Jesse Raab
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jraab.bsky.social
Jesse Raab
@jraab.bsky.social
1.8K followers 1.5K following 250 posts
Chromatin and cancer research at UNC Chapel Hill. Opinions are my own. Raab-lab.org
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jraab.bsky.social
Jesse Raab @jraab.bsky.social · Nov 13
Since there are lots of new people here I'll do the reintroduction thing. My lab is focused on gene regulation and chromatin remodelers. We're interested in how these complexes are regulated, how their disruption of complexes contribute to tumor growth, and whether they modulate therapy response
Reposted by Jesse Raab
docsirianni.bsky.social
Unreal, the impact this is having on scientists. I spent over 700 hrs writing 4 grants submitted Apr-Sept that *might* have been funded next Apr; 2 abt to be 3 apps missed review bc of shutdown. In normal times takes 9-24 mo to get a grant funded. No hope for labs like mine. Literally no hope.
drrabbithole.bsky.social Dr. Rabbithole @drrabbithole.bsky.social · 10h
While the government was shut down, 379 NIH study section meetings (containing 24,380 grant applications) were postponed. NIH is committed to getting these reviewed, but please be patient and understanding with staff, as this is a complex and heavy lift.
November 13, 2025 at 1:58 PM
Reposted by Jesse Raab
mkozlowska.bsky.social
The scientific publishing is broken and open-access not only failed to fix it, it made it worse.
If we do not address the parasitic nature of the for-profit (>30% margins!) publishing, we will not solve the problem. And if the funders (universities) do not intervene, it won't change.

A must read:
hansonmark.bsky.social Mark A. Hanson @hansonmark.bsky.social · 2d
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 10:27 AM
Reposted by Jesse Raab
annikabarber.bsky.social
Up to 323 cancelled CSR study sections. That's more than the 204 sections cancelled earlier this year. Rescheduling is going to be a hot mess with NIH staff reductions and study section members heading into finals and holidays that limit availability. 🧪
annikabarber.bsky.social Annika Barber @annikabarber.bsky.social · 23d
Been a rough year for federally funded scientists, and I hate to add another tab to this spreadsheet. So far, the shutdown has resulted in cancellation of 161 CSR study sections. 🧪https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1lLEx14q7HKrlYahQYJaN6aHKpMqSMJwX4aenyL5g_ZU/edit?usp=sharing
2025 Study section tracking
docs.google.com
November 11, 2025 at 9:44 PM
Reposted by Jesse Raab
gershbrain.bsky.social
My reviewing style has changed over time. Rather than litigate every little thing, and pushing my own ideas, I focus only on 2 things:
(1) Are the claims interesting/important?
(2) Does the evidence support the claims?

Most of my reviews these days are short and focused.
November 8, 2025 at 11:22 AM
jraab.bsky.social
very cool paper on the location of tumor mutations within the liver changing cancer initiation www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
The origin of hepatocellular carcinoma depends on metabolic zonation
The origin of cancer is poorly understood because premalignant cells are rarely followed in their native environments. While the spatial compartmentalization of metabolic functions is critical for pro...
www.science.org
November 8, 2025 at 2:18 PM
Reposted by Jesse Raab
ginamizell.bsky.social
PUT HER IN THE HALL AS A CONTRIBUTOR YOU COWARDS
November 6, 2025 at 1:26 AM
Reposted by Jesse Raab
drugmonkey.bsky.social
oh. alright. two R01 at 5 years. 268 funded for 4 years, 57 for 3 years, 48 for 2 years. 8+804+114+48=974 excess new R01 years. Therefore something around 974 (some wobble based on actual budget amount of each grant) R01 grants that will not be funded FY2025 onward.
November 5, 2025 at 5:53 PM
Reposted by Jesse Raab
maxvcg.bsky.social
Some hardcore mechanism, for the aficionados (from Peter Jones @vai.org and Ting-Hai Xu @slu-official.bsky.social labs) @natsmb.nature.com www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Mechanisms of DNMT3A–3L-mediated de novo DNA methylation on chromatin - Nature Structural & Molecular Biology
Yan et al. use cryo-EM to obtain structures that reveal how DNMT3A2 and DNMT3L cooperate to read histone signals and bind chromatin, illustrating a mechanism that controls DNA methylation and shapes e...
www.nature.com
November 4, 2025 at 2:55 PM
jraab.bsky.social
oh wow, this is amazing
needhibhalla.bsky.social Needhi Bhalla 💅🏽 @needhibhalla.bsky.social · 14d
🧪hey all, a friend and colleague, @maddoxfornc.bsky.social, is running for Congress in North Carolina. He is a scientist, professor, and parent, perspectives that are especially important right now. I hope you will support his run for Congress. Find out more here: www.maddoxforcongress.com/about/
Meet Paul Maddox
Paul Maddox is a world-renowned cancer researcher, two-time entrepreneur, and native son of Western North Carolina–and now, a candidate for U.S. Congress. ....
www.maddoxforcongress.com
October 30, 2025 at 11:26 PM
Reposted by Jesse Raab
maxvcg.bsky.social
Spread the word! There is a professor position opening at our University @upcite.bsky.social. There are several possible (great) labs to join, but if you are interested in DNA methylation and epigenetics in mammals, don't hesitate to contact me directly!
ijmonod.bsky.social Institut Jacques Monod @ijmonod.bsky.social · 16d
#JobOffer

