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bishara marzook

@ghostpathogen.bsky.social
787 followers 624 following 113 posts

Used to be funny, now i make parasites kiss. Incoming PI at GIMM, working on Cryptosporidiosis: @epi-api-lab.bsky.social (Postdoc at The Francis Crick Institute, UK; PhD at USyd, Australia) Host-pathogen interactions, cytoskeleton, immunity, community.

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Reposted by bishara marzook
Geoff McFadden @fad1.bsky.social · 07/06/2026
Today marks 30 years since we identified the apicoplast, a relict plastid in human and animal parasites (PMID 8632819). Apicoplasts are the target of the widely used antimalarial prophylactic doxycycline, which has saved many thousands of malaria infections.
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Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation @moorefound.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
New funding opportunity from the Symbiosis in Aquatic Systems Initiative. We’re inviting teams of two researchers to pursue ambitious, high-risk projects advancing aquatic symbiosis (marine + freshwater). Open globally. Details + how to apply:  moore.org/SymbiosisRFP #RFP #AquaticSymbiosis
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bishara marzook @ghostpathogen.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
thinking about Woody Guthrie today woodyguthrie.bandcamp.com/album/this-l...
woodyguthrie.bandcamp.com
This Land is Your Land: The Asch Recordings, Vol. 1, by Woody Guthrie
27 track album
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Philippa Matthews @pippa-matt.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
#WorldHepatitisSummit poster - our team shared #CommunityEngagement experience from our 'EVOLVE' #HBV project in #SouthAfrica to enhance interventions for #hepatitis #elimination. 🧪 👏 #WHS2026 #NoHep #MedSky #LiverSky @ahri-news.bsky.social @uclnews.bsky.social @crick.ac.uk doi.org/10.6084/m9.f...
Photo of team members Busangani and Luthando at the World Hepatitis Summit 2026, BangkokPhoto of team members presenting our poster - you can view it on line here: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.32143867
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Max Gutierrez @maxgg.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
Really important and relevant study in TB from @danbarberphd.bsky.social and colleagues. We need to re-think many assumptions. Nitric oxide production in mice has been a confounding factor. #tuberculosis
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Bella Rauch @rauchlab.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
Wan’t to be faculty at a collegial host-pathogen focused department in a beautiful bikable city with amazing food? This link is for you: facultycareers-ohsu.icims.com/jobs/39006/a...
A picture of the portland waterfront during cherry blossom time
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LSHTM Malaria Centre @lshtm-malaria.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
New research led @ndeyfa2.bsky.social, a PhD student @lshtm.bsky.social shows #malaria drug resistance isn’t driven by a single mutations but a complex combination of genetic changes that help parasites with legacy mutations survive newer treatments. Read more 👉 bit.ly/49aMu5W
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bishara marzook @ghostpathogen.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
Hi all, I'd like to share some news - I will soon be moving to Lisbon, Portugal to start my very own lab @gimminstitute.bsky.social! The Epithelial Biology of Apicomplexan Infections lab (Epi-Api lab for short) will focus on the special relationship between #epithelial cells and #Cryptosporidium.
Picture of Bishara standing by a coastline at daytime, with a blue-green sea and palm trees in the background. She is holding a pastel de nata (Portuguese custard tart) and smiling.
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Raquel Fueyo @fueyoraquel.bsky.social · 28/11/2025
The IMPRS-BAC is an outstanding PhD program in Europe. And the endogenous retroviruses in development... what can I say? So much exciting biology to uncover! 🦠🧬#TEsky #StemCells Read the instructions and apply! ⬇️⬇️⬇️
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bishara marzook @ghostpathogen.bsky.social · 26/11/2025
There's still time to register for CoccidiaUK in London - it's going to be a jam-packed two days of talks by early-career parasitologists, a knowledge transfer session, plus trivia and prizes! It's @crick.ac.uk (very central) & we're cooking up some fun swag :) www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/coccidiauk...
eventbrite.co.uk
CoccidiaUK 2025
A biannual gathering of parasitologists from across the UK to discuss all things coccidian!
