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Steve Russell

@steverus.bsky.social
225 followers 259 following 136 posts

Life-long fly biologist, vinyl junkie, Head, Department of Genetics in Cambridge

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Steve Russell @steverus.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
We’re recruiting to an assistant/associate professorship in Pathogen Genetics- come and join us. www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/assista...
cam.ac.uk
Assistant/Associate Professor in Pathogen Genetics
Applications are invited for an Assistant or Associate Professorship in Pathogen Genetics to be held in the Department of Genetics. We are searching for a talented individual with a track record of fu...
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Jon Simons @jonsimons.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
The School of Biological Sciences at @cam.ac.uk is seeking a new Director for our Microscopy Bioscience Platform, which brings researchers together through open access to advanced imaging expertise and technology. Please share! www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/directo...
cam.ac.uk
Director of the School of the Biological Sciences Microscopy Bioscience Platform (Associate Research Professor (G10)/Research Professor (G11))
We are seeking a new Director for the Microscopy Bioscience Platform (https://www.bio.cam.ac.uk/microscopy-platform), based within the School of the Biological Sciences city centre campus. This strate...
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Jason Rasgon @vectorgen.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Banger of a new RasgonLab study by Drs. Najmeh Nejat and Travis van Warmerdam on a new arthropod germline CRISPR delivery system. Knock-out AND knock-in by ORAL delivery! No more injections! Germline Engineering by Viral transduction (GEValT)
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Marco MILAN LAB @milanlab.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Milan Lab is recruiting a new PhD student. Deadline: October 30th. Please, spread the news. www.irbbarcelona.org/en/careers/y...
irbbarcelona.org
IRB Barcelona International PhD Fellowships - Extraordinary call 2026
The following will be offered in this call:Up to 8 FPI positions associated with the “Proyectos de Generación de Conocimiento 2025” Call (funded by the Agencia Estatal de Investigación AEI- MICINN).Ch...
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Dave Merritt @butwhatifitsall.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
#911 I picked up my son, Jack, then aged 6, from school on 11 September 2001. It was a crisp, sunny autumn day, not unlike today, and as I drove from work to his school I listened in horror to the radio reports about the attacks on the Twin Towers. I watched on tv when I got home in increasing
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Mike Small @bellacaledonia.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
It was 50 years ago today Rock against Racism was created. MARK PERRYMAN recalls the moment... bellacaledonia.org.uk/2026/09/11/t...
bellacaledonia.org.uk
The Letter that Rocked Racism
It was 50 years ago today Rock against Racism was created. MARK PERRYMAN recalls the moment. 11 September 1976, I can still remember the scene, just like every Thursday morning before lessons, the …
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M Meerkat @kackbro.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
THIS 👇 HERE.......
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Prof Rachel Oliver @profrachelgan.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Andrew Gilligan is claiming that an actual Baron who sits in the House of Lords is unqualified to lead a Cambridge college. These efforts to tear down Black excellence and revert Oxbridge to an old white men's club need to stop. Far, far too much tragedy has already come from this.
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Pieter T. L. Beck @ptrbck.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
We have written a statement in support of Ghent Uni's decision to suspend Nathan Cofnas. We resist attempts to frame this as a punishment for "whistleblowing" or censorship of "controversial research". We invite all academics who share our views to sign our letter. forms.gle/qwN8xzEM5C7Q...
forms.gle
Open letter on the suspension of Nathan Cofnas at Ghent University
We, colleagues of Nathan Cofnas - supported by many colleagues internationally - want to respond to the negative and incorrect framing of Ghent University’s decision to suspend Nathan Cofnas. With th...
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Chance the Lawyer @chancethelawyer.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
say what you will about the myriad valid concerns with current LLMs but I personally will never get over the fact that Aaron Swartz was prosecuted to his literal death for downloading JSTOR and then a decade later, they downloaded & ingested the entire world and our IP laws just went ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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Giorgio Gilestro @giorgio.gilest.ro · 15/08/2026
It was alleged that Jason Arday was an academic fraud mainly based on accusation of plagiarism initially moved by Nathan Cofnas. I have compared Arday's thesis with the one he's been accused of copying and found a bare 4.2% similarity.
