Hunter Shain
@shainlab.bsky.social
UCSF, Department of Dermatology. Part of HTAN. Cancer, genomics, melanoma, cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma, dermatology, somatic mutations, tumor evolution, spatial transcriptomics, single-cell
Pinned
Hunter Shain
@shainlab.bsky.social
· Dec 13
Molecular effects of indoor tanning
The skin cells of tanning bed users have distinct mutational features as compared to people who only experience natural sunlight.
www.science.org
Proud to share our new paper in Science Advances.
We show that indoor tanning beds cause widespread mutational damage across the skin to increase melanoma risk, especially in body sites that rarely see sunlight.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
#Melanoma #SkinCancer
We show that indoor tanning beds cause widespread mutational damage across the skin to increase melanoma risk, especially in body sites that rarely see sunlight.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
#Melanoma #SkinCancer
Grants should have page limits on letters of support. If you need more than 3 pages (1 page per letter x 3 letters), then maybe you should not be leading the grant.
January 31, 2026 at 2:58 AM
Grants should have page limits on letters of support. If you need more than 3 pages (1 page per letter x 3 letters), then maybe you should not be leading the grant.
I am just reading this paper, and it is absolutely wild. Tumor cells acquire mutations in mitochondria, and then transfer them to T-cells, and the mutant mitochondria drives dysfunction in the T-cells?! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Immune evasion through mitochondrial transfer in the tumour microenvironment - Nature
Mitochondria with mutations in their DNA from cancer cells can be transferred to T cells in the tumour microenvironment, which leads to T cell dysfunction and impaired antitumour immunity.
www.nature.com
January 28, 2026 at 1:52 AM
I am just reading this paper, and it is absolutely wild. Tumor cells acquire mutations in mitochondria, and then transfer them to T-cells, and the mutant mitochondria drives dysfunction in the T-cells?! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Recent review from HTAN. Linghua Wang with a timely review on spatial omic technologies Cancer Cell. www.cell.com/cancer-cell/...
Spatial omics at the forefront: emerging technologies, analytical innovations, and clinical applications
Liu et al. review how spatial omics technologies reveal the organization, interaction,
and evolution of tumor cells and their microenvironment within tissues. They highlight
analytical advances that t...
www.cell.com
January 26, 2026 at 5:31 PM
Recent review from HTAN. Linghua Wang with a timely review on spatial omic technologies Cancer Cell. www.cell.com/cancer-cell/...
A new perspective is out by Kai Tan and Lichun Ma from the Human Tumor Atlas Network discussing the emerging concept of the cellular neighborhood. www.nature.com/articles/s43...
Cellular neighborhoods in cancer - Nature Cancer
Tan and colleagues discuss recent advances in spatial omics and computational models that inform the classification and clinical relevance of cellular neighborhoods in cancer.
www.nature.com
January 26, 2026 at 5:27 PM
A new perspective is out by Kai Tan and Lichun Ma from the Human Tumor Atlas Network discussing the emerging concept of the cellular neighborhood. www.nature.com/articles/s43...
Keaton Wagler with the best college basketball game of the year and ESPN doesn’t even have a picture.
January 25, 2026 at 5:21 AM
Keaton Wagler with the best college basketball game of the year and ESPN doesn’t even have a picture.
Reposted by Hunter Shain
A new preprint from the lab, with postdoc @deboraycb.bsky.social and collaborators @aidaandres.bsky.social and Tim Connallon:
“Characterising the detectable and invisible fractions of genomic loci under balancing selection”
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
“Characterising the detectable and invisible fractions of genomic loci under balancing selection”
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
www.biorxiv.org
January 21, 2026 at 3:32 PM
A new preprint from the lab, with postdoc @deboraycb.bsky.social and collaborators @aidaandres.bsky.social and Tim Connallon:
“Characterising the detectable and invisible fractions of genomic loci under balancing selection”
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
“Characterising the detectable and invisible fractions of genomic loci under balancing selection”
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Thinking about the soft money problem in science. My institution will send 100 emails to faculty list serves guilt tripping someone to volunteer to teach before offering a dime of compensation.
January 14, 2026 at 5:07 PM
Thinking about the soft money problem in science. My institution will send 100 emails to faculty list serves guilt tripping someone to volunteer to teach before offering a dime of compensation.
Reading the Mike Lauer interview. A very informative take from an insider on the state of NIH. www.statecraft.pub/p/whats-wron...
What’s Wrong with NIH Grants?
