Robert Insall
@robinsall.bsky.social
Chemotaxis. Math. Computers. Cells. Machine learning.
Finally got fed enough up with Google that I shifted everything to a different search engine. We'll see if it sticks...
November 26, 2025 at 8:51 AM
Finally got fed enough up with Google that I shifted everything to a different search engine. We'll see if it sticks...
Reposted by Robert Insall
they became a verb, but unfortunately it was an ad verb.
November 25, 2025 at 5:55 AM
they became a verb, but unfortunately it was an ad verb.
Gorgeous work by Jamie Whitelaw - loss of CYRI equates to giant, elongated focal adhesions.
Yet another connection between WAVE complex dynamics & integrin-based adhesions
journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/...
Yet another connection between WAVE complex dynamics & integrin-based adhesions
journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/...
CYRI-B loss promotes enlarged mature focal adhesions and restricts microtubule and ERC1 access to the cell leading edge
Highlighted Article: CYRI-B-depleted cells show enlarged stable focal adhesions. A Bio-ID screen revealed a role for CYRI-B in microtubule-mediated adhesion turnover.
journals.biologists.com
November 25, 2025 at 2:22 PM
Gorgeous work by Jamie Whitelaw - loss of CYRI equates to giant, elongated focal adhesions.
Yet another connection between WAVE complex dynamics & integrin-based adhesions
journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/...
Yet another connection between WAVE complex dynamics & integrin-based adhesions
journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/...
I wonder why #REF2029 is proving so spectacularly useless?
Different groups want it to assess "research culture", stop unis getting an advantage when people move, promote geographic diversity, stop individuals from being impacted, make publication open, etc...
Few seem concerned about research.
Different groups want it to assess "research culture", stop unis getting an advantage when people move, promote geographic diversity, stop individuals from being impacted, make publication open, etc...
Few seem concerned about research.
This week on Wonkhe: Richard Traini rallies the sector to use REF 2029 as the opportunity to promote and reward the expertise of technical staff
REF should be about technical professionals too
Richard Traini rallies the sector to use REF 2029 as the opportunity to promote and reward the expertise of technical staff
buff.ly
November 22, 2025 at 9:08 AM
I wonder why #REF2029 is proving so spectacularly useless?
Different groups want it to assess "research culture", stop unis getting an advantage when people move, promote geographic diversity, stop individuals from being impacted, make publication open, etc...
Few seem concerned about research.
Different groups want it to assess "research culture", stop unis getting an advantage when people move, promote geographic diversity, stop individuals from being impacted, make publication open, etc...
Few seem concerned about research.
Yay! Congrats to SFB1348!
Dynamic cellular interfaces reloaded!🎉 Happy and excited to receive extended funding @sfb1348.bsky.social @uni-muenster.de @mpi-muenster.bsky.social and to push our collaborative science forward in the next 4 years! Big thanks @dfg.de, reviewers, and everyone else involved for the continued support!
November 21, 2025 at 11:44 AM
Yay! Congrats to SFB1348!
At last!
Someone doing some real science. On matters of fundamental interest and importance.
Someone doing some real science. On matters of fundamental interest and importance.
70 teaspoons placed in tearooms around the institute & observed weekly over 5 months. 80% of spoons disappeared; spoon halflife~81 days. Communal room halflife lower than in specific labs. 250 spoons annually required to maintain 70 spoon population.
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
The case of the disappearing teaspoons: longitudinal cohort study of the displacement of teaspoons in an Australian research institute
Objectives To determine the overall rate of loss of workplace teaspoons and whether attrition and displacement are correlated with the relative value of the teaspoons or type of tearoom. Design Longitudinal cohort study. Setting Research institute ...
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
November 20, 2025 at 8:38 AM
At last!
Someone doing some real science. On matters of fundamental interest and importance.
Someone doing some real science. On matters of fundamental interest and importance.
So very funny.
Utterly predictable. Like those funny @ScienceGuardians rants. But still utterly hilarious when it happens.
Utterly predictable. Like those funny @ScienceGuardians rants. But still utterly hilarious when it happens.
A paper critiquing post-publication peer review has numerous made-up references, including a @nature.com article falsely attributed to our Ivan Oransky.
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
PubPeer - An expert criticism on post-publication peer review platform...
There are comments on PubPeer for publication: An expert criticism on post-publication peer review platforms: the case of pubpeer (2025)
pubpeer.com
November 18, 2025 at 10:12 PM
So very funny.
Utterly predictable. Like those funny @ScienceGuardians rants. But still utterly hilarious when it happens.
Utterly predictable. Like those funny @ScienceGuardians rants. But still utterly hilarious when it happens.
