we've been told reviews are unnecessarily harsh... reviews can seem formidable but usually represent constructive critiques"
Interesting reflections and introspection from editors of Development 1/n
journals.biologists.com/dev/article/...
Interesting reflections and introspection from editors of Development 1/n
journals.biologists.com/dev/article/...
Need to think about this some more but the availability of open access scientific papers and scientific code as a legitimate source for training LLMs should be recognised as a benefit.
Is ‘open science’ delivering benefits? Major study finds proof is sparse www.science.org/content/arti...
Is ‘open science’ delivering benefits? Major study finds proof is sparse
It’s hard to measure social and economic impacts of making papers and data free, researchers say
www.science.org
January 3, 2026 at 5:24 PM
Need to think about this some more but the availability of open access scientific papers and scientific code as a legitimate source for training LLMs should be recognised as a benefit.
Reposted by Ben Hall
Is ‘open science’ delivering benefits? Major study finds proof is sparse www.science.org/content/arti...
Is ‘open science’ delivering benefits? Major study finds proof is sparse
It’s hard to measure social and economic impacts of making papers and data free, researchers say
www.science.org
January 3, 2026 at 5:00 PM
Is ‘open science’ delivering benefits? Major study finds proof is sparse www.science.org/content/arti...
Reposted by Ben Hall
My blogpost on the success of universal chickenpox vaccination in the US, and why the UK should have made the move sooner:
www.scientificdiscovery.dev/p/13-the-suc...
Chickenpox vaccines are really effective!
www.scientificdiscovery.dev/p/13-the-suc...
Chickenpox vaccines are really effective!
January 2, 2026 at 12:16 PM
My blogpost on the success of universal chickenpox vaccination in the US, and why the UK should have made the move sooner:
www.scientificdiscovery.dev/p/13-the-suc...
Chickenpox vaccines are really effective!
www.scientificdiscovery.dev/p/13-the-suc...
Chickenpox vaccines are really effective!
Reposted by Ben Hall
Woohoo! Chickenpox vaccines are on the menu in the UK - finally!!
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Ignore the sceptics: with this new vaccine, chickenpox could become a thing of the past | Wes Streeting
Thousands develop serious complications from the varicella virus. Today the NHS rolls out a new jab, alongside measles, mumps and rubella, says health secretary Wes Streeting
www.theguardian.com
January 2, 2026 at 12:06 PM
Woohoo! Chickenpox vaccines are on the menu in the UK - finally!!
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Reposted by Ben Hall
Not that snapshots are the be-all either way, but FWIW on New Year's day, in the dead of winter, solar power is still providing nearly 10% of the UK's electricity at lunchtime. That's not nothing.
January 1, 2026 at 12:39 PM
Not that snapshots are the be-all either way, but FWIW on New Year's day, in the dead of winter, solar power is still providing nearly 10% of the UK's electricity at lunchtime. That's not nothing.
Reposted by Ben Hall
Loved this brilliant biography of Crick by @matthewcobb.bsky.social But what struck me from the start: it's also a portrait of a lost time in science: no grant applications or teaching, big travel budgets: the job only to think, talk & get science done. Future scientific biogs will be so different.
December 31, 2025 at 8:38 PM
Loved this brilliant biography of Crick by @matthewcobb.bsky.social But what struck me from the start: it's also a portrait of a lost time in science: no grant applications or teaching, big travel budgets: the job only to think, talk & get science done. Future scientific biogs will be so different.
Reposted by Ben Hall
Yup. Scientific pal of mine sat next to Sir Andrew Huxley at a dinner in the early 90s and was telling AFH about the vicissitudes of grant applications. 'I never wrote one, you know' said the great man.
Loved this brilliant biography of Crick by @matthewcobb.bsky.social But what struck me from the start: it's also a portrait of a lost time in science: no grant applications or teaching, big travel budgets: the job only to think, talk & get science done. Future scientific biogs will be so different.
