Genetics Society of AustralAsia

Applications for the Genetics Society of AustralAsia’s 2026 awards close at the end of the month ⏰

If you work in #genetics research or teaching (or know someone who does), now’s the time to apply!

The Jenny Donald Undergraduate Student Conference Award is awarded to assist 3rds year genetics students to attend the annual conference. The GSA committee may elect to offer more than one award in a given year. Applications due 11:59pm 7th May AEST
genetics.org.au/awards/#Dona...

The Summer Internship for INdigenous peoples in Genomics (SING) Alumni GSA Conference Award provides the opportunity for recent SING Australia or SING Aotearoa alumni to attend the annual GSA Conference. 4 awards are available. Applications due 11:59pm 7th April AEST genetics.org.au/awards/#SING...

The Philip Batterham Conference Award is awarded to assist Honours and Masters students who are members of GSA to attend the annual conference. The GSA committee may elect to offer more than one award in a given year. Applications due 11:59pm 28th Feb AEST
genetics.org.au/awards/#Batt...

The Spencer Smith-White Conference Award is awarded to assist #PhD students who are members of GSA to attend the annual conference. Applications due 11:59pm 28th Feb AEST #PhDchat genetics.org.au/awards/#Smit...

The DG Catcheside Prize is awarded to the top Australasian doctoral student in #genetics. If your #PhD passed examination in 2025 at an Australasian university, you’re eligible to apply. Applications due midnight 11:59pm 28th Feb AEST #PhDchat #ECRchat
genetics.org.au/awards/#DGCa...

The ✨NEW✨ GSA Impact Award is awarded to recognise excellence in genetics research with applied impact, showcasing the power of genetics to address real world problems in one or more fields of transformational relevance. Applications due midnight 28th Feb AEST
genetics.org.au/awards/#Impa...

The Genetics Society of AustralAsia Alan Wilton Award is awarded to an early career Australasian genetics researcher within 5 years of their PhD (career interruptions considered). Applications due midnight 28th Feb AEST #ECRchat genetics.org.au/awards/#Alan...

The Genetics Society of AustralAsia Ross Crozier Medal recognises an outstanding contribution to #genetics research by a mid-career Australasian scientist 5-15 years post-PhD (career interruptions considered). Applications due 11:59pm 28th Feb AEST genetics.org.au/awards/#Ross...

The Genetics Society of AustralAsia MJD White Medal recognises an outstanding contribution to #genetics research by an Australasian scientist. Nominations for the MJD White Medal should come from a member of GSA. Applications due 11:59pm 28th Feb AEST genetics.org.au/awards/#MJDW...

NZ & Aussie & beyond geneticists🧬, apply / nominate your students & colleagues for our 2026 awards for senior, mid & early career scientists, educators, & students! Applications due 11:59pm 28th Feb AEST genetics.org.au/awards/
#PhDchat #ECRchat #WomenInScience #STEMoriginal #LGBTSTEM

Applications are now open for the Genetics Society of AustralAsia’s 2026 awards for achievements in #genetics research & teaching🧬🧑‍🏫🔬. Awards presented at our annual conference. Pls RT! genetics.org.au/awards/
#PhDchat #ECRchat #WomenInScience #STEMoriginal #LGBTSTEM

What a cool way to get people engaged with #population #genomics!

But why is there no episode on parentage analysis ... ?

#Conservation #EvoBio #R
#MayTheForceBeWithYou #StarWars #LukeSkywalker
@lauradbertola.bsky.social @drobledoruiz.bsky.social @seaprof.bsky.social @robynshaw.bsky.social

UPCOMING WORKSHOP🚨
dartRverse: Harnessing the Force of R for Conservation Genomics

Hands-on training in population genetics and conservation genomics using R and dartR 🧬🌿🦘🐟🐜

📆8–14 March 2026 @ ANU Kioloa Coastal Campus + online participation options

Details here:
cba.anu.edu.au/news-events/...

