“Goebbels Ends Careers of Five ‘Aryan’ Actors Who Made Witticisms About the Nazi Regime”

🎙️ Just dropped: #MicroBinfie Pathoplexus Part 1! Join @happykhan.mstdn.science.ap.brid.gy, Lee & guest Clint as they deep-dive with @firefoxx66.bsky.social, Theo Sanderson & Arthur Shem Kasambula into Pathoplexus. Ready for a journey? 🚀 Listen now: pca.st/episode/c1f8...

Amid the concerning news of a new Ebola Zaire outbreak in DRC, teams on the ground have already managed to sample, sequence, and share data. This rapid turnaround is a testament to their commitment and capacity to respond. Read more: virological.org/t/the-16th-e... 1/7

Thanks to all the speakers of the great Bioinformatics in Infectious Diseases session at #bc2basel, chaired by EmmaHodcroft @firefoxx66.bsky.social and #JacquesFellay: Aurelie Cobat, Charlyne Bürki, Andrea Di Gioacchino, KenoStrotjohann, Hesham ElAbd, Lisa Pagani, and Valeriia Timonina

Ain't no way RFKJ wrote this when he literally called us "troubled" only a few hours ago. Sorry, anon comms person/maybe the AI forced to write this drivel... We just added a few notes. Anything to be helpful! ✨😊😇

AP live feed of the CDC walkout in Atlanta. www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZ7Q...

🚀 More good news: website lift-off! The Epidemiology & Virus Evolution (EVE) group at @swisstph.ch has a brand new home on the web: eve-lab.org 🦠🌍 Check out our research, people, collaborations, & projects all in one place! 👇 1/4

A very special day today, as I look back and remember our trepidation on how this crazy idea of a new pathogen database would go down. Would our work be for naught? But no! I'm so grateful that we've been able to make a big impact on sequence sharing! Here's to year 2! 🥂

🗓 Pathoplexus turns ONE! 🎂🎉 In the past year we’ve grown from 4 pathogens to a truly global, community-driven platform for transparent, equitable & impactful pathogen sequence sharing. 📰 Read the full update: pathoplexus.org/news/2025-08... 1/10

One thing I find endlessly endearing in Switzerland is that the Unis have little nicknames: UniBas (University of Basel) @unibas.ch UniBe (University of Bern) @unibe.ch UNIL (University of Lausanne) @unil.bsky.social Do the other Unis have little nicknames too?

Keep and eye 👁️ (and an ear! 👂) out for a new Binfie podcast all about Pathoplexus 1 year in!

It was a great pleasure to contribute to this work by Jemma Fendley, @mmolari.bsky.social, and Boris Shraiman on pan-genomes, linkage, and recombination in phage genomes. We analyzed data collected by the fantastic SEA-PHAGES program in phagesdb.org. [1/6] www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Insisting on expertise over ideology is not “politicizing” science. The ideologues installing scientific and governmental policy that is contradicted by evidence and data are. By emphasizing ideology over expertise, THEY have made arguing for expertise and evidence-based decision making partisan.

“Loculus is remarkable for enabling efficient and secure sharing of pathogen genomic data, which is crucial for public health responses to infectious diseases." 🥁That’s what the committee said about this #SIBRemarkableOutputs 2024 👉Discover the output: tinyurl.com/53arz2rz

Never ask postdocs what they'll be doing next year, that's considered terribly offensive in their culture.

It's really key to understand this: ***they don't need actual backlash of any substance or scale to run this cycle***. All they need is a few random comments, which they can always find, which means that you can basically run this cycle at will. You don't need libs to play along at all!

Interested to learn about how to run your own Loculus (the database code behind @pathoplexus.org)? 🤔🖥️ Sign up for the Loculus Tutorial on Mon 8 Sept at BC2 Conference (@sib.swiss‬) in Basel, run by @chaoranchen.de & Anya Parker! 🧬 Register: www.bc2.ch/registration... #bioinformatics #openScience

Are we placing bets yet on which fairly-reputable journal will be first to announce that they are incorporating AI into reviewing to modernize & keep up with increasing paper volumes (*cough*) - but *don't worry* they have a *specially designed system* and it will be *fine*?

