Day 2 of #SMP2026 started with an excellent parliamentary forum & now we have a #UNSW Sydney sponsored session on Science in the Media. Thank you to the Australian Society for Biochemistry & Molecular Biology @asbmbaus.bsky.social for the opportunity to be here. @unswbabs.bsky.social

I am at Parliament House & happy to be representing the Australian Society for Biochemistry & Molecular Biology @asbmbaus.bsky.social at #SMP2026. I am looking forward to connecting with politicians & getting a different perspective on communicating the impact of science @unswbabs.bsky.social

We’ve been spoiled with lovely weather & quality science at @lornegenome.bsky.social this year, continuing this morning with Session 11 (Novel Approaches to Study the Genome) & then the Julian Wells Medallist presentation. Hope everyone has rested up after the dinner! See you 9am! #LorneGenome2026

It’s another beautiful morning in Lorne, with blue skies & kangaroos. Highs of 33 degrees & afternoon rain/thunderstorms are predicted, but it will be cool & dry in the @lornegenome.bsky.social Heritage Ballroom for Session 7: Epigenetics & Chromatin at 9am. Looking forward to it! #LorneGenome2026

Good morning @lornegenome.bsky.social delegates! In case you missed watching the sunrise on the beach this morning (with galahs!), I’m happy to report that today we have a forecast of blue skies, highs of 31 degrees & some great science, kicking off with @odomlab.bsky.social at 9am. #LorneGenome2026

We're delighted to announce that 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐟 𝐕𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐚 𝐇𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐬 will join us as an invited speaker. Renowned for generating the first pan-African human and prostate tumour genomes, her work is advancing our understanding of human evolution and health disparities: https://www.lornegenome.org/vanessa-hayes

Thank you for submitting your abstracts for Lorne Genome 2026! We're excited to feature presentations selected from your submissions alongside talks from our invited speakers, including Prof Jose Polo, a leading expert in cellular reprogramming and epigenetics: www.lornegenome.org/jose-polo

It is a glorious (and warm!) day in Clovelly today and I am excited to be spending the day with my @unswbabs.bsky.social colleagues for our BABS Research Day to discuss research excellence and plan our research strategy.

Belated congratulations to 2025 Honours students Ziggi Zikmann & Ishara Maharjan for submitting their theses last week! I am very proud of your achievements. And thank you to the team for finding a way to make the process of pressing "submit" on a computer a celebration! @unswbabs.bsky.social

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

Today at the ESA-SRB-ANZOS 2025 meeting (www.esa-srb-anzos.org.au) all three of our lab contingent gave oral presentations! I was so impressed with Tia Valentini and Emmaline Lonergan, for giving their first talks at a scientific conference with such poise! Now we relax! #ANZOS @unswbabs.bsky.social

I have popped over to Perth for the ESA-SRB-ANZOS 2025 meeting (www.esa-srb-anzos.org.au). I made the most of being on Sydney-time exploring Kings Park & Botanic Garden this morning & now it is time for Science. Looking forward to catching up with colleagues & learning #ANZOS @unswbabs.bsky.social

Please join us for several days of fantastic science at Lorne Genome 2026! We're thrilled to welcome Prof Amander Clark, a renowned stem cell biologist whose work focuses on in vitro gametogenesis and ovarian reserve formation: https://www.lornegenome.org/amander-clark

Secure your early bird rate for Lorne Genome 2026 before Nov 7th! lornegenome.org We are excited to welcome Prof Duncan Odom as a speaker - a leading researcher in regulatory genomics and cancer genome evolution https://www.lornegenome.org/duncan-odum

Our latest paper, my 9th in one of my favourite journals @narjournal.bsky.social - transcriptional cofactors don’t just help in gene activation, they also help guide their partner transcription factors to target genes academic.oup.com/nar/article/... ##zincfingers #chromatin #epigenetics #KLF

