Richard Unwin
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rdunwin.bsky.social
Richard Unwin
@rdunwin.bsky.social
850 followers 440 following 340 posts
Mass Spectrometry and proteomics at Uni of Manchester. Analysis of primary samples for biomarker discovery. Development of targeted assays for clinical use.

Co-founder, Complement Therapeutics

Also football (SWFC), cricket and politics.
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Richard Unwin
cmichaelrose.bsky.social
I am looking for a PostDoc to join my group at Genentech to drive the development of proteomics technologies to fuel target and therapeutic discovery and development. Check out the link below!

careers.gene.com/us/en/job/20...
November 25, 2025 at 12:39 AM
rdunwin.bsky.social
November 24, 2025 at 8:44 PM
Reposted by Richard Unwin
fbmh-uom.bsky.social
The parents of a three-year-old boy born with a devastating, life-limiting genetic condition say they are now excited for his future after he received a revolutionary stem cell gene therapy treatment developed by researchers at the University of Manchester.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Hunter syndrome: Boy with rare condition amazes doctors after world-first gene therapy
Oliver has an inherited condition called Hunter syndrome, which causes progressive damage to the body and brain.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 24, 2025 at 11:31 AM
Reposted by Richard Unwin
femalesinms.bsky.social
Registration for the Round 6 of Mentorship Pods is now OPEN!

More info👉 femalesinms.com/mentorship-p...
Registration 👉 femalesinms.com/mentorship-p...
November 11, 2025 at 10:48 PM
rdunwin.bsky.social
This is an outstanding thread, and is spot on...

The drive towards open access/data sharing has been driven by funders. They're important, sure, but as an author I consider these more because my funder and employers expect it. The same people can lead to not-for-profit and quality over quantity.
hansonmark.bsky.social Mark A. Hanson @hansonmark.bsky.social · 16d
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 7:45 AM
Reposted by Richard Unwin
mscaitlinmoran.bsky.social
Love being reminded to do this every year. It's a win/win all round
Clear out toys now!
November 11, 2025 at 11:00 AM
rdunwin.bsky.social
Whinge of the week:

So far this week I've read THREE papers where the title claims to have identified and validated novel biomarkers for disease X.

Of the three, one is in mice, one is based on a 10 v 10 cohort, and the third has an AUROC of 0.65, falling to below 0.6 in a second cohort.
November 5, 2025 at 9:13 AM
rdunwin.bsky.social
Daniel Hannan has a self-awareness problem
rolandmcs.bsky.social Roland Smith @rolandmcs.bsky.social · 25d
A Brexiter writes...
November 2, 2025 at 12:36 PM
rdunwin.bsky.social
Well this was kind of inevitable but it still makes for horrible reading. Should mean the back of Chansiri and fresh start, though, if we can find a sale. 🤞🤞😢

🦉🦉🦉
#wawaw
#swfc

www.bbc.co.uk/sport/footba...
Sheffield Wednesday: Championship club enter administration
Sheffield Wednesday have been placed into administration after it was revealed last week that His Majesty's Revenue & Customs were set to issue a winding-up petition against the club.
www.bbc.co.uk
October 24, 2025 at 12:14 PM
rdunwin.bsky.social
This is accurate.

There's a valley of death between 'good academic research' and 'ready for investment'.

Every project at that stage is risky, and because there's not much money instututions cherry pick and become risk averse.

If you wanna win the lottery, buy more tickets.
October 24, 2025 at 8:00 AM
rdunwin.bsky.social
🤣🤣🤣

Yup 🎯
October 23, 2025 at 8:32 PM
rdunwin.bsky.social
Anyone see the attendance tonight? #SHWMID #swfc.
October 22, 2025 at 9:38 PM
Reposted by Richard Unwin
manchester.ac.uk
From Manchester for the world.

We are proud to launch our bold strategy to 2035. Together, we're redefining what a great civic University looks like for the 21st century.

Visit our webpage to explore our ambition in full: www.manchester.ac.uk/about/manche...
October 16, 2025 at 8:59 AM
rdunwin.bsky.social
ECR with <3yrs postdoc experience?

The University of Manchester @officialuom.bsky.social is offering THREE Bicentenary Fellowships.

3yrs salary + £30k pa funding

If you have a project involving mass spec, biomarkers and human disease, get in touch!

