🚀 𝐈𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐂𝐎𝐕𝐈𝐃-𝟏𝟗 𝐨𝐧 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐮𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐁𝐢𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐲 𝐄𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐫 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬 (#𝐄𝐂𝐑𝐬) It all started with one good chat with @GonzaParra_ , Sayane Shome et al., that planted an idea to explore: 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘤 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘶𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘣𝘪𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺 𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘺-𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘸𝘦𝘵-𝘭𝘢𝘣𝘴? Two years of participants' input at the virtual #ISMB #SCS conferences, particularly responses from Early Career Researchers (#ECRs), rigorous analysis by @i_am_kilpatrick , Sayane, @pradeeperanti, @meghegde97 , followed by a thorough review by @PLOS reviewers, our study is finally out in #PLOSComputationalBiology #PLOS Our retrospective study analyses the experiences of early‑career computational biology researchers worldwide during the 2020–2021 #COVID19lockdowns. 🧪 𝐊𝐞𝐲 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬: • Productivity plummeted: 81–85 % of ECRs reported being less productive than before lockdowns. Only ~4 % felt they were more productive. • Hidden burdens: Female researchers and those juggling childcare reported the greatest losses and stress. • Mental health gaps: Over 40 % of institutions offered no #mental‑health support in 2020, rising to 56 % in 2021. • Financial strains: Many #ECRs lost grant funding or income—a problem often overlooked for #dry‑lab work. • Not all bad news: Yet the shift to remote and hybrid work also brought unexpected positives. Many respondents advocated for continuing flexible work‑from‑home policies, and the community discovered that virtual conferences can broaden participation. Our findings call attention to the need for better mental‑health resources and financial support, even in dry‑lab disciplines. 🔗 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐩𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞: 👉 journals.plos.org/ploscompbi… Grateful to have such a fantastic contribution from @i_am_kilpatrick  and the team, including ISCB Student Council ex and present leaders (@iscbsc ), and ISCB (@iscb ) - International Society for Computational Biology team, for turning a casual conversation into this evidence‑based contribution to the #compbio community. We hope this is a good read for anyone seeking to understand how COVID‑19 impacted not just wet‑lab scientists but researchers across computational biology and beyond. 👩‍🔬👨‍💻 Thanks to all survey participants and to the #ISMB, #ECCB and #SCS community for supporting this initiative. #ComputationalBiology #Bioinformatics #DryLab #ECR #COVID19 #MentalHealth #HybridWork #Inclusion #ScienceCommunity #ECRs #WorkingLifeduringPandemic

A moving tribute to Prof. Philip E. Bourne at #ECCB2026. His extraordinary contributions to computational biology, open science, @PLOSCompBiol #10simplerules series and data-driven research continue to inspire our community. A wonderful opportunity to reflect on his legacy and the lasting impact of his vision on our field. 🧬💻 #ECCB2026 #CompBio #Bioinformatics #PhilipBourne

🧬 Thrilled to share some exciting research news! 🚀 My group’s work at the intersection of genomics and large-scale AI, aimed at advancing understanding of human genetics, has been selected for the Spring 2025 Amazon Research Awards 🎉, a step toward precision medicine. The project, “Efficient Architectures for Genomic Variant Interpretation: Language Models for Non-Coding DNA Variant Analysis”, explores advanced #LLM architectures, long-context modelling, and novel attention mechanisms, using AWS Trainium–optimised pipelines to decode non-coding variants at population scale. Proud that @KingstonUni @KingstonECE is one of only two UK HEIs awarded this round. Grateful to #AmazonScience for the support. Delighted to lead this with Prof Jean-Christophe Nebel (@jcnebel ) and @meghegde97 . #KUCSM #Bioinformatics #computationalbiology #AmazonResearchAwards #BuildOnTrainium #LLM #Genomics #AI #VariantInterpretation #AWS #MachineLearning #HealthcareDataScience @AmazonScience