Curious about prions, protein misfolding, quantum sensing, and where disciplines meet
London, UK
Joined June 2023
- Tweets161
- Following354
- Followers154
- Likes311
Szymon W. Manka retweeted
💥 Post-doc opportunity! 💥 Come join our team (thelowlab.org) at Imperial, London, working on the cryo-EM structure and mechanism of bacterial secretion systems. 48 months. Please RT.
For more details and to apply:
imperial.ac.uk/jobs/search-j…
Szymon W. Manka retweeted
🚨AFTER 56 HOURS SWIMMING THE BALTIC SEA FROM SWEDEN TO POLAND WITHOUT SLEEP, POLISH MAN’S FIRST MEAL IN HOSPITAL: KOTLETY MIELONE AND PICKLES 🇵🇱🔥
Bartłomiej Kubkowski just became the first person in history to swim non-stop from Sweden to Poland — 160 km across the Baltic Sea.
56 hours in cold water.
No sleep.
Hallucinations.
Complete exhaustion.
And the first thing he ate after reaching the shore?
Classic Polish kotlety mielone with ogórek małosolny.
In the hospital bed, barely conscious, he still smiled and kept saying “thank you” while being fed.
This is pure Polish character.
After conquering the sea, the only thing he wanted was the taste of home.
Respect. 🇵🇱
Szymon W. Manka retweeted
🚨POLISH WINDSURFER CROSSES 227.5 KM OF BALTIC SEA IN 8 HOURS 28 MINUTES AT 55 KM/H — NERVOUS SYSTEM SHUT DOWN, HANDS CRAMPED, WAVES HIT FROM THREE DIRECTIONS, WIPED OUT 7 TIMES, THEN CRIED WHEN HE SAW POLAND 🇵🇱🔥🇺🇦
Maciek Rutkowski, World Champion and 20-time Polish Champion, has officially entered the Guinness World Records.
On 18 September 2025 he windsurfed from Sandhamn in southern Sweden all the way to Władysławowo in Poland — 227.5 km in just 8 hours and 28 minutes, reaching speeds of up to 55 km/h.
He faced three-meter waves, wipeouts, extreme exhaustion. After only one hour his nervous system nearly shut down, his hands cramped badly, and at times he could no longer tell which direction he was going. When he finally saw the Polish coast, he broke down and cried.
He also raised over €28,000 for charity during the challenge.
This is pure Polish endurance. Respect. 🇵🇱
Szymon W. Manka retweeted
Blog post: even while qualitatively we know what prion disease "looks like", there is an urgent need for more quantitative data characterizing the symptomatic progression of the disease. The TAPCJD study being run at Case Western is vitally important: cureffi.org/2026/06/02/why-t…
Szymon W. Manka retweeted
Most bacteria remain uncultured and don’t grow in the lab.. to address this am excited to share EDEN - an enhanced domestication method to grow uncultured bacteria & new diversity. Using EDEN we isolate a new species active against MDR pathogens..
doi.org/10.1093/ismeco/ycag0…
Szymon W. Manka retweeted
Research from Imperial, @MRC_LMS, & @sheffielduni reveals that the twisting of DNA could play a role in correcting CRISPR errors. 🧬
The team captured interactions between CRISPR and DNA, providing insights that could help eradicate errors. 👇
imperial.ac.uk/news/articles…
Szymon W. Manka retweeted
The first woman to be awarded a Nobel Prize, the first individual to be awarded two Nobel Prizes and still today the only individual with two Nobel Prizes in two different scientific categories: Marie Skłodowska Curie.
Skłodowska Curie developed the term radioactivity, discovered the chemical elements polonium and radium and contributed to develop new cancer treatments. For her scientific dedication and remarkable breakthroughs, she was awarded the 1903 physics prize and the 1911 chemistry prize.
Learn more: bit.ly/4qGyRS1
#InternationalWomensDay
ALT Marie Curie in a laboratory, examining a scientific glass apparatus.
Szymon W. Manka retweeted
Today we celebrate the life of Byron Caughey, a beloved friend and generous mentor who made enormous contributions to the fundamental biological understanding, diagnosis, and potential for treatment of prion disease.
Blog post: cureffi.org/2026/02/18/celeb…
Szymon W. Manka retweeted
UKRI’s planned funding reforms have raised big questions across the UK research community.
In @Nature, Prof John Tregoning (@DrTregoning) explores what the changes could mean and why careful implementation matters.👇nature.com/articles/d41586-0…
Szymon W. Manka retweeted
Warsaw is ranked by the @nytimes as the 2nd best place to visit in 2026. It beat FIFTY TWO other locations!
I've been living in Warsaw for 15 years, here are my top places to visit. What did I miss out?