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Olivia Guest · Ολίβια Γκεστ @olivia.science · 15/08/2026
With respect to Cofnas, why is nobody talking about this in the MSM? > We find it [improbably] that [he] was the best out of 14 candidates for this job[. His boss] repeatedly stated in the press that [he] published in highly ranked journals and had been affiliated with leading institutions. 1/n
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Andy Fraser @andyfraser.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Your reminder that 2 degrees of global warming does not mean “temperatures will be a little warmer, what’s the biggie?” - it means the probability of extreme drought and heat has gone off scale higher. And if the number of unliveable days goes from zero to quite a lot, well that’s unliveable.
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George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
The Jason Arday story is by no means the biggest scandal at Cambridge University. I'm sure the media is going to pick this up and run with it in just the same way ... Or is the exaggerated CV of one Black professor somehow more important than this?
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Steve Russell @steverus.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Sad to see the genius William Orbit has gone. Love the Strange Cargo & Bass-O-Matic records. Ray of Light is clearly an Orbit record with Madge on vocals. www.theguardian.com/music/2026/a...
theguardian.com
William Orbit, pop producer for Madonna, All Saints and more, dies aged 69
Musician’s projects included Madonna’s Ray of Light, Blur’s 13 and All Saints’ chart-topping singles Pure Shores and Black Coffee
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Athena Kugblenu @athenakugblenu.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
I don't know if Jason Arday is liar. I do know the person who has dedicated himself to Arday's ruin thinks Black Africans are inferior to white people and makes a career out of trying to prove it. Cofnas should have no place in this arena
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Nettlecake @nettlecake.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Brilliant letter from Stuart Thompson to Jeremy Clarkson about his comments that benefit claimants should write weekly thank you letters to tax payers detailing how they spend their benefits each week.
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Mark A. Hanson @hansonmark.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
Hi all, putting feelers out: folks looking for a job ASAP in the 🇬🇧 in Cornwall, or willing to move? Collaborating group hiring a couple roles with skills in any of: - insect injections (incl. gene edits) - machine learning for image analysis - experience with 🦋 a plus! Can email me at link below.
experts.exeter.ac.uk
Discovery
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Department of Genetics, University of Cambridge @geneticscam.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
Year 12 students from the Emmanuel College Summer Residential Programme joined us in the Department of Genetics for hands-on activities exploring developmental biology, genetics, and biomedical research. Many thanks to our postdocs who led the sessions. #ScienceOutreach #STEM
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Darrell Mitchell #MDANT @fac53.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
Now playing The Early Years #modernmoonlight contender for album of the year from @soniccathedral.bsky.social I can here echoes of New order, LCDsoundsystem and A Certain Ratio definitely worth the wait 🖤
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Department of Genetics, University of Cambridge @geneticscam.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
Professor Kate Baker's study from the Department of Genetics is receiving media coverage, helping to bring this important topic to a broader audience. www.cam.ac.uk/research/new...
cam.ac.uk
Sexually transmitted diarrhoea spreading rapidly among some networks of gay men in the UK, study finds
Many men who have sex with men remain unaware of the growing risk posed by sexually transmitted Shigella, say researchers, as a new study shows variants are spreading quickly in the UK and evolving re...
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Margherita Battistara @mbattistara.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
🪲🪰 Our preprint is out! This was a team effort with @wolframponisch.bsky.social, @matthewabenton.bsky.social and Ewa Paluch. We asked whether Drosophila and Tribolium use the same cell behaviours to fold their embryos during gastrulation. 🧵👇 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
biorxiv.org
Morphospace analysis reveals divergent cellular behaviours driving tissue internalisation during insect gastrulation
During gastrulation, embryonic epithelia undergo large-scale remodelling to internalise the mesoderm. Whether the cellular mechanisms underlying these tissue deformations are conserved across species ...
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Stephen Curry @scurry.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
Although spreading disinformation is clearly contrary to scientific values and in breach of the @royalsociety.org code of conduct, they have taken no action against Elon Musk FRS, who owns and runs X.
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In Preparation @inprep.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
inpreparation.substack.com
Elsevier Launches Animated Series ‘Paywally And Friends’ To Teach Children Value Of Restricting Information
AMSTERDAM—Academic publishing giant Elsevier announced Tuesday the launch of Paywally And Friends, a new animated series for children ages three to seven that teaches young viewers the importance of…
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Edward Luce @edwardluce.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
@royalsociety.org I hear you’re blocking people calling on you to cancel Elon Musk’s fellowship. His presence besmirches your name. He’s a danger to British democracy. Reconsider.
