Piali Sengupta
@SenguptaLab
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Brandeis Bio/Neuro. We study multiple aspects of sensory biology. Mostly in worms. Lab appears to be powered by vast quantities of junk food. Opinions mine.
Waltham, MA, USA
Joined August 2010
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🎉New lab preprint! 🔥🔥work by super postdoc
@alison_marie1
.
C. elegans sensory neurons have gorgeous
#cilia
at their dendrite ends. We’ve always thought that a) no cilia = no sensory responses, & b) no IFT = no cilia. Punchline is we thought wrong. Read on for more. 1/6
Differential modulation of sensory response dynamics by cilia structure and intraflagellar transport within and across chemosensory neurons
#bioRxiv
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If I ever quit academia, it will be because of the sheer volume of admin work that is being piled on us PIs. It's non-stop and is coming from all directions including the Univ. Attending training sessions, filling out forms etc is becoming my nth full-time job and I am fed up.
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👏🍾In the midst of current stresses, some good news. Happy to announce our latest publication in
@nature
. Authored by postdoc and soon-to-be-Asst Prof
@_MikeOD_
@MCDB_Yale
in collaboration with Henry Chao, Bennett Fox and
@group_schroeder
. 1/3
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A side-effect of living in this area. I walk into the specialist's office my PCP referred me to. The (young) Dr looks up and says - Hi Dr. Sengupta, you don't recognize me but you taught me Genetics when I was a sophomore. My first panicked question: What grade did I give you?
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I don't think I've seen this on all those advice lists on becoming a PI. You have to learn to deal w/ the sadness of having people you really like leave the lab. Constantly. It's good obviously but I hate saying goodbye. So I just pretend they are going on vacation. A long one 😢
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Good god. I leave Twitter for a few days and manage to miss the epic model organism smackdown. As (I think) the only
@eLife
Senior Editor worm person, all I will say is that any and all worm paper submissions are highly encouraged and strongly supported. At all levels.
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We immigrants often feel like we live in two different worlds. Today: take masks off (USA). Stay inside or die (India).
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Happy birthday to us 🎉🍾🥳!! The lab has now survived 26 years! And yes - several students in the lab pointed out to me that they weren't even close to being born when I set up the lab back in 1996 😲
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1/ A Mother's Day personal thread. I don't recall ever calling anyone Mom. Both my parents died when I was 4, my sister 2. There was more childhood drama. As a parent, I now understand how hard it must've been for my paternal grandparents who raised us (my father was an only kid)
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"Barres spent his last days and final hours making sure that the letters of recommendation he had written for others were ready. “In what time remains to me that will be my highest priority,” he assured trainees...."
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25 yrs ago today, I walked into an empty lab
@BrandeisLS
- excited but clueless. 🙏🏾to all who joined me in that lab for the rollercoaster ride of exhilaration & occasional despondence. Also 🙏🏾to my village of mentors, friends & long-suffering family. Happy 25th b'day to us!
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I sent my first R01 (had worked for 2 full mos on it) to
@betenoire1
. This was in the days of paper copies and 26 pgs. Returned via FedEx. Totally red. I cried. Then calmed down, dealt with her edits, and got the grant. Takes a lot of time to edit in detail. Trying to pay it fwd.
A mentor’s love for their trainees can be measured in tracked changes
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Thread:
I have served on (and chaired) multiple F31/F32 review committees, have had trainees in the lab receive these grants, and others apply but not be funded. I have some random musings. 1/6
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I’d probably have more progress to report if I didn’t have to write so many progress reports.
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I did some expts today. 1st time in >10 yrs. Lab kindly offered to play heavy metal for me. Didn't set the lab on fire or destroy it. But. Needed a support crew-had no clue where anything was. Had to squint to read labels. And my back hurt from leaning over the bench. Was great.
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Happy birthday to us! 🎂We are 27 years old today and still plodding along. And we still ❤️our worms - they continue to have many surprises stored in those sensory neurons. Thanks to all who joined me on this journey that began March 1, 1996, colleagues, friends, and funders 🙏🏽🙏🏽
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I don't get it. Do all of you have complete sets of data sitting around that haven't been written up already? We think of more expts the more we write and have multiple mss in various stages. W/o expts, I don't have preprints to submit. Have I been doing this wrong all along?
Anyone else get the feeling that with so many researchers around the globe practising social distancing 😷🤒 - a ton of Pre-prints will get submitted in the next 3 months?
