Rakyan Lab
@rakyanlab.bsky.social
Blizard Institute, QMUL, London. Working on inter-individual genetic and epigenetic variation of mammalian ribosomal DNA.
Couldn’t agree more.
With so little money to go round, the costs of competing for grants can exceed what the grants are worth. When that happens, nobody wins.
go.nature.com/49fOOrP
go.nature.com/49fOOrP
Point of no returns: researchers are crossing a threshold in the fight for funding
With so little money to go round, the costs of competing for grants can exceed what the grants are worth. When that happens, nobody wins.
go.nature.com
January 3, 2026 at 1:17 PM
Couldn’t agree more.
Reposted by Rakyan Lab
If you’ve heard me talk in the past ~5 years, you will know I have developed an obsession with acrocentric chromosomes. This is all of that, condensed into one paper. I will do a full thread in the new year, but for those that want something to read over the holidays, have at it. Such a cool story!
Origin and evolution of acrocentric chromosomes in human and great apes https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.22.696095v1
December 24, 2025 at 3:59 AM
If you’ve heard me talk in the past ~5 years, you will know I have developed an obsession with acrocentric chromosomes. This is all of that, condensed into one paper. I will do a full thread in the new year, but for those that want something to read over the holidays, have at it. Such a cool story!
Reposted by Rakyan Lab
Human acrocentric chromosome short arm de novo mutation and recombination https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.16.694519v1
December 18, 2025 at 7:32 AM
Human acrocentric chromosome short arm de novo mutation and recombination https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.16.694519v1
Reposted by Rakyan Lab
Complete genomes of a multi-generational pedigree to expand studies of genetic and epigenetic inheritance https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.14.693655v1
December 17, 2025 at 5:32 AM
Complete genomes of a multi-generational pedigree to expand studies of genetic and epigenetic inheritance https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.14.693655v1
Reposted by Rakyan Lab
Vaults. They are cell biology's greatest puzzle! This preprint from Martin Beck's lab shows them docked on ER membranes with a ribosome inside. What on earth is going on there??
#CellBiology #WTFology
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
#CellBiology #WTFology
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
The vault associates with membranes in situ
The eukaryotic vault particle is a giant ribonucleoprotein complex that assembles into an iconic barrel-like cage. Its cellular function has remained elusive despite extensive characterization. Using ...
www.biorxiv.org
December 16, 2025 at 6:35 AM
Vaults. They are cell biology's greatest puzzle! This preprint from Martin Beck's lab shows them docked on ER membranes with a ribosome inside. What on earth is going on there??
#CellBiology #WTFology
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
#CellBiology #WTFology
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Reposted by Rakyan Lab
These are the types of changes needed at funding agencies.
Leaders at @ukri.org should be seriously looking at the lottery first idea. 68% lower economic costs, increase in diversity of award holders and well received.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Lottery before peer review is associated with increased female representation and reduced estimated economic cost in a German funding line - Nature Communications
The authors show evidence from a German funding line that a lottery-first approach followed by peer review is accompanied by increased female representation both at the submission stage and among fund...
www.nature.com
December 11, 2025 at 7:07 PM
These are the types of changes needed at funding agencies.
And of course, if you haven’t already, watch ‘Quest for Fire’. It’s great fun!
m.imdb.com/title/tt0082...
m.imdb.com/title/tt0082...
Quest for Fire (1981) ⭐ 7.3 | Adventure, Drama
1h 40m | R
m.imdb.com
December 10, 2025 at 9:53 PM
And of course, if you haven’t already, watch ‘Quest for Fire’. It’s great fun!
m.imdb.com/title/tt0082...
m.imdb.com/title/tt0082...
Wow!!!!!
“Findings suggest a major transition in human behaviour from ~500-300ka. Although the behavioural & cognitive changes certainly involved early Neanderthals & other contemporaneous humans, similar developments likely occurred among ancestors of Denisovans in east Eurasia & of H. sapiens in Africa“🔥😯🧪
Earliest evidence of making fire - Nature
Baked sediment, heat-shattered artefacts and introduced pyrite in a 400,000-year-old Palaeolithic occupation site in Suffolk, UK provide evidence of intentional fire-making, marking a pivotal moment i...
www.nature.com
December 10, 2025 at 9:52 PM
Wow!!!!!
