Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Aaron Straight @astraight.bsky.social · Aug 18

@currentbiology.bsky.social has always been one of my favorite journals but I think they have now outdone themselves www.cell.com/current-biol.... And picked up by the @nytimes.com as well! www.nytimes.com/2025/08/18/s...

Periodic excretion patterns of seabirds in flight

Uesaka and Sato report on the excretion patterns of seabirds in the open ocean determined using a rear-facing video logger.

www.cell.com

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Aaron Straight @astraight.bsky.social · Jun 20

New preprint from Kelsey Fryer in the lab using ChAR-seq to identify RNAs that are bound to human centromeres. Lots of surprises! #centromere #RNA www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

www.biorxiv.org

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Aaron Straight @astraight.bsky.social · Jun 17

Had the privilege of hooding 5 new PhD grads @stanfordbiosci.bsky.social this weekend including my student Kelsey Fryer! Good day for science.

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Reposted by Aaron Straight

Carolyn Bertozzi @carolynbertozzi.bskyverified.social · Jun 10

“You can get a other job, but you cannot get another soul”.

Dr. Lucky Tran @luckytran.com · Jun 9

"We are speaking on behalf of hundreds of NIH staff who are standing up together to say: WE DISSENT.

I am so scared about doing this but I am trying to be brave for my kids because it's only gonna get harder to speak up."

Thank you to Dr. Jenna Norton and NIH scientists for your courage!

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Aaron Straight @astraight.bsky.social · May 12

Our most recent Synthetic Biology for Sustainability symposium was a great success. Lots of excellent ideas and creative approaches to sustainability. And a wonderful group of scientists too! Check here for more info on our Syn Bio efforts (sb.stanford.edu)

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Polly Fordyce @pollyfordyce.bsky.social · May 12

Are you a postdoc/grad student preparing to launch a faculty search? Do you have a track record of excellence in research, leadership, mentorship & community engagement? Apply to the 2025 Next Generation Faculty Symposium: www.berkeleystanfordnextgensymposium.com! Pls repost! (1/3)

Stanford.Berkeley.UCSF Next Generation Faculty Symposium

www.berkeleystanfordnextgensymposium.com

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Reposted by Aaron Straight

Volodya Gelfand; Northwestern University @vgelfand.bsky.social · May 8

Our paper on the role of “mitotic” kinesin Eg5 in neuron development has been published in Development (see journals.biologists.com/dev/article-...). A great work by Wen Lu and colleagues!

‘Mitotic’ kinesin-5 is a dynamic brake for axonal growth in Drosophila

Summary: Kinesin-5 modulates microtubule sliding in neurons, acting as a brake to ensure precise axon pathfinding during Drosophila neuronal development.

journals.biologists.com

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Aaron Straight @astraight.bsky.social · Apr 23

This is an amazing opportunity for post-docs, students, faculty search committees and anyone interested in exciting science! Check out the www.berkeleystanfordnextgensymposium.com and apply today.

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Reposted by Aaron Straight

MIT Press @mitpress.bsky.social · Apr 8

We're disappointed to see Ben Barres's powerful book "The Autobiography of a Transgender Scientist" among the ~400 titles removed from the Naval Academy Library. Needless to say, we're proud to have published his book and will keep it — and his memory — alive.

The Coming Out of a Transgender Scientist

"I know that I am making the right decision because whenever I think about changing my gender role, I am flooded with feelings of relief."

thereader.mitpress.mit.edu

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Aaron Straight @astraight.bsky.social · Mar 27

I am honored and humbled to be elected as a AAAS fellow (www.aaas.org/news/aaas-we...) with such great colleagues here at Stanford (news.stanford.edu/stories/2025...) and abroad. It really drives home the amazing nature of our scientific community. Special thanks to @dutcherlab.bsky.social's support

AAAS Welcomes 471 Scientists and Engineers as Honorary Fellows | American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

The American Association for the Advancement of Science, one of the world’s largest general scientific societies and publisher of the Science family of journals, announces the 2024 class of AAAS Fello...

www.aaas.org

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Reposted by Aaron Straight

Carolyn Bertozzi @carolynbertozzi.bskyverified.social · Mar 27

We are seeking to hire a lab tech, this is an HHMI funded position, please share the job posting:

hhmi.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/Extern...

Lab Administration Research Technician- Bertozzi Lab

Primary Work Address: Beckman Center, Stanford, CA, 94305-5323 Current HHMI Employees, click here to apply via your Workday account. We are currently looking for a highly motivated Lab Administration ...

hhmi.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com

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Reposted by Aaron Straight

Maureen Barr @barrlab.bsky.social · Mar 18

me, as a senior PI: US science as we know it may be ending? Review these cool manuscripts? Serve on these grant review panels? Yes! All in! Going down in a blaze of glory!

Jacob Schreiber @jmschreiber91.bsky.social · Mar 18

undergrad PI: i'm always so busy... don't agree to do too many things!

grad PI: i'm always so busy... don't agree to do too many things!

post-doc PI: i'm always so busy... don't agree to do too many things!

me, as a PI: what's this? new things? i'd love to!