@biorxivpreprint
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I am in the I-never-want-to-see-this-paper-again phase of manuscript submission. Version 33 and counting....
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Worm people: 🥱
But seriously, we are all so happy for you fly people 😉
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You know discussions abt what you're looking fwd to once this is over? Me? I'm looking fwd to lab mtg. In a small crowded room w/ tons of junk food that ppl are grabbing for, ppl speaking out of turn, making jokes, getting up to make their point at the whiteboard. Nostalgic.
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Some beauty to start the weekend. View of Kanchenjunga (3rd highest mountain in the world) in the Himalayas from Darjeeling, West Bengal, India. Photo taken by my photographer bro-in-law Indrajeet Dasgupta.
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New
#preprint
from lab! Surprising and (we think) cool. We find an unexpected mechanism by which the valence of an odorant is switched from attractive to aversive. We know a lot about how assoc conditioning, internal state etc switches odorant valence.1/10
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Well,
@BrandeisU
just announced mandatory high-frequency testing for all on campus in the fall. The only way to manage a university campus w/o a vaccine. This is excellent 👏
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Can we scientists take a collective pledge to:
a) Not ding grants submitted thru next yr for not having enough prelim data
b) Not ding PIs for not having published much this yr and likely next
c) Be empathetic humans and adjust expectations
Let's promote, not inhibit. Who's w/me?
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Never been more thankful for C. elegans dauers than in this era of campus shutdowns.
#ILoveWorms
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Back to this. Electronic lab notebooks. We are super disorganized and past time to deal with our scattered images, analyses, sequences etc. Current faves? Current non-faves? Thanks
#ScienceTwitter
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While I had dinner with (vaccinated) friends inside their house, my sister and relatives in Kolkata are in full lockdown and afraid for their lives. The stark inequality in health care and vaccine access across countries hits home particularly hard for us immigrants in the US.
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Basic science, unbiased screens, patience and perseverance.
"..postdoctoral scholar Bertrand Coste..had a whole year of negative data. And then, finally, candidate number 73—when he deleted or knocked it down, this pressure response was gone"
via
@sciam
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4/ I only now comprehend the immensity of my grandparents' sacrifice. I hope that when it is time, I will be a brave enough parent to let my son go to follow his own dreams whatever and wherever they may be. Happy Mother's Day all.
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Paper submission/revision timeline:
1st time: Best paper out of my lab ever
2nd time: Still think it's pretty great
3rd time: Would much rather be filling out 20 Doodle polls
4th time: Detest it. Never want to see it again.
Proofs: Oh look. Nice paper.
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W/ all the sh*t in academic science, this is one high that keeps me going. Bunch of seemingly meaningless data, spend some time reading/thinking, dots connect, and results from next expt and expt after start making sense! The thrill never gets old.
#ReadTheLiterature
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Apropos of nothing at all (nope, nothing to do with any papers I am reviewing), just because you CAN do scRNA-Seq does not mean you MUST do scRNA-Seq.
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Stop the presses! Hold everything! Micro-paper reveal! C. elegans has sixty-TWO ciliated sensory neurons, not just sixty! URX joins the hallowed group (and incidentally, ❤️ the
@Micropub7n
concept!)
The URX oxygen-sensing neurons in C. elegans are ciliated
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Not from a scifi movie. Real-life. The progress of science is mind-blowing 🤯
Amazing case report. The medicine of tomorrow. 5 week old boy admitted to NICU. Within 37 hours he had his whole genome sequenced, gene defect identified, treatment ordered and received by patient. Within 6 hr symptoms resolved.
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Ah yes. The delightful pleasure of being mansplained to about work that you reviewed in a field that you've been in for 25+ years. My self-restraint is exemplary if I may say so myself.
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I think that when you are in a position of power and are a leader, it is really important to think about the impact of your words even if they represent your personal and not professional opinion.
And for those asking, I resigned from
@eLife
back on Sep 1.
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Do NOT, I repeat, do NOT go on this website unless you have a couple of hours to kill. Was the most fun I've had in a very long time. So amazing!
This is the COOLEST. A Google Earth-type representation of the planet. Every green dot is a radio station. Click any dot to listen in. It’s like cultural teleportation. You could spend hours with this thing…
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Fall in New England is not my favorite season (sorry
@PracheeAC
!!) since winter is coming. But in the midst of the hideousness that is 2020, I give you perfection.
