Ewan Birney
@ewanbirney.bsky.social
Executive Director EMBL. I have an insatiable love of biology. Consultant to ONT and Cantata (Dovetail)
Reposted by Ewan Birney
MISO: microfluidic protein isolation enables single-particle cryo-EM structure determination from a single cell colony.
Or from a single dish of HEK cell culture in the case of two membrane proteins.
Out in Nature Methods now! lnkd.in/gpyBSceg
Wonderful collaboration with the Efremov lab.
Or from a single dish of HEK cell culture in the case of two membrane proteins.
Out in Nature Methods now! lnkd.in/gpyBSceg
Wonderful collaboration with the Efremov lab.
November 14, 2025 at 6:38 PM
MISO: microfluidic protein isolation enables single-particle cryo-EM structure determination from a single cell colony.
Or from a single dish of HEK cell culture in the case of two membrane proteins.
Out in Nature Methods now! lnkd.in/gpyBSceg
Wonderful collaboration with the Efremov lab.
Or from a single dish of HEK cell culture in the case of two membrane proteins.
Out in Nature Methods now! lnkd.in/gpyBSceg
Wonderful collaboration with the Efremov lab.
Richard so deserves this - a legend in bioinformatics and computational biology - work genome, human genome, Pfam, 1,000 genomes, Sam/bam format, bwa, vcf, psmc… and so many more
Congratulations to Richard Durbin on being awarded our Genetics Society Medal!
November 14, 2025 at 1:37 PM
Richard so deserves this - a legend in bioinformatics and computational biology - work genome, human genome, Pfam, 1,000 genomes, Sam/bam format, bwa, vcf, psmc… and so many more
Reposted by Ewan Birney
Heute zum Antrittsbesuch bei Karl Lauterbach, dem Vorsitzenden des Bundestags-Forschungsausschusses. Ein wertschätzender Austausch in angenehmer Atmosphäre. Danke für das offene Gespräch und den freundlichen Empfang.
November 13, 2025 at 5:01 PM
Heute zum Antrittsbesuch bei Karl Lauterbach, dem Vorsitzenden des Bundestags-Forschungsausschusses. Ein wertschätzender Austausch in angenehmer Atmosphäre. Danke für das offene Gespräch und den freundlichen Empfang.
Reposted by Ewan Birney
Please yes. Lumberjack song from Monty python remake definitely a winner
Canada pushes to join Eurovision: ‘This is about protecting our identity’
Canada pushes to join Eurovision: ‘This is about protecting our identity’
Country explores taking part in the glitzy song contest as it distances from the US and seeks to deepen ties with Europe
When Canada released its federal budget this month, much of it was standard fare, from the plans to downsize the public service to the boost in defence spending.
But one line tucked in the nearly 500-page document has captured imaginations on both sides of the Atlantic: a mention that the government is working with Canada’s national broadcaster to explore participation in the Eurovision song contest. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
November 12, 2025 at 5:02 PM
Please yes. Lumberjack song from Monty python remake definitely a winner
Giving a talk to the Cambridge scientific society tonight - should perhaps have posted earlier - slightly thin audience …
November 11, 2025 at 6:51 PM
Giving a talk to the Cambridge scientific society tonight - should perhaps have posted earlier - slightly thin audience …
Ugh. Microsoft Teams identity management can get very Kafkaesque
November 11, 2025 at 4:06 PM
Ugh. Microsoft Teams identity management can get very Kafkaesque
Reposted by Ewan Birney
Today, on World #ScienceDay for Peace and Development, we are joining our EIROforum partners in celebrating how science contributes to society 🌎
Thanks to you, we are able to develop new technologies and make discoveries that help address some of today’s most pressing challenges.
Thanks to you, we are able to develop new technologies and make discoveries that help address some of today’s most pressing challenges.
🌎 On World Science Day for Peace and Development, senior leaders across EIROforum thank citizens for their trust and support.
Peer Bork from EMBL talks about how trust and support helps bring scientists in different disciplines together to make the world a better place for generations to come.
Peer Bork from EMBL talks about how trust and support helps bring scientists in different disciplines together to make the world a better place for generations to come.