Honoured to be part of a video series by @todospelasaude.bsky.social ‪‪about Bioinformatics! It's been wonderful to see more & more women come into Bioinf, as such an important & wide-ranging field - full of awesome & impactful projects! #womeninstem www.linkedin.com/posts/instit...

Loculus, an open-source software for building pathogen sequencing databases, is on the shortlist for #SIBRemarkableOutputs 2024. It’s a joint project by the teams of @neher.io, @tanjastadler.bsky.social and @firefoxx66.bsky.social xx66.bsky.social. Congratulations!

Please, *please* proofread your cover letter before you send it! If you: - Address the letter to a different person - Reference a job that isn't the one you've applied to (like a medical residency?!) - Leave in ChatGPT prompts "[insert x here]" It doesn't look good! Take the extra few mins! 🙏

My biggest, loudest job application advice: WHY do you want this job? This SPECIFIC job? What about it interests you? What do you think of it? What can you bring to it? I know this sounds obvious but a generic cover letter isn't doing you favours - really. *Show me you know the job!* 1/7

📢New job posting!📢 Are you excited by the idea of building global infrastructure to make pathogen sequencing more accessible, interpretable, and equitable? 🧑🏻‍💻🧬 My group at @swisstph.ch has an opening working with ARTIC2, @pathoplexus.org, & Loculus - read on! 1/5

Finally, the governance, rules, access policies etc are completely open: pathoplexus.org/about/ The one thing that is missing at the moment is secure funding. So get on to your funding agencies and tell them how important this is and that they be funding it. They also accept bitcoin.

Amid the incessant barrage of depressing science news, the development of Pathoplexus is a refreshing contrast—thanks to the work of @theo.io, @arambaut.bsky.social, @firefoxx66.bsky.social, & others. With funding, Pathoplexus could abolish the many insanities now plaguing genetic surveillance.

I can't shout 📣 enough about this awesome new feature in @pathoplexus.org -- send sequences directly from the search interface to analysis in Nextclade!! Quick QC 🔍, mutation visualization 🦠, and phylogenetic placement 🌳 in SECONDS! ⏱️ BRB going to go include this in some lectures & workshops...!

🗓️As we close in on 11 months of Pathoplexus, we’re pleased to announce many new direct sequence uploads and some exciting new features that expand Pathoplexus’ utility! 📰 You can see our full News Item here: pathoplexus.org/news/2025-07-14-july-update 1/9

Are you an excellent researcher in the field of genomics of infectious diseases of intracellular pathogens (viruses, intracellular parasites or bacteria)? The apply for this chair of excellence at the University of Geneva, Faculty of Medicine: jobs.unige.ch/www/wd_porta...

Louder for the people in the back 📢

How can joint research keep us ahead of the next epidemic? Emma Hodcroft (@firefoxx66.bsky.social) says global data sharing is key — and platforms like Pathoplexus make it faster and fairer. But reduced support for science threatens progress. Read the full interview down below⬇️

I know that a lot of today was really bad to any reasonable person (esp Gavi stuff), but I think that it would be wrong to count the ACIP meeting itself today as among that. Here's why I think that: Any fair-minded person listening to the discussion today could clearly see an undeniable truth.

I'm honoured to have been featured in @unibas.ch ‬ 's UniNova magazine! 🙏🙌 In my interview, I speak about the importance of @pathoplexus.org, what Enteroviruses can teach us, & the damage to science (& health) from the current US administration. [German] www.unibas.ch/de/Aktuell/U...

