Rajat Desikan
@rajatdesikan.bsky.social
Scientific Director@GSK. Opinions personal. Interests: computational models, B cells, vaccines, pharmacology, non-fiction & fantasy, coffee, humour, sport. Antifascist+Left-of-centre
https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=41FXFRgAAAAJ&view_op=lis
https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=41FXFRgAAAAJ&view_op=lis
Pinned
Trade-off between the antiviral and vaccinal effects of antibody therapy in the humoral response to HIV | Journal of The Royal Society Interface
Antibody therapy for HIV-1 infection exerts two broad effects: a drug-like, antiviral
effect, which rapidly lowers the viral load, and a vaccinal effect, which may control
the viral load long-term by ...
royalsocietypublishing.org
Paper published today - royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
Mathematical modelling of passive monoclonal antibody administration for HIV highlighted a hitherto unrecognised trade-off between antiviral and vaccinal effects. Tuning this trade-off may be key for optimising HIV therapies.
Mathematical modelling of passive monoclonal antibody administration for HIV highlighted a hitherto unrecognised trade-off between antiviral and vaccinal effects. Tuning this trade-off may be key for optimising HIV therapies.
Reposted by Rajat Desikan
Just fuck off with this. How about start the conversation by highlighting how much immigrants contribute to the UK - not least by propping up the NHS and social care system!
Also - forced volunteering is not volunteering, it's unpaid labour.
Also - forced volunteering is not volunteering, it's unpaid labour.
September 29, 2025 at 9:09 AM
Just fuck off with this. How about start the conversation by highlighting how much immigrants contribute to the UK - not least by propping up the NHS and social care system!
Also - forced volunteering is not volunteering, it's unpaid labour.
Also - forced volunteering is not volunteering, it's unpaid labour.
Just finished an ARC of #BabysBreath - delicious roller coaster ride. How ‘unputdownable’ you ask - a sleep deprived toddler’s dad who’s normally in bed at 11 pm had to stay up till 3 am to finish it.
Get your paws on it folks, this is the good stuff! Kudos @russincheshire.bsky.social
Get your paws on it folks, this is the good stuff! Kudos @russincheshire.bsky.social
Baby's Breath is published on Monday in paperback, hardback and eBook, and available to pre-order on Kindle for just £2.60 (usual price £4.99)
amzn.eu/d/7ZmZTPm
For non-Amazon readers
books2read.com/u/bPO6Ql
Audiobook is in production, and should be ready in about 1-2 weeks.
#BabysBreath
amzn.eu/d/7ZmZTPm
For non-Amazon readers
books2read.com/u/bPO6Ql
Audiobook is in production, and should be ready in about 1-2 weeks.
#BabysBreath
August 31, 2025 at 2:29 AM
Just finished an ARC of #BabysBreath - delicious roller coaster ride. How ‘unputdownable’ you ask - a sleep deprived toddler’s dad who’s normally in bed at 11 pm had to stay up till 3 am to finish it.
Get your paws on it folks, this is the good stuff! Kudos @russincheshire.bsky.social
Get your paws on it folks, this is the good stuff! Kudos @russincheshire.bsky.social
Reposted by Rajat Desikan
Making them wear high-visibility vests over camo is such a good joke you couldn’t write it
National Guard is now tasked with picking up garbage in DC
August 26, 2025 at 11:41 PM
Making them wear high-visibility vests over camo is such a good joke you couldn’t write it
Reposted by Rajat Desikan
A word on immigration. Don't prejudge this, just listen to the data, and then consider what the solution is.
The UK has a falling birth rate. This means that - unless things change - each generation will be 25% smaller than the one before.
The UK has a falling birth rate. This means that - unless things change - each generation will be 25% smaller than the one before.
August 25, 2025 at 5:48 PM
A word on immigration. Don't prejudge this, just listen to the data, and then consider what the solution is.
The UK has a falling birth rate. This means that - unless things change - each generation will be 25% smaller than the one before.
The UK has a falling birth rate. This means that - unless things change - each generation will be 25% smaller than the one before.
Hello, I’m a scientist in a superhero film and a sidekick to the hero. I graduated from MIT with 14 PhDs and understand the bleeding edge of quantum mechanics, genetic editing, analytical chemistry, cryptography, cybersecurity … all of which I use from forensic analysis to opening multiverse portals
Hello, I am a scientist in a film. All my liquids are brightly coloured. The time it takes to perform tests and experiments is dependent on plot requirements, not biology or chemistry. Also, my safety glasses are extremely stylish.
