Vertebrate Genomes Project

Alt EN: Image shows a pale pink axolotl underwater with feathery external gills and soft, diffused light, resting on aquatic plants and rock. Text on image: “Represent a key evolutionary transition. As some of the first vertebrates to move from water to land, they illuminate the evolution of limbs, lungs, skin, and terrestrial life.” Alt ES: Imagen de un ajolote rosado pálido bajo el agua, con branquias externas plumosas y luz suave, apoyado sobre plantas acuáticas y una roca. Texto en la imagen: “Representan una transición evolutiva clave. Como algunos de los primeros vertebrados en pasar del agua a la tierra, iluminan la evolución de las extremidades, los pulmones, la piel y la vida terrestre.”Alt ES: Imagen de una rana Corroboree del sur de color amarillo brillante con franjas negras, posada sobre musgo verde intenso. Texto en la imagen: “Los genomas de referencia ayudan a combatir enfermedades graves. Patógenos como la quitridiomicosis han causado declives globales. Los genomas permiten estudiar la respuesta inmune, la resistencia y la interacción huésped-patógeno.”

Alt EN: Image shows a striped salamander resting on a mossy forest floor with green vegetation and soil visible. Text on image: “They have some of the most complex genomes known. Large and repetitive genomes drive advances in sequencing technologies and analysis.” Alt ES: Imagen de una salamandra rayada descansando sobre un suelo de bosque cubierto de musgo y vegetación verde. Texto en la imagen: “Tienen algunos de los genomas más complejos conocidos. Los genomas grandes y repetitivos impulsan avances en las tecnologías de secuenciación y análisis.”

The global EBP network of genome sequencing centres is pushing the boundaries of amphibian genomics — accelerating discovery and advancing the mission to generate reference genomes for all eukaryotic life on Earth.🧬🌍
@vertebrategenomes.bsky.social @sangerinstitute.bsky.social @ergabiodiv.bsky.social

📬 Read the latest issue of EBP Life and meet the people making it happen. 🌍
Read it here 👉https://gqr.sh/kx7m

@mblaxter.bsky.social | @crawfordaj.bsky.social | @kstsosie.bsky.social | @scaioc.bsky.social | @rmwaterhouse.bsky.social | @vertebrategenomes.bsky.social |

African penguin Source: Wildlife Conservation Society

Cotton top tamarin Source: Wildlife Conservation Society

Eld's deer Source: Wildlife Conservation Society

Elongated tortoise Source: Wich’yanan (Jay) Limparungpatthanakij, via inaturalist.org and Wikimedia Commons

Thanks to the support of @wcs.org and Google Research, we have sequenced and assembled the genomes of nine endangered species, with more on the way!

To learn more: blog.google/innovation-a...

Accuracy isn’t just better data — it’s global infrastructure. 🧬🌍
That’s why EBP sets the bar high.
By prioritizing near-complete, reference-grade genomes, EBP reduces assembly artefacts and misleading biological inferences — ensuring downstream analyses reflect real biology, not technical error.

Rockefeller's Vertebrate Genome Laboratory (vertebrategenomes.bsky.social) has received support from Google.org for #AI science research.

The funding will help the VGL accelerate the production and analysis of high-quality genomes across Earth’s #biodiversity.

Interested in #GenomeAssembly & #GenomeAnnotation?
Join our March course to learn how to create high-quality, haplotype-phased genomes using Illumina, @pacbio.bsky.social @nanoporetech.com & more.

www.physalia-courses.org/courses-work...
#Genomics #Bioinformatics @vertebrategenomes.bsky.social

Together, we'll test these tools on 50+ endangered U.S. species, from mammals to mollusks to plants.

We're not just building tools, we're creating a conservation revolution across the entire tree of life.

Thank you to our phenomenal partners: Revive & Restore, @rockefeller.edu, @cornelluniversity.bsky.social, @sangerinstitute.bsky.social, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), and Association of Zoos and Aquariums.

The second serves as an AI conservation advisor, providing actionable genetic rescue recommendations for any species, to make genomics accessible and understandable to all conservationists.

Through GAIA, we are developing two breakthrough AI tools that will democratize genomic conservation worldwide: one will accelerate reference genome assembly curation (compressing weeks of human labor into minutes).

Earlier this month, we had an incredible week in NYC launching GAIA (Genomic AI Applications)! We are grateful to @bezosearthfund.org and Google Research for supporting this work to democratize genomic conservation.