My American friends: I hope you join me today. To stand up for our freedom to assemble & our freedom of speech. To reject authoritarianism & dictatorship. To demand the government be accountable to the people - not the reverse. #NoKings #NoKingsDay #NoKingsProtest

Leute wie @lisabauervirus.bsky.social @firefoxx66.bsky.social, selbst meine Wenigkeit, und viele andere sind dran. Aber mehr Forschungsgelder und -Möglichkeiten sind immer besser

What a trip! ✨ Enormous thanks to @vitalik.ca & @octantapp.bsky.social for inviting me to d/acc yesterday - the synergies between pathogen surveillance & d/acc are super exciting. But on top of this - discovering a new, energetic community trying to build a better future! 💫

Diving right in, Julian Zawistowski from @octantapp.bsky.social opens with the fact that we need new funding models - because public good funding increases value to everyone! Something that resonates in science with the many tools & resources we depend on - yet can be so hard to fund! #dacc

Thrilled to be at d/acc #dacc Day in Berlin today, hosted by @octant.bsky.social & @vitalik.ca - to speak about how @pathoplexus.org can play a role in a decentralised, community-forward future for pathogen surveillance & research! 🧬🔎🌏 #openscience #opensource

You might be wondering why we haven't updated outbreak.info for months. Well, the reason is that GISAID cut our access in January - as they did others. Without telling us. After a ♾️ back and forth, that is now permanent. More on that soon - and why GISAID should not be trusted with critical data.

How do viruses evolve — and how can we track them better? In this Uni Nova interview, @firefoxx66.bsky.social discusses PathoPlexus, virus data gaps, and how politics can shape public health outcomes. A fascinating read. 🔗Read here: www.unibas.ch/en/News-Even...

Amazing work from our colleagues in Sierra Leone, Nigeria, and elsewhere, making the first sequences available from the ongoing Mpox epidemic in Sierra Leone. More to come - for now, head over to @pathoplexus.org: pathoplexus.org/seqsets/PP_S...

Does publishing serve science or is science serving publishing? Damian Pattinson and I (@elife.bsky.social) argue scientific publishing has evolved into a system that, rather than facilitate scholarly communication, distorts and dictates it. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... #OpenScience

Time Sensitive: Public comment on Schedule F (removing civil service protections for many federal employees INCLUDING THOSE WITH AUTHORITY OVER GRANTS) ends tomorrow. Notice is here: www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/... . Comment here (green button) www.federalregister.gov/documents/20... .

Not sure if my cis pals are aware of this, but if your trans friends are sobbing in their office today this is one of the (many) reasons why:

I had the fantastic opportunity to interview @firefoxx66.bsky.social for our @unibas.ch magazine UNI NOVA. Her voice should be heard, not only in Switzerland but especially in the US: www.unibas.ch/en/News-Even...

📢Today Pathoplexus announces the inclusion of 2 new viral pathogens: RSV (A & B) and HMPV. These respiratory viruses cause a serious health burden, particularly in infants & the vulnerable, & Pathoplexus aims to support sequence sharing to improve understanding & response. 1/4

two thousand code-commits to loculus, the code that powers @pathoplexus.org. teamwork/dreamwork

Excited to announce the start of ARTIC2! 🎉 ARTIC2 builds on the success of ARTIC aiming to make sequencing more equitable and accessible. 🤝🧬 EVE Group at @swisstph.ch is a key team member - we'll be helping make sequences easier to store and share via Loculus & @pathoplexus.org ! 🌎 More below! 👀👇🏻

Let's go #Eurovision! Congrats #Basel on such a great event! ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜

8️⃣7️⃣ Emma Hodcroft @firefoxx66.bsky.social (1986- ) 🇬🇧 🇺🇸 #womeninSTEM Expert in phylogenetics and molecular epidemiology, Emma Hodcroft traces the spread of #SARSCoV2 in real time. Co-founder of @pathoplexus.org www.horizons-mag.ch/2020/05/15/t...

Amid all the other news, it's easy to become inured to the basic facts here. Öztürk: -Is not accused of committing any crime -Is nonviolent -Was in this country legally -Merely engaged in speech that the administration objects to -Has been locked up for six weeks