@brancolab.bsky.social
Transposons and epigenetics. https://brancolaboratory.com/
😩
21.11.2025 13:58 — 👍 5 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
Out today, our take on 6-methyladenine #6mA evolution in Eukaryotes @natgenet.nature.com. We asked a simple question, is really DNA 6mA common across the eukaryotes? The answer is "yes" if you're a unicellular eukaryote 🦠, not so if you're multicellular 🐝🌱🍄. www.nature.com/articles/s41... 1/9
18.11.2025 12:00 — 👍 159 🔁 84 💬 7 📌 6
A table showing profit margins of major publishers. A snippet of text related to this table is below. 1. The four-fold drain 1.1 Money Currently, academic publishing is dominated by profit-oriented, multinational companies for whom scientific knowledge is a commodity to be sold back to the academic community who created it. The dominant four are Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley and Taylor & Francis, which collectively generated over US$7.1 billion in revenue from journal publishing in 2024 alone, and over US$12 billion in profits between 2019 and 2024 (Table 1A). Their profit margins have always been over 30% in the last five years, and for the largest publisher (Elsevier) always over 37%. Against many comparators, across many sectors, scientific publishing is one of the most consistently profitable industries (Table S1). These financial arrangements make a substantial difference to science budgets. In 2024, 46% of Elsevier revenues and 53% of Taylor & Francis revenues were generated in North America, meaning that North American researchers were charged over US$2.27 billion by just two for-profit publishers. The Canadian research councils and the US National Science Foundation were allocated US$9.3 billion in that year.
A figure detailing the drain on researcher time. 1. The four-fold drain 1.2 Time The number of papers published each year is growing faster than the scientific workforce, with the number of papers per researcher almost doubling between 1996 and 2022 (Figure 1A). This reflects the fact that publishers’ commercial desire to publish (sell) more material has aligned well with the competitive prestige culture in which publications help secure jobs, grants, promotions, and awards. To the extent that this growth is driven by a pressure for profit, rather than scholarly imperatives, it distorts the way researchers spend their time. The publishing system depends on unpaid reviewer labour, estimated to be over 130 million unpaid hours annually in 2020 alone (9). Researchers have complained about the demands of peer-review for decades, but the scale of the problem is now worse, with editors reporting widespread difficulties recruiting reviewers. The growth in publications involves not only the authors’ time, but that of academic editors and reviewers who are dealing with so many review demands. Even more seriously, the imperative to produce ever more articles reshapes the nature of scientific inquiry. Evidence across multiple fields shows that more papers result in ‘ossification’, not new ideas (10). It may seem paradoxical that more papers can slow progress until one considers how it affects researchers’ time. While rewards remain tied to volume, prestige, and impact of publications, researchers will be nudged away from riskier, local, interdisciplinary, and long-term work. The result is a treadmill of constant activity with limited progress whereas core scholarly practices – such as reading, reflecting and engaging with others’ contributions – is de-prioritized. What looks like productivity often masks intellectual exhaustion built on a demoralizing, narrowing scientific vision.
A table of profit margins across industries. The section of text related to this table is below: 1. The four-fold drain 1.1 Money Currently, academic publishing is dominated by profit-oriented, multinational companies for whom scientific knowledge is a commodity to be sold back to the academic community who created it. The dominant four are Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley and Taylor & Francis, which collectively generated over US$7.1 billion in revenue from journal publishing in 2024 alone, and over US$12 billion in profits between 2019 and 2024 (Table 1A). Their profit margins have always been over 30% in the last five years, and for the largest publisher (Elsevier) always over 37%. Against many comparators, across many sectors, scientific publishing is one of the most consistently profitable industries (Table S1). These financial arrangements make a substantial difference to science budgets. In 2024, 46% of Elsevier revenues and 53% of Taylor & Francis revenues were generated in North America, meaning that North American researchers were charged over US$2.27 billion by just two for-profit publishers. The Canadian research councils and the US National Science Foundation were allocated US$9.3 billion in that year.
The costs of inaction are plain: wasted public funds, lost researcher time, compromised scientific integrity and eroded public trust. Today, the system rewards commercial publishers first, and science second. Without bold action from the funders we risk continuing to pour resources into a system that prioritizes profit over the advancement of scientific knowledge.
