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Leo Martins (he/him)

@leomrtns.bsky.social
440 followers 385 following 210 posts

Computational Biologist. Tenure Track Fellow in Signal Processing for Health at the School of Engineering, University of Liverpool. 🇧🇷🇯🇵🇪🇸🇬🇧🇨🇭 Phylogenomics and Chemometrics. Prog Rock and Post-Punk. C and Python. @leomrtns@mstdn.science

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Reposted by Leo Martins (he/him)
Max Telford @maxjtelford.bsky.social · 12h
Not shown :‘The pigeons of San Marco’; ‘The €15 cappuccino of San Marco’; or ‘The skilled professional musicians playing George Michael of San Marco’.
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Sarah Hird, PhD @sarahhird.bsky.social · 18h
The way universities handle (& by that I mean permit) sexual assault is a stain on all of Academia. Why can’t we be better. Why can’t we expect more. Why can’t women be people. Everyone read this:
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Vivek Mutalik @vivekmutalik.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
😮😮 Microbial community dynamics in a traditional Swiss mountain cheese over 142 years of cheesemaking: Current Biology www.cell.com/current-biol...
cell.com
Microbial community dynamics in a traditional Swiss mountain cheese over 142 years of cheesemaking
How did modernizing cheesemaking change the microbes inside the cheese? By sequencing preserved traditional Alpine cheese wheels spanning 142 years from a single Alpine dairy, Somerville et al. trace ...
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Reposted by Leo Martins (he/him)
Mark Chadbourn @chadbourn.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
US social media companies are interfering in the Brazilian elections in favour of the Far Right’s Flávio Bolsonaro. Meta is the latest. It’s just blocked the campaign account of President Lula in the final stretch of the election.
elespectador.com
Meta restringe la cuenta de Lula y su partido alerta por posible injerencia extranjera
De cara a las elecciones en Brasil, Lula enfrenta a Meta por restringir su cuenta mientras su partido alerta por posible injerencia extranjera.
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Leo Martins (he/him) @leomrtns.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
most institutions confuse interdisciplinarity with multidisciplinarity. Grant calls and their reviewing reflect this mistake. When I did my undergrad, for instance, we were sent to different schools to learn standard disciplines. They still believe strongly in interdisciplinarity (cecm.usp.br).
cecm.usp.br
Ciências Moleculares
O Curso de Ciências Moleculares combina interdisciplinaridade e inovação em uma comunidade de alunos motivados a abordar problemas complexos do mundo através do poder da colaboração.
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Reposted by Leo Martins (he/him)
Yu Wan 万宇 @wanyuac.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Strongly agree, and I am deeply concerned about demand management or the so-called internal peer review, which lacks nationwide regulation, transparency, or mechanisms to avoid conflicts of interest, potentially widening inequality, compromising mobility, and particularly, disadvantaging ECRs.
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Reposted by Leo Martins (he/him)
Evelien Adriaenssens @evelienadri.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Here are my first thoughts as a phage person about the @anthropic.com announcement about a novel enzyme on a phage: www.linkedin.com/pulse/my-tho...
linkedin.com
My thoughts on the Anthropic phage enzyme discovery
* Disclaimer: This is not a scientific review, just a few thoughts I had while reading..
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Private Eye Magazine @privateeyenews.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Yes, it's that time again when the Fascism scene returns to London and this year black is very much in vogue. From the new Private Eye, in shops now.
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UK Health Security Agency @ukhsa.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
UK mosquitoes can be annoying, but did you realise that they used to carry a form of malaria? 🦟 Human malaria was eliminated here in the early 20th century through a combination of land drainage and mosquito control. 🧪
Text graphic with a blue to green gradient background. Text reads: "Did you know? Historically known as ‘ague’, malaria was once common in the marshy areas of southern England but had largely disappeared by the 19th century." A white emblem of marsh plants appears at the bottom right.
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MadScientist @mads100tist.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
In fact, since the algorithm is opaque and we will never be able to test what is 'evaluated' and how, I think this is highly unethical @olivia.science @irisvanrooij.bsky.social
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Leo Martins (he/him) @leomrtns.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
" Every proposal was read independently by several different AI models" Seems fair.
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Leo Martins (he/him) @leomrtns.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
whenever I'm writing an adjective whose noun ends in "ce" I must stop and think, if it changes (sequence/sequenTIAL) or if it keeps the form (finance/finanCIAL). I can still get it wrong though. So my least favourite pair of words is "intention" and "intension"
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Nick Kapur @nickkapur.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Japanese used bookstores are reporting a massive uptick in bulk purchases of used Japanese books by overseas buyers, seemingly without any regard to their contents. The only logical conclusion is that these books are being stripped, scanned, and discarded to train AI models.