Hello. I am an expendable character in an action film. If you shoot me with a regular gun I will scream in pain before I die. But if you shoot me with a silencer I will - obligingly - just let out a quiet gasp.
July 28, 2025 at 3:29 AM
Hello, I’m a scientist in a superhero film and a sidekick to the hero. I graduated from MIT with 14 PhDs and understand the bleeding edge of quantum mechanics, genetic editing, analytical chemistry, cryptography, cybersecurity … all of which I use from forensic analysis to opening multiverse portals
Wow!
4/27 But what about simple multicellular organisms that lack these sophisticated transport systems? Theory predicts they should hit a hard size limit - beyond ~50 μm, interior cells should starve. Growth should really start to slow down.
June 24, 2025 at 10:52 PM
Wow!
The news reporting gets to me sometimes - the angle is always to find something negative about any decision rather than a balanced pro-con analysis. If the government had focused on investments in London, the narrative would have been how the govt is London centric + the deprived North.
CITY AM: Reeves’ Spending Review raises hopes but leaves London yearning for more as growth ambitions clash with funding realities in the capital. Disappointment sets in over infrastructure and police budget gaps.
- by Samuel Norman
- by Samuel Norman
Spending Review: Reeves leaves London short-changed
Chancellor Rachel Reeves' inaugural Spending Review fell short for London, the capital's business advocacy group has said.
www.cityam.com
June 11, 2025 at 2:33 PM
The news reporting gets to me sometimes - the angle is always to find something negative about any decision rather than a balanced pro-con analysis. If the government had focused on investments in London, the narrative would have been how the govt is London centric + the deprived North.
Kudos to the UK Labour government for this large investment into science and R&D. The UK is a global scientific leader and this investment will turbocharge innovation.
www.gov.uk/government/n...
www.gov.uk/government/n...
Transformative £86 billion boost to science and tech to turbocharge economy, with regions backed to take cutting-edge research into own hands
Funding package worth more than £22.5 billion a year in 2029 will boost Britain's world-leading status in research and innovation.
www.gov.uk
June 9, 2025 at 8:22 PM
Kudos to the UK Labour government for this large investment into science and R&D. The UK is a global scientific leader and this investment will turbocharge innovation.
www.gov.uk/government/n...
www.gov.uk/government/n...
Hot off the press – we are incredibly excited to announce the publication of our mechanistic fit-for-purpose Hepatitis B virus (HBV) QSP model and in silico trial teamwork in CPT, a top tier clinical pharmacology journal! doi.org/10.1002/cpt....
Hepatitis B In Silico Trials Capture Functional Cure, Indicate Mechanistic Pathways, and Suggest Prognostic Biomarker Signatures
In silico trials, utilizing mathematical models calibrated with clinical data, present a transformative approach to expedite drug development. We propose a virtual trial framework for chronic Hepatit...
doi.org
June 4, 2025 at 10:04 PM
Hot off the press – we are incredibly excited to announce the publication of our mechanistic fit-for-purpose Hepatitis B virus (HBV) QSP model and in silico trial teamwork in CPT, a top tier clinical pharmacology journal! doi.org/10.1002/cpt....
Reposted by Rajat Desikan
Labour is measurably rescuing Britain.
A year since Sunak called the general election, the data tells a story the right-wing media won’t.
5 concrete everyday improvements:
A year since Sunak called the general election, the data tells a story the right-wing media won’t.
5 concrete everyday improvements:
May 22, 2025 at 10:35 AM
Labour is measurably rescuing Britain.
A year since Sunak called the general election, the data tells a story the right-wing media won’t.
5 concrete everyday improvements:
A year since Sunak called the general election, the data tells a story the right-wing media won’t.
