Benjamin Schuster-Böckler
@dagams.bsky.social
390 followers 410 following 130 posts
Group leader at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research in Oxford. Computational genomics and bioinformatics. Also find me on genomic.social, a free and non-profit Mastodon instance for genomics (@[email protected])
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Reposted by Benjamin Schuster-Böckler
dagams.bsky.social
I have a special memory of my one encounter with John Gurdon: In 2014, I attended a conference in Oxford where he gave a keynote. At lunch, the last free seat was next to him. We ended up having the most amazing 1h conversation about science and life in general. Very sad to hear of his passing.
cam.ac.uk
It is with great sadness that the University shares the news of the death of Professor Sir John Gurdon, founder of the @gurdoninstitute.bsky.social

Read our tribute to the visionary Nobel Laureate and watch an interview from 2012, just after he won: https://bit.ly/4mM8o3r
dagams.bsky.social
Interesting preprint, but - respectfully - I think several conclusions drawn from the data are exaggerated. E.g. this figure. The fit of this curve is terrible. A ⍴ of 0.023 isn't impressive. Not sure I'd agree this proves that DREAM levels predict lifespan across species.
dagams.bsky.social
The answer - as usual - is: it's complicated. We do accumulate more mutations as we age, but whether that's the reason for all the ailments we experience in older age is much less clear. Correlation is not necessarily proof of causation...
Reposted by Benjamin Schuster-Böckler
tobiaswarnecke.bsky.social
Become my colleague @oxfordbiochemistry.bsky.social !
2 Associate Professorships in the areas of
- prokaryotic/eukaryotic microbiology
- metabolism

my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru...
Job Details
my.corehr.com
dagams.bsky.social
This, 100%. The UK gov is self-destructing and handing the country to the fascists by trying to out-compete Reform on immigrant-bashing. I'm revolted, and deeply concerned, about this race to the bottom.
chrischirp.bsky.social
My family came here 50 years ago. They've worked, paid taxes, raised families, been good citizens.

My many colleagues and friends who were either born elsewhere, or their parents were, the same.

It's so offensive to be told you're here on sufferance.
chrischirp.bsky.social
Just fuck off with this. How about start the conversation by highlighting how much immigrants contribute to the UK - not least by propping up the NHS and social care system!

Also - forced volunteering is not volunteering, it's unpaid labour.
Reposted by Benjamin Schuster-Böckler
luijsterburglab.bsky.social
A must for all DNA repair aficionados!

Egmond DNA Repair Meeting → April 19–24, 2026 🇳🇱
✔️ Confirmed top speakers
✔️ Ample opportunities for talks & posters

Don’t miss it: dnarepairmeeting-egmond2026.com
Reposted by Benjamin Schuster-Böckler
jayrayner1.bsky.social
All journalists should bend the knee to the work of the obituarist, the one discipline which enables the practitioner to get a byline from beyond the grave. Ronald Bergen predeceased his subject Robert Redford by 5 years, but left behind a truly masterful obit.

www.theguardian.com/film/2025/se...
Robert Redford obituary
One of Hollywood’s greats who starred in All the President’s Men, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and The Sting
www.theguardian.com
Reposted by Benjamin Schuster-Böckler
alexisbarr.bsky.social
@mariasecrier.bsky.social & I are looking for an enthusiastic & excellent data scientist for a 4-year postdoc to understand cell cycle dysregulation in cancer.

Deadline 15th October. Get in touch if you have any questions.

Please repost!

