Peter Sarkies

Introducing our new blood-stage malaria vaccine immunogen based on the essential invasion protein PfCyRPA. By understanding where on PfCyRPA the best antibodies bind, we used structure guided design to generate PfCyRPA-EM, which contains only the epitopes of the best antibodies.

eye opener dissolving some cliches about Adam Smith. What were his personal financial circumstances and did these influence his perspective on wealth?

The curious case of the disappearing piRNAs piRNAdise lost: piRNAs, a key component of the defense against transposable elements appeared very early in animal evolution. Remarkably however, they have been lost multiple times independently in d...

For the lowdown:

wires.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Most nematodes don't have piRNAs?!!

I had no idea that it was an ironic reference to China before this episode. It's funny how these things get a life of their own separate from their original context

This is really interesting. Tony Blair condemned Saddam Hussein's execution publicly. Was this genuine or was he perhaps happy with it behind the scenes? If he was genuinely opposed, what would he have preferred? UN trial might not have gone the way he would have wanted.

Sauron feeling miffed.

the current Greenland thing shows that fawning to Trump like Starmer has been doing is totally pointless as well as degrading.

Check out our latest study on the PfRIPR protein,
essential for the malaria parasite to get inside our blood cells. We show how antibodies block the function of PfRIPR by preventing its flexible hinges from bending, or by stopping it from compacting as part of its mechanism.

Epimutations: raw material for evolution? - The EMBO Journal Epigenetics is fundamental to cell differentiation as it enables cells with identical genomes to adopt distinct fates. Some epigenetic information can also be transmitted between generations, in a pro...

Epimutations: raw material for evolution?
Nabeel Ganem & @psarkies.bsky.social explore how epimutations mediating transgenerational epigenetic inheritance compare to DNA sequence mutations w.r.t. influence on drift and natural selection
link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Incredibly cool- a must read!

Jamie_AA = Jamie amino acid? So he's team protein inheritance! Prions are a thing, so maybe he's on to something?

don't miss this! will be very interesting

Huge thanks to @embojournal.org and @yehumoran.bsky.social for the opportunity and for expert editing as well as great feedback from colleagues including @tobiaswarnecke.bsky.social

Sit back, get out the popcorn and settle in to a long, but gripping, review on the Population Genetics aspects of epimutations, which I wrote with my colleage Nabeel Ganem for @embojournal.org. I probably enjoyed writing this more than most other articles I've done!

Epimutations: raw material for evolution? - The EMBO Journal Epigenetics is fundamental to cell differentiation as it enables cells with identical genomes to adopt distinct fates. Some epigenetic information can also be transmitted between generations, in a pro...

Need a bit of escapism? Not exactly Lord of the Rings, but in similar vein:
doi.org/10.1038/s443...

If we could turn back time De-extinction critiques focus on animal welfare, ecosystem disruption, threats to traditional conservation, and anxiety about human hubris. Respondents argue that humanity is obligated to reverse dama...

Worth a read.
In my opinion possibly the only thing worse than humans recklessly driving a species to extinction is for us to attempt to bring it back- likely to be a vanity project with huge potential for cruelty and harm.
www.cell.com/trends/genet...

definitely AI for translation. otherwise you just end up with generic, boring text that has no scope for the nuggets of purple prose (or even malapropisms!) that liven up a scientific paper.

yeh AI would just learn to do this really quickly.

Green party leader branded the strikes a breach of international law. The conservatives party said it was important to understand the full facts before rushing to judgment.

On BBC News today: striking that it’s the two old establishment parties - Labour and the Conservatives - refusing to condemn the US breaking international law and doing what it wants.

Feels like politics stuck in the past, while the public has clearly moved on.

To be fair, Starmer's probably afraid he will be kidnapped and put on trial in the US if he condemns Trump....

Starmer and Farage both drape themselves in flags but once again it's really clear where their loyalty really is.

It's Trump first. They will always be on the side of the super rich and powerful - no matter how heinous the crime.

This is not patriotism. It's subservience.

Whatever you might think of Maduro, the seizure and kidnapping of a head of state takes us to a very dark place. Vast, arbitrary, extra-legal power, which could be exercised almost anywhere, regardless of the character of the target government.

Great to contribute in a small way to this study on the evolution of piRNA biogenesis in nematodes from @reneketting.bsky.social lab. GTSF-1 is preserved in many nematodes despite absence of piRNAs- it has evolved an alternative function in RNAi through RdRP interaction.

looks lethal

RIP international law.

Wigan pie-eating champion polishes off pie in 64 seconds Tom O'Neil is crowned pie-eating champion after the annual contest in Wigan, Greater Manchester.

Nibbler or Trimmer?
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Very exciting to see this published- opens lots of real interesting possibilities about how memory works!