iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Jill Townley

denoisingthenoise.bsky.social @denoisingthenoise.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Our September session will feature "De Novo Design of RNA Pseudoknots with Deep Learning." Speakers: Jill Townley @jilltownley.bsky.social, Chaitanya Joshi @chaitjo.bsky.social, and Andrew Kubaney (Baker Lab) Sept. 30th, 2-3 PM PT on Zoom. See you there! Sign up via Luma below.

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Jill Townley @jilltownley.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

How do researchers design an RNA in 3D when no accurate 3D prediction model exists? Eterna's collaboration with the @rdaslab.bsky.social at Stanford was able to design novel pseudoknots using a blend of secondary structure prediction and GenAI design methods. 🧪 #RNAsky

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Reposted by Jill Townley

Eterna @eternagame.org · 07/08/2026

Our Replicase pilot results found that the catalytic activity and copyability of the 71-89 polymerase ribozyme can be improved! We have launched a new puzzle for finding a version that excels at both properties simultaneously. Comp methods are encouraged to submit designs!

Puzzle interface displaying the secondary and tertiary structure of the ribozyme.

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Reposted by Jill Townley

Eterna @eternagame.org · 23/07/2026

OpenKnot Round 9 features secondary structures designed by players to create compact, pseudoknotted RNA using 240 bases. GenAI teams also will be testing whether their methods can perform as well as the expert players at a longer length. Check out the puzzle at: eternagame.org/labs/14343053

Screenshot of the Eterna puzzle interface

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Reposted by Jill Townley

Eterna @eternagame.org · 17/07/2026

Eternacon 12 will be Sunday, July 26, 9am to 2pm PT featuring talks on player pseudoknot design techniques, the Montparnasse algorithm solving the Eterna100, an RNA scaffold for cryo-EM, and results for our pilot Replicase puzzle. #RNAsky Free to register at eternagame.org/eternacon/2026

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Reposted by Jill Townley

Das Lab @rdaslab.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

Can humans+AI get 1M #cryoEM-able #RNA structures? Phase 1: humans design 1000 pseudoknot structures @eternagame.org by Jul 19. Phase 2: AIs design 1000 sequences for each by Jul 31. Come join! Latest phase of the OpenKnot challenge eternagame.org/challenges/1... #citsci #RNAsky

eternagame.org

Eterna

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Reposted by Jill Townley

Eterna @eternagame.org · 25/05/2026

First AI-generated RNA with novel atomically ordered 3D fold! 🧬 The pseudoknotted secondary structure 'Kissing Multiloops' was designed by an Eterna player then solved by 3 GenAI models as confirmed by cryo-EM. ❄️🔬 #RNASky www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Two dimensional and three dimensional views of three compact RNA molecules designed by generative AI methods.

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Reposted by Jill Townley

Eterna @eternagame.org · 15/05/2026

The first three CASP 17 RNA targets are molecules designed by Eterna players as part of our OpenKnot puzzle series! Another example of how dedicated citizen scientists #citsci can contribute to cutting-edge research. eternagame.org/challenges/1...

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Reposted by Jill Townley

Rachael Kretsch @rachael-kretsch.bsky.social · 30/03/2026

This week, learn about the crowdsource RNA design platform, Eterna, and Anthony Stohr's switch work. In the future, how could Eterna be used to tackle to 3D RNA structure problem? Meeting ID: 934 4593 5624 Passcode: 802843 Mailing list: groups.google.com/g/casp-rna-sig

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Reposted by Jill Townley

RCSB Protein Data Bank @rcsbpdb.bsky.social · 05/01/2026

Large and intricate naturally occurring structures composed exclusively of RNA... ROOL! More at Molecule of the Month: pdb101.rcsb.org/motm...

OLE RNA from Clostridium botulinum (pdb_00009lcr) is shown in pink on the left. ROOL RNAs can form cages built from 6 (right, top, pdb_00009j6y) or 8 (right, bottom, pdb_00009mds) subunits.

