“When you get these jobs that you have been so brilliantly trained for, just remember that your real job is that if you are free, you need to free somebody else. If you have some power, then your job is to empower somebody else.”
i am thrilled to announce that the Grmai Lab will open its doors Jan 2025 in the Department of Comparative Medicine
@YaleSOM
!
our lab will study the complex inter-organ signaling cues that influence metabolism and fertility during homeostasis and stress.
@dgonzales1990
Lol this is so sweet. My mom is visibly offended when I’m not acknowledged as “Dr.”
1st gen = sharing all of your accomplishments with your parents because it’s really theirs, too 💕
A daily Black scientist thread in honor of
#BHM
(and doubling down today since it's the 2nd).
#BlackScientists
Dr. Marie M. Daly (1921-2003) was an American biochemist; in 1947, she became the first African-American woman to obtain a PhD in Chemistry.
Being “that Black girl in that lab” yet having to introduce yourself to people five separate times before they remember who you are. Hyper-visible yet invisible.
#BlackintheIvory
As a postdoc, my desire to pursue this career relentlessly has been challenged by my need to prioritize wellness. I often ask myself if the fight is worth it.
Some days I say it is. Some days the cost feels too high. Talented people leave academia because of this all the time.
Dr. Edward Bouchet (1852-1918) was a physicist and educator. In 1876, he became the first African-American to earn a PhD in the US. (For historical context, the Civil War occurred from 1861-1865.)
So excited to join the
@NIGMS
#NIHMOSAIC
community!
My research will (continue to) examine systemic regulation of reproductive physiology and behavior by stress sensors + hormonal cues.
Grateful for the mentorship, advice, and community that got me here.
Congrats to all!!!
En route to Cambridge - I am thrilled to present at the
@broadinstitute
NextGen in Biomedicine Symposium tomorrow! I can’t wait to meet the rest of the presenters + hear about lots of amazing science.
@jenheemstra
@angew_chem
This article demonstrates that that “underrepresented scientists innovate at higher rates than majority students, but their novel contributions are discounted and less likely to earn them academic positions."
i usually only post the science wins on here, but this is a big one for me 🥲 we did it joe!
very grateful to my mind and body for their collab, and for continuing to show me what they’re capable of 🙌🏾
13.1 ✅✅
Very grateful to
@GeneticsGSA
for the honor of being named a DeLill Nasser awardee! I hope to carry on her legacy in my research and mentorship as I advance in my academic career. Congratulations to the other amazing winners 🥳
@jenheemstra
@angew_chem
This article outlines the positive impact of gender diversity (particularly in leadership) on team performance and innovative potential, and cites multiple pieces of relevant pieces of literature.
Dr. Ronald McNair (1950-1986) was an American physicist and NASA astronaut. He earned his PhD in quantum electronics and laser technology from MIT in 1976, after graduating from North Carolina A&T University with his Bachelor’s in 1971.
@EveretteKelcee
Of course this is the real story for a lot of folks. But Ithink this is performative behavior that some others have learned, because institutions reward the underdog, started-from-the-bottom narrative with scholarships and tokenhood.
so glad to see this paper finally out! grateful to everyone who helped bring this story to life 🤗
if reproduction, stress response signaling, or adipocytes are your jam, then this is the article for you!
see reply for my tweetorial last year on the pre-print version 📄
Pro tip: to dramatically increase the # of items on your to-do list you can tackle in a day (or the efficiency with which said tasks will be completed), just add one writing assignment to the list.
The writing isn’t done, but wow everything else is. ✨🤷🏽♀️
@jenheemstra
@angew_chem
Here’s a study out of Harvard that demonstrates that for peer-reviewed articles, increased diversity in authorship ethnicity/location can lead to greater contributions to science (as measured by impact factors). (***see next tweet for important caveat***)
interrupting your feed to share a christmas story 🎉 (not that one)
while i was in the Van Doren Lab at
@JohnsHopkins
we described for the first time a role for the steroid hormone ecdysone in sexual development. a few highlights 🧵:
I don’t have a motivational punchline, or an actionable suggestion. Just sitting with the reality that one can love their work and also decide not to suffer at its hands.
Thrilled to share our new preprint on the role of Atf4 in interorgan reproductive regulation via fat metabolic sensing!
If you’re at
#Dros23
then come to the Physiology I talks (Thurs
@430
) where I’ll describe this work 😁
A quick highlight🧵below:
a message to trainees:
postdoc can be lonely/exhausting/demoralizing - STRONGLY encourage finding fellow postdocs to ally with/lean on, locally/virtually. i mean it.
i’m unbelievably lucky to have
@shyama13
and
@gavinrrice
in pittsburgh - two brilliant scientists and people 💕
had the best time this week with some of the
@LeadingEdgeSymp
community! these ppl are going to change the world with their science and leadership, and every person shines such a bright and warm light. i’m so lucky to be a part of this group ✨
@jenheemstra
@angew_chem
Whew. I have multiple pieces of high-impact academic literature I’d be happy to share with you/whoever doesn’t understand the depths of this falsehood.
