Address of the bookmark: https://bioinfologics.github.io/post/2018/09/17/k-mer-counting-part-i-introduction/

This is indeed the Illumina answer to Apple's Health app, HealthBook, Google HealthFit.

MitoHiFi was first developed to assemble the mitogenomes for a wide range of species in the Darwin Tree of Life Project (DToL)

https://bmcbioinformatics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12859-023-05385-y 

Address of the bookmark: https://github.com/marcelauliano/MitoHiFi

Jr. Research Fellow – 2 posts

Fellowship : Rs. 25000/- + 20% HRA pm for Ist & 2nd year and Rs.28000/- + HRA on 3rd year

Qualification : Ist class Masters Degree in Microbiology/Fishery Microbiology/Bio-technology.

Desirable :

1. CSIR/UGC NET/JRF qualified

2. Excellent analytical skills and computer documentation

3. Prior experience in handling microbial cultures and molecular techniques

Project Assistant – 1 post

Fellowship : Rs.8000/- p.m (consolidated)

Qualification: Masters degree in Microbiology/Biotechnology with skill in Bioinformatics

Desirable: Excellent analytical skills in Bioinformatics and computer documentation

Terms & Conditions:

Registration will begin at 8.30 a.m and will close at 11.00 am
Age limit (as on 29.1.2015): Below 35 years for men and 40 years for women.
Age relaxation of 3 year for OBC candidates and 5 years for SC/ST candidates is permissible.
Candidates are required to submit self-attested copies of all the Certificates in support of their claims regarding age, educational qualifications, scheduled caste/scheduled tribe/OBC etc. The original certificates shall be produced for verification before the interview.
Candidates should bring detailed bio-data (in the enclosed format) affixing a recent passport size photograph.
The selected candidate will be recruited on contract basis under ICAR norms. The post is purely temporary and is co-terminus with the project.
The candidates attending the interview should ensure that they fulfil all the eligibility conditions. No correspondence will be entertained from the candidates for selection/test/appointment.
No TA/DA will be paid to attend the interview.
Canvassing in any form will render the candidate disqualified for the post.
The Director’s decision will be final and binding in all aspects regarding the selection to the post.

Venue: CIFT, Matsyapuri.P.O, Cochin Date of interview: 29.01.2015 Time: 10.00 am

http://www.cift.res.in/uploads/userfiles/file/file/srf%20appn.doc

Project title: “Genome-scale metabolic modeling and simulation of rumen methanogens An in silico attempt to methane attenuation”

Funding Agency: University Grants Commission, New Delhi

Tenure of the project: Two years or till the end of the project period.

Position: Project Assistant (1 no.)

Essential qualification: First class M.Sc. in Bioinformatics/Microbiology/ Biotechnology and other related discipline.

Desirable qualification: Experience in an area relevant (Molecular Systems Engineering) to the project.

Fellowship: Rs. 5000 per month as per the UGC norms.

Upper age limit: 28 years

Date of Venue of interview: 22.01.2015, Department of Bioinformatics, School of Life Sciences, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli -620 024, Tamil Nadu

The above post is purely temporary and will be terminated with three month notice.

The Terms and the condition of the appointment shall be governed according to UGC, Govt. of India. The eligible candidates will bring their original certificates and documents at the time of interview. No TA/DA will be paid for attending the interview.

Dr. P. CHELLAPANDI
UGC-Research Awardee,
Department of Bioinformatics,
School of Life Sciences,
Bharathidasan University,
Tiruchirappalli -620 024, Tamil Nadu

Advertisement: www.bdu.ac.in/adv/PA_UGC_Bioinformatics.pdf

Address of the bookmark: http://www.genome.umd.edu/

Bio-Linux is using an Ubuntu LTS version as its base

The fact that it uses Ubuntu LTS versions for the base is a good thing because it means its users won't have to worry about the support. Ubuntu 14.04 LTS is supported until 2019, so people who are using Bio-Linux shouldn't have a problem.

"An updated Bio-Linux 8 version is now on the website in ISO and OVA versions. As usual, there is no need to download this version if you are an existing user. All updates to existing packages will be applied to your system through the update manager and new packages are all available via apt-get or Synaptic," reads the announcement.