Szymon W. Manka retweeted
Drodzy, to naprawdę jest ogromna sprawa. Ogromna! Cała Polska powinna być z tego człowieka dumna. Polska firma GOODRAM założona przez Wiesława Wilka zaprezentowała przed chwilą światu dysk SSD, który według moich ale też obliczeń niemal całej branży jest w tej technologii ogromną innowacją. Nie jest to, wbrew doniesieniom prasy pierwszy tak pojemny dysk SSD na Ziemi. Jego pojemność to 122,88 TB i są już takie dyski. Ale jest to jeden z pierwszych na świecie dysków o tak dużej pojemności (122 TB), który został natywnie zaprojektowany do chłodzenia immersyjnego. To jest bardzo potężna rzecz. Dysk jest zaprojektowany dla centrów danych i chłodzenia immersyjnego. Sama historia tej firmy jest jednak warta ogromnej promocji.
Polska firma z malutkich Łazisk Górnych przeszła drogę od małego dystrybutora do potęgi. Zaczynali w 1991 roku jako dystrybutor w małym biurze z jednym pracownikiem. Jednym!! W 2003 roku, w obliczu kryzysu w branży, zamiast się wycofać, podjęli ryzykowną decyzję o uruchomieniu własnej produkcji i stworzeniu marki GOODRAM.
Polska firma obecnie jest jedynym producentem konsumenckich modułów pamięci DRAM z własną fabryką w Europie. W czasach, gdy niemal cała produkcja elektroniki przeniosła się do Azji, firma nie tylko utrzymała produkcję w Polsce (Śląsk), ale regularnie ją rozbudowuje. Ponad 70% produkcji trafia na eksport do ponad 40 krajów na całym świecie (Europa, Azja, Afryka).
Panie Wiesławie gratuluję i zapraszam na nasz kanał!!! Tak w Polsce jak i w USA. Takie historie budują markę Polski silniej, niż cokolwiek innego.
Szymon W. Manka retweeted
As ever, beautiful #cryoEM work from the lab of Hong Zhou with field-defining insights using #cryoET:
“Kiss-shrink-run” unifies mechanisms for synaptic vesicle exocytosis and hyperfast recycling | Science
science.org/doi/10.1126/scie…
Szymon W. Manka retweeted
MOSAIC lattice light sheet xy projection over 2+ hrs in human retinal pigment epithelial cells of endoplasmic reticulum remodeling (cyan) and transport of vesicles (yellow) containing β4-galactosyltransferase....
Szymon W. Manka retweeted
We're hiring for a Head of Department to lead one of Europe’s largest and most impactful centres for infectious disease research — right here at @imperialcollege.
We're looking for a strategic leader with vision and drive.
Apply by 15 September👇
imperial.ac.uk/jobs/search-j…
Szymon W. Manka retweeted
Please RT 🙏 If you’re an ECR working in the fields of structural or synthetic biology wishing to start your lab then come join us at Imperial, London. We’re looking to support outstanding individuals for external Career Development Awards/Fellowships
imperial.ac.uk/media/imperia…
Szymon W. Manka retweeted
🇺🇸 CHATGPT JUST GOT HANDS AND A CALENDAR
Forget answering questions. GPT just learned how to do things.
OpenAI’s new agent can now browse the web, click, scroll, shop, and even book your boat day in St. Tropez.
It plans, compares, buys, and yes, it’ll build your group trip into a PowerPoint with pics and menus for your gluten-free crew.
You can still override it before checkout, and it can’t touch your bank.
But for everything short of wiring cash, your assistant now comes with a mouse.
Source: ABC
“HUMANITY HAS PREVAILED (FOR NOW)” - CODER BEATS OPENAI IN WORLD FINALS
A Polish programmer named “Psyho” just beat OpenAI’s model in a 10-hour coding showdown at the AtCoder World Finals in Tokyo.
The challenge? Code the smartest way to guide a bunch of robots across a grid using the fewest moves possible.
OpenAI’s AI crushed most humans - but Psyho pulled ahead with a totally different, more creative solution.
He didn’t use AI. Just old-school code, grit, and 3 days of barely any sleep.
Why it matters? This contest was all about problem-solving, not just spitting out code fast. And the human won.
Source: Business Insider, @fakepsyho
Szymon W. Manka retweeted
Recently out! An awesome commentary on our bacterial ESCRT-III work rdcu.be/ei98N - big thanks to John McCullough and Wes Sundquist for this. And of course big shout out to #NSMB for the tasty cover!
Szymon W. Manka retweeted
We developed a new siRNA drug candidate for prion disease, a @broadinstitute / @RTI_UMassChan collaboration. We now have an open IND meaning FDA has given us permission to start first-in-human trials. Work remains before trials can launch. The full update: cureffi.org/2025/04/14/open-…