A group of about 30 people pose together in a bright office space.

Today, we’re launching a new company, ALTx Therapeutics. Founded by Simon Boulton, the company will develop the first precision therapies targeting ALT cancers, in partnership with Slingshot Therapeutics Limited and @crhorizons.bsky.social.

Find out more ➡️ www.crick.ac.uk/news/2026-02...

SLFN11 restricts escape from telomere crisis to prevent alternative lengthening of telomeres The tRNA nuclease SLFN11 is epigenetically silenced in ~50% of treatment-naive tumours and is the strongest predictor of chemoresistance but why it is frequently inactivated in cancer is unknown. To a...

🚀 New preprint alert!

We uncover SLFN11 as a molecular gatekeeper that restricts alternative lengthening of telomeres (ALT) by sensing telomere-associated replication stress and triggering apoptosis.

📄 Read the manuscript here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Have a read of our latest work on a mechanism by which SLFN11, a gene mutated in 50% of cancers, can be activated. Implications for why cancers don't want functional SLFN11 around

Merry Boulton Lab Retreat! Great fun team building and going over some hot topics in DDR/chromatin/immune biology. Same again next year please! @mattdnewton.bsky.social @ssegurabayona.bsky.social @federicaraguseo.bsky.social @claralnovo.bsky.social

Thank you @promegauk.bsky.social for the Christmas hamper

Transcription-coupled repair of DNA–protein crosslinks DNA–protein crosslinks (DPCs) are highly toxic DNA lesions that are relevant to multiple human diseases. They are caused by various endogenous and environmental agents, and from the actions of enzymes...

Happy to share a review written with the wonderful @jstingele.bsky.social on transcription-coupled DPC repair, featuring an overview of new methods, close comparison with TC-NER, comments on clinical implications and plenty of discussion of the unknowns.

www.cell.com/trends/cell-...

Telomere function and regulation from mouse models to human ageing and disease - Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology Telomere dysfunction, usually owing to shortening, activates cellular senescence and can contribute to age-associated diseases and cancer. Mouse models are crucial for telomere research, but human and...

“In this Review, we discuss #telomere protection, maintenance and damage. We highlight the differences between #human and #mouse telomere biology that may contribute to discrepancies between human #diseases and mouse models.” #telomerase #aging
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Here is a brief summary of academic journals and news account.

Please help me add more accounts to this list!

go.bsky.app/hCfhqn

Good thing the #CBIAS2024 organizers sent a plan to reach the @thecrick.bsky.social , I almost missed the tiny building

@mjafreeman.bsky.social's BlueSky starter packs for 'mechanistic' biologists

Here’s my spreadsheet of starter packs (>80!) related to broadly ‘mechanistic biology’ plus some intriguing extras

Complete with collective nouns

I’ve been tracking these but now can’t keep up

Hope it’s helpful

2/2

docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

First post is to introduce Pablo to bluesky. Science will follow.

GS II is here! Please follow the newly arrived folks, and comment/DM to be included!
go.bsky.app/VeCmq6

ok, I tried to make a starter pack on genome stability/DNA replication/DNA repair etc. Sorry if I couldn't find someone, please nominate yourself and your colleagues in comments or DMs, looking forward to connecting with everyone!
go.bsky.app/9jdDNxG

Hi BlueSky! It's great to be here. Here's a handy Starter Pack of DNA repair & genome stability groups that I found so far go.bsky.app/NvFWKvL