“Science is fundamentally different than remodeling a kitchen”
www.statecraft.pub
January 14, 2026 at 3:47 PM
Reading the Mike Lauer interview. A very informative take from an insider on the state of NIH. www.statecraft.pub/p/whats-wron...
Reposted by Hunter Shain
Likewise, Congressman Cole from Oklahoma is the chair of the overall House Appropriations committee.
If you can, reach out to his office as well.
It is noteworthy that OMB is willing to veto a bill over a minor-seeming NIH operational issue.
This makes me think this is part of a bigger plan...
If you can, reach out to his office as well.
It is noteworthy that OMB is willing to veto a bill over a minor-seeming NIH operational issue.
This makes me think this is part of a bigger plan...
patrick star from spongebob squarepants with his hands folded
ALT: patrick star from spongebob squarepants with his hands folded
media.tenor.com
January 14, 2026 at 1:33 PM
Likewise, Congressman Cole from Oklahoma is the chair of the overall House Appropriations committee.
If you can, reach out to his office as well.
It is noteworthy that OMB is willing to veto a bill over a minor-seeming NIH operational issue.
This makes me think this is part of a bigger plan...
If you can, reach out to his office as well.
It is noteworthy that OMB is willing to veto a bill over a minor-seeming NIH operational issue.
This makes me think this is part of a bigger plan...
The Luka Doncic for Anthony Davis trade looked bad from the get-go for the Mavericks, and it is aging even worse.
January 13, 2026 at 7:57 PM
The Luka Doncic for Anthony Davis trade looked bad from the get-go for the Mavericks, and it is aging even worse.
I think I have reached the point in my career where I have reviewed more grants than I have had grants reviewed.
January 13, 2026 at 7:14 PM
I think I have reached the point in my career where I have reviewed more grants than I have had grants reviewed.
This is probably overkill, but when reviewing grants, I randomize the order in which I read them. I worry that order matters. E.g. for the first grant, you do not have an overall sense of the quality and possibly err on the side of an average score.
January 12, 2026 at 5:15 PM
This is probably overkill, but when reviewing grants, I randomize the order in which I read them. I worry that order matters. E.g. for the first grant, you do not have an overall sense of the quality and possibly err on the side of an average score.
We (U.S. citizens) literally pay the tariffs. I bought something from Etsy from an international seller. UPS guy came to my door holding the package and gave me two options. 1. Write a check to UPS for the tariff or 2. refuse delivery and send it back.
January 9, 2026 at 10:35 PM
We (U.S. citizens) literally pay the tariffs. I bought something from Etsy from an international seller. UPS guy came to my door holding the package and gave me two options. 1. Write a check to UPS for the tariff or 2. refuse delivery and send it back.
Reposted by Hunter Shain
Great to see research on tanning bed and cancer risk from @bishaltandukar.bsky.social @shainlab.bsky.social on today’s @ucsanfrancisco.bsky.social Town Hall www.ucsf.edu/news/2025/12... #UCSFCancerProud
January 8, 2026 at 8:42 PM
Great to see research on tanning bed and cancer risk from @bishaltandukar.bsky.social @shainlab.bsky.social on today’s @ucsanfrancisco.bsky.social Town Hall www.ucsf.edu/news/2025/12... #UCSFCancerProud
Reposted by Hunter Shain
I know for me sports talk was the only thing I missed about Twitter until I found this list.
If you're missing having NFL memes and analysis in your feed in-between the politics and whatever reason you made a Bluesky account in the first place, Mina has an A+ list of peeps to follow.
If you're missing having NFL memes and analysis in your feed in-between the politics and whatever reason you made a Bluesky account in the first place, Mina has an A+ list of peeps to follow.
Alright here is the NFL STARTER PACK
Subscribe and your timeline will immediately be full of football talk and takes
Share widely, on other platforms, etc etc
go.bsky.app/8RH6KbH
Subscribe and your timeline will immediately be full of football talk and takes
Share widely, on other platforms, etc etc
go.bsky.app/8RH6KbH
January 2, 2026 at 9:31 PM
I know for me sports talk was the only thing I missed about Twitter until I found this list.
If you're missing having NFL memes and analysis in your feed in-between the politics and whatever reason you made a Bluesky account in the first place, Mina has an A+ list of peeps to follow.
If you're missing having NFL memes and analysis in your feed in-between the politics and whatever reason you made a Bluesky account in the first place, Mina has an A+ list of peeps to follow.
Proud to share our new paper in Science Advances.