Absolutely extraordinary.
UCL management, in their godlike and infinite wisdom, have decided it's a good idea to remove all waste bins from all offices and replace them with occasional big 4-way recycling things plonked in the middle of corridors.
UCL management, in their godlike and infinite wisdom, have decided it's a good idea to remove all waste bins from all offices and replace them with occasional big 4-way recycling things plonked in the middle of corridors.
November 12, 2025 at 10:59 AM
Absolutely extraordinary.
UCL management, in their godlike and infinite wisdom, have decided it's a good idea to remove all waste bins from all offices and replace them with occasional big 4-way recycling things plonked in the middle of corridors.
UCL management, in their godlike and infinite wisdom, have decided it's a good idea to remove all waste bins from all offices and replace them with occasional big 4-way recycling things plonked in the middle of corridors.
Reposted by Robert Insall
As someone who looks at a lot of Manhattan plots, I can say that an under-appreciated cause of false positive GWAS hits is stuff stuck to my computer screen.
November 12, 2025 at 1:40 AM
As someone who looks at a lot of Manhattan plots, I can say that an under-appreciated cause of false positive GWAS hits is stuff stuck to my computer screen.
Dylan Burnette lab excelling themselves with lovely microscopy, even more than ususal.
Beating iPSC-derived heart muscle cells videoed through a microscope. Alpha-actinin-2 is shown. #CellBiology
November 9, 2025 at 10:31 AM
Dylan Burnette lab excelling themselves with lovely microscopy, even more than ususal.
The science literature used to be more fun
November 8, 2025 at 3:06 PM
The science literature used to be more fun
fine-looking meeting
interested in mechanobiology and physics of living systems? this is the conference for you! Join us 9-12 June in Heidelberg! with @nicolettapetridou.bsky.social @xaviertrepat.bsky.social Enrique Rojas & Alba Diz-Munoz
Registration OPEN
www.embl.org/about/info/c...
Registration OPEN
www.embl.org/about/info/c...
November 6, 2025 at 12:50 PM
fine-looking meeting
Reposted by Robert Insall
Very excited to share an advert for a new lecturer position in Computational Cancer at UCL! Permanent position at assistant professor level- join a growing community at UCL in a cutting edge discipline.
Please share widely!
www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...
Please share widely!
www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...
UCL – University College London
UCL is consistently ranked as one of the top ten universities in the world (QS World University Rankings 2010-2022) and is No.2 in the UK for research power (Research Excellence Framework 2021).
www.ucl.ac.uk
November 3, 2025 at 3:49 PM
Very excited to share an advert for a new lecturer position in Computational Cancer at UCL! Permanent position at assistant professor level- join a growing community at UCL in a cutting edge discipline.
Please share widely!
www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...
Please share widely!
www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...
Ahhh, the glory of UK research electronic forms.
October 30, 2025 at 7:37 PM
Ahhh, the glory of UK research electronic forms.
Reposted by Robert Insall
In May 2024 we had a great workshop on chemotaxis in the MPI PKS in Dresden! The social impressions are in the picture below, and the scientific discussions are summarised in Angewandte Chemie lnkd.in/d6ymRhGK
What a nice way to remember!
What a nice way to remember!
October 29, 2025 at 11:24 AM
In May 2024 we had a great workshop on chemotaxis in the MPI PKS in Dresden! The social impressions are in the picture below, and the scientific discussions are summarised in Angewandte Chemie lnkd.in/d6ymRhGK
What a nice way to remember!
What a nice way to remember!
Will shouting "STOP CHANGING MY TEXT INTO THINGS I DIDN'T MEAN" at my phone help?
Asking for a friend.
Asking for a friend.
October 23, 2025 at 11:55 AM
Will shouting "STOP CHANGING MY TEXT INTO THINGS I DIDN'T MEAN" at my phone help?
Asking for a friend.
Asking for a friend.
Reposted by Robert Insall
We hiring! Please share this post with your talented ECRs
We're looking for a postdoc interested in the formation and function of tertiary lymphoid structures - project funded by Wellcome
Based at @lmcb-ucl.bsky.social at University College London
Apply here:
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DPD418/r...
We're looking for a postdoc interested in the formation and function of tertiary lymphoid structures - project funded by Wellcome
Based at @lmcb-ucl.bsky.social at University College London
Apply here:
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DPD418/r...
October 21, 2025 at 3:57 PM
We hiring! Please share this post with your talented ECRs
We're looking for a postdoc interested in the formation and function of tertiary lymphoid structures - project funded by Wellcome
Based at @lmcb-ucl.bsky.social at University College London
Apply here:
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DPD418/r...
