William Lees
LightNews LightNews
williamlees.bsky.social
William Lees
@williamlees.bsky.social
360 followers 320 following 120 posts
Scientist and European. Computational biologist: B cell and T cell receptor repertoires and genomics.
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by William Lees
minakimes.bsky.social
Just an absolutely gutting essay by Tatiana Schlossberg, a writer, mother of two young children, and cousin of RFK Jr who is dying of leukemia.

www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
As I spent more and more of my life under the care of doctors, nurses, and researchers striving to improve the lives of others, I watched as Bobby cut nearly a half billion dollars for research into mRNA vaccines, technology that could be used against certain cancers; slashed billions in funding from the National Institutes of Health, the world's largest sponsor of medical research; and threatened to oust the panel of medical experts charged with recommending preventive cancer screenings. Hundreds of N.I.H. grants and clinical trials were cancelled, affecting thousands of patients. I worried about funding for leukemia and bone-marrow research at Memorial Sloan Kettering. I worried about the trials that were my only shot at remission. Early in my illness, when I
November 22, 2025 at 4:09 PM
Reposted by William Lees
iandunt.bsky.social
We will struggle to explain to future generations how something so transparent and stupid was able to take place youngvulgarian.substack.com/p/arent-you-...
November 21, 2025 at 12:16 PM
Reposted by William Lees
cerianbond.bsky.social
Agree. Coalition of the Willing has to stop deluding itself that after a ceasefire on reasonable terms it will send symbolic forces to Ukraine w US backing. UK, France, Germany, Poland &c must invest whatever it takes to defeat RU in UA, or they will have to fight it, without US help, further West.
snellarthur.bsky.social Arthur Snell @snellarthur.bsky.social · 1d
It’s not a “US plan”, it’s Moscow’s plan, dictated to guilty men in the White House. Setting aside the injustices being pushed on Ukraine, this would be a disaster for European security & guarantee a war with 🇷🇺 in a few years, in which, presumably, 🇺🇸 and 🇷🇺 are on the same side.

on.ft.com/3LYajoR
US plan for Ukraine-Russia peace calls on Kyiv to cede land under its control
Ukrainian officials say President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is being pressed to agree to terms negotiated by the US and Russia
on.ft.com
November 21, 2025 at 8:56 AM
Reposted by William Lees
eliothiggins.bsky.social
The real issue isn’t immigration, it’s the feedback loop: platforms amplify anxiety → voters feel it → politicians chase it → hollow policy follows. Until we break that cycle, we won’t get functional decisions or functional democracy.
November 16, 2025 at 1:13 PM
Reposted by William Lees
webweasel.bsky.social
It’s gobsmackingly awful. They’ve got a massive majority. They could bring in Levison 2, they could regulate social media, they could make the BBC truly independent, they could close the huge loopholes with foreign influence in party funding, they could bring in electoral reform… Nothing.
November 11, 2025 at 8:16 AM
Reposted by William Lees
chrischirp.bsky.social
Information underpins democracy and the BBC is a key part of that.

We need to protect our institutions

open.substack.com/pub/christin...
Information underpins Democracy – why the BBC must be defended
Recent events at the BBC have wide-reaching implications for our democracy - and the sooner we realise it, the better
open.substack.com
November 11, 2025 at 7:42 AM
Reposted by William Lees
stuafcb.bsky.social
I am no insider but think it's absolutely imperative that we have a publicly funded, public service broadcaster. The BBC is far from perfect and in need of reform (permanent charter, removal of political appointments, mutualisation) - but if we lose it all that fills the gap is billionaires.
November 11, 2025 at 7:53 AM
Reposted by William Lees
mikegalsworthy.bsky.social
The Memphis Belle, flying out of RAF Bassingbourn in Cambridgeshire, became the first US bomber to complete 25 missions over Nazi Europe. Her story lives on in Norwich’s Heritage Week exhibition.

eastangliabylines.co.uk/lifestyle/hi...
A special relationship: Norwich remembers the ‘friendly invasion’
Recently, Norwich Heritage Week hosted an exhibition remembering the role of US personnel in the region during WW2, and the iconic ‘Memphis Belle’
eastangliabylines.co.uk
November 10, 2025 at 7:17 AM
Reposted by William Lees
helenebismarck.bsky.social
What on earth is going on.
eddavey.libdems.org.uk Ed Davey @eddavey.libdems.org.uk · 13d
I had my disagreements with the BBC under Tim Davie but he was a decent man doing a difficult job.

