The Downs Lab

Congratulations 🥳 @alison-harrod.bsky.social for winning the oral communication prize at the Biochemical Society Alternative Nucleic Acid Topology meeting for her talk on SMARCA4 and G quadruplexes! 🎉👏🎉

You are on fire 🔥👏 🤩

Photo of people in the lab drinking beer

Many of these were from the @icr.ac.uk conference, which was a great opportunity to catch up with colleagues. And drink beer.

photo of Lillian in front of her poster

And @lillianwu.bsky.social presented a poster with her PhD thesis work on CENPB!

photo of Alison in front of her poster

Alison also presented her work as a poster (and will be attending the upcoming AlterNat Biochem Soc meeting if anyone wants to hear more!)

photo of Karen giving a talk

@kezlane.bsky.social Karen Lane presented work she did with @susana-sousa.bsky.social and Noa Amin on ARID1A and G4s (not her main project - watch this space for a project coming out soon on cohesin dynamics in SWI/SNF deficient cells)

photo of Alison giving a seminar

A little shout-out to the lab, who have been out in force lately presenting their work! Starting with @alison-harrod.bsky.social talking about her work with Pedro Zuazua Villar and @naghamg.bsky.social on SMARCA4 and G quadruplexes

Are you @ the late stages of your postdoc ? Want to pursue a PI career ?

Then this 👇👇 is for you ! Apply for a spot @ our Talent Forum
www.helmholtz-munich.de/en/stem-cell...

Peer-networking / Career orientation and more !!!

Please distribute :) 🙂

ARID1A stabilises non-homologous end joining factors at DNA breaks induced by the G4 ligand pyridostatin ARID1A is a subunit of the BAF chromatin remodelling complex that is frequently mutated in cancer. It is challenging to predict how ARID1A loss impacts cancer therapy response because it participates ...

New preprint from the lab on ARID1A, G quadruplexes, and repair:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

PhD Studentship: Understanding and Targeting Cell Cycle Control in Cancer at University of Sussex At jobs.ac.uk, you can apply for a PhD Studentship: Understanding and Targeting Cell Cycle Control in Cancer. Explore our diverse range of PhD opportunities today.

Tony Oliver’s and my lab have a joint phd position available to investigate mitotic entry control mechanisms
Please forward to prospective students! Thank you

url.uk.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/ukMTCoy6DT...

A must for all DNA repair aficionados!

Egmond DNA Repair Meeting → April 19–24, 2026 🇳🇱
✔️ Confirmed top speakers
✔️ Ample opportunities for talks & posters

Don’t miss it: dnarepairmeeting-egmond2026.com

6 Postdoctoral and PhD positions in Center for Epigenetic Cell Memory (EpiC) The Center for Epigenetic Cell Memory (EpiC) is a new Center of Excellence that will be established based on funding by the Danish National Research Foundation.

🚨𝐌𝐚𝐣𝐨𝐫 𝐉𝐨𝐛 𝐀𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐭!🚨The Groth @groth-anja.bsky.social, Mailand, Nilsson @nilssonlab.bsky.social & Krietenstein @nilskrietenstein.bsky.social labs are hiring 𝟔 𝐏𝐡𝐃&𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐝𝐨𝐜𝐬 to join the new Center for Epigenetic Cell Memory (EpiC) in Copenhagen, Denmark. Apply here: tinyurl.com/yvd93na2 & please share!

Senior Research Officer at University of Essex Searching for an academic job? Explore this Senior Research Officer opening on jobs.ac.uk! Click to view more details and browse other academic jobs.

We have a postdoctoral opening for a researcher with experience in bioinformatics of DNA sequencing and machine learning to work on the development of new methods for cancer diagnostics related to nucleosomes, chromatin and beyond www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DMK060/s.... Application deadline: 21st April 2025

Nobel prize-winning technology in cancer care - The Cancer Researcher Katalin Karikó's work into mRNA vaccines

Hey, look at this story that our @postdockatie.bsky.social wrote! magazine.eacr.org/nobel-prize-...