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The lab is 23 years old today!! 🍾🥳🎂
Happy birthday and a huge thanks to all past and current Senguptlets! We are a sense-ational bunch!!!
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The problem with having all these fabulous conferences virtual and accessible now means that I can't decide between attending them, working on my own deadlines, dealing with all the constant lab and home crises, or just giving up and hiding in the hammock.
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Two top kick-ass women scientists appointed to two top and powerful science positions within days of each other. Things are gonna change I suspect. And for the better! Congrats
@leslievosshall
and
@AshaniTW
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May 2021 be as boring as hell. As dull as dishwater. Like watching paint dry. A snooze-fest.
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If we stop doing experiments right now, we'd have very few negative results, if any.
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New PIs: What lab management courses would you recommend for someone starting a lab? I've heard good things about the EMBO workshops. What others are out there (online preferable)? Thanks
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🥂Our first no-worms paper is now up on bioRxiv! Work by the awesome
@lauren__tea
in collab w/
@TurrigianoLab
. Cilia are found on neurons in the mammalian brain through adulthood. What do they do in the postnatal brain? 1/5
Ciliary neuropeptidergic signaling dynamically regulates excitatory synapses in postnatal neocortical pyramidal neurons
#biorxiv_neursci
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I have a superpower. I can look at data and come up with the most brilliant, the most amazing, models. I wow even myself with my models.
That's the extent of my superpower.
Because my models. Are. Always. Wrong.
Maybe I just have an overactive imagination.
Sigh.
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Pro-tip when rebutting manuscript reviews. Write it. Then spend the next 2 days doing yoga, forest bathing, hot-tubbing, binge-watching Masterpiece Theater. Come back and re-read it. If it still seems OK to send - send. But you might identify some words to delete before sending.
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I think my epitaph is going to be 'She lurched from deadline to deadline with an occasional tequila shot in between'
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My favorite true anecdote ever. I was once asked if there was a worm homolog of Munc13.
The mammalian world has a tendency to “forget” work from invertebrates……
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Our latest! Led by
@nathanCSharris
& Sam Bates we ask: How do experiences modify neuronal gene expression to drive plasticity? We find that multiple stimulus features can be encoded in the gene expression program of a single sensory neuron.. 1/13
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🎉Congratulations to all
@HarmitMalik
@TobinLab
and others not on Twitter.
I am grateful for this honor, and in this week of giving thanks, am extremely grateful to all current and past lab members, and my wonderful science mentors, peers, and friends. 🙏🏽
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Rollout of on-campus testing going really well
@BrandeisU
. Takes 2 mins to do test, sent off to the
@broadinstitute
, results back within 24h. Reassuring for all of us on campus right now - esp in labs.
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Lab's latest pub🍾!! Inversion of the response sign in a single olfactory neuron reverses olfactory preference behavior! Unexpected - we thought it was an artifact for the longest time. Congrats to all authors and esp Munzareen Khan for seeing this through! Preprint tweetorial 👇🏽
Context modulates valence of individual odorants in
#Celegans
: context-dependent engagement of distinct signaling pathways within a single sensory neuron type can switch
#olfactory
preference
#behavior
from attraction to aversion
@SenguptaLab
#PLOSBiology
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I am super stressed about lots of stuff right now. But have to be grateful to
@BrandeisU
for testing everyone on campus 2X/week (‘free, fast and frequent’) thereby decreasing at least *that* particular stress.
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New preprint from lab!
@_MikeOD_
made the exciting discovery that gut bacteria can hijack the olfactory system of the worm by producing the neurotransmitter tyramine (TA). This was a really fun collaboration with Bennett Fox
@group_schroeder
. 1/10
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This was recently raised by
@rkuruvi1
and is worth repeating. How are a trainee’s bad grades in their freshman year a ‘weakness’? Conversely, straight A’s in classes say nothing at all about research aptitude. Let’s not do this. 3/6
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That's a wrap for the main
#worm21
(but cool workshops still happening today!). See everyone in Glasgow in 2023 with
@wormsense
and
@HeuvelLab
at the helm.
Thanks to all: presenters, attendees, moderators, sponsors, and
@GeneticsGSA
esp Anne Marie Mahoney for making this happen!
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Oh wow! Maybe no more midnight trips to the lab to deal with -80C failures??!!!
