kat
@katclone
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neuro PhDing @MIT via @pdsoros • thinking about tool development, aging & hibernation @age1vc • I blog my scattered thoughts
Cambridge, MA
Joined June 2020
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1 year since my dad’s death.
The most difficult thing I ever had to do was tell my dad he was dying.
Every other obstacle is trivial in comparison.
🤍
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can we get some SWEs into biology labs on a consultant / retainer basis ????
most code written by biologists is so painful 😿
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The first time I ever visited SF (2022) nearly every single person I met tried to indoctrinate me to “become an EA”
it took me a full 48 hours to realize they weren’t trying to recruit me to become an executive assistant
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Academics love having the flexibility to choose the hours they work
The hours they work: 100/week
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Didn’t get tenure in academia, receives Nobel!
“Ten years ago I was kicked out and forced to retire.”
Our new medicine laureate Katalin Karikó (
@kkariko
) told us how much it means to be awarded the Nobel Prize after a scientific career that has been full of challenges.
Ten years ago, Karikó was still doing all her
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Textbook cartoons rarely give the powerhouses of the cell the recognition they deserve
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I can't find a satisfying answer to this question and would love advice...
Why do we grow cells at 5% CO2?
From what I gather, I understand that media has been optimized to dissolve/maintain an acceptable pH at 5% CO2... but why?
Is anyone NOT using 5% CO2?
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my lovely mom turns 68 this week!!
we took this photo ~6 years ago when I first moved to Boston after graduating from Cornell.
After losing one parent, the fear of losing the other persists as a constant, nagging anxiety.
Sharing to help normalize this feeling for others♥️
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Extremely grateful to be chosen as a 2023
@PDSoros
Fellow!!!
Thank you to my amazing science mentors across career stages!
@MIT
(
@mitbrainandcog
+
@WhiteheadInst
):
@Hrvatin_Sinisa
/
@JSWLab
/
@YuanchengLu
/
@HeatherKPhD
@Harvard
:
@_emmarosewest
/Connie Cepko
@Cornell
:
@CornellBirds
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When choosing PhD rotations, I’d suggest picking labs where the people are friendly and challenge your thinking.
The research should motivate you, but don’t choose a lab for a specific project. This is a training experience. Your interests will change.
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why move to SF when you can have SF at home
Boston Mayor
@wutrain
said she would support a policy that refuses to prosecute the following crimes:
-shoplifting
-larceny
-disorderly conduct
-receiving stolen property
-driving with a suspended license
-breaking and entering with property damage
-wanton and malicious
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I’ve decided I’m quitting social drinking this year
Alcohol is terrible
Doesn’t taste great, expensive, and not good for you — what more reasons do you need to go dry?
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@Bigthunderpants
@HaoYin20
Respectfully I disagree!
We should question and acknowledge the limitations and biases we impose (in my case they might be playing an important role, maybe for others not the case)
But also just curious how we got here 😹
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can biotech pls stop doing the same old alcohol centric networking events and instead organize a group run?
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It's pretty crazy that because FDA considers sunscreen to be a drug U.S. sunscreens are super behind newer formulations used by abroad countries
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omfg first gen guilt is SO REAL
I literally cannot believe how awesome my life is — paid to think + work with the smartest ppl?
my struggles are so irrelevant vs my parents’
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I’m still relearning how to be happy.
~3 years ago I lost my dad to metastatic small cell lung cancer.
My life goal since I was a young girl was to help my parents — financially, emotionally, and physically (health). As a daughter of two immigrants, I felt incredibly indebted
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Did Trump just...... attack Joe’s undergrad gpa ranking? Lol they’re in their 70s
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cool boston co-working experiment!!
@satvik_93
& I hosted a co-work night last week w/ Harvard/MIT founders & PhDs
We hope to do this on a weekly basis. Apply to join!
Might even have an impromptu crew co-work this weekend :)
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100%
This reminds me of the time I tweeted asking why cell culture incubators are kept at 5%CO2.
The critical thinkers pondered with me and offered explanations + shared holes in their understanding.
Others, professors included, berated me for questioning scientific dogma.
I am always so annoyed by people wearing t-shirts like “science rocks”, “science is about facts”.
We operate on decades of knowledge no one ever checked. So many of the things you believe to be true - you never checked yourself. Thats belief. Thats Christianity’s area of
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Imo it’s such a shame telling someone to “go to therapy” has replaced a lot of meaningful interactions that should take place in friendships/relationships
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Wow.
I was able to match (800+ mentors [current/former PhD students] with 1200+ mentees [prospective PhDs / current applicants])
10X increase of matches from last year’s match program.
Learned many lessons (the hard way😅) this time around —scaling up is tricky (thread)
1/n
Reminder!!!
🎉PhD mentor-mentee application closes this Friday!!
Looking for mentors + mentees!
As a first-gen 🇺🇸 + college grad, exploring career options was intimidating.
Luckily, I had amazing mentors.
Hoping to do the same for others:
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Few days before my 29th bday in late Feb I became pissed off w/myself for not having enough discipline to consistently work out.
