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Sophien Kamoun

@kamounlab.bsky.social
5.9K followers 3.2K following 2.3K posts

Biologist @ The Sainsbury Lab; passionate about plant pathogens & evolution; open science advocate; loves travel, food and sports; nomad and hunter-gatherer. Web kamounlab.net | Medium medium.com/@kamounlab | GetGenome getgenome.net

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Sophien Kamoun @kamounlab.bsky.social · 7h
I’m old enough to remember Reagan’s “Star Wars” and predictions of computer-triggered nuclear Armageddon. 43 years later: the shield was never built. The apocalypse never came. The technology was oversold. So was the doom. www.peacemagazine.org/archive/v02n...
peacemagazine.org
Peace Magazine v02n5p24: Untrustworthy PALS: an interview with Mike Wallace about accidental nuclear war
Al Banner: Untrustworthy PALS: an interview with Mike Wallace about accidental nuclear war in Peace Magazine Oct-Nov 1986
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Sophien Kamoun @kamounlab.bsky.social · 18h
All pumped up to speak at PurPest @purpest-eu.bsky.social event: From Science to Innovation What science can (and cannot) deliver--Excellence, people, and the long game
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Sophien Kamoun @kamounlab.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
More @NaturePlants #NatureRipoffs #ScienceCrisis Blame it on Excel? @msexcel @microsoft pubpeer.com/publications...
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Adriana Garibay @adrianagaribayh.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
"The amount of energy required to refute BS is an order of magnitude larger than required to create it.”... "We have a moral duty to distinguish sense from nonsense"...and I would add: We have the moral duty of not using public money to publish BS just for the mere sake of careererism
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Marc Robinson-Rechavi @marcrr.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
👉"as a heuristic, “Where was the preprint?” is becoming surprisingly useful. Preprinting exposes experiments, controls and conclusions to the community before the journal’s prestige can become a shield."
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Sophien Kamoun @kamounlab.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
RIP Leo Congert kamounlab.dreamhosters.com/Leo_Congert/...
kamounlab.dreamhosters.com
Leo Congert (1943–2026) · In memoriam
Heemkundige in Borne, samensteller van tentoonstellingen en ‘de man van de fotobewerking’.
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Sophien Kamoun @kamounlab.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
This comment makes blogging about how to do science worth it. Science works when we learn from being wrong. We don’t teach this nearly enough.
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Dimitri Forero @dimitriforero.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Very nice and important reading.
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Brandon Bishop @brandontbishop.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
"Science predicts. Pseudoscience doesn’t." Other way around for seismology. 🙃
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Ross @rossengineer.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Good read, and important insights -
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Katie Corker @katiecorker.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
"Twenty-nine years later, the central finding still held. The 1990s biochemistry had stood the test of time. That is impactful science. That’s world class science. It’s not more complicated than that. Not the journal. Not the press release. Not the citations in year one."
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Jennifer Mach (she/they) @jennifermach.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Thought-provoking here—and some good tips on #DataViz.
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Sophien Kamoun @kamounlab.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Woody and tinny words youtu.be/-gwXJsWHupg?...
youtu.be
Monty Python - Woody and Tinny Words
YouTube video by elwenenharma
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Ezra Abrams @ezraabrams.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
PSA for non academics the quality of science may not be higher in prestigious journals, but your career will, on average, be helped a LOT more by a publication in a top journal
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Sophien Kamoun @kamounlab.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Sick and tired of podcasts that still blabber about LLM hallucinations. Upgrade and learn to prompt. open.spotify.com/episode/1qjl...
open.spotify.com
Steven Pinker on Revolutions, Rogue AI, and the Struggle for Reality
Into The Machine with Tobias Rose-Stockwell · Episode
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Sophien Kamoun @kamounlab.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
I just published: How do we recognize world-class science? Not by the journal it appeared in What I told early-career researchers about prediction, rigour, failure, priors — and the tyranny of bar graphs. kamounlab.medium.com/how-do-we-re...
kamounlab.medium.com
How do we recognize world-class science? Not by the journal it appeared in
What I told early-career researchers about prediction, rigour, failure, priors — and the tyranny of bar graphs.
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Sophien Kamoun @kamounlab.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Cologne | Köln. Take 2 🇩🇪
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David Quantick @quantick.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Humans have free will but orcas have Free Willy.
