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Kahlil Lawless

@synthesisconduit.bsky.social
1.2K followers 2K following 431 posts

Genomics industry professional, molecular biologist, Dad, adventurer, opinions are my own

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Kahlil Lawless @synthesisconduit.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Went down a rabbit-hole on the etymology of how 'mutton' transformed from sheep to goat in in colonial India, and was just delighted to discover it was an uncoordinated mass deception to sell goat to brits who preferred mutton but couldn't tell the difference in a curry 🤣
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Simon Bayly @simonbayly.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Big new release from DeepMind - this time it's in silico mutagenesis of the entire human genome! www.nature.com/articles/d41...
nature.com
DeepMind’s new genome ‘atlas’ charts effects of all 9 billion human gene mutations
AI model AlphaGenome forecasts the consequences of altering every single DNA letter in the human genome.
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Reposted by Kahlil Lawless
Dan Garisto @dangaristo.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
In May it was big news when 100+ suspicious images were found in Thermo Fisher's catalog. Now, that number has expanded dramatically to 18,000+, thanks to some arduous searching by @reeserichardson.bsky.social. My reporting on the massive trove and its implications for antibody reliability:
nature.com
More than 18,000 questionable images found in antibody catalogues of 15 companies
Science sleuth’s findings raise questions for researchers working to improve the reliability of commercial antibodies.
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Kahlil Lawless @synthesisconduit.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
Further Gains in Germline Whole Genome Sequencing Accuracy: NovaSeq X Series Software v1.4 and DRAGEN v4.5 Deliver Improved Results, Including in the Most Challenging Regions www.illumina.com/science/geno...
illumina.com
Further Gains in Germline Whole Genome Sequencing Accuracy: NovaSeq X Series Software v1.4 and DRAGEN v4.5 Deliver Improved Results, Including in the Most Challenging Regions
Pairing NovaSeq X Series software v1.4 with DRAGEN v4.5.4 delivers measurable gains in variant calling accuracy—including in historically difficult-to-resolve regions of the genome. This article dives...
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Kahlil Lawless @synthesisconduit.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
Chaos-on-demand
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Kahlil Lawless @synthesisconduit.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
Just a small GWAS gut.bmj.com/content/earl...?
gut.bmj.com
Cross-definition GWAS of IBS in 2.8 million individuals reveals cardiometabolic and triglyceride-linked mechanisms
Background Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a complex disorder of gut-brain interaction, with heterogeneous symptoms, no available biomarkers and limited pathogenetic insight. Objective To identify ...
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Kahlil Lawless @synthesisconduit.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
What are your favorite, most common turns of phrase? Saying "the Juice Ain't Worth the Squeeze" lately I adore my copy of Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable which explains their provenance and meaning and collect these sayings like little treasures from my travels around the world
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Kahlil Lawless @synthesisconduit.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
Beware any electronic device that costs less than its market value or cost to produce, such as a smart TV or glasses. Every dollar saved is one paid in privacy loss
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Kahlil Lawless @synthesisconduit.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
When sequencing isn’t enough: A global forum for finding answers Generating genomic data is only the start. Experts meet virtually to solve complex analysis challenges and share insights with their peers www.illumina.com/company/news...
illumina.com
When sequencing isn’t enough: A global forum for finding answers
Generating genomic data is only the start. Experts meet virtually to solve complex analysis challenges and share insights with their peers
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Kahlil Lawless @synthesisconduit.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
I swear, if outlook asks me one more time I would like to save the (nonexistent) changes to the meeting invite (not mine, couldn't do that anyway) for a meeting (already past) and I'm just trying to close it, Bill and I are going to have words
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Kahlil Lawless @synthesisconduit.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
Illumina Partners With Rapid Newborn Diagnostic Sequencing Projects for New Study www.genomeweb.com/sequencing/i...
genomeweb.com
Illumina Partners With Rapid Newborn Diagnostic Sequencing Projects for New Study
The two-year study aims to provide diagnoses to unsolved cases through data reanalysis and resequencing with Illumina's TruPath Genome technology.
