I received the wonderful news yesterday that I had been elected as an EMBO Member. Every year, ~50 life scientists are elected from Europe and the rest of the world. This is a fantastic recognition of everyone’s hard work, and I’d like to congratulate past and present members of the laboratory for this achievement.

Now onto the next project!

Tonight Alessandra and I are presenting our work at the Pint of Science! This is a new science festival for scientists to talk about their work in the relaxed setting of a pub. 75 scientists will talk with more than 3000 people over three nights. Our topic is personal genomics, something that we’re hoping to work in the near future!

Applications for the Biostatistics Postdoc position closes on 31 April 2013! Please apply through the Cancer Research UK Careers Page.

You can find more information about the position on the jobs page, but feel free to mail me if you have specific questions.

Elodie Darbo is a new postdoc in our lab. She just completed her PhD in Marseille and she’ll be working with on HiC studies. Here is her 60 second interview.

Welcome. What were you doing before you joined the LRI?
I made a 10 months postdoc in Technological Advances in Genomics Clinics (TAGC) lab in Marseille.

What does your role at the LRI involve and what do you most enjoy about your role?
I was recruited as a postdoc at the LRI last February to study DNA/DNA contact at a genomic scale. I think I am entering a very exciting field and I can find here all what I need to perform the best research.

What has it been like working at the LRI so far?
I found here a really friendly atmosphere. I enjoy, every morning, to join the lab as I know I will have really riveting interactions within the team and also have some opportunities to follow interesting seminars. LRI has a really good scientific environment.

If you weren't in science, what would you be and why?
I guess I would study art and become a designer or a painter (depending on my talent ...).

Tell us something your colleagues don't know about you?
I know all episodes of Columbo by heart.

What hobbies do you have outside of work?
Eating.

If you could meet one person from history, who would it be and why?
Salvador Dali to watch him painting for hours.

What's your favourite part of the world and why?
The Atlantic cost in the south-West of France, with its infinite breathtaking beaches and pine woods. When you are at the top of a sand dune, you can enjoy the most beautiful sunset I ever seen, the colours are always incredible and I am, of course, totally objective.

What's the best piece of advice you've ever been given?
"Be water, my friend." [Bruce Lee]

Home is…
Mont de Marsan

We are now taking applications for postdoc positions in our London lab! Send your cover letter and CV to the Cancer Research UK Careers Page.

You can find more information about the position on the jobs page, but feel free to mail me if you have specific questions.

Our laboratory visited the Crick building site last week. Here’s a photo of them dressed for the task!



Unfortunately I didn’t get to join them, but I’ll go on another occasion. Apparently it’s a HUGE building!

Kathi and Julian’s paper is now out in Cell! You can read the press release here.

The work describes an RNA-binding protein protects the transcriptome from aberrant pseudo-exonization of Alu elements. It’s a very elegant study that required both wet and dry labs to develop new techniques.

Welcome. What were you doing before you joined the LRI?
I was doing my PhD at the European Bioinformatics Institute.



What does your role at the LRI involve and what do you most enjoy about your role?
At the LRI I will continue my PhD, working on transcriptional regulation via chromatin modification.

What has it been like working at the LRI so far?
So far life at the LRI has been good. Being mainly a wet-lab Institute, it has a very different feeling from where I was before.

If you weren't in science, what would you be and why?
Tough question. Maybe journalism.

Tell us something your colleagues don’t know about you?
I am a voracious reader.

What hobbies do you have outside of work?
Reading, as mentioned before. I am also currently exploring all the cool things that a city like London has to offer.

If you could meet one person from history, who would it be and why?
I took a liberal interpretation of history and included the future so if I could only make one trip then I would definitely go to the future instead! In other words, I would go forward in time to meet me in the future, so I could ask if there is anything special I should do or change. Just to be on the safe side, no lottery numbers or anything.

For the past I can always read a book about it...

What’s your favourite part of the world and why?
Portugal. Good food, good weather, and it’s also where I’m from.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?
“Go punting in Cambridge.”

Home is….
Foyle’s.

Happy New Year! 2012 was quite a successful year for our laboratory, and we are hoping for many more exciting results and publications this year.

Here is Alessandra’s 60 second interview to kick off 2013!


Welcome. What were you doing before you joined the LRI?
Before I joined the LRI I was a PhD student at the University of Naples Federico II in Italy. During the last year of my PhD I joined Nick Luscombe's group at the European Bioinformatics Institute in Cambridge for a visitor internship.

What does your role at the LRI involve and what do you most enjoy about your role?
I'm a Postdoc in Nick Luscombe's lab and I study how transcription factors encoded in the human genome are utilised in different cell types.

What has it been like working at the LRI so far?
I'm really enjoying working at the LRI. It's a very stimulating place, full of excellent scientists and extremely interesting projects.

If you weren't in science, what would you be and why?
My favourite subject has always been science since I was at the primary school so I think I would do something somehow related with science.

Tell us something your colleagues don't know about you?
This question is very difficult for me. As my colleagues always say, I am a very "chatty" person and there aren't so many things they don't know about me!

What hobbies do you have outside of work?
Enjoy life!!!

If you could meet one person from history, who would it be and why?
Paolo Borsellino. He was an Italian anti-Mafia magistrate and he was killed by a Mafia car bomb in Palermo. I would like to meet him to say thank you.

What's your favourite part of the world and why?
I love to travel and there are still a lot of places I want to visit but I'm sure I won't ever change my view that my favourite part of the world is wherever my family is.

What's the best piece of advice you've ever been given?
"Be the change that you wish to see in the world" (Mahatma Gandhi).

Home is….
… the feeling of being at home.

This is Iñigo’s last week with the laboratory. He’s been a great student and it’s been a great year for him, with a Nature paper, a Cell paper with Kathi and a Junior Research Fellowship from Queen’s College! He will be joining Peter Campbell’s group at the Sanger Institute as a postdoc investigating the evolution of cancer genomes.

Here is Iñigo’s 60 second interview!


Welcome. What were you doing before you joined the LRI?
I just completed my PhD at EBI-EMBL and the University of Cambridge.

What does your role at the LRI involve and what do you most enjoy about your role?
Mostly research, although after two consecutive papers and my thesis, I feel more like a full time writer.

What has it been like working at the LRI so far?
The LRI has a great scientific environment and London is a very exciting place to work!

If you weren't in science, what would you be and why?
Hmmm, richer probably. Now seriously, I considered photography and architecture instead of biology, so I guess one of the two....

Tell us something your colleagues don't know about you?
Where should I start?

What hobbies do you have outside of work?
I love tennis, I usually play with the Cambridge University team on weekends.

If you could meet one person from history, who would it be and why?
A chat over coffee with Da Vinci, Thomas More, Albert Einstein or Francis Crick would be very interesting. Or perhaps I would take Gavrilo Princip for a few too many drinks on the night of 27th June 1914, who knows, that may have avoided two World Wars.

What's your favourite part of the world and why?
My PhD in the UK has allowed me to travel to a few fascinating places in the last couple of years, but my favourite part of the world is still the beautiful beech forests that cover the north of my native Navarra (Spain), particularly in Autumn. Second on the list is the Isle of Skye in the Highlands.

What's the best piece of advice you've ever been given?
From my Father: "Son, don't have kids."

Home is….
Pamploma (Spain).