New work: Our earlier work showed that Foldseek characters could be adapted for phylogenetic alignment, treating each character as an evolutionary state. That part holds but there's a hidden assumption baked in that needed unpacking. So lets do that.🧵 #StructuralPhylogenetics #Evolution #Protein

Know Your Alphabet: Conformational Noise, Latent-Space Encodings, and the Future of Structural Phylogenetics https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.05.06.722973v1

Distance-based #StructuralPhylogenetics is a powerful approach for exploring deep evolutionary relationships. Tools like those in the #Structome suite make this accessible in web workflows — but there's always been a critical missing piece: confidence estimates for the inferred trees. #StrPhy (1/3)

Plus got to do some advertising for the new lab 👀 👀 #strphy26

What a great conference!! Leaving Brisbane inspired about the future of structural phylogenetics! Thanks again to the organisers @cpuentelelievre.bsky.social @proteinmechanic.bsky.social and Jordan Douglas for an amazing work putting it all together!

Great to chair the session on Virus Evolution at APSPM2026. Thank you to all the speakers for sharing their cool research with us 🦠 Mihnea Bostina, Cinthy Jimenez Silva, @spyroslytras.bsky.social @jonathonmifsud.bsky.social #StryPhy26

APSPM2026 - Today's session starts with @claudiaalcar.bsky.social Charting the protein universe: Deep evolutionary signals in sequence structure space (remote). She'll present her work on exploring how protein folds emerged and diversified over billions of years. #StrPhy26 #StrPhy

Amazing talk by @martinsteinegger.bsky.social at the #StructuralPhylogenetics meeting in Brisbane @strphy.bsky.social The meeting is going to be live for the next 2 days. Excited to see what happens next. #Evolution

Chris Barnes on now! Outpacing RNA viruses. #lorneproteins26 is go 🎆

Protein structure is more conserved than sequence. Work in 2020 (MBE: academic.oup.com/mbe/article/...), showed 3D data unlocks deeper evolutionary signals. A thought was why not go higher than 3D? 🧵 #Phylogenetics #StructuralBiology #Structome #Evolution #StructuralPhylogenetics #StrPhy

The program is now live. An excellent global lineup of speakers - AUS, NZ, Korea, India, Laos, UK, Switzerland, France, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Japan, Uruguay, Mexico and USA. Browse abstracts. Just 3 weeks left. Super excited. #StrPhy26 #Science #Evolution #StrPhy #StructuralPhylogenetics

An interesting way to look at encoded structural characters to build alignments and trees downstream. This takes structural phylogenetics one step further in the post-AlphaFold era. #Evolution #Science #StrPhy On Confidence Assessment in Structure-Aware Alignments doi.org/10.1093/gbe/...

Had an amazing three days hanging out with brilliant minds at #Phylomania 2025. Amazing mathematicians tackling amazing challenges. #Science #Phylogenetics

We have had some amazing abstracts submitted to the free @official-smbe.bsky.social APSPM meeting. To help you make up your mind, here is a sneak peek. Join for what will be an amazing meeting. biosig.lab.uq.edu.au/strphy26/sneakpeek/ . #StrPhy26 @strphy.bsky.social #Evolution #Science

Taking a break from the usual #Phylogenetic exploration to spend a little time on the #Quantum computing side of my work. Hanging out with #Queensland Quantum community at the Qx | Advanced Technologies for Life and Planet.

We are excited to announce APSPM 2026 - the SMBE Australasian Protein Structural Phylogenetics Meeting! 🗓️ 15-18 Feb. 2026 🌏 Brisbane, Australia 🔗 biosig.lab.uq.edu.au/strphy26/ 📄 Abstract submission: 28.11.2025 ✈️ Travel grant application: 28.11.2025 ✏️ Registration: 15.01.2026 #StrPhy26

Announcing @official-smbe.bsky.social Australasian Protein Structural Phylogenetics Meeting in Brisbane Feb 15-18, 2026. FREE registration. Join for exciting talks & workshops at the interface of protein structure, function & evolution. biosig.lab.uq.edu.au/strphy26/ #StrPhy26 @strphy.bsky.social

Attending a fascinating talk by Prof Begona Heras on “Structural insights into the function and inhibition of bacterial virulence proteins. “ Looking for overlaps with methods we are putting together in the Structural Phylogenetics space. #StrPhy #StructuralPhylogenetics @strphy.bsky.social

We’ve set up a dedicated Bluesky space for structural phylogenetics: @strphy.bsky.social. Follow for community updates. #StrPhy #StructuralPhylogenetics

Special Section in GBE: Structural Phylogenetics Here we showcase novel work on how 3D protein structures can reshape evolutionary biology, from methods to applications. More papers coming out soon! @genomebiolevol.bsky.social @proteinmechanic.bsky.social academic.oup.com/gbe/search-r...

