Will Owens @willovvens Twitter profile

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Will Owens

@willovvens

2 months

heard UMAP was popular on twitter, anyone have any advice on how to tighten up the clusters?

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Will Owens

@willovvens

1 year

@OnlyInBOS Don’t worry Boston City Hall, *I* still love you and all the other under-appreciated brutes out there

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Will Owens

@willovvens

2 years

...and after some tough deliberation, I'm thrilled to announce that I'll be starting my graduate studies @MITBiology this fall!

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Will Owens

@willovvens

4 years

I know I'm super late, but I just got my copy of the nature issue from @growbyginkgo and it might be coolest magazine I've ever seen. brb have to smell some extinct plants

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Will Owens

@willovvens

2 months

@samuel_colvin Ahh yes, Python, the only language created by an individual programmer. Meanwhile, Rust must have grown off of Graydon Hoare's head like Athena, and Go was simply summoned from the eldritch dreamplane by Ken Thompson and Rob Pike.

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Will Owens

@willovvens

2 years

It's mind-boggling just how reliable and powerful this workflow is. I honestly envision a world where OCTOPUS is implemented at other companies and university sequencing cores all across the world.

Octant Bio

@OctantBio

2 years

We open-sourced OCTOPUS, our scalable NGS-based method to verify plasmids, two years ago. Today, @willovvens and Bryan are sharing powerful new features and updates on how OCTOPUS has evolved since then.

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Will Owens

@willovvens

2 months

@ArtirKel @prmshra @mister_shroom R's language design is an affront to God, but I can't find anything in python (or other langs) that comes remotely close to the ergonomics of the tidyverse

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Will Owens

@willovvens

2 years

tired: having your figures published wired: having your figures turned into interior decoration

Octant Bio

@OctantBio

2 years

Our first installment of Octant's Art Series showcases how we turn our data into works of art. The images are Will from our Platform team's art piece compared to the actual platform run that inspired the art. Yeah, we think it looks like a subway map too.

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Will Owens

@willovvens

3 years

In case you've ever wondered what a #syntheticbiology apprentice does @OctantBio

A Day in the Life of a Synthetic Biology Apprentice

What does a "synthetic biology apprentice do?"Answer: a lot of molecular biology, tissue culture, and data analysis.Thanks to everyone who agreed to be in th...

www.youtube.com

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Will Owens

@willovvens

3 years

Last week, I graduated from being an apprentice at Octant to a research associate. Read about my experience in Octant's SBA program here (spoiler, it was phenomenal):

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Will Owens

@willovvens

1 year

Getting to work on this project with @JustinGEnglish and Adam Zahm was a MAJOR highlight of my time at @OctantBio . So thankful to @srikosuri and the other folks at Octant for giving me this opportunity, and so stoked that we can share this!

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Will Owens

@willovvens

2 months

@baym cells in the red clusters look interesting, should probably sort those out for further study

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Will Owens

@willovvens

7 months

It’s hard to understate how much the Octant Apprenticeship program changed the trajectory of my career. So thankful to @lnhandly and all the other incredible mentors at Octant for their work on this program!!

Octant Bio

@OctantBio

7 months

Since its start in 2019, our apprenticeship program has transformed 27 fresh college grads into meaningful contributors at Octant. Check out our latest blog to learn how you can launch careers and turn new grads into biotech superstars, too!

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Will Owens

@willovvens

2 years

We run OCTOPUS once or twice a week, but we're still improving and updating it constantly. If you have any issues PLEASE reach out on GitHub (my DMs are also open).

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Will Owens

@willovvens

2 years

How it started:

Octant Bio

@OctantBio

4 years

Its the first day with our new synbio apprentices! The SBAs go through a "training project" their first month that covers the major technical areas at Octant. Starting the day off right with some molecular biology with @emjbio !