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Dave Merritt @butwhatifitsall.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
Now.
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Department of Genetics, University of Cambridge @geneticscam.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
Department of Genetics is hiring a Research Associate (Fixed Term) Details on how to apply: www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/researc...
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Parody Nigel Farage @parodypm.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
There's a new initiative in Makerfield to put signs up pointing at places where idiots live.
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Reese Richardson @reeserichardson.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
The Thermo Fisher situation keeps getting worse. We've now collected 450+ problematic images presented as verification data in TF's antibody catalog. This includes: 🖌️ Dozens more images with duplications or painting 🖨️ Hundreds of blots that all share the same background (behold slideshow below)
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Snigdha @snig.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
Did no one at the BBC have the wit to read the Judge's judgment in this case?
27. Another consequence of those lies is that the attending police officers honestly believed that there were reasonable grounds for suspecting Henry had committed an offence and arrested him with the consequence he was handcuffed for about a minute before his condition further deteriorated and the arresting officer began CPR. The police were given a convincing but wholly false narrative of the incident. It was dark and Henry was wearing a dark top. The entry damage caused by the knife through it, would not have been obvious. Whilst there was visible blood on Henry, it would not have clearly been seen coming from that wound and the clearly visible facial wound was not life-threatening. Henry was complaining that he had been stabbed and was struggling to breathe but that would not have necessarily told the officers how serious the situation had become. It is the experience of the criminal courts that sometimes, someone arrested and handcuffed will feign injury in the hope they may be released. These police officers were faced with having to make quick decisions in pressurised circumstances about the best way to act. The genuine shock to the particular police officer, when he realised that he had been giving CPR to Henry when he had a serious chest wound tends to show that he was doing his best in a very difficult situation.
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Steve Russell @steverus.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
The WC, that once beloved festival of football has been turned into a corrupt money machine by Infantino’s “leadership”. For the 2nd time I’m driven to boycott it despite the unlikely sight of Scotland playing. Makes me sick. Sing up to Reeboot FIFA.
rebootfifa.com
Infantino isn’t fit to lead FIFA. 
And FIFA isn’t fit to govern football. Agree? Add your name now >>
Add your name to our mass complaint
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Aylwyn Scally @aylwyn-scally.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
Postdoctoral job announcement: come to Cambridge and work on population genetic modelling with environmental and ancient DNA, jointly with @gamzeandgursoy.bsky.social and me. Details at www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/55580/ - applications by June 16th.
jobs.cam.ac.uk
Research Associate in Population Genetics Modelling and Environmental DNA (Fixed Term) - Job Opportunities - University of Cambridge
Research Associate in Population Genetics Modelling and Environmental DNA (Fixed Term) in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at the University of Cambridge.
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Kate Baker @ksbakes.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
Our TARGet AMR genomics-comic is out now - check it out, share it, print it, use it in your lectures, PE events, or maybe even when trying to explain what you do to dinner guests! 🤓 🧬 🧫
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Development @dev-journal.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
Antonio García-Bellido (1936-2025) In this Obituary, Marco Milán @milanlab.bsky.social discusses Antonio García-Bellido's legacy: his distinguished career, his mentorship and appointments to the world's leading scientific bodies. journals.biologists.com/dev/article/...
Antonio García-Bellido at the ‘Drosophila Growth and Regeneration Meeting’ in Begur (Girona, Spain) in 2011. Image courtesy of Florenci Serras.
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Steve Russell @steverus.bsky.social · 25/04/2026
Sob. It’s the last dram of the most sublime whisky. Never to be had again ☹️
Empty bottle of 18 year old Caol Ila whisky.
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Department of Genetics, University of Cambridge @geneticscam.bsky.social · 28/04/2025
Want to get paid while gaining valuable experience this summer? 🌟 Our research studentships are open for applications — but time is running out! 📅 Deadline: Friday 2 May www.gen.cam.ac.uk/undergraduat...
