Sebastiaan (Seb) Vanuytven
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svanuytven.bsky.social
Sebastiaan (Seb) Vanuytven
@svanuytven.bsky.social
Computational postdoc @cedric-blanpain.bsky.social Lab | Tackling cancer one cell at the time | Science, Coffee, Chess, Running & Bouldering | Views are my own
https://behindthebioinformatics.substack.com/
Pinned
For my first Bluesky post, I want to re-highlight my co-first author manuscript published in #Nature last year, where we describe how pharmacological targeting of netrin-1 inhibits epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition ( #EMT) (1/23).
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Pharmacological targeting of netrin-1 inhibits EMT in cancer - Nature
Netrin-1 is upregulated in cancer models that undergo spontaneous epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition, and its targeting blocks the progression of tumour cells to a late mesenchymal state, suggesting...
www.nature.com
Weekly reads 2/2/26 :
How space, context, and uncertainty reshape cancer and single-cell biology

open.substack.com/pub/behindth...

Big theme: space + context + mechanism > black-box scale alone.

#SpatialOmics #SingleCell #CancerBiology #TumorMicroenvironment #AIinBiology #Immunology
Weekly reads 2/2/26
How space, context, and uncertainty reshape cancer and single-cell biology
open.substack.com
February 8, 2026 at 6:34 PM
Reposted by Sebastiaan (Seb) Vanuytven
🚀 Interested in a postdoc in computational biology & AI for neuroscience?
The NOMIS Synergy Fellowship offers a great opportunity to develop such a position in my lab within the interdisciplinary Synergy excellence cluster.
🔗 www.synergy-munich.de/news-events/...
NOMIS–SyNergy Fellowship Program in Systems Neurology (Munich, Germany) | SyNergy - Munich Cluster for Systems Neurology
The NOMIS Foundation, in collaboration with the DFG-funded Munich Cluster for Systems Neurology (SyNergy), invites exceptional early-career scientists from around the world to apply for elite…
www.synergy-munich.de
February 3, 2026 at 5:52 PM
Reposted by Sebastiaan (Seb) Vanuytven
🧬 2026 Internship: Marioni Group @genentech.bsky.social Seeking PhD intern for Deep Learning on large-scale genetic screens (Perturb-seq/Optical).
Focus: ML for single-cell + imaging to decode phenotypes.
📍 SSF (On-site) | 12-wk paid
⚠️ Apply via portal only: 🔗 bit.ly/45P7TQB
#CompBio #AI #Genetics
2026 Summer Intern (Computational Sciences - Cluster of Excellence)
2026 Summer Intern (Computational Sciences - Cluster of Excellence) The Marioni group in the Computational Sciences (CS) department studies the molecular mechanisms of cell fate decisions in early dev...
roche.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com
February 4, 2026 at 12:42 AM
Weekly reads 26/1/26:
When Simple Representations Outperform Complex Models in Biology

open.substack.com/pub/behindth...

Big takeaway: biology gets clearer when models respect geometry, hierarchy, and context.

#SingleCell #SpatialOmics #CancerBiology #ComputationalBiology #Genomics
Weekly reads 26/1/26
When simple representations outperform complex models in biology
open.substack.com
February 1, 2026 at 10:02 AM
Reposted by Sebastiaan (Seb) Vanuytven
Turns out that if you use a broom to scratch yourself everyone thinks you're a weirdo but if a cow does it they end up in the cover of Current Biology
January 22, 2026 at 2:33 PM
Reposted by Sebastiaan (Seb) Vanuytven
Two postdoc positions opened in my team @pasteur.fr in Paris on the development of machine learning methods for single-cell multi-omics spatiotemporal data.

See the announcement for all details emploi.cnrs.fr/Offres/CDD/U...
Portail Emploi CNRS - Offre d'emploi - Two Postdoctoral (M/F) Positions in the Development of Machine Learning Methods for Single-Cell Multi-Omics Spatiotemporal Data
Assurez-vous que votre profil candidat soit correctement renseigné avant de postuler
emploi.cnrs.fr
January 21, 2026 at 3:51 PM
Reposted by Sebastiaan (Seb) Vanuytven
I am just reading this paper, and it is absolutely wild. Tumor cells acquire mutations in mitochondria, and then transfer them to T-cells, and the mutant mitochondria drives dysfunction in the T-cells?! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Immune evasion through mitochondrial transfer in the tumour microenvironment - Nature
Mitochondria with mutations in their DNA from cancer cells can be transferred to T cells in the tumour microenvironment, which leads to T cell dysfunction and impaired antitumour immunity.
www.nature.com
January 28, 2026 at 1:52 AM
Weekly reads 19/1/26:
Multimodal integration, interpretability, and robustness in spatial biology

open.substack.com/pub/behindth...

