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Tomoaki Sobajima

@tomogolgier.bsky.social
64 followers 75 following 28 posts

Postdoc in Barr Lab, Department of Biochemistry, University of Oxford | Trinity College #cellcycle #mitosis #membranetraffic scholar.google.co.uk/citations?hl=e… twitter.com/tomogolgier

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Tomoaki Sobajima @tomogolgier.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
🥉 🎉
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Alexis Barr @alexisbarr.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
We're looking for a new Roving Research @mrc-lms.bsky.social A unique post for those who love research, learning new techniques & working across different teams. Must be a great communicator & well organised! Apply by 21 June: fa-evzn-saasfaukgovprod1.fa.ocs.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid...
fa-evzn-saasfaukgovprod1.fa.ocs.oraclecloud.com
Investigator Scientist Roving Researcher
Investigator Scientist (Roving Researcher) (LMS 2369) Salary £42,159 – 44,801 plus London Allowance (£5,560) per annum | 2 years fixed term | Full time | Closing Date: 21 June
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Tomoaki Sobajima @tomogolgier.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
Genome instability triggers intercellular DNA transfer between human cells: Cell www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
cell.com
Genome instability triggers intercellular DNA transfer between human cells
Mammalian cells can pass damaged pieces of their genome directly to neighboring cells via contact-dependent, nanotube-like connections. These transferred DNA fragments persist and function, revealing ...
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Cell Biology J-Club @cellclub.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
Microtubule dynamics control the direction of cardiomyocyte growth | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
science.org
Microtubule dynamics control the direction of cardiomyocyte growth
The adult heart grows by the addition of sarcomeres along the length or width of individual cardiomyocytes, yet how directional growth is spatially coordinated remains unclear. We found that microtubu...
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Tomoaki Sobajima @tomogolgier.bsky.social · 10/05/2026
RNA-triggered cell killing with CRISPR–Cas12a2 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
RNA-triggered cell killing with CRISPR–Cas12a2 - Nature
Cas12a2 enables RNA-triggered, sequence-specific killing of eukaryotic cells via widespread DNA shredding, allowing selective elimination of cells on the basis of gene expression, including virus-infe...
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Reposted by Tomoaki Sobajima
Cell Biology J-Club @cellclub.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Endosome maturation is orchestrated by inside-out proton signaling through a Na+/H+ exchanger and pH-dependent Rab GTPase cycling - Nature Communications
The role of lumen acidification during endosome maturation has been unclear. Here, the authors show that proton efflux via a Na+/H+ exchanger is detected by a pH-sensitive Rab GAP, which promotes endo...
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Tomoaki Sobajima @tomogolgier.bsky.social · 02/05/2026
Toward life with a 19–amino acid alphabet through generative artificial intelligence design | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
science.org
Toward life with a 19–amino acid alphabet through generative artificial intelligence design
Because all known living organisms are made from at least 20 canonical amino acids, the feasibility of life using a more simplified alphabet remains unclear. In this work, we leveraged computational d...
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Tomoaki Sobajima @tomogolgier.bsky.social · 30/04/2026
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Nuclear N-glycosylation maintains H3K9me3 heterochromatin and genomic stability - Nature Cell Biology
Tang, Dai, Qing, Zhang and colleagues describe a role for N-glycosylation in the nucleus: N-glycans modify inner nuclear membrane proteins, and the modification is implicated in the maintenance of H3K...
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Tomoaki Sobajima @tomogolgier.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
Mechanical load inhibits cancer growth in mouse and human hearts | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
science.org
Mechanical load inhibits cancer growth in mouse and human hearts
The heart rarely develops cancer, and, at the same time, it lacks regenerative capacity, as cardiomyocytes stop proliferating after birth. This suggests that mechanisms limiting cardiac regeneration m...