To see Trump's White House claiming credit for his downfall and attacking the BBC should worry us all.
A social media post by Karoline Leavitt (The White House Press Secretary) showing two news headlines side-by-side. The left headline, under a caption that reads "Shot" reads: "Trump goes to war with 'fake news' BBC," and the right headline under a caption that reads "Chaser" reads: "Tim Davie resigns as BBC director general over Trump documentary edit."
November 9, 2025 at 8:39 PM
Reposted by William Lees
cdubsig.bsky.social
🧬 VDJbase and OGRDB: 3000+ IG/TR samples across human and rhesus macaque with curated AIRR-seq and long-read genomic data.
LET'S CHANGE THE WAY WE UTILIZE IG/TR GENOMIC AND REPERTOIRE DATA! @guryaari.bsky.social @williamlees.bsky.social @ayeletperes.bsky.social
academic.oup.com/nar/advance-...
The current landscape of adaptive immune receptor genomic and repertoire data: OGRDB and VDJbase
Abstract. Accurate characterization of adaptive immune receptor repertoires through high-throughput sequencing is critical for understanding immune respons
academic.oup.com
November 7, 2025 at 8:23 PM
Reposted by William Lees
ayeletperes.bsky.social
New manuscript out in NAR! tinyurl.com/4rrbuesn
🧬 VDJbase and OGRDB now support 3000+ IG/TR samples across human and rhesus macaque with curated AIRR-seq and long-read genomic data. From population analysis to precision annotation. @guryaari.bsky.social @cdubsig.bsky.social @williamlees.bsky.social
The current landscape of adaptive immune receptor genomic and repertoire data: OGRDB and VDJbase
Abstract. Accurate characterization of adaptive immune receptor repertoires through high-throughput sequencing is critical for understanding immune respons
academic.oup.com
November 7, 2025 at 2:19 PM
Reposted by William Lees
iandunt.bsky.social
Vital piece of investigative reporting from Sky. They've uncovered the X algorithm which feeds users extremist right wing material from the moment they join the site. It is a far-right radicalisation engine, by design.

news.sky.com/story/the-x-...
Elon Musk is boosting the British right - and this shows how
Elon Musk is boosting the British right - and this shows how
news.sky.com
November 6, 2025 at 7:23 AM
Reposted by William Lees
nextstrain.org
On Oct 1, 2025, GISAID informed us that they had ended updates to the flat file of SARS-CoV-2 genomic sequences and associated metadata that we had used to update Nextstrain analyses since Feb 2020. GISAID's stated rationale was that their "resources are limited". 1/5
November 6, 2025 at 9:46 PM
Reposted by William Lees
thetypist.bsky.social
Imagine trusting your national space programme in to the hands of someone who is constantly advocating for civil war and and end of democracy in your country.
profjacob.bsky.social Jacob Öberg @profjacob.bsky.social · 17d
🚨🚨 The UK has become too dependent on #Musk and his Space X company for the success of its space programme, and must urgently seek greater independence from it in order to stop the “politicisation” of these services , a new Parliamentary report has warned. bylinetimes.com/2025/11/04/t...
The UK Must Urgently Distance Itself From Elon Musk and Space X, Warns Parliamentary Report
The UK's infrastructure has become far too reliant on the far-right billionaire, who could 'politicise' our reliance upon his companies, the report warns
bylinetimes.com
November 5, 2025 at 8:45 AM
Reposted by William Lees
jreland.bsky.social
Yesterday Nigel Farage argued that the UK has failed to grasp Brexit opportunities to deregulate, which his 'pro-business' government would deliver.