Excited to host our @nanoporetech.com Org.one workshop: #Genomes for the #Conservation of Endangered Species at #PAG33 on Fri Jan 9th 10:30am! Join us for a set of biodiverse talks 🌳🦜 🐸 🧬 @uconnresearch.bsky.social @ebpgenome.bsky.social @vertebrategenomes.bsky.social

Using Claude AI for Literature Searches LLMs for literature search produce 'interesting' results: It is almost useful

approaches for comprehensive surveys and remember: these things improve FAST! https://galaxyproject.org/news/2025-12-2-claude-lit/ (2/2)

Claude vs. ChatGPT

Ran the same literature search through Claude Code and ChatGPT. Found ZERO papers in common despite using identical databases. Both searches were useful in finding what I need, but lack of overlap was ... slightly concerning. The lesson: AI tools are powerful but limited. Use multiple (1/2)

⚡ We've released a new version of rdeval! v0.0.8 includes full support for @pacbio.bsky.social CiFi read preprocessing, visualization report improvements, and upgrades to performance and parallelization!

🔗 Release notes and source code: github.com/vgl-hub/rdev...

Decoding Life on Earth | Google and the Earth Biogenome Project YouTube video by Google Research

Looking forward to collaborating with Andrew Carroll and Google Research as we work to develop AI tools for genome sequencing and assembly!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Wfn...

🐢💙 Big win for sea turtle conservation!
Genome-informed conservation is helping keep these icons in our seas. 🌊
📄 Explore the 2025 publication: bit.ly/4ogC36B
🌊 Dive deeper into how these and other EBP-affiliated reference genomes are benefiting marine life in our latest newsletter: bit.ly/4qhJdZK

Project Coordinator | Vertebrate Genome Laboratory in New York, New York | Rockefeller University The Rockefeller University is hiring a Project Coordinator | Vertebrate Genome Laboratory in New York, New York. Review all of the job details and apply today!

🧬 The Vertebrate Genome Lab is hiring for a Project Coordinator to join the Sample Management team at the Rockefeller University campus! Apply here: careers.rockefeller.edu/jobs/1943?la...

🌱✨This support advances the project's mission to make genetic rescue accessible to every conservationist.
📄 More here: lnkd.in/gMtdygTW
Revive & Restore will develop AI tools to 🤖 automate reference genome assembly for endangered species, dramatically accelerating the path from sample to genome.

🚀🧬 Revive & Restore is pioneering a new era of conservation — using AI and genomics to protect life on Earth.
🎉👏We’re thrilled to celebrate Revive & Restore for being awarded a $2M grant from the Bezos Earth Fund’s AI for Climate & Nature Grand Challenge. 🌱✨
@bezosearthfund.org

R&R, the Rockefeller University Vertebrate Genome Lab, and Ayshwarya Subramanian of Cornell University will use the funds to develop AI tools to accelerate the genome assembly process and aid in species conservation. Looking forward to this exciting collaboration!

Congratulations to Ben Novak and Revive & Restore for being selected as one of 15 award recipients of the @bezosearthfund.org's first AI for Climate and Nature Grand Challenge!

reviverestore.org/revive-resto...

Use parallel-download to get data from NCBI SRA. See how here -> https://galaxyproject.org/news/2025-10-23-sra-download/

“Why wasn’t I using collections all along?” (2/2)

Discover one of Galaxy’s true superpowers — dataset collections! 🌟
Check out the blog (https://galaxyproject.org/news/2025-10-21-whycollections/) and video (https://youtu.be/yehY9tR_NX8?si=YH9CZ5KGWm2yVyPA) to see how they can simplify your workflows.
You might just find yourself wondering, (1/2)

The T2T zebra finch genome has hatched! 🐣 🧬 @vertebrategenomes.bsky.social

ERGA meets VGP in New York City Last week, ERGA was present at the Vertebrate Genomes Project 2025 Conference, held at The Rockefeller University in New York City from September 30 and October 1. ERGA and VGP share a long-standing c...

🏙️ Last week, #ERGA joined the @vertebrategenomes.bsky.social #VGP Conference in NYC, a great chance to connect with @ebpgenome.bsky.social projects and share progress on #FAIR genome assemblies & reporting under @biogeneurope.bsky.social
www.erga-biodiversity.eu/post/erga-me... #genomes #conference

See you at the next conference!

📷 Chul Lee

A huge thank you to @erichjarvis.bsky.social, Lauren Shalmiyev, Giulio Formenti, Sadye Paez, our VGP co-chairs, and members of the Jarvis Labs for organizing the event, @amnh.org for hosting us at their planetarium, and our attendees for the lively and productive discussions!

Scholars from around the world shared their research on genome assembly and annotation, chromosome evolution, comparative genomics, and conservation at talks and poster sessions and helped plan the future direction of the VGP.