Killian Hurley
@killianhurley.bsky.social
610 followers 960 following 70 posts
Physician-scientist and pulmonary fibrosis doc developing new treatments for #IPF.🧪 🫁 European Research Council grant awardee. #CureIPF #iPSC #Telomeres #CleanAir #SciSky #MedSky Interested in #running, #sailing & #nature. LivingLungLab.com
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killianhurley.bsky.social
Fascinating work on the regulation of telomere length - molecular clocks we all have in our cells controlling aging and disease.

Emerging evidence of their role pulmonary fibrosis.

#CureIPF
#Telomeres

@elife.bsky.social
@rcsi.bsky.social
@kaminskimed.bsky.social
elife.bsky.social
Your chromosomes have protective ends called telomeres. As they shorten, your cells age. This study reveals how a protein, TRF2, directly regulates telomerase activity to keep telomeres in check.
Keeping telomeres at the right length
The key telomere protein TRF2 helps regulate telomere length by interacting with the telomerase gene TERT in a length-dependent manner.
buff.ly
killianhurley.bsky.social
Great work by Dr Aoife Carolan from our group at @rcsi.bsky.social
RCSI showing data from our familial pulmonary fibrosis clinic.

- 1 in 5 patients have a family memeber with lung fibrosis.

- 1 in 5 of these patients have a single suspected gene.

#CureIPF

@europeanrespsoc.bsky.social
killianhurley.bsky.social
I totally agree.
Summaries may be fine for some forms of science communications but scientists need the detail to make up their minds on the veracity of claims in papers.
profmarciniak.bsky.social
Reading papers is a basic skill (and dare I say duty?) of scientists, and I include medical doctors in that group. Keeping abreast of the literature is a foundational part of our professions. There aren’t good shortcuts. In any case, reading papers regularly is fun.
arstechnica.com/ai/2025/09/s...
Science journalists find ChatGPT is bad at summarizing scientific papers
LLM “tended to sacrifice accuracy for simplicity” when writing news briefs.
arstechnica.com
Reposted by Killian Hurley
Reposted by Killian Hurley
agawande.bsky.social
9 CDC Directors going back to 1977 speak out. What RFK Jr has done to our nation’s public health system "should alarm every American."

It "is unlike anything we have ever seen at the agency, and unlike anything our country has ever experienced." www.nytimes.com/2025/09/01/o...
Opinion | We Ran the C.D.C.: Kennedy Is Endangering Every American’s Health
www.nytimes.com
Reposted by Killian Hurley
kaminskimed.bsky.social
Really cool: "Sex-biased Gene Expression Underlies Immune Dysfunction in Asthma "
Kudos Drs Kay and Gomez and team!!!
#DemistifyAsthma
www.atsjournals.org/doi/10.1165/...
@ajrcmb.bsky.social @yalepccsm.bsky.social
killianhurley.bsky.social
Looks like telomere dysfunction is complex in mice and people
- needs more investigation and great science.
#Telomeres
#CureIPF
🧪
🧬
kaminskimed.bsky.social
According to dogma mammalian telomeres shorten with age.
This paper shows that mouse telomeres do not shorten with age. Should we revisit the paradigm?
Kudos Drs Smoom, Tzfati & team!!!
#ScienceMattets
academic.oup.com/nar/article/...
The house mouse maintains constant telomere length throughout life
Abstract. Telomeres protect the chromosome ends from deleterious DNA damage response and repair activities. In humans, telomerase maintains telomere length
academic.oup.com
killianhurley.bsky.social
Definitely needs some updating and new features to link with other platforms.

Journals need to make it easier to share straight from their websites and editors need to be active here to increase engagement from that side. Where is the ERS?

How about universities engaging more.

@rcsi.bsky.social
killianhurley.bsky.social
I agree.
We need more science 🧪 and medicine engagement on #BlueSky
More new papers and discussion.

Also very US focused - so lots still to do.

#MedSky
#SciSky
Reposted by Killian Hurley
kerrijohannson.bsky.social
🫁 Listen up LUNG people! 🫁

Get your colleagues over here to #medsky and start posting and engaging! These breathing problems aren’t gonna fix themselves - we need engagement, knowledge sharing, and discussion! 🤩
richferro.com
Here is a full list of all #Medsky accounts by specialty:

Ophtho: 231
Geri: 310
Derm: 330
Rheum: 393
Urology: 432
Anesthesia: 493
Ob/Gyn: 505
Heme: 505
IM: 588
Neph: 878
Palliative: 882
Rads: 918
ID: 969
FM/PC: 1,102
Cards: 1,177
Surgery: 2,340
Psych: 2,441
Onc: 2,815
Immuno: 2,988
Peds: 2,999
Reposted by Killian Hurley
killianhurley.bsky.social
I hope you enjoyed the Aran islands. With the fabulous weather I’m sure it was beautiful.
killianhurley.bsky.social
Hey Stefan. Speaking as a Galway native now in Dublin you are spoiled for choice.

Top 3:
For a special dinner - Kai (Irish and Kiwi) Dominick’s steet.

Ruibín in the docks - More casual downstairs and formal
upstairs.

Fabulous dinner or great lunch - Ard Bia:
www.ardbia.com?ved=2ahUKEwi...
ArdBia
www.ardbia.com
killianhurley.bsky.social
I completely agree - if the purpose of this work was to communicate changes in classification to the widest possible audience then it should be open access. Also, most funding bodes require us to make our work available for good reason
Reposted by Killian Hurley
ec.europa.eu
The air we breathe at work shouldn’t put our health at risk.

That’s why we propose new exposure limits for hazardous chemicals like cobalt, PAHs, 1,4-dioxane & welding fumes.

These measures could save €1.16B in healthcare costs & protect workers’ lives ↓

europa.eu/!mCQd69
A worker, in an industrial setting, wearing protective gear is using an angle grinder, generating bright sparks. In the foreground, there is text that reads "HEALTH AND SAFETY" and "Proposal for new chemical exposure limits," along with the European Commission logo.
Reposted by Killian Hurley
rcsi.bsky.social
We are delighted that RCSI is featured on the Sunday Times Ireland Best Places to Work 2025 list.

Organisations must have excellent scores across a six-step framework, including reward and recognition, well-being and job satisfaction.

🔗 www.thetimes.com/world/irelan... #BestPlacestoWork2025
A female RCSI researcher in a white lab coat and blue gloves instructs two younger students in a modern laboratory setting. They are examining a scientific sample together, with a microscope and laboratory equipment visible on the bench. All three women are focused and engaged. The RCSI crest is visible on the lead researcher's coat. A badge overlay in the bottom-right corner reads: "World #1 for Good Health and Well-being – Times Higher Education Impact Rankings 2025".
killianhurley.bsky.social
Delighted to give a talk at the Vermont Lung Stem Cell Conference last week.

Also got to visit with @kottond.bsky.social, Finn Hawkins, Joe Kaserman, and Kostas Alysandratos - all legends of the lung regeneration field at the CReM Boston University
@crem-boston.bsky.social

#CureIPF
Reposted by Killian Hurley
kerrijohannson.bsky.social
Incidence, Prevalence, and Mortality of Interstitial Lung Diseases in Alberta, Canada: A Population-based Study

www.atsjournals.org/doi/suppl/10...

🧵👇

📣 TL:DR Incidence stable, prevalence rising, improved survival for ILD & IPF over 10 years.
Numbers much higher than prior reports for ILD & IPF.
Screenshot of title of study and authorship