Danny Simpson

Cas13d-mediated isoform-specific RNA knockdown with a unified computational and experimental toolbox - Nature Communications The majority of human genes can produce multiple isoforms, but studying their functional relevance requires tools to target specific isoforms. Here, the authors develop a CRISPR-based exon-exon juncti...

Excited for this to be out officially! It was a great team effort and has a lot of useful tidbits for studying isoform function. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

This is a new one.

"To maintain the integrity of our journal, we would like to emphasise the importance of producing original and results-oriented articles with a maximum of 15% plagiarism, including references."

I don’t think anyone is prepared for what they just did w/ ICE.

This is not a simple budget increase. It is an explosion - making ICE bigger than the FBI, US Bureau of Prisons, DEA,& others combined.

It is setting up to make what’s happening now look like child’s play. And people are disappearing.

Farewell to friend & labmate Dr. @oahmed.bsky.social whom I hooded today! He's moving on to exciting new things in his postdoc at @nygenome.org with @nevillesanjana.bsky.social & @tuuliel.bsky.social. You are already much missed, Omar! 🫡 ❤️ 🎓

Our new contribution to the quest to find causal GWAS genes! Sam Ghatan from my lab at @nygenome.org led a systematic comparison of eQTLs and CRISPRi+scRNA-seq screens. TL;DR: they provide highly complementary insights, with ortogonal pros and cons. 🧵👇
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

this week 20 years ago, Nature published two seminal papers showing for the first time that BRCA-mutant cells were selectively sensitive to PARP inhibitors, paving the way for clinical trials and approval of PARP inhibitors for patients with BRCA-mutant ovarian and breast cancers, and beyond.

NIH freezes all research grants to Columbia University Amid negotiations with Trump, the university could risk losing nearly $700 million

Exclusive: Weeks after President Donald Trump’s administration ordered NIH to pull $250 million in biomedical research grants to Columbia University, the agency is freezing all remaining grant money owed to the university until further notice. scim.ag/4if5Rg1

How population stratification led to a decade of sensationally false genetic findings Stratification makes environments look like genes

I wrote about how population stratification in genetic analyses led to a decade of false findings and almost certainly continues to bias emerging results. But we are starting to have statistical tools to sniff it out. A 🧵:

Eric Green is out as head of National Human Genome Research Institute The longtime director of the National Human Genome Research Institute is stepping down, as the larger NIH braces for more changes.

Still processing what this means. www.statnews.com/2025/03/17/t...

I have confirmation from several sources now that all T32s, many F30s and F31s, and most or all Center awards (P30, P50) have been terminated at Columbia.

This is quite damaging to research and to individuals.

This is pure terrorism and cannot be legal. But litigation will take time...

Wow. "NIH" canceled my co-mentored (with Dave Sulzer) PhD student's F31 funding. His work is on understanding the genetics and neuroscience of language learning disorders. F31 provides no indirect $ to Columbia, just pays his salary. Not that it should matter, but he's an American citizen. W.T.F.

Science is an investment that pays enormous dividends. So if you’re business-minded, it’s an offer you can’t refuse!
Here's my full speech from the Stand Up For Science rally in DC today: www.youtube.com/watch?v=eemj...

#standupforscience NYC! I wish I was there today!

Precise RNA targeting with CRISPR–Cas13d - Nature Biotechnology Careful selection of Cas13 variants and delivery methods minimizes collateral RNA degradation.

Precise RNA targeting with CRISPR–Cas13d - @nevillesanjana.bsky.social go.nature.com/4gEn95x