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Christopher Tabone

@christabone.bsky.social
60 followers 74 following 10 posts

Drosophilist geek. PhD. Full time biologist and developer at FlyBase.org and Alliancegenome.org. Personal website @ tabone.dev.

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Reposted by Christopher Tabone
HHMI @hhmi-science.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
(1/2) When Janelia set out to map every neuron in the fly brain in 2008, many thought it couldn’t be done. Nearly 20 years later, a complete wiring diagram of the 166,000+ neurons of the adult male fruit fly is helping to reveal the brain’s secrets: bit.ly/4zT7jPf.
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Christopher Tabone @christabone.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Trying out Astra on some FlyBase code and it seems to work exceptionally well. Just increased hitlist result speed from 600 ms to 60 ms and fixed the "blinking" refresh bug on the same hitlist results. Live now.
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Reposted by Christopher Tabone
FlyBase @flybase.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Treat biological databases as infrastructure, not projects www.nature.com/articles/d41...
nature.com
Treat biological databases as infrastructure, not projects
Letter to the Editor
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Greta a.k.a. Auntie Fa @gretat.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
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FlyBase @flybase.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
New FlyBase commentary: Using AI to get FlyBase data. I'm going to post some brief talking points, but please read the whole thing: flybase.org/commentaries...
flybase.org
Using AI to get FlyBase data
FlyBase: a database for drosophila genetics and molecular biology
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Bloomington Drosophila Stock Center @bdsc.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
We are pleased to announce a major donation to support the work of the Bloomington Drosophila Stock Center. Lawerence Washington, husband of former BDSC director Kathy Matthews, has established an endowment in her honor. bdsc.indiana.edu/news-events/...
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FlyBase @flybase.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
FlyBase release FB2026_02 is live! As of this release we now have 2000 gene group reports🎉, including 1453 ‘classical’ gene group reports flybase.org/lists/FBgg, 399 protein complex reports flybase.org/lists/FBgg/c..., 96 metabolic pathway reports flybase.org/lists/FBgg/m... (continued)
flybase.org
FlyBase - Gene Group List
FlyBase: a database for drosophila genetics and molecular biology
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International Society for Biocuration @biocurator.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
Steven (@steven-flybase.bsky.social) is group manager, curator & nomenclature advisor at FlyBase (@flybase.bsky.social) Cambridge. He leads the FlyBase Gene Group resource, contributes to the Gene Ontology, & collaborates with Rhea, Reactome, RNACentral, UniProt, HGNC, & Alliance of Genome Resources
A man with rectangular glasses in a gray jacket and yellow shirt sits in front of a computer screen and wall mounted map. He is looking away from the screen into the camera.
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Reposted by Christopher Tabone
FlyBase @flybase.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
FlyBase is seeking a new scientific curator at our Harvard University site. More information here: wiki.flybase.org/wiki/FlyBase...
Job Summary: The FlyBase project is an international collaboration of ~35 people distributed at several sites. This position is located at Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. All FlyBase staff work as a part of a team, in which curators and software engineers collaborate extensively. Each site has its own set of responsibilities. The Harvard FlyBase curators focus on curation/annotation of literature and high-throughput data pertaining to the Drosophila genome, transcriptome and proteome. FlyBase is constantly evolving, seeking both to improve and to expand its role within the Drosophila and wider scientific communities. The ideal applicant will be enthusiastic about participating in this process, bringing to the FlyBase group expertise and ideas concerning emerging directions in Drosophila biology and genomic/proteomic analysis. FlyBase is increasingly integrating artificial intelligence and machine learning tools into its curation workflows. The ideal candidate will be open-minded and enthusiastic about exploring AI-assisted approaches to biological data curation, including the use of large language models and AI coding assistants to accelerate and enhance curation tasks. 
Job-Specific Responsibilities: 
	•	Reading and abstracting of data from the current Drosophila literature, including its relationship to human disease, physical interactions, and gene expression 
	•	Evaluating and validating AI generated annotations and curation suggestions, ensuring accuracy and biological relevance before integration into the database 
	•	Using AI coding assistants (e.g. Claude Code, Codex, Gemini) to write scripts for data wrangling, format conversion, and routing curation tasks 
	•	Providing feedback on AI model outputs and refining prompts to help improve automated curation pipelines and annotation quality over time
	•	Annotation and analysis of the Drosophila melanogaster genome, including gene models, mapped mutations, and regulatory features
	•	Together with curators and developers at other sites, interact with broad research community by answering helpmail and giving presentations and tutorials at research conferences 
	•	Handling high-throughput datasets and associated metadata
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Christopher Tabone @christabone.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
FlyBase is hiring! Come work with us. careers.harvard.edu/job/scientif...
careers.harvard.edu
Scientific Curator
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Reposted by Christopher Tabone
Brian Calvi @briancalvi.bsky.social · 27/03/2026
A short video of a global heat map of real time pings to FlyBase website from one of our talented developers (not sped up) @flybase.bsky.social @iubiology.bsky.social
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FlyBase @flybase.bsky.social · 17/03/2026
The 2026 Drosophila Community Service Award was presented earlier this month at #DROS26. This year's recipients were the REDFly Database Team and the FlyBase Developer Team, for their roles in the development of online repositories for the dissemination of Drosophila data.
The committee for the 2026 Drosophila Community Service Award for outstanding community service included Michelle Arbeitman (Co-chair), Cale Whitworth (Co-chair), Elizabeth Chen, Lydia Grmai, Amy Kiger, and Steven Marygold.The Community Service Award recipients for 2026 were the REDFly Database Team and the FlyBase Developer team, for their roles in development of online repositories for the dissemination and analysis of Drosophila data.
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Alliance of Genome Resources @alliancegenome.bsky.social · 19/03/2026
The March Alliance webinar, 'Nomenclature in WormBase & FlyBase, presented by Tim Schedl and Steven Marygold, is now up on the Alliance YouTube channel youtu.be/rhjX0c_vC-s
youtu.be
Nomenclature in WormBase & FlyBase
YouTube video by Alliance Of Genome Resources
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Reposted by Christopher Tabone
FlyBase @flybase.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
FlyBase release FB2026_01 is live! There is news about FlyBase funding. Go to the FlyBase homepage flybase.org for details.
 FlyBase Funding Update – March 2026