@jenheemstra
@angew_chem
Worth mentioning that the previous study didn't identify Black/AA as a population. Black academics are still wildly undercited across many disciplines, a problem groups like
@citeblackwomen
are working to solve (thx to
@professioneal
for getting me hip)
PSA to the esteemed faculty members out there: your grad students and postdocs are not okay.
Don’t believe me? Ask them - they’re waiting for someone to.
We are delighted to announce the 2021 Leading Edge Fellows! 42 superstar postdocs in biology. Learn about their exciting work Tuesdays and Thursdays in June! See the schedule and get Zoom info here:
@janeliaconf
@HHMIJanelia
Calling all fly biologists! The FlyBoard is seeking nominations for trainee representatives at the graduate and postdoc levels. If you would like to nominate yourself or one of your colleagues/lab members, please let me know here or by email (lydia.grmai
@pitt
.edu).
Mary Jackson (1921-2005) was an engineer from Hampton, VA. You might recognize her name from the film “Hidden Figures” - she was NASA’s 1st Black female engineer. A member of the AKA Sorority, she graduated from Hampton University in 1941 with degrees in Math & Physical Sciences.
UMBC has officially reached the nation’s highest level of research performance. The Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education announced UMBC has been placed into the category of doctoral universities w/ very high research activity (R1).
Valerie Thomas is a scientist and inventor, known for creating the illusion transmitter. The tweets that follow will detail her life/work but I just wanted to take a moment to appreciate this FLAWLESS fro!
If you’ve ever been protected by a home/business security alarm, you have Marie Van Brittan Brown (1922-1999) to thank. Brown was a nurse and an entrepreneur: she (along with her husband) invented the first home security system - and one of the first closed-circuit TV systems.
Academia has forced a lot of us to uproot our lives for training - losing our local community and having to build new ones. It can be hard to find your people in a new place, so I’m eternally grateful to have met ppl like
@JasmineKwasa
on the Pittsburgh leg of my journey 🌹
6yrs of grad school + upwards of 10k fruit flies + a few brilliant & helpful collaborators + fancy confocal microscope + supportive friend-shoulders = 1 peer-reviewed manuscript.
In sum: fertility requires suppression of female-specific genes via Chinmo.
Sitting outside at a coffee shop, next to two boys - likely brothers, both under 10 - who biked here and are currently drinking lemonade and laughing about how hard it is to say “cinnamon” ten times fast. Been a rough, rough week, but this wholesome moment made me smile :)
I can’t say how grateful I am to the good citizens of science twitter for so many helpful threads on navigating the academic job market. Your generosity + efforts are not unnoticed, particularly by my list of bookmarked tweets. Thank you, and I promise to pay it forward 🙏🏾🙏🏾
Very grateful to finally visit Columbia/Zuckerman and get to see
@bjmarlin
and
@IshmailSaboor
in action 🤩 special thanks to the Bio Dept and
@thiagoarzua
for hosting me!
(i had such a great time I forgot to take a picture)
To my ppl and their ppl: starting 2/1, this will be a daily Black scientist thread in honor of
#BHM
Stay tuned! Feel free to DM if you think of someone that deserves to be included- if they’re not on my list already I promise to give credit where it’s due!
I’m excited to visit
@IUBloomington
tomorrow and share some of my work with the IU fly community (and beyond)! And especially excited to finally visit the
@FlyOvaryLab
and learn new science tricks 🤗
We are excited to have
@lydiagrmai
from Vasudevan lab
@PittTweet
visit us this week. Dr Grmai will be presenting her work in JDGM on how nutrient sensing in adipose tissue regulates reproductive status. Thank you
@lesleynweaver
for hosting. Join us on 04/04 at 12.30 in BB 009.
Things I’m (you’re) not:
-my failures
-my victories
-my expectations
-anyone else’s expectations
-a quitter
Things I am (you are):
-blessed abundantly
-a fighter
-ever-growing
-fiercely loved
Dr. Marie M. Daly (1921-2003) was an American biochemist; in 1947, she became the first African-American woman to obtain a PhD in Chemistry.
Her thesis described a mechanism by which our bodies digest food - specifically, the action of pancreatic amylase on starch breakdown.
