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Haley Randolph

@herandolph.bsky.social

300 followers 390 following 13 posts

Helen Hay Whitney postdoctoral research fellow // human genomics and immune response variation // i like horror books, cats, and the real housewives

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Haley Randolph @herandolph.bsky.social · Dec 6

very excited to share the last chunk of my PhD work, now available on @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social! in this work, we explore how cis-regulatory variation and gene-environment (GxE) interactions influence immune response diversity directly in a cohort of hospitalized COVID-19 patients 1/n

bioRxiv Genomics @biorxiv-genomic.bsky.social · Dec 5

Widespread gene-environment interactions shape the immune response to SARS-CoV-2 infection in hospitalized COVID-19 patients https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.12.03.626676v1

Genome-wide association studies performed in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have

www.biorxiv.org

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Ben Strober @bennystrobes.bsky.social · Oct 7

Exciting updates!!
(1) I just opened my lab at Boston Children’s Hospital (Harvard-affiliated)
(2) I’m hiring a postdoc focused on integrating GWAS and functional genomic data. Reach out if you’re interested or connect at ASHG next week!
(3) Learn more at stroberlab.com

Strober Lab

The Strober lab is a computational group at Boston Children's Hospital (a Harvard Medical School affiliated hospital) focused on developing statistical and machine learning tools applied to human gene...

stroberlab.com

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Haky Im @hakyim.bsky.social · Sep 12

I'm hiring a computational biologist interested in complex trait genetics using deep learning approaches. Reach out to me, if interested.

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Dr Abeba Birhane @abeba.bsky.social · Aug 6

yet, I constantly find myself having to explain this in most spaces where important conversations and decisions (regulatory, policy, higher education, etc) take place

Daniel José Older @djolder.bsky.social · Aug 6

If I have to explain to you why it's a bad idea to use a machine that makes shit up 15-80% of the time AND destroys the environment AND contributes to rising fascism and genocide AND puts brilliant skillful creatives out of work by stealing their work, then we're already speaking different languages

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Graham Coop @gcbias.bsky.social · Aug 2

It is depressing, but all too predictable, how swiftly we’ve gone from the Social Science Genetic Association Consortium offering reassurances about the uses of behavioural polygenic scores to one of their lead authors marketing embryo selection for IQ

Text from an FAQ in Okbay et al 20222:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41588-022-01016-z
a similar same statement is made in an FAQ in 2025: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.05.14.653986v1.supplementary-material
Text reads:
"The results of SSGAC studies have sometimes been used by online platforms, including some companies, to predict individual outcomes. We recognize that returning individual genomic “results” can be a fun way to engage people in research and other projects and to feed or stoke their interest in genomics. But it is important that participants/users understand that these individual results are not meaningful predictions and should be regarded essentially as entertainment. Failure to make this point clear risks sowing confusion and undermining trust in genetics research"

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Jonathan Pritchard @jkpritch.bsky.social · Jul 7

Staff scientist position (computational):

I am looking for a computational scientist to join my genomics lab at Stanford. They should have an outstanding skillset in ML/statistical methods for genomic applications, postdoc experience and a strong publication record.
#sciencejobs

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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez @aoc.bsky.social · Jun 17

ICE just arrested Brad Lander, the NYC Comptroller and one of the leading candidates for Mayor, without grounds.

He was conducting routine immigration court work, escorting individuals from hearings.

He asked ICE for their warrant - well within his legal rights.

This is political intimidation.

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · Jun 17

Whoa! NYC mayoral candidate and current city Comptroller Brad Lander seemingly arrested at the NYC immigration court while attending to escort someone attending their hearing.

Gwynne Hogan @gwynnefitz.bsky.social · Jun 17

Lander just got detained by federal agents as he tried to escort a man out of the courtroom. Lander was taken in an elevator with masked agents, along with one member of his NYPD security detail.

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Dr Abeba Birhane @abeba.bsky.social · Jun 16

what the actual fuck

As Nucleus acquires more customers, Asparouhov says the company’s insights will get even better, the results on a Nucleus dashboard automatically updating with new information. “At some point maybe there will be, like, phenotypic reporting, where you tell Nucleus, I have blue eyes, I have brown hair, maybe you come in for an IQ test, etc., and that actually improves the model,” he said.

When asked if linking things like blue eyes, blonde hair, and IQ could be interpreted as eugenics, he clarified with a laugh, “I said brown hair!”

Then, miming the same hand motion that Elon Musk performed following President Trump’s inauguration, Asparouhov joked, “My heart goes out to you.”

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Yoav Gilad @ygilad.bsky.social · Jun 10

If we want to connect genetic variation to disease, we need to move beyond baseline conditions. Our study shows that dynamic, context-specific regulation holds the key to understanding many unexplained GWAS signals. The preprint again:

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Disease-associated loci share properties with response eQTLs under common environmental exposures

Many of the genetic loci associated with disease are expected to have context-dependent regulatory effects that are underrepresented in the transcriptomes of healthy, steady-state adult tissues. To un...

www.biorxiv.org

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Toño Urban Aragon @jaurban2204.bsky.social · Jun 9

Delighted to share that one of my major PhD projects has been published today in Current Biology.

In this paper, we look into the genetic population structure and demographic histories of two populations in Sri Lanka: the Sinhalese and Adivasi [1/n]. www.cell.com/current-biol...