Reposted by Rakyan Lab
This is shocking stuff. John Quackenbush has been brilliant since forever. www.statnews.com/2025/12/05/r...
His lab was humming with discovery. After one year under Trump, it’s almost silent
John Quackenbush built a lab that is at the forefront of human genetics research and bioinformatics. Trump administration cuts have put it in danger of collapse.
www.statnews.com
December 10, 2025 at 7:37 AM
This is shocking stuff. John Quackenbush has been brilliant since forever. www.statnews.com/2025/12/05/r...
Reposted by Rakyan Lab
Proud to announce that four Queen Mary researchers have secured prestigious #ERCCoG Consolidator Grants: Dr Stefaan Verbruggen, Prof Claudia Langenberg, Dr Xuekun Lu and Dr Alexandre De Mendoza Soler.
Find out more: www.qmul.ac.uk/media/news/2...
Find out more: www.qmul.ac.uk/media/news/2...
December 9, 2025 at 4:42 PM
Proud to announce that four Queen Mary researchers have secured prestigious #ERCCoG Consolidator Grants: Dr Stefaan Verbruggen, Prof Claudia Langenberg, Dr Xuekun Lu and Dr Alexandre De Mendoza Soler.
Find out more: www.qmul.ac.uk/media/news/2...
Find out more: www.qmul.ac.uk/media/news/2...
Indeed interesting!
Our paper is out studying premature aging (a hallmark of Down syndrome) in aneuploid yeast. Who knew part of the problem is in Ribosome Quality Control. Congrats to Leah Escalante for leading this tour de force.
journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...
journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...
Chromosome duplication causes premature aging via defects in ribosome quality control
Syndromes caused by chromosome amplification, such as Down syndrome, are characterized by premature aging, but the reason behind this is unclear. This study shows that chromosome amplification in yeas...
journals.plos.org
December 6, 2025 at 12:14 PM
Indeed interesting!
Reposted by Rakyan Lab
Human gene maps contain major blind spots that leaves out a vast majority of the world's biological diversity, according to a new study led by the CRG's @rodericguigo.bsky.social with @bsc-cns.bsky.social. The researchers uncovered tens of thousands of new transcripts and entirely new genes.
Long-read transcriptomics of a diverse human cohort reveals ancestry bias in gene annotation - Nature Communications
Current human gene annotations are predominantly based on individuals of European ancestry. Here, the authors use long-read RNA sequencing across diverse human populations to reveal ancestry-specific ...
www.nature.com
December 3, 2025 at 1:38 PM
Human gene maps contain major blind spots that leaves out a vast majority of the world's biological diversity, according to a new study led by the CRG's @rodericguigo.bsky.social with @bsc-cns.bsky.social. The researchers uncovered tens of thousands of new transcripts and entirely new genes.
Reposted by Rakyan Lab
(S)-cargot (R)-cargot
November 28, 2025 at 8:06 PM
(S)-cargot (R)-cargot
Reposted by Rakyan Lab
🤯
Show me a better conference venue than #ABACBS25, where you can see a live match during the break! 🏏🏟️
November 25, 2025 at 5:49 AM
🤯
This looks very interesting!
Cinque et al. @leuccilrcb.bsky.social showed that the #lncRNA LISRR contributes to the emergence of #melanoma clones resistant to the immune attack by assembling #specializedribosomes at the ER. rupress.org/jem/article/...
🎥 See a short video summary: youtu.be/AKSuTne83jQ
#Ribosomes
🎥 See a short video summary: youtu.be/AKSuTne83jQ
#Ribosomes
November 23, 2025 at 3:27 PM
This looks very interesting!
Reposted by Rakyan Lab
Happy birthday to the Soviet linguist Yuri Knorozov who casually deciphered the Mayan script in 1952 and got pissed when editors removed his cat as co-author on papers or cropped her out of his author headshot (the only picture of himself he even liked)
November 19, 2025 at 2:55 AM
Happy birthday to the Soviet linguist Yuri Knorozov who casually deciphered the Mayan script in 1952 and got pissed when editors removed his cat as co-author on papers or cropped her out of his author headshot (the only picture of himself he even liked)
Cool stuff!
