Zamin Iqbal's Avatar

Zamin Iqbal

@zaminiqbal.bsky.social

Professor of Algorithmic and Microbial Genomics at the University of Bath (UK). Pangenomes, drug resistance (esp TB), data structures for DNA search, plasmid evolution, global microbial surveillance. Open Data, reproducibility

6,330 Followers  |  5,317 Following  |  1,336 Posts  |  Joined: 22.08.2023
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Posts by Zamin Iqbal (@zaminiqbal.bsky.social)

er...yes, sorry :-(
i'm not really adding to the discourse am I, maybe i should delete

04.03.2026 12:58 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Well, surely part of the reason the media ignore it is Labour keep shouting "look at my new racist plan". There's no narrative of why the other stuff is important.

04.03.2026 12:42 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Bhattacharya urges measles vaccination as US activity increases

"According to the New York Times, the United States asked PAHO for the deadline to be pushed back, with some experts again noting the administration does not want to lose elimination status before the midterm elections."

www.cidrap.umn.edu/measles/bhat...

04.03.2026 11:38 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

"..used the tech to identify peptide inhibitors of transcription factor CREB1, which is overactive in a broad range of cancers ..
They have shown these peptides can enter human cancer cells grown in the lab, shut down CREB1-controlled pathways, and selectively kill cancer cells."

04.03.2026 10:59 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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New paper showing that bacteria with more genes for cooperation can live in a broader range of habitats and that genes for cooperation are more more likely to be in the accessory genome www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... @lauriebelch.bsky.social

04.03.2026 10:23 β€” πŸ‘ 27    πŸ” 12    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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I felt the need to write to my MP yet again

03.03.2026 11:01 β€” πŸ‘ 69    πŸ” 21    πŸ’¬ 5    πŸ“Œ 2
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First mRNA COVID-flu combo vaccine set for European approval Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) backs Moderna’s mCombriax vaccine for adults aged 50 and over.

Coming to Europe...

#Medsky #IDsky #influenza #COVID #vaccines #Moderna #MRNA

02.03.2026 18:44 β€” πŸ‘ 24    πŸ” 13    πŸ’¬ 5    πŸ“Œ 3

Starmer's ability to find the exact sweetspot which pisses off everyone is extraordinary. He's a savant.

01.03.2026 21:25 β€” πŸ‘ 2877    πŸ” 536    πŸ’¬ 85    πŸ“Œ 25

Help me out #MicroSky - what are your favourite microbial/viral genetics practical classes for undergraduates that can be run across just two sessions?

23.02.2026 12:43 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

If Reform had won Starmer would be on his knees to those voters begging for forgiveness. Greens win and it's like "Fuck off cranks"

28.02.2026 11:04 β€” πŸ‘ 423    πŸ” 63    πŸ’¬ 13    πŸ“Œ 3

Not even hiding the belief that there are Real Voters (white, male, perhaps working class when politically convenient) and Fake Voters (graduates, Muslims, people in cities, anyone on the left regardless of class or ethnicity). A belief shared by many on the Labour right

28.02.2026 11:20 β€” πŸ‘ 127    πŸ” 27    πŸ’¬ 12    πŸ“Œ 3

This is terrible from Starmer. Just absolute trash. And any normal voter looking at the new MP and then reading this description will think him mad.

27.02.2026 21:15 β€” πŸ‘ 1508    πŸ” 274    πŸ’¬ 122    πŸ“Œ 14

The man who brought you β€œIsland of Strangers” has views on divisive politics

27.02.2026 14:13 β€” πŸ‘ 113    πŸ” 28    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Nobody here needs to be told that Reform's claims of cheating are utterly absurd but it's worth noting that the anti-Reform vote was so large that even if the Greens and Labour had split it 50/50 Reform would still have lost β€” in fact they would have come third. They only value democracy if they win

27.02.2026 10:54 β€” πŸ‘ 426    πŸ” 98    πŸ’¬ 10    πŸ“Œ 2

There are millions of people who have that stomach. We just need to get them into public office.