More details:
www.imperial.ac.uk/jobs/search-...
Description
Please note that job descriptions are not exhaustive, and you may be asked to take on additional duties that align with the key responsibilities ment...
www.imperial.ac.uk
Reposted by Benjamin Schuster-Böckler
steeplechasing.bsky.social
Angela Rayner (MP) deprived taxpayers of £40 grand. She lost her job. Michelle Mone (Baroness) deprived tax payers of £136m, according to the government. She's enjoying life on the yacht you paid for.
dagams.bsky.social
My point is: the public will bail out Thames Water, one way or another. But I'd rather it be by nationalising the company, partially defaulting the debt and then investing tax money, than by paying the finance leeches before anyone else...
dagams.bsky.social
One way or another the private equity backers will demand that their loans are paid back before anything is invested in infrastructure. It's a game of chicken, and I think the government blinked first
dagams.bsky.social
I read it as: we do not dare to re-nationalise water because it will add to the state deficit and we will have to raise taxes by X to pay for it, so instead let's allow private companies to charge 5X more in water bills, as long as we can say that we "didn't raise taxes".
dagams.bsky.social
This infuriates me: Thames Water should be nationalised at a value that factors in the costs to turn it back into a functioning _public service_. The creditors should f* off and learn that ransoming a public good like water comes with a risk. Grow a spine, Labour!
Reeves says Thames Water should find ‘market-based solution’
Chancellor aims to reassure creditors but says ministers are planning for all options including special administration
www.theguardian.com
Reposted by Benjamin Schuster-Böckler
Reposted by Benjamin Schuster-Böckler
albertvilella.bsky.social
Short-read technology Ultima Genomics (not on Bluesky) published the technical details of their ppmSeq double-strand sequencing method for highly accurate short-read sequencing.
dagams.bsky.social
Special thanks and congratulations go to Zohar Etzioni and Lin Chen from my group, and Jeanne Inchauspe, a shared student between Beth, Jim Hughes and myself.
dagams.bsky.social
New paper out today in @science.org! Very proud that my team was able to contribute to this fantastic work from @bethpsaila.bsky.social's group. In short: platelets contain a fair amount of cfDNA taken up from the surrounding! Read the summary by lead author @l-cmurphy.bsky.social:
l-cmurphy.bsky.social
🚨 New paper alert! 🚨 I’m thrilled and proud to share that our latest work has just been published in @science.org! 🎉 🧽

📖 Read our paper here: doi.org/10.1126/sci...

🎬 Watch a summary: youtu.be/MttCA3GGWEM

🧵 Or keep reading for the key points! 🔑 1/19
Reposted by Benjamin Schuster-Böckler
daphnejacksontr.bsky.social
❗Applications are now open for up to two Medical Research Scotland funded Daphne Jackson Fellowships.

🕛Deadline: 12 noon, Monday 29th September 2025.

🔗 Apply now: daphnejackson.org/fellowship/m...

#ReturnToResearch #MedicalResearchScotland #DaphneJacksonTrust #FellowshipOpportunity
dagams.bsky.social
Agreed, paired end 150 would be very useful. We also work with Ultima genomics data which is ~200bp-300bp single ended. The new Roche sequencer will be in the same range, so maybe 150 and 300 as additional new options?
Reposted by Benjamin Schuster-Böckler
yeastyin.bsky.social
R35 suspended. One senior postdoc, one senior graduate student, one postdoc who started this week, one rotation student doing well and planning on taking on in our lab. Fingers crossed things get resolved soon and so thankful for all the great people I have that I didn’t have to make my lab big…
Reposted by Benjamin Schuster-Böckler
erikamcentarfer.bsky.social
It has been the honor of my life to serve as Commissioner of BLS alongside the many dedicated civil servants tasked with measuring a vast and dynamic economy. It is vital and important work and I thank them for their service to this nation.
Reposted by Benjamin Schuster-Böckler
thanhneville.medsky.social
The massive list of suspended UCLA grants came out today: 300 NSF and 500 NIH grants. I am miraculously not on the list, but this is devastating. Science will be lost, progress will be frozen, people will lose jobs, and careers in science and medicine are being destroyed. This is not ok.
Reposted by Benjamin Schuster-Böckler
jlarsch.bsky.social
Become our colleague! Tenure-track Assistant Professor position at The Center for Integrative Genomics, University of Lausanne, Switzerland. unil.ch/cig/en/home....
More details for how to apply are here:
www.nature.com/naturecareer...
CIG- UNIL