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Sophien Kamoun @kamounlab.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
I just published: Carte postale de Tenerife : les alizés, le climat, et ce que l’histoire nous a coûté Des côtes ventées de Tenerife aux catastrophes que nous provoquons nous-mêmes. [VF d'un article de 2024] kamounlab.medium.com/carte-postal...
kamounlab.medium.com
Carte postale de Tenerife : les alizés, le climat, et ce que l’histoire nous a coûté
Des côtes ventées de Tenerife aux catastrophes que nous provoquons nous-mêmes.
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Sophien Kamoun @kamounlab.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Vorsprung durch Taubenabwehr 🇩🇪
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Sophien Kamoun @kamounlab.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Yet another paper with made-up data. What happens now? #sciencecrisis #NatureRipoffs @Nature pubpeer.com/publications...
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Sophien Kamoun @kamounlab.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Cologne | Köln 🇩🇪
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Sophien Kamoun @kamounlab.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Talks for early career researchers kamounlab.dreamhosters.com/KamounLab_EC...
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Sophien Kamoun @kamounlab.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Looking forward to spending a couple of days with @ceplas.bsky.social catching up with colleagues at @UniCologne @Team_Thomma and having some fun with the ECRs! They picked Theme 2 from my smörgåsbord of ECR discussion topics 👍🏼 😎👇🏼 www.ceplas.eu/en/about-us/...
ceplas.eu
CEPLAS Friday
Speakers: Hilde Nelissen (VIB), Sophien Kamoun (The Sainsbury Laboratory)
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GetGenome @getgenome.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
#GGRoadToJeju2026 invites applications from the global research community to sequence the genomes of plant-associated microorganisms — including pathogenic and non-pathogenic bacteria, fungi and oomycetes. 📅 Apply by 2 November 2026 getgenome.net/callforproje...
getgenome.net
GGRoadToJeju2026 | GetGenome
GetGenome is excited to announce #GGRoadToJeju2026 "Road to Jeju" Call for Projects - an open call to support research communities across the world, to generate and interpret sequence data of plant-a
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GetGenome @getgenome.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
You select the isolates, we sequence the genomes — for free! 🧬 Inspired by @ismpmi.bsky.social #MPMI2027 we announce that the latest @GetGenome Call for Projects is now open! @GetGenome “Road to Jeju” #GGRoadToJeju2026 invites applications from global community getgenome.net/callforproje...
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Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland (BSBI) @bsbibotany.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
The 5th iteration of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (APG V) classification has been published. It's #OpenAccess, so check it out here: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Large‐scale nuclear and plastid phylogenomic analyses inform an updated Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification: APG V
We present here a revision of the APG classification that considers the extensive recent analyses of hundreds of nuclear and plastid genes for many angiosperm species. Although previous versions of t...
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Sophien Kamoun @kamounlab.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Two seemingly unrelated sides of our lab collided today in the AWESOME new Angiosperm Phylogeny Group system poster: flowers 🌸 and phylogenomics 🧬 Need a new genome? Just pick up the phone and “dial-a-genome” 📞🧬 @getgenome.bsky.social www.tudelft.nl/en/hortus-bo...
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Sophien Kamoun @kamounlab.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Our second keynote speaker is Alain Tissier @atissier.bsky.social @ipbhalle.bsky.social on enhancing HDR and its use in engineering cis-genic disease resistance and other traits
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Sophien Kamoun @kamounlab.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Our first keynote speaker is Silvia Restrepo @srestrepo.bsky.social @btiscience.bsky.social on Phytophthora infestans sensu lato
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Sophien Kamoun @kamounlab.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Today we are hosting the FIGHTBLIGHT Project Meeting & Symposium This is a trinational project 🇬🇧🇩🇪🇺🇸 with Silvia Restrepo @srestrepo.bsky.social @btiscience.bsky.social and Alain Tissier on bioengineering immune receptors for potato blight resistance kamounlab.dreamhosters.com/FIGHTBLIGHT_...
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Sophien Kamoun @kamounlab.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Which is worse: AI controlled by the state, or by a handful of private corporations? The choice itself may be the problem. www.theguardian.com/technology/n...
theguardian.com
China bogeyman looms large over American firms’ AI doomsday scenario
Silicon Valley China hawks, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei among them, fear the country surpassing US’s AI lead as much as superintelligence destroying humanity
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Sophien Kamoun @kamounlab.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Extensive genome evolution distinguishes maize within a stable tribe of grasses. Stitzer @mcstitzer et al. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
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Nick Desnoyer @nickdesnoyer.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Ruby & Gold benthi flowers are blooming 🧬 ✨
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Nick Desnoyer @nickdesnoyer.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Lights, camera, action in the glasshouse tonight 📸 This dragon fruit flower blooms just once at night 🌙 ✨
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Sophien Kamoun @kamounlab.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
This week's @johninnescentre.bsky.social @thesainsburylab.bsky.social Bateson Lecture Friday Seminar – Prof. Elizabeth Toby Kellogg "One third of the world: Grasses and their genomes” www.danforthcenter.org/our-work/pri...
danforthcenter.org
Elizabeth Kellogg | Danforth Plant Science Center
Dr. Elizabeth Kellogg is an Emeritus Member at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center. Learn more about her plant science research.
