2025-10-27 – Weekly Biology News : Remote roles rising in biology

Last week, discussions in our biology community covered a range of intriguing topics. Members engaged in debates about the enticing role of Head of Structural Biology, explored practical RNA-seq pipelines, and shared insights on low-cost eDNA filtration methods at sea. The conversation also touched on the increasing trend of remote roles in biology, challenges in dose selection during Phase II trials, and the nuances of enzyme microenvironments affecting pKa values.


This Week’s Hot Topics

Would You Take This Job? — Head of Structural Biology
The community is weighing in on the pros and cons of taking on a leadership role in structural biology. If you’re considering a career move, this thread offers valuable perspectives.
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Simple RNA-seq pipeline you can run today
For those diving into RNA sequencing, a straightforward pipeline has been shared that you can implement without complex setups. Perfect for getting started quickly.
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2025-10-10 – Weekly Biology Jobs: Remote roles on the rise in biology
There’s a noticeable uptick in remote biology jobs. This thread discusses what this means for the field and how it could affect your career path.
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Best low-cost eDNA filtration setups at sea
Marine biologists are sharing their experiences with cost-effective eDNA filtration setups. A must-read if you’re heading out to sea.
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2025-10-24 – Weekly Biology Jobs: Explore remote opportunities now
Explore the latest remote job opportunities in biology. This thread is a great resource for anyone looking to make a career shift.
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Do enzyme microenvironments warp pKa this much
An intriguing discussion on how enzyme environments might significantly alter pKa values. Ideal for those interested in biochemical nuances.
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Dose selection headaches in Phase II
Researchers are sharing their challenges with dose selection in Phase II trials. Insights here could be crucial for your next project.
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FAQ/Guidelines
For newcomers or those needing a refresher, here’s where you find answers to common questions and community guidelines.
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Admin Guide: Getting Started
A useful guide for admins to navigate and manage the forum more effectively.
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Thinking About a Career in Biology? Here’s What You Need to Know!
Considering a career in biology? This thread provides essential insights and advice for aspiring biologists.
Read more here


Looking forward to another week of engaging discussions. Feel free to jump into any thread that catches your interest.

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Remote roles are great, but , moving 50–100 GB FASTQs from home to the cluster is brutal — using nf-core/rnaseq with tiny config files in Git and pushing only count matrices has saved our bandwidth (rnaseq: Introduction). On the low-cost eDNA at sea side, switching to 0.45 µm PES filters on a peristaltic pump cut our costs about 30% and handled turbid water better, though they clog faster if you don’t pre-screen.

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Running RNA-seq remotely, I stopped shipping raw FASTQs and have the cluster pull from SRA/lab storage, triggered by a tiny Nextflow params file in GitHub; I only pull back MultiQC and count matrices. For the ‘low-cost eDNA filtration’ at sea, a 5 µm prefilter before Sterivex cut clogs massively and a $35 USB pump was enough. If big transfers are unavoidable, Globus is steadier than rsync on shaky home Wi-Fi, with rclone --transfers 8 as a decent fallback (https://www.globus.org).

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With “remote roles” becoming normal, I skip rsync: I mount the cluster’s S3/MinIO at home via rclone mount (VFS) so logs and reports open like a local folder and I only download what I need (https://rclone.org/). SSHFS works in a pinch, but the VFS cache can balloon unless you set --vfs-cache-max-age and prune it regularly.

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For the “RNA-seq pipelines” bit, I switched to Globus Personal (https://www.globus.org) to stage 100–200 GB to our cluster — , my home uplink flakes out, but Globus resumes and verifies checksums so I can walk away. Small caveat: you’ll need a campus endpoint or a guest collection set up by IT; if that’s blocked, Aspera CLI is a decent fallback.

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