Main theme: multimodal data is powerful, but only if it’s aligned, interpretable, and batch-aware.

#SpatialOmics #SingleCell #RegulatoryGenomics #AI
Weekly reads 19/1/26
Multimodal integration, interpretability, and robustness in spatial biology
open.substack.com
January 25, 2026 at 8:11 AM
Weekly reads 12/1/25:
Context, benchmarks and reality checks for single-cell foundation models
open.substack.com/pub/behindth...

Big takeaway: scale helps,but context, benchmarks, and classical baselines still matter.

#SpatialTranscriptomics #scRNAseq #AIinBiology #ComputationalBiology
Weekly reads 12/1/25
Context, benchmarks and reality checks for single-cell foundation models
open.substack.com
January 19, 2026 at 3:22 PM
Reposted by Sebastiaan (Seb) Vanuytven
TF-MINDI is out! A new method to learn cis-regulatory codes through rich embeddings of TF binding sites. TF-MINDI decomposes motif neighbourhoods, and works downstream of any sequence-to-function deep learning model. We deeply study the enhancer code in human neural development, check out the thread
January 15, 2026 at 12:32 PM
Weekly reads 5/1/26:
Standardizing, disentangling, and interpreting cells in space

open.substack.com/pub/behindth...

#SingleCel #Epigenomics #SpatialBiology #CRISPR #CellCellCommunication #AIinBiology #SpatialOmics
Weekly reads 5/1/26
Standardizing, disentangling, and interpreting cells in space
open.substack.com
January 11, 2026 at 11:03 AM
Reposted by Sebastiaan (Seb) Vanuytven
We are looking for a new colleague in the lab of @jdemeul.bsky.social! If you are looking for a Postdoctoral position in Cancer Genomics,check the position here: jobso.id/pbgr
Postdoctoral Researcher in Cancer Genomics - VIB
Chart tumour evolution using cutting-edge long-read and single-cell multiomics Who we are The Integrative Cancer Genomics lab (Jonas Demeulemeester) is embedded within the VIB – KU Leuven Center for ...
jobso.id
January 9, 2026 at 3:03 PM
Reposted by Sebastiaan (Seb) Vanuytven
🚀 New preprint! Meet ORIGAMI: Mapping cancer cell state heterogeneity and plasticity, predicting and steering therapy-induced trajectories to rationalize genotype-agnostic combination strategies with only two physical metrics (cell surface area and volume)
www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-8...
Simple cell geometry metrics reveal cancer cell diversity and plasticity and guide combination therapy
Intra-tumour heterogeneity (ITH) and cellular plasticity contribute to therapy resistance. Single-cell transcriptomics is the gold standard for assessing ITH, but this approach remains costly and slow...
www.researchsquare.com
January 9, 2026 at 4:40 PM
Reposted by Sebastiaan (Seb) Vanuytven
We are looking for a Software Developer to work on R/Python interoperability for single-cell and spatial omics methods.

🔗 Apply here: jobs.dkfz.de/en/jobs/1683...
Software Developer - Interoperability for Single-Cell and Spatial Omics Methods
jobs.dkfz.de
December 27, 2025 at 3:50 PM
Reposted by Sebastiaan (Seb) Vanuytven
HIRING: We recruit PhD students via the AITHYRA-CeMM PhD Program (cemm.at/phd-program). Seeking 3 types of candidates: (1) experimental systems biology in immunity or cancer; (2) bioinformatics & biomedical ML/AI; (3) tech-dev & bioengineering (CRISPR, single-cell, spatial, cell programming) (1/5)
CeMM PhD Program – Molecular Medicine Research in Vienna
Join the CeMM PhD Program in Vienna and pursue cutting-edge research in cancer, immunology, aging, and precision medicine. Applications open in 2025!
cemm.at
December 22, 2025 at 12:22 PM
Reposted by Sebastiaan (Seb) Vanuytven
🚀 New preprint!
The Human Cytokine Dictionary - 9.7M cells, 12 donors, 90 cytokines - our largest human single-cell perturbation atlas yet. Users can map cytokine activity in their own data. Huge thanks to Lukas, Sören, Larsen, Parse Bio & Seelig lab!
🔗 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
December 15, 2025 at 10:42 PM
Weekly reads 1/12/25
Context is king: from polyclonal beginnings to spatial rules and single-cell phenomics

