Rakyan Lab

there's so much bad in the world but there's also people who lift up and carry an elderly bat around every day so he can pretend he's flying again, and that's the part of the world I think is worth fighting for

Excited to share this preprint that describes my latest work on using GPUs to accelerate processing of RNA-seq data.

The title says it all: "RNA-seq analysis in seconds using GPUs" now on biorxiv www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... and github github.com/pachterlab/k...

Figure 1 shows they key result

Wow!

We're excited to announced that our 2nd Annual QMUL Centre for Epigenetics Conference is happening on June 18th, 2026 at Mile End!

To find out more and book your ticket, please follow this link: www.qmul.ac.uk/epigenetics/...

The deadline to book your tickets is Monday, June 8th 2026.

Systematic investigation of interindividual variation of DNA methylation in human whole blood - Genome Biology Background Interindividual genetic variability is well characterised, but we still lack a complete catalogue of loci displaying variable and stable epigenetic patterns. Results Here, we report a catal...

Excited to share our latest publication on interindividual variation of DNA methylation in human whole blood, spearheaded by the amazing Olivia Grant and co-led with @leo-schalkwyk.bsky.social and Meena Kumari.

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

A jumbo cyanophage encodes the most complete ribosomal protein set in the known virosphere www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

“Subsequent evolution is construed as a ribosomal takeover, whereby the ribosome evolved to consume most of the cell’s resources, while other cellular componentry ensured the propagation of the ribosome. Under this perspective, the
ribosome is the ultimate biological selfish element.” !! 💪🏽

Long in the making, but happy to present the Chlamydomonas chlororibosome!
Cryo-ET🔬reveals a large new domain on the small subunit, built from multiple extensions in conserved ribosomal proteins.
bioRxiv 📖: shorturl.at/q44tG
This suggests greater chlororibosome diversity than expected!
1/n 🧵

Bipartite network of ncORF-CDS co-translation in mice

🧬 A major data reanalysis in December's most-read Genetics paper uncovers thousands of previously hidden protein-coding regions in human and mouse genomes: buff.ly/Bxw7cKf

Undergraduate GPA does not predict success in PhD programs for cohorts of MS students at two minority-serving institutions - PubMed Master of Science (MS) research training programs funded by organizations such as the NIH, the NSF as well as private corporations represent the potential for significant interventions for student success, especially for marginalized or underrepresented and first-generation students, to bridge the g …

This is such a cool finding! Undergraduate GPA does not predict success in PhD programs for cohorts of MS students at two minority-serving institutions pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41628237/

Excited to share our new study:
rRNA expansion segments are not passive structural elements — they mediate hibernating ribosome interfaces and reshape translation under stress. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

We're excited to announced that our 2nd Annual QMUL Centre for Epigenetics Conference is happening on June 18th, 2026 at Mile End!

To find out more and book your ticket, please follow this link: www.qmul.ac.uk/epigenetics/...

The deadline to book your tickets is Monday, June 8th 2026.

Wish they had stuck with this. At QMUL, we get paid on the 24th of every month.

Year of the horse indeed! Cool finding.

🔥🔥🔥💥💥💥🌶️🌶️🌶️ Hottest new lab in town, led by the exceptional @calumgabbutt.bsky.social, is recruiting it's first #PhD student. If you love #maths and somatic #evolution it could be your dream come true! 🌶️🌶️🌶️💥💥💥🔥🔥🔥

And hot on the heels of the Schuman lab’s rRNA ES paper.

Interesting!

Very cool! rRNA Expansion Segments are so interesting! All eukaryotic ribosomes contain them, but what they are doing is still not entirely clear. It looks like they could have multiple roles.

A photo of an ice cream machine with a sign reading, "Anything is possible with ice cream." Beneath that is a hand lettered sign reading, "No ice cream".

2026 basically

Computational Postdoc in Ribosome Specialization at the Biotech Research and Innovation Centre We are looking for a highly motivated and dynamic computational postdoc for a 3-year position to join the Lund Group. Our research Our team aims to understand h

We are recruiting a computational scientist for a postdoc position to work on detecting RNA modifications using nanopore sequencing:
tinyurl.com/RiboComp
Deadline March 4th.

Please share and repost!

More on the group: www.bric.ku.dk/research-gro...

Forget about Nutella or lemon/sugar. Try crepes with mango slices and desiccated coconut! 😋

Completely agree about the Brevia format. I love papers that get to the point quickly. I call them ‘mic drop’ papers!

Looks great! Is this open to postdocs from overseas?

😂

Happy birthday to Charles Darwin,
patron saint of tired scientists, grumpy fieldworkers, and hating your own manuscript.

✅ The UK Government has today granted access to half a million UK Biobank participants' coded GP data for health research.

This change will dramatically increase the power of UK Biobank's dataset to advance the diagnosis, treatment and management of conditions handled by GPs.

The way UK govt funds science is in the midst of a major transition, with creation of a much more direct link between government priorities & UKRI research funding.

My attempt to set in context the biggest upheaval in UK science funding policy since the 1980s:
softmachines.org?p=3252

Interesting. Worth a read.

Time for a thread on our Christmas preprint “Origin and evolution of acrocentric chromosomes in human and great apes”. I had so much fun with this project and paper. It will be hard to summarize in a thread, but I’ll try www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... [1/21]

Looks like BBSRC pause will be for a few weeks after which applications will be accepted on a rolling basis. MRC pause apparently till early summer.