With the new academic year approaching, OPIG flew off to the rural paradise of Wilderhope Manor in sunny Shropshire for their annual group getaway. The goal of this retreat was assumed to be a mixture of team building, ‘conference-esque’ academic immersion, a reconnection with nature in the British countryside, and of course, a bit of fun. It is fair to say OPIG Retreat ‘23 delivered on all accounts, leaving the OPIGlets refreshed and ready for what the next year may bring.
I don’t believe punting comes up much in Biggie Smalls’ raps (we live a pretty shielded life here in Oxford). Nevertheless, here are some photos from our recent OPunting trip, paired, very questionably and entirely for the pun’s sake, with some of the titles of songs he wrote/featured in.
Ever wondered whether opiglet keep their ketchup in the fridge or cupboard. Perhaps you’ve wanted to know how to create nice figure to display lots of information simultaniously. Publication quality figures are easy within R with the ggplot package. We may also learn some good visualisation.
Jamboree (1) a large gathering, as of a political party or the teams of a sporting league, often including a program of speeches and entertainment.; (2) a large gathering of members of the Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts, usually nationwide or international in scope
Oxford Dictionary
This October marks twenty years since our supreme leader, Charlotte Deane, came to Oxford to start the first protein informatics group in this university.
Twenty years is a really long time, and at OPIG we like to celebrate things in style. From the beginning, it was clear that we would be doing what we know best: get together, consume lots of food and drinks, and perhaps talk about science. But, frankly, that’s what we do all the time. This simply wasn’t enough to celebrate two decades of scientific production. So Charlotte entrusted several of us with an ambitious goal: to reach out to our former members, and to ask them to join us, in Oxford, to celebrate two decades of protein informatics. And that’s what we did.
For two months, we painstakingly tracked down every person that has ever been part of our group, and attempted to gather their contact details to invite them to Oxford. Attempted to, for the most part. While LinkedIn gave us some early victories, some alumni had managed to cover their tracks very well, including one person we could only found after tracking down their three previous jobs. Nevertheless, after much digging, we managed to find updated contact details for every person that has ever passed by our lab, and nearly thirty of these former alumni (almost 50% of them!) made their way to Oxford on October 8th* to hold the first OPIG Jamboree.
With many tours (Farcical and otherwise) restricted due to Covid, 2022 celebrated the resurrection of OPIG’s glorious Tour de Farce. This year’s route was nine miles and an unusually conservative four pubs.
After listening to Lewis’ conference prep talk, we left the Statistics Department around 5pm for a leisurely trundle through Mesopotamia, The Oxford Psychopath, Old Marston and out to our first rest stop, The Victoria.
Finally, after two years of social distancing, we were able to continue the tradition of OPIGtreat – a 2-3 day escape to the countryside for a packed schedule of talks and fun.
This year, the lovely YHA Wilderhope Manor in Shropshire was chosen by Lewis, our trip organizer. With a hostel in the middle of nowhere, with no phone signal, this trip promised to be an exciting get-away from our plugged-in lives at the university.
Today’s group meeting was the GOAT (Greatest Of ALL Time) as we were honoured with the presence of Daisy (professional internet goat) from Cronkshaw Farm.
One year on and the latest variant of SARS-CoV-2 spreading like wildfire, and OPIG found itself meeting virtually, again…
OPIGmas 2021 Festivities
Perhaps the highlight of OPIGmas is the Secret Santa gift exchange (although some might beg to differ: in meat-space “beer” pong might compete for pole position). Alas, no crypto-currency was gifted this year…
Just like any other bioinformatician, I spend a lot of time every day in front of my computer and I am under no false pretence that my posture is anywhere near ideal. To counteract this, I have taken up the flying trapeze for some exercise and since classes run at ten participants, we decided that some other OPIGlets should try their hands at the circus arts on a fine summer evening!