27.02.2026 13:48 β€” πŸ‘ 772    πŸ” 109    πŸ’¬ 14    πŸ“Œ 3
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Article - Nuffield Politics Research Centre

@martamiori.bsky.social and I have been writing, since 2024, about why Labour's 'Reform' challenge and emphasis was based on a misunderstanding of Labour's vote. Here for anyone interested: politicscentre.nuffield.ox.ac.uk/news-and-eve...

27.02.2026 08:02 β€” πŸ‘ 115    πŸ” 62    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 16
Unrooted phylogeny indicating the major clades of Mycobacterium bovis found in Ireland.

Unrooted phylogeny indicating the major clades of Mycobacterium bovis found in Ireland.

The genomic diversity and spatial patterns of Mycobacterium bovis in Ireland revealed by whole genome sequencing rdcu.be/e50zT

27.02.2026 10:42 β€” πŸ‘ 8    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

This could be true, I don't know how we'd know really. What do you mean by load/requirements for ENA - they are under load, and submission has tricky requirements?

27.02.2026 09:16 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
⚑️πŸ’ͺEnergym⚑️πŸ’ͺ
YouTube video by Comptoir IA ⚑️πŸ’ͺEnergym⚑️πŸ’ͺ

This spoof is fantastic, not least for the aging choices they’ve made for the tech broligarchs. youtu.be/zdkBUuWCZg4?...

27.02.2026 08:26 β€” πŸ‘ 27    πŸ” 11    πŸ’¬ 3    πŸ“Œ 0

One interesting thing we did is look at rate of submission bacterial sequence data to INSDC. Logistic fit is surprisingly good - inflexion during the pandemic. So, the data no longer looks like exponential growth. Projected to 2035 just for the hell of it, let's see.

27.02.2026 09:02 β€” πŸ‘ 16    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0

Cheers Ewan! Was very glad to see our protein structure predictions get into EBI AFDB! Open databases FTW!

26.02.2026 16:18 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

I should have said, this takes us to about 2.8 million genomes in total. We don't have annotations, etc for the latest data yet, this will be an ongoing process

26.02.2026 16:12 β€” πŸ‘ 14    πŸ” 7    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
Overview β€” AllTheBacteria documentation

Courtesy of @martibartfast.bsky.social , we have a new release of AllTheBacteria which adds another 322,920 assemblies, covering all ENA (illumina, isolate) prokaryotes to May 2025.
allthebacteria.readthedocs.io/en/latest/ov...

26.02.2026 15:48 β€” πŸ‘ 60    πŸ” 28    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 3

The fact that there’s a secret network of doulas going around Minneapolis to help with home births for parents afraid of ICE should be front-page news.

These children, born in secrecy, are American citizens.

24.02.2026 18:38 β€” πŸ‘ 2631    πŸ” 1098    πŸ’¬ 32    πŸ“Œ 17

The purpose of a car or carriage is to get from A to B. The purpose of education is to learn intellectual skills. Advait Paliwal's comparision of the mechanisation of transport to using AI for school/college/university work misses the point entirely. And most likely deliberately.

26.02.2026 09:16 β€” πŸ‘ 32    πŸ” 10    πŸ’¬ 5    πŸ“Œ 0

Students are as varied in personality and motivation as humans are , so I feel there will always be some who don't want to learn, but many arrive feeling they don't have the 'right kind of brain', and i think a lot if that is managing expectations (its normal to be confused when you learn).

26.02.2026 08:25 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Great!

26.02.2026 08:10 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Yes!

26.02.2026 08:10 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

@wytamma.bsky.social 's WASM tools have transformed my experience of teaching Python to first year undergraduate biologists this year. Since last year, I've been teaching ~400 undergrads how to code (functions, lists, dictionaries, loops) over (one hour intro lecture +) two 2-hour practicals. 1/n

25.02.2026 22:33 β€” πŸ‘ 60    πŸ” 17    πŸ’¬ 3    πŸ“Œ 1
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Trump Administration Withholds $259 Million in Medicaid Funds From Minnesota

Trump Administration illegally Withholds $259 Million in Medicaid Funds From Minnesota in continued retribution attack on MN
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/25/u...

26.02.2026 06:22 β€” πŸ‘ 8    πŸ” 5    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 2