5 concrete everyday improvements:
Agree, mRNA vaccines are a ‘quantum leap’ esp with next gen liposomes that can selectively target specific organs/tissues
Adding to list of stuff to be investigated and improved apart from reacto, I would add durability of responses and subtype switch to IgG4 seen in some studies with repeated Vx
Adding to list of stuff to be investigated and improved apart from reacto, I would add durability of responses and subtype switch to IgG4 seen in some studies with repeated Vx
Things that you can do with mRNA vaccines for infectious diseases that are way harder with other vaccine types:
- CD8 T cell responses (generally you have to have live attenuated vaccines for this but these are usually not safe for immunocompromised people; adjuvants thus far are of limited help)
- CD8 T cell responses (generally you have to have live attenuated vaccines for this but these are usually not safe for immunocompromised people; adjuvants thus far are of limited help)
Nobody besides antivaxx weirdos thinks “mRNA is a bad platform.” There is no data that would lead anyone to think that and no evidence to justify saying “mRNA is a bad platform.” This guy is not a scientist.
FWIW there is already an mRNA vaccine that can cure pancreatic cancer; he thinks that’s bad
FWIW there is already an mRNA vaccine that can cure pancreatic cancer; he thinks that’s bad
May 15, 2025 at 8:20 PM
Agree, mRNA vaccines are a ‘quantum leap’ esp with next gen liposomes that can selectively target specific organs/tissues
Adding to list of stuff to be investigated and improved apart from reacto, I would add durability of responses and subtype switch to IgG4 seen in some studies with repeated Vx
Adding to list of stuff to be investigated and improved apart from reacto, I would add durability of responses and subtype switch to IgG4 seen in some studies with repeated Vx
Reposted by Rajat Desikan
Reposted by Rajat Desikan
Labour and Reeves are on the right path.
India ✅
US - very close
Interest rate down on Thursday
EU reset in a fortnight
And all in under a year. What did the previous government do for 14 years bar destroy our economy?
India ✅
US - very close
Interest rate down on Thursday
EU reset in a fortnight
And all in under a year. What did the previous government do for 14 years bar destroy our economy?
May 7, 2025 at 6:28 AM
Labour and Reeves are on the right path.
India ✅
US - very close
Interest rate down on Thursday
EU reset in a fortnight
And all in under a year. What did the previous government do for 14 years bar destroy our economy?
India ✅
US - very close
Interest rate down on Thursday
EU reset in a fortnight
And all in under a year. What did the previous government do for 14 years bar destroy our economy?
Reposted by Rajat Desikan
This puts shit into perspective.
May 3, 2025 at 11:47 AM
This puts shit into perspective.
Excellent!
#medsky #episky 🧪 #pedsky #idsky
Here's why HHS's demand for all new vaccines to be approved by placebo-controlled trials is actually profoundly unethical and jeopardizes all vaccines requiring rapid updates to cover pathogens that evolve quickly
open.substack.com/pub/deplatfo...
Here's why HHS's demand for all new vaccines to be approved by placebo-controlled trials is actually profoundly unethical and jeopardizes all vaccines requiring rapid updates to cover pathogens that evolve quickly
open.substack.com/pub/deplatfo...
May 3, 2025 at 7:46 AM
Excellent!
Reposted by Rajat Desikan
Two new chapters from my free online book in human genetics out this weekend!
These complete Part 3 of the book, on human population structure and history:
3.3: Human prehistory [separate thread]
3.4: Ancient DNA: a genetic time capsule [this thread]
web.stanford.edu/group/pritch...
These complete Part 3 of the book, on human population structure and history:
3.3: Human prehistory [separate thread]
3.4: Ancient DNA: a genetic time capsule [this thread]
web.stanford.edu/group/pritch...
September 23, 2024 at 9:48 PM
Two new chapters from my free online book in human genetics out this weekend!
These complete Part 3 of the book, on human population structure and history:
3.3: Human prehistory [separate thread]
3.4: Ancient DNA: a genetic time capsule [this thread]
web.stanford.edu/group/pritch...
These complete Part 3 of the book, on human population structure and history:
3.3: Human prehistory [separate thread]
3.4: Ancient DNA: a genetic time capsule [this thread]
web.stanford.edu/group/pritch...
Reposted by Rajat Desikan
Labour achievements/plans over the last week. These are only highlights there’s so much more going on. This alongside trade talks with EU and US continuing.
Labour are grafters
Labour are grafters
April 29, 2025 at 7:11 AM
Labour achievements/plans over the last week. These are only highlights there’s so much more going on. This alongside trade talks with EU and US continuing.
Labour are grafters
Labour are grafters
Reposted by Rajat Desikan
This is also a thoughtful piece on progress - and the need for more progress: ourworldindata.org/much-better-...
