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Alyssa Johnson @alyssajohnson.bsky.social · 12d

In our newest paper, we show that expression of a familial natural short sleep mutation in flies extends lifespan through enhanced mitochondrial physiology. First first-author paper for former graduate student Pritika Pandey! @pritika26.bsky.social
@lsuscience.bsky.social @lsu.bsky.social

A familial natural short sleep mutation in dec2 extends healthspan and lifespan in Drosophila

Biological sciences; Genetics; Neuroscience

www.cell.com

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Alyssa Johnson @alyssajohnson.bsky.social · May 17

Congratulations to Dr. Pritika Pandey! 2nd PhD student from the lab and now she is off to do a postdoc at UNC! 🎉 🎓
@lsuscience.bsky.social

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Alyssa Johnson @alyssajohnson.bsky.social · Mar 15

My student’s R36 (which got a great score) doesn’t have a summary statement even though it was reviewed more than 30 days ago. Assuming her SRO and PO are also not on that list but can’t search it anymore. Hasn’t been reassigned either. She has no one to contact, so it’s just in limbo.

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Alyssa Johnson @alyssajohnson.bsky.social · Mar 13

My PO for my MIRA is also not listed even though she is still listed on my eraCommons.

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Alyssa Johnson @alyssajohnson.bsky.social · Mar 2

Is there any information on whether no-cost extensions will even be considered? This could be critical for many labs to keep operations going while we wait for decisions on new awards.

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Alyssa Johnson @alyssajohnson.bsky.social · Feb 27

Have 2 applications assigned to CMAD 👎🏼. Hope they get to re-schedulling these soon. Thanks for your updates!

Reposted by Alyssa Johnson

Cahir O'Kane @cahirokane.bsky.social · Feb 24

This is a useful distinction - generative vs non-generative AI for writing, and how it relates to the writer's own input

Prof Julia Steinberger 🌹🌱🌍 #ClimateAction #Fightfascism @jksteinberger.bsky.social · Feb 23

As promised, here are the slides I shared with students to convince them to NOT use chatGPT and other artificial stupidity.

TL;DR? AI is evil, unsustainable and stupid, and I'd much rather they use their own brains, make their own mistakes, and actually learn something. 🪄

NO CHATGPT Or other artificial stupidity: motivation
First, clarity on distinguishing AIs:
Non-generative: grammar aid, translation, dictionary, text-to-audio (e.g. Natural Reader): no problem
As long as you use the appropriate tools (least intensive in data and server energy use).
Why? Because you provide the content. Your brain is doing the most important work
Generative: ChatGPT & Co.
You only supply the prompt, the AI supplies the content.
Why is this delegation of work problematic?
3 domains: ethical, environmental, intellectual engagement.

(Caveat: generative is probably ok for computer programming, where it can be useful and save time. Not relevant to this class.)

1) AI and ethics
Mass theft of all and everything
«learning» on books, articles, blogs, social media, images, music, cultural production, without permission of authors/creators, and leading to their mass joblessness. Profits are not reditributed to originators.
Permanent destruction of the mental health of underpaid precarious tech workers in the Global South (Kenya, Philippines …):
«correction» to avoid production of violent and pedophile contents etc, tech workers are obliged to watch and correct super violent contents for days on end, leading to extreme psychological suffering and trauma, from which recovery is doubtful. No or little compensation (certainly not at the level of the suffering inflicted).
In short, an industry built on theft of real human creation and sacrifice of real human health, profiting a few megafortunes.

2) AI and (un)sustainability

Massive consumption of electricity, water, server capacity for generative AI.
Outcome: keep fossil fuel companies in business, using up new renewable capacity, without any satisfaction of basic human needs.
Massive misappropriation of the finance necessary for climate and ecological action (renewable generation, efficiency and retrofit for buildings, public transit, infrastructures for cycling etc) towards AI industry.
Overall: undermine climate action, reinforce fossil industry, waste resources necessary for human development.

3) AI and intellectual engagement

First, what learning is (or should be) about:
The goal should not (only) be the reproduction of «correct» knowledge,
But mainly personal engagement and experience of thinking about topics of interest. Personal engagement = using one’s own brain.
The most important activity for learning and intellectual engagement is the experience of making one’s own mistakes, by trial and error, corrections based on new ideas, starting over again. Learning to recognise nuances, knowledge gaps, better explanations
This kind of learning is possible only through using your own brain, not AI.
Also, Ais are not «intelligent». At all.
They simply reproduce pre-existing patterns. They «bullshit», invent false references, false facts, false data, simply because those sound plausible. VERY DANGEROUS.
If you learn how to NOT use AI, and how to research facts and data on your own, this will serve you and your communities for the rest of your life.

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Alyssa Johnson @alyssajohnson.bsky.social · Feb 25

I completely agree. I would rather my students struggle and make mistakes. It’s part of the learning process. I worry that creative thought will decline with so much generative AI.

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Alyssa Johnson @alyssajohnson.bsky.social · Feb 22

Great video explaining indirect costs from the AAU. I shared this with my lab members.

Facilities and Administrative (F&A) Costs Explainer

YouTube video by Association of American Universities

www.youtube.com

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Alyssa Johnson @alyssajohnson.bsky.social · Feb 21

Thanks for the play by play!