We show that indoor tanning beds cause widespread mutational damage across the skin to increase melanoma risk, especially in body sites that rarely see sunlight.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
#Melanoma #SkinCancer
We show that indoor tanning beds cause widespread mutational damage across the skin to increase melanoma risk, especially in body sites that rarely see sunlight.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
#Melanoma #SkinCancer
Molecular effects of indoor tanning
The skin cells of tanning bed users have distinct mutational features as compared to people who only experience natural sunlight.
www.science.org
December 13, 2025 at 6:45 PM
Proud to share our new paper in Science Advances.
We show that indoor tanning beds cause widespread mutational damage across the skin to increase melanoma risk, especially in body sites that rarely see sunlight.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
#Melanoma #SkinCancer
We show that indoor tanning beds cause widespread mutational damage across the skin to increase melanoma risk, especially in body sites that rarely see sunlight.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
#Melanoma #SkinCancer
Hitting 1800 elo in style with a smothered mate!
December 5, 2025 at 9:42 PM
Hitting 1800 elo in style with a smothered mate!
What drives the earliest steps of skin cancer development?
In keratinocyte cancers, the first selected mutations almost always hit TP53 and NOTCH genes—plus occasional hits in chromatin remodeling genes or the Hippo pathway.
In keratinocyte cancers, the first selected mutations almost always hit TP53 and NOTCH genes—plus occasional hits in chromatin remodeling genes or the Hippo pathway.
December 2, 2025 at 12:32 AM
What drives the earliest steps of skin cancer development?
In keratinocyte cancers, the first selected mutations almost always hit TP53 and NOTCH genes—plus occasional hits in chromatin remodeling genes or the Hippo pathway.
In keratinocyte cancers, the first selected mutations almost always hit TP53 and NOTCH genes—plus occasional hits in chromatin remodeling genes or the Hippo pathway.
I remain stunned by this finding -- melanocytes have 5x more mutations than keratinocytes, despite the fact that the cells are next to each other in the basal layer of the epidermis, [theoretically] experiencing the same doses of UV radiation.
November 29, 2025 at 5:22 PM
I remain stunned by this finding -- melanocytes have 5x more mutations than keratinocytes, despite the fact that the cells are next to each other in the basal layer of the epidermis, [theoretically] experiencing the same doses of UV radiation.
I am thrilled to share the latest manuscript from the Shain lab, describing the genetic changes that transform a keratinocyte into cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (and everything in between). www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Genetic evolution of keratinocytes to cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma
Nature Communications - The evolution of cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC) remains poorly understood. Here, the authors employ multi-omics and multi-scale analyses to explore the genetic...
www.nature.com
November 27, 2025 at 4:11 PM
I am thrilled to share the latest manuscript from the Shain lab, describing the genetic changes that transform a keratinocyte into cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (and everything in between). www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Too small!
November 15, 2025 at 3:57 AM
Too small!
Reposted by Hunter Shain
Today at 4pm: Cancer Center Friday Seminar | Ashley Kiemen, PhD, Johns Hopkins Inst for NanoBioTechnology "Integration of histology and multiplex imaging for targeted understanding of pancreatic cancer progression" cancer.ucsf.edu/seminars Host: @shainlab.bsky.social @ucsanfrancisco.bsky.social
November 14, 2025 at 8:49 PM
Today at 4pm: Cancer Center Friday Seminar | Ashley Kiemen, PhD, Johns Hopkins Inst for NanoBioTechnology "Integration of histology and multiplex imaging for targeted understanding of pancreatic cancer progression" cancer.ucsf.edu/seminars Host: @shainlab.bsky.social @ucsanfrancisco.bsky.social
Nancy Pelosi is retiring after decades of service. I still remember when I received my first R01, and she sent me a congratulatory letter!
November 6, 2025 at 3:49 PM
Nancy Pelosi is retiring after decades of service. I still remember when I received my first R01, and she sent me a congratulatory letter!
1/ Should you get feedback on your grant proposals?
Sure — but do it right. And take positive feedback with a grain of salt. 🧂
Sure — but do it right. And take positive feedback with a grain of salt. 🧂
October 24, 2025 at 8:07 PM
1/ Should you get feedback on your grant proposals?
Sure — but do it right. And take positive feedback with a grain of salt. 🧂
Sure — but do it right. And take positive feedback with a grain of salt. 🧂
What is your favorite gene expression deconvolution software?
October 21, 2025 at 7:36 PM
What is your favorite gene expression deconvolution software?