Big thanks to all our speakers: Natasha Mckean, Kate O'Hara, Lauren Kirn, Toby Kovacs, Alyssa Budd, Patricia Pillay & Victoria Sugrue 💫

🚩Reminder!
Join us 1–2pm AEDT (3pm NZDT) for our first GSA Jenny Graves Day ECR seminar, celebrating community, mentorship, and incredible genetics research across Australia & New Zealand.

Check your emails for the Zoom link!

Hope to catch you all at the local social events later🧬

Language models cannot reliably distinguish belief from knowledge and fact - Nature Machine Intelligence Suzgun et al. find that current large language models cannot reliably distinguish between belief, knowledge and fact, raising concerns for their use in healthcare, law and journalism, where such disti...

TL;DR: Even the most advanced language models crumble on first-person false beliefs, showing sharp accuracy drops and revealing that their “understanding” of others’ minds is still shallow pattern mimicry, not genuine epistemic reasoning.

www.nature.com/articles/s42...

Hoiho - the world’s rarest penguin, fewer than 150 mainland pairs left

🐧We researched one of the world’s rarest #penguins. The yellow‑eyed penguin (aka hoiho/takaraka) isn’t one homogeneous species after all!

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

#hoiho #conservation #genomics #birds #nzwildlife #endangered #wildlife #nature

Population genomics of yellow-eyed penguins uncovers subspecies divergence and candidate genes linked to respiratory distress syndrome Yellow-eyed penguins (hoiho/takaraka, Megadyptes antipodes ) are among the world’s rarest penguins and are regarded as a taonga (treasured) species in Aotearoa New Zealand. Since 2019, chicks on the N...

We did a penguin GWAS! Turns out that yellow-eyed penguins (or hoiho) are actually three very divergent groups, which we are calling subspecies www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... @josephguhlin.bsky.social @peterkdearden.bsky.social @annasanture.bsky.social @cegrueber.bsky.social

🚩Upcoming Asia-Pacific Genetics Seminar:

Remember to tune in tomorrow for our ECR special symposium 🧬 - "Epigenetics in Evolution and Ecology"!

Registration link on poster below

Genetics Society of AustralAsia | LinkedIn Genetics Society of AustralAsia | Building a community for genetics research across AustralAsia | The Genetics Society of AustralAsia (GSA) is the professional organization for scientific researchers ...

GSA is now on linked in!

Follow us at:

www.linkedin.com/company/gene...

🧬 Upcoming Asia-Pacific Genetics Seminar:
📅 30th September

Join us for the "Epigenetics in Evolution and Ecology" symposium, featuring three outstanding early career researchers who will share their latest discoveries.

👉 Register now using the poster below!

Our other fantastic sponsers include @wilderlab.bsky.social, @geneticsaus.bsky.social and Genomics Aotearoa!!

Genetics Society of AustralAsia (a professional organization for genetics researchers, educators, and professionals across Australia, New Zealand, and the Asia‑Pacific region) moves to Bluesky (2.001 followers on X)

Bluesky: @geneticsaus.bsky.social

Excellent keynotes this morning from Professor Alexei Drummond and Professor Cris Print on the power of genomics and computational biology in precision medicine and health research.

#GSA2025 #AotearoaGSA2025

Congratulations to all our #GSA2025 #AotearoaGSA2025 award winners.

Great talks at the GSA award session from @cegrueber.bsky.social, Ashley Jones, Stephanie Waller, and Margaret Byrne.

The actual PopGen Power Rangers were revealed at the #GSA2025

Day three of #GSA2025 #AotearoaGSA2025 kicking off with a great plenary session: diving into the world of plants and regulatory genetics with excellent talks by Miloš Tanurdžić and Erika Varkonyi-Gasic.

@testeeves.bsky.social chats at @geneticsaus.bsky.social about how #genetics could play a role in careful #management of small endangered #bird populations.

Libby Liggins and Claire Rye chat about the #Aotearoa #Genomics #Data #Repository, including how #metadata can be submitted (including #eDNA). They are hoping to take #indigenous #governance to the #Genomic #Standards #Consortium later this year…

@geneticsaus.bsky.social