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Jill Townley @jilltownley.bsky.social · 03/12/2025

An AI researcher interested in biochemistry modeling successfully improved his RNA language model through participation in the Eterna pseudoknot design competition. Congratulations, Chaitanya! 🧬🧪 #RNAsky The polymerase ribozyme results are pretty cool too. 😎

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Reposted by Jill Townley

Eterna @eternagame.org · 24/11/2025

A new 3-state Replicase challenge has been launched on Eterna and will only be open for two weeks before sequences are collected for experimental testing at the Das Lab. Will Eterna players be able to improve the catalytic activity of the RNA polymerase? eternagame.org/labs/14183416

The Eterna puzzle interface displaying the three states of the RNA polymerase ribozyme using RibonanzaNet in state 1 and Eternafold in states 2 and 3.

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Jill Townley @jilltownley.bsky.social · 12/11/2025

"Through progressively more difficult challenges, Eterna players developed and documented new and productive RNA design strategies. We incorporated player-derived strategies into a Monte Carlo Tree Search algorithm called ‘Nucleologic’ that allowed for automation of the RNA sensor design process."🧪

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Reposted by Jill Townley

David Simon @audacityofdespair.bsky.social · 20/10/2025

Yes, mook. The President of the United States was effective at conveying to his nation that he wishes to dump feces on whatever plurality of its citizens are opposed to him and his policies. Statesmanship to remember alongside that of the greats. Leadership so rare.

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Reposted by Jill Townley

John Schwartz @jswatz.bsky.social · 12/10/2025

"The employees 'were sent incorrect notifications, which was fixed last night and this morning with a technical correction,' a senior administration official said. 'Any correction has already been remedied.'" The nation is being run by idiots. Idiots with power. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/11/h...

nytimes.com

Trump Administration Is Bringing Back Scores of C.D.C. Experts Fired in Error

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Jill Townley @jilltownley.bsky.social · 24/09/2025

I don't know how template-based modeling works, but I'm excited to see it in action someday! 🧪 #RNAsky #machinelearning #bioinformatics

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Reposted by Jill Townley

Oliver T Lord @olivertlord.bsky.social · 29/08/2025

This quote from @whysharksmatter.bsky.social pretty much explains this phenomenon: "When I talk about fish on Bluesky, people ask me questions about fish. When I talk about fish on Twitter, people threaten to murder my family because we’re Jewish."

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Jill Townley @jilltownley.bsky.social · 13/08/2025

Much-needed hike on Mt. Rainier yesterday to clear the mind. Lots of international visitors. America’s National Parks are very well-managed.

Glaciers and alpine lake on the east side of Mt. Rainier

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Reposted by Jill Townley

Eterna @eternagame.org · 23/07/2025

Coming up this weekend, Eternacon will feature presentations about fellow #citsci platform @zooniverse.bsky.social and how participants of both Zooniverse and Eterna have created #machinelearning tools for projects. @noirlabastro.bsky.social Register for free at eternagame.org/eternacon/2025

Blue image of ROOL nanocage made of RNA with text on top noting Eternacon dates as July 26 and 27.

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Jill Townley @jilltownley.bsky.social · 09/07/2025

Learn more about how Eterna puzzles are being used for RNA education and outreach at the middle school, high school, and college level in the latest RCSB PDB newsletter. 🧬 🧪 cdn.rcsb.org/rcsb-pdb/gen...

cdn.rcsb.org

EDUCATION CORNER: Interactive RNA Education with the Eterna Game

Eterna is an online game which models the base pairing and secondary structure of RNA sequences.

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Jill Townley @jilltownley.bsky.social · 01/06/2025

Sad to hear Donna Guardino has passed away. Sal and Donna opened their gallery on NE Alberta across the street from my video store shortly before I rented my storefront. They were great neighbors and we talked frequently. www.orartswatch.org/donna-guardi...

orartswatch.org

Donna Guardino, gallery owner and a force behind the Alberta Arts District, dies at age 81 • Oregon ArtsWatch

A longtime icon in the Portland arts community, Guardino was known for championing the careers of new artists.