Please repost! Post-doc studying novel mechanisms of post-replicative gap-filling available in my lab here in beautiful Snowdonia, between July 2025 to end Nov 2026. Generous travel budget. Lab is full of friendly and supportive colleagues. Link below, or DM me/email c.staples@bangor.ac.uk for info

Thank you Ronan!

Thanks Christian!

Thanks Marcel!

PBRM1 directs PBAF to pericentromeres and protects centromere integrity - Nature Communications Centromere fragility can drive tumourigenesis, so protective mechanisms are important. Here, the authors suggest that the PBAF chromatin remodelling complex, which is frequently misregulated in cancer...

If you like chromatin remodellers and centromeres, this might be of interest. In it, we generated omics data from isogenic PBRM1 cell lines, which we hope is of use to the community, freely available (when evil forces aren't messing with the publicly funded websites 🙄) www.nature.com/articles/s41...

PBRM1 directs PBAF to pericentromeres and protects centromere integrity - Nature Communications Centromere fragility can drive tumourigenesis, so protective mechanisms are important. Here, the authors suggest that the PBAF chromatin remodelling complex, which is frequently misregulated in cancer...

Happy to finally share this paper from our lab! First authors @kezlane.bsky.social @alison-harrod.bsky.social and the team worked so hard on it, I'm proud to be on it too!

PBAF as the protector of centromere and pericentromere integrity🧬🔬

@thedownslab.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

These are two awesome, talented postdocs! Lucky to have them in the lab 😍

Congratulations @kezlane.bsky.social and @alison-harrod.bsky.social and thanks to all our fabulous collaborators!

Katie Begg receives EACR-Molecular Oncology Editorial Fellowship - The Cancer Researcher Katie Begg is the recipient of an EACR-Molecular Oncology Editorial Fellowship, including a placement with the Molecular Oncology journal.

We're pleased to announce that Katie Begg is the second recipient of an EACR-Molecular Oncology Editorial Fellowship! Learn more about Katie and this exciting opportunity: magazine.eacr.org/katie-begg-r...

Research Fellow at University of Birmingham Discover an exciting academic career path as a Research Fellow at jobs.ac.uk. Don't miss out on this job opportunity - apply today!

My lab is #hiring!

I am recruiting for two #Postdoc positions investigating the Alternative Lengthening of Telomeres mechanism.

www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DLO693/r...

www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DLP016/r...

#Telomere #DNAreplication #DNArepair #cancer #glioma #UKRI #MRC #universityofbirmingham #NGS

Gender and the Dynamics of Economics Seminars Founded in 1920, the NBER is a private, non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to conducting economic research and to disseminating research findings among academics, public policy makers, an...

“Women are asked more questions during a seminar and the questions asked of women presenters are more likely to be patronizing or hostile. These effects are not due to women presenting in different fields, different seminar series, or different topics…”

www.nber.org/papers/w28494

Mark your calendar: the next Egmond DNA repair meeting will take place in 2026 from April 19 - 24!

You can pre-register to receive announcement here: forms.lumc.nl/lumc2/Egmond

Registration will open by June 2025.

Scientific Officer - Epigenetics and Genome Stability in Chelsea | The Institute of Cancer Research View details and apply for this Scientific Officer - Epigenetics and Genome Stability vacancy in Chelsea . Salary : Commencement on the salary range is subject to comparable skills and exp...

We are looking for someone to join our lab as a researcher (scientific officer). Advert and information on applying is here: jobs.icr.ac.uk/vacancies/10...
It's a great team and a wonderful place to work!

We are offering a very exciting PhD project 🤩-Project 2- in this great training program!
@icrlondon.bsky.social @imperialcollegeldn.bsky.social
@crukconvergence.bsky.social
Please share 😊 ! Design of advanced therapeutics against metastasis👇
www.convergencesciencecentre.ac.uk/training/con...

Dear all, my first post! I have postdoc positions available if you would like to join my lab in beautiful Sussex by the Sea! Please contact me on k.w.caldecott@sussex.ac.uk

Lab retreat 2024! We had days of excellent science, food, ideas, food, games, food, discussions, food, and brainstorming.
And snacks.