Simon Cook
@drsimoncook.bsky.social
Researching Cell Signalling at the Babraham Institute @babrahaminst.bsky.social Walker; watching woodpeckers; tree hugger; listening to The Jam. European. Views my own. I could go on for hours and I probably will....
Reposted by Simon Cook
Frikkin amazing stuff.
November 26, 2025 at 8:29 AM
Frikkin amazing stuff.
Reposted by Simon Cook
Our new paper is out now in Nature Communications! We uncovered the function of XBP1 in beta cells of a preclinical model of T1D and identified unique and shared gene regulatory networks driven by IRE1 and XBP1.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Defining the role of β-cell IRE1α/XBP1 pathway and its gene regulatory network components in non-obese diabetic mice - Nature Communications
Modulating the unfolded protein response (UPR) can induce protective dedifferentiation of β-cells in non-obese diabetic mice. Here, the authors show that β-cell deletion of UPR transcription factor XB...
www.nature.com
November 26, 2025 at 3:15 PM
Reposted by Simon Cook
My entry for #WoodpeckerWednesday is this Pileated Woodpecker in my yard a few years ago in #Tacoma. #Birds #Nature #Photography
November 26, 2025 at 4:14 PM
My entry for #WoodpeckerWednesday is this Pileated Woodpecker in my yard a few years ago in #Tacoma. #Birds #Nature #Photography
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
If you can afford a £2M house you can afford £2,500 extra in tax
If you can afford a £2M house you can afford £2,500 extra in tax
Properties worth more than £2m in England face new tax
The surcharge begins at £2,500, rising to £7,500 for properties valued at more than £5m.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 26, 2025 at 10:03 PM
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
If you can afford a £2M house you can afford £2,500 extra in tax
If you can afford a £2M house you can afford £2,500 extra in tax
www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....
Congratulations to Dilem Shakir, Michael Batie, Chun-Sui Kwok, Niall Kenneth and @srochaliv.bsky.social on their their lovely study describing NF-κB’s central role in the hypoxia response - just out in EMBO Reports. A pleasure to collaborate with Team Rocha!!👏 🍾 👌
Congratulations to Dilem Shakir, Michael Batie, Chun-Sui Kwok, Niall Kenneth and @srochaliv.bsky.social on their their lovely study describing NF-κB’s central role in the hypoxia response - just out in EMBO Reports. A pleasure to collaborate with Team Rocha!!👏 🍾 👌
NF-κB is a central regulator of hypoxia-induced gene expression | EMBO reports
imageimageHypoxia induces a specific NF-κB-dependent gene signature across multiple cell systems.
NF-κB is required for over 60% of gene repression occurring in response to hypoxia,
controlling oxidat...
www.embopress.org
November 26, 2025 at 6:36 PM
www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....
Congratulations to Dilem Shakir, Michael Batie, Chun-Sui Kwok, Niall Kenneth and @srochaliv.bsky.social on their their lovely study describing NF-κB’s central role in the hypoxia response - just out in EMBO Reports. A pleasure to collaborate with Team Rocha!!👏 🍾 👌
Congratulations to Dilem Shakir, Michael Batie, Chun-Sui Kwok, Niall Kenneth and @srochaliv.bsky.social on their their lovely study describing NF-κB’s central role in the hypoxia response - just out in EMBO Reports. A pleasure to collaborate with Team Rocha!!👏 🍾 👌
Reposted by Simon Cook
WTAF?
Orwell is spinning in his grave. I think he wanted his works to be satire and warning, not prediction.
Orwell is spinning in his grave. I think he wanted his works to be satire and warning, not prediction.
I’m a past winner of the Orwell Prize & won partly because I exposed Vote Leave’s unlawful activities.
Michael Gove was its co-convener & refused to answer a single q. He’s now a judge of the prize & our world is truly one that Orwell would recognise
bylinetimes.com/2025/11/25/m...
Michael Gove was its co-convener & refused to answer a single q. He’s now a judge of the prize & our world is truly one that Orwell would recognise
bylinetimes.com/2025/11/25/m...
Michael Gove Made Orwell Prize Judge Despite Record of Attacking Journalists and Dodging Scrutiny
Critics say "Orwell would have enjoyed the irony" of the former Conservative minister's appointment
bylinetimes.com
November 25, 2025 at 6:07 PM
WTAF?
Orwell is spinning in his grave. I think he wanted his works to be satire and warning, not prediction.
Orwell is spinning in his grave. I think he wanted his works to be satire and warning, not prediction.
Reposted by Simon Cook
This week's (on time) selection of articles and #preprints on #proteostasis thanks to @biomednews.bsky.social -- biomed.news/bims-proteo/...