We're looking for a postdoc interested in the formation and function of tertiary lymphoid structures - project funded by Wellcome
Based at @lmcb-ucl.bsky.social at University College London
Apply here:
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DPD418/r...
Reposted by Robert Insall
This morning my ChatGPT quota was inexplicably exhausted.
It took a while but I pieced it together. Voice mode somehow got activated when I went to bed.
The bot then engaged in a 10 hour conversation with my snoring dog, answering questions the pup wasn’t asking and praising him for his insight.
It took a while but I pieced it together. Voice mode somehow got activated when I went to bed.
The bot then engaged in a 10 hour conversation with my snoring dog, answering questions the pup wasn’t asking and praising him for his insight.
October 18, 2025 at 9:04 AM
This morning my ChatGPT quota was inexplicably exhausted.
It took a while but I pieced it together. Voice mode somehow got activated when I went to bed.
The bot then engaged in a 10 hour conversation with my snoring dog, answering questions the pup wasn’t asking and praising him for his insight.
It took a while but I pieced it together. Voice mode somehow got activated when I went to bed.
The bot then engaged in a 10 hour conversation with my snoring dog, answering questions the pup wasn’t asking and praising him for his insight.
Thanks for any data. i want Scar/WAVE complex scroll waves you see...
October 12, 2025 at 8:58 PM
Thanks for any data. i want Scar/WAVE complex scroll waves you see...
testing the exact 3D printer settings to retain a #makerbeam
October 8, 2025 at 10:24 PM
testing the exact 3D printer settings to retain a #makerbeam
Read this today. All of it. It will make you happy.
Six weeks ago, I picked up a year-old tawny owl with a broken leg off the main road near our home and dropped him off at our nearest vet.
After a few days, I received one of the most bizarre phone calls I’ve ever had, asking “So when are you coming to pick up your owl?” 🧵
After a few days, I received one of the most bizarre phone calls I’ve ever had, asking “So when are you coming to pick up your owl?” 🧵
October 5, 2025 at 11:52 AM
Read this today. All of it. It will make you happy.
Ooooh coool
📌 Join us for the next klogW seminar on October 21st at 12PM EST (register below) by Erwin Frey @physicsoflifelmu.bsky.social on "Emergence and Self-organization in Biological Systems".
Registration link:
apsphysics.zoom.us/meeting/regi...
Registration link:
apsphysics.zoom.us/meeting/regi...
September 30, 2025 at 9:40 PM
Ooooh coool
Yikes.
Interesting paper but a terrible news report.
Skin cells are chock full of mutations. It's brilliant to show that you can use skin cell nuclei to make an embryo, but you'd have to be insane to make a human out of one.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Interesting paper but a terrible news report.
Skin cells are chock full of mutations. It's brilliant to show that you can use skin cell nuclei to make an embryo, but you'd have to be insane to make a human out of one.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Human skin DNA fertilised to make embryo for first time
US scientists testing the technique say it could help people overcome infertility and potentially allow same-sex couples to have a genetically related child.
www.bbc.co.uk
September 30, 2025 at 6:35 PM
Yikes.
Interesting paper but a terrible news report.
Skin cells are chock full of mutations. It's brilliant to show that you can use skin cell nuclei to make an embryo, but you'd have to be insane to make a human out of one.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Interesting paper but a terrible news report.
Skin cells are chock full of mutations. It's brilliant to show that you can use skin cell nuclei to make an embryo, but you'd have to be insane to make a human out of one.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
The excellent Lucija Mijanovic & I write a piece musing on electrotaxis, collective migration, and @calinacopos.bsky.social & the Mogilner lab's nice PNAS paper.
Have a look!
authors.elsevier.com/a/1lpaB3QW8S...
Have a look!
authors.elsevier.com/a/1lpaB3QW8S...
September 22, 2025 at 3:56 PM
The excellent Lucija Mijanovic & I write a piece musing on electrotaxis, collective migration, and @calinacopos.bsky.social & the Mogilner lab's nice PNAS paper.
Have a look!
authors.elsevier.com/a/1lpaB3QW8S...
Have a look!
authors.elsevier.com/a/1lpaB3QW8S...
University manager confuses "quality" and "being funded". Shock horror.
www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-u...
www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-u...
Ministers ‘want to shift funds away from low-quality research’ - Research Professional News
Universities UK president says institutions cannot afford “unfunded hobbyist research”
www.researchprofessionalnews.com
September 12, 2025 at 11:32 AM
University manager confuses "quality" and "being funded". Shock horror.
www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-u...
www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-u...