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Maximilian Billmann

@maxbillmann.bsky.social
124 followers 264 following 20 posts

TT Prof University clinic Bonn | former postdoc UMN CS | PhD DKFZ | CompBio | CRISPR screening | Data analysis | Networks

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Reposted by Maximilian Billmann
Jesse Boehm @boehmjesse.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Hot off the press in Nature! After 10 years, 2,780 patients and 300+ scientists, today we announce the Human Cancer Models Initiative (HCMI) release of 665 organoids and other next generation models! All models and data available to accelerate cancer drug discovery! @nature.com rdcu.be/fx3I3
rdcu.be
A compendium of next-generation patient-derived models for diverse cancers
Nature - The international collaboration of the Human Cancer Models Initiative presents a comprehensive resource of next-generation cancer models from 2,780 donors with 25 cancer types and...
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Maximilian Billmann @maxbillmann.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
Amazing work by @miketilapia.bsky.social and colleagues, congrats! I really enjoyed the timely talk at @eventswcs.bsky.social this morning.
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Maximilian Billmann @maxbillmann.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
Glad to see that our preprint was among the QED top 1% www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
biorxiv.org
A global genetic interaction map of a human cell reveals conserved principles of genetic networks
We generated a genome-scale, genetic interaction network from the analysis of more than 4 million double mutants in the haploid human cell line, HAP1. The network maps ∼90,000 genetic interactions, in...
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Reposted by Maximilian Billmann
Pedro Beltrao @pedrobeltrao.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
@qedscience.bsky.social has come up with a really controversial idea - an AI score for scientific impact. This trained score correlates with the impact factor of published preprints and the binning of papers into discrete quality bins accessed by independent scientists. Backlash in 3, 2, 1... (more)
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Maximilian Billmann @maxbillmann.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
It was an absolute pleasure to host Carmen Herranz-Ors from @mgarnett.bsky.social @sangerinstitute.bsky.social to present their paradigm-shifting effort on #CRISPR screening in #organoids at the Organoid Club @unibonn.bsky.social
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Reposted by Maximilian Billmann
Fillip Port @crisprflydesign.bsky.social · 12/05/2026
Interesting new #CRISPR papers. Two studies show that Cas12a2 can act as a RNA-guided DNA shredder to selectively kill cancer cells. www.nature.com/articles/s41... www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Schematic showing the principle of transcript-selective cell killing. Cas12a2 binds specific transcripts via its guideRNA, activating non-specific DNA cleavage in trans, inducing DNA damage and cell death.
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Reposted by Maximilian Billmann
The EMBO Journal @embojournal.org · 07/05/2026
SLX4IP acts as a genome-wide brake on BLM helicase activity to preserve replication fork stability under stress – both globally and at ALT telomeres Stephanie Panier @spanier55.bsky.social, Kavi Mehta @k4v1.bsky.social and coworkers link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com
SLX4IP limits replication stress globally and at ALT telomeres - The EMBO Journal
Faithful DNA replication is essential for genome stability, yet replication forks face constant stress. The Bloom syndrome helicase (BLM) safeguards fork integrity, but excessive BLM activity can itse...
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Maximilian Billmann @maxbillmann.bsky.social · 16/02/2026
New preprint by @traver.bsky.social . Congrats Rosalind, Traver and colleagues!
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Maximilian Billmann @maxbillmann.bsky.social · 04/02/2026
And more isogenic CRISPR screens coming out of Toronto @sickkidsto.bsky.social, this time by Mike Tyers and team - congrats! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
biorxiv.org
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Maximilian Billmann @maxbillmann.bsky.social · 23/01/2026
Great new work from @colmr.bsky.social predicts a cancer dependency map for paralogs: doi.org/10.64898/202....
doi.org
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Maximilian Billmann @maxbillmann.bsky.social · 20/11/2025
Perhaps one of the most anticipated data in my recent memory- amazing talk by Carmen from @sangerinstitute.bsky.social at @eurocancerdepmap.bsky.social
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Maximilian Billmann @maxbillmann.bsky.social · 20/11/2025
Truly inspiring talk by @icrlordlab.bsky.social at @eurocancerdepmap.bsky.social
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Reposted by Maximilian Billmann
Ben Lehner @benlehner.bsky.social · 23/10/2025
TF-MAPS: fast high-resolution functional and allosteric mapping of DNA-binding proteins by @XianghuaLi2 Are Transcription Factors really 'undruggable'? www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
biorxiv.org
TF-MAPS: fast high-resolution functional and allosteric mapping of DNA-binding proteins
Transcription factors (TFs) bind specific DNA sequences to control gene expression. Modulating TF activity is of considerable therapeutic interest but very few TFs have been successfully drugged. TF D...
