Daniel Brewer

ONE DAY TO GO. An exciting opportunity has arisen for a senior bioinformatician to join the Cancer Genetics team on the project “Identifying patients with aggressive prostate cancer by detecting molecular subtypes in urine”. 🧬🖥️ . 3 years starting in Feb 2026. Please apply.

bit.ly/3Wt3Lk8

Cartoon: simple black and white line drawing. A couple in a living room. The man is sitting in an armchair reading a newspaper, head turned slightly towards his wife who is standing at the window, tugging at the curtain and saying "I see the Renegade Master's back once again with the ill behaviour".

My most popular cartoon by a long chalk is also oddly niche, in that it mostly appeals to a generation who remember the song it refers to and enjoy the nostalgia for their youth. I can draw one for you if you like.

www.worldofmoose.com/collections/...

If university tuition fees had risen with inflation since 2012, the annual fee would be significantly higher than the current £9,250, likely approaching £12,500. So that's a real-term drop in income of about a quarter.

English universities can raise tuition fees if they meet ‘tough’ standards, says Phillipson Measure, which will allow increase in line with inflation, is part of white paper on post-16 education and skills

Although I would love an alternative system, I don't like how this is being portrayed in the media as an increase in income for universities, rather than just keeping still in real terms. It will require more than this to sort out the dire state of the sector.

www.theguardian.com/education/20...

Come and join the Cancer Genetics team in the lovely Norwich. We have a three year position for a senior bioinformatician starting in Feb 2026. Click the link for further details.

bit.ly/3Wt3Lk8

🧬 🖥️

@prostateukprofs.bsky.social @ueamedical.bsky.social @uniofeastanglia.bsky.social #postdoc

Research Associate (RA2352) in University of East Anglia | UEA View details and apply for this Research Associate (RA2352) vacancy in University of East Anglia. Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences Norwich Medical School Department of Metabolic Health…

A one year opportunity has arisen for a lab-based molecular scientist to join the Cancer Genetics team on the Prostate Cancer UK funded project “Identifying patients with aggressive prostate cancer by detecting molecular subtypes in urine”. Starting Feb 2026. Please contact me.

bit.ly/4o9a6xD

New studentship available in the cancer genetics team at UEA, UK. This PhD is about investigating whether the presence of bacteria is directly causing prostate cancer development.Feb 2025. Stipend and fees available to those that are eligible.
@ueamedical.bsky.social

www.uea.ac.uk/course/phd-d...

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a senior bioinformatician to join the Cancer Genetics team on the Prostate Cancer UK funded project “Identifying patients with aggressive prostate cancer by detecting molecular subtypes in urine”. 3 years starting in Feb 2026.

🧬🖥️

bit.ly/3Wt3Lk8

Jade Manning University of East Anglia

As blog about Jade Manning's recent 12-week placement in the Government Office for Science. She is a second-year Microbes, Microbiomes and Bioinformatics PhD student based in our team.

www.uea.ac.uk/stories/jade...

Massive congratulations to senior author Vanessa Hayes, first author Kazzem Gheybi, and everyone else involved. Well done.

Pathogenic variants reveal candidate genes for prostate cancer germline testing for men of African ancestry - Nature Communications African ancestry is a known risk factor for prostate cancer development, but the genetic determinants of this are incompletely understood. Here, the authors identify 172 potentially pathogenic variants which are enriched in an African population.

A HEROIC Prostate Cancer Precision Health (PCaPH) Africa1K and Pan Prostate Cancer Group (PPCG) collaborative paper where through whole genome interrogation we reveal African specific candidate genes for prostate cancer germline testing, has gone live in @natcomms.nature.com.
doi.org/10.1038/s414...

Great result from England Women's rugby team. Made me remember how much I actual enjoy watching rugby union.

Our researchers have shown that colorectal cancer is unique in having its own microbial ‘fingerprint’.

Read more 👉 www.uea.ac.uk/about/news/a...

#ColorectalCancer #CancerResearch #FightCancer

The first multi-university group arrives The University of Greenwich and the University of Kent are moving together into a single governance structure. Mark Leach and David Kernohan report on the sector's first "super university"

More insights here: wonkhe.com/blogs/the-fi...

Kent and Greenwich universities to merge in attempt to improve financial viability The institutions want to rebrand as London and South East University group from autumn 2026

The first of many I expect.

www.theguardian.com/education/20...

UEA press release: www.uea.ac.uk/about/news/a...

Thank you to all the study funders, participants and co-authors.

This work is focussed around the @genomicsengland.bsky.social 100,000 genome dataset.

A great summary from Abraham can be found here: bsky.app/profile/abra...

An interesting article in Science on the controversy this helps address can be found here: www.science.org/content/arti...