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Tomoaki Sobajima @tomogolgier.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
Nuclear envelope budding enables export of large transcripts in muscle cells: Cell www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
cell.com
Nuclear envelope budding enables export of large transcripts in muscle cells
During myogenesis, inner nuclear membrane buds export extremely long sarcomeric transcripts. UIF controls RNA cargo targeting into these buds, and ESCRT-III remodeling is required to internalize UIF a...
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Tomoaki Sobajima @tomogolgier.bsky.social · 26/04/2026
www.onclive.com/view/daraxon...
onclive.com
Daraxonrasib Demonstrates First-Line Activity With/Without Chemotherapy in Metastatic PDAC | OncLive
Phase 1/2 data from 2 separate studies have shown signals of improved survival and safety with the agent, supporting its evaluation in a phase 3 trial.
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Tomoaki Sobajima @tomogolgier.bsky.social · 25/04/2026
What I learned today: Actin branch angle: around 70 degrees 😲 PNAS 1998 www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.... Actin branching, primarily mediated by the Arp2/3 complex, typically occurs at a characteristic angle of 70° ± 7° between the mother filament and the new daughter filament.
pnas.org
PNAS
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans...
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Cell Biology J-Club @cellclub.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
A pro-carcinogenic bacterial toxin binds claudin-4 to cleave E-cadherin - Nature
CRISPR screening shows that claudin-4 is a receptor for the pro-carcinogenic B. fragilis toxin on colonic epithelial cells, and that this interaction promotes cleavage of E-cadherin, le...
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Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy @sigtrans-sttt.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
The cryptic lncRNA-encoded microprotein TPM3P9 promotes #ccRCC tumorigenesis by driving #Oncogenic RNA splicing, revealing a novel regulatory mechanism and potential #TherapeuticTarget in #RenalCancer. #STTT #OpenAccess: doi.org/10.1038/s413...
The cryptic lncRNA-encoded microprotein TPM3P9 drives oncogenic RNA splicing and tumorigenesis
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Tomoaki Sobajima @tomogolgier.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Visualizing suborganellar lipid distribution using correlative light and electron microscopy - Nature Cell Biology
Lennartz et al. introduce a correlative light and electron microscopy workflow, Lipid-CLEM, combining near-native lipid probes and on-section labelling via click chemistry. Lipid-CLEM quantitatively a...
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Tomoaki Sobajima @tomogolgier.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
The dynamics of centromere assembly and disassembly during quiescence url: rupress.org/jcb/article/...
rupress.org
The dynamics of centromere assembly and disassembly during quiescence
Marescal et al. show that quiescent cells disassemble their centromeres through the transcriptional downregulation of most centromere proteins while preser
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Tomoaki Sobajima @tomogolgier.bsky.social · 12/04/2026
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
A single-nucleotide enhancer mutation overrides chromosomal sex to drive XX male development - Nature Communications
A single base pair insertion in the Sox9 enhancer, Enh13, mediates XX female-to-male sex reversal. This subtle non-coding mutation reconfigures transcriptional regulation, enhances Sox9 expression, re...
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Nature @nature.com · 07/04/2026
This researcher created a fictional illness, and fake studies funded by the Professor Sideshow Bob Foundation and University of the Fellowship of the Ring and the Galactic Triad. LLMs warned people the illness was real. go.nature.com/48mAyh9
go.nature.com
Scientists invented a fake disease. AI told people it was real
Bixonimania doesn’t exist except in a clutch of obviously bogus academic papers. So why did AI chatbots warn people about this fictional illness?
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Daniel Durocher @durocher1.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
Great conference, great science and great location!
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Cell Chemical Biology @cp-cellchembiol.bsky.social · 23/03/2026
Online now! Online now! Control of the signaling of RAS proteins by modulating their palmitoylation #chembiol
dlvr.it
Control of the signaling of RAS proteins by modulating their palmitoylation
Zhu et al. report an approach to reversibly control protein S-palmitoylation by fusing the depalmitoylase APT1 to target proteins. Using RAS proteins, they show that this approach enables the dynamic modulation of RAS palmitoylation and membrane localization by an APT1 inhibitor, and offers a platform for screening RAS palmitoyltransferase inhibitors.
