Jamie Blundell
@jamie-blundell.bsky.social
Evolution, cancer, immunology, math(s)
Ursula Zoellner Professor of Cancer Research
University of Cambridge
blundelllab.com
Ursula Zoellner Professor of Cancer Research
University of Cambridge
blundelllab.com
Delighted to share our latest on longitudinal methylation dynamics preceding cancer. Epigenetic signs of AML appear in blood DECADES before Dx.
👉 Early cancer detection
👉 Methylation drivers
👉 Epimutation rates
👉 CpG lineage tracing
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
👉 Early cancer detection
👉 Methylation drivers
👉 Epimutation rates
👉 CpG lineage tracing
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
July 3, 2025 at 8:47 PM
Delighted to share our latest on longitudinal methylation dynamics preceding cancer. Epigenetic signs of AML appear in blood DECADES before Dx.
👉 Early cancer detection
👉 Methylation drivers
👉 Epimutation rates
👉 CpG lineage tracing
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
👉 Early cancer detection
👉 Methylation drivers
👉 Epimutation rates
👉 CpG lineage tracing
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Jamie Blundell
Flybase lost all of the NIH support overnight - it is a disaster for the community. Please consider donating. I just did! www.philanthropy.cam.ac.uk/give-to-camb...
Drosophila Genetic Database
The Drosophila Genetic Database, FlyBase, is on the brink of collapse due to the sudden termination of the FlyBase NIH grant, which includes salaries for 5 literature curators based at the University ...
www.philanthropy.cam.ac.uk
June 3, 2025 at 6:23 PM
Flybase lost all of the NIH support overnight - it is a disaster for the community. Please consider donating. I just did! www.philanthropy.cam.ac.uk/give-to-camb...
Reposted by Jamie Blundell
New preprint in collaboration with @paulinanunezv.bsky.social supervised by @jonnyfrazer.bsky.social and Mafalda Dias – we propose a simple approach to improving zero-shot variant effect prediction in pre-existing protein and genome language models: 🧶 1/n
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
From Likelihood to Fitness: Improving Variant Effect Prediction in Protein and Genome Language Models
Generative models trained on natural sequences are increasingly used to predict the effects of genetic variation, enabling progress in therapeutic design, disease risk prediction, and synthetic biolog...
www.biorxiv.org
May 26, 2025 at 5:30 PM
New preprint in collaboration with @paulinanunezv.bsky.social supervised by @jonnyfrazer.bsky.social and Mafalda Dias – we propose a simple approach to improving zero-shot variant effect prediction in pre-existing protein and genome language models: 🧶 1/n
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Jamie Blundell
🚨With some delay, we're excited to announce that our proposal for a MSCA Doctoral Network on Evolutionary Medical Genomics (EvoMG-DN) got funded! 🎉
🧬 14 labs and 2 companies across 7 European countries will be coordinated by the EvoMG Joint Program at @crg.eu & @upf.edu.
europa.eu/!NNq63m
🧬 14 labs and 2 companies across 7 European countries will be coordinated by the EvoMG Joint Program at @crg.eu & @upf.edu.
europa.eu/!NNq63m
May 23, 2025 at 9:01 PM
🚨With some delay, we're excited to announce that our proposal for a MSCA Doctoral Network on Evolutionary Medical Genomics (EvoMG-DN) got funded! 🎉
🧬 14 labs and 2 companies across 7 European countries will be coordinated by the EvoMG Joint Program at @crg.eu & @upf.edu.
europa.eu/!NNq63m
🧬 14 labs and 2 companies across 7 European countries will be coordinated by the EvoMG Joint Program at @crg.eu & @upf.edu.
europa.eu/!NNq63m
Reposted by Jamie Blundell
I just wanted to let you know that, having been encouraged by many and received over four times the number of nominations required, I announced today that I am throwing my hat into the ring for the election of the next Chancellor of the University of Cambridge...
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April 24, 2025 at 2:59 PM
I just wanted to let you know that, having been encouraged by many and received over four times the number of nominations required, I announced today that I am throwing my hat into the ring for the election of the next Chancellor of the University of Cambridge...
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Delighted to share a major update on our work investigating age-related deceleration in clonal haematopoiesis.
Takehome: Widespread and substantial deceleration in fitness with age!