💼 Un poste susceptible d’être vacant de Professeur en stabilité des génomes devrait s’ouvrir pour la rentrée 2026 au sein de l’Institut Jacques Monod

➡️ Informations concernant ce poste et la procédure de candidature 🔗 www.ijm.fr/poste-de-pro...
October 28, 2025 at 1:51 PM
jraab.bsky.social
imgs.xkcd.com/comics/compi...
October 28, 2025 at 4:28 PM
Reposted by Jesse Raab
steinlab.bsky.social
Excited to share our new preprint on molecular gene x treatment interactions led by Jordan Valone, Brandon Le, and @nanamatoba.bsky.social. www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1.... Here, we tried to further develop the "pharmacogenomics in a dish" approach for psychiatry.
Assessing molecular gene by treatment interactions using a population of neural progenitors exposed to valproic acid and lithium
Gene by treatment (GxT) interactions likely contribute to variability in clinical response, but are difficult to identify in population studies. Here, we applied psychiatric and neurological disorder ...
www.medrxiv.org
October 27, 2025 at 3:21 PM
Reposted by Jesse Raab
cp-cellreports.bsky.social
YEATS4 reads histone crotonylation to promote fatty acid metabolism and cancer cell stemness
YEATS4 reads histone crotonylation to promote fatty acid metabolism and cancer cell stemness
Peng et al. identify YEATS4 as a reader of H3K14cr, by which it activates genes in fatty acid metabolism and enhances the self-renewal of breast cancer stem cells, highlighting the role of YEATS4 as an amplifier in the circuit of histone crotonylation and fatty acid metabolism in breast cancer.
dlvr.it
October 18, 2025 at 7:50 PM
Reposted by Jesse Raab
aemonten.bsky.social
"Our study reveals that the current understanding of chromatin states is extensively incomplete, and newer in situ chromatin fragmentation-based techniques are preferred for investigating repetitive elements and retrotransposons"

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
CUT&Tag Overcomes Biases of ChIP and Establishes Chromatin Patterns for Repetitive Genomic Loci
New in situ chromatin profiling methods, such as CUT&Tag, have streamlined studies of chromatin features by eliminating the need for up-front purifica…
www.sciencedirect.com
October 18, 2025 at 6:17 PM
Reposted by Jesse Raab
r2platform.bsky.social
Latest version of #depmap added to r2platform.com