Highlight - @drsimoncook.bsky.social RAF inhibitors activate the integrated stress response by direct activation of GCN2 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Highlight - @drsimoncook.bsky.social RAF inhibitors activate the integrated stress response by direct activation of GCN2 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
bims-proteo 2025-11-23 papers
biomed.news
November 23, 2025 at 9:30 AM
This week's (on time) selection of articles and #preprints on #proteostasis thanks to @biomednews.bsky.social -- biomed.news/bims-proteo/...
Highlight - @drsimoncook.bsky.social RAF inhibitors activate the integrated stress response by direct activation of GCN2 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Highlight - @drsimoncook.bsky.social RAF inhibitors activate the integrated stress response by direct activation of GCN2 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Simon Cook
In a massive backlash against MAGA fascism, Democrats have now swept school board elections in Pennsylvania, Texas and Ohio and defeating all terrorist Moms For Liberty candidates in the process. Much more of this please, we have a democracy to rescue. 💙👊
November 23, 2025 at 4:38 AM
In a massive backlash against MAGA fascism, Democrats have now swept school board elections in Pennsylvania, Texas and Ohio and defeating all terrorist Moms For Liberty candidates in the process. Much more of this please, we have a democracy to rescue. 💙👊
Reposted by Simon Cook
If I’m understanding this correctly, X is owned by a white nationalist who pays poor people of color in developing countries to pretend to be working class white Americans to scare other white Americans into being afraid poor people of color from developing countries are going to ruin America?
November 23, 2025 at 7:30 PM
If I’m understanding this correctly, X is owned by a white nationalist who pays poor people of color in developing countries to pretend to be working class white Americans to scare other white Americans into being afraid poor people of color from developing countries are going to ruin America?
Reposted by Simon Cook
"We blew a hole in our roof a decade ago – and it’s long past time we fixed it." Indeed.
“Rachel Reeves is studiously ignoring the cause of Britain’s woes: the Brexit-shaped hole in its roof”, says Jonathan Freedland
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Rachel Reeves is studiously ignoring the cause of Britain’s woes: the Brexit-shaped hole in its roof | Jonathan Freedland
The autumn budget will mop up some damage, but the true source of the economic crisis is clear. The government should now fix it – tragically, it won’t, says Guardian columnist Jonathan Freedland
www.theguardian.com
November 22, 2025 at 2:18 PM
"We blew a hole in our roof a decade ago – and it’s long past time we fixed it." Indeed.
Reposted by Simon Cook
Aida Overton Walker (1880 -1914), US vaudeville performer, known as 'Queen of the Cake Walk', after a 1900s dance craze. The Cake Walk, originally performed by enslaved people, mocked slave owners & high society #womensart
November 22, 2025 at 6:30 AM
Aida Overton Walker (1880 -1914), US vaudeville performer, known as 'Queen of the Cake Walk', after a 1900s dance craze. The Cake Walk, originally performed by enslaved people, mocked slave owners & high society #womensart
Reposted by Simon Cook
Man arrested after five Red Kites found poisoned in Essex raptorpersecutionuk.org/2025/11/22/m...
Man arrested after five Red Kites found poisoned in Essex
Statement from Essex Police posted on social media, 21 November 2025: An Aveley man has been arrested after five red kites were found dead in a field in Orsett. Our Rural Engagement Team is investi…
raptorpersecutionuk.org
November 22, 2025 at 10:41 AM
Man arrested after five Red Kites found poisoned in Essex raptorpersecutionuk.org/2025/11/22/m...
Superb footage including raising his red crown near the end
Pity the poor Woodpecker...
The Green Woodpecker was here from very first light, (it woke me this am with a brief laugh) to last light of day, searching deep down for ants.
Here it is, about 10 ft away, outside the window.
It noticed me so I slowly backed away, so as not to disturb it.
#ukbirds 🦉
The Green Woodpecker was here from very first light, (it woke me this am with a brief laugh) to last light of day, searching deep down for ants.
Here it is, about 10 ft away, outside the window.
It noticed me so I slowly backed away, so as not to disturb it.
#ukbirds 🦉
November 22, 2025 at 5:44 PM
Superb footage including raising his red crown near the end
Very worrying developments for US science
we're going to be funding a whole lot of crappy ivermectin projects now, aren't we?
Lots going on but don’t lose track of the Trump attacks on biomedical research and cancer cures.
@jeremymberg.bsky.social posted a leaked #NIH memo today. I want to highlight a few scary parts.
