"...one hallucination could ruin your whole planet."
garymarcus.substack.com/p/code-red-f...
26.02.2026 09:26
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"...one hallucination could ruin your whole planet."
garymarcus.substack.com/p/code-red-f...
Oh, that's what's happening.
Evolution incoming!🦠 Langridge Lab and co from @quadraminstitute.bsky.social are at Norwich Science Festival today hosting Evolve, Survive, Thrive! 🧬 Can you work out what bacteria need to survive in the human gut? Or how about under the sea? Come and see if you can create the ultimate survivor! 👩🔬
We introduced an apprenticeship role in our communications team @quadraminstitute.bsky.social
last year and Clemence has been an absolute star. Giving people opportunities and professional training is a win-win for everyone. 👀 👇
If you use AI tools to prepare your manuscript, check it very closely. Erroneous references are significantly undermining my confidence in people I once had faith in. This isn't just fabrications, it's also when reference titles are changed by automatic language editing.
Very proud of you, squad!
Great first day of VoM-UK 2026, including three top presentations from the @evelienadri.bsky.social lab (I am only a bit biased) ( @xenadyball.bsky.social @rapher97.bsky.social @deuskamya.bsky.social ) #IDoBelieveInPhages
Well done, @ryancook94.bsky.social!
It is a really cool project that I was happy to support.
🆕 Researchers carrying out the first major study of the viral component of the respiratory microbiome in patients with COPD found its diversity declines with severity of the condition.
buff.ly/356fyAm
A microscope image of candida and the Quadram logo with the text "Research Scientist (Bioinformatics), to work on the interplay between Candida albicans and gut bacterial adaptation, with a focus on RNA interference. Salary: £37,500 to £45,350, Contract length: 2 years. Apply by 8 February 2026"
🆕 Vacancy! We are looking for a Research Scientist (Bioinformatics) to join @buscainolab.bsky.social to work on the interplay between Candida albicans and gut bacterial adaptation, with a focus on RNA interference.
💷 £37,500 to £45,350
🗓️ Apply by 8 February 2026
➡️ buff.ly/q7SP1mC
Phold's manuscript is now available @narjournal.bsky.social thanks to @susiegriggo.bsky.social @npbhavya.bsky.social @vijinim.bsky.social @linsalrob.bsky.social @martinsteinegger.bsky.social @milot.bsky.social @eunbelivable.bsky.social & others not on bsky #phagesky academic.oup.com/nar/article/...
Dear Sir Paul, Re: Royal Society Code of Conduct I am sure that many scientists have written to you about the specific question of Elon Musk’s Fellowship and whether, under the Royal Society’s Code of Conduct, his retaining that Fellowship is appropriate. I will not rehash these issues. Instead, as a female scientist with extensive experience of activities aiming to increase equality, diversity and inclusion in the engineering and physical sciences sector, I am writing to you (in a personal capacity) to ask you to reconsider the statements you have recently made in this context to the UK press about the Royal Society’s Code of Conduct and how it is applied. A 2018 report from the joint National Academies of the United States of America, concluded that “sexual harassment is common in academic science, engineering, and medicine” and that “greater than 50 percent of women faculty and staff and 20–50 percent of women students encounter or experience sexually harassing conduct in academia”. This report described codes of conduct that make clear that sexual harassment is unethical and will not be tolerated as a “powerful incentive for change”. The authors also noted that sexual harassment can have significant and damaging effects on the integrity of research. In my own praxis, I have found that clear and consistently-implemented codes of conduct that address these issues make female scientists and engineers safer, and allow them to focus more effectively on their research. For codes of conduct to have such a positive effect, it is vital that sanctions for actions which transgress the code are meaningful and substantial.
