Joy A. Franco, PhD
@engineering_joy
Followers
3K
Following
25K
Statuses
14K
Sensory neuroscience & bioengineering | Neurobio postdoc | #DSPANScholar #ChicanaInSTEM #Antiracism advocate | Bike racer | @engineeringjoy on BlSky, 🧵, & IG
Boston, MA
Joined December 2013
I went back to community college at 26 knowing I wanted to pursue a PhD because I refused to accept that I was too old to pursue my dreams. I started my MS at 30 and my PhD at 32. Je ne regrette rien.
27
16
300
They know that this isn't about a purported waste of taxpayer dollars. It's about blocking socioeconomic mobility for people who weren't born into privilege. This authoritarian regime benefits from an uneducated workforce. It's about control.
0
0
1
It's very difficult for people who have benefited from nepotism their entire lives to accept that what they see as their superior merit is in fact just a byproduct of privilege.
0
2
12
Stop telling young researchers that their technical contributions don't count as intellectual ones. The vast majority of modern techniques used in bioscience labs require skills & careful thought to execute. The people doing this work use their intellect to get it done.
0
1
21
@baym It’s a long story, but certain extremely triggering events yesterday pushed me to finally buy a pair of Ray-Ban’s with voice activated cameras. I have every intention of documenting the complete chaos & total disregard for safety from @Longwood_LMA et al. We deserve protection.
2
0
1
RT @JenCWaters: Hey PIs, do your trainees need to learn light microscopy and image analysis? Send them to us! Financial aid is available. h…
0
120
0
You know it’s January in Boston when it’s 39 deg F & you find yourself saying, “Wow it’s such a nice day for a bike ride.”
0
1
1
RT @manorlaboratory: Our paper with @Priyag2023 @MarcGer14997968 @JulienCicero and Cara Schiavon is now out in its final form! https://t.co…
0
16
0
Harvard generally (waves hand) has a bad, cut throat rep. That might be true for some areas, but gotta share that in my experience people have been nothing but helpful. Special shoutout to those kind souls who help make the science science.
0
1
16
@PracheeAC Physical activities that require 100% focus (so zero room for mind wandering) have been my go to: mountain biking, rock climbing, ballet. You can probably guess yoga was not helpful here since it’s very easy to get lost in thought during slow stretching.
1
0
7
@fietsrai Thinking I’ll need the lobster gloves and balaclava for my commute into lab today.
1
0
0
The recent rise of tech bio arm chair pseudo-“scientists” has made me think about this a lot & the parts I would emphasize/add are: (1) designing, executing, interpreting your own experiments AND (2) presenting or defending that work in some type of scientific review process.
Things that are not required to be a scientist: -Having a PhD -Publishing peer-reviewed papers -Getting paid to do research Things that do make you a scientist: -Using the scientific method to study stuff That's it, that's the whole list.
0
0
4
Was looking for a post about ER & stumbled upon my own from earlier this year. Not a bad #FluorescenceFriday find. Love that ER-targeted GCaMP - CMXRos combo in DRG cultures.
Love a solid #MicroscopyMonday ~8 hrs combined on multiple scopes today: Fixed cells. Live cells. Cells in microfluidics. Uncaging. Pharmacology. ER GCaMP. Cytosolic GCaMp. Mitochondria staining. I’ll never get over feeling grateful that this is how I get to spend my time.
0
0
1
@fietsrai About halfway through my very short commute I realized I wore the wrong gloves as my fingers started to freeze and just thought: “…only bad clothing (choices).”
2
0
1
@synaptikate I am SOOOO excited for you!!! Gravel bikes are such great all around bikes. Can’t wait to see some bike adventure pics.
0
0
2
Reminds me of one of the most brilliant things a prof has said to me, “But do you want to be studying the thing that you’re measuring?” #ResearchLife 🥴
0
0
9