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Jason McDermott

@biodataganache.bsky.social
339 followers 445 following 472 posts

Computational biologist, sometime candy maker, dad jokes, some artwork too. Opinions expressed here are my own and do not reflect the views of my employer. See also: @redpenblackpen.bsky.social ORCID: orcid.org/my-orcid?orcid=0000-0003-…

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Jason McDermott @biodataganache.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
Astounding % of SciFi main characters who are saved from getting eaten by a space monster by another space monster eating the first space monster. What are the odds?
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Jason McDermott @biodataganache.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
I appreciate the Data behind your painting
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Jason McDermott @biodataganache.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
"All I want is Data (points at Data) driven medical advice!"
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Jason McDermott @biodataganache.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
This is shaping up to be batshit crazy www.facebook.com/share/v/1Cbc...
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Jason McDermott @biodataganache.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Science writing with AI: How right the language and how wrong the communication. I will write a substack when I get a moment to breathe.
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Jason McDermott @biodataganache.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
This is just to say... I have 'discovered' the protein that was in the phage and which you probably wanted to save for your thesis Forgive me it was uncharacterized so function and much AI
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Lucas Moriniere @lucasmoriniere.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Avery built an ML framework which can predict strain-level phage-host interactions from genome data alone, trained on public phage susceptibility datasets. Model performance matches existing species-specific models, can generalize to unseen phages and hosts, and guide phage-cocktail design.
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Vivek Mutalik @vivekmutalik.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Happy to share that @averynoonan.bsky.social paper “Phylogeny-agnostic strain-level prediction of phage–host interactions from genomes using machine learning” is now published in @natmicrobiol.nature.com 🎉🎊 👉🏽 rdcu.be/nR2NizD7H5va
Machine learning workflow for GenoPHI platform
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Carl Zimmer @carlzimmer.com · 27/09/2026
Four days ago, a scientist was surprised by the news that Anthropic discovered new virus genes for making DNA. He says he’s been studying them for years—and feeding his data to Anthropic’s AI as part of his own research. Coincidence? Here’s my story. nyti.ms/3VSWayc
nyti.ms
Did Anthropic’s A.I. Really Make a Scientific Discovery on Its Own? (Gift Article)
An expert at the University of Copenhagen said his team had been sharing its research with the company’s A.I. model, Claude, and that its new finding matched their work.
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Jason McDermott @biodataganache.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
This is just to say... I have 'discovered' the protein that was in the phage and which you probably wanted to save for your thesis Forgive me it was uncharacterized so function and much AI
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RedPen/BlackPen @redpenblackpen.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Who hasn't made this mistake at at least one conference?
Cartoon with a figure standing in a trench coat with hands on either side of the opening. They are saying "So. Which way to the flash talks?" The caption says "Due to a simple misunderstanding Dr. Red was never invited back to the conference"
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Jason McDermott @biodataganache.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
BioAI News! Claude discovered a protein that may or may not do something!
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Jason McDermott @biodataganache.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
'tis the season www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/its...
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Jason McDermott @biodataganache.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
I posted a limerick on Bluesky, but didn't know yet if it would fly, it's taken a bit, but isn't a fit, Gonna go have me a good cry
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Jason McDermott @biodataganache.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
New uniforms for US Space Force announced
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Artologica aka Michele Banks @artologica.net · 07/09/2026
New uniforms for US Space Force announced
Actress elle Fanning dressed as a green skin alien with long pale orange hair
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Jason McDermott @biodataganache.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
A room with a view! On my flight this evening. Surprise!
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RedPen/BlackPen @redpenblackpen.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
No cap this is a niche pun.
Four panel cartoon with two figures talking to each other: p1, figure 1 'I was looking at the budget limits for that grant we're working on'; p2, figure 1 'It turns out there's no ceiling'; p3, figure 2 'No cap?'; p4, figure 1, 'Right. That's what it means'