Out today, our take on 6-methyladenine #6mA evolution in Eukaryotes @natgenet.nature.com. We asked a simple question, is really DNA 6mA common across the eukaryotes? The answer is "yes" if you're a unicellular eukaryote 🦠, not so if you're multicellular 🐝🌱🍄. www.nature.com/articles/s41... 1/9
Adenine DNA methylation associated with transcriptionally permissive chromatin is widespread across eukaryotes - Nature Genetics
Long-read sequencing in 18 unicellular eukaryotes reveals that 6mA is widespread across eukaryotes and is enriched at transcriptionally permissive regions, which are also marked by H3K4me3.
www.nature.com
November 18, 2025 at 1:38 PM
Cool stuff!
Reposted by Rakyan Lab
Please share far & wide. Looking for a #postdoc to get stuck in with a wide range of projects, with freedom to explore and lead the #computational #bioninformatics work
12 months to begin with, but for the right candidate we have funding for a further 19 months
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DPK467/p...
12 months to begin with, but for the right candidate we have funding for a further 19 months
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DPK467/p...
Postdoctoral Research Associate in Computational Muscle Biology at King's College London
Discover Postdoctoral Research Associate in Computational Muscle Biology jobs and more in higher education on jobs.ac.uk. Apply for further details on the top job board.
www.jobs.ac.uk
November 12, 2025 at 1:20 PM
Please share far & wide. Looking for a #postdoc to get stuck in with a wide range of projects, with freedom to explore and lead the #computational #bioninformatics work
12 months to begin with, but for the right candidate we have funding for a further 19 months
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DPK467/p...
12 months to begin with, but for the right candidate we have funding for a further 19 months
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DPK467/p...
Reposted by Rakyan Lab
Circadian clock control of ribosome composition promotes rhythmic translation and termination fidelity
Circadian clock control of ribosome composition promotes rhythmic translation and termination fidelity
Lamb et al. show that the circadian clock rhythmically remodels ribosome composition in Neurospora crassa. Clock-regulated incorporation of the ribosomal protein eL31 is required for rhythmic translation and translation fidelity, linking temporal ribosome remodeling to daily changes in proteome diversity.
dlvr.it
November 8, 2025 at 8:50 PM
Circadian clock control of ribosome composition promotes rhythmic translation and termination fidelity
Reposted by Rakyan Lab
AI tells you what you want to hear, statisticians usually tell you what you don't want to hear
The advances we've made in statistics, experimental study design, and causal inference over the past century are remarkably useful for understanding our world. But there is never been a push to make people use them like we are seeing with generative AI. Perhaps take a moment to consider why.
November 7, 2025 at 9:13 AM
AI tells you what you want to hear, statisticians usually tell you what you don't want to hear
Oooh, very interesting!
Excited to share our latest work in collaboration with the @edreznik.bsky.social lab @mskcancercenter.bsky.social, where we describe functionally dominant mitochondrial DNA mutations in patient tumors. So, what is functional dominance in mitochondrial genetics, I hear you ask?
rdcu.be/eN1jm
rdcu.be/eN1jm
Functionally dominant hotspot mutations of mitochondrial ribosomal RNA genes in cancer
Nature Genetics - Analysis of 14,106 tumor genomes highlights recurrent mutations in mitochondrial ribosomal RNA encoded within the mitochondrial genome. Mutations occur at hotspot positions and...
rdcu.be
November 7, 2025 at 8:29 AM
Oooh, very interesting!
Beautiful work.
Excited to share my first PhD student’s @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social!
Tracking 5 dyes simultaneously Kavan Gor @embl.org tracks nascent #RNA folding during #ribosome assembly to correlate structural with functional information on single RNA molecules!
Check it out!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Tracking 5 dyes simultaneously Kavan Gor @embl.org tracks nascent #RNA folding during #ribosome assembly to correlate structural with functional information on single RNA molecules!
Check it out!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
November 1, 2025 at 7:41 AM
Beautiful work.