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Jill Townley @jilltownley.bsky.social · 27/05/2025

Looking forward to attending my first Conference for Advancing the Participatory Sciences this week and delivering a presentation during the Scientific Contributions session on how Eterna players created a large dataset of RNA sequences with pseudoknots for machine learning. 🧪 #CAPS2025

SHAPE data of a mutated version of PKB364

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Jill Townley @jilltownley.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

Need help modeling your RNA pseudoknot? Stanford researchers have released the RibonanzaNet-SS neural net, which appears to be outperforming other pseudoknot modeling methods as demonstrated by the Tetrahymena ribozyme in Eterna Puzzlemaker. 🧪

Screenshot of Puzzlemaker interface with ribozyme sequence and structure

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Jill Townley @jilltownley.bsky.social · 27/03/2025

Are you a biochem professor attending the ASBMB annual meeting in April? @sarahsmaga.bsky.social and I will be leading a workshop on using the Eterna platform to introduce RNA pairing and folding in the undergraduate classroom: events.rdmobile.com/Sessions/Det... Hope to see you there! 🧬

Two states of an RNA switch using malachite green as a reporter.

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Reposted by Jill Townley

John Skiles Skinner @skiles.blue · 21/03/2025

I helped build a government AI system. DOGE fired me, rolled the AI out to the whole agency, and implied the AI can do my job and the jobs of the others they've fired. It can't. But, what DOGE accidentally revealed about themselves in the process is fascinating. 🧵

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Jill Townley @jilltownley.bsky.social · 26/02/2025

I will be leading an Eterna town hall on Monday, March 3, 2pm PT to discuss the experimental results of mutating an Azoarcus ribozyme while maintaining catalytic activity. Eterna players were able to make as many as 75 mutations (out of 193 bases). 🧪 Everyone welcome: eternagame.org/news/13879937

eternagame.org

Eterna

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Jill Townley @jilltownley.bsky.social · 25/01/2025

Eterna is hosting a town hall this Monday at 2pm PT where three researchers from the Das Las will discuss CASP 16 RNA structure prediction, computational modeling of tertiary motifs, and pseudoknot design with deep learning. Zoom link at: eternagame.org/news/13834808

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Eterna

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Jill Townley @jilltownley.bsky.social · 24/01/2025

This new book demonstrates how participatory science has assisted researchers at different stages of the research process in many different fields. Engaging the public in the research process also is an effective way to foster public trust in science. 🧪 #citizenscience

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Jill Townley @jilltownley.bsky.social · 29/12/2024

Really cool to see Alphafold featured on CBS Sunday Morning during the "Good news you may have missed" year-end review, along with murder hornets, another great story. John Jumper claimed determining the 3D structure of one #protein costs $100,000. Isn't it more in the $5,000-30,000 range?

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Reposted by Jill Townley

Ryan Marino, MD @ryanmarino.bsky.social · 06/12/2024

Need to find a US Senator to ask RFK Jr to please explain this

Autism rates over time plotted against organic food sales over time. The lines have an almost perfect fit.

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Jill Townley @jilltownley.bsky.social · 01/12/2024

A family member bought Tom Cech's book The Catalyst for me, and I'm really enjoying learning more about how the recent breakthroughs in RNA biology came about. The Eterna game is even featured on pages 84-87! Available on Amazon: amzn.to/3OzsJu8

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Jill Townley @jilltownley.bsky.social · 29/11/2024

Are you a researcher needing to model the secondary structure of a long RNA sequence? The EternaFold server can model sequences up to 1000 nt in length. (Pseudoknots are not modeled.) Code is available for running larger jobs locally. eternafold.eternagame.org

eternafold.eternagame.org

EternaFold

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Jill Townley @jilltownley.bsky.social · 19/11/2024

I really love how I can select a column of numbers in a Google sheet and the program automatically gives me a sum in the low right corner. Well done, team Google. I also love being able to perform an operation in three columns, then the program generates the function for me. Big time saver.

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Jill Townley @jilltownley.bsky.social · 18/11/2024

Had a blast at ABRCMS last week talking with trainees about all the opportunities for RNA research and Eterna’s new AI for predicting secondary structure, RibonanzaNet-SS.

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