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Sophien Kamoun @kamounlab.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
“Far right populists adept at finding a foreign (or migrant) culprit behind almost every grievance have somehow developed a blind spot the size of China….” 🇪🇺 🇨🇳 apple.news/A5bJ8B87ZQHa...
apple.news
Why Europe’s populists forget to bash China — The Economist
An ideal target gets a free pass from the demagogues
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Sophien Kamoun @kamounlab.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
More brik danouni… Tunisia: an Argentinian dream?
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Sophien Kamoun @kamounlab.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
For anyone who has witnessed how university education has changed over the last decades, this was due to happen… stocks.apple.com/Aaa1NM5P5QyO...
stocks.apple.com
British Kids Are Skipping Top Colleges for White-Collar Apprenticeships — The Wall Street Journal
College no longer feels like a good deal for high-school graduates, so they are heading straight into the workforce
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Sophien Kamoun @kamounlab.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Ed Sheeran 2026 🇵🇸 “I do not use my professional platform for politics—my audience includes young people, children, of all backgrounds” 2022 🇺🇦 "I love you. I stand with you and I'm so proud to be playing this fundraising event" But far from only hypocrite out there… metro.co.uk/2026/09/15/h...
metro.co.uk
Hypocrisy over Macklemore goes far beyond weak Ed Sheeran
The rappers comments don't sound like hate speech, no matter what America’s billionaire class thinks.
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Sophien Kamoun @kamounlab.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Brik danouni--ancestral state of empanadas...? 🇹🇳🇪🇸🇦🇷 elsursf.com/blogs/news/a...
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Martin Steinegger 🇺🇦 @martinsteinegger.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Fold Spacer lets you fly through protein structures (Weekend project #2). It’s my first game: I originally set out to build a racer with structures as the tracks, but was a little too crazy. So it became this instead. You can upload your own structures. 🌐 martin-steinegger.github.io/Fold-Spacer/
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GetGenome @getgenome.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Day 1 “AI in Genomics workshop” 🇹🇳 🌍 With thanks to @Googleorg @thesainsburylab.bsky.social @getgenome.bsky.social
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PurPest EU @purpest-eu.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
📢 Join the PurPest webinar on 📅 30 Sept 2026 | 🕥 10:30 CEST (UTC+2) to explore how research moves into innovation, policy and practice. 🗣️ Talks from Gisela Quaglia (European Commission), @kamounlab.bsky.social and more! 👉 Register now: www.purpest.eu/news/webinar...
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Sophien Kamoun @kamounlab.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
We just published: Fold on Tight — 10 lessons on AI structure prediction Andy Posbe @adnroide.bsky.social turned our ten lessons on AI structure prediction into a thread. Here it is, one lesson at a time. kamounlab.medium.com/fold-on-tigh...
kamounlab.medium.com
Fold on Tight — 10 lessons on AI structure prediction
Andy Posbe turned our ten lessons on AI structure prediction into a thread. Here it is, one lesson at a time.
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GetGenome @getgenome.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Happening now @EspaceZmorda 🇹🇳 AI in Genomics workshop! @getgenome.bsky.social @thesainsburylab.bsky.social on how AI can be used across genomics — from working with genomic data to protein structure prediction, biological discovery and developing new research questions.
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Sophien Kamoun @kamounlab.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
6 years later, he has an ERC... @delaconcepcionjc.bsky.social uni-tuebingen.de/universitaet...
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Sophien Kamoun @kamounlab.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
And when you’re finished reading, read some more…
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Clémence Marchal @clemmar.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Goodbye Norwich! I had such a great time at the @kamounlab.bsky.social Alumni and friends meeting, followed by #ECPP2026 and #BSPP2026, reuniting with old friends, and making new ones. It's always so special to come back to the fine city. Until next time!
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Sophien Kamoun @kamounlab.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Launching Ventures: Strategy, Story and Scale 🚀 An exciting #BSPP26 session with Wild Bio, PfBIO, @GetGenome and @ResurrectBio—exploring funding, IP, team-building, governance and turning research into real-world impact #PPATH2026 #PlantHealth
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