Mike Hubank
generoom.bsky.social
Mike Hubank
@generoom.bsky.social
530 followers 450 following 150 posts
Clinical Genomics in the UK. Scientific Director of Clinical Genomics at the Royal Marsden and North Thames GLH. Prof of Translational Genomics at ICR, London
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Finally! The important questions! Like, when did they switch the imposter Foden back for the real one again?
Is this the right link? Because
1. It's not about mRNA
2. I *have* read the science journals, and
3. This seems to be yet another physicist who thinks he's original but in fact has just rediscovered chromatin. Biologists have been working on it for decades.
4. It's been a long week and I'm grumpy
Reposted by Mike Hubank
For 61 years the #BBCWorldService has been broadcasting the latest in science via its weekly Science in Action programme. That dies in the next half hour, with this final edition, reflecting on the fall in trust in expertise driven by malign interests over recent years.
Reposted by Mike Hubank
You've got just a few days left to submit your proposal to join us as a new Group Leader

📅 Applications close 2nd November

Package includes:

🪙Multi-year funding
🧪Core Facility Access
🥼 #Postdoc & #PhD positions
🤝Mentorship

Visit our website to apply:
www.cruk.manchester.ac.uk/career/new-g...
Well balanced explanation from Beth Torr of who we test for germline #BRCA mutations and why.
We are proud to be delivering this testing in the #RoyalMarsden lab at the #NHS North Thames Genomic lab hub.
BRCA gene testing can identify cancer risk, but access is limited.

A new digital pathway from the ICR is expanding testing in high-risk groups by making the process more efficient and cost-effective.

In the longer term, this approach could lead to better patient outcomes.

More from us here ⬇️
Could expanding BRCA gene testing save lives in breast and ovarian cancer?
Could expanding BRCA gene testing save lives in breast and ovarian cancer?
www.icr.ac.uk
Reposted by Mike Hubank
Improved diagnostic tools are crucial for early detection of cancer and, therefore, better treatment.
At The Festival of Genomics and Biodata in London in January, we are dedicating a theatre to this very topic.

Get your ticket here: hubs.la/Q03JMxrd0 #FOG2026
Reposted by Mike Hubank
Whole genome sequencing with AVITI and NovaSeq X Plus reveals comparable performance with contextual biases. #Sequencing #Benchmarking #Aviti #NovaSeq @biorxiv-genomic.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
#MCED may be coming - I hope so! But it wont be Galleri-shaped unless hype overcomes reason.
(mind you, thats regrettably common these days)
Why disappointing ? Galleri is for EARLY detection. Cancer was detected in 3/1000 (0.3%) patients with early stage disease. Far more were missed. At $940 a test, that works out at about $313,000 spent for each early cancer detected.
Good value for the #NHS? I think not.
A population cancer screening test must be cheap, specific, and sensitive.
Unless specificity is 100%, there needs to be a more sensitive and more specific confirmation test.
From what I have seen, #Galleri still meets none of these criteria adequately and is unlikely to be good value for the #NHS
www.bbc.com/news/article...
Harpal Kumar said the results were very compelling. That's because he is a businessman with a huge financial conflict of interest and a poor understanding of the science required to determine whether a screening test is useful.
Galleri test: Exciting results from blood test for 50 cancers
The Galleri test looks for fragments of DNA that have broken off a tumour and are circulating in the blood.
www.bbc.com
Beautiful. I miss running gels.
Reposted by Mike Hubank
(COI: I am a longstanding consultant and shareholder of Oxford nanopore). This has been cooking away (the scaling of DNA tech is... that there is a lot of space at the bottom - and also time / Hz space) and nice to see the price for long reads (with methylation!) continue to drop. Whoop!
Reposted by Mike Hubank
We have two fantastically well-funded #PhD studentships available through the @evomg-dn.bsky.social #EU doctoral network (led by brilliant @mirimiam.bsky.social, @crg.eu). These enable students to move to the UK and come and work with us @icr.ac.uk to exploit #cancer #evolution for patient benefit.
Reposted by Mike Hubank
Big step forward in #BloodCancer care 🚨

ICR scientists found that combining DNA + RNA tests predicts early relapse in multiple myeloma far better than DNA alone — catching 84% of cases. The Royal Marsden will offer RNA testing from 2026.

Earlier diagnosis = better treatment plans & outcomes.
Reposted by Mike Hubank
Reposted by Mike Hubank
A short thread. For years, I have been surprised by how much confusion our discovery of clones carrying cancer-driver mutations in normal tissues has caused in the cancer community. Typical questions like: (1) if you see these mutations in normal cells, are they really cancer drivers?... [1/4]
Reposted by Mike Hubank
Prof Sanjay Popat shared an encouraging outlook on ALK+ #lungcancer treatments at our conference last weekend.

Huge thanks to him and to all our experts - we couldn’t make this conference happen every year without you. It’s so important that our community stays informed & empowered. 💙 #LCSM
That doesnt mean that #PRS will have no utility at all, but any role is looking more combinatorial, complex and nuanced. Each case will need its own, strong clinical and economic evidence before application is justified.
Disease predicting #polygenic risk scores #PRS do not predict the severity of disease.
Susceptibility #PRS will therefore not stratify the most economically-demanding populations for focussed intervention.

So, simple #PRS application will not be a shortcut to effectively-focussed healthcare.
🧬💥 Do the genetics that make you develop a disease also help you survive it? Not much.

Our new study in Nature Genetics including 9 disease and 7 biobanks shows:

• Susceptibility variants ≠ survival
• PRSs for onset weak at predicting progression
• Lifespan PRS predicts survival better
What a game! 81,800 at a sold out Twickenham for the final 😃
It's been a fantastic tournament.