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bishara marzook @ghostpathogen.bsky.social · 14/10/2025
Who-cysts? OOCYSTS! That's right, it's almost time for ❄️Coccidia UK 2025❄️ Your one-stop shop (/conference) for all like-minded sporulating apicomplexan parasites! This year we're in London @crick.ac.uk, looking forward to welcoming parasitologists from across the UK. Register- tinyurl.com/4ny5bwu2
tinyurl.com
CoccidiaUK 2025 registration
DEADLINE FOR ABSTRACT SUBMISSION: NOVEMBER 7th Event Timing: December 8th 9am-5pm December 9th 9am-12pm Event Address: The Francis Crick Institute Questions? please email ada...
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Kurt Ward @keward.bsky.social · 05/07/2025
My background is in molecular microbiology and parasitology, with a focus on malaria drug resistance. I’ve worked across international collaborations, mentored, and published in high-impact journals. Open to research, project-management, or education-focused roles in academia, govt or industry.
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Kurt Ward @keward.bsky.social · 05/07/2025
I’ve recently been made redundant from my role at UNSW due to the NIH’s decision to cancel foreign subawards. It’s an unfortunate situation affecting a lot of great researchers, and I’m now on the lookout for something new. If anyone knows of any molecular biologist roles coming up, let me know!
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Sateriale Lab @saterialelab.bsky.social · 25/07/2025
We are so excited to see the new avenues for research this will create! 👏👏👏 @ghostpathogen.bsky.social @lottabaumgaertel.bsky.social @netanyabernitz.bsky.social @tapokam.bsky.social @lucy-watson.bsky.social @crick.ac.uk
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bishara marzook @ghostpathogen.bsky.social · 24/07/2025
Our paper has finally graduated from pre-print to peer-reviewed, pretty much unscathed, and is out now! www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
cell.com
The essential host genome for Cryptosporidium survival exposes metabolic dependencies that can be leveraged for treatment
An arrayed microscopy-based CRISPR screen revealed host genes affecting multiple infection phenotypes of the intracellular parasite Cryptosporidium. Hits in the host cholesterol biosynthesis pathway a...
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Prof Jenny Rohn @jennyrohn.bsky.social · 21/07/2025
Last chance to apply for great research tech #job in my friendly lab @uclmedsci.bsky.social in London! Cutting-edge organoid and microbiology work seeking to understand how probiotic bacteria might be deployed to fight urinary infection #UTI. Closes 23 July #UTISky www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DNQ902/r...
jobs.ac.uk
Research Technician at UCL
Apply now for the Research Technician role on jobs.ac.uk - the leading job board for higher education jobs. View details.
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robmoon.bsky.social @robmoon.bsky.social · 19/07/2025
For those interested in Masters in lab and field based research in infectious disease we have 3 fantastic programmes to choose from MSc Immunology, medical parasitology and entomology and medical microbiology. They benefit from very flexible module choices and summer projects in UK and abroad!
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The Carlson Lab @ Yale @carlsonlab.bsky.social · 14/07/2025
Open call: If you are a researcher working on a project estimating a cause-specific burden of disease attributable to climate change at regional to global scales, please reach out! We're looking for researchers who might be interested in joining a new collaborative network / workshop series.
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Maria Bernabeu @mariabernabeu.bsky.social · 11/07/2025
Pre-print alert 🚨: We have developed 2D and 3D stable iPSC endothelial-differentiation models through dox inducible ETS expression. We demonstrate endothelial identity and used these models for studying malaria pathogenesis research. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
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Marketa Novotna @marketanovotna.bsky.social · 06/07/2025
I used inducible CRISPR/Cas9 to make Trypanosoma brucei cell line that allowed me to edit originally muti-copy histone gene. We uncovered a novel role of H4 histone tail in gene regulation. I enjoyed working on this exciting project with @joanarcf.bsky.social, a great mentor. doi.org/10.1038/s414...
nature.com
Precision-edited histone tails disrupt polycistronic gene expression controls in trypanosomes - Nature Communications
Transcription in trypanosomatids, such as Trypanosoma brucei, is predominantly polycistronic and involves unconventional RNA polymerase II promoters. This study uses precision gene editing, site-satur...
