Ashley Albright
@aralbright.bsky.social
i like weird cells and i cannot lie #stentor
#NIHMOSAIC K99/R00 #FirstGen postdoc - @wallaceucsf.bsky.social | NIH #IRACDA Scholar | PhD - Berkeley w/ Mike Eisen | UG UNC Bio
#NIHMOSAIC K99/R00 #FirstGen postdoc - @wallaceucsf.bsky.social | NIH #IRACDA Scholar | PhD - Berkeley w/ Mike Eisen | UG UNC Bio
Pinned
Where does pattern come from inside cells? in this revised preprint, @aralbright.bsky.social
Shows that regionalization of mRNA in a Stentor cell depends on dynein motors and the microtubule cytoskeleton
doi.org/10.1101/2023...
Shows that regionalization of mRNA in a Stentor cell depends on dynein motors and the microtubule cytoskeleton
doi.org/10.1101/2023...
If you like Wallace's blue-torial (what are we calling the tweetorial equivalent over here btw) and are going to ASCB, look out for my talk Tues. Dec 17th on how the microtubule cytoskeleton dictates RNA regionalization in Stentor!
#cellbio2024 #stentor #protist #NIHMOSAIC
#cellbio2024 #stentor #protist #NIHMOSAIC
Reposted by Ashley Albright
Our work on Naegleria Myosin 2 is out!
Naegleria encodes 3 Myo2s which contract its actin network—the first evidence of contractile Myo2 outside of Amorphea.
Myo2 is actually widespread in Naegleria's relatives and correlates with fast cell crawling.
Read more: www.cell.com/current-biol...
Naegleria encodes 3 Myo2s which contract its actin network—the first evidence of contractile Myo2 outside of Amorphea.
Myo2 is actually widespread in Naegleria's relatives and correlates with fast cell crawling.
Read more: www.cell.com/current-biol...
Myosin 2 drives actin contractility in fast-crawling species outside of the amorphean lineage
Myosin 2-dependent actin contractility—the force that powers cell division and migration
in animals, fungi, and other Amorphea—had been previously unknown outside this single
eukaryotic group. Guest e...
www.cell.com
November 17, 2025 at 5:19 PM
Our work on Naegleria Myosin 2 is out!
Naegleria encodes 3 Myo2s which contract its actin network—the first evidence of contractile Myo2 outside of Amorphea.
Myo2 is actually widespread in Naegleria's relatives and correlates with fast cell crawling.
Read more: www.cell.com/current-biol...
Naegleria encodes 3 Myo2s which contract its actin network—the first evidence of contractile Myo2 outside of Amorphea.
Myo2 is actually widespread in Naegleria's relatives and correlates with fast cell crawling.
Read more: www.cell.com/current-biol...
Reposted by Ashley Albright
This kind of inconsistency is often used to lift up a few women without helping all, maintaining misogyny. How many other women, and non-white people, could have had a similar effect given the chance or opportunity? We will never know.
November 8, 2025 at 10:50 PM
This kind of inconsistency is often used to lift up a few women without helping all, maintaining misogyny. How many other women, and non-white people, could have had a similar effect given the chance or opportunity? We will never know.
Reposted by Ashley Albright
See this? This = implanting mouse embryo. Usually this happens inside its mother and is invisible to us, but we can actually watch implantation ex vivo with the hope of understanding why implantation goes awry in embryos of older women. A 🧵...