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Reposted by Leo Martins (he/him)
Conor (Conchúr) Meehan @conmeehan.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
We are looking for someone with a strong background in metagenomics and epidemiology to join our team for ~2 years at UKHSA to work on the mSCAPE programme. Please see (and share) the link below and feel free to message me with any enquiries. www.healthjobsuk.com/job/Canary_W...
healthjobsuk.com
Job vacancy: Senior Scientist (Epidemiology), UK Health Security Agency, Canary Wharf, London | trac.jobs
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Yu Wan 万宇 @wanyuac.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
I will be more than happy to support undergraduate medical and veterinary students to apply for the RCPath/ Microbiology Society elective award in infection, microbiology, or virology as a prospective supervisor based in Liverpool, UK. Please comment here or message me if you are interested.
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Reposted by Leo Martins (he/him)
Steven (with a PH) @sjksalisbury.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Christening a baby is nothing like christening a ship. I know that now. Once again I can only apologise.
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Joseph W. Brown @josephwb.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Attention phellow phylo meth-heads 🧪
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Richard Sever @richardsever.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
"All corners of academia will soon be flooded with AI-generated research....Maths and CS go first because their entire output is symbol manipulation...Biology comes later not because biologists are cleverer but because the rate-limiting step is physical" giorgio.gilest.ro/the-weimar-o...
giorgio.gilest.ro
The Weimar of knowledge – la bottega
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Neil Charles @neilcharles.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
"If this had been about the BBC promoting polls secretly funded by the Labour party, all hell would have broken loose... damning coverage by the papers, dominating the news agenda to the exclusion of all other matters, and probably leading to the resignation of the director general"
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Leo Martins (he/him) @leomrtns.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
phylogenetics is my middle name (or phylogenomics, they're the same after all)
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Claire Willett @clairewillett.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
every day of my life I think about the people using “she” to describe this computer program who still need to be convinced to use it for trans women
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Dorian Lynskey @dorianlynskey.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Great thread. Most racists are "genuinely concerned" because they are genuinely prejudiced. Their sincerity is not the issue
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Zach Weinersmith @zachweinersmith.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Better slogan: No read book? Book too much words? Try robot!
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Willem van Schaik @wvschaik.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
A $50 mln Wellcome Leap 'research program investigating causal links between the gut microbiome and autism sparked fierce pushback from scientific critics and advocacy groups' www.the-scientist.com/wellcome-s-5...
the-scientist.com
Wellcome’s $50M Microbiome-Autism Project Gets a Serious Gut Check | The Scientist
A massive research program investigating causal links between the gut microbiome and autism sparked fierce pushback from scientific critics and advocacy groups.
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Leo Martins (he/him) @leomrtns.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
First time spending some time in Manchester. Oh boy what a lovely big city...
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womensartbluesky.bsky.social @womensartbluesky.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Marianne Seiman, contemporary crochet artist (via Instagram) #Womensart #September
Photo of twelve different and colourful toadstools and mushrooms created from crochet against a black background
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Dr. Damien P. Williams, dread portent down from a mountain cave @wolven.blacksky.app · 12/09/2026
This is a tax guy. His advice could be the difference between someone having their assets seized & maybe going to jail, or not. Now imagine having to worry about racist shit in every interaction you have with any person in authority. Every doctor & nurse, every cop, every lawyer & judge, every boss
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Leo Martins (he/him) @leomrtns.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Compleeeetely unrelated to my last posts
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Leo Martins (he/him) @leomrtns.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
I'm sure there'll be many takes on this announcement from UKRI www.ukri.org/news/ukri-mo... , but my main continuous worry is that "demand management" (i.e. internal selection) is very unequal, with terrible EDI implications.
screenshot text:

- more actively using demand management for selected funding applications where volumes are expected to be high, by working in partnership with research organisations
- focusing funding for strategic government and societal priorities (priority bucket 2) on larger and longer-term investments to reduce the burden on applicants while supporting strategic outcomes
- empowering UKRI Programme Directors and Opportunity Leads to use assessment approaches that best reflect the aims, desired outcomes and scale of individual funding opportunities
- using in-person verification, such as interviews, for higher-risk awards where additional assurances are required
- increasing the use of Distributed Peer Review (DPR) for suitable high-volume opportunities across UKRI, building on promising trials of DPR by research councils such as ESRC and BBSRC
- testing an initial triage of applications by UKRI staff, including staff-led desk rejection, supported by the UK Metascience Unit
- trialling a weighted multi-criteria assessment approach to better balance considerations of excellence with the strategic aims of each funding opportunity
- exploring the safe use of AI-assisted assessment, supported by appropriate controls and safeguards, starting with a retrospective trial with the UK Metascience Unit to compare what AI would have concluded from past applications against the decisions that were made
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Leo Martins (he/him) @leomrtns.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
static.klipy.com
Toby Kebbell in Black Mirror: Show It To Me
Alt: Toby Kebbell screaming "Show It To Me!" to Jodie Whittaker. From an episode of Black Mirror where characters can replay their memories (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Entire_History_of_You)
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Nick Loman @pathogenomenick.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
AI acting more like a real academic than we’d like here
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Zamin Iqbal @zaminiqbal.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Anyone posting from the Plasmid meeting in Berlin? Wondering how it is going
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John Lees @johnlees.bacpop.org · 03/09/2026
I am hiring in this round – please do apply if you are interested in: machine learning (protein/genome/gene language models), methods for pathogen data analysis, pangenomes (or share with any students who might want to work with us)
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Tyler, from the Internet @tylerfromtheinternet.com · 31/08/2026
robber: GIVE ME THE MONEY cashier: ok 😭😭😭 robber: PUT IN A BAG cashier: they're 25¢ now is that ok 😭😭😭
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Thiago Carvalho @cyrilpedia.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
The study "GPT detectors are biased against non-native English writers" www.cell.com/patterns/ful...
