Amy Gaskin

Looking to connect with anyone working in microbial / pathogen genomics, including metagenomics 🧬🦠

- Academia 🎓
- Public Health 🏥
- Research Startups 🧐

I specialise in HIV drug resistance as part of a clinical genomics service.

What projects are working on?

Tell me more about your interests!

üpdate: the hog has grown to be much larger than the sun. bröther, may it have this final öat?

This is your reminder to get a library card. They have so many services and basically all of them are free.

Experience / Qualifications 🧠

🏥 5 years as a bioinformatician in pathogen genomics for public health

🎓 MSc in Bioinformatics from Cardiff University (distinction)

🎓BSc in Biology from Swansea University (first class)

Introduction! 🦠🧬🏥

Hi, I’m Amy!

I’m a bioinformatician based in Cardiff working in pathogen genomics for public health 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

Looking to follow fellow science / tech nerds and creatives ✨

In my spare time I enjoy reading too many books, performing poetry, and failing to learn Italian on Duolingo

Can you imagine how long the brown-eyed queue would be? Mendel would weep

Sometimes I’ll think I’m well-adjusted and other times I’ll wake up from dreams where public loos are segregated by eye colour and I get yelled at for daring to walk in a “brown-eyed loo”

Recently I’ve been working on mustering up the courage to go up and quietly compliment people. The other day I noticed someone in the pub with a London Underground printed dress, and when I went up to her to tell her I loved it, she thanked me and told me it was *homemade*! How cool is that?

Finally, I adore real compliments! There are few better feelings than a complete stranger noticing something unique about your appearance or personality and crafting a thoughtful compliment ❤️

Secondly, the vast majority of women I know are not flattered by being yelled at; they’re intimidated. I refuse to believe that cat-calling is nothing more than an intimidation tactic, normalised to keep women in check.

Firstly, why aren’t you guys complimenting each other more?

I’ve had this conversation with male friends before and some have actually said to me “well we’d find it flattering because we barely get complimented”. Okay, great, that introduces several problems:

Placing more of our trust in corporations or more of our trust in a corrupt government seems like a guaranteed loss for society.

I’m not convinced either of these institutions will hold each other accountable on AI. I’m not particularly optimistic about our journalists doing a better job either.

On the surface, I find this cringey and icky, but deep down I am terrified. No way do we want anyone as unstable and volatile as Elon Musk or the Tories anywhere near AI.

And then you’ll get billionaires and their bros who’ll lap up anything that Elon Musk, Rishi Sunak et al. without any question! It’s great to be optimistic about tech (I am!), but these people simply do not have society’s best interests at heart. They’ll put profit over people.

Is this how computer nerds felt in the early 00s when people were using computers in the mainstream but not understanding how they worked? Because it’s stressing me out that people are saying “AI this, AI that” without specifying exactly what they MEAN by it

No, I don’t want AI ever, ever making decisions about healthcare, yes, I think it could help get rid of some of the admin

Nails are painted red in the foreground. An out of focus shot of a Map Men YouTube video is on a television in the background. (It’s the one about continents)

Everything feels correct now the days are colder and my nails are painted red (feat. Map Men)

Mind map showing the Omnipresence of BORG. Going clockwise: - Cybernetic aliens (Star Trek) - Newly discovered DNA structures existing outside of chromosomes in some species of archaea - A cosy fleece brand which my friend keeps seeing on the Internet - Blackout rage gallons: containers filled with insane levels of alcohol, water, and electrolytes, as American teens discover a cultural practice of their ancestors (binge drinking)

My first post on Bluesky could be serious, or it could be my diagram on the Omnipresence of Borg, which I hope to expand