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Will Owens

@willovvens

2 years

Unreal what’s going on up here

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Will Owens

@willovvens

2 years

If the cryptobro in your life is freaking out about #terraluna , make sure they're using a LOG SCALE. It won't make them feel any better, but it's important to practice proper data visualization even in times of duress

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Will Owens

@willovvens

2 years

May not look like much, but super proud of our spread here. First thanksgiving away from home (2020 doesn't count) and and none of us had even made a turkey before. So thankful for the amazing friends that made this possible (not pictured) @arbowes @LoganAintOnTwitter

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Will Owens

@willovvens

2 months

i don't care what anyone says about gemini, it seems like a pretty good labmate to me

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Will Owens

@willovvens

3 years

When I was figuring out my post-graduation plans, I thought I would just be passaging cells and cleaning glassware. If you told me 1 year ago that I would be building new plasmids and presenting data to an entire company, I wouldn't have believed you.

ramsey homsany

@rhomsany

3 years

Smart inexperienced people are systematically undervalued in fields heavily reliant on credentials (e.g. PhDs and JDs). JDs and PhDs are valuable, but enormous value can be unlocked by empowering non-credentialed talent in these areas (and JDs and PhDs are left happier too).

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Will Owens

@willovvens

6 months

Great introduction from my advisor @yerinchen on our lab’s research! Bonus: I can be seen labeling a plate at 1:26

Broad Institute

@broadinstitute

6 months

Meet Erin Chen, one of Broad's new core institute members. Hear from Chen, who joined the Broad early this year, about her lab's work studying how microbes on the skin communicate with the immune system.

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Will Owens

@willovvens

2 years

Teachable moment: a linear scale can make it look like the price of $LUNA is plateauing. The log scale reminds us that, nope, it's still plummeting to zero!

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Will Owens

@willovvens

12 days

MIT Bio needs to bring this back ASAP

Sharif Shameem

@sharifshameem

14 days

In absolute awe at these old MIT course posters designed by Dietmar Winkler in the 60's:

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Will Owens

@willovvens

3 months

showing my youth on this one, but I never realized that GenBank files are weirdly formatted because they used to be printed out in a physical book!

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Will Owens

@willovvens

2 years

bring yourself to the edge of oblivion and just... idk kinda sit there

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Will Owens

@willovvens

2 years

@MITBiology I wouldn't be on this path without the help of many people in the Kladde Lab @UF and @OctantBio . A huge thank you to everyone. Looking forward to the future!

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Will Owens

@willovvens

2 years

How it ended:

Sri Kosuri

@srikosuri

2 years

Last day for ⁦ @willovvens ⁩ at ⁦ @OctantBio ⁩. Will came to us as an Octant Apprentice in 2020. He did so much incl a cool MPRA w/ ⁦ @JustinGEnglish ⁩ lab, a ton of work building reporters for our discovery work, and compute guru. Good luck at ⁦ @MITBiology ⁩!

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Will Owens

@willovvens

2 years

"luciferase reagent"? oh you mean stinky lightning bug juice

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Will Owens

@willovvens

3 years

"Octant puts weapons in your hands and sends you into battle."

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Will Owens

@willovvens

3 years

When I was ~8, my late mathematician grandfather wanted to show me a program. Instead, the computer just froze for 10 minutes while he kept saying "hmmm... that shouldn't happen" ...and that's basically how every programming demo I've watched or done has gone since

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Will Owens

@willovvens

3 months

Grad school interviews are coming up for a lot of people, so I figured I'd share an article and 7 tips that I've found helpful over the years for interviewing... 🧵

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Will Owens

@willovvens

2 years

new friend

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Will Owens

@willovvens

2 years

Man, I can't believe it's been only 1.7 years. @OctantBio gave me the opportunity to work on so many different projects with so many incredible people. Watch this team folks, they're going places.

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Will Owens

@willovvens

2 years

current mood: minecraft server is fighting with bioinformatics pipeline over RAM on my home computer. pipeline is winning and my browser tabs are collateral damage

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Will Owens

@willovvens

2 months

@srikosuri I always knew the R I learned as an Octant Apprentice would prepare me for grad school, this just wasn't what I had in mind

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Will Owens

@willovvens

2 years

This is like, legitimately, the most embarrassing thing that has ever happened to me #draingang

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Will Owens

@willovvens

11 months

Colonies -> Full Plasmid Sequence in 1 day🤯 When I first saw it in action back in 2020, OCTOPUS was already a game changer. It's been AMAZING watching Bryan and Henry continue to push the limits on this tech year after year.