That day I ran 10mi & haven’t missed a daily run since — I’ve ran ~400mi since then.
I signed up to run the SF marathon in July - join me!!!!
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it’s so sad seeing brilliant people working on the most boring things
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Fuck cancer.
The months I spent caregiving for my dad and interacting with the system haunts me to this day, ~3.5 years later.
We’re so far away from an ideal world.
My amazing friend died of cancer today. We tried all—but the system failed in so many ways. The entire system is broken. A system built on seamless data, and AI, and aligned incentives, with curative medicines, needs to be built. Fuck the current system. Fuck cancer.
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Lost my
#1
supporter today 🤍 thank you to everyone who has followed my journey learning to cope with my dad’s cancer and cardiovascular disease.
Inequitable access to medical care coupled with misdiagnoses took his life far too soon. Hug your loved ones and don’t smoke.
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When I first joined
@hrvatin_sinisa
lab at
@WhiteheadInst
@MIT
I was amazed to learn that hibernating hamsters can drop their body temp to 4C.
In this study, we conducted the first reported genome wide CRISPR screen in hamster cells to probe what’s needed to survive the cold
I am very excited to share our story on genetic mechanisms of cellular cold tolerance.
Congratulations to Breanna Lam, Kat Kajderowicz
@katclone
, and collaborators
@HeatherKPhD
@genfren
@MohamedBrolosy
@JswLab
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It’s crazy how things come full circle….
When I first met
@AlexJColville
I told him I was frustrated with the lack of longevity community.
So, he encouraged me to build it.
build now, age later
@age1vc
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@ElmoTheHokage
Yep the ideal candidate is someone bored and doing it for charity
Or a nice billionaire should bankroll this effort
THIS is how we can actually make drugs that work one day
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Confused why tuition is charged to investigators for employing grad students when most of us don’t take classes after the first year
How much does a graduate student cost per year?
Salary: $35,793
Benefits + Tuition: $26,463
Supplies: $12,000
Travel: $3,000
Overhead: $42,491
Total: $119,747
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In light of upcoming PhD interviews, here are some common questions I was asked during faculty interviews.
I was really anxious about not getting in & applied to / interviewed at over 20 schools spanning the east & west coasts 😅 so these are quite representative.
(Thread) 1/n
REMINDER:
@DnaDeviants
is hosting mock PhD Zoom interviews this Wednesday (12/29) from 5-6 PM EST.
We’ll have 2-3 rounds of breakout rooms where current applicants will be paired with current/recent PhD students.
I’ll also have a Google doc where you can log unanswered q’s
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~2 years since I lost my dad 🤍
I’ve come to realize that grief is stronger than love b/c it can never be reciprocated.
Advice to those newly grieving— only ‘time’ can teach you how to exist in your new reality.
New post:
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And I HATE all the no code / low code tools I’ve tried
Much like electronic lab notebooks they are mid — kind of suck, kind of do the job, but overall I don’t trust them and try to reinvent the wheel myself and use tools other comp biologists have made available
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The best feeling in the world is when people share their good news with you 🥰
This post is specifically dedicated to all the first gens getting into PhD programs — YOU DID IT!! 🙌🏻
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Me: I'm not sure how I feel about public speaking
PhD program: Do it 10x a week to a panel of experts
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Accessing journal articles in 2022 feels like getting music from Limewire in 2007
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We're extremely excited for the official relaunch of
@DnaDeviants
Synthetic Biology Journal Club with first author
@AlexandreTrapp
!!
#aging
[paper: 'Profiling epigenetic age in single cells' -
@NatureAging
]
10 AM PST/1 PM EST
1/29/22 [NEXT SATURDAY]!
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The first Boston longevity biotech meetup of 2023😻🙌🏻
Great excuse to leave lab for dinner and conversation with curious scientists & engineers :)
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BE CAREFUL BOSTON if you see this individual. Likely homeless / clothes very dirty. He pushed me and spit on me (pushed me into the fence onto storrow drive) while I was running.
He didn’t steal anything, was just laughing and tried several whole body pushes to make me fall.
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so unbelievably thankful to have the coolest mentors, colleagues & friends
massive thx to
@DrSynbio
&
@AlexJColville
+ CANNOT BELIEVE THE LEGEND
@ashleevance
came to our event !!
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Thought I’d be the only one in the entire lab building during
#noreaster2022
but turns out even 2+ ft of snow can’t stop Boston scientists 😅
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No, but my entire Twitter timeline has 😹
Extremely excited by the Altos announcement — such an impressive list of researchers/advisors & huge win for aging research!
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I’d highly recommend gifting
@KarlDeisseroth
’s ‘Projections’ this holiday season— perspective from a psychiatrist-neuroscientist on human emotions.
As a scientist & former caregiver for my late father who progressively lost mental acuity, I greatly resonated with the stories.
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Explaining academic wetlab culture to folks outside of science is hilarious
“Sure you can have 10uL of this enzyme… but you have 4 spare hours to help with gigapreps + 10 cell scrapers?”