R2: academic open online nocode data science platform for biomedical research

#DataScientist #biologist #clinician #genomics #Cancer
October 18, 2025 at 7:14 PM
Reposted by Jesse Raab
jamesnolan.bsky.social
🧵1/Exciting news in cancer epigenetics! Our latest research, "AEBP2-Directed H3K27me2 Defines a Specific Vulnerability in EZH2-mutant Lymphoma", is now available on www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1.... Here's a thread summarizing our findings!👇
#CancerResearch #Epigenetics #Chromatin #Lymphoma
AEBP2-Directed H3K27me2 Defines a Specific Vulnerability in EZH2-mutant Lymphoma
The catalytic subunit of Polycomb Repressive Complex 2 (PRC2), EZH2, is recurrently mutated in 25% of diffuse large B-cell lymphomas (DLBCL), causing increased H3K27me3 and decreased H3K27me2 levels. ...
www.biorxiv.org
October 17, 2025 at 7:11 AM
Reposted by Jesse Raab
jeremymberg.bsky.social
Now that the data for fiscal year 2025 are complete, what did NIH's investments in training look like?

There are three mechanism classes to consider: T awards (institutional training grants), F awards (fellowships to individual scientists), and K awards (career development awards)

2/12
October 16, 2025 at 12:25 AM
Reposted by Jesse Raab
plasmidsaurus.bsky.social
🦖 Something HUGE just hatched.

Plasmidsaurus now offers RNA sequencing for gene expression analysis:
• As fast as 3 day turnaround
• $50/sample for academia, $80 for industry
• Up to ~10M unique transcript 3’ end reads per sample
• Interactive results

Explore Plasmidsaurus RNA-Seq today.
October 15, 2025 at 4:02 PM
Reposted by Jesse Raab
unc-bcbp.bsky.social
UNC Sends Delegation for Capitol Event
Rally for Medical Research – September 18, 2025 Washington, DC
www.med.unc.edu/biochem/news...
UNC Sends Delegation for Capitol Event | Biochemistry and Biophysics
Rally for Medical Research – September 18, 2025 | Washington, DC A delegation from UNC joined more than 400 advocates from across the country in Washington DC to urge Congress to prioritize funding fo...
www.med.unc.edu
October 6, 2025 at 1:17 PM
Reposted by Jesse Raab
mikefeigin.bsky.social
Buffalo peeps! I am hosting a science spooktacular event at the new Third Space venue downtown on Oct 30 at 6PM! Come hear fun stories about science from trainees, all geared towards a non-specialist audience. Check the flyer for all the info! Please RT
October 7, 2025 at 10:58 PM
Reposted by Jesse Raab
drstarbird.bsky.social
We are in this odd climate where people are pretending no barriers exist to careers in science for some groups, but this conversation with 2 outstanding emerging scientists highlights that is just not true.
youtube.com/watch?v=u850...
BIBPSSpotlight - 2025 Black In Biophysics Week
YouTube video by Black In Biophys
youtube.com
October 1, 2025 at 11:53 AM
Reposted by Jesse Raab
peiferlabunc.bsky.social
Amazing science continues to happen in the US, and we continue to hire remarkable new faculty. Already this term UNC Biology has had terrific promotion seminars from two rising stars: Eric Riddell and Rob Dowen. 1/n
Picture of Eric Picture of Rob
October 1, 2025 at 11:22 AM
Reposted by Jesse Raab
lucas.farnunglab.com
New week, new tool: Find our Protein Domain Designer tool to generate publication-ready protein domain diagrams here: domaindesigner.farnunglab.com
Protein Domain Designer tool for the generation of publication-ready protein domain diagrams
September 29, 2025 at 3:01 PM
jraab.bsky.social
Great department and job opportunity
dnatarheel.bsky.social Jean Cook (DNAtarheel) @dnatarheel.bsky.social · Sep 29
The link for a junior tenure-track position with UNC-CH Biochemistry and Biophysics is now live. Learn about the search here www.med.unc.edu/biochem/join..., then apply here unc.peopleadmin.com/postings/307... Help us inspire tomorrow’s discoveries by decoding the molecular basis of life!
UNC Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics
Our mission is to perform transformative biochemical and biophysical research in an inclusive and stimulating training environment.
www.med.unc.edu
September 30, 2025 at 3:33 PM
Reposted by Jesse Raab
rahaeli.bsky.social
Hey remember when the CDC dropped 6 of the 8 foodborne illnesses from the nationwide monitoring system in July and one of them was listeria? Mentioning for no particular reason www.nbcnews.com/health/healt...
September 30, 2025 at 12:34 PM