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Joanna Young @youngtoxolab.bsky.social · 08/07/2025
Postdoc position open to investigate chronic Toxoplasma infection! elxw.fa.em3.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid...
elxw.fa.em3.oraclecloud.com
Postdoctoral Research Associate
We are looking for a talented and enthusiastic Postdoctoral researcher to join the Young lab to investigate secreted proteins during chronic Toxoplasma gondii infection.
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bishara marzook @ghostpathogen.bsky.social · 15/06/2025
Very cool work! More proof we have a lot to learn about actin and associated nucleation factors from apicomplexans :)
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bishara marzook @ghostpathogen.bsky.social · 02/02/2025
Woody Guthrie's guitar... hello
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bishara marzook @ghostpathogen.bsky.social · 14/06/2025
Honoured to have been invited to give a hallowed GRiP-ing seminar yesterday in Glasgow! Thanks @abhinay.bsky.social for the invite and @uofgsii.bsky.social for hosting me! Now enjoying the classic Glaswegian weather 😁 (yesterday was beautiful though!)
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Omaya Dudin 𓂆 ¦🍉¦🦠¦🔬¦ @dudinlab.bsky.social · 10/06/2025
90% of you probably don’t need to read this. But maybe some of you are curious & 10% will feel seen. Or a little less alone. This isn’t about seeking sympathy. It’s about sharing something hard to say out loud; partly to heal, partly in case someone needs to hear it too. (1/3) tinyurl.com/DudinO
cell.com
Omaya Dudin
Interview with Omaya Dudin, who uses Ichthyosporea as models to study how and why unicellular organisms evolved multicellularity at the University of Geneva.
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Geoff McFadden @fad1.bsky.social · 08/06/2025
We are developing a simple, very cheap, low tech way to reduce malaria transmission. Instead of giving the antimalarials to people, we give them to the mosquitoes that spread the parasite. How do we drug a mosquito? Read on. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
sciencedirect.com
Identifying antimalarials that disrupt malaria parasite transmission when fed to the mosquito
A decade-long decline in malaria cases has plateaued, primarily due to parasite drug resistance and mosquito resistance to insecticides used in bed ne…
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Mark A. Hanson @hansonmark.bsky.social · 03/06/2025
URGENT: FlyBase has lost practically all its funding overnight; even user fees are tied up in denied grant funding. 🤬🤯 Any lab using @flybase.bsky.social please donate using the link in post below. This incredible community, on whose backs our #Drosophila labs depend, can't be left out to dry.
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bishara marzook @ghostpathogen.bsky.social · 03/06/2025
Had a great time at this, learned so much! Thank you again for having a parasitologist amongst you. Looking forward to more host-pathogen interaction interactions 😁
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veupathdb.org @veupathdb.org · 02/06/2025
Make open access to tools and data part of your annual giving by making a tax deductible donation to @veupathdb.org. 💙This resource simplifies and supercharges global infectious disease research. Need more reasons to support VEuPathDB? Here's a short list: veupathdb.org/veupathdb/ap...
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bishara marzook @ghostpathogen.bsky.social · 30/05/2025
"Journal club" aka science hermeneutics
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Dave Barry @david-j-barry.bsky.social · 30/05/2025
Need help with bioimage analysis? Contact the UK Euro-BioImaging Node to see how we can help! www.eurobioimaging-access.eu/nodes/uk-node
eurobioimaging-access.eu
Euro-BioimagingEuro-BioImaging
The European Research Infrastructure for Imaging Technologies in Biological and Biomedical Sciences
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Leading Edge Fellows Program @leadingedgeprogram.bsky.social · 27/05/2025
We are thrilled to announce the 2025 Leading Edge Fellows! 40 outstanding postdoctoral fellows doing pioneering research in a wide range of biological and biomedical disciplines. Learn more about these exceptional scientists: www.leadingedgesymposium.org/fellows
Text reads "Congratulations to the 2025 Leading Edge Fellows" followed by the Leading Edge logo and www.leadingedgesymposium.org. Below are the headshots and names of the 40 new Leading Edge Fellows. They are 
Cel	Welch
Lianna	Wat
Maria	Toro Moreno
Sarah	Talley
Xulu	Sun
Ines	Sturmlechner
Virginia	Savy
Amelie	Raz
Kali	Pruss
Caterina	Profaci
Sarah	Pierce
Melissa 	Pamula
Kehinde	Odufowora
Patricia	Nano
Ariana	Musa de Aquino
Nour El Houda	Mimouni
Kathleen	Martin
Brea	Manuel
Mable	Lam
Miri	Krupkin
Elaine	Kouame
Megan	Kirchgessner
Sumin	Kim
Shubhangini	Kataruka
Geraldine	Jowett
Andrea	Jones
Leanne	Iannucci
Emily	Heckman
Allison	Girasole
Florencia	Fernandez Chiappe
Tonie	Farris
Hannah	Elam
Erin	Doherty
Xiaoyun	Ding
Maria	Bustillo
Julia	Brunner
Debadrita	Bhattacharya
Lorena	Benedetti
Ashley	Anderson
Krisha	Aghi
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The Francis Crick Institute @crick.ac.uk · 27/05/2025
Crick researchers have shown how the bacteria causing tuberculosis can directly cross the brain’s protective barrier, causing meningitis in up to 10% of cases. www.crick.ac.uk/news/2025-05...
