Last month, DNA sequencing in the UK got a boost with the launch of the Genome Analysis Centre (TGAC) in the eastern city of Norwich. The £13.5 million ($22 million) facility hosts biologists and bioinformaticians who will perform genome sequencing on plants, animals and microbes, as well as develop new bioinformatics tools for handling the data, which will be distributed via the European Bioinformatics Institute. In the future, TGAC will build commercial partnerships and offer doctoral and mid-career sequencing and bioinformatics training. Continue reading Sequencing push brings new UK genome analysis center
Category Archives: Formats
The Ups and Downs of Doing a Postdoc in Europe
The thing that helped Jessica Torrey get over her homesickness during the first few months of her postdoc at the Friedrich-Alexander-University of Erlangen-Nürnberg in Erlangen, Germany, was beer. More specifically, it was a regular gathering at a beer hall: She took a 30-minute train ride to Nürnberg to attend a weekly stammtisch, a regular gathering in which locals and foreigners meet over drinks and practice their English and German. “At first, it was a conscious effort to seek out other people,” Torrey says. “I had to show up at a bar and hope that there would be friendly people, … but it turned out that was one of the groups where I made the most friends.”
Continue reading The Ups and Downs of Doing a Postdoc in Europe
Mixed Drinks, Mixed Messages
One minute you’re feeling festive and the next you’re wishing you’d had one less drink. This spring, a pair of studies sent equally mixed signals about long-term alcohol consumption that might baffle even the most sober teetotaler. Continue reading Mixed Drinks, Mixed Messages
ApolloPlus40 Interview with BBC5
A broadcaster doing a Moon package for BBC5’s Pods and Blogs interviewed me about the ApolloPlus40 Twitter feed I’ve been working on for Nature.
New experience to be on the receiving end of an interview. The segment containing my interview is available for download here: [mp3, 4:18].