They’re about taking power from scientists and experts and giving it to the president’s hacks. 1/ 🧪
@jeremymberg.bsky.social posted a leaked #NIH memo today. I want to highlight a few scary parts.
They’re about taking power from scientists and experts and giving it to the president’s hacks. 1/ 🧪
November 21, 2025 at 9:40 AM
Very worrying developments for US science
www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....
Congratulations to Suzan Ber and @aesposito1975.bsky.social on their lovely study of KRAS alleles on glutamine and nitrogen metablism and signalling - just out in EMBO Reports. Such a pleasure to collaborate on this fascinating project! 👏
Congratulations to Suzan Ber and @aesposito1975.bsky.social on their lovely study of KRAS alleles on glutamine and nitrogen metablism and signalling - just out in EMBO Reports. Such a pleasure to collaborate on this fascinating project! 👏
FOXO1 links KRAS G12D and G12V alleles to glutamine and nitrogen metabolism in colorectal cancer | EMBO reports
imageimageKRAS mutations at codon 12 induce profound metabolic changes in colorectal cancer
cells. These oncogenic mutations promote FOXO1-dependent glutamine and nitrogen recycling,
uncovering a vuln...
www.embopress.org
November 21, 2025 at 9:20 AM
www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....
Congratulations to Suzan Ber and @aesposito1975.bsky.social on their lovely study of KRAS alleles on glutamine and nitrogen metablism and signalling - just out in EMBO Reports. Such a pleasure to collaborate on this fascinating project! 👏
Congratulations to Suzan Ber and @aesposito1975.bsky.social on their lovely study of KRAS alleles on glutamine and nitrogen metablism and signalling - just out in EMBO Reports. Such a pleasure to collaborate on this fascinating project! 👏
Reposted by Simon Cook
Earlier today, I was notified that someone was at my door.
This is who it was:
This is who it was:
November 21, 2025 at 12:59 AM
Earlier today, I was notified that someone was at my door.
This is who it was:
This is who it was:
Reposted by Simon Cook
By characterizing abortion as health care, international orgs have pushed back against abortion exceptionalism. The World Health Organization recognizes that “[a]bortion is a simple health care intervention.” Numerous countries have adopted laws and policies to align with WHO recommendations.
Global Approaches to Abortion as Health Care - O'Neill
The O’Neill Institute believes that the law is a fundamental tool for solving critical health problems.
oneill.law.georgetown.edu
November 20, 2025 at 3:26 AM
By characterizing abortion as health care, international orgs have pushed back against abortion exceptionalism. The World Health Organization recognizes that “[a]bortion is a simple health care intervention.” Numerous countries have adopted laws and policies to align with WHO recommendations.
Reposted by Simon Cook
🧠 Fully funded 4-year PhD studentship 🧠 Please repost
BBSRC NWD project with @parikki.bsky.social and @iamabyron.bsky.social
Come join us to look at how mechanical and oxidative stress signalling pathways converge on the synaptic scaffold protein talin.
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
BBSRC NWD project with @parikki.bsky.social and @iamabyron.bsky.social
Come join us to look at how mechanical and oxidative stress signalling pathways converge on the synaptic scaffold protein talin.
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
(BBSRC NWD) A novel redox mechanosignalling nexus in the synapse that is misregulated in neurodegeneration at University of Liverpool on FindAPhD.com
PhD Project - (BBSRC NWD) A novel redox mechanosignalling nexus in the synapse that is misregulated in neurodegeneration at University of Liverpool, listed on FindAPhD.com
www.findaphd.com
November 11, 2025 at 10:29 AM
🧠 Fully funded 4-year PhD studentship 🧠 Please repost
BBSRC NWD project with @parikki.bsky.social and @iamabyron.bsky.social
Come join us to look at how mechanical and oxidative stress signalling pathways converge on the synaptic scaffold protein talin.
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
BBSRC NWD project with @parikki.bsky.social and @iamabyron.bsky.social
Come join us to look at how mechanical and oxidative stress signalling pathways converge on the synaptic scaffold protein talin.
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
Reposted by Simon Cook
Women are watching abusive dynamics play out on the national stage and for many it feels very, very familiar to what they’ve experienced regularly—
I hope midterms are a referendum
I hope midterms are a referendum
November 18, 2025 at 4:39 PM
Women are watching abusive dynamics play out on the national stage and for many it feels very, very familiar to what they’ve experienced regularly—
I hope midterms are a referendum
I hope midterms are a referendum
The person standing in for Nigel Farage who said this was Martin Daubney. Farage. Daubney. Not very British-sounding names are they? What are we to conclude from this? www.theguardian.com/media/2025/n...
