Now that UW is in the Big 10, we apparently get access to other activities besides just football. I was pleased to be selected for the Big Ten Academic Alliance Department Executive Officers Program this year. Had our first meeting today, and it seems like it'll be pretty interesting!

While book chapters are frequently a bear to write, it’s always thrilling to get a physical object at the end. Thanks to my coauthors Chris and Barbara! We got the intro to yeast chapters for this nice volume from MBAA.

My kingdom for a reference manager that maintains proper italicization of gene and species names.

Chris was able to find all sorts of cool patterns combining our population sequencing data with previously published. One of my favorite results is if you are near a Ty hotspot, you have different mutations available to you vs other loci, and that shows up in the mutation distribution.

The little trick where you pipetted the reactions+loading buffer out on parafilm so you wouldn't get oil in the gel. So satisfying.

Let them finish their sentence when the timer goes off. Ask one follow-up question. Move on. It’s great as a way to judge many posters in a short amount of time, and shakes people out of their usual spiel. Obviously lacks something in depth but I can always go talk to the person more later. And fun!

People might not believe you initially, so give them a second to process then hit start. They will then get down to business and tell you the most interesting thing! What they find most interesting is an interesting choice in its own right.

Caveat: this method only works for situations like retreats where you more or less know the background and can skip to the good stuff. I elbow aside anyone else at the poster and say I’m a judge. Then I set a timer for 1 minute and ask them to tell me the most interesting thing on their poster.

Exciting news: @uwgenome.bsky.social will be hiring for two tenure-track faculty positions this year, one open rank and one assistant professor. Both are “Genome Sciences” interpreted broadly so we welcome applicants working in a variety of fields and methods. Ad will be out shortly.

With any luck I will post more about it later :)

Seattle locals request: does anyone have a set of "port tongs" that I could borrow for what I promise is a very highly scientific cause?

lol. It was Pokemon Go night so I did get a fancy Pikachu with the stadium in the background.

Lab outing to a Mariners game

The @c4lifesciences.bsky.social is seeking an Executive Director. CLS is a terrific group of engaged scientific & scholarly society leaders. Check out the position (ideal for a person experienced in policy & advocacy + Capitol Hill) & share w/interested, qualified folks.