Simon Baker

Research webinar - Kidney Research UK A webinar to hear directly from Kidney Research UK funded researchers as they share the latest updates on projects tackling BK virus and cytomegalovirus.

Are you a kidney transplant recipient who would like to learn more about post-transplant viral infections?

Join @kidneyresearchuk.org funded researchers to hear updates on their research. This online seminar will take place 1-2pm on Friday 28th November 2025, register for free below.

New PhD opportunity! Can skin inflammation protect us from mosquito-borne viruses like Zika?
Join our MRC PhD project at York exploring how psoriasis and eczema change skin immunity to virus.
Our grads thrive in academia, biotech & beyond.
Apply now 👉 tinyurl.com/bfmd2rf4

Poster for the 2nd Course on Urothelial Cancers on January 14th-16th 2026 at the Institut Curie in Paris. Theme: Understanding molecular basis of urothelial tumors to improve diagnosis and treatments. Contact: c.uro2026@curie.fr

I'm really excited to be teaching about mutational signatures and viral aetiologies in #bladdercancer at the "Course on Urothelial Malignancies" in Paris 14-16 January 2026. There are so many great speakers, I'm sure I'll learn lots. Hope to see you there!
Contact: c.uro2026@curie.fr

Collectively common, rare kidney disease report - Kidney Research UK A report about the impact of rare kidney diseases in the UK including diagnosis delays and waits for new treatments.

“Rare” kidney diseases leave a deep and widespread impact. 160,000+ people in the UK are affected — driving 25% of dialysis demand and costing the NHS £263m a year.
As a @kidneyresearchuk.org Trustee, I’m calling for faster diagnosis and fairer access to care.
🔗 bit.ly/47Wdp5Z

#KidneyHealth

We all know vaccines target the pathogen, but can you also target the vector?
📢 in a new paper out today in Vaccines,
we show that a vaccine targeting mosquito salivary peptides, AGSv-PLUS, enhances human skin immune response to biting.
Open access: www.mdpi.com/2076-393X/13...
1/6

Image of a fluorescently labeled adult mouse kidney showing AQP2 staining of collecting ducts and connecting segment in green and alpha SMA staining of the arterial tree in magenta. The collecting ducts look like squiggly branches.

For this #FluorescenceFriday, a gorgeous image of an adult mouse kidney labeled with AQP2 and alpha SMA antibodies. AQP2 (green) marks the collecting duct and distal connecting segment while SMA marks the arterial tree. Courtesy of talented postdoc Sarah McLarnon.

Having a fantastic time listening to all the progress in kidney research in the UK @kidneyresearchuk.org driving discoveries. Fantastic talk @willkidney.bsky.social about how large well designed trials have changed our practice in nephrology

QUOD's National Operational Coordinator, Sarah Cross, is at the Kidney Research UK #DrivingDiscoveries conference today in Bristol and is ready to talk to you about how the QUOD biobank can support your kidney research.

Come and say hello! 👋

@nhsbt.bsky.social @ndsurgicalsci.bsky.social @ox.ac.uk

€1.5 million to uncover disease risk hiding in non-coding DNA Greg Findlay, Group Leader of the Genome Function Laboratory at the Francis Crick Institute, has been awarded a Starting Grant from the European Research Council for €1.5 million to take a deep dive i...

Congratulations to @gregfindlay.bsky.social on being awarded a €1.5 million Starting Grant from the @erc.europa.eu to take a closer look at possible disease variants hiding in the dark genome.

www.crick.ac.uk/news/2025-09...

The Leeds Transplant teams are amazing humans. Great to see this celebration.

If you're a kidney transplant recipient who has been diagnosed with BK virus infection, please consider reading our evidence-based patient information leaflet that was co-developed alongside BK nephropathy patients. We hope it helps and welcome any feedback to develop it.
www.kidney.org.uk/bk-virus

A highly potent human antibody neutralizing all serotypes of BK polyomavirus Author summary BK polyomavirus (BKPyV) is a common virus that infects most people during childhood and typically remains dormant in the kidneys without causing harm. However, in kidney transplant pati...

"A highly potent human antibody neutralizing all serotypes of BK polyomavirus"

journals.plos.org/plospathogen...

YBRI Online Biomedical Sciences Seminar 2025 Join our online biomedical sciences seminar open to UG, PG students, postdocs, ECRs and Group Leaders!

YBRI (@ybri-uoy.bsky.social) are hosting @alanawelm.bsky.social for an online seminar on 9th May 2pm BST.

Prof Welm will be presenting her work on "Modeling metastatic breast cancer to advance therapeutic strategies".

Please share, and register to join at www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/ybri-onlin...

🚨 Breaking News: The Tobacco and Vapes Bill has passed its Second Reading in @ukhouseoflords.bsky.social! 🚨

This marks another hugely important step towards ending cancers caused by smoking.

Please share to show your support for a #SmokefreeUK 🔁

[Image description: ‘We’re hiring’ sits bold on the page. Top right sits the Kidney Research UK logo. To the left, a full-length professional image of their logo from on outdoor event is present. To the right lists two jobs, brand and marketing officer and volunteering officer. Underneath it reads ‘As part of the charity’s growth, new positions have been introduced.’ And lists six more roles: Peer educator manager, health equalities lead, director of translational science and technology assessment, translational research and innovation project officer, health data specialist, and head of data.]