October 1, 2025 at 6:21 PM
See this? This = implanting mouse embryo. Usually this happens inside its mother and is invisible to us, but we can actually watch implantation ex vivo with the hope of understanding why implantation goes awry in embryos of older women. A 🧵...
when you and your friend @dnamystrom.bsky.social both win awards from @ascbiology.bsky.social MBoC you celebrate with hot pot and nails that match your shirt 😍💅
September 15, 2025 at 3:49 AM
when you and your friend @dnamystrom.bsky.social both win awards from @ascbiology.bsky.social MBoC you celebrate with hot pot and nails that match your shirt 😍💅
Reposted by Ashley Albright
Sharing stories matters. If you’ve faced grant terminations, funding delays, loss of research jobs, etc., your voice is needed. Help show the real impact of NIH funding interference - tell your story so we don’t lose innovation, cures, and hope for the future. www.27unihted.org/biohealthbeats
Biohealth Beats — 27 UNIHTED
www.27unihted.org
September 14, 2025 at 12:30 AM
Sharing stories matters. If you’ve faced grant terminations, funding delays, loss of research jobs, etc., your voice is needed. Help show the real impact of NIH funding interference - tell your story so we don’t lose innovation, cures, and hope for the future. www.27unihted.org/biohealthbeats
I am so grateful to have the opportunity to work with Vincent and @wallaceucsf.bsky.social in the first place, but I am so happy that Vincent and I were awarded Paper of the Year at MBoC 🤩
www.ascb.org/society-news...
www.ascb.org/society-news...
ASCB and MBoC Announce 2025 Paper of the Year Award Winners - ASCB
ASCB and its research journal, Molecular Biology of the Cell (MBoC), are proud to recognize the outstanding scientific achievements of early career researchers through the 2025 Paper of the Year Award...
www.ascb.org
September 10, 2025 at 8:52 PM
I am so grateful to have the opportunity to work with Vincent and @wallaceucsf.bsky.social in the first place, but I am so happy that Vincent and I were awarded Paper of the Year at MBoC 🤩
www.ascb.org/society-news...
www.ascb.org/society-news...
Reposted by Ashley Albright
Here is a word cloud of the words that were missing from the noncompetitive renewal awards but had been present in the parent award.
3/4
3/4
September 9, 2025 at 11:22 PM
Here is a word cloud of the words that were missing from the noncompetitive renewal awards but had been present in the parent award.
3/4
3/4
Reposted by Ashley Albright
What could be more exciting than watching Euplotes scurry around under the microscope? How about adding some raptorial predation by supergiant cannibal cells?
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Video by Vittorio Boscaro.
1/n
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Video by Vittorio Boscaro.
1/n
August 26, 2025 at 8:56 PM
What could be more exciting than watching Euplotes scurry around under the microscope? How about adding some raptorial predation by supergiant cannibal cells?
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Video by Vittorio Boscaro.
1/n
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Video by Vittorio Boscaro.
1/n
Reposted by Ashley Albright
Listed are some of the many NIH research training programs that were terminated! Together, these programs supported thousands of trainees, whose careers are now in limbo. Such a great loss for discovery and innovation. We must protect our next generation of scientists!
#HandsOffNIH #ProtectScience
#HandsOffNIH #ProtectScience
We LOVE our trainees ! From @nihvigils.bsky.social today ❤️❤️
August 25, 2025 at 9:58 PM
Listed are some of the many NIH research training programs that were terminated! Together, these programs supported thousands of trainees, whose careers are now in limbo. Such a great loss for discovery and innovation. We must protect our next generation of scientists!
#HandsOffNIH #ProtectScience
#HandsOffNIH #ProtectScience
Reposted by Ashley Albright
As one can imagine, I have some thoughts. Here’s a thread no one asked for:
1. SCIENCE IN THE US IS POLITICAL. No matter how much you want to ignore that fact, it is supported by taxpayer dollars and is therefore, political by nature.
2. BUT it has had bipartisan support for decades, which…
1. SCIENCE IN THE US IS POLITICAL. No matter how much you want to ignore that fact, it is supported by taxpayer dollars and is therefore, political by nature.
2. BUT it has had bipartisan support for decades, which…
For some scientists fighting partisan attacks, the goal is to defend their work from political interference. But in retaliating, @katherinejwu.com reports, they also run the risk of advancing the narrative that they want to fight.
