mara lawniczak
@marakat.bsky.social
senior group leader @sangerinstitute. evolutionary geneticist malaria & biodiversity. lifetime member of darwin's posse. obsessive tidepooler. hearts cephalopods.
our lab leads the Malaria Cell Atlas, UK BIOSCAN, and ANOSPP projects.
our lab leads the Malaria Cell Atlas, UK BIOSCAN, and ANOSPP projects.
need to avoid letting other organisms take over. e.g. suspect something like killing in ethanol to kill microbes too and then desiccating might be better than outright desiccation.
July 7, 2025 at 9:17 AM
need to avoid letting other organisms take over. e.g. suspect something like killing in ethanol to kill microbes too and then desiccating might be better than outright desiccation.
we did not study this in a controlled fashion but very limited experience with wild caught desiccated samples was not great -- the HMW DNA we saw was predominantly bacterial/fungal rather than insect in origin. think it will depend a lot on how specimens are killed and stored right after --
July 7, 2025 at 9:17 AM
we did not study this in a controlled fashion but very limited experience with wild caught desiccated samples was not great -- the HMW DNA we saw was predominantly bacterial/fungal rather than insect in origin. think it will depend a lot on how specimens are killed and stored right after --
great work from team coauthors Fiona, @petrathepostdoc.bsky.social, @zoologistedel.bsky.social, and @amakunin.bsky.social -- hopefully some useful nuggets towards reaching @ebpgenome.bsky.social genomes for eukaryotic diversity, a huge amount of which is arthropods!
July 7, 2025 at 7:20 AM
great work from team coauthors Fiona, @petrathepostdoc.bsky.social, @zoologistedel.bsky.social, and @amakunin.bsky.social -- hopefully some useful nuggets towards reaching @ebpgenome.bsky.social genomes for eukaryotic diversity, a huge amount of which is arthropods!
3. we left specimens for 1 week at room temperature, simulating a field collection trip and/or shipping. our advice is whatever you do, keep your specimens at the coldest temperature you have access to anytime cold chain is available.
July 7, 2025 at 7:20 AM
3. we left specimens for 1 week at room temperature, simulating a field collection trip and/or shipping. our advice is whatever you do, keep your specimens at the coldest temperature you have access to anytime cold chain is available.
1. whatever you preserve your insects in, make sure to compromise their cuticle e.g. with a light squish or cutting into pieces; 2. AllProtect does very well but is expensive -- if you are on a budget or collecting a very large number of specimens, 100% ethanol and RNAlater might be a better combo;
July 7, 2025 at 7:20 AM
1. whatever you preserve your insects in, make sure to compromise their cuticle e.g. with a light squish or cutting into pieces; 2. AllProtect does very well but is expensive -- if you are on a budget or collecting a very large number of specimens, 100% ethanol and RNAlater might be a better combo;
thanks to all coauthors on that work! and finally, a shout out to the two hoodie winners Elena Hilario in New Zealand and Emily Hornett @bolinabug.bsky.social from the UK from a couple years ago and thanks to many of you who filled in that survey (via twitter before it went black). happy sequencing!
June 4, 2025 at 3:15 PM
thanks to all coauthors on that work! and finally, a shout out to the two hoodie winners Elena Hilario in New Zealand and Emily Hornett @bolinabug.bsky.social from the UK from a couple years ago and thanks to many of you who filled in that survey (via twitter before it went black). happy sequencing!
and that the @ebpgenome.bsky.social subcommittee has finally published our general guidance on collecting and processing for reference genomes at @gigascience.bsky.social, which you can find here academic.oup.com/gigascience/...
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June 4, 2025 at 3:15 PM
and that the @ebpgenome.bsky.social subcommittee has finally published our general guidance on collecting and processing for reference genomes at @gigascience.bsky.social, which you can find here academic.oup.com/gigascience/...
tree of life core lab has put together such a manuscript, detailing a lot of information on the lab work needed for reference genomes for biodiversity which you can find here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
On the path to reference genomes for all biodiversity: lessons learned and laboratory protocols created in the Sanger Tree of Life core laboratory over the first 2000 species
Since its inception in 2019, the Tree of Life programme at the Wellcome Sanger Institute has released high-quality, chromosomally-resolved reference genome assemblies for over 2000 species. Tree of Li...
www.biorxiv.org
June 4, 2025 at 3:15 PM
tree of life core lab has put together such a manuscript, detailing a lot of information on the lab work needed for reference genomes for biodiversity which you can find here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
winners of two tree of life hoodies. in the end, the survey helped us realise that what was needed was a more systematic view on extractions across the tree of life beyond what we could provide as a volunteer committee. however, i am pleased to say that the @sangerinstitute.bsky.social ...
June 4, 2025 at 3:15 PM
winners of two tree of life hoodies. in the end, the survey helped us realise that what was needed was a more systematic view on extractions across the tree of life beyond what we could provide as a volunteer committee. however, i am pleased to say that the @sangerinstitute.bsky.social ...