Grantees are recognized for their track record of supporting
#DiversityinSTEM
+ their mentorship of the next generation of biomedical researchers. Learn about their projects ⤵️
Had a great time visiting the Duke fam yesterday! I feel so lucky to get to do science with such brilliant + inspiring people 😁
@KafuiDzirasa
@lransey_phd
First
#BHM
feature is Dr.
@maejemison
. Dr. Jemison is an engineer, a medical physician, and a former astronaut. She notably worked at NASA for 6 years, during which time she became the first Black woman in space on the Space Shuttle Endeavor.
Day 2 of bringing students back on campus
@JohnsHopkins
has included:
many ppl sitting close together unmasked, pulling tables + chairs together for larger groups, no enforcement of distancing measures.
Can’t see anything wrong with this plan...
Oh, the irony of discussing a case study about a woman of color being evaluated negatively in her workplace, and invalidating the perspective of the only woman of color in the breakout group 🙃
BRB, going to calm my nervous system down before I attempt getting back to work…
calling all tenure-track bound folks: come join us for this valuable series! we have some fantastic ppl lined up to share their experiences + advice with you.
see quoted thread for more details and register via QR code on the attached flyer. see you soon 🤗
NAVIGATING FACULTY JOB MARKET: VIRTUAL SERIES! See flyer attached (and thread below) for more info + to register/attend.
JOIN US to get valuable insights and tips! (please retweet + share)
A crucial element of my personal growth has been surrounding myself with visionary people. The kind that see a world that doesn’t exist yet and believe they can (and will) bring it to life. I’ve grown so much as a scientist/educator/mentor because of them.
✨✨✨
Thirty years of manifestation, and it all started with a dream. A heartfelt thank you to Robert Meyerhoff and Freeman Hrabowski for their vision and commitment to raise up diverse leaders in STEM. This is just a fraction of the legacy they created.
#meyerhoff30
For
#BHM
this year, I’m going to post here with daily features of Black scientists, past and present. (Because history is also happening now.)
I have a working features list - if you think of anyone that should be on it, feel free to reply/DM ✨
Stay tuned!
💯
@QuinaScience
is spitting bars in this 🧵. just popping in to challenge the idea that DEI work is a 1-sided exchange. even if someone maintains research is “the most important thing” - we have a lot to learn about how best to recruit and support the ppl doing the research.
I can't let this go. I get very annoyed when established researchers that we ask for support in DEI efforts tell me to make sure I focus on research. That research is the most important thing. This common comment tells me multiple things. A thread (1/9)
To my academic Twitter folks - I have a question! Does anyone know of a resource/database that catalogs URM faculty across the US? Even one that is discipline-specific?
I’ve started a list for myself, but I’d love to know if this exists already. Please RT!
#BLACKandSTEM
Whenever I feel like I can't control anything in my life, I just remember that every time I remember to grab my umbrella when I leave the house, it DOESN'T rain.
So glad to be enriched today by
@PracheeAC
@BeAScientist
@NIGMS
...it’s a stressful time to be a postdoc/junior PI but their wisdom and enthusiasm were inspiring! You two will be valuable resources for years to come 🙏🏽
Check out the recording if you couldn’t make it ⬇️
If you’re going to
#TAGC24
make sure you join us for this Saturday session!
Thanks to
@iam_shef
for her hard work in conceiving/organizing this workshop! And to our fantastic faculty panelists - I am excited to talk science and beyond with
@NeedhiBhalla
😃
I’m not saying this panel didn’t have useful advice.
What I am saying is we can do better than this in 2018 at a conference SOLELY for minority scientists.
If you need suggestions for next year I would love to recommend any of the DOZENS of women/POC scientists I know.
Her thesis described a mechanism by which our bodies digest food - specifically, the action of pancreatic amylase on starch breakdown.
After graduating, she earned numerous fellowships to conduct research at Rockefeller, Columbia, & Einstein, where she was an Assoc. Professor.
Tonight I had dinner with dozens of brilliant, bright-eyed, and inspiring scholars, most of whom are gearing up to start PhD programs. Thinking about the legacy of UMBC and the Meyerhoff Program - global impact, and personal impact - has got me emotional tonight.
Everyone keeps calling this an ice storm, but it looks to me like God was plating transformed bacteria and accidentally knocked over his flask of glass beads
@smileitsjoy
@JSTOR
@DrShardeDavis
The irony of erasing the work of Black academics in an article that recounts historical disregard of a Black academic. I’m sorry. I hope they amend and cite you both.
@JSTOR_daily
Dr. Charles Henry Turner (1867-1923) was a researcher & educator, and the 1st Black scientist to publish in the journal Science. He wrote >40 research articles in a relatively short career + was among the most influential animal behavioral scientists of the early 20th century.
it’s impossible to wrap my mind (or words) around the loss of one of my giants, joel oppenheim. joel had an unmatched ability to see the greatness in others, and create space for us to become the most excellent and truest versions of ourselves.