Scientists Are Caught in a Political Trap
Fighting back against the Trump administration means they start to look more like activists.
bit.ly
August 23, 2025 at 4:15 PM
As one can imagine, I have some thoughts. Here’s a thread no one asked for:
1. SCIENCE IN THE US IS POLITICAL. No matter how much you want to ignore that fact, it is supported by taxpayer dollars and is therefore, political by nature.
2. BUT it has had bipartisan support for decades, which…
1. SCIENCE IN THE US IS POLITICAL. No matter how much you want to ignore that fact, it is supported by taxpayer dollars and is therefore, political by nature.
2. BUT it has had bipartisan support for decades, which…
Reposted by Ashley Albright
I have certainly lost a lot of hope in this process, but it is nice to see some people are still advocating for us. Thanks @jeremymberg.bsky.social
I just sent this email to Director Bhattacharya and am sending him a hard copy by registered mail.
1/14
1/14
August 23, 2025 at 5:13 PM
I have certainly lost a lot of hope in this process, but it is nice to see some people are still advocating for us. Thanks @jeremymberg.bsky.social
I am one of these faces.
I certainly do feel like my life has been turned upside down multiple times this year, but I will always love my #NIHMOSAIC family and I am so glad we have people like @jeremymberg.bsky.social fighting for us ❤️
I certainly do feel like my life has been turned upside down multiple times this year, but I will always love my #NIHMOSAIC family and I am so glad we have people like @jeremymberg.bsky.social fighting for us ❤️
August 23, 2025 at 5:06 PM
I am one of these faces.
I certainly do feel like my life has been turned upside down multiple times this year, but I will always love my #NIHMOSAIC family and I am so glad we have people like @jeremymberg.bsky.social fighting for us ❤️
I certainly do feel like my life has been turned upside down multiple times this year, but I will always love my #NIHMOSAIC family and I am so glad we have people like @jeremymberg.bsky.social fighting for us ❤️
Reposted by Ashley Albright
Throughout this whole saga, I’ve felt the collective agony of being in constant contact with other MOSAIC scholars facing the same shitty fate. I don’t want to downplay the deep solidarity/support, but what I feel most acutely is the wave of grief crashing over hundreds of early-career scientists.
August 21, 2025 at 9:34 PM
Throughout this whole saga, I’ve felt the collective agony of being in constant contact with other MOSAIC scholars facing the same shitty fate. I don’t want to downplay the deep solidarity/support, but what I feel most acutely is the wave of grief crashing over hundreds of early-career scientists.
Reposted by Ashley Albright
Reposted by Ashley Albright
Really important article in the NY Times today about cuts to NIH diversity grants, featuring a profile of Ashley Albright @aralbright.bsky.social who is an amazing and super inspiring cell biology postdoc whose K99 was prematurely terminated.
“If you cut out these diversity measures, you're going to make science full of people that are very elite…Full of people who have grown up with a large amount of privilege, who were able to work in a lab in high school because their dad was a prof at Cornell.” 🧪
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/10/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/10/u...
How Trump’s D.E.I. Cuts Are Hurting Rural White Americans Too
www.nytimes.com
July 10, 2025 at 12:52 PM
Really important article in the NY Times today about cuts to NIH diversity grants, featuring a profile of Ashley Albright @aralbright.bsky.social who is an amazing and super inspiring cell biology postdoc whose K99 was prematurely terminated.
Reposted by Ashley Albright
Still waiting... www.science.org/content/arti...
June 26, 2025 at 8:21 PM
Still waiting... www.science.org/content/arti...
Reposted by Ashley Albright
Read preprints. Cite preprints. Email people and tell them you loved their preprint. Email people you hated their preprint. Embrace preprints, preprints are good.
April 22, 2025 at 7:11 PM
Read preprints. Cite preprints. Email people and tell them you loved their preprint. Email people you hated their preprint. Embrace preprints, preprints are good.
