Ming Tommy Tang
@tommytang.bsky.social
Director of bioinformatics at AstraZeneca. subscribe to my youtube channel @chatomics. On my way to helping 1 million people learn bioinformatics. Educator, Biotech, single cell. Also talks about leadership.
tommytang.bio.link
tommytang.bio.link
It rained last night. The backyard was wet.
My son asked me to play soccer with him.
I hesitated. It's muddy out there. Wet. We'll get dirty.
But he insisted, so I put on my shoes and we went outside.
My son asked me to play soccer with him.
I hesitated. It's muddy out there. Wet. We'll get dirty.
But he insisted, so I put on my shoes and we went outside.
November 29, 2025 at 2:00 AM
It rained last night. The backyard was wet.
My son asked me to play soccer with him.
I hesitated. It's muddy out there. Wet. We'll get dirty.
But he insisted, so I put on my shoes and we went outside.
My son asked me to play soccer with him.
I hesitated. It's muddy out there. Wet. We'll get dirty.
But he insisted, so I put on my shoes and we went outside.
chatomics! Uncover the Secrets of Unix Systems with the Path Variable! Watch Now: www.youtube.com/watch?v=nve...
Understanding the Path Variable in Unix Systems 🤔
How Unix system find the programs you want to run? I will explain the $PATH variable in the UNIX system. #UNIX #PATH You may want to check this video on bre...
www.youtube.com
November 28, 2025 at 3:15 PM
chatomics! Uncover the Secrets of Unix Systems with the Path Variable! Watch Now: www.youtube.com/watch?v=nve...
1/ How to quantify a transgene (e.g., TdTomato, GFP) in scRNAseq data? You need to add the transgene to the reference. See my post divingintogeneticsandgenomics.com/post/cellra... However, it is not always working 👇
November 28, 2025 at 2:45 PM
1/ How to quantify a transgene (e.g., TdTomato, GFP) in scRNAseq data? You need to add the transgene to the reference. See my post divingintogeneticsandgenomics.com/post/cellra... However, it is not always working 👇
1/ Your Bash script failed. No error. No warning. Just silence.
You wasted hours.
Here’s how to stop that forever—with strict mode. 🧵
You wasted hours.
Here’s how to stop that forever—with strict mode. 🧵
November 28, 2025 at 2:15 PM
1/ Your Bash script failed. No error. No warning. Just silence.
You wasted hours.
Here’s how to stop that forever—with strict mode. 🧵
You wasted hours.
Here’s how to stop that forever—with strict mode. 🧵
"The fish died."
My kids ran into the house with the news.
We have a small pond in the backyard. Nine goldfish. The kids loved watching them in the summer.
My first thought: Maybe it froze? Boston winters are brutal.
My kids ran into the house with the news.
We have a small pond in the backyard. Nine goldfish. The kids loved watching them in the summer.
My first thought: Maybe it froze? Boston winters are brutal.
November 28, 2025 at 2:00 AM
"The fish died."
My kids ran into the house with the news.
We have a small pond in the backyard. Nine goldfish. The kids loved watching them in the summer.
My first thought: Maybe it froze? Boston winters are brutal.
My kids ran into the house with the news.
We have a small pond in the backyard. Nine goldfish. The kids loved watching them in the summer.
My first thought: Maybe it froze? Boston winters are brutal.
November 27, 2025 at 3:15 PM
1/ One of the biggest hidden killer in bioinformatics?
Not a bug. Not a crash.
It’s the 0-based vs 1-based coordinate trap.
A thread 🧵
Not a bug. Not a crash.
It’s the 0-based vs 1-based coordinate trap.
A thread 🧵
November 27, 2025 at 2:45 PM
1/ One of the biggest hidden killer in bioinformatics?
Not a bug. Not a crash.
It’s the 0-based vs 1-based coordinate trap.
A thread 🧵
Not a bug. Not a crash.
It’s the 0-based vs 1-based coordinate trap.
A thread 🧵
1/ Public datasets feel like a goldmine.
But look closer—there are landmines hidden inside.
Especially for single-cell RNA-seq.
A thread 🧵
But look closer—there are landmines hidden inside.
Especially for single-cell RNA-seq.
A thread 🧵
November 27, 2025 at 2:15 PM
1/ Public datasets feel like a goldmine.
But look closer—there are landmines hidden inside.
Especially for single-cell RNA-seq.
A thread 🧵
But look closer—there are landmines hidden inside.
Especially for single-cell RNA-seq.
A thread 🧵
"Dad, I did it."
Wife at a meeting. My turn with the kids.
I was washing dishes when Anna walked up, holding broken earphone pieces.
"Dad, this is broken."
"Who did it?"
"Not me. It was Noah and Phoebe."
I smiled. "Are you sure?"
"Yes."
Wife at a meeting. My turn with the kids.