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Wellcome Trust @wellcometrust.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
Curious about how we assess grant applications? We’re inviting researchers to observe a Wellcome funding advisory committee in action. Apply by 11 May 2026 ⤵️ wellcome.org/research-fun...
wellcome.org
Apply to observe a Wellcome funding advisory committee | Prepare to Apply | Wellcome
Find out how to observe a Wellcome funding advisory committee. Researchers who are considering applying for Wellcome funding in the next two years can apply to observe a shortlisting committee.
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☘️ColleenAvril☘️🇪🇺💚 @colleenavril.bsky.social · 19/04/2026
#boycottworldcup
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Ben Steventon @bensteventon.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
Excited to announce Physics of Living Matter 19! To be held in Cambridge 24-25th September 2026: www.plm-symposium.org
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Department of Genetics, University of Cambridge @geneticscam.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
Huge thanks to our fantastic scientists for welcoming Year 12 student for a hands-on lab experience. The students gained practical experience in fly phenotyping, staining and imaging, and Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial counterstaining 🧬🧪 #Drosophila #universityofcambridge #Cambridge
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Norman Records @normanrecords.com · 08/04/2026
NORMAN 30TH ANNIVERSARY: Records That Made Us Fresh retrospective thoughts on records which shaped our shop and then some, featuring classics from Aphex Twin, Can, Talk Talk, Om, The Jesus and Mary Chain, my bloody valentine, Shellac, and more… www.normanrecords.com/features/ann...
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Charlotte Houldcroft @virologyhouldcroft.bsky.social · 18/03/2026
Have you ever wondered why children starting nursery/daycare pick up so many germs? I certainly did, and with a crack team of parent-scientists/clinicians, we set out to answer that question. Is childcare a germ factory or an immune bootcamp? journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
journals.asm.org
Germ factories or immune boot camps? Infection and immunity in childcare settings | Clinical Microbiology Reviews
SUMMARYChildcare outside the home is a common experience for many children in high-income countries. It is associated with an increase in the incidence of infectious diseases—not just for the child bu...
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Mark A. Hanson @hansonmark.bsky.social · 13/01/2026
We've got ISSUES. Literally. We scraped >100k special issues & over 1 million articles to bring you a PISS-poor paper. We quantify just how many excess papers are published by guest editors abusing special issues to boost their CVs. How bad is it & what can we do? arxiv.org/abs/2601.07563 A 🧵 1/n
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Lev Parikian @levparikian.bsky.social · 28/12/2025
Anyone looking for the full map or wondering who made it, it’s the work of Matt Brown and it’s here. open.substack.com/pub/londonis...
open.substack.com
Mapping Anglo-Saxon London: A Big Update
A glimpse of London, 1,000 years past.
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Steve Russell @steverus.bsky.social · 25/12/2025
Santa has been good to me this year 😎 @matthewcobb.bsky.social
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Aylwyn Scally @aylwyn-scally.bsky.social · 11/12/2025
Closing date tomorrow!
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Katy @katyboots.bsky.social · 10/12/2025
Aaand... my first cover!! RpS6 phosphorylation (magenta) in a Udd (ribosome biogenesis factor) mutant ovary 🔬
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Department of Genetics, University of Cambridge @geneticscam.bsky.social · 10/12/2025
The Department of Genetics at the University of Cambridge is seeking a talented Postdoctoral Research Associate to work in the group of Dr Felipe Karam Teixeira (www.gen.cam.ac.uk/research-gro...) ➡️For Further details see the link www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/postdoc...
cam.ac.uk
Postdoctoral Research Associate (Fixed Term)
Applications are invited for a Postdoctoral Research Associate position to work in the group of Dr Felipe Karam Teixeira (https://www.gen.cam.ac.uk/research-groups/research-groups/karam-teixeira) in
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Department of Genetics, University of Cambridge @geneticscam.bsky.social · 08/12/2025
The Department of Genetics at the University of Cambridge invites expressions of interest from early career researchers who wish to be sponsored for external fellowships to establish an independent research group. ➡️For further details see the link below www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/group-l...
cam.ac.uk
Group Leader Research Fellowship Sponsorship Scheme
The Department of Genetics at the University of Cambridge invites expressions of interest from early career researchers who wish to be sponsored for external fellowships to establish an independent
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Steve Russell @steverus.bsky.social · 07/12/2025
Last nights dinner
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