Robert Screaton

Robert Screaton

@roblab.bsky.social

scientist. regeneration. mitochondria. diabetes. cancer. views my own.

229 followers72 following136 posts

Robert Screaton
@roblab.bsky.social

Important thread if you value what research can (could?) do for Canada

Michael Hendricks πŸ‡¨πŸ‡¦@michaelhendricks.bsky.social

Thread. Apologies in advance, I've been grinding away for weeks on a grant with maybe a 10% success rate. Canadian researchers work in buildings held together with duct tape, run labs on shoestrings, and spend more and more time competing for lower and lower success rate operating programs.

Robert Screaton
@roblab.bsky.social

user: what's 2+2? google AI: 5. let me know if you want to add other numbers. user: it's 4. i'm good. google AI: you're right to flag that. let me know if you want to add other numbers.

Robert Screaton reposted

Mark Pownall
@mpownall.bsky.social

First preprint from the lab 🚨 We asked when and how global chromatin organization emerges during early development 🐟

bioRxiv Developmental Biology@biorxiv-devbio.bsky.social

RNA-dependent chromatin organization during development https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.08.14.744931v1

Robert Screaton
@roblab.bsky.social

Hi Jim, I think there's a real concern that reducing CIHR Project Grant competitions from two per year to one would likely worsen, rather than solve, current problems.

Jim Woodgett@jwoodgett.bsky.social

Due to my role at the Terry Fox Research Institute I no longer comment publically on CIHR but this largest funder of Canadian health research made an important statement today: cihr-irsc.gc.ca/e/54795.html and I can’t just watch this beloved agency crash.

cihr-irsc.gc.caWhat we heard: Strengthening the long-term sustainability of the Project Grant program - CIHRThe purpose of this phase of our engagement has not been to make or announce decisions. It has been to build a shared understanding of the pressures facing the system and to hear from applicants, reviewers and institutions on possible interventions and their implications.
View full thread
Robert Screaton
@roblab.bsky.social

More effective reforms might include better reviewer matching and calibration, earlier triage, bridge funding for more near-miss proposals, and funding policies that maximize scientific progress rather than administrative efficiency.

Robert Screaton
@roblab.bsky.social

That said, none of these fixes would work as well as a long-overdue increase in the envelope from the federal government to support CIHR. This is where our community and an engaged public interested in novel treatments and cures could place our energy.

Robert Screaton
@roblab.bsky.social

Hi Jim, I think there's a real concern that reducing CIHR Project Grant competitions from two per year to one would likely worsen, rather than solve, current problems.

Jim Woodgett@jwoodgett.bsky.social

Due to my role at the Terry Fox Research Institute I no longer comment publically on CIHR but this largest funder of Canadian health research made an important statement today: cihr-irsc.gc.ca/e/54795.html and I can’t just watch this beloved agency crash.

cihr-irsc.gc.caWhat we heard: Strengthening the long-term sustainability of the Project Grant program - CIHRThe purpose of this phase of our engagement has not been to make or announce decisions. It has been to build a shared understanding of the pressures facing the system and to hear from applicants, reviewers and institutions on possible interventions and their implications.
View full thread
Robert Screaton
@roblab.bsky.social

I'd argue that reviewer fatigue stems primarily from low funding rates and the need to distinguish among many outstanding proposals, not from the number of competitions.

Robert Screaton
@roblab.bsky.social

Hi Jim, I think there's a real concern that reducing CIHR Project Grant competitions from two per year to one would likely worsen, rather than solve, current problems.

Jim Woodgett@jwoodgett.bsky.social

Due to my role at the Terry Fox Research Institute I no longer comment publically on CIHR but this largest funder of Canadian health research made an important statement today: cihr-irsc.gc.ca/e/54795.html and I can’t just watch this beloved agency crash.

cihr-irsc.gc.caWhat we heard: Strengthening the long-term sustainability of the Project Grant program - CIHRThe purpose of this phase of our engagement has not been to make or announce decisions. It has been to build a shared understanding of the pressures facing the system and to hear from applicants, reviewers and institutions on possible interventions and their implications.
Robert Screaton
@roblab.bsky.social

Metabolic signatures that distinguish LADA, T1D link.springer.com/article/10.1...

link.springer.comMetabolomic profile differs between LADA and type 1 diabetes identifying tryptophan metabolism as a pathway involved in the heterogeneity of autoimmune diabetes - DiabetologiaAims/hypothesis The heterogeneity of autoimmune diabetes may be associated with variable metabolic alterations. Our aim was to investigate differences in the metabolomic and lipidomic profile of autoi...

Robert Screaton reposted

Society for Developmental Biology
@socdevbio.bsky.social

Emoticons: E9.5 mouse embryo sections through otocyst, hindbrain and pharyngeal endoderm resemble eyes, nose, and smile of an emoticon. πŸ“Έ Image credit: Ankita Thawani (Baylor College of Medicine) #FluorescenceFriday #Embryology #DevelopmentalBiology #Microscopy #ScienceArt✨ 🧬

Robert Screaton reposted

Mark Huising
@huisinglab.bsky.social

Not just a critique, an editorial that was published in the ADA's own flagship journal Diabetes Care. The experts included several past ADA Presidents and Award winners. Page views before the ADA publicized the editorial <300, approaching 10k now. Link below, let's help the ADA get the word out.