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The Francis Crick Institute @crick.ac.uk · 23/03/2026
“I think it’s a real mistake to forget where the pipeline for all this begins.” John Diffley reflects on the importance of basic research, his mission to decode DNA replication and recreate it in the lab, and the scientific optimism of the 1960s that helped shape it. www.crick.ac.uk/news/2026-03...
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Science Magazine @science.org · 20/03/2026
Drugs that inhibit KRAS signaling delay the development of pancreatic cancer in mice. Learn more in a new #SciencePerspective: scim.ag/3N9Utsu
scim.ag
KRAShing pancreatic cancer before takeoff
Drugs that inhibit KRAS signaling delay the development of pancreatic cancer in mice
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Cell Chemical Biology @cp-cellchembiol.bsky.social · 19/03/2026
De novo design of Ras isoform selective binders
dlvr.it
De novo design of Ras isoform selective binders
Zhang et al. use deep learning-based protein design to create isoform-specific Ras binders that selectively target the disordered C termini. These tools enable precise dissection of Ras isoform functions and uncover distinct Ras dependencies that emerge during RasG12C inhibitor resistance.
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vagnarellilab.bsky.social @vagnarellilab.bsky.social · 19/03/2026
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
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The EMBO Journal @embojournal.org · 20/03/2026
Loss of the ubiquitin ligase targeting factor KEAP1 induces NRF2-driven reductive stress, revealing KEAP1-dependent therapeutic vulnerabilities of KEAP1-mutant NSCLC, particularly under metabolic stress @idikic.bsky.social @diefenbacherlab.bsky.social and coworkers link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com
Targeting ubiquitin signaling vulnerabilities in KEAP1-inactivated lung cancer - The EMBO Journal
Lung cancer cells rely on protein homeostasis regulators, particularly the ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS), to sustain malignancy. Genetic alterations in UPS components, such as E3 ubiquitin ligases...
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Cell Biology J-Club @cellclub.bsky.social · 20/03/2026
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com
Ca²⁺ leakage is a conserved signal for non-canonical ATG8/LC3 lipidation and membrane repair - The EMBO Journal
Endomembrane damage of intracellular vesicles triggers signals that activate membrane repair in mammalian cells to restore homeostasis. However, the signals that drive diverse membrane repair recruitm...
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Phil Biggin @philbiggin.bsky.social · 20/03/2026
Happy to see our work on SLCO2A1 with @smlea.bsky.social, Nakanishi and Newstead labs out now. Important insight into how prostaglandin and many drugs are transported. Hats off to @weitse-hsu.bsky.social for computational work! @oxfordbiochemistry.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Structural basis for prostaglandin and drug transport via SLCO2A1
Nature Communications - SLCO2A1 (also known as OATP2A1) is responsible for the transport of eicosanoids, including prostaglandins (PGs), as well as of a subset of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory...
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Tomoaki Sobajima @tomogolgier.bsky.social · 08/03/2026
Mitosis…?😂
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Tomoaki Sobajima @tomogolgier.bsky.social · 06/03/2026
Just realised, only 663 accesses since June last year…🫠
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Tomoaki Sobajima @tomogolgier.bsky.social · 23/01/2026
I just like the image they created😂 My PI is not offering any support or guidance on my PhD project, what should I do? www.nature.com/articles/d41...
nature.com
My PI is not offering any support or guidance on my PhD project, what should I do?
A safety engineer feels abandoned by their principal investigator. How should they find support?
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Tomoaki Sobajima @tomogolgier.bsky.social · 01/01/2026
Happy New Year from Germany 🇩🇪 🎇
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Alexis Barr @alexisbarr.bsky.social · 03/12/2025
New lab preprint! We find that Wee1 phosphorylates Cdh1(FZR1) and suppresses APC/C(Cdh1) activity to promote S-phase entry A fantastic team effort from the combined forces of @lavuillemenot.bsky.social, Lucas Morales, Calin-Mihai Dragoi & Beth Pennycook www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...
biorxiv.org
Wee1 opposes APC/C(Cdh1) activity to promote S-phase entry
Wee1 phosphorylates and inhibits CDK activity to inhibit mitotic entry and establish a G2 DNA damage checkpoint. Consequently, Wee1 inhibitors are in clinical trials, developed to be synthetically let...
