Rick Livesey
@ricklivesey.bsky.social
Cellular and molecular neuroscience, neurodegeneration & drug discovery. Founder and CEO of Talisman Therapeutics & Gen2 Neuroscience, honorary prof at UCL. Cambridge UK.
Reposted by Rick Livesey
New paper with @statsepi.bsky.social and @deevybee.bsky.social in which we show there's really no evidence for a link between the gut microbiome and autism www.cell.com/neuron/fullt...
Conceptual and methodological flaws undermine claims of a link between the gut microbiome and autism
Claims that the gut microbiome causally contributes to autism regularly appear in
the scientific literature and popular press. Mitchell et al. critically examine influential
studies underpinning these...
www.cell.com
November 13, 2025 at 4:10 PM
New paper with @statsepi.bsky.social and @deevybee.bsky.social in which we show there's really no evidence for a link between the gut microbiome and autism www.cell.com/neuron/fullt...
Reposted by Rick Livesey
JOB ALERT 🚨 We are hiring TWO principal investigators in cell, molecular, systems, or chemical biology in Toronto, Canada at @sinaihealth.bsky.social. We provide a generous startup, fully funded salary and academic appointment at U of Toronto.
www.nature.com/naturecareer...
Please repost!
www.nature.com/naturecareer...
Please repost!
August 28, 2025 at 6:34 AM
JOB ALERT 🚨 We are hiring TWO principal investigators in cell, molecular, systems, or chemical biology in Toronto, Canada at @sinaihealth.bsky.social. We provide a generous startup, fully funded salary and academic appointment at U of Toronto.
www.nature.com/naturecareer...
Please repost!
www.nature.com/naturecareer...
Please repost!
*new publication announcement* our first CRISPR screen paper is now out as Open Access in EMBO Journal. We find an unexpected role for LRRK2, an important gene/protein in Parkinson's disease, in controlling the uptake of both tau and synuclein by human neurons
www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....
www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....
Tau uptake by human neurons depends on receptor LRP1 and kinase LRRK2 | The EMBO Journal
imageimageNeuronal uptake of extracellular tau protein is thought to propagate intracellular
protein aggregation between neurons, contributing to the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s
and other neurodegener...
www.embopress.org
August 12, 2025 at 12:49 PM
*new publication announcement* our first CRISPR screen paper is now out as Open Access in EMBO Journal. We find an unexpected role for LRRK2, an important gene/protein in Parkinson's disease, in controlling the uptake of both tau and synuclein by human neurons
www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....
www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....
Unfortunately this has all the hallmarks of the tired old trope that there's no such thing as bad publicity (for a VC-backed company looking to raise on the best valuation possible). If nothing else, looks like Colossal have a v active PR/comms dept.
Dire-wolf drama continues to unfold. A scientist who has been critical of the company behind some audacious de-extinction claims believes that it has been trying to undermine the credibility of its critics ahead of major announcements. The company denies involvement. www.nature.com/articles/d41...
This company claimed to ‘de-extinct’ dire wolves. Then the fighting started.
Colossal’s bold announcements have drawn criticism from many scientists, but the billion-dollar firm is not backing down.
www.nature.com
August 4, 2025 at 11:59 AM
Unfortunately this has all the hallmarks of the tired old trope that there's no such thing as bad publicity (for a VC-backed company looking to raise on the best valuation possible). If nothing else, looks like Colossal have a v active PR/comms dept.
Reposted by Rick Livesey
Now up, positively our lab's last word on Ptbp1. Developmental loss of function Ptbp1 turns out not to regulate neurogenesis or cell fate specification at all, but does alter splicing patterns and slightly accelerates expression of photoreceptor-specific genes./1
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Ptbp1 is not required for retinal neurogenesis and cell fate specification.
The RNA-binding protein Ptbp1 has been proposed as a master regulator of neuronal fate, repressing neurogenesis through its effects on alternative splicing and miRNA maturation. While prior studies us...
www.biorxiv.org
July 4, 2025 at 3:03 PM
Now up, positively our lab's last word on Ptbp1. Developmental loss of function Ptbp1 turns out not to regulate neurogenesis or cell fate specification at all, but does alter splicing patterns and slightly accelerates expression of photoreceptor-specific genes./1
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
*New paper alert* - extracellular tau blocks synaptic plasticity in vivo via its microtubule-binding domain, which can be rescued by our Gen2 tau antibodies - all the product of a great collaboration with Michael Rowan and colleagues at @tcddublin.bsky.social link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Synaptotoxic effects of extracellular tau are mediated by its microtubule-binding region - Acta Neuropathologica
Immunotherapies targeting extracellular tau share the premise that interrupting cell-to-cell spread of tau pathology in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) will slow dementia pathogenesis. Whether these interven...
link.springer.com
June 5, 2025 at 4:32 PM
*New paper alert* - extracellular tau blocks synaptic plasticity in vivo via its microtubule-binding domain, which can be rescued by our Gen2 tau antibodies - all the product of a great collaboration with Michael Rowan and colleagues at @tcddublin.bsky.social link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Thank you @michaelrosenyes.bsky.social - full text here www.culturematters.org.uk/island-of-st...
