A Dave Wasserman tribute:
This photo was taken May 28, 2024 after my closed defense. This is also when Dave told me that he would undergo major heart surgery a week later. 1/
Had a thought this morning, how do people afford to move to a new destination for post-doc after graduating if they don't have much in savings? (and you don't have rich parents?)
2023 is off to an amazing start! I'm elated to have recieved the NOA via the NIDDK for my F31 proposal to continue my work investigating the influence of developmental exposure to metformin and maternal overnutrition on beta cell identity and function in offspring!
#funded
Hi Everyone! My name is Darian and I am a second year PhD student in the Gannon Lab at Vanderbilt! My research looks at how maternal diet and Metformin intake during gestation influences beta cell function in her offspring!
Today I got asked to not nod my head in a seminar, “because it’s distracting”. The gag is that I can only really pay attention when I’m engaged and nodding along.
I cried tears of joy reading my summary statement for my F31. I may never know who my reviewers were, but thank you for your kind words (and the awesome score).
Preparing for our "Journals" lab meeting in the morning, I came across this article in Science and my blood is boiling. I will not be going to FL AT ALL for any reason.
I got to celebrate years of hard work with my friends and family yesterday! Thanks so much to everyone that showed up to the packed room and tuned in online!
#Phinished
#DrCarroll
My first-author paper in
@AJPEndoMetab
is now live! 1-year-old NHP offspring of dams fed a western style diet hypersecrete insulin in response to glucose but why is that? Give my article a read to find out!
Today, I got to witness the newly minted Dr.
@NakheArya
give an incredible dissertation defense! Arya is an absolute inspiration in the lab: always smiling, always working. She’s off to do great things with Vertex Pharmaceuticals in Boston! I’m going to miss her.
#PhDone
Today’s the day! The sun is shining! Happy to share the Zoom link to my defense to anyone else that is interested in attending! (1 PM CST/ 2 PM EST/ 11 AM PST)
First day in my new post-doc lab. Excited to look more into metabo-epigenetic changes during development and early life. This time adding in microbiota metabolism 🧫
When I met
@TiffanyMRich
, one of the first things that I said was "I want to be like you when I grow up". Today she is Dr. Richardson, and if I graduate with half of the legacy that she has left on Vanderbilt (&MPB), I will be satisfied with my graduate career.
#Cheers
#PhDone
🎉
So excited to share our study recently published in Molecular Metabolism! Great islet community collaboration! Pharmacological blockade of the EP3 prostaglandin E2 receptor in the s...
Today’s the day! I’ll be presenting some data on the effect that maternal western style diet consumption during pregnancy/lactation has on offspring islet function in the 2:15 PM Islet Biology session at
#ADA2022
I am honored to represent Vanderbilt in this way and to learn about how to obtain a faculty position alongside scholars from other universities in the SEC!
Yesterday evening, I had the privilege of being recognized at the
@VUGradSchool
Honors Banquet for 3 achievements (SEC Emerging Scholars, Sesquicentennial Scholarship Exhibition Winner, and the Provost's Pathbreaking Discovery Award)! It's great to see the fruit of my hard work!
@a_wiglesworth
I had your exact mindset 4 years ago! Turns out, I haven’t used any of those “necessary skills” for my dissertation research. The true critical skill that I’ve learned is to have confidence in my ability to learn new things and the courage to fail.
From that pool of 10 presenters, I was selected as 1 of 3 PhD students whose work will be included in a time capsule to be opened in 2074! I’m honored that people find my research interesting, and I can’t wait to see what the world will be like in 50 years.
#V150
Tickled pink to have received an oral presentation award from the Conference for Black Physiologists
#C4BP
#C4BP2024
! Honestly, seeing everyone in the flesh has been the highlight of this trip so far! Thanks to the organizers of
@BlackInPhysio
.
I got to be in the room where it happens with some incredible people. FLARE is an indescribable, tear-jerking experience. I am grateful to
@TheEndoSociety
and ALL of the mentors that have poured into
#FLARE2023
over the past 3 days.
Happy
#FluorescenceFriday
! We love this image from Darian Carroll
@BetaCellBelle
in the
@GannonLab
taken on the CISR's new
@NikonInst
SDC with SoRa! 🤩NHP islet - insulin in green, mitochondria in magenta, & DAPI in blue. Check out the resolution on those insulin granules! 🔬💚
We got a new sign above the door to the lab. Visual signage is a powerful tool for those underrepresented in academia. Your pronouns, your rainbow stickers, your black power fists do not go unnoticed
Making a hop back to the US after an AMAZING week at my first Gordon conference and Seminar in Tuscany. Glad to “bring” back a poster prize from the GRS and an honorable mention from the GRC 🤓
Congratulations
@AtHinton
@phdgprotein86
! He’s already done the work. I walked in the Hinton lab over the summer, and saw the most people of color in a lab that I’ve ever seen…in ANY scientific setting. It was an encouraging sight to behold.