December 31, 2025 at 9:05 PM
Yup. Scientific pal of mine sat next to Sir Andrew Huxley at a dinner in the early 90s and was telling AFH about the vicissitudes of grant applications. 'I never wrote one, you know' said the great man.
Reposted by Ben Hall
Snake Pass Snow, painting by Sue Scott. Infamous stretch of the A57 between Manchester and Sheffield.
December 27, 2025 at 8:58 AM
Snake Pass Snow, painting by Sue Scott. Infamous stretch of the A57 between Manchester and Sheffield.
Reposted by Ben Hall
"A mathematical model is a logical machine for converting assumptions into conclusions. If the model is correct and we believe its assumptions then we must, as a matter of logic, believe its conclusions. "
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Models in biology: ‘accurate descriptions of our pathetic thinking’ - BMC Biology
In this essay I will sketch some ideas for how to think about models in biology. I will begin by trying to dispel the myth that quantitative modeling is somehow foreign to biology. I will then point o...
link.springer.com
December 26, 2025 at 1:01 PM
"A mathematical model is a logical machine for converting assumptions into conclusions. If the model is correct and we believe its assumptions then we must, as a matter of logic, believe its conclusions. "
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Reposted by Ben Hall
This is my direct experience and it is why I think that many of the attempts to get *students* to use it formally are utterly wrongheaded, in that thus far, it has changed a lot of things to a job where you need to 'verify and edit' as it were.
LLMs are genuinely useful for bullshit jobs in academic administration — as long as you read the ouputs over with an expert critical eye.
They are worse than useless if you are not already an expert.
They are worse than useless if you are not already an expert.
December 21, 2025 at 8:22 PM
This is my direct experience and it is why I think that many of the attempts to get *students* to use it formally are utterly wrongheaded, in that thus far, it has changed a lot of things to a job where you need to 'verify and edit' as it were.
Reposted by Ben Hall
Happy to share our recent work quantifying ‘just-right’ APC inactivation in colorectal cancer initiation:
doi.org/10.1158/0008...
Excellent collaborative teamwork, led by the fantastic Meritxell Brunet Guasch.
doi.org/10.1158/0008...
Excellent collaborative teamwork, led by the fantastic Meritxell Brunet Guasch.
Mathematical Modeling Quantifies “Just-Right” APC Inactivation for Colorectal Cancer Initiation
Mathematical modeling of tumor development with different APC genotypes substantiates the “just-right” APC inactivation model and suggests alterations in secondary WNT regulators enhance WNT activity ...
doi.org
December 17, 2025 at 3:59 PM
Happy to share our recent work quantifying ‘just-right’ APC inactivation in colorectal cancer initiation:
doi.org/10.1158/0008...
Excellent collaborative teamwork, led by the fantastic Meritxell Brunet Guasch.
doi.org/10.1158/0008...
Excellent collaborative teamwork, led by the fantastic Meritxell Brunet Guasch.
Reposted by Ben Hall
Nice image from Anamul Hoque "tidied up" a bit by ChatGPT - won us the "best image" prize at UCL Life Sciences.
Ernst Haeckel, eat your heart out.
Ernst Haeckel, eat your heart out.
December 18, 2025 at 7:51 AM
Nice image from Anamul Hoque "tidied up" a bit by ChatGPT - won us the "best image" prize at UCL Life Sciences.
Ernst Haeckel, eat your heart out.
Ernst Haeckel, eat your heart out.
Reposted by Ben Hall
Organelles do NOT have a single uniform pH.
And if you think they must, because “protons diffuse fast,” this paper is for you.
A thread on why that assumption is wrong; and what we found instead. 🧵 1/n
And if you think they must, because “protons diffuse fast,” this paper is for you.
A thread on why that assumption is wrong; and what we found instead. 🧵 1/n
Organelles harbour pH gradients https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.12.694065v1
December 17, 2025 at 12:46 AM
Organelles do NOT have a single uniform pH.
