I just recalled some older Nanopore data and started fixing the assembly when I came across a 'weird' contig. Blasting it generated a lot of almost perfect hits to 'plasmids' all across the tree of life. Turns out it was the spike in control DNA that comes with the ONT library prep kit...

Found another instance of my plasmid/virus, this time in sequencing data of Leptographium pseudotsugae, a fungal pathogen isolated from Oregon pine (Douglas fir). We're up to 11 fungal species carrying it. Still no clue what it is 🤷‍♂️

Had a lot of fun presenting our accidental finding of a circular DNA element in isolates of at least 10 different plant pathogenic fungal species at #strompath2025

Leafy Boi 😊

Registrations for the Stromlo Plant Pathogen Conference #StromPath25 are rolling in fast and the program is now full! Exciting lineup from Japan, Korea, USA, UK, NZ + strong local crew. Join us in Canberra — rego open until Nov 13. Program available here tinyurl.com/3e3tx9j2

@tobybarilbio.bsky.social and I are very excited to release MycoMobilome! A very extensive effort to discover, QC and annotate TEs across the fungal kingdom. 👉 Ready-to-use for your own genome with a simple tutorial! 👉 Metadata about TEs discovered in your genome! 👉 Contribute and get recognition!

Well hello there "entity" in yet another species 😎

@mcdonaldmeganc.bsky.social Meagon! I hear congratulations are in order! All the best 😊

Incredible session from Professor Peter Solomon. Engaging and highly relevant to Australia’s wheat and plant pathogen landscape. #CBSMWA #CBSMWA2025

Dr. @jamespblloyd.bsky.social and @theccdm.bsky.social Dr. Liz Czislowski wrapping up the Biodiversity session at @cbsmwa.bsky.social with synthetic gene circuits for plants in space and novel nucleic acid based nanoparticle fungicides

Having fun at @cbsmwa.bsky.social presenting work on "The Entity", a circular genetic element we keep finding in unrelated fungal plant pathogens. #cbsmwa @theccdm.bsky.social

Come see Peter at #CBSMWA on Friday and at @theccdm.bsky.social on Thursday :-)

Such a fun little conference!

Registrations are rolling in for the 2025 Stromlo Plant Pathology meeting in Canberra (Nov 27–28)! Secure your spot! Speakers: @yasukadota.bsky.social, Cecille Segonzac, @thamlab.bsky.social, @yichangsung.bsky.social, Tek Tay & @danielsyu.bsky.social. Register at tinyurl.com/3e3tx9j2 #strompath25

Join us in our CBSM WA 2025 Biodiversity session with invited speaker Dr James PB Lloyd. His talk will focus on the threat of climate change to our global food security and the potential for programmable genetic systems as a solution.

West Australians, come join us at CBSM 2025!

At CBSM WA in 2024 we heard from renowned parasitologist Prof Shookofeh Shamsi. Her presentation explored how overlooking parasites can lead to incomplete conclusions about biodiversity. Prof. Shamsi's vision is to create a world where professionals and public are well-informed about parasites.

The CBSM 2024 trade exhibit provided students and researchers the opportunity to create meaningful connections with industry and to discuss the latest and greatest technology available! Make sure to check out the trade exhibit at the 2025 meeting!

#PlantScience colleagues, please think twice before working with the new Springer Nature Discover branded journals. And then don't.

I've never seen it so well put before.

Slaps roof of PromethION "this bad boy can sequence sooo many genomes!" #nanoporeconf

Make it sequence! #nanoporeconf Jean-Luc inspecting the new Enterprise.... I mean minION Mk D 😊

Reality outpacing Science Fiction in terms of compute power. I'm also a sucker for Star Trek references 🖖 #nanoporeconf

Gave my seminar capping off my PhD journey and had a bunch of Easter eggs in it. Looks like Adam found them all 😎🤣 rstats.me/@adamhsparks...

longcallD is a new variant caller for genomic long reads. It jointly calls phased small and structural variants. Single binary, one command line for the whole process. Comparable accuracy to mainstream callers. Great work by Yan Gao. github.com/yangao07/lon...

I'm trying to fix a genbank submission for a publication, but I find it hard to get responses from NCBI. Anyone have a connection to speed things up? #NCBI #Genbank

Wow, writing scripts with Cursor is great! Been chatting with it for about two hours now to create a little side project that I'd never be able to otherwise. #vibecoding

@jwdebler.bsky.social of @theccdm.bsky.social got a poster (P2.128) on a mysterious genomic 'Loop' today #ECFG17

Know anything about mycoviruses or fungal plasmids? Come see me at #ECFG17 and help me figure out what this circular element is I keep finding in Ascochyta pathogens of lentil and chickpea.

Does anyone know if this is an actual viewer or a Geneious easter egg? :-)

The Comedy edition of the Future Science Talks show at the FRINGE WORLD Festival in Perth I am in is fast approaching (8th Feb at 6pm). If you want to hear me talk about my work on engineering plants for space exploration, see the link below! fringeworld.com.au/whats_on/fut...

Been wanting to go to this for a few years now, finally this year the stars aligned! #Nanopore

Showed @jamespblloyd.bsky.social how to sequence plasmids with #Nanopore yesterday. 20 kB plasmid with multiple reused promoters? No problem 😊 We forgot to take a promo picture, so here's one of the purple Enterprise he printed for me instead 😎

What are people using for viral gene predictions? And preferred tools?

Jump on and watch me talk about some of our research soon :-) www.youtube.com/live/gR6KsXY...

Last night I presented parts of our research through stand-up comedy. This was the end of a science communication training by www.futuresciencetalks.com.au Can highly recommend this if you want to try something different 😁

About to start a fungus related band, anyone play any instruments? 😂

I created a #StarterPack for #SynBio and #Biotech please ask me to add you if you think you would fit in and I missed you on here go.bsky.app/R1k8Tw7