May 15, 2025 at 10:22 AM
Thank you @michaelrosenyes.bsky.social - full text here www.culturematters.org.uk/island-of-st...
This is quite the cover from the Economist
April 3, 2025 at 10:01 AM
This is quite the cover from the Economist
Reposted by Rick Livesey
Latest paper from the team @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... great collab w/ Michael Rowan and Igor Klyubin @tcddublin.bsky.social and Dominic Walsh on how synaptotoxic effects of extracellular tau are mediated by its microtubule-binding region (MTBR)
Synaptotoxic effects of extracellular tau are mediated by its microtubule-binding region
Immunotherapies targeting extracellular tau share the premise that interrupting cell-to-cell spread of tau pathology in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) will slow dementia pathogenesis. How these intervention...
www.biorxiv.org
March 7, 2025 at 4:17 PM
Latest paper from the team @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... great collab w/ Michael Rowan and Igor Klyubin @tcddublin.bsky.social and Dominic Walsh on how synaptotoxic effects of extracellular tau are mediated by its microtubule-binding region (MTBR)
Reposted by Rick Livesey
Today I have resigned from my position as a Data Editor at Proceedings B. I believe the journal does great work, but it feels wrong to voluntarily spend my time holding authors to account on behalf of the Royal Society, while the Society refuses to hold its own Fellows to account.
March 7, 2025 at 12:27 PM
Today I have resigned from my position as a Data Editor at Proceedings B. I believe the journal does great work, but it feels wrong to voluntarily spend my time holding authors to account on behalf of the Royal Society, while the Society refuses to hold its own Fellows to account.
Important initiative from @scurry.bsky.social - please read and consider supporting by signing
Now almost 450 signatories to my open letter calling on the @royalsociety.org to stand up for its values & deal with the widespread concerns raised by Elon Musk's Fellowship. Please consider signing & sharing: forms.gle/miDciq35oxyw...
List of signatories here: occamstypewriter.org/scurry/2025/...
List of signatories here: occamstypewriter.org/scurry/2025/...
Open letter to the President of the Royal Society – time to stand up for your values
If you wish to show your support for the letter below regarding apparent inaction by the Royal Society in the face of breaches of its code of conduct by Elon Musk FRS, please sign below. I invite anyo...
forms.gle
February 12, 2025 at 9:38 AM
Important initiative from @scurry.bsky.social - please read and consider supporting by signing
Reposted by Rick Livesey
An open letter to the President of the @royalsociety.org – time to stand up for your values. occamstypewriter.org/scurry/2025/...
An open letter to the President of the Royal Society – time to stand up for your values | Reciprocal Space
occamstypewriter.org
February 11, 2025 at 3:26 PM
An open letter to the President of the @royalsociety.org – time to stand up for your values. occamstypewriter.org/scurry/2025/...
Reposted by Rick Livesey
Proudly supporting LGBT+ History Month @dunnschool.bsky.social
February 6, 2025 at 11:34 AM
Proudly supporting LGBT+ History Month @dunnschool.bsky.social
Reposted by Rick Livesey
Another filthy morning here, so it's certainly a day for The Best Cartoon:
January 28, 2025 at 6:48 AM
Another filthy morning here, so it's certainly a day for The Best Cartoon:
Very nicely put. Truly bizarre thing for FT to publish.
Every now and then my mail includes a bizarre screed, sometimes typed on a blank postcard and heavily annotated in pen afterwards, always with strange capitalization, seldom with a return address. I remember one claiming proof that the pope and Mossad created HIV.
Anyway, here’s Peter Thiel.
Anyway, here’s Peter Thiel.
A time for truth and reconciliation
Trump’s return to the White House augurs the ‘apokálypsis’ of the ancien regime’s secrets
www.ft.com
January 10, 2025 at 4:08 PM
Very nicely put. Truly bizarre thing for FT to publish.
Reposted by Rick Livesey
We just published a thing!
In this study, we provide compelling evidence that a lack of microglia during early brain development does not lead to wholesale alterations of synaptic and cellular function.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
In this study, we provide compelling evidence that a lack of microglia during early brain development does not lead to wholesale alterations of synaptic and cellular function.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Typical development of synaptic and neuronal properties can proceed without microglia in the cortex and thalamus - Nature Neuroscience
Microglia are proposed to have a role in brain development through synaptic engulfment and paracrine signaling. O’Keeffe et al. show that certain neurodevelopmental processes attributed to microglia c...
www.nature.com
January 7, 2025 at 10:22 AM
We just published a thing!