I was hence aghast to realise that in an interview with the Financial Times published on 9/1/26, you appear to have suggested that the Royal Society “should only expel fellows if their science proved “faulty or fraudulent or highly defective””. Moreover, in a further interview with the Guardian on 11/1/26 you suggested that the code “may need to be looked at again”, with the implication that your aim would be to remove the option of sanctions on Fellows for reasons not strictly related to faults or defects in their research. I suggest that changing the Royal Society’s code of conduct so that the likelihood of serious sanctions for sexual harassment is reduced, would directly endanger women who interact with the Royal Society at events or otherwise, and would provide a licence to harass to the already powerful people on whom the Society bestows fellowship. The implications of your words - that under your leadership the only infringements of the code which are likely to receive the sanction of the Fellowship being removed are those related to research misconduct - already risk empowering harassers. You stated, in the Financial Times interview, that “there’s many bad people around, but they have made scientific advances”. Given this awareness of the possibility of bad actors in our scientific community, it is wholly irresponsible to suggest that the Royal Society would not act to sanction these people if they harass more vulnerable scientists. I am hence writing to request that you retract any suggestion that the Society’s Code of Conduct should be changed so that the only reason a Fellow might be sanctioned by the removal of their Fellowship is “faulty or fraudulent or highly defective” research. This action is necessary to safeguard female scientists, a requirement placed on the Society by safeguarding legislation and UK statutory guidance. Yours sincerely, Professor Rachel A. Oliver.
Following coverage over the weekend of Sir Paul Nurse's comments that suggested that the only reason that a Fellow should be expelled from @royalsociety.org is scientific misconduct, I have written to him to explain the risks such an attitude poses of increasing sexual harassment in STEM.
Are you interested in #metaproteomics? We have a senior scientist position in my lab focused on metaproteomics, and xenobiotic- #microbiome -host interactions. Check it out.
jobs.quadram.ac.uk/Details.asp?...
Nice work, Florian!
Now published in Nature Biotechnology:
go.nature.com/44P7nSm
If you missed it, the TL;DR is in my April thread below
💾 Prokka 1.15.6 is released!
This is the last major release of Prokka. But don't be sad, because @oschwengers.bsky.social already has an excellent replacement called Bakta you can migrate to.
#bioinformatics #microbiology #genomics
github.com/tseemann/pro...
The chapter is part of a full book Best Practice in Microbiome Research which brings together the @quadraminstitute.bsky.social expertise in design, implementation and analysis of human microbiome research.
Happy reading!
link.springer.com/book/10.1007...
I'm proud to share the latest methods work from my group. Led by @revathykri.bsky.social we wrote a book chapter on how we process and analyse viromes.
Thanks to co-authors @rikhaagmans.bsky.social @ryancook94.bsky.social & Alise Ponsero
link.springer.com/protocol/10....
In this age of authoritarians, online abuse of women is soaring – and it’s leading to ‘real-world’ violence | Julie Posetti
🚀 Just launched: GraphBin Visualise (WASM) a browser-based visualisation tool for comparing initial metagenomic binning results vs refined results from GraphBin - all running in your browser, no backend required. (1/n)
#bioinformatics #metagenomics #binning #webapp #pyiodide #webassembly
Looks like you had a great time! Next time, you can come visit Norwich :)
📢 New preprint is out on bioRxiv 📢:
How much does virome prep influence our view of the human gut virome?
Short answer: a lot.
Long answer:
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
Different methods lead to distinct community structures, richness, and major virus-host abundance patterns.
🧵 1/5
Great to have you here. We all enjoyed your presentation very much!
Really enjoyed today's seminar and visit to @quadraminstitute.bsky.social
Thanks Rosie Young for the invitation and many (@alisonmather.bsky.social @evelienadri.bsky.social @bioinf.bsky.social @drrobkingsley.bsky.social, Naiara Beraza, Mark Webber, Simon Carding, Natalie Juge) for catching up!
🚨New preprint out!
We present a foundational genomic resource of human gut microbiome viruses. It delivers high-quality, deeply curated data spanning taxonomy, predicted hosts, structures, and functions, providing a reference for gut virome research. (1/8)
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Do you teach #rstats? Do your students complain about how lame and old-fashioned dplyr is? Don't worry: I have the solution for you: github.com/hadley/genzp....
genzplyr is dplyr, but bussin fr fr no cap.
I'd be interested!!!
🆕 Blog! This #WorldPhageWeek our PhD student @deuskamya.bsky.social from the @evelienadri.bsky.social ’s group explains the nuances of bacteriophages and their potential for live-saving treatments 🔬
Excellent time to go sampling...
A map of the Midlands and the South of England, with sewage overflow events indicated by poo emojis. The South East of England is covered in poo emojis. The rest of England is mostly green, with some poo emojis in the South West and across the Midlands
Not a great day for sewage overflows in the South-East
via www.sewagemap.co.uk