Travis Wheeler
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wheelerlab.org
Travis Wheeler
@wheelerlab.org
Associate Professor, University of Arizona
Algorithms, Machine Learning, Data Resources
Computational Genomics, Drug Discovery, Animal Tracking, etc.
wheelerlab.org
Anyone who has ever had the joy of using Google tech support will know that ... ugh.

So it's completely on-brand that, when I tried to submit a bug report today, this happened:

(1) Push buttons to raise "Bug Report" window
(2) Click "Bug Report" button
(3) nothing ...

(Support couldn't help)
November 10, 2025 at 8:19 PM
For I was hungry, and you gave me food… whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.

- Some woke schmuck
November 7, 2025 at 5:27 PM
Reposted by Travis Wheeler
Exciting symposium on AI and Biology at EMBO | EMBL in Heidelberg on 10-13 March 2026!

Excellent lineup of invited speakers across various scales of biology!

Deadline for abstract submission is coming up — Dec 2.

🔗 www.embl.org/about/info/c...

#EESAIBio @EMBLEvents
November 7, 2025 at 12:16 AM
Reposted by Travis Wheeler
A new release of RepeatMasker is available. This version fixes a bug introduced in 4.2.1 that impacted the handling of poly-A tails and the naming of LINE annotations. See repeatmasker.org for more release details.
RepeatMasker Home Page
repeatmasker.org
November 3, 2025 at 6:07 PM
Reposted by Travis Wheeler
I'm recruiting PhD students for the Barker Lab @uofa-eeb.bsky.social We study plant evolutionary genomics - polyploidy, hybridization & machine learning for genome evolution. Work with Selaginella, Xanthisma, Brassica & more. Funding available via CAMBIUM Fellowships. Reach out if interested! 🧬🌵🤖
October 24, 2025 at 5:01 AM
Reposted by Travis Wheeler
Please pass along - Our CAMBIUM NSF NRT provides fellowships to support new PhD students at @uarizona.bsky.social To train & prepare a new generation of scientists to harness the revolution in biodiversity big data to adapt to & mitigate the impacts of climate change. cambium.arizona.edu 🧪🌐🌾
October 21, 2025 at 5:17 AM
Important open model for predicting structures for proteins (and friends)
OpenFold3-preview (OF3p) is out: a sneak peek of our AF3-based structure prediction model. Our aim for OF3 is full AF3-parity for every modality. We now believe we have a clear path towards this goal and are releasing OF3p to enable building in the OF3 ecosystem. More👇
October 29, 2025 at 12:52 AM
Don't miss this opportunity to co-run a research group with @ewanbirney.bsky.social !

Ewan's science speaks for itself, and the EBI is an exceptional place to do cutting edge computational genomics.
I am hiring! - looking for a Staff Scientist to co-run my research group with me. Staff Scientist is a senior professional scientist role at EMBL. Please forward to people you might know who could be interested! embl.wd103.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/EMBL/j...
Staff Scientist
About EMBL-EBI EMBL’s European Bioinformatics Institute is a data powerhouse, utilised on a global scale to advance scientific discovery through bioinformatics and solutions to some of the world’s mos...
embl.wd103.myworkdayjobs.com
October 11, 2025 at 4:12 PM
Dream postdoc - Rob's science is excellent (and he's pretty great, too)
And it's posted! If you're interested and eligible, please consider applying through the UMD portal: umd.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/UMCP/j....

If you're a PI working in algorithmic genomics (& you can recommend my lab to your top graduating students ;P), please let them know!
October 8, 2025 at 4:57 PM
Important work being done here.
vvvvvvvvv
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vv
A Brief History of Men are Becoming Less Manly

🧵
October 7, 2025 at 11:24 PM
Reposted by Travis Wheeler
TIL: 10^60 is far greater than 10^67
Math is hard
September 29, 2025 at 2:49 AM
TIL: 10^60 is far greater than 10^67
Math is hard
September 29, 2025 at 2:49 AM
Math is hard
September 29, 2025 at 2:46 AM
Look on the bright side. With AI's help, there's actually a chance you could run a 2:10:00 marathon, since you might actually be able to hold an 5:00/km (8:03/mile) pace. That's incredible news!
It's great to see that the piles of money and enormous amounts of electricity and other resources used to train these models has produced such stunning and useful results. And I'm SUPER glad that google now always shows me this garbage.
September 25, 2025 at 5:59 PM
Reposted by Travis Wheeler
We're looking for a new lecturer, here at the Department of Biochemistry in Dunedin, New Zealand. "Applications are invited in all areas of biochemistry, molecular genetics, and bioinformatics." otago.taleo.net/careersectio...
September 15, 2025 at 1:09 AM
Reposted by Travis Wheeler
I share this picture of a printed out genome every once in while.

It just occurred to me: it's got to be cheaper to acquire a finished copy of your genome (high accuracy, phased, SV-resolved) than to print it as a collection of bound books.

(back-of-envelope checks out - anyone done the math?)
September 12, 2025 at 8:36 PM
I share this picture of a printed out genome every once in while.

It just occurred to me: it's got to be cheaper to acquire a finished copy of your genome (high accuracy, phased, SV-resolved) than to print it as a collection of bound books.

(back-of-envelope checks out - anyone done the math?)
September 12, 2025 at 8:36 PM
It's strange to think how many times I've asked myself this very question
Wait what????

If you’ve ever wondered how you could learn about cool science but also answer the question “what was the town like where Dave grew up”…then this meeting is exactly for you
The next stand-alone meeting of the American Society of Naturalists @asn-amnat.bsky.social will be on the East Coast!!! Mark your calendars for January 8-12, 2027 and we'll talk evolution, ecology, behavior, and integrative organismal biology at www.themansionatglencove.com/meeting-venues
September 12, 2025 at 5:24 PM
After some lengthy embargo period (like: 5 or 10 years). Cool.

Next year. Abso-f-ing-lutely terrible.

The scenario: I have an idea. Reviewer #3 torpedoes it. I need to wait months to submit again. Someone else scoops up the ideas and writes a similar proposal while I'm in the next cycle.
September 9, 2025 at 11:55 PM
slightly diminishing a book:

Kitty's Cradle
slightly diminishing a book:

The Jogging Man
slightly diminishing a book:

Mademoiselle Bovary
September 8, 2025 at 11:49 PM
slightly diminishing a book:

1983
slightly diminishing a book:

The Jogging Man
slightly diminishing a book:

Mademoiselle Bovary
September 8, 2025 at 11:48 PM
slightly diminishing a book:

The Jogging Man
slightly diminishing a book:

Mademoiselle Bovary
slightly diminishing a book:

The Tale of Two Towns
September 8, 2025 at 11:48 PM
As well-stated as anything I've seen about the problem with "using AI to help me write"
Confused writing is usually a symptom of confused thinking. As we struggle to clarify writing, we clarify our thoughts. AI writing aids rob us of that struggle, leaving clean-looking text and thoughts still confused for lack of inspection. Writing is not just a product; it is a diagnostic tool.
September 6, 2025 at 10:35 PM
Project in collaboration w/ @networksunknown.bsky.social.

Goal: improve identity continuity in multi-animal tracking.

Mix pose prediction from AI computer vision methods with classical Markov processes, add a dash of path pruning and a new UI for efficient error correction: diplomattrack.org
September 2, 2025 at 4:47 PM