The NHGRI funding for FlyBase has been restored for US-based FlyBase teams but the foreign subaward that supported the essential curation team at the University of Cambridge UK has been terminated. Therefore, the Cambridge UK team now requests annual contributions from fly labs to support curation of new data into FlyBase and the Alliance of Genome Resources. Without these annual contributions, FlyBase will become frozen in its current state and become progressively less useful.

Please visit the ‘Contribute to FlyBase’ wiki page for details of how to contribute.
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BWJones @bwjones.bsky.social · 04/03/2026
With this war on Iran costing $1B per day, we are now at 4$B, an amount that would fund 3,200 five year NIH biomedical research grants.
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FlyBase @flybase.bsky.social · 15/12/2025
New with FB2025_05: Archive data is back! FlyBase is now participating in the Amazon Web Services Open Data Sponsorship Program. AWS sponsors the storage & data transfer costs for the FlyBase bulk data repository, allowing us to preserve & provide access to nearly two decades of archive releases.
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Ko-Fan Chen 陳克帆 @kofanchen.biologists.social.ap.brid.gy · 17/02/2026
Dear UK #Drosophila @FlyBase Cambridge is now able to accept PO orders for support. So please get in touch with wiki.flybase.org/wiki/FlyBase:Contr…
wiki.flybase.org
FlyBase:Contribute to FlyBase - FlyBase Wiki
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FlyBase @flybase.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
#DROS26 starts tomorrow! Sadly, most of FlyBase will not be there this year. Brian Calvi, our Indiana University PI, will be speaking on "FlyBase: Past, Present, and Future" during the Techniques and Technology workshop (Sat. 3/7 7:70-7:45, Room Sheraton/Chicago 4-7). @briancalvi.bsky.social
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Reposted by Christopher Tabone
Chris Mungall @cmungall.bsky.social · 12/02/2026
As part of the @monarchinitiative.bsky.social /OBO Academy series, we had @christabone.bsky.social give us a two part introduction to "Efficient Biocuration and Bioinformatics with Claude Code". Part 1 (video and hands-on material) is here: oboacademy.github.io/obook/tutori...
oboacademy.github.io
Getting Started with Claude Code - OBO Semantic Engineering Training
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FlyBase @flybase.bsky.social · 03/10/2025
There's an update on the state of FlyBase on the FlyBase.org front page. You can contribute to FlyBase at this link wiki.flybase.org/wiki/FlyBase... We express enormous gratitude to the people, labs, groups, and foundations who have already helped us. #FlyBase #Drosophila
FlyBase Update – October 2025
The termination of the NIH/NHGRI FlyBase grant has placed the long-term sustainability of FlyBase at risk. However, thanks to the generous support of several key individuals and institutions, we are pleased to announce that FlyBase will remain operational through the coming year. We extend our deepest gratitude to Yukiko Yamashita, Cassandra Extavour, Hugo Bellen, Thom Kaufman, the Genetics Society of America / Drosophila Board, the Bloomington Drosophila Stock Center, an anonymous donor and the Wellcome Trust. We are especially thankful for a generous gift from Seemay Chou, Jed McCaleb, and The Navigation Fund. We also greatly appreciate the continued support from the broader Drosophila community – your donations and service fees have been vital in helping us stay afloat. Special thanks also go to Jessica Manning for her tireless administrative work at Harvard, to Ruth Lehmann, Hugo Bellen, and Paul Sternberg for advice and efforts, and to the Board of the European Drosophila Society for all their efforts. Sadly, we must also share that several long-standing FlyBase team members have recently moved on. We are immensely grateful to Susan Russo-Gelbart, Lynn Crosby, Gil dos Santos, Kris Broll, Victoria Jenkins, and TyAnna Lovato for their many years of dedicated service and contributions to FlyBase. Looking ahead, ensuring FlyBase’s sustainability beyond the next year – and successfully integrating with the Alliance – will require new funding sources. We kindly ask for your continued support:
	•	European labs: Please consider contributing to the Cambridge, U.K. FlyBase group
	•	U.S. and other non-European labs: Please consider contributing to the U.S. FlyBase groups
	•	Both U.K. and U.S. FlyBase are working diligently to establish an invoicing system. We appreciate your continued patience.
For more information on how to support us, please visit: Contribute to FlyBase wiki page https://wiki.flybase.org/wiki/FlyBase:Contribute_to_FlyBase
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Christopher Tabone @christabone.bsky.social · 16/09/2025
nbcnews.com
Trump's Harvard cuts threaten a giant in biomedical research: A database about the tiny fruit fly
This spring, the Trump administration rescinded a grant that maintained FlyBase, a pillar of global basic research, as part of its broader $2.2 billion funding cuts at Harvard.
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Reposted by Christopher Tabone
Perrimon Lab @perrimonlab.bsky.social · 09/09/2025
www.thecrimson.com/article/2025... Harvard Funding Cuts Endanger the Massive Fruit Fly Database That Powers Genetic Research
thecrimson.com
Harvard Funding Cuts Endanger the Massive Fruit Fly Database That Powers Genetic Research | News | The Harvard Crimson
FlyBase lost a multimillion dollar grant when the Trump administration cut off Harvard’s federal funding in May. Now the repository is laying off staff — and researchers worldwide are worried.
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Christopher Tabone @christabone.bsky.social · 07/09/2025
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Christopher Tabone @christabone.bsky.social · 03/09/2025
Possibly great news for FlyBase. Awaiting information from Harvard regarding the grant...
thecrimson.com
Judge Hands Victory to Harvard in Funding Lawsuit, Ruling Trump Administration’s Freeze Unconstitutional | News | The Harvard Crimson
A federal judge ruled that the Trump administration violated the Constitution when it froze more than $2.7 billion in research funding to Harvard, striking down the freeze in its entirety and deliveri...
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Reposted by Christopher Tabone
Andreas Prokop @poppi62.bsky.social · 25/08/2025
Dear president@harvard.edu, dear gaudet@mcb.harvard.edu, to learn more about the importance of #Drosophila and crucial role of @flybase.bsky.social, and how it gave rise to at least 9 Nobel laureates in Physiology and Medicine, please see this link: droso4schools.wordpress.com/why-fly/
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Mark Peifer (He, him) @peiferlabunc.bsky.social · 27/08/2025
If you are a researcher whose lab uses FlyBase, consider a tax-deductible personal contribution. A lot of $100 contributions would help bridge the gap until we can set up a user fee system, and even $10 donations send the folks there the message we're behind them. Please share
My own donation
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Reposted by Christopher Tabone
Mark Peifer (He, him) @peiferlabunc.bsky.social · 23/08/2025
The community of Drosophila researchers is amazing, mutually supportive and collaborative. Right now a key resource for our community, @flybase.bsky.social , is threatened by the cancellation of its NIH grant and is seeking community help in raising short term funds 1/n 🧪 please share
Dear Fly Community,

