Notes, essays and explainers

Writing

Longer pieces live on Substack; shorter notes and teaching material are posted here.

Cost per reportable genome

25 October 2026 · pathogen genomics · procurement · sequencing

Notes from a technical briefing I gave the Pathogen Genomics Initiative team and the AU Member States on choosing sequencing platforms. The instrument specification is the least useful number in the decision.

A rebuilt site, and why the publication list is now generated

24 October 2026 · open science · meta

The site is now built from structured data rather than hand-edited HTML, and the publication list is regenerated from OpenAlex instead of maintained by hand.