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Eric J. Perkins, PhD (he/him) @allostericsite.bsky.social · 1d

My thanks to the @bostonglobe.com for reporting on this story and giving me a new life goal.

Picture shows an older couple sitting next to each other at the base of the John Harvard stature. Headline reads: A couple was booted from a Boston concert after they couldn't prove they were of legal drinking age. They are 64 and 70.

Further text reads:
A late summer evening concert at Bowery Presents was supposed to be the culmination of their weeklong vacation in Boston.

But the couple, aged 64 and 70, were kicked out of the venue for drinking without ID proving they were over 21.

Eric J. Perkins, PhD (he/him) @allostericsite.bsky.social · 1d

Apropos of anything this administration (esp. RFK Jr.) says, one of my favorite song lyrics is from Built to Spill's song "Big Dipper":

🎵Jack thought it twice and thought that that had made it true
Some brains just work that way; that's what chemicals can do🎶

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Eric J. Perkins, PhD (he/him) @allostericsite.bsky.social · 2d

I pointed out to our product designer that I thought it was kind of crazy that Claude (an AI tool) has a logo that basically looks like a butthole. He said I was certainly not the first person to notice: velvetshark.com/ai-company-l...

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Eric J. Perkins, PhD (he/him) @allostericsite.bsky.social · 2d

This is how I talk to my wife and kids about Pokemon (they are all avid Pokemon GO players, whereas I am decidedly not). Nothing quite as satisfying as their eye rolls when I tell them I just caught a shiny Flomdodippydonkus.

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Eric J. Perkins, PhD (he/him) @allostericsite.bsky.social · 2d

I like the Slack Donut app that schedules short chats with co-workers you don't normally spend a lot of time with, but I do NOT like it proposing to have coffee at 5 on a Friday. It might as well say "Let's make sure your colleague gets to talk with the absolute worst, most tired version of you."

Screen shot of a Slackbot that says "To help make this meeting happen, a calendar event was created for Friday, October 10th at 5:00PM"

Eric J. Perkins, PhD (he/him) @allostericsite.bsky.social · 4d

I’ve been doing #inktober2025 (despite my lack of drawing skillz), and I just want to point out that in today’s sketch (prompt: starfish), I made sure Patrick’s torn appendage included a section of his central disk. You know, for biological accuracy.

Patrick Star with an arm torn off. The arm has its own face. Caption reads “Patrick makes a new friend…the hard way.”

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Eric J. Perkins, PhD (he/him) @allostericsite.bsky.social · 8d

Alas, no. But perhaps my son, studying astrophysics in college, will have interesting things to say about plasmoids at some point. But plasmids are cool, too!

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Eric J. Perkins, PhD (he/him) @allostericsite.bsky.social · 8d

Really? Amazing. I love it when my passions collide like this. Your daughter is just immensely talented!

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Eric J. Perkins, PhD (he/him) @allostericsite.bsky.social · 8d

I’ve been casually enjoying John O’Connor’s “The Secret History of Bigfoot”, but today I read the sentence “Dudes, let it be said that the joys of human fellowship can seriously harsh my mellow.” And now I feel very seen.

Cover of the book The Secret History of Bigfoot, by John O’Connor.

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Eric J. Perkins, PhD (he/him) @allostericsite.bsky.social · 8d

With an administration that apparently hates both science and women, my drinking glasses feel pretty friggin’ punk rock right now.

Four pint glasses featuring the women scientists Henrietta Swan Leavitt, Marie Curie, Alice Ball, and Mary Anning.

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Eric J. Perkins, PhD (he/him) @allostericsite.bsky.social · 8d

Makes total sense! I was really pleased that my committee member read it so closely, because after years of work and months of writing, you’re lucky if half a dozen people read your thesis. And some of those reads will be a perusal at best.

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Eric J. Perkins, PhD (he/him) @allostericsite.bsky.social · 8d

"Back in my day..." one of my committee members read my thesis so closely that he corrected have a dozen typos, some of them in the Materials and Methods section.

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Eric J. Perkins, PhD (he/him) @allostericsite.bsky.social · 9d

"I'm sorry I keep hitting the "Fasten seat belts" button, okay? These things have a mind of their own and tentacle #7 is a real wise guy."