We wrote the Strain on scientific publishing to highlight the problems of time & trust. With a fantastic group of co-authors, we present The Drain of Scientific Publishing:
a 🧵 1/n
Drain: arxiv.org/abs/2511.04820
Strain: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...
Oligopoly: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...
bunch of executives on the deck of a ship with only one guy rowing and a quote "I don't understand, after so many budget cuts why dont we move faster?"
ooof this feels like most every university rn
12.11.2025 03:28 — 👍 412 🔁 156 💬 1 📌 0📣 Meet the new ERC Synergy Grant awardees!
Sixty-six research teams have been selected for funding, bringing together 239 scientists. Congratulations to all!
➡️ buff.ly/PSn3bi9
#EUfunded #HorizonEurope #ERCSyG
Brilliant! Congratulations!
07.11.2025 12:23 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0And I'm missing it.... 😭
05.11.2025 09:49 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
How do pluripotent stem cells resist harmful interferon responses to safeguard development? Through total epigenetic lockdown of ligands, sensors and effectors of IFN-I. In our preprint, James Holt shares his PhD discoveries on the ground state of immune evasion 😊: www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...
29.10.2025 18:03 — 👍 27 🔁 14 💬 0 📌 1Spread the word! There is a professor position opening at our University @upcite.bsky.social. There are several possible (great) labs to join, but if you are interested in DNA methylation and epigenetics in mammals, don't hesitate to contact me directly!
28.10.2025 13:51 — 👍 36 🔁 52 💬 1 📌 0
📣 New preprint from the Jakobsson lab!
We describe a detailed protocol to inhibit the expression of transposable elements in human pluripotent stem cells, developed thanks to @asapresearch.parkinsonsroadmap.org funding.
Special shoutout to @anitaada.bsky.social!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
For those interested in GRN evolution, please join us!
28.10.2025 00:31 — 👍 9 🔁 7 💬 1 📌 0
🚨Hiring a 2yr postdoc in the lab work on muscle biology, genomics & ALS. Expertise in the above advantageous, but work ethic, desire to learn/develop and being a good scientist/person more important
Good collab with @droch.bsky.social so travel to CPH involved as well
www.kcl.ac.uk/jobs/126245-...
😍😍 🇵🇹!!
23.10.2025 09:20 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
Looking to pursue cutting-edge research in early development, maternal-fetal interaction, or placental biology? See 👇
- Funded PhD www.trophoblast.cam.ac.uk/phd-students...
- Next Generation Fellowship www.trophoblast.cam.ac.uk/next-generat...
- MPhil www.mphil.bio.cam.ac.uk/mphil-pathwa...
Come join us in Geneva for everything epigenetics and gene regulation. It will be a great meeting! Please repost!
www.keystonesymposia.org/conferences/...
We are recuiting two new Associate Professors here in Oxford Biochemistry. Come join us! Reach out to me if you have any questions. Please repost! tinyurl.com/mr3m7bd3
17.10.2025 14:56 — 👍 77 🔁 98 💬 0 📌 1
A TE insertion controls throat colour in wheatears. The gene involved (ASIP) is the same one that is epigenetically affected by an IAP insertion the famous Avy mice.
As if we needed more reasons to love TEs.
An SVA insertion explains 0.5% cases of Lynch syndrome, apparently.
15.10.2025 11:10 — 👍 2 🔁 1 💬 1 📌 0Fully-funded 4-year PhD studentships for home or overseas students, applications open till 4 November. 🔗 Please like and share to spread the word! www.trophoblast.cam.ac.uk/phd-students...
Take a look at projects for 2025/26 www.trophoblast.cam.ac.uk/opportunitie...
#PhD, #PhDPosition
We're now recruiting early career group leaders at the Crick to lead ambitious research programmes and explore bold scientific questions.
Hear our Director, Edith Heard, explain why the Crick is a unique place for curiosity-driven research.
Apply now ➡️ www.crick.ac.uk/careers-stud...
HI EARTH?....
09.10.2025 11:41 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