Population histories of the Indigenous Adivasi and Sinhalese from Sri Lanka using whole genomes

Sri Lanka is home to diverse ethnic groups with different genetic histories. Urban Aragon et al. find that despite close genetic affinities, Indigenous Adivasi have more hunter-gatherer ancestry and l...

www.cell.com

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Molly Przeworski @mollyprz.bsky.social · May 23

Now published in PNAS: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

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Brent Richards @brent-richards.bsky.social · May 22

I didn't have much hope that we'd find genetic determinants of long-COVID, but after years of work, Vilma Aho, Tomoko Nakanisha, Hugo Zeberg and Hanna Ollila made it happen! (Among a few others :-))

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Genome-wide association study of long COVID - Nature Genetics

A genome-wide study by the Long COVID Host Genetics Initiative identifies an association between the FOXP4 locus and long COVID, implicating altered lung function in its pathophysiology.

www.nature.com

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Colin Carlson @colincarlson.bsky.social · May 19

“Should AI be allowed to review papers or grant proposals” always reveals a thing I think people don’t understand about algorithmic bias 🧵

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Haley Randolph @herandolph.bsky.social · May 17

PIs who think their research isn’t political: yes it is, it always is

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The American Journal of Human Genetics @ajhgnews.bsky.social · May 12

📣Online now from Fu et al!
📄Role of X chromosome and dosage-compensation mechanisms in complex trait genetics

Role of X chromosome and dosage-compensation mechanisms in complex trait genetics

We show that the X chromosome, understudied in genome-wide association studies, contributes to complex traits in a manner shaped by dosage-compensation mechanisms. We find near-full X inactivation bal...

www.cell.com

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Yoav Gilad @ygilad.bsky.social · May 5

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Disease-associated loci share properties with response eQTLs under common environmental exposures

www.biorxiv.org

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Nature @nature.com · Apr 24

Scientists must push back against the threat of rising white nationalism and the dangerous and pseudoscientific ideas of eugenics

https://go.nature.com/4jGqiUc

Eugenics is on the rise again: human geneticists must take a stand

Scientists must push back against the threat of rising white nationalism and the dangerous and pseudoscientific ideas of eugenics.

go.nature.com

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Sarah J. Jackson @sjjphd.bsky.social · Mar 19

They are coming for every university, if you think you’re safe because it hasn’t been yours yet I don’t know what to tell you. Join AAUP, refuse to comply, organize your colleagues

Trump administration freezes $175 million in federal funding to Penn

According to a White House tweet, Wednesday's decision is a result of Penn's

www.thedp.com

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Waggoner Lab @labwaggoner.bsky.social · Mar 19

Biomedical value of studying human diversity spotlighted by 5-nation asian Immune Diversity Atlas (AIDA) of circulating immune cells from healthy donors
www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
@cellcellpress.bsky.social @jayshin.bsky.social

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Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · Mar 17

The @nytimes.com just discovered parallel computing.

NY Times graphic.

Conventional computer: One task starts after another completes

AI computing: tasks are divided into small parts and happen at the same time.

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Yoav Gilad @ygilad.bsky.social · Feb 26

How do you study gene-environment (GxE) interactions in humans? Well, there's probably no way to avoid studying each exposure individually, but what about the cellular context? If you choose directed differentiation, you have to study GxE one cell type at a time. If you choose an organoid system -

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Haley Randolph @herandolph.bsky.social · Jan 31

for Sasha & his family www.gofundme.com/f/rememberin...

Donate to Remembering Sasha Kirsanov: In Our Hearts Always, organized by Michelle Dumler-McKeever

In memory of Alexandr “Sasha” Kirsanov. We will keep you in o… Michelle Dumler-McKeever needs your support for Remembering Sasha Kirsanov: In Our Hearts Always

www.gofundme.com

Haley Randolph @herandolph.bsky.social · Jan 31

absolutely devastating — i feel incredibly grateful to have had you as a coach and you will be missed dearly, Sasha 🤍

CoastTV @coasttv.bsky.social · Jan 30

In a letter from University of Delaware President, Dennis Assanis, a former UD Figure Skating Club coach, Alexandr ‘Sasha’ Kirsanov was among those who died in the plane crash over Washington D.C. Wednesday night.

Former University of Delaware figure skating club coach among dead in plane crash over Washington D.C.

NEWARK, Del. - In a letter from University of Delaware President, Dennis Assanis, a former UD Figure Skating Club coach, Alexandr ‘Sasha’ Kirsanov was among those who died in the

www.coasttv.com

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Neil Shubin @neilshubin.bsky.social · Jan 28

Here’s what’s what at UChicago. Not good.

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Joe Thornton @joethorntonlab.bsky.social · Jan 28

The sword has now been brandished over civil society, including scientists, universities, and other NGOs. Who, including university presidents, will have any backbone in defending their jnstitutions’ missions? Or will they take on the Zuckerberg/ Bezos pose? www.nytimes.com/live/2025/01...

Trump Administration Live Updates: White House Orders Federal Grants Pause (Gift Article)

www.nytimes.com

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Jonathan Pritchard @jkpritch.bsky.social · Jan 24

Very excited about this new work from our lab! Explainer thread coming soon
@minetoota.bsky.social

bioRxiv Genetics @biorxiv-genetic.bsky.social · Jan 24

Causal modeling of gene effects from regulators to programs to traits: integration of genetic associations and Perturb-seq https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.01.22.634424v1

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