In this study, we provide compelling evidence that a lack of microglia during early brain development does not lead to wholesale alterations of synaptic and cellular function.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
In this study, we provide compelling evidence that a lack of microglia during early brain development does not lead to wholesale alterations of synaptic and cellular function.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Still no formal response from the Royal Society, or the wider fellowship? If so, reflects badly on UK science establishment. Disappointing lack of leadership.
hard to believe it’s just 5 days since I gave an update on my Royal Soc resignation - at that time, Musk seemed deeply unpleasant and still stirring up trouble, but he now seems totally unhinged deevybee.blogspot.com/2025/01/retr...
January 6, 2025 at 11:45 AM
Still no formal response from the Royal Society, or the wider fellowship? If so, reflects badly on UK science establishment. Disappointing lack of leadership.
Best thing I've read in a while - yes it's funny and v well written, but raises some serious points.
I'm launching a new career as a demotivational speaker (thanks to everyone who got in touch this morning - it's nice to hear it strikes a chord) www.irishtimes.com/life-style/p...
Patrick Freyne: I am becoming a demotivational speaker – let’s all have an averagely productive December
I keep meeting people who are extremely burned out. I meet them so often that I’m beginning to think burnout is something that exists by design
www.irishtimes.com
December 14, 2024 at 5:01 PM
Best thing I've read in a while - yes it's funny and v well written, but raises some serious points.
Great respect for @deevybee.bsky.social for speaking out and taking action. I haven't seen any statements from @royalsociety.bsky.social so far - continued silence is not a good look, hopefully there is an active discussion within the wider fellowship. Anything less starts looking like complicity.
For those who missed it: Elon Musk, the Royal Society, and me
deevybee.blogspot.com/2024/11/why-...
deevybee.blogspot.com/2024/11/why-...
Why I have resigned from the Royal Society
The Royal Society is a venerable institution founded in 1660, whose original members included such eminent men as Christopher Wren, Robert H...
deevybee.blogspot.com
November 28, 2024 at 11:43 AM
Great respect for @deevybee.bsky.social for speaking out and taking action. I haven't seen any statements from @royalsociety.bsky.social so far - continued silence is not a good look, hopefully there is an active discussion within the wider fellowship. Anything less starts looking like complicity.
*Preprint news* We've posted a substantial update to our study of an important aspect of Alzheimer's disease biology thought to contribute to disease spreading through the brain: how neurons take up extracellular tau. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org
November 27, 2024 at 4:27 PM
*Preprint news* We've posted a substantial update to our study of an important aspect of Alzheimer's disease biology thought to contribute to disease spreading through the brain: how neurons take up extracellular tau. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Rick Livesey
Today is International Trans Day of Remembrance. This is the toughest time in history to be trans and visible in the world, thanks to certain politicians, billionaires, trash media and Evangelicals. And it’s particularly tough for children and teens. Now, more than ever, we need our allies. Ty ❤️🏳️⚧️🏳️🌈
November 20, 2024 at 10:03 AM
Today is International Trans Day of Remembrance. This is the toughest time in history to be trans and visible in the world, thanks to certain politicians, billionaires, trash media and Evangelicals. And it’s particularly tough for children and teens. Now, more than ever, we need our allies. Ty ❤️🏳️⚧️🏳️🌈
Reposted by Rick Livesey
November 18 is the International Day of LGBQTIA+ People in STEM! Today more than ever we want to stress the importance of communities, building connections, and raising each other up. Let's keep leaving our mark for the betterment of us all! 🏳️⚧️🏳️🌈 #QueerinSTEM
prideinstem.org/lgbtstemday/
prideinstem.org/lgbtstemday/
November 18, 2024 at 8:55 AM
November 18 is the International Day of LGBQTIA+ People in STEM! Today more than ever we want to stress the importance of communities, building connections, and raising each other up. Let's keep leaving our mark for the betterment of us all! 🏳️⚧️🏳️🌈 #QueerinSTEM
prideinstem.org/lgbtstemday/
prideinstem.org/lgbtstemday/
Reposted by Rick Livesey
Just finding my way on this platform and finding some friends old and new. Mainly preoccupied with protein kinase signalling pathways, how they work & what they do. Group Leader and Director of the Babraham Institute, which is home to my brilliant colleagues in Signalling, Epigenetics and Immunology
November 14, 2024 at 2:00 PM
Just finding my way on this platform and finding some friends old and new. Mainly preoccupied with protein kinase signalling pathways, how they work & what they do. Group Leader and Director of the Babraham Institute, which is home to my brilliant colleagues in Signalling, Epigenetics and Immunology
Are there plans for @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social to link to #bsky from the article pages? Currently it only tracks the toxic bird site, which is rapidly becoming a waste of time (as well as tricky to defend, given that the owner is coming after universities). One for you @richardsever.bsky.social?
November 14, 2024 at 2:22 PM
Are there plans for @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social to link to #bsky from the article pages? Currently it only tracks the toxic bird site, which is rapidly becoming a waste of time (as well as tricky to defend, given that the owner is coming after universities). One for you @richardsever.bsky.social?