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Al Darby

@acdarby.bsky.social
584 followers 829 following 0 posts

Applied biologist studying host-microbe interactions - from insect bacterial symbionts to human viruses. Co-director of the Centre for Genomic Research, which hosts the NERC NEOF facility at the University of Liverpool. 3D printing, Star Wars and rugby fan

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Reposted by Al Darby
Ed Cunningham-Oakes @edcoakes.bsky.social · 20/05/2025
1/12 🎉 We're excited to announce our Genome Medicine paper benchmarking 1000+ metagenomes (DNA) and metatranscriptomes (RNA) from infectious intestinal disease patients against pathogen diagnostics. The full dataset is public to accelerate pathogen discovery & surveillance: doi.org/10.1186/s130...
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Andrew Page @andrewjpage.bsky.social · 14/01/2025
I co-host The Bioinformatics Lab podcast with @kevinlibuit.bsky.social and the other day we had a great chat about our job hunting experiences, the importance of professional networks and making genuine connections. Its on all the podcasting apps & youtube soundcloud.com/the_bioinfor...
soundcloud.com
Ep. 46: The Job Hunt Experience pt. 01
Summary In this episode, Kevin Libuit and Andrew Page discuss their personal experiences with job hunting in the bioinformatics field, emphasizing the importance of professional networks and genuine
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Kristian G. Andersen @kgandersen.bsky.social · 02/01/2025
A very good article from @cohenjon.bsky.social with lots of hard-hitting quotes, including: “Everyone is acting as though this pandemic didn’t really happen.” … from Van Kerkhove. Spot on. www.science.org/content/arti...
science.org
COVID 5 years later: Learning from a pandemic many are forgetting
Five years after SARS-CoV-2 surfaced, scientists reflect and look ahead to the next threat
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Andrew Page @andrewjpage.bsky.social · 10/01/2025
I'm putting together a Microbial Bioinformatics starter pack to help get everyone connected in our community. Let me know if there are any bluesky users to be added and share so that twitter refugees can tune back in to the fantastic world microbes go.bsky.app/3ezLo7e
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Flo Débarre @flodebarre.eurosky.social · 11/01/2025
Five years ago (Saturday 11 Jan 2020), first public announcement and availability of a sequence of the new coronavirus. It was posted by @eddieholmes.bsky.social at 01:05 UTC on Virological, and announced on Twitter at 01:08 UTC. ▫️1/ web.archive.org/web/20200118... archive.is/z880d
screenshot of Eddie Holmes' tweet:
@edwardcholmes
All, an initial genome sequence of the coronavirus associated with the Wuhan outbreak is now available at Virological.org here: [link to virological]
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Karl Magnacca @kmagnacca.bsky.social · 01/01/2025
Entomologists: stop buying expensive or poor-capability manipulators, and make yourself one out of Legos. Costs about $5 including shipping and better than anything else you will find. Has just the right amount of friction and allows viewing in any position. Modified from doi.org/10.3897/zook...
manipulator stand for holding pinned insects, made of Lego parts.
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Greg Hurst @greghurst.bsky.social · 18/12/2024
BBSRC funded PhD - evolution in the early stages of symbiosis, using Arsenophonus as model. tinyurl.com/Edgeofsymbio.... Apply by 30/01/2025. Available for UK and International students. With @brockhurstlab.bsky.social and @acdarby.bsky.social. #symbiosky
tinyurl.com
BBSRC NWD: On the edges of symbiosis: how insect symbionts evolve in newly established interactions at University of Liverpool on FindAPhD.com
PhD Project - BBSRC NWD: On the edges of symbiosis: how insect symbionts evolve in newly established interactions at University of Liverpool, listed on FindAPhD.com
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Shen Tian 田申 @tianshenbio.bsky.social · 05/12/2024
Our miRNA story is now in @science.org ! We found a microRNA, not a protein, that finally solved a long-standing evolutionary mystery of wing coloration in butterflies and moths. (1/n) www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
science.org
A microRNA is the effector gene of a classic evolutionary hotspot locus
In Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths), the genomic region around the gene cortex is a “hotspot” locus, repeatedly implicated in generating intraspecific melanic wing color polymorphisms across 100 mi...
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Vector-Borne Diseases in the UK @ukvbd.bsky.social · 04/12/2024
Professor Matthew Baylis @baylism.bsky.social opens the day once again with a warm welcome, ready for a morning filled with presentations and flash talks #UKVBD2024
