Richard Unwin
LightNews LightNews
banner
rdunwin.bsky.social
Richard Unwin
@rdunwin.bsky.social
860 followers 440 following 360 posts
Mass Spectrometry and proteomics at Uni of Manchester. Analysis of primary samples for biomarker discovery. Development of targeted assays for clinical use.

Co-founder, Complement Therapeutics

Also football (SWFC), cricket and politics.
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Richard Unwin
dervissalih1.bsky.social
December 25, 2025 at 1:46 PM
Reposted by Richard Unwin
rhodri.biz
Twas the night before Christmas, and throughout the land
The sleeping arrangements were carefully planned
Down in the kitchen, a picturesque scene
A mattress, a pillow, a washing machine
December 24, 2025 at 7:30 PM
rdunwin.bsky.social
This remains one of the BEST social media threads of the year. If you've never seen it, check it out (and if you're a long-time duvet-er, enjoy!) 😁
rhodri.biz Rhodri Marsden @rhodri.biz · 10d
Tomorrow evening it’ll be my annual duty to vaguely shepherd the activity on the #duvetknowitschristmas hashtag and urge people to give small sums to charity. 7.30pm? Something like that?
December 23, 2025 at 9:00 PM
rdunwin.bsky.social
Sad news about #ChrisRea. Was a bit of a fan when I was growing up.

Predictable focus on 'Driving home for Christmas'. But it's not even his best Christmas song lol.

If you've not heard it, check this. The Intro is 🔥, and the lyrics are top drawer

Thanks, Chris. RiP

youtu.be/nYz21xcJxTs?...
Joys of Christmas
YouTube video by Chris Rea - Topic
youtu.be
December 22, 2025 at 7:50 PM
Reposted by Richard Unwin
wrenkh.bsky.social
Just a gentle reminder to anyone who needs this...

Please share with your followers. You might be surprised who it could help...
During the Christmas holidays it's ok if you don't get on with your family your weight changes you need some time to yourself you say no to some parties you don't feel like cooking you're not drinking
December 21, 2025 at 10:39 PM
rdunwin.bsky.social
Dear the entire USA. You guys know that this is not normal, right? 🤦‍♂️😬
deathofbuckley.bsky.social BUCKERS @deathofbuckley.bsky.social · 16d
In today’s episode of “I am Mental” x
December 18, 2025 at 8:45 AM
Reposted by Richard Unwin
mtrost.bsky.social
I have a PhD position available with start date September 2026 at the University of Manchester.

Proteomics analysis of flow cytometry-based isolated pathogen-containing phagosomes

Due to funding requirements, this position is for UK home students only.

www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
Proteomics analysis of flow cytometry-based isolated pathogen-containing phagosomes at The University of Manchester on FindAPhD.com
PhD Project - Proteomics analysis of flow cytometry-based isolated pathogen-containing phagosomes at The University of Manchester, listed on FindAPhD.com
www.findaphd.com
December 15, 2025 at 12:15 PM
rdunwin.bsky.social
2 adjacent papers in my timeline with new AD biomarkers.

First claims 'accurate prediction'. Second claims 'prognosic value'.

First has an AUC of 0.769. Second has AUC 0.71 [95%CI 0.57–0.85]. Both values from the discovery cohort only.

Is it just me, or are these neither accurate or valuable?
December 11, 2025 at 8:41 AM
rdunwin.bsky.social
This is one of the funniest things I've read in ages... 🤣🤣👏👏
mrhenrymorris.substack.com Henry Morris @mrhenrymorris.substack.com · Dec 2
🚨Some personal news.

I'm thrilled to announce that I've just filed my first copy for The New Yorker.

A profile of Jonathan Gullis.

"You get the sense that offstage, Jonathan Gullis struggles with being Jonathan Gullis."

open.substack.com/pub/mrhenrym...
Jonathan Gullis, The Seagull's Lament
A New Yorker Profile
open.substack.com
December 2, 2025 at 9:16 PM
Reposted by Richard Unwin
cmichaelrose.bsky.social
I am looking for a PostDoc to join my group at Genentech to drive the development of proteomics technologies to fuel target and therapeutic discovery and development. Check out the link below!

careers.gene.com/us/en/job/20...
November 25, 2025 at 12:39 AM
rdunwin.bsky.social
November 24, 2025 at 8:44 PM
Reposted by Richard Unwin
fbmh-uom.bsky.social
The parents of a three-year-old boy born with a devastating, life-limiting genetic condition say they are now excited for his future after he received a revolutionary stem cell gene therapy treatment developed by researchers at the University of Manchester.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Hunter syndrome: Boy with rare condition amazes doctors after world-first gene therapy
Oliver has an inherited condition called Hunter syndrome, which causes progressive damage to the body and brain.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 24, 2025 at 11:31 AM
Reposted by Richard Unwin
femalesinms.bsky.social
Registration for the Round 6 of Mentorship Pods is now OPEN!