Eric J. Perkins, PhD (he/him) @allostericsite.bsky.social · 9d

These plasmids from @promegacorporation.bsky.social are exceptional new offerings from Addgene for a few reasons:
- Since there is no MTA, they are available to industry customers (joining an ever-growing catalog subset: www.addgene.org/industry/)
- They are available in a DNA format!

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Eric J. Perkins, PhD (he/him) @allostericsite.bsky.social · 11d

This morning I participated in a meeting of school district PTO/PTA presidents and co-presidents with our superintendent. It may surprise no one that of 12 participants, I was the only dad in the room.

Fellow dads, let's not leave all this work up to the moms.

belmontvoice.org/generations-...

Generations: Two Lies and a Truth about Parent-Teacher Groups

More than a decade ago, I had a coworker with an older child warn me to never attend a meeting of the Parent Teacher Organization/Association (I’m just going to call them PTAs from here on out). “They...

belmontvoice.org

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Reposted by Eric J. Perkins, PhD (he/him)

Addgene @addgene.bsky.social · 18d

Cool science alert! A plasmid encoding a photodegradable hydrogel-forming protein called PhoCoil. Find it here:
https://twp.ai/4iqKMK
@coledeforest.bsky.social

Addgene: PhoCoil

Plasmid PhoCoil from Dr. Cole DeForest's lab contains the insert PhoCoil and is published in Sci Adv. 2025 Aug 29;11(35):eadx3472. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adx3472. Epub 2025 Aug 27. This plasmid is available through Addgene.

twp.ai

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Eric J. Perkins, PhD (he/him) @allostericsite.bsky.social · 19d

The best was when my mom said her maiden name, Gobillot (pronounced Gob-ill-oh), in this language: Gobobobillobot

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Eric J. Perkins, PhD (he/him) @allostericsite.bsky.social · 20d

My late mom would sometimes speak to my sister and me in a made-up language of her youth called “Ob”, which consisted of putting “ob” in front of every syllable in a word.

This is how my sister addressed her birthday card to me this year. I’m 49, and my Ob name still makes me smile.

The hand-written name “Oberobic Poberkobins”

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Eric J. Perkins, PhD (he/him) @allostericsite.bsky.social · 21d

Thank you! I am currently sitting outside my favorite bookstore, drinking a fru-fru, sickenly sweet coffee drink, reading a charming book. As good as it gets, really.

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Eric J. Perkins, PhD (he/him) @allostericsite.bsky.social · Sep 9

Hmmm...I usually link to my @bandcamp.com page (bandcamp.com/drperky), but I should consider a YouTube playlist.

Eric Perkins' collection | Bandcamp

Alternative • 1365 collection items • 47 followers

bandcamp.com

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Eric J. Perkins, PhD (he/him) @allostericsite.bsky.social · Sep 9

It's just such a relief that cities like Dallas and Miami, with their Republican mayors, do not have any crime to speak of and therefore don't need this government intervention.😒

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Eric J. Perkins, PhD (he/him) @allostericsite.bsky.social · Sep 9

She's getting off easy if it's just spit.

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Eric J. Perkins, PhD (he/him) @allostericsite.bsky.social · Sep 9

Folks here know that I take parkour class, climb, and go see a lot of bands that most people my age have never heard of, all of which contributes to my young-at-heart rep. My dad is 80 and is also frequently mistaken for someone 15 years younger, so I guess immaturity runs in the family😆

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Eric J. Perkins, PhD (he/him) @allostericsite.bsky.social · Sep 9

My direct report (~30yo) expressed disbelief when I told her I was turning 49 next week. She said she assumed I was in my "early 40s". She doesn't strike me as a kiss-up, so I am going take this win today.

a man with long hair is sitting in front of a microphone and saying `` you don 't look a day over fabulous ''

Alt: a man with long hair is sitting in front of a microphone and saying `` you don 't look a day over fabulous ''

media.tenor.com

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Eric J. Perkins, PhD (he/him) @allostericsite.bsky.social · Sep 8

Yes, I've been out of grad school a long time, but I owe a lot to my PhD supervisor, Dale Ramsden. Big congrats to Dale on this well-deserved award (and I was pleasantly surprised my own ATM/V(D)J recombination research was mentioned in this article!). unclineberger.org/news/ramsden...

Ramsden receives Battle Award for groundbreaking genome stability research - UNC Lineberger

Dale Ramsden, PhD, was presented with the Battle Award for his research on how cells repair DNA double-strand breaks, a critical process for maintaining genome stability and preventing cancer-causing ...

unclineberger.org

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