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Caroline Millins @cmillins.bsky.social · 04/12/2024
Jing Jing Khoo presenting Wolbachia genomic data from Culex pipiens cell lines at the Tick Cell Biobank hosted at @liverpooluni.bsky.social @ukvbd.bsky.social
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Christina de Bellaigue @cadebellaigue.bsky.social · 03/12/2024
FAO UK colleagues: french unis are facing massive budget cuts, forced to reduce numbers. They’re are protesting today; the VC of Lille has closed the whole Uni today to protest.
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Dr Steven White @drstevenmwhite.bsky.social · 02/12/2024
Thanks to everyone who participated in our UK #VDB Hub meeting today. It was really great to have a whole day discussing issues around data. Special thanks to Lauren Cator for leading our team.
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Kiabugboy @kiabugboy.bsky.social · 01/12/2024
Trilobite video's finally done, hope you'll give it a look ☺️ youtu.be/vGcsiJaz9kU?... #sciArt #Trilobite #paleoart #3Danimation #paleontology
youtu.be
Trilobite Soft Tissue
YouTube video by Kiabugboy
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James McInerney @jomcinerney.bsky.social · 29/11/2024
Nucleotide Transformer is a series of genomics foundation models of different parameter sizes and training datasets that can be applied to various downstream ta… www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Nucleotide Transformer: building and evaluating robust foundation models for human genomics - Nature Methods
Nucleotide Transformer is a series of genomics foundation models of different parameter sizes and training datasets that can be applied to various downstream tasks by fine-tuning.
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Willem van Schaik @wvschaik.bsky.social · 28/11/2024
Useful benchmarking study 'Evaluation of DNA extraction kits for long-read shotgun metagenomics using Oxford Nanopore sequencing for rapid taxonomic and antimicrobial resistance detection' www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Evaluation of DNA extraction kits for long-read shotgun metagenomics using Oxford Nanopore sequencing for rapid taxonomic and antimicrobial resistance detection - Scientific Reports
Scientific Reports - Evaluation of DNA extraction kits for long-read shotgun metagenomics using Oxford Nanopore sequencing for rapid taxonomic and antimicrobial resistance detection
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Mitch Guttman @mitchguttman.bsky.social · 27/11/2024
Gene regulation involves thousands of proteins that bind DNA, yet comprehensively mapping these is challenging. Our paper in Nature Genetics describes ChIP-DIP, a method for genome-wide mapping of hundreds of DNA-protein interactions in a single experiment. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
ChIP-DIP maps binding of hundreds of proteins to DNA simultaneously and identifies diverse gene regulatory elements - Nature Genetics
ChIP-DIP (ChIP done in parallel) is a highly multiplex assay for protein–DNA binding, scalable to hundreds of proteins including modified histones, chromatin regulators and transcription factors, offe...
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Darren Obbard @darrenobbard.bsky.social · 27/11/2024
#PhD Advert: Please share! Are you looking for a PhD studentship in comparative- or population-genomics, using 300+ species of #Drosophila and 1000+ genomes of #melanogaster? #Entomology #Genomics #PopGen #Phylogenetics
Diverse species of Drosophilidae
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Katherine Parys @liquidanbar.bsky.social · 24/11/2024
Spent some time the other day updating the #beenome100 website! If you’re interested in #beegenomes or #insectgenomes in general, check it out 🐝 beenome100.org
beenome100.org
Beenome100
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Per Smiseth @persmiseth.bsky.social · 23/11/2024
Counted 633 wintering Orange Ladybirds on gravestones under single horse chestnut tree in a wintery Morningside Cemetery, #Edinburgh, this morning. #CemeteryWildlifeWatch recording activity on #iRecord. #Ladybirds
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Milton Tan @mtanichthys.bsky.social · 15/11/2024
I think more people doing comparative phylogenetics stuff should read this paper.
academic.oup.com
Rethinking phylogenetic comparative methods
Abstract. As a result of the process of descent with modification, closely related species tend to be similar to one another in a myriad different ways. In
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Grant Hughes @mosquitomicrobe.bsky.social · 17/11/2024
So here is a Wolbachia starter pack. Please let me know if you'd like to join or have other suggestions. go.bsky.app/FTCKEyB
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