iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Merlin Crossley

Kate Quinlan @katequinlan.bsky.social · 05/11/2025

Thank you to the @anzscdb.bsky.social NSW Branch Committee for an excellent symposium today! I was grateful for the invitation to share our work & am delighted for Sonia Goozee who won the best ECR talk award! #anzscdbnsw2025 @biologists.bsky.social @unswbabs.bsky.social @merlincrossley.bsky.social

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Merlin Crossley @merlincrossley.bsky.social · 14/09/2025

www.nature.com/articles/s41... Our latest paper in collaboration with Mitch Weiss’s lab. We showed DNA methylation turns off fetal globin expression. I’m still not sure how important methylation is in regulating individual human genes but it represses this one.#sicklecelldisease #crispr #epigenetics

nature.com

Removal of promoter CpG methylation by epigenome editing reverses HBG silencing - Nature Communications

DNA methylation is a critical component for repression of fetal haemoglobin in adult blood cells. Removing DNA methylation from the fetal haemoglobin promoter effectively upregulates the gene, opening...

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Merlin Crossley @merlincrossley.bsky.social · 14/09/2025

Came across a plant with many 4 and 5 leaf clovers. Is this common? #4leafclovers #fourleafclovers #5leafclovers

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Merlin Crossley @merlincrossley.bsky.social · 28/04/2025

Several friends urged me to write about the non-Dire Wolves, so I have. But my piece is really about the fact that you can trust the process of science but not individuals or teams. Loyalty to teams is a major factor that causes misinformation to persist: crossleylab.wordpress.com/2025/04/28/2...

crossleylab.wordpress.com

Non-Dire Wolves and the Process of Science

Science works but it requires unwavering adherence to a system. The pollution that is misinformation is science’s enemy. As G.K. Chesterton said “If you leave a white post alone it will soon …

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Merlin Crossley @merlincrossley.bsky.social · 25/04/2025

Like the leaves that fall from the trees, such are the generations of men

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Merlin Crossley @merlincrossley.bsky.social · 20/04/2025

The UNSW Bilby has dressed up for Easter

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Merlin Crossley @merlincrossley.bsky.social · 19/04/2025

I’ve never noticed this before but it looks like I’ve been living near the house of the dragon

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Merlin Crossley @merlincrossley.bsky.social · 14/04/2025

“[If] it looks like a dire wolf and acts like a dire wolf, I'm going to call it a dire wolf,” Beth Shapiro, Colossal's chief science officer, told Wired. Oh no - I think my dog might be a Dire Wolf!

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Merlin Crossley @merlincrossley.bsky.social · 23/03/2025

Across Australia the amount of black on the back of Magpies varies dramatically. In Sydney their backs are almost completely black.

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Merlin Crossley @merlincrossley.bsky.social · 21/03/2025

Friday is blog day at #UNSW Today the Woolly Mouse but this is more a comment on the different pressures in public and private research and different leadership styles - big visions versus realistic plans #woollymammoth #leadership #universities #biotech crossleylab.wordpress.com/2025/03/22/t...

crossleylab.wordpress.com

To deal in hope – the Woolly Mouse

Having big goals can be inspiring. Napoleon famously quipped “A leader is a dealer in hope.” He urged his people to aim for the impossible to achieve the maximum. Apparently, this is effectiv…

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Merlin Crossley @merlincrossley.bsky.social · 01/03/2025

Good to know that Tawny Frogmouths are still in the neighbourhood

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Merlin Crossley @merlincrossley.bsky.social · 28/02/2025

Urban fossils: elm and beech, Canberra

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Merlin Crossley @merlincrossley.bsky.social · 25/02/2025

Possums are great. Australia has such wonderful urban wildlife. You just have to be a little nocturnal to really appreciate it though!

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Merlin Crossley @merlincrossley.bsky.social · 08/02/2025

Birds are very comfortable on the UNSW campus. The ibis looks like it’s about to deliver a lecture!

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Merlin Crossley @merlincrossley.bsky.social · 12/01/2025

Some people think that in the modern age art is dead. But behold, it’s thriving on the street of Inner West neighbourhoods in Sydney

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Merlin Crossley @merlincrossley.bsky.social · 12/01/2025

We found these eggs 6 weeks ago - and now all 14 have hatched into cute little stink bugs. #insects in Australia

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Merlin Crossley @merlincrossley.bsky.social · 11/01/2025

It’s amazing how much variation there is in frangipani flowers - in our neighbourhood in Sydney it’s considered the pinker the better

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Merlin Crossley @merlincrossley.bsky.social · 04/01/2025

The authorities have stepped in to support and prop up this tree - the only problem is I think it’s one of those weeping varieties so all efforts may be in vain