The changelog also states that a problem that was preventing the desktop to not start on VirtualBox has been fixed, the QIIME and Bowtie-Bio tools have been upgraded, the pandaseq paired end assembler has been added, and the beginners tutorial specific to Bio-Linux 8 has been improved.

Check out the official announcement for a complete list of changes and updates. You can download Bio-Linux 8.0.5 right now from Softpedia and give it a spin. It has the Unity desktop and now it runs very well in virtual environments.

Reference @ http://news.softpedia.com/news/Bioinformatics-Distro-Bio-Linux-8-0-5-Now-Available-for-Download-469867.shtml

Before you go down that path, consider this critical biological question:
Are you sequencing human cells—or bacterial contamination?

The Silent Saboteur: Mycoplasma in Cell Cultures

Mycoplasma contamination remains one of the most widespread and underdiagnosed issues in tissue culture work. Studies suggest that 15–35% of cell lines in use may be contaminated, often without visible signs. Unlike other microbial infections, Mycoplasma does not produce cloudiness, odor, or a change in pH. Many researchers won’t detect it unless they specifically test for it.

The consequences, however, are profound. Mycoplasma can significantly alter:

• Host gene expression patterns

• Cell proliferation rates

• Epigenetic profiles and chromatin accessibility

• Cytokine signaling and immune responses

In short, it can skew your results, compromise your biological conclusions, and invalidate weeks or months of research.

A Simple Diagnostic Step: Map Against Mycoplasma Genomes

If you encounter poor alignment rates to the human genome, consider mapping your reads to a Mycoplasma reference genome—or better yet, use a combined human + Mycoplasma reference. There have been cases where over half of all reads, initially assumed to be from human cells, were in fact bacterial in origin. This check is fast, easy, and could save your project.

How Contamination Happens—and Persists

Mycoplasma is small (0.1–0.3 μm), lacks a cell wall, and can pass through standard filters undetected. Common sources include:

• Contaminated reagents (e.g., FBS)

• Infected cell lines obtained from other labs

• Poor aseptic technique or shared equipment

Once present, it spreads quickly between cultures and can persist for months, silently affecting results.

Why Treatment Is Difficult

While antibiotics such as Plasmocin or BM-Cyclin are sometimes used, they often offer only partial resolution and may themselves alter cell behavior. In many cases, the best course of action is to discard the contaminated culture and start with a fresh, verified stock.

Practical Recommendations for Researchers

• Routinely test for Mycoplasma using PCR, qPCR, or fluorescence-based assays

• Incorporate contamination screens into your sequencing QC pipeline

• Use combined reference genomes when mapping ambiguous reads

• Practice strict aseptic technique and monitor all incoming cell lines

• Don’t ignore unexplained data anomalies—they might point to contamination

Closing Thought: Contamination Is a Biological Variable

It’s easy to view poor mapping as a technical issue, but sometimes the problem lies deeper—in the biology itself. Mycoplasma contamination doesn’t just interfere with sequencing; it interferes with science. As a research community, we must treat contamination not as an afterthought, but as a key variable to control.

So next time your reads won’t align, don’t just tune the aligner. Ask if your cells are telling the truth—or if they're hiding something.

Transcription is the process by which the information in DNA is copied into messenger RNA (mRNA) for protein production. Originally created for DNA Interactive ( http://www.dnai.org ). TRANSCRIPT: The Central Dogma of Molecular Biology: "DNA makes RNA makes protein" Here the process begins. Transcription factors assemble at a specific promoter region along the DNA. The length of DNA following the promoter is a gene and it contains the recipe for a protein. A mediator protein complex arrives carrying the enzyme RNA polymerase. It manoeuvres the RNA polymerase into place... inserting it with the help of other factors between the strands of the DNA double helix. The assembled collection of all these factors is referred to as the transcription initiation complex... and now it is ready to be activated. The initiation complex requires contact with activator proteins, which bind to specific sequences of DNA known as enhancer regions. These regions may be thousands of base pairs distant from the start of the gene. Contact between the activator proteins and the initiation-complex releases the copying mechanism. The RNA polymerase unzips a small portion of the DNA helix exposing the bases on each strand. Only one of the strands is copied. It acts as a template for the synthesis of an RNA molecule which is assembled one sub-unit at a time by matching the DNA letter code on the template strand. The sub-units can be seen here entering the enzyme through its intake hole and they are joined together to form the long messenger RNA chain snaking out of the top.