It’s a mix of bartering and camaraderie
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grad student appreciation week starting on April’s fools day is comedic gold
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Death still isn’t a palatable subject of social discussion.
But the reality is that we won’t see dramatic progress towards human healthspan and lifespan extension unless we actively work on the problems that secretly keep us up at night.
Happy Father’s Day 🤍🕊️
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25 was a crazy year...
Filled with grief & incredible loss.... but also great joy.
In the same year, I lost my dad to cancer and was accepted to PhD programs... during a pandemic.
If you’re struggling with grief or want to hear my story, feel free to DM.
Here’s to 26!🍾 ♥️
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me: sorry can’t talk right now, I have to go do mouse brain injections
my mom: ok have fun 🥰🥰🥰 I love you ♥️♥️♥️
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So awesome to connect awesome biotech folks with
@MichaelRetchin
@janechuprin
via
@NucleateHQ
+
@DnaDeviants
+
@foresightinst
!
And huge thanks to
@aloktayi
for supplying drinks!! 🤩
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~6 mo update after my father's passing.
One moment I keep reliving in my mind, late at night is the time I had to tell my father he was dying.
I briefly detailed the experience for those interested:
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It’s really difficult to put this into coherent words, but I just want to remind (young women especially) there are many bad actors in the world.
If the vibes feel off, they usually are. Don’t be naive. Your safety and health are most important.
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Pretty sure the worst salary is no salary
I think $150k - $225k has to be the worst salary range.
You make too much to say “F*ck this place, I quit.”
Yet not enough to be financially free without a job for any significant amount of time.
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If you ever think you’ve hit rock bottom ….
just remember you could be a grad student in their late 20s relearning how to drive a car while their aggressive Eastern European driver’s ed teacher heckles them whilst chain smoking with the windows rolled down at a $100/hr rate
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"data available upon request"
why not just make the data available after you've already published? What am I missing here?
the email -> wait weeks for a response -> maybe get raw data eventually pipeline is so inefficient & annoying.
Usually you don't even hear back.
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Women’s reproductive health is such an exciting & important area to research, despite many obstacles other fields face to a lesser extent.
Who’s currently working in this space?
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question for all the people super excited about replacement approaches for aging....
why haven't folks tried replacing several pig (or other large animal) organs to see if it would actually extend the animal's lifespan?
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*not medical advice* but OMAD + fasted cardio is an unreal combo
Have never felt as good as I feel when I'm consistently in this routine
In the past 10 months, I have lost nearly 50 lbs. Start intermittent fasting and find a cardio exercise that doesn’t make you go crazy; for me, boxing 🥊
And take some time off for the holidays like a normal person.
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Consequences of an addictive personality:
Played 50+ games of chess this weekend because I forgot how much fun it is 🙃
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Sometimes you need a PhSpringBreak in Argentina!
Will be back to pipetting shortly 😻
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Petition to mandate pets in all professional headshots moving forward
I don’t want to see your new glasses frames
I want to see your smol dog.
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1 year later, I'm still haunted by this date: Oct 20.
Today is the cruel anniversary of the day I realized my dad was going to die very soon.
Oct 20, 2020, was the day I lost hope for a miracle.
Not sharing for pity, but perspective for others:
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Celebrating Boston’s first snowfall with good whiskey, great company and amazing science 🍻
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the only influencing I want to do on here is to convince ppl to go out & stop procrastinating getting healthier
ty
@armandcognetta
for motivating me to get back into distance running LFGGGG
~230 mi of outdoor runs logged since Feb 17
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If you could research any question/idea or develop any technology…. what would you work on?
(ignore money + other limitations)
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why is healthcare software sooooo terrible?
anytime I need to access any hospital portal I rethink how badly I need this info
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SO UNREAL!!!!!
@ArtirKel
& I want to greatly thank everyone who came out & hung out!
Huge huge huge thank you to the wonderful sponsors
@aloktayi
(
@vibe_bio
) &
@kulesatony
(
@petribio
)
#grc2022
after-party / biotech
@DnaDeviants
summer party was a success 🥰🧬
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What would revolutionize cancer field?
Does it really come down to more sensitive and early diagnostics or am I naive in this thinking
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Feels weird to post this on social media, but times are dire.
My family in Kraków & Lublin (they aren’t on social media) expressed huge interest in housing refugees who are still looking for a place to stay. DM.
🇺🇦
If you or smbdy you know needs help relocating, my family can help. We are from Iasi, Northern Romania, close to the border with Ukraine and we can provide accommodation for the time being As well as other help. please DM.
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Is there a database that has a list of labs worldwide + which model organisms they use + main questions/focus?
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Extremely excited for our next
@DnaDeviants
journal club! 🥳
Come join our virtual SynBio journal club on August 23rd at 6 PM EDT where we’ll discuss a recent paper from
@davidrliu
lab! 🧬
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lost in the sauce re what tech would hugely improve ivf technology
fixing…
> aging oocytes?
> aging uterine wall? / implantation?
> cryopreservation?
> egg retrieval?
Currently at the internal consensus the best solution atm is freeze as many eggs as you can at young age
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