crick.ac.uk
Scientists explore how TB bacteria enter the brain
Researchers at the Francis Crick Institute have shown how the bacteria causing tuberculosis (TB) directly cross the brain’s protective barrier, causing meningitis, a very severe form of the disease th...
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Sebastian Shaw @millseba.bsky.social · 22/05/2025
🚨 Preprint Alert 🚨 We performed genetic crosses between phenotypically different Cryptosporidium strains and identified genomic loci responsible for their differences! #Cryptosporidium #Genomics #Parasitology #InfectiousDiseases #Preprint #BioRxiv www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
biorxiv.org
Genetic crosses reveal genomic loci responsible for virulence in Cryptosporidium parvum infection
The relationship between parasite genotype and pathogenesis is largely unknown for Cryptosporidium, a leading cause of diarrheal disease in children. An array of parasites with similar genomes produce...
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British Infection Association @biainfection.bsky.social · 22/05/2025
Round 2 of the BIA Travel Awards are now open. If you are a trainee based in the UK or Ireland who has had an abstract accepted for a conference, find out more and apply before the closing date on 30th June 2025 👉 www.britishinfection...
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bishara marzook @ghostpathogen.bsky.social · 22/05/2025
Amazing work @hbelda.bsky.social and everyone! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
The fast-evolving FIKK kinase family of Plasmodium falciparum can be inhibited by a single compound - Nature Microbiology
FIKK effector kinases underwent rapid evolutionary expansion and are a druggable target in Plasmodium falciparum.
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Journal of Experimental Biology @jexpbiol.bsky.social · 22/05/2025
If you're a new PI within 5 years of your first faculty position, here are two fantastic grants to help develop your research: the Kickstart Travel Grant and ECR Visiting Fellowships. The next deadline is 6 June Find out more at biologists.com/grants/#jeb Please repost
Social media postcard that says: Are you an early-career researcher within five years of your first appointment to a faculty position? You could be eligible for our new grants for junior faculty staff.
The Journal of Experimental Biology logo is in the bottom left corner. The Kickstart grant logo, two hands shaking, is in the bottom right corner.
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Francesco Baldini @baldini-francesco.bsky.social · 22/05/2025
In vivo screen of Plasmodium targets for mosquito-based malaria control doi.org/10.1038/s415...
doi.org
In vivo screen of Plasmodium targets for mosquito-based malaria control - Nature
An in vivo screen of small-molecule compounds to inhibit the mosquito-stage development of Plasmodium identified hits that can be incorporated into bed nets and led to effective parasite killing in th...
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Clare Harding @clarehardinglab.bsky.social · 22/04/2025
Please see the new tour de force from @danaaghabi.bsky.social PhD! We think that we have finally found the major Toxoplasma iron/zinc importer. Thanks to ID21 at the @esrf.fr, and help from UGs and the lab. This is what I wanted to find when I started my lab, and thanks to Dana we have it!
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veupathdb.org @veupathdb.org · 21/04/2025
Keep VEuPathDB open-access to all by subscribing today! veupathdb.org/veupathdb/ap...