We’re #hiring! It’s an exciting time as we expand and create brand new roles within our passionate charity, committed to changing lives for people with kidney disease. Take a look and share with your network. Find out more and apply here: bit.ly/3umf9kS

#Recruitment #CharityJobs

Precision projections of the delay of resistance mutations in non-small cell lung cancer via suppression of APOBEC Genomic instability driven by stress-response-dependent mutagenesis is a key factor in cancer progression. Tyrosine kinase inhibitor therapy, a common…

APOBEC drives genetic variation in lung tumors, especially in response to tyrosine kinase inhibitor therapy 🧪.

Inhibition of APOBEC during use of tyrosine kinase inhibitors could improve outcomes.

In a paper just out in Lung Cancer, we show how much.

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Excited for the AJ Bell Great North Run 2025? There’s still time to join Team Action Bladder Cancer UK and run for a great cause! Whether you’re a seasoned runner or a first-timer, it’s an event you won’t want to miss. 🏅

events@actionbladdercanceruk.org

#GreatNorthRun #BladderCancer #Fundraising

Sorry to hear this Gabe. Hope she finds something soon. Best wishes to you all.

If anyone is looking for a lab technician/manager with nucleic acid isolation, library prep, and sequencing analysis experience preferably in the DMV, my former biologist is looking for a job. She was unfortunately terminated in Feb as part of the probationary employee firings. DM me for her info

Image of a urine hydration chart on a toilet seat with sections labelled 1 to 7 indicating various hydration levels from 'Drink more water' to 'Ideal Colour.' The chart advises 'Take a wee look.' to detect early signs of kidney disease

Did you know that blood in your urine or needing to urinate frequently are symptoms of kidney disease?

This #WorldKidneyDay, let’s help more people spot the early warning signs with our ‘Take a wee look’ campaign.

What do the colours mean? Find out more: www.kidneyresearchuk.org/2025/02/21/b...

#job 🚨for a laboratory technician in the Wright group within dept. Biology/HYMS and @ybri-uoy.bsky.social to work on creating genome-scale arrays of human cell surface receptors to discover new host-pathogen interactions. Apply by 20/3/2025: jobs.york.ac.uk/vacancy/labo...

Structure and Activity of the Essential UCH Family Deubiquitinase DUB16 from Leishmania donovani In Leishmania parasites, as for their hosts, the ubiquitin proteasome system is important for cell viability. As part of a systematic gene deletion study, it was discovered that four cysteine protease...

New preprint: results from a collaborative project funded by the GCRF Global Network for NTDs investigating Leishmania deubiquitinase 16 as a potential drug target. @ybri-uoy.bsky.social @mottramlab.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Scientists brought to tears by huge loss of U.S. butterflies | CBC News Scientists calculated just how much U.S. butterfly populations have declined in the past 20 years. The results brought some scientists to tears, and have them warning about dire implications for other...

As scientists we are often exposed to upsetting findings and we should not have to bury the feelings that our research elicit - I'm glad it's adressed openly here (and yes these results are bleak)

Accelerating the search for new glioblastoma treatments - Cancer Research UK - Cancer News Henry Scowcroft looks at a pioneering new clinical platform trial set to offer more options to UK glioblastoma patients and kick-start progress

I've written a big feature piece for @cancerresearchuk.org's News site, about a cutting-edge new brain tumour trial they're supporting. It's aimed at the researcher community so a bit techier than usual, but was great fun pulling together. news.cancerresearchuk.org/2025/03/04/a...

The HPV vaccine is an anti-cancer vaccine

U.S. Terminates Funding for Polio, H.I.V., Malaria and Nutrition Programs Around the World Here are some of the 5,800 contracts the Trump administration formally canceled this week in a wave of terse emails.

The Trump administration terminates funding for polio, HIV, malaria and nutrition programs around the world.

“People will die,” said Dr. Catherine Kyobutungi of the African Population and Health Research Center, “but we will never know, because even the programs to count the dead are cut.”

Generation K: The disturbing rise of ketamine abuse among young people Increasing numbers of young people are using the drug, experts say. The health impacts can be catastrophic.

Disturbing to see another rise in recreational ketamine use in the UK. We did some of the early work showing how ketamine kills the cells that line our bladders: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
It's sad to think of all the pain and lifelong consequences for young people caused by ketamine.

The "Nous-209" vaccine for people with Lynch syndrome includes some 209 neoantigens. Including neoantigens on this scale in a single vaccine gives some hope for a vaccine that could offer protection against bladder cancer despite its extreme genomic heterogeneity.

New generation of cancer-preventing vaccines could wipe out tumors before they form Shots enter early clinical trials for healthy people at high risk for disease

Great story on the potential of new cancer prevention vaccines. They focus on vaccines for people with Lynch syndrome (as they have an elevated risk of cancer) that targets “neoantigens,” which are proteins unique to tumours but that can activate the immune system.
www.science.org/content/arti...

"Share your story" sits on top of a fuchsia and purple background with quotation marks around it. Surround it is faded sentences from previous stories shared.

We would love to speak to people with the following experiences:

◼ Changes in your urine before being diagnosed with kidney disease?
◼ Have been affected by Alport syndrome, acute kidney injury (AKI), or BK virus, leading to kidney problems?

Click here: www.kidneyresearchuk.org/become-a-kid...