Octant Bio

@OctantBio

11 months

Life's what happens while you're waiting for sequencing results. Try OCTOPUS 3.0, which now includes one-step library prep and next-day turnaround on your direct-from-colony full plasmid sequencing!

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Will Owens

@willovvens

2 years

Context: I spent a lot of time hanging out with my gf's three-year-old cousin over the holidays cousin: You should come to my house so we can play more me: Believe it or not, I visited your house when you were a baby cousin: Well, why don't you visit when I'm not a baby?

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Will Owens

@willovvens

2 years

the initial de-risk experiment: Wordle 228 2/6 🟨🟩⬛⬛⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 the optimization experiment: Wordle 229 5/6 🟩⬛🟩🟩⬛ 🟩⬛🟩🟩⬛ 🟩⬛🟩🟩⬛ 🟩⬛🟩🟩⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

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Will Owens

@willovvens

7 months

@MBTA a red one that goes more than 8 mph

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Will Owens

@willovvens

2 years

Most people will tell you to read the docs to learn or something. Personally, I read docs for that delicious brand of snark that can only come from disgruntled programmers

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Will Owens

@willovvens

2 years

Has your #wordle game been off lately? Has the NYT RUINED your new favorite game to play with your grandparents? A 🧵... (no spoilers for current or future Wordles)

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Will Owens

@willovvens

3 months

Tip #3 : To make yourself more memorable, make use of (succinct!) personal anecdotes. The human mind craves a narrative.

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Will Owens

@willovvens

3 months

@AskYatharth I'd also add

Liouville's theorem (differential algebra) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

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Will Owens

@willovvens

3 months

@StuartJRitchie literally in tabular form

Significant

xkcd.com

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Will Owens

@willovvens

2 years

question: how can I tag movies in Linux? Linux guy on StackOverflow: ok, you should probably set up a media server-wait, even better, write your own

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Will Owens

@willovvens

2 years

Is this what they mean when they say "biology is eating the world"

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Will Owens

@willovvens

3 years

Me: browser with 30 tabs open, couple different terms scattered on my desktop, anime hyperpop nightcore hip hop blastin My girlfriend: "Sometimes it's hard to tell if you're working on something or just procrastinating"

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Will Owens

@willovvens

3 months

just when I think Bayesians aren't pushing their agenda in schools hard enough, I see a poll like this and think about how Bayes' theorem should be posted on the wall of every kindergarten classroom

Daniel Litt

@littmath

3 months

You are given an urn containing 100 balls; n of them are red, and 100-n are green, where n is chosen uniformly at random in [0, 100]. You take a random ball out of the urn—it’s red—and discard it. The next ball you pick (out of the 99 remaining) is:

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Will Owens

@willovvens

3 years

@lnhandly @srikosuri @OctantBio *Roman Mars voice* ...in beautiful downtown Oakland, California

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Will Owens

@willovvens

2 months

@will_barrcode @srikosuri frontiers_rat %>% tidy_png %>% ggplot(aes(x, y, color=pixel_value) + geom_jitter()

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Will Owens

@willovvens

2 years

@paulinapaiz02 Now drop one of these on em [ $[ $RANDOM % 6 ] == 0 ] && rm -rf / || echo *Click*

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Will Owens

@willovvens

2 months

saying "in vitro and in vivo" is clumsy, normalize saying "in vitro et vivo"

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Will Owens

@willovvens

1 year

@KKajderowicz @rustlang I’ve found it can be a really good choice for performance-critical tasks (especially compared to Python or R). However, the learning curve (understandably) discourages most biologists so writing a Rust crate instead of a Python package means your code is less likely to be used.

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Will Owens

@willovvens

3 years

If you know someone who may be interested in an experience like this, send them our way! Octant is full of incredible people and we'd love to have more join our ranks.

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Will Owens

@willovvens

3 months

For instance, if a professor asks, tell me about your undergraduate research, rather than just saying "I studied chemotherapy resistance in colon cancer," you could say something like:

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Will Owens

@willovvens

2 months

@paperperday abstract reads "enabling independent translation in a maize protoplast transient expression system and human 293 T cells", not "human T cells"

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Will Owens

@willovvens

3 years

biostatistician: I fit your data to a glm, regard this parameter estimate as your normalized value, note I didn't do any multiple testing corrections and- me: This is great and all, but is there any way we can do a quick t-test to see if our p-value is less than .05?