Third Era of Phylogenetics! 1️⃣ Era 1: Morphology 🦴 2️⃣ Era 2: Sequences 🧬 3️⃣ Era 3: 3D Structures ⚛️ Solving deep evolutionary puzzles like never before. Our new review in GBE explores what's next in #phylogenetics academic.oup.com/gbe/article/... #structuralbiology #evolution #AlphaFold #SciSky

Quantome: A Quantum Surrogate Model for Biophysical Landscapes https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.08.06.668871v1

Quantome: A Quantum Surrogate Model for Biophysical Landscapes https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.08.06.668871v1

Playing around with quantum-styled math on trivial biological problems before tackling the really hard questions. Initial signs are good, with the math behaving as expected. Next leg would be using a non-trivial dataset like missense variants.

Within Tagetes lemmonii, (Lemmon’s marigold) are defence molecules called thiophenes which become highly toxic when exposed to sunlight, damaging pests at the cellular level. An elegant example of how plants weaponize light to survive. #Brisbane #nature #nikon #naturephotography #SciComm

If you do deep evolutionary analysis - structure-aware characters can help. To ensure correct alignments - give it a try: biosig.lab.uq.edu.au/structome_al... If you would like any features added, drop a message and will give it a shot. #Science #Evolution #MolecularEvolution #DeepEvolution

🧵: It's out. Structome-AlignViewer, a web-based resource for evaluating protein structure-aware sequence alignments. It maps alignment columns directly onto structures and helps identify conserved regions. Feedback encouraged. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... #Evolution #MolecularEvolution #Science

In a talk today thinking that science isn’t just a collection of facts it’s a method and sometimes, a philosophical tightrope. Emeritus Professor Ross Bernard at #UQ exploring how science proceeds - via falsifiability. Not everyone agrees but a conversation worth having. #Science #Philosophy

I am speaking soon about #Evolution at a public talk series in #Brisbane (Ticket $10). Many other talks covering a range of topics. Interested in havin a fun science evening with family? For more information vIsit and tickets: pintofscience.com.au/events/brisb... #pintofscience #Pint25 #PintAU25

Oldest reference I’ve ever seen while reviewing — 1667, Antonie van Leeuwenhoek. From the first observation of bacteria under a handcrafted microscope to modern phylogenetics. Science stands on the shoulders of giants — even from 400 years ago. #Science #Evolution #AcademicLife

Just attending a talk by Professor Warwick from QUBIC at #BrisScience on “Bringing Quantum to Life: How Quantum technologies may shape the future of society”. Exciting times ahead as quantum algorithm unravel mysteries of life. #Quantum #Science

Missense mutations impact protein function, but no single predictor is perfect. MissenseViewer integrates AlphaMissense, ESM1b, and VESPA predictions, mapping them onto protein structures to provide a richer, more interpretable view of mutation effects. #science #health #precisionmedicine #AI

Michael Healy is first speaker of the Anders early career investigators session. The scientists of the future (and the present!).

Professor Frances Separovic documents her tough journey in #Science. A trailblazing scientist who defied the odds and carved her path in a time when women in science faced unimaginable barriers. Her story is a testament to the power of determination. #WomenInScience @lorneproteins.bsky.social

Syd Leach remembered at the 50th #LorneProtein conference. @lorneproteins.bsky.social

Structome-TM: Complementing dataset assembly for structural phylogenetics by addressing size-based biases https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.02.08.637224v1

Structome-TM preprint now live @ www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social #Science #Structome #StructuralPhylogenetics

#Structome began as an initiative to explore #evolutionary signals from #proteins sharing a structural neighborhood. It uses Q-score to rapidly gather datasets & build NJ trees. To highlight usage of Q-score, the tool is now called Structome-Q. App available here: biosig.lab.uq.edu.au/structome_q/

This is the green tree python (Morelia viridis), housed at the Queensland Museum, Brisbane. This photo presents an opportunity for a science class. #Python #snake #reptile #QMkurilpa #qldmuseum #nikonphotography #nikonz6ii

Setting this up for my photography. Hopefully will more time for this soon.