1. X
  2. Michael Hoffman @michaelhoffman.bsky.social
Log inSign up
Michael Hoffman @michaelhoffman.bsky.social
79.2K posts
Image
user avatar
Michael Hoffman @michaelhoffman.bsky.social
@michaelhoffman
Chair, Comp Bio & Medicine Program, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, @UHN. Assoc Prof, Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto. COI github.com/michaelmhoffma…
Toronto
hoffmanlab.org
Joined May 2008
6,192
Following
22.9K
Followers
RepliesRepliesMediaMedia

New to X?

Sign up now to get your own personalized timeline!

Create account

By signing up, you agree to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, including Cookie Use.

Terms·Privacy·Cookies·Accessibility·Ads Info·© 2026 X Corp.
Don't miss what's happening
People on X are the first to know.
Log inSign up
  • Pinned
    user avatar
    Michael Hoffman @michaelhoffman.bsky.social
    @michaelhoffman
    Aug 12, 2025
    I don't log in here much anymore. Try Bluesky. Also, when I do log in I don't check notifications since they've just been polluted with non-notification stuff I don't want like Elon's latest missive.
    3.5K
  • user avatar
    Michael Hoffman @michaelhoffman.bsky.social
    @michaelhoffman
    Sep 27, 2018
    This is amazing. "Do boring speakers really talk for longer?" Nature (2018) 561:464. nature.com/articles/d4158…
    Image
  • user avatar
    Michael Hoffman @michaelhoffman.bsky.social
    @michaelhoffman
    Sep 17, 2020
    Proud to announce my latest collaboration with @slanketgoals, now available in @biorxivpreprint. Meet Naomi Estelle Olson-Hoffman, a high-impact baby!
    Naomi Estelle Olson-Hoffman in bioRxiv onesie
  • user avatar
    Michael Hoffman @michaelhoffman.bsky.social
    @michaelhoffman
    Jun 22, 2021
    1/Folks with mainly biology training sometimes ask me for resources that can help them learn bioinformatics. This short thread has my recommendations at various levels.
  • user avatar
    Michael Hoffman @michaelhoffman.bsky.social
    @michaelhoffman
    Jul 15, 2020
    I've tried this "artificial intelligence" plant identification app multiple times on the same tree and get a different answer each time. They must be using random forest
  • user avatar
    Michael Hoffman @michaelhoffman.bsky.social
    @michaelhoffman
    Apr 3, 2020
    The @uoftmedicine Dean's Office said I have been approved for promotion to Associate Professor, effective July 1. Thanks to the Hoffman Lab for your scientific work and to all my colleagues for your support. Getting to keep working with such awesome people is a privilege. 🎉🎉🎉
  • user avatar
    Michael Hoffman @michaelhoffman.bsky.social
    @michaelhoffman
    Apr 11, 2022
    Canada finally substantially above the U.S. in COVID hospitalizations per capita for the first time in the pandemic. Well done to the provincial premiers who have made this happen. Also, for restricting testing to make it harder to know how we're doing. ourworldindata.org/grapher/curren…
    Image
  • user avatar
    Michael Hoffman @michaelhoffman.bsky.social
    @michaelhoffman
    Oct 18, 2019
    BV: It's hard to cure humans, but we can cure mice. My lab has cured so many mice. If you are a mouse I advise you to come to my lab. I can give you hope, especially if I've injected you with a tumor a couple of weeks before. #ASHG19
  • user avatar
    Michael Hoffman @michaelhoffman.bsky.social
    @michaelhoffman
    Feb 10, 2018
    Free icons from @reactome for your molecular biology diagrams. HT @raytruant reactome.org/icon-lib
    Image
  • user avatar
    Michael Hoffman @michaelhoffman.bsky.social
    @michaelhoffman
    Dec 1, 2020
    eLife buys big into a "publish, then review" model of publishing: "From July 2021 eLife will only review manuscripts already published as preprints, and will focus its editorial process on producing public reviews to be posted alongside the preprints." elifesciences.org/articles/64910
  • user avatar
    Michael Hoffman @michaelhoffman.bsky.social
    @michaelhoffman
    Apr 12, 2018
    Hey, people writing scientific documents! Here's one easy technique that increases readability dramatically: Shorten your sentences.
  • user avatar
    Michael Hoffman @michaelhoffman.bsky.social
    @michaelhoffman
    Jul 24, 2020
    I have a data joke, which is available on reasonable request.
    user avatar
    Ninad Oak
    @ninadoak
    Jul 24, 2020
    I have a bioinformatics joke, but I need to reformat and clean it up.
  • user avatar
    Michael Hoffman @michaelhoffman.bsky.social
    @michaelhoffman
    Jun 14, 2020
    pdfcomments: turns comments placed directly on a PDF into a text file with a list of comments for pasting into a journal reviewer comments form or emailing to a student after a PhD examination. Hope making it available will help others! github.com/hoffmangroup/p…
    # pdfcomments: extract comments from PDF

pdfcomments extracts comments from a PDF and puts them in a text file.
It is most useful for turning text comments and sticky notes into a list of comments with page numbers.

By default all comments are minor.
You can specify a major comment by adding an asterisk at its beginning.

## Example output

Say you have `test.pdf` and you add the following comments with Acrobat Reader, PDFExpert, or your annotation tool of choice:
- page 1: a text comment, `Text is unclear.`
- page 2: a sticky note, `Sticky note.`
- page 2: a text comment, `* Important comment.`

Run `pdfcomments test.pdf` and it will produce the following output file:

```text
Major comments:

p2: Important comment.

Minor comments:

p1: Text is unclear.
p2: Sticky note.
```
  • user avatar
    Michael Hoffman @michaelhoffman.bsky.social
    @michaelhoffman
    Mar 18, 2020
    To my colleagues, who are highly accomplished geniuses in a variety of fields: now is not the time to start an independent public health or infectious disease modeling practice if you have no expertise in these areas. Please get an expert to check your work. Don't just post.
Advertisement
Advertisement