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Maximilian Billmann @maxbillmann.bsky.social · 17/09/2025
"...predicting responses to unseen perturbations is substantially harder than standard metrics suggest". I am not surprised. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Systema: a framework for evaluating genetic perturbation response prediction beyond systematic variation - Nature Biotechnology
An evaluation framework isolates perturbation-specific effects in perturbation datasets.
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Maximilian Billmann @maxbillmann.bsky.social · 08/09/2025
Can you find therapeutic targets for cardiomyopathies using simple, clean genetics in a human cell line? www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Genetic suppression features ABHD18 as a Barth syndrome therapeutic target - Nature
The enzyme ABHD18 is shown to have a key role in cardiolipin metabolism in mitochondria, offering a potential route for a small-molecule treatment of the rare genetic disease Barth syndrome.
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Reposted by Maximilian Billmann
Cell Reports Medicine @cp-cellrepmed.bsky.social · 21/08/2025
Online now: Combined MEK and PARP inhibition enhances radiation response in rectal cancer
dlvr.it
Combined MEK and PARP inhibition enhances radiation response in rectal cancer
Xiao et al. use patient-derived rectal cancer organoids to identify that MEK inhibitors enhance radiation sensitivity by downregulating the DNA damage response protein RAD51. They find synergy with combined PARP inhibition in different preclinical models, thereby offering a promising regimen and potential future alternative to conventional chemoradiation in locally advanced rectal cancer.
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Maximilian Billmann @maxbillmann.bsky.social · 19/08/2025
rdcu.be/eBl5k
rdcu.be
Large-scale CRISPR screening in primary human 3D gastric organoids enables comprehensive dissection of gene-drug interactions
Nature Communications - CRISPR-Cas9-based screens have allowed the study of gene-drug interactions. Here, the authors develop CRISPR-Cas9 knock-out, activation and repression screens in human...
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Reposted by Maximilian Billmann
Mike Lee @theleelab.bsky.social · 15/08/2025
I’m excited to highlight our latest paper, just published in Cell 🎉 We report the existence of a previously uncharacterized signaling pathway that is responsible for activating cell death upon loss of gene expression. 1/n 🧪 www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
cell.com
RNA Pol II inhibition activates cell death independently from the loss of transcription
When RNA polymerase II (RNA Pol II) is inhibited, the inhibition is sensed and signaled to mitochondria, leading to programmed cell death independently of the loss of RNA Pol II transcription activity...
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Reposted by Maximilian Billmann
Katja Luck @katjaluck.bsky.social · 01/07/2025
Variant characterization in the intrinsically disordered human proteome - here is how we did it using short linear motif prediction, AlphaFold, and experimentation. Check out our preprint: www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...
biorxiv.org
Variant characterization in the intrinsically disordered human proteome
Variant effect prediction remains a key challenge to resolve in precision medicine. Sophisticated computational models that exploit sequence conservation and structure are increasingly successful in t...
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Reposted by Maximilian Billmann
Anshul Kundaje @anshulkundaje.bsky.social · 28/06/2025
One thing that really bothers me with the new "virtual cell" terminology is that it is currently largely focused on a very narrow definition of models that can predict effects of trans perturbations (gene dosage, drugs etc) on gene expression. 1/
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Reposted by Maximilian Billmann
Atlas of Variant Effects Alliance @varianteffect.bsky.social · 25/06/2025
We are pleased to announce the publication of our manuscript "Mapping MAVE data for use in human genomics applications" in Genome Biology! 🧵 1/3 genomebiology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10....
genomebiology.biomedcentral.com
Mapping MAVE data for use in human genomics applications - Genome Biology
Background Experimental data from functional assays have a critical role in interpreting the impact of genetic variants. Assay data must be unambiguously mapped to a reference genome to make it access...
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Reposted by Maximilian Billmann
Doug Fowler @dougfowler.bsky.social · 15/05/2025
Our "Atlas of Variant Effects 2030 Roadmap" is live: zenodo.org/records/1542... 1/n
zenodo.org
Atlas of Variant Effects 2030 Roadmap: resolving human variants of uncertain significance
At the Clinical Atlas of Variant Effects meeting (CLAVE meeting, July 2024, Pittsburgh USA), we developed recommendations for a draft atlas that can be realized by 2030, with a focus on empowering gen...
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Reposted by Maximilian Billmann
Isabelle Zane @isabellease.bsky.social · 22/05/2025
Jason Moffat at #VariantEffect25
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Reposted by Maximilian Billmann
Itai Yanai @itaiyanai.bsky.social · 15/05/2025
Have you discovered the Night Science Podcast yet? @nightsciencepod.bsky.social
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