cell.com
GPT detectors are biased against non-native English writers
GPT detectors frequently misclassify non-native English writing as AI generated, raising concerns about fairness and robustness. Addressing the biases in these detectors is crucial to prevent the marginalization of non-native English speakers in evaluative and educational settings and to create a more equitable digital landscape.
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MEPGT @mepgt.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
Very important paper by @phylogenetrips.bsky.social "Genes and sites under adaptation at the phylogenetic scale also exhibit adaptation at the population-genetic scale" | PNAS www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
pnas.org
Genes and sites under adaptation at the phylogenetic scale also exhibit adaptation at the population-genetic scale | PNAS
Adaptation in protein-coding sequences can be detected from multiple sequence alignments across species or alternatively by leveraging polymorphism...
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laserhedvig @laserhedvig.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
A New Language Game has Entered The Villa: Glottle! glottle.app Try to guess the target language and along the way you get clues from its position in a language family tree and its geographical position. #languages #linguistics
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Evelien Adriaenssens @evelienadri.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Dear eukaryotic, archaeal and bacterial virologists, I don't know how most of you feel about taxonomy, but it has an impact on all of our working lives. I am curious to hear from you about your opinion on subspecies classification based on this survey: www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/jour...
microbiologyresearch.org
Virus community views on the possible extension of virus taxonomic assignments to a below-species rank
The International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) is considering a proposal submitted in July 2025 to create an optional additional taxonomic rank below the level of species. This was designed...
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elia ayoub @ayoub.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
900+ academics and others have so far defended this man on grounds of academic freedom. That’s how easy it was for them to support a openly racist man. They didn’t even bother to double check whether the racist happens to also be against academic freedom. Total surprise, he is.
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Casey Dunn @caseywdunn.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
My new book, Phylogenetic Biology, is now published. Available online for free at dunnlab.org/phylogenetic... . Physical copies can be purchased at shop.lightningsource.com/b/085?params... or your favorite bookstore.
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ContempraInn 🌹 @contemprainn.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
Shiela 🐑 we have talked about this before no snuggles when I am on duty
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Dave Vetter @davidrvetter.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
In some ways quite helpful that the racist academics are signing the "I Am A Racist Academic" pledge.
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Neil Hall @neilhall.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Biological Databases are critical infrastructure - not projects. As so much effort is put into harnessing AI to solve all our problems, we are allowing the foundational data resources crumble. 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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bombona de 20L @djosef.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
only fans
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Dr Zubaida Haque @zubhaque.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
One important principle that risks being lost in polarised debate following Jason Arday’s tragic death is this: intent is not the test for discrimination or institutional racism. The more important Q for any institution is whether its processes, practices and actions produced discriminatory outcomes
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Rui Borges @ruiborges23.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
1/4 Excited to share that our paper "Phylogenetic inference with not-so-rare mutations and tiny organisms" has been accepted in Systematic Biology! 🧬🦠 academic.oup.com/sysbio/artic...
academic.oup.com
Phylogenetic inference with not-so-rare mutations and tiny organisms
Abstract. A common assumption in mathematical models of molecular evolution is that mutations are rare. One example is the boundary mutation assumption, wh
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Corey O'Neill @coreyoneill.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
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Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
This is an inappropriate, credulous & politically biased BBC headline. The claims about savings will be sharply contested. News reports should not imclude what reads as an ediorial endorsememt in the headline www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
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Ash @queerash.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
Reform: We're going to leave babies outside so only the strong survive to become our elite warrior class BBC: Reform will save NHS 100 TRILLION Pounds
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Leo Martins (he/him) @leomrtns.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
Dear UK govt, thanks for reminding me to mute the emergency alert notifications. They're useless: I had my headphones on, and could not hear it or listen to what was being read on screen. It uses the loudspeakers only. The song stopped playing, but given my musical taste I thought it was a feature.
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