I was washing dishes when Anna walked up, holding broken earphone pieces.
"Dad, this is broken."
"Who did it?"
"Not me. It was Noah and Phoebe."
I smiled. "Are you sure?"
"Yes."
November 27, 2025 at 2:00 AM
"Dad, I did it."
Wife at a meeting. My turn with the kids.
I was washing dishes when Anna walked up, holding broken earphone pieces.
"Dad, this is broken."
"Who did it?"
"Not me. It was Noah and Phoebe."
I smiled. "Are you sure?"
"Yes."
Wife at a meeting. My turn with the kids.
I was washing dishes when Anna walked up, holding broken earphone pieces.
"Dad, this is broken."
"Who did it?"
"Not me. It was Noah and Phoebe."
I smiled. "Are you sure?"
"Yes."
1/ You’ve got genomic coordinates.
You need FASTA sequences.
But your results are off.
Here’s how to extract exact sequences using bedtools—without losing your mind. 🧵
You need FASTA sequences.
But your results are off.
Here’s how to extract exact sequences using bedtools—without losing your mind. 🧵
November 26, 2025 at 3:15 PM
1/ You’ve got genomic coordinates.
You need FASTA sequences.
But your results are off.
Here’s how to extract exact sequences using bedtools—without losing your mind. 🧵
You need FASTA sequences.
But your results are off.
Here’s how to extract exact sequences using bedtools—without losing your mind. 🧵
1/ Your statistician just told you they found 1000 gene fusions per sample.
You know something's wrong immediately.
They have no idea.
This is why bioinformatics requires more than statistical expertise.
You know something's wrong immediately.
They have no idea.
This is why bioinformatics requires more than statistical expertise.
November 26, 2025 at 2:45 PM
1/ Your statistician just told you they found 1000 gene fusions per sample.
You know something's wrong immediately.
They have no idea.
This is why bioinformatics requires more than statistical expertise.
You know something's wrong immediately.
They have no idea.
This is why bioinformatics requires more than statistical expertise.
1/ Stop before you run that experiment.
Ask yourself:
Could public data already answer my question?
Because there’s a goldmine out there. 🧵
Ask yourself:
Could public data already answer my question?
Because there’s a goldmine out there. 🧵
November 26, 2025 at 2:15 PM
1/ Stop before you run that experiment.
Ask yourself:
Could public data already answer my question?
Because there’s a goldmine out there. 🧵
Ask yourself:
Could public data already answer my question?
Because there’s a goldmine out there. 🧵
Sometimes the best leadership advice comes from the backseat.
Yesterday, drizzling rain. Daycare pickup.
The teacher opened the door with my 3-year-old—tears on her face, wet pants. She'd had an accident.
Too absorbed in play, drank too much water, didn't make it in time.
Yesterday, drizzling rain. Daycare pickup.
The teacher opened the door with my 3-year-old—tears on her face, wet pants. She'd had an accident.
Too absorbed in play, drank too much water, didn't make it in time.
November 26, 2025 at 2:00 AM
Sometimes the best leadership advice comes from the backseat.
Yesterday, drizzling rain. Daycare pickup.
The teacher opened the door with my 3-year-old—tears on her face, wet pants. She'd had an accident.
Too absorbed in play, drank too much water, didn't make it in time.
Yesterday, drizzling rain. Daycare pickup.
The teacher opened the door with my 3-year-old—tears on her face, wet pants. She'd had an accident.
Too absorbed in play, drank too much water, didn't make it in time.
Current landscape of plasma proteomics from technical innovations to biological insights and biomarker discovery www.nature.com/articles/s4...
November 25, 2025 at 3:15 PM
Current landscape of plasma proteomics from technical innovations to biological insights and biomarker discovery www.nature.com/articles/s4...
use AI to translate English to regular expression www.autoregex.xyz/
November 25, 2025 at 2:45 PM
use AI to translate English to regular expression www.autoregex.xyz/
1/ When should you use a package vs. solving from scratch in bioinformatics?
I get asked this all the time. Here’s my approach: 👇
I get asked this all the time. Here’s my approach: 👇
November 25, 2025 at 2:15 PM
1/ When should you use a package vs. solving from scratch in bioinformatics?
I get asked this all the time. Here’s my approach: 👇
I get asked this all the time. Here’s my approach: 👇
Morning meeting done. 45-minute commute ahead.
I got in the car, ready for my podcast.
That's when I learn—interviews, ideas, frameworks. Maximize the time.
I hit play.
Nothing.
The Bluetooth wasn't connecting. I tried again. Still nothing.
I got in the car, ready for my podcast.
That's when I learn—interviews, ideas, frameworks. Maximize the time.
I hit play.
Nothing.
The Bluetooth wasn't connecting. I tried again. Still nothing.
November 25, 2025 at 2:00 AM
Morning meeting done. 45-minute commute ahead.
