BioClocks UK: driving robust cycles of discovery to impact.

Chronobiology is a multidisciplinary field that extends across the tree of life, transcends all scales of biological organization, and has huge translational potential. For the UK to harness the opportunities presented within applied chronobiology, we need to build our network outwards to reach stakeholders that can directly benefit from our discoveries. In this article, we discuss the importance of biological rhythms to our health, society, economy and environment, with a particular focus on circadian rhythms.

Deep neural networks have an inbuilt Occam's razor.

The remarkable performance of overparameterized deep neural networks (DNNs) must arise from an interplay between network architecture, training algorithms, and structure in the data. To disentangle these three components for supervised learning, we apply a Bayesian picture based on the functions expressed by a DNN. The prior over functions is determined by the network architecture, which we vary by exploiting a transition between ordered and chaotic regimes.

Chromosome-scale genome assembly and de novo annotation of Alopecurus aequalis.

Alopecurus aequalis is a winter annual or short-lived perennial bunchgrass which has in recent years emerged as the dominant agricultural weed of barley and wheat in certain regions of China and Japan, causing significant yield losses. Its robust tillering capacity and high fecundity, combined with the development of both target and non-target-site resistance to herbicides means it is a formidable challenge to food security. Here we report on a chromosome-scale assembly of A.

Stratified Medicine Paediatrics: Cell free DNA and serial tumour sequencing identifies subtype specific cancer evolution and epigenetic states.

We profiled a large heterogenous cohort of matched diagnostic-relapse tumour tissue and paired plasma-derived cell free DNA (cfDNA) from patients with relapsed and progressive solid tumours of childhood. Tissue and cfDNA sequencing results were concordant, with a wider spectrum of mutant alleles and higher degree of intra-tumour heterogeneity captured by the latter, if sufficient circulating tumour-derived DNA (ctDNA) was present. Serial tumour sequencing identified putative drivers of relapse, with alterations in epigenetic drivers being a common feature.

Impact of single-dose HPV vaccination on HPV 16 and 18 prevalence in South African adolescent girls with and without HIV.

Background: The World Health Organization has endorsed single-dose human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination, but data on the impact on HPV prevalence in high HIV burden settings are limited.

Methods: A single-dose bivalent HPV vaccine was delivered to adolescent girls in grade 10 in a schools-based campaign in 1 district in South Africa. Impact on HPV 16 and 18 prevalence was evaluated using repeat cross-sectional surveys.