I’ll say that yesterday wasn’t necessarily the happiest birthday I’ve ever had, but I love the solidarity from my friends and @uaw4811.bsky.social
Thank you UAW and thank you to the person that captured this photo of my sign at the rally ❤️
Thank you UAW and thank you to the person that captured this photo of my sign at the rally ❤️
April 9, 2025 at 8:00 PM
I’ll say that yesterday wasn’t necessarily the happiest birthday I’ve ever had, but I love the solidarity from my friends and @uaw4811.bsky.social
Thank you UAW and thank you to the person that captured this photo of my sign at the rally ❤️
Thank you UAW and thank you to the person that captured this photo of my sign at the rally ❤️
To say I’m devastated to lose what I’ve worked SO hard for is an understatement, but I am trying to remind myself of how grateful I am for the community I got from it.
❤️ you ASCB and friends
❤️ you ASCB and friends
The termination of the NIH MOSAIC program is a critical loss. As one of the 5 societies supporting MOSAIC scholars, ASCB remains dedicated to supporting early-career scientists & broadening the biomedical workforce. We'll continue our mentorship & development efforts through the end of the grant.
ASCB Responds to the NIH’s Termination of the MOSAIC Program - ASCB
As one of the five scientific societies funded to provide professional development support through the NIH Maximizing Opportunities for Scientific and Academic Independent Careers (MOSAIC) program, th...
www.ascb.org
April 4, 2025 at 5:07 PM
To say I’m devastated to lose what I’ve worked SO hard for is an understatement, but I am trying to remind myself of how grateful I am for the community I got from it.
❤️ you ASCB and friends
❤️ you ASCB and friends
Reposted by Ashley Albright
I have heard the final goal for overall cuts (external and internal) is higher than this. What are we doing to prepare? It’s clear that most places are not about fighting back, so I hope you have a plan to protect your people and the research that you’ve indicated is critical your mission.
More NIH cuts. It never stops. By @mmolteni.bsky.social www.statnews.com/2025/04/03/n...
Trump administration orders NIH to eliminate $2.6 billion in federal contracts
At a chaotic time, the NIH is given a deadline of April 8 to make a 35% cut in services that may include specimen storage, genetic counseling, and administration.
www.statnews.com
April 3, 2025 at 6:12 PM
I have heard the final goal for overall cuts (external and internal) is higher than this. What are we doing to prepare? It’s clear that most places are not about fighting back, so I hope you have a plan to protect your people and the research that you’ve indicated is critical your mission.
I'm ready to stand up for science and make jokes at @mbeisen.bsky.social's expense at the same time with these buttons 😈
March 6, 2025 at 1:22 AM
I'm ready to stand up for science and make jokes at @mbeisen.bsky.social's expense at the same time with these buttons 😈
Reposted by Ashley Albright
“You can’t spell felon without Elon” - @aralbright.bsky.social
March 5, 2025 at 4:56 AM
“You can’t spell felon without Elon” - @aralbright.bsky.social
Reposted by Ashley Albright
If anyone tells you to "just focus on your science" right now, tell them to fuck off.
Our careers and livelihoods are at risk.
This is not a drill.
Our careers and livelihoods are at risk.
This is not a drill.
My first NIH proposal was supposed to be scored at a study section yesterday. But that didn't happen.
And I'm left wondering how to "just keep doing science" as the entire rulebook gets thrown out and I run out of money this summer. #NewPI
And I'm left wondering how to "just keep doing science" as the entire rulebook gets thrown out and I run out of money this summer. #NewPI
February 19, 2025 at 5:52 PM
If anyone tells you to "just focus on your science" right now, tell them to fuck off.
Our careers and livelihoods are at risk.
This is not a drill.
Our careers and livelihoods are at risk.
This is not a drill.
Reposted by Ashley Albright
The expiration date for the MOSAIC program was updated to today 😞: www.grants.gov/search-resul...
January 30, 2025 at 8:13 PM
The expiration date for the MOSAIC program was updated to today 😞: www.grants.gov/search-resul...