In May 2025, the NIH terminated all grant funding to Harvard University, including the NHGRI grant that supported FlyBase. This grant also funded FlyBase teams at Indiana University (IU) and the University of Cambridge (UK), and as a result, their subawards were also canceled.

The Cambridge team has secured support for one to two years through generous donations from the European fly community, emergency funding from the Wellcome Trust, and support from the University of Cambridge. At IU, funding has been secured for one year thanks to reserve funds from Thom Kaufman and a supplement from ORIP/NIH to the Bloomington Drosophila Stock Center (BDSC).

Unfortunately, the situation at Harvard is far more critical. Harvard University had supported FlyBase staff since May but recently denied a request for extended bridge funding. As a result, all eight employees (four full-time and four part-time) were abruptly laid off, with termination dates ranging from August to mid-October depending on their positions. In addition, our curator at the University of New Mexico will leave her position at the end of August. This decision came as a shock, and we are urgently pursuing all possible funding options.

To put the need into perspective: although FlyBase is free to use, it is not free to make. It takes large teams of people and millions of dollars a year to create FlyBase to support fly research (the last NHGRI grant supported us with more than 2 million USD per annum).

To help sustain FlyBase operations, we have been reaching out to you to ask for your support. We have set up a donation site in Cambridge, UK, to which European labs have and can continue to contribute, and a new donation site at IU to which labs in the US and the rest of the world can contribute. We urge researchers to work with their grant administrators to contribute to FlyBase via these sites if at all possible, as more of the money will go to FlyBase. However, we appreciate that some fu…https://wiki.flybase.org/wiki/FlyBase:Contribute_to_FlyBase

Our immediate goals are:

1. To maintain core curation activities and keep the FlyBase website online

2. To complete integration with the Alliance of Genome Resources (The Alliance).

Integration with the Alliance is essential for FlyBase’s long-term sustainability. For nearly a decade, NHGRI/NIH has supported the unification of Model Organism Databases (MODs) into the Alliance, which we aim to achieve by 2028. Therefore, securing bridge funding to sustain FlyBase over the next three years is crucial for successful integration and the long-term access to FlyBase data.

At present, our remaining funds will allow us to keep the FlyBase website online for approximately one more year. Beyond that, its future is uncertain unless new funding is secured. We will, of course, continue pursuing additional grant opportunities as they arise.

Given the uncertainty of future NIH or alternative funding sources, we are relying on the Fly community for support. Your contributions will directly help us retain the staff needed to complete this transition and to secure ongoing fly data curation into the Alliance beyond 2028.

We at FlyBase are incredibly grateful for the outpouring of support from the community during this challenging time. Your encouragement has strengthened our resolve and underscores how vital this resource remains to Drosophila research worldwide.