🪃 Boomerang Tour Pt. 2 — honored to receive the ASBMB Boomerang Award @asbmbaus.bsky.social This award has given me the opportunity to ‘return’ to Australia to share my work and meet great people at various venues around the country - including the ASBMB2025 meeting here in Brisbane

It was a great final morning at #ASBMB2025 this morning @asbmbaus.bsky.social topped off by the awards ceremony, including a poster prize for Michael O’Dea from our lab. I really enjoyed the meeting (thanks to @dr-berger.bsky.social & the rest of the organising committee). Until next time…

Congratulations to all our #ASBMB2025 award winners! 🏆 Part of being a society is celebrating the success of our community, so cheers to all of you! 💯💯

Congratulations to Michelle Haber from @kidscancerinst.bsky.social - winner of the @asbmbaus.bsky.social Lemberg Medal for 2025. A very worthy recipient kicking off day 2 of the conference with a reflection on 40yrs of improving survival rates for children’s cancers, with a glimpse of the future.

I’m back at @asbmbaus.bsky.social at UQ this morning & delighted to have the opportunity to present the 2025 ASBMB Boomerang Award to @unswbabs.bsky.social alumni @ajknights7.bsky.social. What a deserving recipient of this award! It was great to hear about your latest research, Alex! #ASBMB2025

It’s great to be at UQ for the #asbmb2025 conference! Convenor Michael Landsberg opened the conference this morning & I’ve already been lucky enough to present research from our team to this great audience. Looking forward to the rest of the conference! @asbmbaus.bsky.social @unswbabs.bsky.social

Yesterday our two honours students gave their @unswbabs.bsky.social final seminars. Congratulations, Ziggi & Ishara on your excellent presentations & on reaching this milestone. I am very proud of all you’ve learned & achieved this year! Now you can relax & enjoy the rest of the honours talks!

I’m very happy to be on campus today for #unsw Open Day! It’s a beautiful day for it & there is an amazing atmosphere. So pleased to be having conversations with potential new students & their families about the great student experience we offer here in @unswbabs.bsky.social & across the University!

Roundtable discussion topic #2 at #IES2025 led by @khourymd.bsky.social & Fei Lei Kuang

One of my favourite parts of the #IES2025 Congresses are the Roundtable Discussions, where we collectively debate major issues in the field, with audience members tagging in to provide their ideas. Later we also have the pro/con debates (also great fun)! (+ some trip photos) @unswbabs.bsky.social

I am very grateful to have had the opportunity to present some of our work at the International Eosinphil Society Congress #IES2025 today & to get some great feedback on this project. I have also really been enjoying the excuse to visit the beautiful city of Montpellier! @unswbabs.bsky.social

Intriguing exploration of role #eosinophils and adipose tissue/angiogenesis by @katequinlan.bsky.social at #IES2025 #Montpelier

I’m here in Montpellier for the International Eosinophil Society Congress #IES2025! As a member of the Scientific Program Committee, it’s exciting to see it all come together. Fittingly, earlier today I visited the Faculty of Medicine, which has been operating for >800 years. @unswbabs.bsky.social

Today we celebrated @henrybell.bsky.social’s next adventure! Henry joined us 8 years ago as an intern, then for honours, a PhD & a postdoc. While I’m sad to see him go, I know he’s going to thrive in the next stage of his research career in Melbourne! All the best, Henry! @unswbabs.bsky.social

PhD students @valasafari.bsky.social & Michael O’Dea represented the lab & @unswbabs.bsky.social at the UNSW Science Postgraduate Showcase this week. They did a great job of communicating their PhD research projects creatively & in just 1 minute! And Michael won the Best in School prize for BABS!

Tonight we celebrated our 2024 honours student graduations: Tia Valentini (jointly supervised by Annalise Psaila), Tahlia Schiro (jointly supervised by Sergey Kurdyukov) & Cleo Turner (jointly supervised by @mananshah.bsky.social). 3 first class honours degrees & 2 University Medals. I’m so proud!