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Cell Biology J-Club @cellclub.bsky.social · 06/10/2025
www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medic...
nobelprize.org
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2025
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2025 was awarded to Mary E. Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell and Shimon Sakaguchi “for their discoveries concerning peripheral immune tolerance.”
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Nature Cell Biology @natcellbio.nature.com · 26/02/2025
☕️Fulcher et al. show that #MDM2 times mitosis through self-catalysed ubiquitination and proteasomal destruction, triggering G1 arrest following delays in #mitosis associated with chromosome instability and #aneuploidy. bit.ly/3EXaAoN
bit.ly
MDM2 functions as a timer reporting the length of mitosis - Nature Cell Biology
Fulcher et al. show that MDM2 times mitosis through self-catalysed ubiquitination and proteasomal destruction, triggering G1 arrest following delays in mitosis associated with chromosome instability and aneuploidy.
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Tomoaki Sobajima @tomogolgier.bsky.social · 04/10/2025
Nice nice.
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Daniel Durocher @durocher1.bsky.social · 10/09/2025
New work from the lab! 🔬 We report that DDIAS is a new component of the mitotic CIP2A-TOPBP1 pathway of genome maintenance. 1/n www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
biorxiv.org
Mitotic single-stranded DNA suppression by DDIAS
Incomplete DNA replication and chromosome breakage during mitosis pose major threats to chromosome segregation. The CIP2A-TOPBP1 complex acts to mitigate this peril, but its exact role is not yet unde...
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Journal of Cell Biology @jcb.org · 25/08/2025
Multiple golgins are required to support extracellular matrix secretion, modification and assembly, say George Thompson, Nicola Stevenson and colleagues @bristoluni.bsky.social: rupress.org/jcb/article/... #Organelles #Biochemistry #Trafficking #Golgi
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Tomoaki Sobajima @tomogolgier.bsky.social · 23/08/2025
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Targeting G1–S-checkpoint-compromised cancers with cyclin A/B RxL inhibitors - Nature
Dual cyclin A/B RxL inhibitors selectively kill small cell lung cancer cells and other cancer cells with high E2F activity.
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The EMBO Journal @embojournal.org · 01/08/2025
Review in issue 15: Midbrain organoid models of dopaminergic system WIP1 affects the mitotic timer Legionella affects autophagy by SNARE phoshoribosyl-ubiquitination Dysfunctional mitochondria trap proteins between their membranes Cover by @meunierlab.bsky.social www.embopress.org/toc/14602075...
This cover highlights the article Lysine myristoylation mediates long-term potentiation via membrane enrichment of synaptic plasticity effectors by Benjamin Matthews, Tristan P. Wallis, Frédéric A. Meunier and colleagues. Chemical LTP (cLTP) robustly promotes the formation of new dendritic spines in hippocampal neurons. We detect a marked increase in spine number and an enlargement of spine heads. However, this plasticity is completely blocked by inhibiting either DDHD2 or N-myristoyltransferase (NMT1/2). These findings demonstrate that DDHD2 and myristoylation are key regulators of synaptic plasticity. DIV21 primary mouse hippocampal neuron transfected with cytosolic GFP to visualise dendritic processes and spines. 3D z-stack image acquired 2 hours following chemical LTP showing the number and size of dendritic spines is significantly increased with potentiation. Inhibition of DDHD2 and NMT1/2 abolishes this effect.
