Jay Unruh

'Biological reality': What genetics has taught us about race As US President Donald Trump takes aim at the Smithsonian Institution for "anti-American ideology", Adam Rutherford examines what the science of genetics has taught us about race.

"Ours may be a pernicious history, but the trajectory of genetics has been one that tends towards progress and equity"

Excellent explainer from @adamrutherford.bsky.social on why racial groupings have no sound biological basis.

www.bbc.com/future/artic...

So I'm giving a poster this year in honor of Enrico but also in honor of other impactful mentors I’ve had. In particular Scott Hawley who had a similar heart for communicating science to young people. I'm not as gifted as they were in telling their scientific stories but I'm inspired to try.

He told me that his goal was to talk to students about his research. He didn't get that chance at a talk but at a poster all of the students would come by. He would talk to them about his ideas and they would give him valuable feedback.

My mentor Enrico Gratton used to give a poster often at Biophys. I asked him why he did it--he was a big name in the society doing cutting edge research--he could easily have gotten a talk every year.

I haven't given a poster at biophys for 15 years. I'm at a stage in my career where I don't need to seek out impact for my research. But I've realized that there is a different kind of impact to be had.

Come by poster B51 tomorrow at #BPS25 if you're interested in learning about how we're using alphafold at the proteome scale to explore plant microbe communication during symbiosis.

I am very sad to share that Scott Hawley passed away this morning. Scott was my graduate advisor and no other person had such a positive impact on my life. I will miss him dearly.

I just heard the news that R Scott Hawley, meiosis enthusiast and founding Dean of the Grad School of the Stowers Institute for Medical Research, passed away today. Such a loss for the science and education community. I will miss our zooms and his deep, deep wisdom

The big question—should any scientific communication use “AI” since nothing approaching actual intelligence has been achieved?

Just used this to find a fungal protein in plants. Very useful!

GitHub - conda-forge/miniforge: A conda-forge distribution. A conda-forge distribution. Contribute to conda-forge/miniforge development by creating an account on GitHub.

Miniforge (github.com/conda-forge/...) is a great open source alternative that prioritizes the open source repo, conda-forge.

#TechTalk: What is the Big Data, AI, and Genomics Technology Center? A Q&A with Jay Unruh, Ph.D., Director of Scientific Data, Sean McKinney, Ph.D., Head of Computational Imaging, and Chris Seidel, Ph.D., Genomics Scientist

In our latest #TechTalk, we dive deep into the exciting work happening at the Big Data, #AI, & #Genomics Technology Center! Discover how experts like @unruhjay.bsky.social, Sean McKinney, and Chris Seidel are advancing #research at the Institute. www.stowers.org/news/techtal...

a man in a tuxedo is holding a coconut cocktail with a straw . ALT: a man in a tuxedo is holding a coconut cocktail with a straw .

Little early to drink here yet but cheers!

I took biochem in 2001, and for nearly 20 years read amino acid sequences daily… and I never knew Dayhoff named them or even the logic behind things like Q until last Friday (h/t Mike Janech). Also, this is another big Dayhoff moment for me. She was incredible!

#proteomics #bioinformatics

Building a foundation for success: A conversation with a member of… Cori Cahoon, Ph.D., who will soon be an Assistant Professor at Colorado State University in January 2025, shares why the program was a “transformative…

🚨Applications closing soon!🚨 Meet a Stowers Grad alum!
Cori Cahoon credits the #gradschool for the #mentorship & resources that shaped her scientific path. "At Stowers, you're not just trained in #science; you're prepared to be a leader.”

Apply now: bit.ly/48Nzou0

Amazing examples of how studying weird biology can impact human health!

Sporadic distribution of a new archaeal genetic code with all TAG codons as pyrrolysine Numerous genetic codes developed during the evolution of Eukaryotes and three are known in Bacteria, yet no alternative genetic code has been established for Archaea. Some bacterial and archaeal prote...

We discovered the first alternative genetic code in Archaea!

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

AlphaFold 3 model code and weights are now available from DeepMind

github.com/google-deepm...

Every failure is a step towards success!

I will often define a minimum denominator which has a similar effect to masking.

On the bright side hopefully python makes it easier to automate!

De Novo electron density identification in sperm axonemes from cryo electron tomography and AlphaFold: www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...