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Ryan Gutenkunst @ryangutenkunst.bsky.social · 20/10/2026

The 2026 Genomic History Inference Strategies Tournament closes in a month! This year we have demographic history inference, sweep detection, and genealogical inference challenges. Top competitors earn authorship. Learn more at ghist.bio.

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Ryan Gutenkunst @ryangutenkunst.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

The 2026 Genomic History Inference Strategies Tournament is live! This year we have demographic history inference, sweep detection, and genealogical inference challenges. Learn more at ghist.bio. The 2024 paper is at doi.org/10.1093/molb..., and the 2025 paper is being drafted. Join the fun!

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Ryan Gutenkunst @ryangutenkunst.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

Arrived early for #SMBE2026? Come to the Genomic History Inference Strategies Tournament workshop at 15:00 in the Vandsalen room. Pre-registration is not necessary. Learn more about this fun effort for the population genomics community at ghist.bio!

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Ryan Gutenkunst @ryangutenkunst.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

Enjoyed leading a workshop on the Genomic History Inference Strategies Tournament at #PEQG26. The 2026 competition is live at ghist.bio. Start your inferences!

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Ryan Gutenkunst @ryangutenkunst.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

The 2026 Genomic History Inference Strategies Tournament is live! ghist.bio Today was the kickoff tutorial at the Modeling and Theory in Population Biology workshop at @icerm.bsky.social . Looking forward to summer workshops at PEQG @genetics-gsa.bsky.social and at SMBE @official-smbe.bsky.social .

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Ryan Gutenkunst @ryangutenkunst.bsky.social · 29/01/2026

Proud of the students at my sons' middle school, who self-organized an anti-ICE rally this morning. Thank you to school officials, who did not endorse the rally but ensured it was orderly and safe.

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Ryan Gutenkunst @ryangutenkunst.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

Congratulations to the winners of the 2025 Genomic History Inference Strategies Tournament challenges! Among the 9 challenges, we had five winners: @alwaysrong.bsky.social, @adaigle.bsky.social, @andrewhvaughn.bsky.social, @thymelicus.bsky.social, @rgollnisch.bsky.social

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Ryan Gutenkunst @ryangutenkunst.bsky.social · 14/12/2025

I was very sick seven days ago, so maybe not fully recovered. I also could have prepped better for the pounding of the strongly net downhill course. Next few days will hurt!

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Ryan Gutenkunst @ryangutenkunst.bsky.social · 14/12/2025

Humbled by the Tucson Marathon today. Goal was sub-4, and training said 3:50 was possible. But I fell off the pace half way and my legs were screaming by mile 18.

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Ryan Gutenkunst @ryangutenkunst.bsky.social · 15/10/2025

The 2025 Genomic History Inference Strategies Tournament closes in one month! For procrastinators, now is the time to test your mettle on demographic history and selective sweep inference. Read about the first year here: doi.org/10.1101/2025... (forthcoming in MBE) Participate here: ghi.st .

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Ryan Gutenkunst @ryangutenkunst.bsky.social · 07/10/2025

Did you know that this year's Genomic History Inference Strategies Tournament includes sweep detection? The competition ends in about a month, so dive in! ghi.st

Meme about detecting sweeps in GHIST competition.

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Ryan Gutenkunst @ryangutenkunst.bsky.social · 03/10/2025

The GHIST paper has been accepted for publication in Molecular Biology and Evolution. Join the competition and do well to be on our next paper! ghi.st

Success Kid meme about GHIST paper being accepted.

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Ryan Gutenkunst @ryangutenkunst.bsky.social · 01/10/2025

The US Federal Government is shut down, but the Genomic History Inference Strategies Tournament is still running (and concludes in 45 days). Test your mettle against 9 challenges in demographic history inference and sweep detection! ghi.st

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Ryan Gutenkunst @ryangutenkunst.bsky.social · 15/09/2025

With two months to go, @alwaysrong.bsky.social is dominating the Genomic History Inference Strategies Tournament leaderboards. Jump into the competition to help dethrone Stephen! Glory, money, and authorship are all on the line! ghi.st

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Ryan Gutenkunst @ryangutenkunst.bsky.social · 04/09/2025

We all know hand-on learning is best. If you're a student interested in population genetics inference, compete in GHIST! ghi.st . You can even get started without installing any software using our webapps: ryangutenkunst-dadi-two-epoch.hf.space and ryangutenkunst-sweep-detection-dpi.hf.space .

A meme using the "Distracted Boyfriend" template showing a man in a blue plaid shirt (labeled "GRADUATE STUDENTS") looking back at a woman in a red dress (labeled "HANDS-ON GHIST COMPETITION EXPERIENCE") while walking with his girlfriend in light blue (labeled "THEORETICAL POP GEN COURSES"). The image satirizes graduate students being tempted by practical competition experience over theoretical population genetics coursework.

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Ryan Gutenkunst @ryangutenkunst.bsky.social · 28/08/2025

Did you know? This year's Genomic History Inference Strategies Tournament (GHIST) includes 4 challenges in detecting selective sweeps. Our field has many methods for doing this, but which will come out on top, especially when false positives matter? ghi.st #GHIST

Choosing button meme, in which the choice is between identifying a genomic region as a selective sweep versus it being a false positive. The chooser is competing in the GHIST multiple sweeps challenge.