Ofcom receives complaints over GB News item on defendants’ ‘foreign-sounding names’
Lib Dem MP says way figures were compiled on ‘non-British-sounding’ surnames in court was ‘frankly racist’
www.theguardian.com
November 18, 2025 at 12:28 PM
The person standing in for Nigel Farage who said this was Martin Daubney. Farage. Daubney. Not very British-sounding names are they? What are we to conclude from this? www.theguardian.com/media/2025/n...
Reposted by Simon Cook
🚨UK Ageing Research League Table update
@babrahaminst.bsky.social claims 1st 🥇
@unibirmingham.bsky.social in 2nd 🥈
@ox.ac.uk in 3rd 🥉
@ucl.ac.uk & (bluesky shy?) Univeristy of Westmisnter narroly miss the podium & are tied for 4th.
How did your institution rank?
bsra.org.uk/uk-ageing-re...
@babrahaminst.bsky.social claims 1st 🥇
@unibirmingham.bsky.social in 2nd 🥈
@ox.ac.uk in 3rd 🥉
@ucl.ac.uk & (bluesky shy?) Univeristy of Westmisnter narroly miss the podium & are tied for 4th.
How did your institution rank?
bsra.org.uk/uk-ageing-re...
UK Ageing Research League Table update Sept 2025 - BSRA
bsra.org.uk
November 17, 2025 at 10:40 AM
🚨UK Ageing Research League Table update
@babrahaminst.bsky.social claims 1st 🥇
@unibirmingham.bsky.social in 2nd 🥈
@ox.ac.uk in 3rd 🥉
@ucl.ac.uk & (bluesky shy?) Univeristy of Westmisnter narroly miss the podium & are tied for 4th.
How did your institution rank?
bsra.org.uk/uk-ageing-re...
@babrahaminst.bsky.social claims 1st 🥇
@unibirmingham.bsky.social in 2nd 🥈
@ox.ac.uk in 3rd 🥉
@ucl.ac.uk & (bluesky shy?) Univeristy of Westmisnter narroly miss the podium & are tied for 4th.
How did your institution rank?
bsra.org.uk/uk-ageing-re...
Reposted by Simon Cook
Post 1
As noted yesterday: the in-vitro assay in the 2016 @cp-cell.bsky.social Cell paper from @brangwynnelab.bsky.social (dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2016.04.047) led to wrong conclusions about NPM1 LLPS in nucleolar assembly.
(see image)
As noted yesterday: the in-vitro assay in the 2016 @cp-cell.bsky.social Cell paper from @brangwynnelab.bsky.social (dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2016.04.047) led to wrong conclusions about NPM1 LLPS in nucleolar assembly.
(see image)
November 18, 2025 at 7:22 AM
Post 1
As noted yesterday: the in-vitro assay in the 2016 @cp-cell.bsky.social Cell paper from @brangwynnelab.bsky.social (dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2016.04.047) led to wrong conclusions about NPM1 LLPS in nucleolar assembly.
(see image)
As noted yesterday: the in-vitro assay in the 2016 @cp-cell.bsky.social Cell paper from @brangwynnelab.bsky.social (dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2016.04.047) led to wrong conclusions about NPM1 LLPS in nucleolar assembly.
(see image)
Reposted by Simon Cook
New independent report reveals locations of poisoned raptors in northern England, 2015-2023 - information that has been suppressed by government raptorpersecutionuk.org/2025/11/17/n...
New independent report reveals locations of poisoned raptors in northern England, 2015-2023 – information that has been suppressed by government
Press release from independent group, Wildlife Poisoning Research UK, 15th November 2025. WHERE THE POISONED BODIES WERE FOUND! Many people probably imagine that the use of poisons to kill protecte…
raptorpersecutionuk.org
November 17, 2025 at 6:10 PM
New independent report reveals locations of poisoned raptors in northern England, 2015-2023 - information that has been suppressed by government raptorpersecutionuk.org/2025/11/17/n...
Reposted by Simon Cook
Bloody left wing bias etc etc etc
November 17, 2025 at 11:26 AM
Bloody left wing bias etc etc etc
I’m really pleased to share the link to a new Cook Lab paper published today in Nature Communications.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
RAF inhibitors activate the integrated stress response by direct activation of GCN2 - Nature Communications
Three BRAF inhibitors are used to treat melanoma and colorectal cancer. Here, the authors demonstrate that these drugs bind and activate the protein kinase GCN2, a previously unappreciated off-target ...
www.nature.com
November 17, 2025 at 12:12 PM
I’m really pleased to share the link to a new Cook Lab paper published today in Nature Communications.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...