I got in the car, ready for my podcast.
That's when I learn—interviews, ideas, frameworks. Maximize the time.
I hit play.
Nothing.
The Bluetooth wasn't connecting. I tried again. Still nothing.
I got in the car, ready for my podcast.
That's when I learn—interviews, ideas, frameworks. Maximize the time.
I hit play.
Nothing.
The Bluetooth wasn't connecting. I tried again. Still nothing.
1/ AI won’t save your bioinformatics pipeline if your metadata is a mess.
You can’t model what you don’t understand. Let’s talk about the real bottleneck in public data: metadata. 🧵
You can’t model what you don’t understand. Let’s talk about the real bottleneck in public data: metadata. 🧵
November 24, 2025 at 2:45 PM
1/ AI won’t save your bioinformatics pipeline if your metadata is a mess.
You can’t model what you don’t understand. Let’s talk about the real bottleneck in public data: metadata. 🧵
You can’t model what you don’t understand. Let’s talk about the real bottleneck in public data: metadata. 🧵
1/ "You can't connect the dots looking forward. Only backward."
How a wet lab student became a bioinformatics lead in a Pharma company
My story. 🧵
How a wet lab student became a bioinformatics lead in a Pharma company
My story. 🧵
November 24, 2025 at 2:15 PM
1/ "You can't connect the dots looking forward. Only backward."
How a wet lab student became a bioinformatics lead in a Pharma company
My story. 🧵
How a wet lab student became a bioinformatics lead in a Pharma company
My story. 🧵
Driving home from my son's soccer game, I saw them.
An elderly couple, walking slowly along the street. Holding each other.
November in Boston—cold, grey, unforgiving.
I recognized them. Our neighbors. The ones who let kids use their backyard play set.
An elderly couple, walking slowly along the street. Holding each other.
November in Boston—cold, grey, unforgiving.
I recognized them. Our neighbors. The ones who let kids use their backyard play set.
November 24, 2025 at 4:12 AM
Driving home from my son's soccer game, I saw them.
An elderly couple, walking slowly along the street. Holding each other.
November in Boston—cold, grey, unforgiving.
I recognized them. Our neighbors. The ones who let kids use their backyard play set.
An elderly couple, walking slowly along the street. Holding each other.
November in Boston—cold, grey, unforgiving.
I recognized them. Our neighbors. The ones who let kids use their backyard play set.
BiocPy: Facilitate Bioconductor Workflows in Python github.com/BiocPy
November 23, 2025 at 3:15 PM
BiocPy: Facilitate Bioconductor Workflows in Python github.com/BiocPy
1/ You love R for bioinformatics. You live in Unix. So why not turn your R scripts into command-line tools? Here’s why you should.
November 23, 2025 at 2:45 PM
1/ You love R for bioinformatics. You live in Unix. So why not turn your R scripts into command-line tools? Here’s why you should.
1/ 12 years ago, I was lost in my first sequencing project.
Naive, overwhelmed—and asking “basic” questions on seqanswers.com. 🧵
Naive, overwhelmed—and asking “basic” questions on seqanswers.com. 🧵
November 23, 2025 at 2:15 PM
1/ 12 years ago, I was lost in my first sequencing project.
Naive, overwhelmed—and asking “basic” questions on seqanswers.com. 🧵
Naive, overwhelmed—and asking “basic” questions on seqanswers.com. 🧵
"Quick!"
8:40 am. School starts at 9:00 am. My kids were eating cereal, talking, laughing—completely oblivious to the time.
"We need to go. Now."
They moved slowly. We rushed to the car. Ten-minute drive to school. We'd make it, barely.
8:40 am. School starts at 9:00 am. My kids were eating cereal, talking, laughing—completely oblivious to the time.
"We need to go. Now."
They moved slowly. We rushed to the car. Ten-minute drive to school. We'd make it, barely.
November 23, 2025 at 2:00 AM
"Quick!"
8:40 am. School starts at 9:00 am. My kids were eating cereal, talking, laughing—completely oblivious to the time.
"We need to go. Now."
They moved slowly. We rushed to the car. Ten-minute drive to school. We'd make it, barely.
8:40 am. School starts at 9:00 am. My kids were eating cereal, talking, laughing—completely oblivious to the time.
"We need to go. Now."
They moved slowly. We rushed to the car. Ten-minute drive to school. We'd make it, barely.
GeneRanger is a web-server application that provides access to processed data about the expression of human genes and proteins across human cell types, tissues, and cell lines from several atlases. generanger.maayanlab.cloud/en/gene/A1C...
November 22, 2025 at 3:15 PM
GeneRanger is a web-server application that provides access to processed data about the expression of human genes and proteins across human cell types, tissues, and cell lines from several atlases. generanger.maayanlab.cloud/en/gene/A1C...