Alyssa Johnson @alyssajohnson.bsky.social · Feb 19

Frontiers for Young Minds Nobel Collection: Three new Nobel Prize-winning breakthroughs shared by Laureates with young readers

Frontiers for Young Minds, an award-winning science engagement journal for kids, is proud to share three new articles written by Nobel Prize-winners. These thre

www.frontiersin.org

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Reposted by Alyssa Johnson

Cahir O'Kane @cahirokane.bsky.social · Feb 16

ER - a "neuron within a neuron". Fascinating work on signal spread via the ER in dendrites. Still leaves open the role of ER continuity in axons.

Janelia Research Campus @hhmijanelia.bsky.social · Feb 16

🥼 New research from the Lippincott-Schwartz Lab reveals a novel mechanism for signal transmission in brain cells & helps answer an open question in neuroscience about how intracellular signals travel over long distances in neurons.

From muscle to memory: new research uses clues from the body to understand signaling in the brain

New research led by the Lippincott-Schwartz Lab shows that a network of subcellular structures similar to those responsible for propagating molecular signals that make muscles contract are also respon

www.janelia.org

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Alyssa Johnson @alyssajohnson.bsky.social · Feb 10

I think this is what you were looking for.. even a link to a google sheet with raw data for all states.

What The NIH Cut To Indirect Cost Payments Could Cost Red States

The Trump administration’s decision to cap how much NIH will pay for indirect costs on university research grants would cost 10 red states more than $1 billion.

www.forbes.com

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Alyssa Johnson @alyssajohnson.bsky.social · Feb 8

Our negotiated rate at LSU is 50% (non-medical school in a red state). I think that’s probably standard in most red states too, so 15% is a drastic cut across the board.

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Alyssa Johnson @alyssajohnson.bsky.social · Feb 1

Some good news amidst all the chaos…New paper published in Biology Open! This work was initiated by two undergraduates (Brennan Mercola and Tatiana Villalobos) and completed by graduate students Jocelyn Wood and Ankita Basu!
@biologyopen.bsky.social @lsuscience.bsky.social @lsuresearch.bsky.social

Increased expression of the small lysosomal gene SVIP in the Drosophila gut suppresses pathophysiological features associated with a high-fat diet

Summary: Increasing lysosome activity in the fly midgut offsets negative effects of an obesogenic high-fat diet.

journals.biologists.com

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Reposted by Alyssa Johnson

David W. Sanders! @davidwsanders.bsky.social · Jan 31

Light-activated binding of a protein to tubular lysosomes:

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Reposted by Alyssa Johnson

Prosanta Chakrabarty @prosanta.bsky.social · Jan 29

Are you a graduating undergrad looking for research experience?

Come to @lsu.bsky.social and join @lsulagniappe.bsky.social
Louisiana Graduate Network in Applied Evolution ("LAGNiAppE": a 1-yr research training program for recent college graduates)

Deadline 3/16/25

www.lsu.edu/science/bios...

LSU LAGNiAppE!

www.lsu.edu

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Reposted by Alyssa Johnson

Seungsoo Kim @seungsookim.bsky.social · Jan 20

Hello Bluesky friends! I am a #newPI starting at UC Irvine in April, interested in gene regulation and functional genomics in stem cell models of development (esp neural crest). We are hiring at all levels – please reach out/spread the word! sskimlab.org

Kim Lab at UC Irvine

Visit the post for more.

sskimlab.org

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Reposted by Alyssa Johnson

Science Magazine @science.org · Jan 3

A new study finds ants best humans at tests of collective intelligence.

Learn more: scim.ag/4h2K0ID

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Reposted by Alyssa Johnson

Jalees Rehman @jalees.bsky.social · Dec 8

Misregulation of mitochondrial 6mA promotes the propagation of mutant mtDNA and causes aging in C. elegans

www.cell.com/cell-metabol...

Misregulation of mitochondrial 6mA promotes the propagation of mutant mtDNA and causes aging in C. elegans

Hahn et al. report the presence of 6mA, a DNA modification, on the mitochondrial (mt)DNA of various animal and plant species. Modulating the activity of 6mA enzymatic modifiers implicates 6mA in regulating mtDNA replication and expression and the transmission of mtDNA mutations across generations, ultimately affecting mitochondrial health and organismal lifespan.

www.cell.com

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Reposted by Alyssa Johnson

Women in Autophagy @womeninautophagy.bsky.social · Dec 5

#PaperAlert we bring wonderful news about
@WAutophagy
... our Mericka McCabe and our founders just published a
@NatureCellBio
article explaining the wonders of our Network...don't miss a bit!! With very valuables testimonials of our volunteers...
rdcu.be/d10N6

Women in Autophagy: an initiative to promote gender parity in science

Nature Cell Biology - Scientific questions are universal but the scientific workforce remains skewed, with women and gender minorities still underrepresented. Initiatives such as the Women in...

rdcu.be

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Reposted by Alyssa Johnson

Coleen Murphy @ctmurphy1.bsky.social · Dec 5

My first Bluesky paper post! I’m pleased to announce the publication of our single-nucleus atlas of adult neurons from wild-type and long-lived, better performing insulin receptor (daf-2) mutants, by Jon St. Ange and Yifei Weng et al.DOI: 10.1016/j.xgen.2024.100720

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Reposted by Alyssa Johnson

Christian Frezza @frezzalab.bsky.social · Nov 29

A panoramic view of cell population dynamics in mammalian aging 🧪

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

A panoramic view of cell population dynamics in mammalian aging

To elucidate aging-associated cellular population dynamics, we present PanSci, a single-cell transcriptome atlas profiling over 20 million cells from 623 mouse tissues across different life stages, se...

www.science.org

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