Amazing effort by PhD student Hamish MacGregor 💪
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Takehome: Widespread and substantial deceleration in fitness with age!
Amazing effort by PhD student Hamish MacGregor 💪
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
March 6, 2025 at 7:48 PM
Delighted to share a major update on our work investigating age-related deceleration in clonal haematopoiesis.
Takehome: Widespread and substantial deceleration in fitness with age!
Amazing effort by PhD student Hamish MacGregor 💪
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Takehome: Widespread and substantial deceleration in fitness with age!
Amazing effort by PhD student Hamish MacGregor 💪
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
This is beautiful work — congrats to all the authors 👏
Brilliant new paper from Jie Yang @jieyang437.bsky.social and Rahul Roychoudhuri @roychoudhurilab.bsky.social linking aspirin to immune-mediated prevention of cancer metastasis.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Aspirin prevents metastasis by limiting platelet TXA2 suppression of T cell immunity - Nature
Inhibition of cyclooxygenase 1 releases T cells from immunosuppression by platelet-derived thromboxane A2, thereby enhancing the immune response against metastasis.
www.nature.com
March 5, 2025 at 7:22 PM
This is beautiful work — congrats to all the authors 👏
Reposted by Jamie Blundell
Join the Early Cancer Institute for talks from Professor Jamie Blundell and Dr Daniel Muñoz Espín, on their research into cancer evolution and aging! @cambridgefestival.bsky.social
📅 Tues 25 March
⏰ 6-8pm
📍 St John's College Old Divinity School, CB2 1TP
Register ➡️ zurl.co/7NTWz
📅 Tues 25 March
⏰ 6-8pm
📍 St John's College Old Divinity School, CB2 1TP
Register ➡️ zurl.co/7NTWz
March 4, 2025 at 11:00 AM
Join the Early Cancer Institute for talks from Professor Jamie Blundell and Dr Daniel Muñoz Espín, on their research into cancer evolution and aging! @cambridgefestival.bsky.social
📅 Tues 25 March
⏰ 6-8pm
📍 St John's College Old Divinity School, CB2 1TP
Register ➡️ zurl.co/7NTWz
📅 Tues 25 March
⏰ 6-8pm
📍 St John's College Old Divinity School, CB2 1TP
Register ➡️ zurl.co/7NTWz
Reposted by Jamie Blundell
🔥 New Fraticelli lab publication🔥
“Pre-existing stem cell heterogeneity dictates clonal responses to the acquisition of leukemia driver mutations”
Now at Cell Stem Cell, with two new figures, in vivo, and sequential mutagenesis data.
Performed with the support of Cris Cancer and @erc.europa.eu
“Pre-existing stem cell heterogeneity dictates clonal responses to the acquisition of leukemia driver mutations”
Now at Cell Stem Cell, with two new figures, in vivo, and sequential mutagenesis data.
Performed with the support of Cris Cancer and @erc.europa.eu
February 25, 2025 at 4:24 PM
🔥 New Fraticelli lab publication🔥
“Pre-existing stem cell heterogeneity dictates clonal responses to the acquisition of leukemia driver mutations”
Now at Cell Stem Cell, with two new figures, in vivo, and sequential mutagenesis data.
Performed with the support of Cris Cancer and @erc.europa.eu
“Pre-existing stem cell heterogeneity dictates clonal responses to the acquisition of leukemia driver mutations”
Now at Cell Stem Cell, with two new figures, in vivo, and sequential mutagenesis data.
Performed with the support of Cris Cancer and @erc.europa.eu
Reposted by Jamie Blundell
We are excited to announce a new faculty position here in Cambridge, for researchers in computational and/or theoretical biology, based jointly in Genetics and Mathematics. Come and join us! Happy to answer questions about research, teaching and working here. www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/50414/
Assistant/Associate Professor in Computational Biology - Job Opportunities - University of Cambridge
Assistant/Associate Professor in Computational Biology in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at the University of Cambridge.
www.jobs.cam.ac.uk
February 21, 2025 at 3:07 PM
We are excited to announce a new faculty position here in Cambridge, for researchers in computational and/or theoretical biology, based jointly in Genetics and Mathematics. Come and join us! Happy to answer questions about research, teaching and working here. www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/50414/
Reposted by Jamie Blundell
Legitmately thrilled to share our latest work, in which @fernpizza.bsky.social solved an experimental challenge in plasmid biology as old as the field: measuring how plasmids compete and evolve within individual cells!