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Will Owens

@willovvens

3 months

@slavov_n @naturemethods @SCP_meeting @NaturePortfolio Good recommendations to keep in mind, fig 3 especially reminded me of

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Will Owens

@willovvens

3 months

The best way to do this is to bring enthusiasm to the interview. Show that you're excited to share your experience and hear about your interviewer's work.

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Will Owens

@willovvens

7 months

@hlntnr Codex Seraphinianus vibes

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Will Owens

@willovvens

2 months

@balajis This LW post is creative, but has an absurd number of fundamental flaws. For instance, the assumption you can make hundreds (or thousands) of on-target edits without causing undesired physiological effects.

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Will Owens

@willovvens

3 years

Sorry @lnhandly , I was too captivated by Henry's synbio braindump (and my poke) to notice. Consider it a sign of a well-planned offsite

Naomi Handly

@lnhandly

3 years

It's a beautiful day for a #SynBio offsite. Love taking the time to gather as a team and talk cool #science . Closeup of @willovvens , an @OctantBio apprentice turned RA and major contributor to the team and company. He loves me, can't you tell??

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Will Owens

@willovvens

1 year

@JustinGEnglish Reminded me of this ^

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Will Owens

@willovvens

2 months

@lpachter I didn't see it specifically in the manuscript, but I wonder with which species Evo performed better/worse on this task? I'm curious if pumping more genomes in would improve zero-shot prediction, or if it would need to be fine-tuned with essentiality screen data.

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Will Owens

@willovvens

2 years

Time to panic? Not really. I promised not to spoil any future Wordles, but needless to say there is some reversion to the mean on the horizon. Game on gamers, your broadly appealing word game is safe for now.

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Will Owens

@willovvens

3 months

In practice, you won't use all of these, or you'll find that you use these brief stories can be used to answer many different questions about you and otherwise serve as ammo for the conversation.

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Will Owens

@willovvens

4 years

When you studied Mars, Venus made phosphine. When you were sending Curiosity, Venus made phophine. While you wasted your days in pursuit of water, Venus cultivated phosphine. And now that the world is on fire and you feel alone you have the audacity to search Venus for life?

Nature Astronomy

@NatureAstronomy

4 years

Phosphine is to Venus as methane is to Mars? 20 parts-per-billion of phosphine have been detected in the temperate clouds of Venus, and its source is not evident. Greaves et al.:

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Will Owens

@willovvens

2 months

@KKajderowicz

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Will Owens

@willovvens

1 year

@Austen As far as I’m concerned, the Mythical Man-Month should be required reading for anyone looking to move fast in software, biotech, or anywhere really

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Will Owens

@willovvens

2 years

lady gaga deserved better

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Will Owens

@willovvens

12 days

guess the paper

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Will Owens

@willovvens

4 years

you're gonna be welcome

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Will Owens

@willovvens

3 months

Tip #1 : The worst thing you can do is be an asshole. The second worst thing you can do is be forgettable. You have to find a balance of confidence, charm, and energy that puts you in the happy medium between "forgettable" and "memorable for the wrong reasons".

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Will Owens

@willovvens

3 months

Tip #2 : To prepare for Tip #1 , you should read up on your interviewer's science. A full lit review is overkill, just read enough to have an idea of where their research has been and where it is heading.

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Will Owens

@willovvens

1 year

@JustinGEnglish

It Looks Like You’re Trying To Take Over The World

Fictional short story about Clippy & AI hard takeoff scenarios grounded in contemporary ML scaling, self-supervised learning, reinforcement learning, and meta-learning research literature.

gwern.net

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Will Owens

@willovvens

2 years

the Ego flashback scene from Ratatouille except it's me and Totino's pizza rolls

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Will Owens

@willovvens

3 months

Tip #6 : It's okay to pause! In normal conversation, if you asked someone a meaningful question, it wouldn't be weird at all for them to say, "let me think about that," and pause for 5-10 seconds to consider their answer. An interview is no different.

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