Chatomics! — The Bioinformatics Newsletter
Why Subscribe?✅ Curated by Tommy Tang, a Director of Bioinformatics with 100K+ followers across LinkedIn, X, and YouTube✅ No fluff—just deep insights and working code examples✅ Trusted by grad students, postdocs, and biotech professionals✅ 100% free
Claude invented my gene IDs
Hello Bioinformatics lovers, Tommy here. Last week, I asked Claude Code to highlight specific genes on a volcano plot. Simple request. The data matrix used Ensembl identifiers — those ENSG + 11-digit codes that map to specific human genes. I gave Claude Code the gene symbols I wanted highlighted. Instead of telling me it couldn't map the symbols to Ensembl IDs, it fabricated identifiers that looked structurally valid. No error message. No warning. Just confidently invented gene IDs. Claude...
Why I make 12 when I only need 10
Hello Bioinformatics lovers, Tommy here. I was trained in a wet lab. And we all had the same experience: When your PI says "make 10 RT-qPCR reactions," you make 12. You remember the bad experience Not because anyone told you to. Because you've lost volume to pipetting one too many times. You just know. That instinct — the automatic adjustment born from past failures — is what separates a beginner from a practiced scientist. And bioinformatics has its own version of it. The knowledge nobody...
I watched AI type my commands faster than me
Hello Bioinformatics lovers, Tommy here. AI is taking over the world. It is the same with Bioinformatics. I watched Claude Code parse my VCF files, run comparisons, generate plots, and spit out insights — all faster than I could type the commands myself. Commands I learned through years of hard experience. Typed in seconds. It was exciting. And honestly? A little unsettling. After two months of using Claude Code for bioinformatics work, here's what I've learned: AI is remarkably good at the...
The markdown file that fixed my Claude problems
Hello Bioinformatics lovers, Tommy here. You know that moment when Claude suggests using FPKM for your RNA-seq analysis? Or writes a Snakemake rule with the wrong parameter syntax and you spend 20 minutes debugging it? I kept hitting this. Claude would generate code that looked right but failed on basic bioinformatics conventions. Wrong tool versions. Outdated best practices. Parameters that hadn’t been recommended since 2015. Then I discovered Claude Skills, and everything changed. Claude...
Reproducible Bioinformatics in the era of AI
Hey Bioinformatics lovers, Tommy here. Today's newsletter will be short. I am in Singapore for the 40th AAAI conference. I visited the Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS) and gave a talk about reproducible bioinformatics. Read the slides here I added a couple of tips using AI tools such as Claude Code to write documentation and revamp R/Pthon packages. I hope you find it helpful. I met Tim Stuart (author of Signac. if you work on single-cell ATAC, check it out!). He is a faculty member now in...
Your Claude Code problem isn't the AI
Hello Bioinformatics lovers, The AI coding assistant toolkit is advancing fast. You might have heard about github copilot or Claude Code. I urge you to try those new things and learn what they can and can not do. I built this daily quote app with Claude Code in 30 mins and deployed it on Vercel https://daily-quote-app-mu.vercel.app/ learn new skills I also built this Free interactive R and Python learning app during the holidays https://chatomics-labs.base44.app/ Keep an open mind! It was...
Your omics predictor is probably lying to you
Hello Bioinformatics lovers, How is your first week of 2026? We are all busy with setting goals, but the real power is in executing them daily (e.g., I have been posting on LinkedIn for 693 consecutive days). The math is simple: you hit your daily goal --> you will hit your weekly goal --> you will hit your monthly goal --> you will hit your yearly goal --> you will hit your 5-year goal --> you will hit your 10-year goal. Life has to be intentional. If you have an idea where you want to be in...
Embrace AI coding tool to empower your bioinformatics journey
Hello Bioinformatics lovers, Happy New Year! Tommy here. Two rounds of sickness in the last 2 weeks in the whole family. It was pretty tiring taking care of the kids and then I had the symptoms. Wish everyone a healthy 2026! Despite the sickness, I had the opportunity to finish three side projects with the help of AI coding tools: I vibe-coded this website with base44 for you to learn R and Python on the web browser for free. No need for installation, you can even edit the code and run it in...
You're overthinking your bioinformatics tools
Hello Bioinformatics lovers, Merry Christmas if you celebrate it. If not, Happy New Year! (Most of you should celebrate it). Today, let's talk about choosing bioinformatics tools. Pick a tool and run You're comparing DESeq2 benchmarks for the third week in a row. Your data is still sitting there, untouched. Sound familiar? Here's the uncomfortable truth: You don't need the perfect tool. You just need to start. The real cost of tool paralysis I've watched researchers spend more time debating...
What's your single goal for 2026
Hey bioinformatics lovers, You can't reach a destination without a map. This week's newsletter arrives late because norovirus took down my entire family—kids with stomach bugs, everyone exhausted. But between taking care of kids sessions, I kept thinking: we're closing out 2025. How did that happen? More importantly, what did you actually accomplish this year? Here's the uncomfortable truth: Most of us will hit January 1st with vague intentions ("learn more deep learning," "get better at...
Why Subscribe?✅ Curated by Tommy Tang, a Director of Bioinformatics with 100K+ followers across LinkedIn, X, and YouTube✅ No fluff—just deep insights and working code examples✅ Trusted by grad students, postdocs, and biotech professionals✅ 100% free