Scientific image by Sevannah Steeves, University of Queensland
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Tomoaki Sobajima @tomogolgier.bsky.social · 15/07/2025
Our co-author Luke nicely describes our EMBO J paper on LinkedIn - have a look: www.linkedin.com/posts/luke-j...
linkedin.com
Very excited to share our latest paper on the effect of DNA damage in the preceding G2 phase on the mitotic timer pathway! | Luke J. Fulcher
Very excited to share our latest paper on the effect of DNA damage in the preceding G2 phase on the mitotic timer pathway! Cells that experience delays in mitosis, indicative of problems in aligning...
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Trends in Cell Biology @cp-trendscellbio.bsky.social · 08/07/2025
Time as a danger signal promoting G1 arrest after mitosis
dlvr.it
Time as a danger signal promoting G1 arrest after mitosis
Cell cycle checkpoints preventing the replication and inheritance of damaged DNA are crucial for maintaining genome stability and stopping the growth of damaged cells. Canonical checkpoints do this by preventing passage between cell cycle phases until damage has been repaired, or by promoting cell cycle exit. Herein we review checkpoint integration between cell cycle phases, specifically findings showing that extended spindle assembly checkpoint surveillance in mitosis is a danger signal triggering G1 cell cycle arrest. Evidence linking mitotic delays induced by activation of the spindle assembly checkpoint with positive and negative regulators of the G1 DNA damage checkpoint target p53 is discussed, with a focus on time-dependent changes to a p53-binding deubiquitinating complex USP28–53BP1 and the p53 ubiquitin-ligase mouse double minute homologue 2 (MDM2), respectively.
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Tomoaki Sobajima @tomogolgier.bsky.social · 24/06/2025
Huge thanks to members of the Barr Lab, EMBOJ Editor Hartmut @hvodermaier.bsky.social and all reviewers!
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Tomoaki Sobajima @tomogolgier.bsky.social · 20/06/2025
Wait for a follow-up paper from “Team Timer” being published online soon. There will be lots of (colourful) cell tracking out there 🔜
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Cell Biology J-Club @cellclub.bsky.social · 31/05/2025
Oxr1 and Ncoa7 regulate V-ATPase to achieve optimal pH for glycosylation within the Golgi apparatus and trans-Golgi network | PNAS www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
pnas.org
Oxr1 and Ncoa7 regulate V-ATPase to achieve optimal pH for glycosylation within the Golgi apparatus and trans-Golgi network | PNAS
Maintenance of pH within membranous organelles is crucial for cellular processes such as posttranslational modifications, ligand–receptor interacti...
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Lüders Lab @luderslab.bsky.social · 24/05/2025
During #mitosis, before assembling the mitotic spindle, the early mouse embryo lacking #centrosomes uses #actin rather than #microtubules for chromosome congression 👀👇🏼
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Nature Portfolio @natureportfolio.nature.com · 10/05/2025
Nature reports on the momentum that is building for PROTAC treatments, which eliminate disease-causing proteins, including those responsible for difficult-to-treat childhood cancers. 🧪
go.nature.com
How protein-slayer drugs could beat some of the cruellest cancers
Momentum is building for PROTAC treatments that eliminate disease-causing proteins, including those responsible for difficult-to-treat childhood cancers.
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Christie Wilcox @nerdychristie.bsky.social · 04/03/2025
Genetically altered 'woolly mice' express several mammoth-like traits, including the animal's iconic coat. The cuteness, meanwhile, is a complete coincidence. That and more of the best in @science.org and science in this edition of #ScienceAdviser: www.science.org/content/arti... 🧪
A woolly mouse (left) next to an ordinary one. CREDIT: Colossal Biosciences
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Oxford Biochemistry @oxfordbiochemistry.bsky.social · 12/02/2025
The Barr lab @ox.ac.uk has discovered the important role of cell division timing mechanisms in the formation of cancer. The research, funded by Cancer Research UK, provides valuable insight into how damaged cells are normally stopped from growing. ⬇️ bit.ly/202502-barr
bit.ly
Cancer beats the clock
New research unveils the important role of cell division timing mechanisms in the formation of cancer
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Oxford Biochemistry @oxfordbiochemistry.bsky.social · 09/01/2025
Congratulations to Francis Barr and his team!
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