And if you think they must, because “protons diffuse fast,” this paper is for you.
A thread on why that assumption is wrong; and what we found instead. 🧵 1/n
And if you think they must, because “protons diffuse fast,” this paper is for you.
A thread on why that assumption is wrong; and what we found instead. 🧵 1/n
Reposted by Ben Hall
Energy-driven proton gradients within organelles - pH isn’t uniform within compartments. Maybe the gradient dissipation can drive gradients (currents) of other ions?
Organelles do NOT have a single uniform pH.
And if you think they must, because “protons diffuse fast,” this paper is for you.
A thread on why that assumption is wrong; and what we found instead. 🧵 1/n
And if you think they must, because “protons diffuse fast,” this paper is for you.
A thread on why that assumption is wrong; and what we found instead. 🧵 1/n
Organelles harbour pH gradients https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.12.694065v1
December 17, 2025 at 8:30 AM
Energy-driven proton gradients within organelles - pH isn’t uniform within compartments. Maybe the gradient dissipation can drive gradients (currents) of other ions?
Reposted by Ben Hall
A new PNAS paper finds that polarization increased immediately after the release of Lady Gaga’s “Just Dance” and the advent of the late-2000s electro-pop era, which both appeared around the same year, 2008.
A new PNAS paper finds that polarization increased immediately after the invention of smartphones and the advent of social media, which both appeared around the same year, 2008.
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
December 15, 2025 at 8:21 AM
A new PNAS paper finds that polarization increased immediately after the release of Lady Gaga’s “Just Dance” and the advent of the late-2000s electro-pop era, which both appeared around the same year, 2008.
Reposted by Ben Hall
⚠️ NEW on the #FoSci Substack: "Rogue Domains: When a University Isn’t a University."
Our VP of #ResearchIntegrity & Security, Dr Leslie McIntosh, delves into the latest of her investigations: a university website & emails that mimic a legitimate university.
🔗 Read now: https://ow.ly/lQyW50XHkpr
Our VP of #ResearchIntegrity & Security, Dr Leslie McIntosh, delves into the latest of her investigations: a university website & emails that mimic a legitimate university.
🔗 Read now: https://ow.ly/lQyW50XHkpr
December 11, 2025 at 10:59 AM
⚠️ NEW on the #FoSci Substack: "Rogue Domains: When a University Isn’t a University."
Our VP of #ResearchIntegrity & Security, Dr Leslie McIntosh, delves into the latest of her investigations: a university website & emails that mimic a legitimate university.
🔗 Read now: https://ow.ly/lQyW50XHkpr
Our VP of #ResearchIntegrity & Security, Dr Leslie McIntosh, delves into the latest of her investigations: a university website & emails that mimic a legitimate university.
🔗 Read now: https://ow.ly/lQyW50XHkpr
Reposted by Ben Hall
Emily gave a great thesis defense talk. She’s currently looking for a postdoc position — if anyone has an opening, please contact her!
Excited to share I successfully defended my thesis last week! I cannot thank @agrossfield.bsky.social enough for all of his guidance and support throughout this entire process. Keep your eyes out for publications of this work hopefully coming soon!
December 9, 2025 at 8:52 PM
Emily gave a great thesis defense talk. She’s currently looking for a postdoc position — if anyone has an opening, please contact her!
Reposted by Ben Hall
“Cut-price luxury and exorbitant necessity” is a great phrase by @stephenkb.bsky.social. The internet has made culture (and other superstar markets) more scalable and unequal, pushing up the price of necessities in places where superstars congregate.
www.ft.com/content/b49c...
www.ft.com/content/b49c...
The Netflix age has been great for consumers but terrible for artists
Returns to musicians and writers are dwindling fast
www.ft.com
December 9, 2025 at 6:36 PM
“Cut-price luxury and exorbitant necessity” is a great phrase by @stephenkb.bsky.social. The internet has made culture (and other superstar markets) more scalable and unequal, pushing up the price of necessities in places where superstars congregate.
www.ft.com/content/b49c...
www.ft.com/content/b49c...