November 10, 2025 at 12:21 PM
Today, on World #ScienceDay for Peace and Development, we are joining our EIROforum partners in celebrating how science contributes to society 🌎
Thanks to you, we are able to develop new technologies and make discoveries that help address some of today’s most pressing challenges.
Thanks to you, we are able to develop new technologies and make discoveries that help address some of today’s most pressing challenges.
Reposted by Ewan Birney
Just starting a “House of Guinness” binge, please tell me there is a Student’s T-test plot line?
November 8, 2025 at 6:45 PM
Just starting a “House of Guinness” binge, please tell me there is a Student’s T-test plot line?
Inspired by the AI conference hosted by the Danish Presidency of the EU I've written a probably too long piece about my own shift from a multi-variate/bayesian genomicist to an AI aligned genomicist / biologist.
www.linkedin.com/pulse/though...
www.linkedin.com/pulse/though...
Thoughts on AI, Take 2
Further thoughts about AI brought together for me by the AI Science Summit organized by the European Commission and the Danish Presidency of the Council of the EU 2025 - in lovely Copenhagen - this ti...
www.linkedin.com
November 7, 2025 at 5:40 PM
Inspired by the AI conference hosted by the Danish Presidency of the EU I've written a probably too long piece about my own shift from a multi-variate/bayesian genomicist to an AI aligned genomicist / biologist.
www.linkedin.com/pulse/though...
www.linkedin.com/pulse/though...
Reposted by Ewan Birney
Julie Ahringer from @gurdoninstitute.bsky.social @geneticscam.bsky.social @cam.ac.uk gives talk on decoding genome regulation during development. Exploring how chromatin accessibility changes throughout development enable single cells to become multicellular organisms.
November 7, 2025 at 1:48 PM
Julie Ahringer from @gurdoninstitute.bsky.social @geneticscam.bsky.social @cam.ac.uk gives talk on decoding genome regulation during development. Exploring how chromatin accessibility changes throughout development enable single cells to become multicellular organisms.
Reposted by Ewan Birney
Our CEO Prof Sir Rory Collins was speaking at an event at the Labour Party Conference with @zoegrunewald.bsky.social, Andrew McCracken, Nadeem Sarwar & @joshfg.bsky.social MP, a member of the Health and Social Care Committee.
🗞️ Read here: www.newstatesman.com/spotlight/he... by Phin Foster
🗞️ Read here: www.newstatesman.com/spotlight/he... by Phin Foster
Joining the dots through predictive prevention
Predictive prevention could transform healthcare – but only if data, trust and policy align
www.newstatesman.com
November 7, 2025 at 12:12 PM
Our CEO Prof Sir Rory Collins was speaking at an event at the Labour Party Conference with @zoegrunewald.bsky.social, Andrew McCracken, Nadeem Sarwar & @joshfg.bsky.social MP, a member of the Health and Social Care Committee.
🗞️ Read here: www.newstatesman.com/spotlight/he... by Phin Foster
🗞️ Read here: www.newstatesman.com/spotlight/he... by Phin Foster
Reposted by Ewan Birney
💬 “The data is already there, we just need to bring it together.”
The @newstatesman1913.bsky.social reports on the incredible potential of bringing hospital and primary care data together for preventative medicine - and how it could transform healthcare. 🔽
The @newstatesman1913.bsky.social reports on the incredible potential of bringing hospital and primary care data together for preventative medicine - and how it could transform healthcare. 🔽
November 7, 2025 at 12:12 PM
💬 “The data is already there, we just need to bring it together.”
The @newstatesman1913.bsky.social reports on the incredible potential of bringing hospital and primary care data together for preventative medicine - and how it could transform healthcare. 🔽
The @newstatesman1913.bsky.social reports on the incredible potential of bringing hospital and primary care data together for preventative medicine - and how it could transform healthcare. 🔽
Reposted by Ewan Birney
Excited to share our latest work on the factors that determine what genes we find (and don't find!) in GWAS and burden tests.
We describe a critical concept that we call *specificity*.
Led by Jeff Spence and Hakhamanesh Mostafavi:
We describe a critical concept that we call *specificity*.