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Kahlil Lawless @synthesisconduit.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
A major epigenetics study using samples from UK Biobank (and Illumina's new 5-Base sequencing technology!) will unlock new insights into the biological basis of human health and disease. www.ukbiobank.ac.uk/news/landmar...
ukbiobank.ac.uk
Landmark UK Biobank epigenetics study will reveal impact of genes and environment on health
A major epigenetics study using samples from UK Biobank will unlock new insights into the biological basis of human health and disease.
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Reposted by Kahlil Lawless
Michael Okun @michael-okun.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
If human editors can’t control who reviews science, it’s no longer peer review — it’s a rubber-stamp machine designed for volume and profit, not quality. I have no intention of attaching my name to it. So I’m out.
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Kahlil Lawless @synthesisconduit.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
Hot damn! www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
cell.com
Deep-sea megafauna co-opts microbial energy metabolism genes to withstand ultra-long starvation
By acquiring an energy metabolism-related gene via ancient horizontal transfer from a bacterial symbiont, the deep-sea supergiant isopod gains the ability to reprogram its energy allocation, enabling ...
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Kahlil Lawless @synthesisconduit.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
I just learned (is this true?!) that when you are swimming ocean wave energy moves right through you oscillating every water molecule in your body as it passes
static.klipy.com
The Gill Man Waving
ALT: The Gill Man Waving
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Kahlil Lawless @synthesisconduit.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
LLMs feeding on preprint servers is bad
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Kahlil Lawless @synthesisconduit.bsky.social · 25/05/2026
Ok, lets dip in 🕶️ www.youtube.com/watch?v=VB2v...
youtube.com
Dom & Roland - Can't Punish Me
YouTube video by passs1302
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👻madeline bOoOoOoOodent👻 @oldenoughtosay.com · 22/05/2026
no wait let’s hear them out. how many can we fit on board
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Hadas Weiss @hadas.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
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Physalia-courses@ONLINE @physaliacourses.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
We offer 3 half-price seats for researchers from low- and middle-income countries for our upcoming #GWAS course. This initiative supports access to high-quality training in genomic data analysis. More info: www.physalia-courses.org/courses-work... @oscargenomics.bsky.social
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Kahlil Lawless @synthesisconduit.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
Our medical affairs people are gems www.illumina.com/company/news...
illumina.com
How Illumina employees work to move healthcare toward precision medicine
Meet the members of an Illumina team promoting genomic literacy, generating evidence, and overcoming barriers to testing
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Reposted by Kahlil Lawless
Mark Peifer (He, him) @peiferlabunc.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
While BioNtech & Moderna become household names because of their Covid vaccines, those emerged from different projects: finding ways to treat the most challenging cancers. They hypothesized that we could vaccinate patients against their own tumors, & evidence is mounting that they were right! 1/n 🧪
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-10004-2
Individualized mRNA vaccines evoke durable T cell immunity in adjuvant TNBC

    U. Sahin, M. Schmidt, E. Derhovanessian, A. Cortini, I. Vogler, T. Omokoko, E. Godehardt, S. Attig, S. Newrzela, J. Grützner, N. Bidmon, S. Bolte, S. Brachtendorf, T. Stuhlmann, D. Langer, D. Brüne, J. Blake, A. Feldner, H. Lindman, A. Schneeweiss, M. Eichbaum & Ö. Türeci 
Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is frequently associated with metastatic relapse, even at an early stage1. Here we assessed an individualized neoantigen mRNA vaccine in 14 patients with TNBC following surgery and after neoadjuvant or adjuvant therapy. In peripheral blood of nearly all patients, high-magnitude, vaccine-induced, mostly de novo T cell responses to multiple neoantigens were detected that remained functional for several years. Characterization of individual patients revealed that a large proportion of these T cells developed into two subsets: a late-differentiated phenotype with markers indicative of ‘ready-to-act’ cytotoxic effector T cells, and T cells with a stem cell-like memory phenotype. Eleven patients remained relapse-free for up to six years post-vaccination. Recurrence occurred in three patients: the individual with the weakest vaccine-induced T cell response relapsed, but achieved complete remission on subsequent anti-PD-1 therapy; another patient had a tumour with low major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I expression with MHC class I-deficient cells growing out under vaccination; and the third patient was BRCA-positive and had a recurrence from a genetically distinct primary tumour. These findings demonstrate the feasibility of individualized RNA vaccines in TNBC, document persistence of vaccine-induced, functional neoantigen-specific T cells and provide insights into possible immune escape mechanisms that will guide future approaches.