www.bmh.manchester.ac.uk/research/sup...
Bicentenary Early Career Research Fellowships | Biology, Medicine and Health | University of Manchester
Find out about and apply for a Bicentenary Early Career Research Fellowship.
www.bmh.manchester.ac.uk
October 10, 2025 at 9:01 AM
Reposted by Richard Unwin
dns-uom.bsky.social
📣 New MRC DTP PhD project is available with David Brough, Kevin Couper, Roy Ng and Chris Hoyle looking at the NLRP3 inflammasome in the brain and brain disease findaphd.com/phds/project.... Please get in touch if you are interested! 🧠
(MRC DTP) Targeting inflammasomes to reduce inflammatory damage in brain disease at The University of Manchester on FindAPhD.com
PhD Project - (MRC DTP) Targeting inflammasomes to reduce inflammatory damage in brain disease at The University of Manchester, listed on FindAPhD.com
findaphd.com
October 10, 2025 at 8:32 AM
Reposted by Richard Unwin
lukaskall.bsky.social
There is a position open in our lab, within this network. Our project deals with assessing identification and quantification errors for MS-based proteomics. www.protaiomics.eu/project/dc13...
Please check out all the project descriptions at the site below:
October 8, 2025 at 12:15 PM
Reposted by Richard Unwin
vscooper.micropopbio.org
Holy moly
October 8, 2025 at 8:59 PM
Reposted by Richard Unwin
cruk-mi.bsky.social
Interested in establishing your own research group?
Our support package for new Group Leaders includes:

🥼2 #Postdocs, a technician & 2 PhD students + lab costs
🔬Full access to core facilities
🧪Access to the MCRC #Biobank
✔️Mentorship, #grant advice & more

www.cruk.manchester.ac.uk/career/new-g...
Graphic has a blue-tone photograph of the Paterson Building on the right-hand side, with a dark blue background and white text on the left Text says: We Are Recruiting New Group Leaders Join us in Manchester / Develop bold, innovative, & high-impact research programmes Salary £58,000 – £65,000 (dependent upon experience/clinical work) Job ID MI/25/54 Apply by 2nd November 2025
October 8, 2025 at 10:52 AM
rdunwin.bsky.social
Well this is exciting. From a basic science collaboration with
@prof-clark.bsky.social and Paul Bishop, to a spin-out, and now into the clinic.

Been some journey. Congratulations to everyone at Complement Therapeutics. This is an outstanding achievement.

bit.ly/42w1YhT
Complement Therapeutics Receives FDA IND Clearance to Advance CTx001 into Opti-GAIN, a Phase I/II Clinical Trial in Geographic Atrophy secondary to AMD – Complement Therapeutics
bit.ly
October 8, 2025 at 10:28 AM
rdunwin.bsky.social
🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️
October 6, 2025 at 4:35 PM
Reposted by Richard Unwin
cruk-mi.bsky.social
Finally, we're looking for someone to join our #MassSpec Core Facility to support all the protein/peptide MS & development needs of our research groups utilising:

🧪Protein chemistry
📈Liquid chromatography
⚛️Tandem mass spectrometry
🖥️Data analysis

More at:
www.cruk.manchester.ac.uk/career/mi-25...
Mass Spec
xkcd.com
October 3, 2025 at 2:17 PM
Reposted by Richard Unwin
manchester.ac.uk
🥳 We have been recognised as one of the best universities in England for intellectual property and commercialisation performance.

The Innovation Factory (@uomif.bsky.social) achieved the highest possible rating for IP and Commercialisation.
uomif.bsky.social University of Manchester Innovation Factory @uomif.bsky.social · Sep 30
The University of Manchester is a national leader in IP & commercialisation in the 2025 KEF results 🎉

We achieved the highest rating for IP & Commercialisation : licensing, spinouts, investment, and real-world impact.

Read more 👉 www.uominnovationfactory.com/news/2025-ke... @manchester.ac.uk
October 1, 2025 at 9:03 AM
rdunwin.bsky.social
As someone who relied on a maintenance grant (and no tuition fees) to go to Uni and is now a University Professor, I 100% support this.

I hope that the grant is enough to make a difference.

I also hope this is one step in a wider programme to support students to fulfil their potential.
lewisgoodall.com Lewis Goodall @lewisgoodall.com · Sep 29
Detail will be important but this is an important announcement. Since Osborne’s abolition of grants we’ve had the invidious situation where the poorest students have been getting more indebted than richer ones, who are supported by parents.
www.gov.uk/government/n...
Targeted maintenance grants for students to be reintroduced
Disadvantaged students studying priority courses will benefit from extra financial support to access and excel in higher education.
www.gov.uk
September 29, 2025 at 4:27 PM
Reposted by Richard Unwin
cruk-mi.bsky.social
We are looking for visionary scientists ready to establish an independent, world-leading research programme & take full advantage of the extraordinary collaborative ecosystem including @mcrcnews.bsky.social @manchester.ac.uk, The Christie NHS Foundation Trust & @cruknbc.bsky.social

#OncoSky
New Group Leader Recruitment Now Open (MI/25/54) | Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute
We are seeking to appoint exceptional early-career scientists, including clinician scientists, as Group Leaders to develop bold, innovative, and high-impact research programmes.
www.cruk.manchester.ac.uk
September 24, 2025 at 3:03 PM
rdunwin.bsky.social
Despite repeated attacks on science over the past few days/weeks/months/years from Dumb and Dumber (you know who I mean), this an outstanding example to show that science works - and can do genuinely incredible things...

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk
September 24, 2025 at 1:23 PM