Analyze the DNA, quick, break apart the pattern

Call the maven of Deoxyribonucleic Acid

Crack the genome of a bacterial pathogen

With meta-genomics, let’s take a moment, it’s Mark Pallen

Mark Pallen, there’s even a Prevotella genus named after him

Palleniella, the model of bacterial nomenclature

Mark Pallen, known for makin’ science and art happen

After I got my start rappin’, I owe the rest to Mark Pallen

You gotta give it to the visionary of Birmingham

There’s a lot to cover when the topic’s concerning him

With collaborations from Warwick to Swansea to Cardiff

To encyclopedia entries on the legacy of Charles Darwin

Maybe I’m partial, and only represent one side

But my favorite project was his Evolution Rough Guide

At the Charles Darwin Bicentennial, 2009

He suggested I complement it with a new style of rhyme

Mark was like: “Can you rap about Darwin’s key thesis?”

I was like, “Even if breeders in ancient Egypt couldn’t see it

And had no idea how to re-work the features 

Of a species of sheep, or increase the sweetness

Of their peaches every season, if they chose to breed it

Or to seed it or to feed it, or to weed it out and delete it

‘Cause they didn’t see it as needed, whether the preferences in question

Were for bigger chicken breasts or whippets with a thinner midsection

Or if it was just an inner predilection to pick the best in

Any mixed collection… that’s Artificial Selection”

Mark suggested I call my record the “Rap Guide”, that’s right

His stroke of insight made a career out of a pastime

Rap Guide to Evolution, he made a few corrections

A few lyrical variants perished, that’s natural selection

I was already pretty good at flipping a lyrical track

But Mark was the one who dubbed it “peer-reviewed rap”

And I was off to the races, young and hungry for greatness

I produced eight Rap Guides for science communication

Mark interrupted my plans at the time, and corrected them

‘Cause Mark loves to interrupt, take it from Brendan Wren

He interrupted more than one career in the process

Take it from Science Communication Professor Alice Roberts

Talent curation, Mark is a marksman who hit some targets

Evolution, any friend of his becomes a Friend of Darwin

That’s why a career in science is never a lonely road

Mentored PhDs beginning with Martin Antonio

Adventures with African researchers, swelling the ranks and

The Medical Research Council Unit in Gambia thanks him

And so does the entire profession of microbial genomics

The CLIMB BIG DATA site had its original moments

In Mark’s frustration with bureaucratic overloading

He said “Okay, let’s build a website, Nick Loman”

We’ll give you a post and call it… whatever works

Something like “Web Development Resource Officer”

Mark is a weaver, from Dominic with his Jamaican “I am I”

To the microbiology institute that became known as IMI

Mark is a builder, but hey, all of his fights were just

Changing scientific institutions with pure righteousness

And when the reaction from the funding body was not a hundred

Mark would argue persuasively “I don’t care, you’ve gotta fund it”

He’s got his own style, but the legacy’s gotta stand

His worst mistake was doing presentations in Comic Sans

Which is not so bad, with the Eye of Sauron watching, it sees him

But it can’t stop the Hobbits’ quest, with Mark and Scott Beatson

Lounging around with John Heath and exchanging mad ideas

Who knowns, maybe Mark’s next project won’t even have bacteria

What’s the next floundering science that Mark will save?

“Retirement is amazing”, John said from beyond the grave

So whatever is next up, I’m ready for it, here we go

Amer AL-Jawabreh can host him again in Jericho

The point is, whatever you do next, Mark, you have options

We all know, Myasthenia Gravis can’t stop him

From the Rough Guide to the Rap Guide with the fly instrumentals

Mark is the Guide of the Guides, every Guide is Essential

Whatever the guide is to, Mark’s role will be central

As long as he takes to his desk and sharpens his pencil

Analyze the DNA, quick, break apart the pattern

Call the maven of Deoxyribonucleic Acid

Crack the genome of a bacterial pathogen

With meta-genomics, let’s take a moment, it’s Mark Pallen

Mark Pallen, there’s even a Prevotella genus named after him

Palleniella, the model of bacterial nomenclature

Mark Pallen, known for makin’ science and art happen

After I got my start rappin’, I owe the rest to Mark Pallen