Led by Jeff Spence and Hakhamanesh Mostafavi:
How do GWAS and rare variant burden tests rank gene signals?
In new work @nature.com with @hakha.bsky.social, @jkpritch.bsky.social, and our wonderful coauthors we find that the key factors are what we call Specificity, Length, and Luck!
🧬🧪🧵
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
In new work @nature.com with @hakha.bsky.social, @jkpritch.bsky.social, and our wonderful coauthors we find that the key factors are what we call Specificity, Length, and Luck!
🧬🧪🧵
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Specificity, length and luck drive gene rankings in association studies - Nature
Genetic association tests prioritize candidate genes based on different criteria.
www.nature.com
November 7, 2025 at 4:08 AM
Excited to share our latest work on the factors that determine what genes we find (and don't find!) in GWAS and burden tests.
We describe a critical concept that we call *specificity*.
Led by Jeff Spence and Hakhamanesh Mostafavi:
We describe a critical concept that we call *specificity*.
Led by Jeff Spence and Hakhamanesh Mostafavi:
Reposted by Ewan Birney
The rapid growth in Mendelian randomization studies. Gibran Hemani, Stefan Stender, Frank J. Wolters, Albert Hofman & George Davey Smith. European Journal of Epidemiology. link.springer.com/article/10.1...
The rapid growth in Mendelian randomization studies - European Journal of Epidemiology
European Journal of Epidemiology -
link.springer.com
November 6, 2025 at 2:20 PM
The rapid growth in Mendelian randomization studies. Gibran Hemani, Stefan Stender, Frank J. Wolters, Albert Hofman & George Davey Smith. European Journal of Epidemiology. link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Great work by Nicola De Maio and Nick Goldman - not just scaleable to "pandemic scale" trees but - if I have got this right - arguably more valid than traditional column based bootstrap in the context of very tight evolution.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the millions of viral genomes coming in overwhelmed traditional methods for data analysis.
Find out how SPRTA, a new tool, provides a fast, scalable way to measure confidence of phylogenetic trees, helping scientists track outbreaks.
www.ebi.ac.uk/about/news/t...
Find out how SPRTA, a new tool, provides a fast, scalable way to measure confidence of phylogenetic trees, helping scientists track outbreaks.
www.ebi.ac.uk/about/news/t...
SPRTA: a smarter way to measure evolution uncertainty
A new method from EMBL-EBI and collaborators offers fast, easy-to-interpret confidence scores for phylogenetic trees for pandemic preparedness.
www.ebi.ac.uk
November 5, 2025 at 10:33 PM
Great work by Nicola De Maio and Nick Goldman - not just scaleable to "pandemic scale" trees but - if I have got this right - arguably more valid than traditional column based bootstrap in the context of very tight evolution.
Reposted by Ewan Birney
New 🧬✂️ pre-print! We show that paired prime editing can efficiently generate large deletions — even >1 Mb — with high precision and at scale. We use this to perform the first pooled prime deletion screen across the human genome.
🔗 biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
A short thread (by Juliane Weller)👇
🔗 biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
A short thread (by Juliane Weller)👇
Generating long deletions across the genome with pooled paired prime editing screens
Engineered deletions are a powerful probe for studying genome architecture, function, and regulation. Yet, the lack of effective methods to create them in large numbers and at multi-kilobase scale has...
biorxiv.org
November 5, 2025 at 2:17 PM
New 🧬✂️ pre-print! We show that paired prime editing can efficiently generate large deletions — even >1 Mb — with high precision and at scale. We use this to perform the first pooled prime deletion screen across the human genome.
🔗 biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
A short thread (by Juliane Weller)👇
🔗 biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
A short thread (by Juliane Weller)👇
Good morning Heidelberg!
November 5, 2025 at 6:13 AM
Good morning Heidelberg!
Reposted by Ewan Birney
Brenner's copy of a New Yorker cartoon that was repeatedly moved around various noticeboards (note the pin holes)
November 4, 2025 at 6:02 PM
Brenner's copy of a New Yorker cartoon that was repeatedly moved around various noticeboards (note the pin holes)
Reposted by Ewan Birney
Have you registered for our annual Scientific Conference on 8th December?