I’ve been saying that I wouldn’t be one to cry during my dissertation defense, but today I started crying during a practice post-doc interview presentation. NO ONE WARNED ME that this all ends fast.
The 🌟 of today's
#VI4Spotlight
is
@BetaCellBelle
!
Darian is a graduate student in the Gannon lab researching "The Influence of Gestational Diet and Metformin Intake on Beta Cell Function in Offspring" 👶
Read more about Darian here:
🔊📽️👇
When I attended ABRCMS in 2018
1) My last name wasn't Carroll
2) I was SO nervous and adamant about going to every graduate school that I was currently applying to so that I could introduce myself
3) I had no clue that I would be in as much love with physiology as I actually am
Had a blast at the 2022 Vanderbilt Program in Developmental Biology Retreat! I’m really grateful for all of the ideas I got from my peers, and especially grateful to ride back home with a poster presentation award!
#VanderbiltPDB
#development
🗣 Vanderbilt colleagues! Add this to your calendar THIS week (and every Thursday this month). A
@VandyBasicScDEI
series on Hidden Disabilities. Hear the voices of people living with these conditions AND the voices of clinicians/scientists that are investigating the topics.
#DEI
Feeling so fortunate to be able to celebrate the 50th anniversary of
@vumcdiabetes
! Featuring interesting talks on the history of the field by
@powersac_TN
, Ron Kahn, and Dr. Griffin Rodgers (
@NIDDKgov
).
My heart goes out to his family and the rest of the physiology community who grieves the loss of a scientist who was larger than life. His memory will always be my example.
Next week, I will be presenting my work in a showcase for
@VUGradSchool
in celebration of Vanderbilt's 150th anniversary! I'm looking forward to hearing about all of the amazing interdisciplinary work going on around campus.
Did you know that maternal diet during gestation can impact cardiometabolic health in offspring into adulthood? I’m researching how gestational western style diet and Metformin intake influences beta cell biology in fetal offspring islets.
#FLARE2023
@TheEndoSociety
@VanderbiltU
University of Minnesota is hosting the Midwest Islet Club Meeting for 2023! We are excited to offer 8 Travel Awards for trainees to attend the meeting and present their research work. Congratulations!
This has been a very hard, grief filled week. I know that he would want me to celebrate my wins this week and that he wouldn’t be surprised. Vanderbilt lost a physiology giant yesterday….May his memory be a blessing.
I got to spend the past 3 days talking about my favorite topics! I’m such a physiology junkie, haha. I even found a few DOHaD people in the process!
#APS2024
#WeArePhysiology
I would have never thought that I was worthy of going to Vanderbilt without Beth Bowman. Thank you so much for the impact that you made on all of us here at Vanderbilt. You deserve all good things.
I waved at someone in the hallway today, and she remarked “You��re always so happy!” to which I replied, “I choose to be.” There’s a lot to worry about these days, but there’s a lot to choose to be joyful about too.
It has been a privilege to attend two talks by
@JimJohnsonSci
here at Vanderbilt! Lots to think about regarding beta cell plasticity, insulin resistant beta cells, and how to incorporate my DEI views in my scientific talks.
#insulin
#VanderbiltCDB
#VanderbiltDRTC
And it felt really good to bring home an oral presentation award! It was my first oral presentation sharing my new metformin study data outside of Vandy.
Looking forward to attending
#ABRCMS2022
this year! An awesome opportunity for me to pay it forward the same way that my favorite grad students (now PhDs) did for me.
As we enter our 21st year,
#ABRCMS2022
is proud to provide minoritized scientists with the opportunity to learn & connect with peers & experts across 12
#STEM
disciplines & from institutions across the country. Join the celebration this November!
I’ve officially seen
@joelbervell
twice this morning, and I’m trying to keep my fan-girl vibes to a minimum. There’s some incredible leaders visiting
@VanderbiltU
for
@ClintonGlobal
this weekend!
Watched
@WillifordKellie
give an AMAZING defense this afternoon! Yet another superstar graduate that is leaving a phenomenal impact on Vanderbilt.
#PhDone
I’m looking forward to exploring a new field as a post-doc in the
@Mari_Byndloss
lab next month! Here’s to understanding the importance of the microbiome in early life!
I thought my lab manager was joking when she said she put my defense flyer everywhere on our floor. Imagine my surprise when I saw my face at 5 times heading to the elevator.
#Almostthere
In my dissertation writing retreat today, the speaker encouraged us to take on the identity of the finisher and we had to change our Zoom names to Future Dr. [insert name]. So I'm going to change my Twitter header for the next month and change.
Grateful for the opportunities that I have walked into this morning. Reminding myself that God qualifies me for every opportunity whether I feel ready or not.