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Kahlil Lawless @synthesisconduit.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
Turns out constellation mapped reads do linked-read type co-location plots, and more Informatics advances reveal the TruPath™ Genome towards comprehensive genomic insights www.illumina.com/science/geno...
illumina.com
Informatics advances reveal the TruPath™ Genome towards comprehensive genomic insights
Illumina's TruPath™ Genome combines proximity-mapped read technology with DRAGEN™ informatics to unlock comprehensive, haplotype-resolved genomic insights—including phased small variants, structural v...
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Kahlil Lawless @synthesisconduit.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
We have a little mojo back;) Illumina Raises 2026 Guidance on Strong Q1 NovaSeqX Demand, Clinical Consumables Sales www.genomeweb.com/sequencing/i...
genomeweb.com
Illumina Raises 2026 Guidance on Strong Q1 NovaSeqX Demand, Clinical Consumables Sales
Illumina placed 80 NovaSeqX sequencers in Q1, driving 1 percent organic revenue growth, and anticipates a similar number of placements in Q2.
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Kahlil Lawless @synthesisconduit.bsky.social · 30/04/2026
Does anyone else follow the 'reefing principle' with dynamic risk? As a sailor, when the wind starts increasing you have a limited window of time to reduce sail area (reef) before the force of wind makes it a difficult and dangerous thing to do, so if you even THINK about reefing, you HAVE to reef
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Kahlil Lawless @synthesisconduit.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
Neighbor Sovereign Buoy Bureaucracy
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Kahlil Lawless @synthesisconduit.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
This is my spirit animal, complete with matching mustache and expression of bewidlerment
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Kahlil Lawless @synthesisconduit.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
Best rule for social media: don't share or comment on anything you don't like. Sounds simple right? One step further - unfollow anyone who does. You can de-rage farm you feed very quickly. If you don't like something, just ignore it, sharing what you hate only gives it air and propagates it
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Kahlil Lawless @synthesisconduit.bsky.social · 24/04/2026
Man, scientific publishes all seem to think I'm a bot after trying to read skim-read 100 papers a day and the reCAPTCHAs are getting out of control
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Mark🐉Edits🖤 🏹 @gutsdozer.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
Hi this joke is for me
Comic of the beetle from the cover of Massive Attack's "Mezzanine" meeting the crab from the cover of The Prodigy's "Fat of the Land".
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c0nc0rdance @c0nc0rdance.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
This tweet is all of us.
2022 Tweet from Caroline Keroack:  "I have a whole PhD I whisper to myself, as I write C1V1 = C2V2 on a paper towel for the 8000th time."
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Kahlil Lawless @synthesisconduit.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
This is pretty wild
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Kahlil Lawless @synthesisconduit.bsky.social · 26/03/2026
My first name is a random set of numbers and letters and other alphanumerics that changes hourly forever - Aesop Rock
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Kahlil Lawless @synthesisconduit.bsky.social · 23/03/2026
What we should (and are!) be using AI for www.illumina.com/company/news...
illumina.com
In Canada, researching the use of AI to accelerate answers for rare disease
Evaluating AI-assisted variant interpretation and shared data networks to potentially impact clinical care
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Kahlil Lawless @synthesisconduit.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Someone recently suggested to me using AI to digitally clone incapacitated people so we can ask the clone to make decisions about their medical welfare
media.tenor.com
a man in a blue shirt is sitting in the back seat of a car with his eyes closed .
ALT: a man in a blue shirt is sitting in the back seat of a car with his eyes closed .