#WormsRule
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The lab's latest is out 👏🏽👏🏽 Congrats in particular to first author
@TravistyzAside
and co-authors and collaborators
@alison_marie1
@imclach
@_MikeOD_
and (I think twitter-free) Steve Flavell. Linking previous tweetorial below.
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We were fortunate getting refunded this past yr, and PDs were successful getting jobs. So the lab now has funded postdoc position(s) available! We are a fun, supportive, interactive group interested in different aspects of sensory biology in C.elegans. 1/2
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The lab has a future in interior decoration. My office when I came in today 😊
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I've been in this business for decades but remain puzzled. Why are science faculty running active labs full of grad students and undergrads doing research not paid at all by the Univ in the summers? Is the mentoring we do in the summers different than during the year?
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Well, Paul Hollywood would say they lack finesse but they’ll be inhaled soon so who cares. Cherry/ mango, chocolate/cherry and pumpkin. Made by the boys. Happy Thanksgiving 🦃🍁 all!
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We are recruiting a Staff Scientist! If you are a PhD/PD who wants to continue doing bench science, learn cool new methods as they come along, & teach/mentor lab members in an interactive environment, please apply! Feel free to DM/email. 🙏🏽 for RTs
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Finally, the goal is to encourage students, not discourage them. Let’s try to do so constructively and kindly. 6/6
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Some grad schools: Upload your rec letter and we're good.
Others - Must rate applicant on 1-10 scale on each to submit:
Preference for dogs
Hotness of their chili
Ability to run straight gels
Love of Comic Sans font
Belief that Han shot first
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Excited to be demoted to Senior Editor. Srsly tho, excited to continue to support the innovative mission of
@eLife
. Keep sending in those fab papers!
We're delighted to welcome the four new Senior Editors who have joined our leadership team so far this year: John Huguenard, George Perry, Piali Sengupta and Jos van der Meer
#MeetTheEditor
@grg_perry
@SenguptaLab
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Are we ready for
#Worm21
?! Record number of registrants from 45 countries (and still counting). See you all tomorrow at 9.45 am (EST) for an awesome Opening Plenary!
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Preparing to visit my family in India after 4 long years. Top on my agenda - making a list of all the foods I want to eat to send to my sister! There are some fruits you can only get in the summers and I haven't been home in the summer in multiple decades. 😋
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Well, Andalucia at Xmas didn't happen. But hiking under bright blue skies in canyons surrounded by towering sandstone cliffs (and with howling cold winds!) has a way of blowing out those cobwebs. Here's to a healthy and happy 2022 for all!
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Breakfast of Champions. Sampling a limited selection of Bengali mishti in Kolkata, India.
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Amazing work by
@GeneticsGSA
staff and leadership
@editor_traceyd
@montell_denise
@mjohn1251
.
#TAGC20
will be virtual with free online attendance. Kudos!👏👏
Details to come next week.
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How come no one talks about this? The biggest barrier for a 'senior' (ahem) PI to working at the bench again is not that they no longer know how to use that microscope. It's because they can no longer read the damn writing on the tubes!!!
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No idea how
@OdedRechavi
managed this. The aaaammaaazing A-WA. just for us scientists. The bar is raised.
#physiologicalirrelevantconference
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The Muslim caretaker of the spectacular Magen David synagogue in Kolkata. His family has been taking care of the synagogue for 3 generations.
*This* is India.
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Anonymity is not an excuse for unkindness. Esp for F31 reviews. These are students often in the 2nd/3rd year, not battle-hardened veteran PIs. Words matter. Students often internalize these comments- much thought needs to go into how we phrase our critiques.2/6
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Kinda nice that I didn't have to prep a lecture on circadian rhythms for my Neurogenetics class since my lab neighbor kindly agreed to sub for me instead. His lecture was really good. I have this suspicion that he knows a little bit about this topic.
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An extremely sensible move by
@PLOSBiology
. Promotes independent validation of results, reduces stress and pressure to be 'first', and allows recognition of work that was completed just a bit 'slower' for random reasons.
"Scooped"? We prefer to call it "complementary research," recognising its important role in reproducibility of science. Come to
#PLOSBiology
within 6 months of "scooping" and we'll consider it. See our new policy here:
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OK that's just ridiculous. Ridiculously awesome that is. Sent a cute little finding by
@ashishkmaurya6
to
@Micropub7n
yesterday afternoon. Got accepted this evening. How great is that? So many of these micro results published there have been so useful and they are on PubMed too.