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bishara marzook @ghostpathogen.bsky.social · 16/04/2025
Beautiful work on a 'transcendent' Toxoplasma virulence factor by a truly transcendent scientist. Congrats @fratorelli.bsky.social!!
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Mohamed-Ali HAKIMI @hakimi.bsky.social · 11/04/2025
In the silence of chromatin, Toxoplasma whispers change. TgSNF2h sculpts the genome - MORC in the backseat. Some genes wake. Others sleep. A dance of nucleosomes shaping space for life parasite stages to unfold. Now in Nature Microbiology: rdcu.be/ehkWp
rdcu.be
An ISWI-related chromatin remodeller regulates stage-specific gene expression in Toxoplasma gondii
Nature Microbiology - Toxoplasma gondii evolved two ISWI remodellers, TgSNF2h and TgSNF2L. TgSNF2h forms a complex that insulates active genes, regulates MORC-driven sexual commitment and ensures...
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Ben Liffner @benliffner.bsky.social · 12/04/2025
Our study looking at sporozoite development and salivary gland invasion using expansion microscopy is now up as a pre-print! A little thread below about this interesting study that was born out of a seminar 🧵 @sabsalon.bsky.social @jvr-lab.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
biorxiv.org
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Thibaut Brunet @thibautbrunet.bsky.social · 03/04/2025
Striking new study from @archaeon-alex.bsky.social's lab just out in @science.org on multicellular development induced by compression in Archaea: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
science.org
Tissue-like multicellular development triggered by mechanical compression in archaea
The advent of clonal multicellularity is a critical evolutionary milestone, seen often in eukaryotes, rarely in bacteria, and only once in archaea. We show that uniaxial compression induces clonal mul...
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@KingOfPathogens @kingofpathogens.bsky.social · 27/03/2025
For those still interested in infection and the brain - here is a nice mix of math and pathogens - that tests the function of latency and how the immune system deals with a neuronal infection. Lots going on here to dissect - but turns out latency benefits host and parasite. rdcu.be/efknc
rdcu.be
Immune targeting and host-protective effects of the latent stage of Toxoplasma gondii
Nature Microbiology - In vivo and in silico analyses suggest that bradyzoite-directed immunity contributes to control of cyst numbers, tissue damage and mortality in mice.
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Amanda Shaver @aoshaver.bsky.social · 23/03/2025
Excited our preprint is out looking at BZ resistance in wild #Celegans, C. briggsae, and C. tropicalis strains! #anthelmintics 🪱🎉
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Irene Miguel-Aliaga @irenemiguel-aliaga.bsky.social · 19/03/2025
Lab’s latest: (mouse) mums grow their guts during pregnancy and lactation: www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
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Philippa Matthews @pippa-matt.bsky.social · 15/03/2025
📢 Call-out for #hepatitis B: If you have lived experience, or work in any capacity in this domain, we are working to gather global feedback on the impact of US federal funding cuts. Short questionnaire: forms.gle/f7dYA9vMpkjk... #HBV #USAID #PEPFAR #NIH #HepSky #LiverSky #MedSky #EpiSky #NoHep
forms.gle
'Plan-B': Impact of changes in the global funding landscape for Hepatitis B clinical and research programmes
We are a team of clinicians and researchers based at the Francis Crick Institute in London, and working with international partners and collaborators to advance progress towards hepatitis B eliminatio...
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Petra Meier @pmeierprof.bsky.social · 15/03/2025
Job: Closing 18/3/25. 3 year post, experienced scientist (NB: not new postdoc) to work in the areas of health inequalities, social determinants, climate & health www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DMA604/r.... Please share widely
jobs.ac.uk
Research Fellow at University of Glasgow
An opportunity for an academic position as a Research Fellow is available, as advertised on jobs.ac.uk. Apply now and explore other academic job openings.
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bishara marzook @ghostpathogen.bsky.social · 15/03/2025
"A society will die before its individual members, an individual before his cells, and a cell before its ferments have stopped working." - Peter Medawar, Nobel prize-winning immunologist, from his surprisingly funny and candid collection of essays in "The Uniqueness of the Individual"
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