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Kahlil Lawless @synthesisconduit.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
I always suspected all the guff about dog breed personalities was hocus, nice to see some proof
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Kahlil Lawless @synthesisconduit.bsky.social · 11/03/2026
I think memetic evolution is one of the most interesting and important concepts of our time, and I'm aghast at how this scientific term has been utterly devolved by common use, to the point where people cannot have rational conversations about it because the heuristics are too strong now
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Kahlil Lawless @synthesisconduit.bsky.social · 06/03/2026
Cardiogenetic testing at scale: the TruGenome Cardiovascular Disease Test and CardioSeq Clinical Trial www.illumina.com/science/geno...
illumina.com
Cardiogenetic testing at scale: the TruGenome Cardiovascular Disease Test and CardioSeq Clinical Trial
Despite professional societies and guidelines recommending genetic testing for patients with certain cardiovascular diseases (CVD), genetic testing for CVD remains underutilized in real-world care. Th...
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Kahlil Lawless @synthesisconduit.bsky.social · 05/03/2026
Illumina's Pharma Research Alliance Expands, Adds Paired Genomics-Proteomic Dataset www.genomeweb.com/business-new...
genomeweb.com
Illumina's Pharma Research Alliance Expands, Adds Paired Genomics-Proteomic Dataset
Regeneron Genetics Center (RGC) will join the alliance, while GSK and Amgen will help integrate the proteomic data.
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MS POIROT @mspoirot.bsky.social · 19/02/2026
Bill Bramhall cartoon.
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Kevin Mitchell @wiringthebrain.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
With a nice shout-out for our Genomic Code paper proposing that the genome instantiates a generative model of the organism www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
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Kahlil Lawless @synthesisconduit.bsky.social · 11/02/2026
Want to learn about how our new BioInsight division is delivering data and unique omics research to pharma? Partnering to translate population-scale signals into mechanistic insights for faster drug discovery www.drugdiscoverynews.com/partnering-t...
drugdiscoverynews.com
Partnering to translate population-scale signals into mechanistic insights for faster drug discovery
New collaborative initiatives are bringing pharmaceutical R&D together around large-scale datasets to accelerate therapeutic discovery.
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Jenna Norton @jenna-m-norton.bsky.social · 06/02/2026
“We’re staying away from federal dollars because we don’t trust them, especially right now.” - Joseph Yracheta, executive director of the Native Biodata Consortium Bhattacharya talk a lot about trust. But the actions he oversees lead only to its deterioration. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/05/s...
nytimes.com
He Built a Server to Protect Indigenous Health Data
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Kahlil Lawless @synthesisconduit.bsky.social · 06/02/2026
Small pleasures: typing "worrisomely" into an email and finding it is, after all, a real word
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UK Biobank @ukbiobank.ac.uk · 05/02/2026
Why one of the world's most common viruses may have lifelong consequences for you 🔽 Researchers have discovered 22 genes that make people prone to persistent Epstein-Barr virus infections which are linked to long-term conditions inc rheumatoid arthritis, cancer & obstructive pulmonary disease.
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Kahlil Lawless @synthesisconduit.bsky.social · 30/01/2026
Love this quote
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Ming Tommy Tang @tommytang.bsky.social · 23/01/2026
1/ Your genome report says you have a disease-causing mutation. Reanalysis 13 months later: it was a sequencing artifact. MedSeq found 164 "rare variants" appeared in >10% of their patients. Population databases missed them all.
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c0nc0rdance @c0nc0rdance.bsky.social · 22/01/2026
In patients with melanoma who had surgical removal of tumor, receiving a customized mRNA cancer vaccine increased protection against recurrence by 44% at 2 years when compared to standard therapy. At 5 years, it appears that protection slightly increases to 49%.
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Kahlil Lawless @synthesisconduit.bsky.social · 21/01/2026
Performance-based contracts for drugs - I love it. Incentivize maximum outcomes not maximum patient eligibility www.npr.org/2026/01/20/n...
npr.org
Medicaid has a new way to pay for costly sickle cell treatment: Only if it works
Medicaid is doing a novel payment system for the new, promising and expensive sickle cell treatment. It may become a model for all gene therapies being developed.
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Kahlil Lawless @synthesisconduit.bsky.social · 21/01/2026
Right now I have at the feeder: Evening Grosbeak, Dark-Eyed Juncos, Boreal Chickadees, American Goldfinches, and Blue Jays 😍
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