Dr. Ronald McNair (1950-1986) was an American physicist and NASA astronaut. He earned his PhD in quantum electronics and laser technology from MIT in 1976, after graduating from North Carolina A&T University with his Bachelor’s in 1971.
this moment marks a 14-year dream realized, and i owe a huge thanks to so many people…first, my research mentors for supporting my journeys into new scientific waters at every career stage
@KafuiDzirasa
@Erika_Bach
and twitterless Deepika Vasudevan
1) cerulean has been my favorite crayon since i was 6yo. do it for lil Lyds
2)
#crayonbracket
is a light in the science twitter world. more of this please
Dr. Daly was also dedicated to addressing issues of representation. In 1975, she attended a AAAS conference with 30 minority women scientists to discuss the challenges they face in STEM fields. A year later, they published this report.
She conducted research on a range of topics: hypertension (linking cholesterol/diet to atherosclerosis), nucleic acids & histones, and protein synthesis. Her work was cited as a contributor to the Nobel-winning work that identified the structure of DNA.
What a joy to see DOCTOR Corbett leading the way to a vaccine + educating the people with brilliance + poise!
@KizzyPhD
you are called and equipped to be exactly where you are. You make
@MeyerhoffAlumni
,
@UMBC
, and
@BLACKandSTEM
proud ✊🏾♥️
NIH’s lead scientist for coronavirus vaccine research Kizzmekia Corbett lays out the government’s race to create a vaccine, saying they could be on track to have a vaccine from sequence to the general population within 8 months.
“If I’ve seen further, it’s by standing on the shoulders of giants.” Honored be named w/ these exceptional ppl, many of whom are my own mentors + examples.
Thanks to
@CommOfScholars
and
@phdgprotein86
for this huge effort, + may we continue to uplift each other in excellence 🙏🏾
That feeling when the rest of your dissertation work becomes peer-reviewed literature🙌🏾 Back with more Chinmo magic!
Special thanks to co-first author
@Sneh_Harsh
for her hard work to validate our dataset, and
@Erika_Bach
for making long-distance manuscript prep a smooth ride.
➡️Wanna know how male stem cells lacking Chinmo switch their sex?
We transcriptionally profiled feminizing stem cells...the paper was just published.
Congrats to
@singingshoes21
,
@Sneh_Harsh
, Aryeh Korman and Ishan Deb for their hard work 👏👏👏
Excited to present in
@SocDevBio
virtual seminar today! If you have time, come hear about reproduction and microglia (separately) from me and
@doctor_donn
🔬Register below 🗓
In a very thoughtful place today, on the anniversary of a friend’s passing.
There’s an astounding number of folks who are EXCELLING professionally but are absolutely struggling on the inside-and it’s not a coincidence.
Please check in regularly with your people 🖤
Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson (b. 1946) is a physicist by training and currently serves as the 1st Black (and 1st woman) president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. She is also the 1st Black woman to earn a PhD in Physics from MIT (2nd in the US).
I can assure you that when I order deep-fried *anything*, the last thing I’m concerned about is how much a “healthy” portion consists of. Please keep your academic nutrition advice away from my potatoes.
and an overwhelming number of mentors, friends, family, and colleagues for guidance, camaraderie, letters, happy hours, pep talks, etc. you all stretch WAY past my character limit but your names will always be a part of my story ✨
stay tuned, much more to come!
Our second highlight of the week is Dr. Lydia Grmai! (
@singingshoes21
)
During her graduate studies, Dr. Grmai worked in the lab of Dr. Erika Bach in the Biochemistry & Molecular Pharmacology Department.
If you’re a Black academic, listen to this. We are in this together. Thank you for your example + courage
@bjmarlin
If you’re a non-Black academic, listen to this. The hurt is real and the silence around us is piercing.
excellent advice for junior (and senior) microscopists out there!! so many of my research pursuits started out as a “side” observation during an imaging session. there’s so much biology waiting to be discovered if we pay close enough attention 😍
1. My top imaging trick to trainees is that before they spend any time taking pictures of the data they just sit there for a while & look at the stuff. Like seriously, sit back, crank some tunes, get cozy & spend some quality time with your slides.
@dgonzales1990
That’s too radical for academia right now. Institutions - especially the ones completely devoid of Black faculty - need to start by listening to and valuing the (precious few) Black *colleagues* they already have, their students and postdocs.
If you’ve ever been protected by a home/business security alarm, you have Marie Van Brittan Brown (1922-1999) to thank. Brown was a nurse and an entrepreneur: she (along with her husband) invented the first home security system - and one of the first closed-circuit TV systems.