The landscape of microbial associations in human cancer Differences between cancer types, infectious disease, and potential prognostic markers are uncovered by studying microbes within cancer DNA.

A new paper is out from our research team at the @ueamedical.bsky.social at @uniofeastanglia.bsky.social titled "The landscape of microbial associations in human cancer" available from doi.org/10.1126/scit....

Led by @abrahamgihawi.bsky.social

🧬🖥️ @cancerinnorwich.bsky.social

Many thanks to @danbrewer.bsky.social for your support and guidance through the years and to the other co-authors, funders, @genomicsengland.bsky.social and patients that made this work possible.

UK university job cuts put at 20,000 after full impact ‘hidden’ Number of roles affected could be almost double previous estimates when voluntary schemes and hiring freezes factored in, say researchers

Last week I was wondering how many jobs in HE are currently being cut (despite ever increasing research, teaching, and admin workloads). Well an article in THE says around 20,000 (paywalled I think) www.timeshighereducation.com/news/uk-univ...

NHGRI (at NIH)'s chart on the declining cost of sequencing a human genome from 2001 to 2021, falling faster than Moore's law.

The "$1,000 genome" catchphrase was first publicly recorded in December 2001 at a scientific retreat to discuss the future of biomedical research following publication of the first draft of the Human Genome Project (HGP), convened by the National Human Genome Research Institute at Airlie House in Virginia.[5] The phrase neatly highlighted the chasm between the actual cost of the Human Genome Project, estimated at $2.7 billion over a decade, and the benchmark for routine, affordable personal genome sequencing. On 2 October 2002, Craig Venter introduced the opening session of GSAC (The Genome Sequencing and Analysis Conference) at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston: "The Future of Sequencing: Advancing Towards the $1,000 Genome." Speakers included George M. Church and executives from 454 Life Sciences, Solexa, U.S. Genomics, VisiGen and Amersham plc.[6][7] In 2003, Venter announced that his foundation would earmark $500,000 for a breakthrough leading to the $1,000 genome.[8] That sum was subsequently rolled into the Archon X Prize. In October 2004, NHGRI introduced the first in a series of '$1,000 Genome' grants designed to advance "the development of breakthrough technologies that will enable a human-sized genome to be sequenced for $1,000 or less."[9]

Sad news:

The dataset behind this famous chart on the decline in costs of genome sequencing has had its NIH funding cut.

I loved this chart because it was the first that made me appreciate the impact of dataviz. But it also tracked progress towards an ambitious goal ($1000 genome) that succeeded.

England through some how. What luck despite defensive terribleness.

Universities in England at risk of long-term decline, says British Academy Outgoing president Dame Julia Black calls on ministers to overhaul their ‘confused’ approach to higher education

‘England’s higher education system risks long-term decline unless ministers overhaul their “confused, if not incoherent” approach to universities’

FT interview with outgoing @britishacademy.bsky.social President Julia Black where she pulls no punches!

www.ft.com/content/3162...

Tukey

XKCD has a Tukey quote for Tukey's 110th birthday
xkcd.com/3104/

Many of his specific inventions have been made obsolete over time, but he was a major contributor to data analysis and visualisation being serious and respectable parts of statistics research

Genomics of host–microbiome interactions in humans - Nature Reviews Genetics In this Review, Ferretti et al. discuss advances in our understanding of interactions between the human genome and the microbiome, including the effects of the microbiome on host gene regulation.

Genomics of host–microbiome interactions in humans www.nature.com/articles/s41... #jcampubs

Many thanks to Alice Macdonald MP who kindly hosted a Parliamentary Reception, on behalf of the University of East Anglia, last night. The reception was titled "Faster Smarter Earlier – UEA’s Mission to Transform Prostate Cancer Diagnosis" and was a great success.

@uniofeastanglia.bsky.social

A checklist for designing and improving the visualization of scientific data Nature Cell Biology - Creating clear and engaging scientific figures is crucial to communicate complex data. In this Comment, I condense principles from design, visual perception and data...

I gave in! After students asking for it, I now made a simple figure design checklist.
To help all scientists w/o graphic skills create clear, accessible, and truthful charts!
-> Out in @nature Cell Biology: rdcu.be/erwl4

#DataVisualization #PhD #SciComm

Thx for review @bethcimini.bsky.social + 2

So,as a little thought-experiment, tell me something about the United Kingdom that works well and is actually quite impressive. I am not trying to sound like some boosterish politician. I just genuinely believe that making people believe that all is lost is a convenient pretext for shady characters.

University research shortfall rises above £5 billion in England Annual data shows universities in England and Northern Ireland face growing losses on research and teaching domestic students

This article sums up the funding crisis in universities.

- Loss on teaching domestic students
- Loss on research
- Profit on teaching international students

With the Government making it increasingly difficult for international students to get here, so reducing the only profitable arm.