Reposted by Ben Hall
Very excited to announce that MSc computational cancer is now open for applications! A new joint programme from UCL engineering & cancer institute.
Teaching #cancer through a computational lens, integrating cutting edge research with taught components.
Apply below!
www.ucl.ac.uk/prospective-...
Teaching #cancer through a computational lens, integrating cutting edge research with taught components.
Apply below!
www.ucl.ac.uk/prospective-...
Computational Cancer MSc
Be part of the revolution in cancer research and computational science with this interdisciplinary Master’s at UCL. Delivered jointly by UCL Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering and the UCL Cancer Institute, this programme equips you with cutting-edge skills at the forefront of healthcare innovation.
www.ucl.ac.uk
December 8, 2025 at 12:03 PM
Very excited to announce that MSc computational cancer is now open for applications! A new joint programme from UCL engineering & cancer institute.
Teaching #cancer through a computational lens, integrating cutting edge research with taught components.
Apply below!
www.ucl.ac.uk/prospective-...
Teaching #cancer through a computational lens, integrating cutting edge research with taught components.
Apply below!
www.ucl.ac.uk/prospective-...
Very excited to announce that MSc computational cancer is now open for applications! A new joint programme from UCL engineering & cancer institute.
Teaching #cancer through a computational lens, integrating cutting edge research with taught components.
Apply below!
www.ucl.ac.uk/prospective-...
Teaching #cancer through a computational lens, integrating cutting edge research with taught components.
Apply below!
www.ucl.ac.uk/prospective-...
Computational Cancer MSc
Be part of the revolution in cancer research and computational science with this interdisciplinary Master’s at UCL. Delivered jointly by UCL Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering and the UCL Cancer Institute, this programme equips you with cutting-edge skills at the forefront of healthcare innovation.
www.ucl.ac.uk
December 8, 2025 at 12:03 PM
Very excited to announce that MSc computational cancer is now open for applications! A new joint programme from UCL engineering & cancer institute.
Teaching #cancer through a computational lens, integrating cutting edge research with taught components.
Apply below!
www.ucl.ac.uk/prospective-...
Teaching #cancer through a computational lens, integrating cutting edge research with taught components.
Apply below!
www.ucl.ac.uk/prospective-...
Reposted by Ben Hall
RFdiffusion generates new enzymes that work efficiently straight out of the computer. An astonishing result with great implications.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Computational design of metallohydrolases - Nature
A generative artificial intelligence-powered method enables de novo design of highly active enzymes based on information about the geometry of residues in the active site, without requiring protein ba...
www.nature.com
December 5, 2025 at 3:36 AM
RFdiffusion generates new enzymes that work efficiently straight out of the computer. An astonishing result with great implications.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Ben Hall
In 2016, godfather of AI Geoffrey Hinton said: "People should stop training radiologists now." In this week's The AI Shift newsletter, we ask: why are there still so many radiologists?? www.ft.com/content/f2e0...
December 4, 2025 at 1:54 PM
In 2016, godfather of AI Geoffrey Hinton said: "People should stop training radiologists now." In this week's The AI Shift newsletter, we ask: why are there still so many radiologists?? www.ft.com/content/f2e0...
Reposted by Ben Hall
Trade-offs are pretty much ubiquitous in healthcare, even more so the more it deals with populations. But for all screening there are harms from false positives and harms from false negatives that need to be balanced quantitatively. >
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Most men should not be screened for prostate cancer, says UK expert body
It recommends that only men with a confirmed genetic risk of prostate cancer should be screened for the disease.
www.bbc.co.uk
December 1, 2025 at 9:07 AM
Trade-offs are pretty much ubiquitous in healthcare, even more so the more it deals with populations. But for all screening there are harms from false positives and harms from false negatives that need to be balanced quantitatively. >
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...