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Ryan Gutenkunst @ryangutenkunst.bsky.social · 25/08/2025

The 2025 edition of the Genomic History Inference Strategies Tournament is live! ghi.st If you work in population genomics, join the competition to help the community learn which methods are best for demographic history inference and sweep detection.

Vince McMahon meme about competing in GHIST.

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Ryan Gutenkunst @ryangutenkunst.bsky.social · 21/08/2025

Me promoting the Genomic History Inference Strategies Tournament at #eseb2025! ghi.st Population geneticists: join, compete, earn cash, become an author, learn, help the community! ghi.st

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Ryan Gutenkunst @ryangutenkunst.bsky.social · 18/08/2025

Excited to present a poster about the Genomic History Inference Strategies Tournament #ghist tonight at #ESEB2025. If you're interested in population genetics inference, please stop by poster P.017! ghi.st .

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Ryan Gutenkunst @ryangutenkunst.bsky.social · 15/08/2025

I built a Gradio app to illustrate how selective sweeps can be detected from population genetic data: ryangutenkunst-sweep-detection-dpi.hf.space . It can help with your first submissions to the GHIST sweep detection challenges! ghi.st #GHIST

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Ryan Gutenkunst @ryangutenkunst.bsky.social · 11/08/2025

A fun story from the 2024 competition is that @andrewhvaughn.bsky.social combined excellent pop gen inference with gaming the leaderboard to win multiple challenges. This year, we're set up to stop that. 😀

Results of the bottleneck competition from GHIST 2024, illustrating how Andrew Vaughn gamed the leaderboard to leap ahead of the competition.

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Ryan Gutenkunst @ryangutenkunst.bsky.social · 05/08/2025

If you're new to demographic history inference from population genomics, try this webapp I created to illustrate how dadi fits bottleneck models to site frequency spectra: ryangutenkunst-dadi-two-epoch.hf.space . It even outputs files for submitting to the GHIST competition! ghi.st

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Ryan Gutenkunst @ryangutenkunst.bsky.social · 24/06/2025

Packed house at today’s GHIST kickoff meeting. Pop gen folks, join the competition to learn, have fun, and help our community. ghi.st (Thanks to @drk-lo.bsky.social for the pic.) #Evol2025

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Ryan Gutenkunst @ryangutenkunst.bsky.social · 22/06/2025

Excited to kick-off the 2025 Genomic History Inference Strategies Tournament tomorrow at my Evolution workshop! If you're at the meeting, grab a quick lunch and come to the Oconee River 2 room at 1:15 pm on Monday. No prior registration required. ghi.st #Evol2025

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Ryan Gutenkunst @ryangutenkunst.bsky.social · 07/04/2025

Best geek protest sign I've seen so far. (Not mine, from Tucson's protest on Saturday.)

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Ryan Gutenkunst @ryangutenkunst.bsky.social · 24/01/2025

Our paper on fitting population genetic models to low-pass sequencing data is now out in Molecular Biology and Evolution! doi.org/10.1093/molb...

Comparison of allele frequency spectra for 3x coverage, with and without our bias model.

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Ryan Gutenkunst @ryangutenkunst.bsky.social · 09/12/2024

Congrats to Andrew Vaughn @andrewhvaughn.bsky.social, for winning 3 out of 4 challenges in the inaugural GHIST competition in population genetics inference. He not only submitted accurate inferences, he also gamed the system by further optimizing his score beyond the maximum likelihood inferences. 😜

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Ryan Gutenkunst @ryangutenkunst.bsky.social · 12/11/2024

The Genomic History Inference Strategies Tournament closes on Nov 15! Analyze genomic data with your favorite demographic inference tool, and see if you can discover the true demography of the population to win the contest (and authorship). More info at ghi.st! Please re-skeet.

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Ryan Gutenkunst @ryangutenkunst.bsky.social · 22/10/2024

One month to go! The Genomic History Inference Strategies Tournament closes on Nov 15. Analyze genomic data with your favorite demographic inference tool, and see if you can discover the true demography of the population to win the contest (and authorship). More info at ghi.st! Please re-skeet!

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Ryan Gutenkunst @ryangutenkunst.bsky.social · 12/08/2024

Wonderful day racing the Mountain Man Long Course triathlon. Happy with my performance (three weeks after having Covid), and got some redemption after blowing up last year. I'm looking forward to another season racing with our TriCats club team. 4peaksracing.racetecresults.com/myresults.as...

Ryan Gutenkunst posting in the transition area in front of Upper Lake Mary, in his TriCats gear.

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Ryan Gutenkunst @ryangutenkunst.bsky.social · 05/08/2024

The Genomic History Inference Strategies Tournament is live! Population geneticists, train your students and test your skills and methods with four data analysis challenges. Top competitors will be invited to co-author the publication. More details at ghi.st. Please spread the word!

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Ryan Gutenkunst @ryangutenkunst.bsky.social · 14/02/2024

As Head of my Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, I'm impressed with the MCB-themed Valentine ChatGPT came up with.

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