Brandon Friedman@brandonfriedman.bsky.social

A real headline in the United States today

Robert Screaton
@roblab.bsky.social

Are there predictive T2D indicators in existing clinical data? Yes, thx to deep learning Detection of young-onset type 2 diabetes using deep learning across primary and secondary care: a nationwide, retrospective cohort study - The Lancet Digital Health www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

thelancet.comDetection of young-onset type 2 diabetes using deep learning across primary and secondary care: a nationwide, retrospective cohort studyThis study highlights the potential for using deep learning methods on longitudinal health data from both primary and secondary care to develop low-cost predictive tools for screening of young-onset t...

Robert Screaton reposted

Tjian + Darzacq Lab, UC Berkeley
@tjiandarzacq.bsky.social

Out now in Science! Our study challenges long-standing assumptions about transcription factor specificity in eukaryotes. Novel single-molecule measurements of TF behavior in living cells reveal an independence of locus-specific binding from DNA sequence recognition.🧡 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

science.orgUnstructured transcription factor interactions enable emergent specificityHow intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs) shape chromatin binding and nuclear organization of transcription factors (TFs) remains unclear. We used proximity-assisted photoactivation (PAPA), a single...

Robert Screaton reposted

Dan Garisto
@dangaristo.bsky.social

Unreliable and underperforming antibodies are a longstanding problem, so while the reveal of apparently manipulated antibody data in Thermo Fisher's catalog was a shock, the frustration it sparked among many researchers is perhaps no surprise. My reporting:

nature.comScience sleuths uncover more than 100 suspicious images in Thermo Fisher antibody catalogueScientists have long worried about the reliability of commercial antibodies, and the latest findings have sparked fresh concerns.

Robert Screaton reposted

Andrew Pruszynski
@andpru.bsky.social

CIHR has launched a trial ballon that suggests shifting to one competition a year. This is the worst idea I have heard in a long time. The only benefit is making top-line success rates look better than they are. Keep it as is, do in-person reviews, and keep the pain in the open.

Robert Screaton
@roblab.bsky.social

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

link.springer.comROMO1 and mitochondrial complex II/SDH are required for spare respiratory capacity and glucose homeostasis in mice - DiabetologiaAims/hypothesis Reactive oxygen species modulator 1 (ROMO1) is a highly conserved inner mitochondrial membrane protein that senses reactive oxygen species and regulates mitochondrial dynamics. ROMO1 i...
CIRTN-R2FIC@cirtn.bsky.social

(🧡 1/22) Many publications from the CIRTN labs this Spring 🌷! Works are from Drs Bruin, MacDonald, Johnson, Mulvihill, Chen, Verchere, Kolic, Huang, Hull-Meichle, Kin, Shapiro, Korbutt, Pepper, P. MacDonald, T. MacDonald, Rideout, Riddell, Rutter, Rabasa-Lhoret and Prentice.

Robert Screaton
@roblab.bsky.social

Metabolism driving cell fate! TCA cycle rewiring underpins histone acetylation sourcing and cell-fate transitions during exit from naive pluripotency: Cell Stem Cell www.cell.com/cell-stem-ce...

cell.comTCA cycle rewiring underpins histone acetylation sourcing and cell-fate transitions during exit from naive pluripotencyUsing carbon tracing and functional experiments, Kafkia, Pladevall-Morera, et al. show that TCA cycle rewiring underlies mouse embryo implantation and the exit from naive pluripotency. In this context...
Robert Screaton
@roblab.bsky.social

Today in the πŸ‡¨πŸ‡¦ National Grad Course in Islet Biology and Diabetes we are joined by experts @ejrideout.bsky.social and Jee Yeon Cha (Vanderbilt U) to discuss sex-dependent phenotypes and responses in chronic disease, autoimmunity, and diabetes. A dynamic lecture for a dynamic field!

Robert Screaton
@roblab.bsky.social

... Part of the answer to the problems we now face lies in a better understanding of human beings- how we organize ourselves, how our brains work, and why we are driven to do the things we do. - Tony Pawson. 2/2

Robert Screaton
@roblab.bsky.social

link.springer.com/article/10.1... New article from the group on the effects of aging and sex in beta cell glucose sensing - ROMO1 and complex II! Thanks to funders @diabetescanada.bsky.social and CIHR.

link.springer.comROMO1 and mitochondrial complex II/SDH are required for spare respiratory capacity and glucose homeostasis in mice - DiabetologiaAims/hypothesis Reactive oxygen species modulator 1 (ROMO1) is a highly conserved inner mitochondrial membrane protein that senses reactive oxygen species and regulates mitochondrial dynamics. ROMO1 i...

Robert Screaton reposted

Lara Green
@laragreen.bsky.social

A new step toward cures for type 1 diabetes in Canada. Breakthrough T1D Canada has formally asked the federal government to partner in launching the Breakthrough T1D Network for Canada (BTNC), a national effort to accelerate treatments for #T1D. πŸ’™ Learn more πŸ”— ow.ly/yi8850YH60L

ow.lyA new step toward cures for type 1 diabetes in Canada | Breakthrough T1DIf you live with type 1 diabetes (T1D), or love someone who does, you know how much daily effort it takes to stay healthy and how urgently better treatments and cures are needed. That’s why we want to share an important update. Breakthrough T1D Canada has formally asked the federal government to partner with us […]