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This may not be practical but I suggest that F31s should not be triaged. Not only does an ND send a harsh message that is unnecessary, the lack of discussion makes it difficult for students to figure out what the major strengths and weaknesses are that they should focus on. 5/6
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I said some stuff.
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Calling postdocs on the academic job market! My fabulous Department in Biology at
@BrandeisLS
has a tenure-track position open this year. Come join us in a highly collaborative, interactive, friendly and diverse Dept with great faculty, students, postdocs and staff! Please RT.
Position: Assistant Professor of Biology - Brandeis University, Biology Department - US, Ma...
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I am relieved? pleased? happy? all of the above? to state that I may now be referred to as the PAST Chair of the Biology Department
@BrandeisLS
(and the Dept survived me!). It was - shall we say - an unexpectedly 'interesting' experience. Welcome Liz Hedstrom, our new Chair!
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The 4 year wait was worth it. Great
#CeNeuro2022
meeting in lovely Vienna. Energetic talks and poster presentations from students and postdocs, exciting science, and a chance to reconnect with old friends and make new ones.
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I am thinking that to make up for the lack of the after-seminar dinner, the ZoomVisit host should order up a fancy dinner together with a couple of to-go cocktails for delivery to the speaker's home. (nothing to do with any upcoming seminars for me, nope, nope, nothing at all)
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The 4-6 weeks between when the manuscript goes out for review and before the reviews come back are the best.
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Come be our colleague! Our wonderful Neuroscience Program/Biology Dept at
@BrandeisLS
is looking for a TT faculty in the *very* broad area of molecular/cellular neuro. All experimental systems welcome!
Please RT
(pics are from today's Summer SciFest)
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Having grown up in a city of 14M people, every time I come into NYC, I feel like I've come home. I am both energized and relaxed. And very happy. Esp when I can get actually good food and drink at midnight instead of settling for a mustard sandwich.
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Although this won't be in Glasgow, Barbara Conradt,
@GeneticsGSA
's Anne Marie Mahoney and I have tried to organize
#Worm21
to showcase the research strengths and diversity of our field. A summary of some of the similarities and differences from previous IWMs 1/n
🥁🥁🥁
#Worm21
is now launched! Check it out:
~Focused on early career scientists
~Live Remo poster sessions
~Professional development workshops
~Socials & networking
~Worm Art Show
~Worm Show
~Opening session speakers
@LCochella
@OdedRechavi
@TroemelEmily
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Every time I read grants/papers from amazing young PIs, I think I need to become financially independent (somehow), retire, and then go work at the bench in one of their labs for the rest of my life. Except I'd have to be taught how to do pretty much *everything*.
#lifegoals
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The Biology Department at Brandeis is hiring! We are looking for two tenure-track colleagues working on essentially any interesting questions in cell biology. Our Department is great - we are interactive, collaborative, and have a lot of fun doing good science. Please apply!
Position: Assistant Professor of Biology - Brandeis University, Biology Department - US, Ma...
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@arjunrajlab
Don't agree to write book chapters (seriously) and not too many reviews. Give talks - invite yourself, have your mentors/peers invite you. Have multiple people read your grants and manuscripts. And pay att'n to mental/physical health. Pre-tenure yrs can be taxing and isolating.
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The masking requirement in fully vaxxed labs was dropped right in time for the Worm Show! Out first in-person lab party with food and drink since March 2020. Thank you Curtis and Morris for coming out of retirement to make us all happy!
#worm21
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🎊🎉 Over the past few months, 3 terrific postdocs left/about to leave to start their own labs and academic adventures. So the lab now has space for postdocs! If you like our work and/or have your own idea(s) you want to pursue w/us, please do get in touch!
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Lab’s latest pub!
@ashishkmaurya
strikes again. In PMID:30955935, he showed how the conserved CCRK/ RCK kinase cascade regulates olfactory cilia length in C. elegans. To identify effectors/regulators, he then did a laborious semi-clonal screen.. 1/4
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The lab's 1st no-worm-all-rat paper is now out! 🍾🍾(Prettier version coming)
Work by
@lauren__tea
(w/
@Bcary_Neuro
@enigma_gao
) bravely co-mentored by
@TurrigianoLab
and me.
Shows an unexpected role of ciliary signaling in postnatal cortical circuits
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