open.substack.com/pub/behindth...

#Genomics #Immunology #CancerResearch #AIinBiology #SpatialBiology #SingleCellTech
Weekly reads 1/12/25
Context is king: from polyclonal beginnings to spatial rules and single-cell phenomics
open.substack.com
December 7, 2025 at 6:10 PM
Reposted by Sebastiaan (Seb) Vanuytven
ISCO (Innovations in Single-Cell OMICS) will be back in beautiful Barcelona!

🗓️ 28th/29th of May 2026
📍Barcelona Biomedical Research Park @prbb.org (beachfront!)

Keynotes: @bartdeplancke.bsky.social and @bocklab.bsky.social

Submit your abstract and present your research!

www.isco-conference.eu
December 5, 2025 at 10:33 AM
Reposted by Sebastiaan (Seb) Vanuytven
We just released IRIS (7+yrs project), a tech we believe will transform cell biology by pairing high-resolution cell images with matched #scRNAseq, letting us interpret cellular form by its molecular ground truth.
Huge tx to @JohannesBues, @JoernPezoldt, @CamilleLambert et al.
shorturl.at/zgY8Z
December 2, 2025 at 2:18 PM
Weekly reads 24/11/25:
Hidden circuits: how tumors, neurons, microbes & AI reveal new biology

open.substack.com/pub/behindth...

#SpatialBiology #Genomics #Cancer #AIinBiology #Immunology #NeuroImmune #CRISPR
Weekly reads 24/11/25
Hidden circuits: how tumors, neurons, microbes & AI reveal new biology
open.substack.com
December 1, 2025 at 11:14 AM
Weekly reads 17/11/25
New rules of life: gene editing, neuro-immune niches, AI models and anti-tumor synergy

open.substack.com/pub/behindth...

#SingleCell #SpatialOmics #CancerResearch #CRISPR #Aging #SystemsBiology #Immunotherapy
Weekly reads 17/11/25
New rules of life: gene editing, neuro-immune niches, AI models and anti-tumor synergy
open.substack.com
November 23, 2025 at 8:23 PM
Reposted by Sebastiaan (Seb) Vanuytven
We are looking for a postdoc to join our team! If you're interested in translating a cutting edge genomics technology (www.nature.com/articles/s41...) to real-life applications in hematology, this is for you. We offer a unique working environment ON THE BEACH: recruitment.crg.eu/content/jobs...
November 20, 2025 at 9:36 AM
Weekly reads 10/11/25
Context is everything: from immune barriers to mechanistic and spatial AI models

open.substack.com/pub/behindth...

#Cancer #SpatialOmics #SystemsBiology #scRNA #AI
Weekly reads 10/11/25
Context is everything: from immune barriers to mechanistic and spatial AI models
open.substack.com
November 17, 2025 at 8:05 AM
Reposted by Sebastiaan (Seb) Vanuytven
🗨️ Just published in Nature Biotechnology: Our CellWhisperer AI enables chat-based analysis of single-cell sequencing data. You can talk to your cells & figure out the biology without writing any computer code. Paper here: www.nature.com/articles/s41.... Annotated walkthrough in a thread below (1/11)
November 11, 2025 at 12:52 PM
Weekly reads 3/11/2025
Prewritten fates: how space, stress, and systemic signals shape cancer

open.substack.com/pub/behindth...

#Immunology #Epigenetics #TrajectoryInference #Cancer #SystemsBiology #Spatial #Singlecell
Weekly reads 3/11/2025
Prewritten fates: how space, stress, and systemic signals shape cancer
open.substack.com
November 11, 2025 at 1:54 PM