More info👉 femalesinms.com/mentorship-p...
Registration 👉 femalesinms.com/mentorship-p...
November 11, 2025 at 10:48 PM
rdunwin.bsky.social
This is an outstanding thread, and is spot on...

The drive towards open access/data sharing has been driven by funders. They're important, sure, but as an author I consider these more because my funder and employers expect it. The same people can lead to not-for-profit and quality over quantity.
hansonmark.bsky.social Mark A. Hanson @hansonmark.bsky.social · Nov 11
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 12, 2025 at 7:45 AM
Reposted by Richard Unwin
mscaitlinmoran.bsky.social
Love being reminded to do this every year. It's a win/win all round
Clear out toys now!
November 11, 2025 at 11:00 AM
rdunwin.bsky.social
Whinge of the week:

So far this week I've read THREE papers where the title claims to have identified and validated novel biomarkers for disease X.

Of the three, one is in mice, one is based on a 10 v 10 cohort, and the third has an AUROC of 0.65, falling to below 0.6 in a second cohort.
November 5, 2025 at 9:13 AM
rdunwin.bsky.social
Daniel Hannan has a self-awareness problem
rolandmcs.bsky.social Roland Smith @rolandmcs.bsky.social · Nov 1
A Brexiter writes...
November 2, 2025 at 12:36 PM
rdunwin.bsky.social
Well this was kind of inevitable but it still makes for horrible reading. Should mean the back of Chansiri and fresh start, though, if we can find a sale. 🤞🤞😢

🦉🦉🦉
#wawaw
#swfc

www.bbc.co.uk/sport/footba...
Sheffield Wednesday: Championship club enter administration
Sheffield Wednesday have been placed into administration after it was revealed last week that His Majesty's Revenue & Customs were set to issue a winding-up petition against the club.
www.bbc.co.uk
October 24, 2025 at 12:14 PM
rdunwin.bsky.social
This is accurate.

There's a valley of death between 'good academic research' and 'ready for investment'.

Every project at that stage is risky, and because there's not much money instututions cherry pick and become risk averse.

If you wanna win the lottery, buy more tickets.
October 24, 2025 at 8:00 AM
rdunwin.bsky.social
🤣🤣🤣

Yup 🎯
October 23, 2025 at 8:32 PM
rdunwin.bsky.social
Anyone see the attendance tonight? #SHWMID #swfc.
October 22, 2025 at 9:38 PM
Reposted by Richard Unwin
manchester.ac.uk
From Manchester for the world.

We are proud to launch our bold strategy to 2035. Together, we're redefining what a great civic University looks like for the 21st century.

Visit our webpage to explore our ambition in full: www.manchester.ac.uk/about/manche...
October 16, 2025 at 8:59 AM
rdunwin.bsky.social
ECR with <3yrs postdoc experience?

The University of Manchester @officialuom.bsky.social is offering THREE Bicentenary Fellowships.

3yrs salary + £30k pa funding

If you have a project involving mass spec, biomarkers and human disease, get in touch!

www.bmh.manchester.ac.uk/research/sup...
Bicentenary Early Career Research Fellowships | Biology, Medicine and Health | University of Manchester
Find out about and apply for a Bicentenary Early Career Research Fellowship.
www.bmh.manchester.ac.uk
October 10, 2025 at 9:01 AM
Reposted by Richard Unwin
dns-uom.bsky.social
📣 New MRC DTP PhD project is available with David Brough, Kevin Couper, Roy Ng and Chris Hoyle looking at the NLRP3 inflammasome in the brain and brain disease findaphd.com/phds/project.... Please get in touch if you are interested! 🧠
(MRC DTP) Targeting inflammasomes to reduce inflammatory damage in brain disease at The University of Manchester on FindAPhD.com
PhD Project - (MRC DTP) Targeting inflammasomes to reduce inflammatory damage in brain disease at The University of Manchester, listed on FindAPhD.com
findaphd.com
October 10, 2025 at 8:32 AM
Reposted by Richard Unwin
lukaskall.bsky.social
There is a position open in our lab, within this network. Our project deals with assessing identification and quantification errors for MS-based proteomics. www.protaiomics.eu/project/dc13...
Please check out all the project descriptions at the site below:
October 8, 2025 at 12:15 PM