Join @jeffbarrett.eu from @nightingalehealth.com and many more researchers, industry experts and the UK Biobank team for a day of innovation and discovery.
Join @jeffbarrett.eu from @nightingalehealth.com and many more researchers, industry experts and the UK Biobank team for a day of innovation and discovery.
November 4, 2025 at 12:06 PM
Have you registered for our annual Scientific Conference on 8th December?
Join @jeffbarrett.eu from @nightingalehealth.com and many more researchers, industry experts and the UK Biobank team for a day of innovation and discovery.
Join @jeffbarrett.eu from @nightingalehealth.com and many more researchers, industry experts and the UK Biobank team for a day of innovation and discovery.
Reposted by Ewan Birney
Academics in Assyria in the 7th c BC complain that admin is preventing them from doing research and teaching
November 3, 2025 at 10:04 AM
Academics in Assyria in the 7th c BC complain that admin is preventing them from doing research and teaching
Reposted by Ewan Birney
Oocyte-like mouse cells made from stem cells even without the guiding signals from ovarian cells. Another step towards in vitro gametes.
www.cell.com/developmenta...
www.cell.com/developmenta...
In vitro oogenesis breaks free of the ovary
In this issue of Developmental Cell, Nosaka et al. differentiate mouse pluripotent
stem cells to large germinal vesicle-stage oocyte-like cells in the absence of ovarian
somatic cells. Their paradigm ...
www.cell.com
November 3, 2025 at 7:54 PM
Oocyte-like mouse cells made from stem cells even without the guiding signals from ovarian cells. Another step towards in vitro gametes.
www.cell.com/developmenta...
www.cell.com/developmenta...
Reposted by Ewan Birney
Bonjour! Masters students in France 🇫🇷, we’ve got an internship for you, in collaboration with the French Embassy in London.
Aimed at students of computer science, statistics or bioinformatics.
Deadline: 7 December 2025
Find out more and apply:
www.ebi.ac.uk/about/jobs/i...
Aimed at students of computer science, statistics or bioinformatics.
Deadline: 7 December 2025
Find out more and apply:
www.ebi.ac.uk/about/jobs/i...
November 3, 2025 at 11:00 AM
Bonjour! Masters students in France 🇫🇷, we’ve got an internship for you, in collaboration with the French Embassy in London.
Aimed at students of computer science, statistics or bioinformatics.
Deadline: 7 December 2025
Find out more and apply:
www.ebi.ac.uk/about/jobs/i...
Aimed at students of computer science, statistics or bioinformatics.
Deadline: 7 December 2025
Find out more and apply:
www.ebi.ac.uk/about/jobs/i...
Reposted by Ewan Birney
Exciting day for the lab: our 1rst paper is officially out in @currentbiology.bsky.social 🥳 Wonderful collaboration wt @gautamdey.bsky.social showing how Cryo-ExM achieves consistent immunostaining in diverse diatoms, from the lab and the natural environment 1/n
#ProtistsOnSky
tinyurl.com/2zxaund7
#ProtistsOnSky
tinyurl.com/2zxaund7
October 31, 2025 at 3:27 PM
Exciting day for the lab: our 1rst paper is officially out in @currentbiology.bsky.social 🥳 Wonderful collaboration wt @gautamdey.bsky.social showing how Cryo-ExM achieves consistent immunostaining in diverse diatoms, from the lab and the natural environment 1/n
#ProtistsOnSky
tinyurl.com/2zxaund7
#ProtistsOnSky
tinyurl.com/2zxaund7
British electricity grid is on a real renewable (windy) roll this week and at the moment, during the day, we're exporting more electricity (to Norway, Ireland, Belgium and Denmark) than we're producing in fossil fuel generation. We often do this overnight - during the day is ... a bit more novel!
November 1, 2025 at 12:06 PM
British electricity grid is on a real renewable (windy) roll this week and at the moment, during the day, we're exporting more electricity (to Norway, Ireland, Belgium and Denmark) than we're producing in fossil fuel generation. We often do this overnight - during the day is ... a bit more novel!