The world is awful. The world is much better. The world can be much better.
It is wrong to think these three statements contradict each other. We need to see that they are all true to see that a better world is possible.
ourworldindata.org
April 26, 2025 at 7:46 AM
This is also a thoughtful piece on progress - and the need for more progress: ourworldindata.org/much-better-...
Reposted by Rajat Desikan
Nigel Farage is promising absolutely nothing, you have to be brain dead to vote for him.
April 26, 2025 at 5:26 PM
Nigel Farage is promising absolutely nothing, you have to be brain dead to vote for him.
Reposted by Rajat Desikan
The UK should have jumped at this chance - and still can. Make a special Trump visa for top scientists through January 2029. There are so many brilliant people who are losing grants and jobs but the world needs their brainpower.
Norway launches scheme to lure top researchers away from US universities
Norway launches scheme to lure top researchers away from US universities
Research council launches 100m kroner fund as Norwegian government calls for the protection of academic freedom
www.theguardian.com
April 25, 2025 at 7:47 AM
The UK should have jumped at this chance - and still can. Make a special Trump visa for top scientists through January 2029. There are so many brilliant people who are losing grants and jobs but the world needs their brainpower.
Reposted by Rajat Desikan
If anyone values the NHS:
1. The Tories almost ruined it
2. Reform have promised to get rid of it
3. Labour have turned it around in 6m
Thank you Labour.
1. The Tories almost ruined it
2. Reform have promised to get rid of it
3. Labour have turned it around in 6m
Thank you Labour.
April 17, 2025 at 3:50 PM
If anyone values the NHS:
1. The Tories almost ruined it
2. Reform have promised to get rid of it
3. Labour have turned it around in 6m
Thank you Labour.
1. The Tories almost ruined it
2. Reform have promised to get rid of it
3. Labour have turned it around in 6m
Thank you Labour.
Reposted by Rajat Desikan
Here is my list focused on Top 20 things Labour has done in 9 months to build long term growth. It’s impressive (3 images)
April 12, 2025 at 6:23 AM
Here is my list focused on Top 20 things Labour has done in 9 months to build long term growth. It’s impressive (3 images)
Reposted by Rajat Desikan
We’re rediscovering decades-old maladies and side-effects because of this imbecile.
KIDS TREATED WITH BOBBY'S PROTOCOL ARE SHOWING SIGNS OF LIVER DAMAGE.
High doses of Vitamin A and cod liver oil being given over an extended period of time is causing toxicity in some Texas children with measles.
In most cases it was given to avoid vaccination.
www.nytimes.com/2025/03/25/h...
High doses of Vitamin A and cod liver oil being given over an extended period of time is causing toxicity in some Texas children with measles.
In most cases it was given to avoid vaccination.
www.nytimes.com/2025/03/25/h...
For Some Measles Patients, Vitamin A Remedy Supported by RFK Jr. Leaves Them More Ill (Gift Article)
After the health secretary promoted vitamin A as a cure, parents in West Texas began giving their children high doses, sometimes to prevent infection.
www.nytimes.com
March 26, 2025 at 2:39 AM
We’re rediscovering decades-old maladies and side-effects because of this imbecile.
Reposted by Rajat Desikan
65,000 UK companies are unlawfully hiding their beneficial owner. We've just published an interactive map showing them all.
Thread:
Thread:
March 19, 2025 at 1:09 PM
65,000 UK companies are unlawfully hiding their beneficial owner. We've just published an interactive map showing them all.
Thread:
Thread:
Some skeets are almost worth a university course.
I’ve published my submission to the government’s Land Use consultation.
DEFRA has proposed lots of bold and interesting ideas, many of which I support.
But they also underestimate the scale of land use change needed to restore nature & fix water pollution. 1/🧵
whoownsengland.org/2025/03/12/m...
DEFRA has proposed lots of bold and interesting ideas, many of which I support.
But they also underestimate the scale of land use change needed to restore nature & fix water pollution. 1/🧵
whoownsengland.org/2025/03/12/m...
My submission to the Government’s Land Use consultation
This post is by Guy Shrubsole. This is my submission to the Government’s Land Use consultation, which was launched by the Environment Secretary Steve Reed on 31st January 2025 and closes on 2…
whoownsengland.org
March 13, 2025 at 12:07 AM
Some skeets are almost worth a university course.