Sincerely,
The FlyBase Team
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Dr Sian Gramates @drglam.bsky.social · 16/08/2025
We have finally navigated the endless red tape and gotten the donation site to support the US FlyBase groups up and running. bsky.app/profile/flyb...
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FlyBase @flybase.bsky.social · 15/08/2025
FlyBase needs your help! We ask that European labs continue to contribute to Cambridge, UK FlyBase, whereas US and other non-European labs can contribute to US FlyBase. For more information and how to donate: wiki.flybase.org/wiki/FlyBase...
wiki.flybase.org
FlyBase:Contribute to FlyBase - FlyBase Wiki
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Dr Sian Gramates @drglam.bsky.social · 13/08/2025
News via The Transmitter www.thetransmitter.org/community/ha...
thetransmitter.org
Harvard University lays off fly database team
The layoffs jeopardize this resource, which has served more than 4,000 labs for about three decades.
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Dr Sian Gramates @drglam.bsky.social · 11/08/2025
I just got the notice that all the FlyBase people at Harvard, including me, will be laid off on October 12. I'm devastated.
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FlyBase @flybase.bsky.social · 25/06/2025
MassLive.com recently interviewed several Harvard FlyBase people and wrote this news article about the importance of FlyBase: tinyurl.com/4chpts9f
tinyurl.com
Why a database of bug genes could be one of Trump’s most devastating cuts at Harvard
FlyBase, the world's only fruit fly database, is in the crosshairs of Trump's attack on Harvard. Here's why it could matter for your health.
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eric lai @lucksmith.bsky.social · 17/06/2025
calling all fly folks, keep an eye out for new system coming soon, through which you can help support FlyBase in this time of dire need.
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Christopher Tabone @christabone.bsky.social · 14/06/2025
My recent webinar regarding orthology and paralogy at the Alliance of Genome Resources.
youtu.be
Orthology and Paralogy at the Alliance
YouTube video by Alliance Of Genome Resources
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The Transmitter @thetransmitter.bsky.social · 12/06/2025
After losing its federal funding, the FlyBase team is requesting donations from labs so it can migrate the resource to another site. By @callimcflurry.bsky.social www.thetransmitter.org/community/fl...
thetransmitter.org
FlyBase funding squashed amid Harvard grant terminations
The team behind the Drosophila genetics database is now requesting donations from labs to keep the resource afloat.
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Alliance of Genome Resources @alliancegenome.bsky.social · 11/06/2025
The Alliance webinar on Orthology and Paralogy at the Alliance is TOMORROW (June 12), noon EDT. Preregister by TONIGHT (June 11) by midnight EDT for the Zoom link forms.gle/GzMnmwK23SzP....
forms.gle
Alliance Of Genome Resources Event Registration
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Reposted by Christopher Tabone
Saccharomyces Genome Database @yeastgenome.bsky.social · 09/06/2025
FlyBase needs your help! Because of recent changes to government funding, the NIH grant that supported FlyBase has been "terminated." flybase.org
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Steven Marygold @steven-flybase.bsky.social · 11/06/2025
European-based researchers can help support future #flybase curation by donating at this site: www.philanthropy.cam.ac.uk/give-to-camb...
philanthropy.cam.ac.uk
Drosophila Genetic Database
The Drosophila Genetic Database, FlyBase, is on the brink of collapse due to the sudden termination of the FlyBase NIH grant, which includes salaries for 5 literature curators based at the University ...
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Alliance of Genome Resources @alliancegenome.bsky.social · 05/06/2025
This month's Alliance webinar is 'Orthology and Paralogy at the Alliance', presented by Chris Tabone, on Thursday June 12 EDT. Preregister by Wednesday June 11 (before midnight EDT, please) to get the Zoom link forms.gle/GzMnmwK23SzP...
forms.gle
Alliance Of Genome Resources Event Registration
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Brian Calvi @briancalvi.bsky.social · 04/06/2025
The current fundraising link is for EU labs to support FlyBase UK group. Still setting up to collect fees from U.S. and all other labs. Stay tuned. Divided because of recent international firewalls.
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Mark A. Hanson @hansonmark.bsky.social · 03/06/2025
URGENT: FlyBase has lost practically all its funding overnight; even user fees are tied up in denied grant funding. 🤬🤯 Any lab using @flybase.bsky.social please donate using the link in post below. This incredible community, on whose backs our #Drosophila labs depend, can't be left out to dry.
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FlyBase @flybase.bsky.social · 03/06/2025
We currently have a call for support that has gone out to European labs, to support FlyBase-UK. We are asking our colleagues from labs in the US and other countries to wait for a similar call to them that will go out in the near future, to support the US sites. We thank you for your patience.
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Rat Genome Database @ratgenome.bsky.social · 21/11/2024
Global biodata resources are at risk - funding models are fragile and unsustainable. GBC's open letter campaign needs your support to call for solutions. Science leaders have already signed the letter, please join them. Click here for more: globalbiodata.org/open-letter-...
globalbiodata.org
OPEN LETTER CAMPAIGN - Global Biodata Coalition
Careers at the Global Biodata Coalition.
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