February 21, 2025 at 8:42 PM
Legitmately thrilled to share our latest work, in which @fernpizza.bsky.social solved an experimental challenge in plasmid biology as old as the field: measuring how plasmids compete and evolve within individual cells!
Reposted by Jamie Blundell
Want to work in one of the most dynamic places in mathematical biology - in one of the oldest universities in the world - great colleagues, great science.
We are excited to announce a new faculty position here in Cambridge, for researchers in computational and/or theoretical biology, based jointly in Genetics and Mathematics. Come and join us! Happy to answer questions about research, teaching and working here. www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/50414/
Assistant/Associate Professor in Computational Biology - Job Opportunities - University of Cambridge
Assistant/Associate Professor in Computational Biology in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at the University of Cambridge.
www.jobs.cam.ac.uk
February 21, 2025 at 7:21 PM
Want to work in one of the most dynamic places in mathematical biology - in one of the oldest universities in the world - great colleagues, great science.
Delighted to share our latest work exploring levels of selection operating during pre-cancerous evolution usng single-cell DNA sequencing of HSCs led by the outstanding Gladys Poon
www.cell.com/cell-genomic...
www.cell.com/cell-genomic...
Single-cell DNA sequencing reveals pervasive positive selection throughout preleukemic evolution
The representation of driver mutations in preleukemic HSCs provides a window into
the somatic evolution that precedes AML. Here, Poon et al. isolate pHSCs from the
bone marrow of 16 patients with AML ...
www.cell.com
January 21, 2025 at 8:20 PM
Delighted to share our latest work exploring levels of selection operating during pre-cancerous evolution usng single-cell DNA sequencing of HSCs led by the outstanding Gladys Poon
www.cell.com/cell-genomic...
www.cell.com/cell-genomic...
Reposted by Jamie Blundell
Extremely pleased to share our new work in collaboration with the @bruskolab.bsky.social lab, where we leveraged one of the largest TCRbeta sequencing datasets to identify T1D-associated TCR-based signatures. Paper link and 🧵 are below. Incredible work led by @puneet021192.bsky.social.
Happy to share our new collaborative work! 🚨 We analyzed 2250 TCR repertoires to uncover how HLA risk alleles shape immune autoreactivity in T1D. T1D-specific HLA-motifs were also validated in pancreatic lymph nodes (pLN) & spleen. 🧬🧵 #T1D #Immunology #TCR 1/9
December 15, 2024 at 7:52 AM
Extremely pleased to share our new work in collaboration with the @bruskolab.bsky.social lab, where we leveraged one of the largest TCRbeta sequencing datasets to identify T1D-associated TCR-based signatures. Paper link and 🧵 are below. Incredible work led by @puneet021192.bsky.social.
Reposted by Jamie Blundell
Does my mutation have the same impact as yours? Population genetics 🤠 🥸 🤓 🤡 meets single cell CRISPRi ⚡ ! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... Led by Claudia Feng, Oliver Stegle, Britta Velten, @sangerinstitute.bsky.social .
LinkedIn
This link will take you to a page that’s not on LinkedIn
lnkd.in
December 2, 2024 at 1:57 PM
Does my mutation have the same impact as yours? Population genetics 🤠 🥸 🤓 🤡 meets single cell CRISPRi ⚡ ! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... Led by Claudia Feng, Oliver Stegle, Britta Velten, @sangerinstitute.bsky.social .
Reposted by Jamie Blundell
🚨So proud to present the first study from our @ccg-ucl.bsky.social group together with @charlesswanton.bsky.social @NnennayaKanu and led by @ojlucas.bsky.social with key collaboration @sophie-ward.bsky.social and fundamental support @rijazaidi.bsky.social @abibunkum.bsky.social & others
Out now👇
🧵👇
Out now👇
🧵👇
Characterizing the evolutionary dynamics of cancer proliferation in single-cell clones with SPRINTER - Nature Genetics
Single-cell Proliferation Rate Inference in Non-homogeneous Tumors through Evolutionary Routes (SPRINTER) allows users to infer proliferation rates of individual clones within a tumor from single-cell...
