Dr Andrew Lonsdale

Remembering Phil Bourne Personal reflections on a legendary scientist, leader, builder, and mentor

Remembering Phil Bourne. Personal reflections on a legendary scientist, leader, builder, and mentor. blog.stephenturner.us/p/rememberin...

The community was enriched for his legacy, and is lessened by his passing. Vale Phil. 8/8

And while it was true at the time that statistically speaking it helped to be PEB to publish a 10SR, I think the mark he has left on the community is that you no longer need to be him. He taught everyone how to do things and the attitude to have. 7/8

We passed a few drafts back and forth and that was it!

I have no doubt that Phil's involvement helped the publication in its journey, but read the article - Phil's commentary elevates that paper. I find those insights invaluable and with no false modesty, they are the best bits of the paper. 6/8

- I inject comments about what you have written highlighted in italics
- We all review the result and if we agree it gets submitted for consideration by another editor (who may of course reject it)"

Phil noted that "not only is the article unorthodox so is the process - I love that!". 5/8

"I cant recall ever laughing out loud at a PLOS submission but now I have. But laughter in a positive way - I agree this is a celebration of the series and I suggest the following.
- I become an author (why deny the stats)
- I make a few changes to the article and comments for you to consider 4/8

Ten Simple Rules for Writing a PLOS Ten Simple Rules Article

We'd just read a lot of them in our journal club. It could have very easily been desk rejected and not ever seen the light of day. Instead, it was received in the best way. Phil's email response to our  inquiry directly aligns with the opening line of the paper: journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol... 3/8

In 2014 a couple of rag tag PhD students from Melbourne, Australia, submitted a Presubmission Inquiry to PLOS Comp Bio - "Ten Simple Rules for a PLOS Ten Simple Rules". This was unsolicited. We hadn't written a 10SR, had no position of authority on a 10SR to speak from. 2/8

Some background to this, and an example I think of Phil's attitudes towards fostering students and encouraging others. I never got a chance to meet Phil in person, but will share his act of generosity that helped myself and @hdashnow.bsky.social and I think had in indelible mark on our careers. 1/8

[Slams the Inception button]

We’re proud to celebrate Dr Aparna Rao, Dr Deborah Meyran and Associate Professor Safeera Hussainy, who have been awarded the 2026 Lea Medals.

Read more: www.petermac.org/about-us/new...

Join the local Melbourne #illumina Field Apps team to specialise in #Bioinformatics. It's a great team, you get to play with #DRAGEN and help customers get the best data for analysis. #genomics #multiomics #singlecell #spatial #transcriptome #epigenetics bit.ly/46o4sRj
I can refer the right folks.

2026 Winner of the Lorne Genome Julian Wells Medal: Christine Wells (no relation!) @stemcellsystems.bsky.social congratulations, well deserved!!

Almost literally too late, but here is a feed for BlueSky to collate #LorneGenome posts that blends mentions of Lorne + Genome along with posts from @lornegenome.bsky.social

Should still work next year though!

bsky.app/profile/did:...

Emotional rollercoaster at #LorneGenome today:

- adipose tissue remembers being overweight in the transcriptome, nudging you back to weight gain after a loss

- Meerkats reproductive success correlates with higher body mass

I’m sure there is a lesson in there somewhere

Can only tag @antobeck.bsky.social here on BlueSky to say that the #Illumina coffee cart is once again the quiet hero of #LorneGenome

We’re hiring: Research Group Leader in computational biology.

Are you generating more research ideas than you can explore? Lead cutting-edge AI & biology research at EMBL-EBI.

Apply by 11 April 2026: embl.wd103.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/EMBL/j...

#ScienceCareers @ewaldlab.org @embl.org

My probably wrong 2c is that I once spent a long time in a similar situation to learn that .yaml and .yml were treated very differently by the program I was using, and to check the filenames or extensions between working and non-working aren't the issue in some weird way

Sounds like a version of "Spot It!"? math.mit.edu/research/hig...

New blog post! nf-core and AI
https://nf-co.re/blog/2026/statement-on-ai/

Glad to see impact, significance, design as evaluation criteria. I once had a submission rejected from JOSS because my software had too few lines of code (still a little salty about that one). Good move all around 👏 blog.joss.theoj.org/2026/01/prep...

Every guide to GenAI in research ends up being:

And now that you know how it's done…….

Don't do it.

Flyer with a picture of Brisbane detailing CBA 2026.

📣 Save The Date for Cancer Bioinformatics Australia 2026! 📣

CBA will be back in 2026 on June 5th, this time in Brisbane!

It will feature oral and poster presentations, networking opportunities, and high-profile invited national and international speakers. Further info: cancerbioinformatics.au

That’s a wrap! Huge thank you to everyone who joined us for #ABACBS2025 & a big shout-out to the Adelaide bioinfo community who worked their butts off. Couldn’t have asked for a better crew or a better venue than Adelaide Oval. @wessidepraxis.bsky.social @linsalrob.bsky.social

I enjoyed making this with you all much more than this photo would imply - I did not know we were linking arms! #wasmodic #abacbs2025

It's not just because @torstenseemann.bsky.social is a bioinformatics legend but this may be my favourite #abacbs2025 poster because I'm a #trek tragic 🖖

Thanks to the amazing Adelaide Bioinformatics community for making #ABACBS2025 an amazing event. We couldn’t have done it without you. A few more days of workshops to go before the festival finishes for another year 😀

Awesome talk by @jovmaksimovic.bsky.social one detecting fusions in single cells with probes designed for 10X Flex. If I do say so myself 😜 #ABACBS2025

Haha Thanks! Putting the “Ted Lasso of Australian Bioinformatics” on my speaker bio!

I wasn’t going to single you out in my speech @hdashnow.bsky.social but our @combine1.bsky.social shenanigans are a big part of my success!