I've got a piece in the Independent arguing why that is a misreading both of Brexit history and economics.

www.independent.co.uk/voices/brexi...
The political logic is clear: Farage is saying that the problem is not Brexit, but the politicians who have failed to properly implement it. If only the UK had pushed harder to rip up EU red tape, we would not be in the mess we’re in. But his economic and regulatory logic is fundamentally flawed. A close study of recent Brexit history (we happen to have produced one) shows that Conservative governments did, in fact, aspire to deregulate the UK economy. That they failed was due not to a lack of political will, but to reality – and the dawning realisation of the economic damage it would do. It is the very “business people” Farage claims to speak for who pushed hardest against the “Brexit opportunities” agenda. Farage promises to “reduce the size of the bloated state”, but the task of identifying legislation to reform, and then designing and implementing the new rules, would be a major administrative undertaking for Whitehall. The UK civil service has doubled in size since Brexit, and a key reason for this is that Whitehall has had to take on jobs that were previously left to EU regulators. The more the UK seeks to do things differently to the EU, the more British bureaucrats we will need to do the heavy lifting. If Mr Farage’s real priority is to cut the state to save cash, there is one obvious thing to do – join the EU single market.
November 4, 2025 at 9:38 AM
Reposted by William Lees
gabyhinsliff.bsky.social
So a weird thing happened to me in Aldi that I cdn't quite place until I was listening to Gabby Bertin talking about choking in porn on the radio this am. (NB: this is 100% not a sex thing). Having the usual polite chitchat with the cashier who is tired from working extra shifts to make £ for xmas..
November 4, 2025 at 9:22 AM
Reposted by William Lees
ottoenglish.bsky.social
X is a cesspit led by an unhinged billionaire who is desperately trying to stir up civil war in Britain.

Nobody with any sense or decency should be there.

No organisations, government departments, or politicians should be there.

Everyone who is, is enabling this monster.
October 29, 2025 at 8:22 AM
Reposted by William Lees
cdubsig.bsky.social
Happy to announce the publication of our work exploring under-appreciated genetic diversity in the human IGHC region. Awesome work by @uddalok.bsky.social. So grateful for our amazing co-authors.
@williamlees.bsky.social @guryaari.bsky.social @ayeletperes.bsky.social

www.cell.com/cell-genomic...
The human IG heavy chain constant gene locus is enriched for large structural variants and coding polymorphisms that vary among human populations
Genetic variation within immunoglobulin heavy chain constant (IGHC) genes modulates interactions between antibodies and other immune receptors and effector cells, directing cell killing and the cleara...
www.cell.com
October 28, 2025 at 2:35 PM
Reposted by William Lees
ebi.embl.org
For over 20 years, the mouse model organism has helped scientists uncover the biology behind human health and disease.

But the mouse reference genomes still have missing pieces.
The first collection of telomere-to-telomere mouse genomes are now available for two key mouse strains.
🧬💻
October 27, 2025 at 11:51 AM
Reposted by William Lees
victorgreiff.bsky.social
📢 We are announcing the Adaptive Immune Profiling Challenge 2025!
Can you predict immune state labels from adaptive immune receptor repertoires?
💰 $10,000 prize pool!
🗓️ Launches Nov 5 on @kaggle.com
More Info: uio-bmi.github.io/adaptive_imm...
October 22, 2025 at 7:09 PM
Reposted by William Lees
kityates.bsky.social
Boris Johnson says at the inquiry "it was slow to dawn on government generally about the full horror of of Covid."

Why? Why was it so slow to dawn on the government what could happen?

That slowness cost lives and livelihoods at a grand scale.
October 21, 2025 at 11:06 AM
Reposted by William Lees
pwgtennant.bsky.social
Serious questions for the Wellcome Trust and Wellcome Leap to answer here.

Allocating $50m to microbiome pseudoscience is bad enough.

But things get alarmingly murky when you notice that the Program Director is working on commercial microbiomics products.
October 20, 2025 at 3:59 PM
Reposted by William Lees
markhamillofficial.bsky.social
#A_NewHope ✊
October 18, 2025 at 7:33 PM
Reposted by William Lees
daltmann.bsky.social
Anti-BCMA CAR-T therapy in patients with progressive multiple sclerosis: Cell www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
Anti-BCMA CAR-T therapy in patients with progressive multiple sclerosis
The first-in-human study of anti-BCMA CAR-T therapy for progressive multiple sclerosis shows a favorable safety profile, depletion of plasma cells in the central nervous system, and alleviation of mic...
www.cell.com
October 17, 2025 at 7:39 AM
Reposted by William Lees
dom96.picheta.me
So proud to be working for a company that's helping build a better Internet arstechnica.com/ai/2025/10/i...
Inside the web infrastructure revolt over Google’s AI Overviews
Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince is making sweeping changes to force Google’s hand.
arstechnica.com
October 16, 2025 at 9:38 PM