James Ashmore

Ya Ba Da Ba Do

[James Ashmore @jma1991]

What a fickle voter base we are in this country

[James Ashmore @jma1991]

@campbellclaret @British_Airways Happens all the time to me coming back from Belgium and no reason ever given

[James Ashmore @jma1991]

It was good while it lasted… Goodbye @GitHubCopilot

[Kenny Workman @kenbwork]

This is the year of agents in biology. What you're seeing in code is already unfolding in molecular data analysis, reorganizing workflows in basic research and drug development.

Path forward is focused benchmarking + engineering scoped to specific types of assays. Just as coding agents had to reliably write JavaScript before they could build a browser, biology agents must first learn to accurately process and interpret concrete measurements, (eg. spatial assays), before they can reason about disease, drug mechanism, or patient response.

Our roadmap reflects this progression: procedural skill in analysis -> emergent biological reasoning -> synthesis across data types, translational context, and realistic ambiguity. Towards systems that can eventually support expensive, high-stakes decisions in drug programs or research projects.

Diffusion in biology is slower than software and needs to be thought through carefully. We work directly with the teams building measurement tech (eg. TakaraBio and Vizgen) and package assay-specific agents alongside their kits and instruments. Scientists complete sample preparation, then use these tech-specific agents to move from raw data to answers and figures. Our partners white-label our platform; we do not run a direct biotech sales motion.

Now hiring rapidly across major assay categories, prioritized by which we believe will contribute most to the area under the molecular data curve over the next several years

- Spatial
- Single Cell
- Epigenomics
- Genomics
- Perturbation/Screening
- Diagnostics

Looking for talented scientists and engineers with strong foundations in theory and deep experience in these areas to help us build scientifically accurate agents.

[Peter Kyle @peterkyle]

Did you know that dads who start a new job aren’t eligible for paternity leave unless they’ve been in that job for 6 months?

We’re changing that. This April, we’re introducing measures so that dads and partners can be present with their new child from day one of employment.

Thanks again Mat and Lawrence for coming in to speak to me.

[Nicholas Larus-Stone @nlarusstone]

Tech confidently commenting on biology (and being wrong) remains unbeaten

[Rory McCarthy @roryisconfused]

What the fuck is all this shit about fucking Jimmy Carr as some sort of wise old men who people consult about the deepest problems of our time

[Harry Eccles @Heccles94]

Had everyone forgot that Nigel Farage literally appointed a russian spy as head of Reform UK Wales?

[Arjun Raj @arjunrajlab]

Ran an AI coding workshop with the lab. There was a palpable sense of sadness realizing that skills some of us have spent our lives developing (myself included) are a lot less important now. I see the future 100%, but I do think it's important to acknowledge this sense of loss.

[James Ashmore @jma1991]

@rezoundous This is why I’m sticking with GitHub Copilot for now and using Opus 4.5 when absolutely necessary

[Noa Hoffman @hoffman_noa]

In today’s Sun

[James Ashmore @jma1991]

2025 winter break for me too

[Gergely Orosz @GergelyOrosz]

I cannot stress this enough: if you’ve not had a “damn wow” experience recently with AI agents: it’s probably because you’ve not YOLO’d it on eg a side project.

My two biggest such moments were:

1. ChatGPT release (late 2022)

2. 2025 winter break with side projects

[Gergely Orosz @GergelyOrosz]

I cannot stress this enough: if you’ve not had a “damn wow” experience recently with AI agents: it’s probably because you’ve not YOLO’d it on eg a side project.

My two biggest such moments were:

1. ChatGPT release (late 2022)

2. 2025 winter break with side projects

[Zane Koch @zanehkoch]

How capable are AI agents at bioinformatics research?

I tested 9 LLMs on BixBench: 205 complex tasks from real-world research – the kind I do as a compbio PhD

Results:
- 63% accuracy (3x higher than the SOTA 10 months ago)
- The harness mattered as much as the model

[James Ashmore @jma1991]

@zhuqiyun Wonderful, thanks!

[James Ashmore @jma1991]

@ItsJesseGomez Been stuck with 30 Mb for the last few years… Virigin Media have just installed fibre in our area and I’m counting down the days until our contract with BT runs out early next year

[Kitten 🐈 @kitten_beloved]

"Oh windows computers just do that, just reformat it every year or so"

Do you hear yourself

[James Ashmore @jma1991]

Pro-tip - if your VHDX file in WSL becomes corrupted or unreliable you can open it in 7-zip and copy important data somewhere else as backup