Most people doing genomics not actually doing genomics

CAMBRIDGE.  Most people who claim to be genomics researchers are not actually doing genomics at all, and instead are just sequencing things and calling it genomics, it has been found.

“Genomics is the study of genomes” said Barney Ewingsworth III from the Excellent Biology Institute (EBI) “and genomes are incredibly complex, with repeat regions, duplications, deletions, selective sweeps, gene deserts, 3D structure, mobile elements etc etc.  … and it turns out that many people who say they are genomic researchers are actually just people with a few quid who paid to sequence a stupid genome, like the lesser spotted tree trout.  Then they assemble it (badly), submit it to GenBank still full of adapters, and bloody PhiX, and get a paper in BMC I couldn’t get this into Genome Research.  It’s a scandal – they give genomics a bad name!” he finished, and then went back to his day job as Mayor of London.

In an earlier survey, it was found that many scientists are sequencing things because they can’t think of anything else to do.  Now it would appear that those very same scientists have no idea how to handle the data, and are poisoning the well with hundreds of crappy genomes.

Genomics researcher and rock star Neil Kardashian has a potential solution: “Come the revolution, people who submit crap genomes will be first against the wall.  Seriously – if you had anything to do with the Carp genome, which is full of Illumina adapters; or you published a bacterial genome with a mysterious PhiX contig, you probably deserve to be shot.  Get out of science, you’ve no place here!”

TheScienceWeb share Neil and Barney’s frustrations!