doi.org
November 29, 2024 at 1:25 PM
🚨So proud to present the first study from our @ccg-ucl.bsky.social group together with @charlesswanton.bsky.social @NnennayaKanu and led by @ojlucas.bsky.social with key collaboration @sophie-ward.bsky.social and fundamental support @rijazaidi.bsky.social @abibunkum.bsky.social & others
Out now👇
🧵👇
Out now👇
🧵👇
V interesting idea 👇
Just in time for thanksgiving our paper is out ☄️
using fluctuating methylation clocks as barcodes we show that the variation in the hematopoietic stem cell pool that (in most of us) leads to clonal hematopoiesis in later life is likely present *before birth*
👉🏼 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
using fluctuating methylation clocks as barcodes we show that the variation in the hematopoietic stem cell pool that (in most of us) leads to clonal hematopoiesis in later life is likely present *before birth*
👉🏼 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Developmental hematopoietic stem cell variation explains clonal hematopoiesis later in life - Nature Communications
Clonal hematopoiesis becomes increasingly common with age. Here the authors track stem cell dynamics in monozygotic twins and provide evidence that clonal hematopoiesis in later life reflects weak sel...
www.nature.com
November 28, 2024 at 5:56 AM
V interesting idea 👇
Reposted by Jamie Blundell
We keep improving TIRTL-seq, see the updated preprint (www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...)! New additions include: a manual 96-well protocol, code and raw data now available, and successful in vitro validation of EBV and SARS-CoV-2 TCRs.
TIRTL-seq: Deep, quantitative, and affordable paired TCR repertoire sequencing
α/β T cells are key players in adaptive immunity. The specificity of T cells is determined by the sequences of the hypervariable T cell receptor (TCR) α and β chains. Although bulk TCR sequencing offe...
www.biorxiv.org
November 26, 2024 at 7:42 PM
We keep improving TIRTL-seq, see the updated preprint (www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...)! New additions include: a manual 96-well protocol, code and raw data now available, and successful in vitro validation of EBV and SARS-CoV-2 TCRs.
Reposted by Jamie Blundell
Big 🧬 news this week: we have launched the first Joint Program on Evolutionary Medical Genomics. Spearheaded by @mirimiam.bsky.social, Barcelona researchers will study and exploit the vast genomic diversity of life on Earth to enhance precision medicine. Full story in @elpais.com
The dawn of a new medicine: Researchers use the theory of evolution to fight cancer
The world’s first joint research program in evolutionary medical genomics has been launched in Barcelona, under the direction of biologist Manuel Irimia
english.elpais.com
November 23, 2024 at 9:48 AM
Big 🧬 news this week: we have launched the first Joint Program on Evolutionary Medical Genomics. Spearheaded by @mirimiam.bsky.social, Barcelona researchers will study and exploit the vast genomic diversity of life on Earth to enhance precision medicine. Full story in @elpais.com
Amazing work and a technology which opens up so many research directions. Congratulations @imartincorena.bsky.social and team!
Resharing here a recent X post. In this preprint, we introduce an improved version of NanoSeq, a duplex sequencing protocol with <5 errors per billion bp in single DNA molecules, and use it to study the somatic mutation landscape of oral epithelium in >1000 people. 1/ www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...
Somatic mutation and selection at epidemiological scale
As we age, many tissues become colonised by microscopic clones carrying somatic driver mutations ([1][1]–[10][2]. Some of these clones represent a first step towards cancer whereas others may contribu...
www.medrxiv.org
November 20, 2024 at 3:20 PM
Amazing work and a technology which opens up so many research directions. Congratulations @imartincorena.bsky.social and team!
Reposted by Jamie Blundell
Before I go to bed let me post an amazing paper by Filipe Pereira’s group (Ervin Ascic et al) for your enjoyment. I think this is a likely fundamental breakthrough in cancer immunotherapy: personalized, yet generic and probably pan-cancer. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
In vivo dendritic cell reprogramming for cancer immunotherapy
Immunotherapy can lead to long-term survival for some cancer patients, yet generalized success has been hampered by insufficient antigen presentation and exclusion of immunogenic cells from the tumor ...
www.science.org
November 17, 2024 at 8:47 PM
Before I go to bed let me post an amazing paper by Filipe Pereira’s group (Ervin Ascic et al) for your enjoyment. I think this is a likely fundamental breakthrough in cancer immunotherapy: personalized, yet generic and probably pan-cancer. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...