Today is my 28th birthday 🥳! This morning, my mom asked me how I feel and I told her about how I’ve met most of the goals that I set for myself at age 18. My mom said “Yeah, you pretty much decided to be successful and followed up”
I don’t think it’s well appreciated that my cohort of PhD students had one solid semester of graduate school before COVID disrupted our lives and the start of our career. Most puzzling is that expectations have not changed.
Our SACNAS chapter put up an Ofrenda for Dios de los Muertos in our lobby (which I absolutely LOVED) WHY did these people EAT the candy?! They had to put up signs saying that the candy is not free and that it’s offensive to eat it.
Dave was an INCREDIBLE mentor and chair. My courage to try off the wall things with my project came from his off the wall way of thinking. He cared a great deal about the future of MPB and academia in general. If I hit a wall, he was willing to find someone in the MMPC to help 4/
MITOtalks season 2 starts next week -
@RutterLab
will be our first speaker, and we can't wait.
And we have a new module: time travel.
Would you like see mitochondria from the future?
The MITOchats take you there...
Today I said "See you later!" to my summer undergrad. She is an exceptional scientist, and I'm really grateful to have worked beside her this summer. Wishing her the best of luck in her med school endeavors!
Fresh outta mentor training for
@cientificolatin
, an initiative that aids individuals from URM backgrounds in navigating grad school admissions. Read all about the program in Cell
@OpenAcademics
I’m Darian, a PhD student studying how the in utero environment influences pancreatic beta cell biology in offspring. I love all genres of music and crafting. My tweets: DEI, recovering from perfectionism, and surviving this PhD journey!
I'm working on an application for a microscopy course and I just typed the sentence "At this stage of my scientific career, I have had the privilege to investigate metabolism in plants, parasites, mice, and non-human primates." I got very emotional when I read it back to myself.
As a late stage grad student, I’ve come to love campus in the early mornings and on the weekends. (That’s NOT sarcasm) I love everyone, but the silence helps me focus.
Not the same, but this reminds of how my mother in law distributed the link to my review article to my in laws over Christmas break, and they actually read it and asked questions about my research 🥹
Grandma: I checked your book out from the library, but I wrinkled it a little bit before I returned it, so people would know it's popular.
I'm retiring from marketing. Grandma is taking over.
I was down about my post-doc badge not having “,PhD” on it (giving myself be humble speeches) and the lady at Occupational Health addressed me as “Dr.Darian” 🥹. She completely made my day 😭
My mom was a single parent (RN) and finally got to move away after my brother and I graduated high school because of this. She finished her bachelor's while I was in elementary school and it was HARD. She doesn't have a PhD, just I can really imagine.
@BetaCellBelle
Imagine being a single parent as a postdoc. Not only can you not afford to relocate, but many cannot or should not physically relocate because of custody agreements, family/friend support systems, or school stability.
I got the gift of meeting his family when I went to see him this week. He raised some awesome kids who went through the unimaginable this week. But they said “Dad told us about you like 2 weeks ago at dinner” 🥹😭 11/
Excited to attend
#ABRCMS2022
this week to 1) Lure people to
@VanderbiltMPB
2) Go to sessions to learn how to enhance DEI initiatives back home 3) Network with some of my favorite black scientists! 4) Catch up with old friends (and maybe make some new ones in the process)
Happy Halloween from my spooky friend and me! (Don't ask how long I have keep this clip from one of my montages just so that I can post it today)
#Scienceart
#electronmicroscopy
Today was my last day in the Gannon lab. We ate bagels and donuts in the morning and cookie cake and champagne in the afternoon. I’m going to miss my lab mates THE most. I gotta make a 🧵of notable memories:
On May 30, 2024, I stopped by Dave’s office to get a signature on the first page of my dissertation. I considered framing it bc I am a fangirl, Gladly, I got to tell him how much he meant to me before things went south. 3/
Early on, I delayed offers to automate my image analysis because I wanted to learn how things look and are analyzed by myself. Now that I know the basic biology, fixing bugs during automation is a piece of cake.
Amplifying the title and the shared lived experiences in this article. Being called the wrong name, having to "tell my story", being "one of the success stories", the list goes on.
#BlackinSTEM
After every committee meeting he’d sit me down and say “You’ve got the quan! Do you know what that means? Have you seen Jerry McGuire?” I would say no, but I guess that’s a good thing? At my final meeting before my defense, we watching a YouTube clip from the movie together 5/
@flyyscience1
They are SO wrong about this (I’ve heard PIs say this too). I was almost ready to quit before attending ABRCMS in grad school. The encouragement I got there refocused me
#RepresentationMatters
"If you stay ready, you don't have to get ready" (
@joshuajosephmd
) I repeat to myself as I prepare my slide deck of my most up to date data to discuss with anyone on a whim.
A couple of months ago, I was on a panel where someone shared that burnout arises from an endless cycle of discontentment. Now, I try to end days/weeks where I feel stressed with a "progress" report and gratitude. I try to not allow perfect to be the enemy of good.