Tonight I’m representing UNSW at the Australian-American Fulbright Scholars Gala Presentation Dinner at Parliament House, Canberra. Tia Valentini, who Annalise Psaila & I were lucky enough to supervise for her honours year in BABS at UNSW in 2024, accepted her Fulbright Scholarship. I’m very proud!

Now the dust has settled on #LorneGenome25 I’ve had time to reflect on how much I enjoyed the bonus Wednesday morning sessions, where we heard an amazing talk from Julian Wells Medalist Jozef Gecz & awarded student & ECR prizes. Looking forward to seeing you all for #LorneGenome26 15-18 Feb 2026!

After closing the Lorne Genome 2025 (#LorneGenome25) conference yesterday, I stayed on in Melbourne for a quick morning walk (not as picturesque as Lorne) before a very productive day of meetings with our industry (& ARC Linkage Grant) collaborators & at CSL Headquarters today. Now home to Sydney!

Lorne Genome was my first ever conference in 2022, fast forward and I'm delighted to have been awarded the #lornegenome2025 Student Award on Tuesday! This community has helped me grow so much as a researcher and I always leave enriched and inspired to continue to do cool science!

Up now the Julian Wells Medalist Jozef Gecz, Professor of Human Genetics at the University of Adelaide #LorneGenome25

Up next Vincent Harley talking about a new rat model that recapitulates the reproductive phenotype of Turner syndrome #LorneGenome25

Up now Adrienne Sullivan discussing Early lineage commitment and chromatin remodelling underpin patterning in human gastrulation #LorneGenome25

Up now Deborah Burnett discussing a transcriptomic signature of self-reactivity in the germinal center #LorneGenome25

Up now Nils Walter discussing Single Molecules Come Into Focus: Every Riboswitch Nucleotide Counts in Bacterial Gene Regulation #LorneGenome25

It’s a gloriously moody morning in Lorne, with lots of wildlife out & about but not many #LorneGenome25 delegates (perhaps resting after the conference dinner last night). But I think the weather will clear in time for our new Wednesday morning sessions! Join us at 9am for even more great science!

Up now Siu Sylvia Lee talking about Chromatin Regulation and Longevity in C. elegans #LorneGenome25

Siu Sylvia Lee - Screen found chromatin factors SET26 and HCF1 as regulators of C elgans lifespan - bind overlapping parts of the genome - possibly by regulating balance of mitochondrial and lipid metabolism genes. #Lornegenome25

Up now Nadav Ahituv discussing Functional characterization and therapeutic targeting of gene regulatory elements #LorneGenome25

Up next Tian Du A broad-acting venom antidote identified through whole-genome CRISPR screening #LorneGenome25

Delighted to speak at #lornegenome25 on using octopus genomes to date ice sheet collapse 🐙🧬❄️ @marine-omics.bsky.social

@anti-d.bsky.social trying to save Summer by CRISPR screen to block bluebottle "jellyfish" 🪼venom. Identified that it binds via heparinoids - so heparin is potential treatment against pain and cell death caused by it. Also convergent evo as sim pathway in other species 🐍 #lornegenome25

Fascinating functional genomics session at #lorneGenome25 - covering humans, bats, jellyfish, and snakes 🦇🐍 Live posting from the wonderful @lizworthey.bsky.social if you would like to follow along (now or later) 🌟

It is great to have so many of our lab team from the School of Biotechnology & Biomolecular Sciences (BABS), UNSW Sydney at #LorneGenome25! I hope you’re all having fun & learning a lot. I’ve got so many new ideas!

After #LorneGenome25 delegates refresh over afternoon tea & chat about some amazing talks we’ve just seen, I look forward to seeing you back at Session 10 - Chromatin & non-coding RNA for more great science. Then it will be time to relax & celebrate our community at the Conference Dinner at 7pm!