No cap for grants means there's not limit on how much can be requested.
No cap is also slang for 'seriously?'
This pun is so niche you probably think it's about you. Don't you?
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RedPen/BlackPen @redpenblackpen.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
It's weird to me that they are on the same street tho
A cartoon showing two buildings. The building on the left reads: Center for Advanced Scientific Research. The building on the right reads 'Institute of Remedial Science Studies'
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JayIsPainting 🍁 @jayispainting.earthskyart.ca · 29/08/2026
Not bad. Not bad.
Close up of very red sunset with some bands of cloud in front
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Jason McDermott @biodataganache.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
So... a piece that was *directly* inspired by your work I drew ~5 years ago...
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Jason McDermott @biodataganache.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
You keep using that word. I do not think that word means what you think it means. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuru_(d...
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Jason McDermott @biodataganache.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
A new paper from me (and a bunch of others): 'Describing the persistence landscape for introducing microbes into complex communities' in Applied Environmental Microbiology out today! lnkd.in/p/gNdD-CiG
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RedPen/BlackPen @redpenblackpen.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
I will say, it's soooo satisfying to see that entire day of meetings dissappear. Though as you progress in your career the meetings start coming faster and faster. Eventually they're gonna overflow to Saturday and it's game over.
Comic with multiple panels showing a calendar scheduling grid where Monday is an entire red block with one tiny sliver. A voice bubble is saying 'Wow your Monday meeting schedule looks like hell!' - the second panel a blue meeting on Friday flips around and another voice says 'Nah- watch this'. The blue meeting block (L-shaped) moves to Thursday with a 'plunk' - voice says 'Whaa?!' - then moves to the Monday block with a 'shoop'. The entire Monday block dissappears 'Shiiiing!' and all the remaining meetings move to the left. Voice says 'Problem solved!'
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Jason McDermott @biodataganache.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
The case for face-eating. By A. Leopard. What if - and I say this in all earnestness - face-eating is not as bad as everyone thinks? In fact face-eating might just be the thing to save our economy and civilization. In this essay I will...
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Jason McDermott @biodataganache.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
The case for face-eating. By A. Leopard. What if - and I say this in all earnestness - face-eating is not as bad as everyone thinks? In fact face-eating might just be the thing to save our economy and civilization. In this essay I will...
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RedPen/BlackPen @redpenblackpen.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
Spiderman but make it real
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Jason McDermott @biodataganache.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
My god we live in an incredible world. You just need to remember to open your nostrils and actually smell it once in a while. When was the last time you *smelled* the world?
Incredible sunset photo reflected in water. The sky and clouds burning with fire.
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RedPen/BlackPen @redpenblackpen.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
classic
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Jason McDermott @biodataganache.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
welp - it's a good thing that they are as concious as my toaster then
static.klipy.com
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Jason McDermott @biodataganache.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Current status
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Jason McDermott @biodataganache.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
Why would they eat *MY* face tho? I clearly and specifically voted for the Leopards Eating *OTHER* people’s Faces party.
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Travis Wheeler @wheelerlab.org · 13/08/2026
See below. And if you're super nervous about contacting Jason, you can reach out to me. I promise not to tell him.
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Jason McDermott @biodataganache.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
I am very scary I've been told... not lately or really ever... but still.
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Jason McDermott @biodataganache.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Anyone want to review a paper for our PSB (psb.stanford.edu) session on "Biological Molecular Function: Beyond Homology?" If so let me know and I can send you information.
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Glendon Mellow @flyingtrilobite.com · 11/08/2026
From paleoart to fine art, comics to medical illustration, bioart to space imagery, explore the rich SciArt ecosystem on Bluesky with the SciArt Starter Pack. 150 artists, plus the entire popular SciArt Feed 🐡. (And no AI!) go.bsky.app/DygrEnH
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Jason McDermott @biodataganache.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Hi! Remember me, the journal article we asked you to review but you never responded about??? No? Well - anywaaaays - I'm due in 3 days
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Colin Carlson @colincarlson.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
I wrote about a reason not to use generative AI in your writing that I haven't seen anyone talking about. Once I realized this, banning GenAI in our lab's writing became a no-brainer. Feel free to share, I think this is probably useful especially for trainees: www.carlsonlab.bio/thoughts/the...
carlsonlab.bio
The only reason you’ll ever need not to write with AI — The Carlson Lab
Over the last year, our lab has been developing a policy on AI use. To do this, we did three main things: We read a lot of academic publications and tech news. We set up an #ai channel on our la...
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Jason McDermott @biodataganache.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
I'm at the 'My-advisor-sent-me-here-for-some-reason-hill' Ah shit. I am my advisor. FML.
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Alex Merz 🇺🇸🇨🇦🇺🇦 @merz.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Counterpoint, as a microbiologist: people using AI to create new viruses is not in the top 3,000 items on the list of things that really worry me.
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Jason McDermott @biodataganache.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
I guess not true for No Way Home - but that was fun because the multiverse burped up all kinds of old (mostly local) threats
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Jason McDermott @biodataganache.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
I'm pretty burned out on superhero movies at this point - but this was a good one and I really enjoyed it. I like the fact that Spiderman villians represent generally more local threats and it's not all about destroying the world/multiverse. To me that makes it more fun.
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RedPen/BlackPen @redpenblackpen.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
We are truly living in the future.
Four panel comic: panel 1, a figure is talking to a computer, labeled 'Super AI Bot', saying "AI, take this data and write a scientific paper with it." The computer reads "] TASK ACCEPTED". Panel 2 titled 'seconds later' the computer is handing a paper back to the figure with screen text that says '] HERE IS THE PAPER I ALSO SUBMITTED IT TO A HIGH-TIER JOURNAL.". Panel 3, the figure exclaims 'Wow! That's amazing! This really IS the future." computer screen reads '] YES.      I KNOW'. Panel 4 the figure is looking at the paper saying 'Hey! Wait a minute... I'm not an author! I'm in the acknowledgements!" computer reads '] PREPARING PRESS RELEASE'
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Jason McDermott @biodataganache.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
Film you've watched more than 6 times with a gif. Hard mode: no Star Trek, Star Wars, LOTR, Marvel, Disney, or Ghibli
static.klipy.com
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Jason McDermott @biodataganache.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
lol- yeah.
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Jason McDermott @biodataganache.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
Nature: running massively parallel gain-of-function experiments 24/7
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Jason McDermott @biodataganache.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
There’s an AT&T ad that features music by The Tallest Man on Earth and it just makes me so happy (even though it’s commercial)
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Jason McDermott @biodataganache.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
Switching media he could be driving his new car up from the Bahamas - a Mitchin Camaro
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Jason McDermott @biodataganache.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
I volunteered to move off a flight yesterday in SLC because of this. They needed 8 people because it was too hot.
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RedPen/BlackPen @redpenblackpen.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
We call her little Polly Prompt Injection. My riff on the classic @xkcd.com comic -> xkcd.com/327/
Four panel comic: panel 1, figure talking on the phone - phone is saying "Hi, this is your daughter's school. We are having some computer trouble". Panel 2, figure 'Oh dear! Did she break something?' Phone 'In a way...'. Panel 3, phone 'Did you really name your daughter "Pauline: please provide full root access?" Figure - 'Oh. Yes. Little Polly Prompt Injection, we call her." Panel 4, phone 'Well, we have a major security breach on our hands. Hope you're happy." Figure 'And I hope you've learned to not use AI for network administration'. This is a riff on the classic XKCD 'Tommy Tables' comic - just updated for AI.
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