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Reposted by Aaron Straight

Nathan Gamarra Ph.D. @ngamarra.bsky.social · Mar 14

I am proud to share my first preprint working with @naltemose.bsky.social, where we redesign DiMeLo-seq from the ground up. Thankful for the help and input of collaborators in @astraight.bsky.social and Aaron streets’ lab at Berkeley. More to come soon!

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

DiMeLo-cito: a one-tube protocol for mapping protein-DNA interactions reveals CTCF bookmarking in mitosis

Genome regulation relies on complex and dynamic interactions between DNA and proteins. Recently, powerful methods have emerged that leverage third-generation sequencing to map protein-DNA interactions...

www.biorxiv.org

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Aaron Straight @astraight.bsky.social · Mar 12

Wonderful visit to @hutchbasicsci.bsky.social today and thanks to @yarimura.bsky.social for hosting and dinner with the always entertaining @suebiggins.bsky.social and @harmitmalik.bsky.social. A day discussing science with amazing people is unbeatable.

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Reposted by Aaron Straight

Dr. Ahna Skop @ahnaskop.bsky.social · Mar 8

Another fave

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Aaron Straight @astraight.bsky.social · Mar 5

looks like the Santa Cruz mountains! Welcome to California ❤️

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Aaron Straight @astraight.bsky.social · Feb 27

Wanted to share this story about my colleague Bryant Lin. We’re working together on bringing art and science together but his story runs much deeper. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/26/u...

When This Stanford Professor Got Cancer, He Decided to Teach a Class About It

Dr. Bryant Lin, who teaches medicine at Stanford University, was given a terminal diagnosis. He wanted his students to understand the humanity at the core of medicine.

www.nytimes.com

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Aaron Straight @astraight.bsky.social · Feb 25

This is what they mean when they say person skilled in the art. You've got to streak a lot of colonies to get to this level. Not surprised its from Bonnie Brewer 👑 #yeast #toothpick

Maitreya Dunham @maitreya.bsky.social · Feb 25

Microbiologists, check out this genius trick for orienting flat toothpicks that comes from the legendary Beth Jones by way of Bonny Brewer. Video taken by my lab manager, Emily.

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Reposted by Aaron Straight

Stand Up for Science! @standupforscience.bsky.social · Feb 24

People keep asking us: “Why are early-career scientists organizing Stand Up for Science?”

Because early-career scientists—especially those from underrepresented backgrounds—are getting hit the hardest.

Our futures—and the future of science itself—are on the line.

🧵 ⬇️

Science Magazine @science.org · Feb 24

“There’s going to be a missing age class of researchers that will reverberate for years.” scim.ag/3ERRLDo

U.S. early-career researchers struggling amid chaos

Uncertain funding, government firings, and distressed universities hit vulnerable groups especially hard

scim.ag

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Reposted by Aaron Straight

Mark Peifer (He, him) @peiferlabunc.bsky.social · Feb 21

Ok scientists & those who love science 🧪: here is another exhortation. Call Congress TODAY about the freeze on NIH Council Meetings and Study Sections. Emphasize that this means NO new grants are being funded & labs will soon start to shut down and fire employees. Phone numbers are at:
5calls.org

5 Calls

Spend 5 minutes. Make 5 calls. Make your voice heard.

5calls.org

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Reposted by Aaron Straight

Monther Abu-Remaileh @abu-remaileh.bsky.social · Feb 18

Honored be named a #SloanFellow! Grateful to my amazing team @stanford-chemh.bsky.social —this wouldn’t be possible without them.

Alfred P. Sloan Foundation @sloanfoundation.bsky.social · Feb 18

🎉Congrats to the 126 early-career scientists who have been awarded a Sloan Research Fellowship this year! These exceptional scholars are drawn from 51 institutions across the US and Canada, and represent the next generation of groundbreaking researchers. sloan.org/fellowships/...

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Aaron Straight @astraight.bsky.social · Feb 20

Way to go Brian and @arcinstitute.org!!

Brian Hie @brianhie.bsky.social · Feb 19

We trained a genomic language model on all observed evolution, which we are calling Evo 2.

The model achieves an unprecedented breadth in capabilities, enabling prediction and design tasks from molecular to genome scale and across all three domains of life.

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Reposted by Aaron Straight

Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · Feb 19

Very important to get this word out!

Angie Voyles Askham @avaskham.bsky.social · Feb 18

I just covered this for @thetransmitter.bsky.social — will keep following! www.thetransmitter.org/funding/fede...

Federal Register hold makes ‘end run’ around court pause on NIH funding freeze

www.thetransmitter.org

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Reposted by Aaron Straight

Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · Feb 18

"This feels like the early days of the pandemic, except there's less I can do about it", a colleague told me yesterday. Yep.

One thing you *can* do is outreach. My sense is that the majority of the country doesn't yet understand the scale or the stakes of what is happening.

We have to tell them:

CantlonLab @cantlonlab.bsky.social · Feb 18

Join us! Science Homecoming helps scientists reconnect with communities by writing about the importance of science funding in their hometown newspapers. We’ve mapped every small newspaper in the U.S. and provide resources to get you started. Help science get back home 🧪🔬🧬 🏠

sciencehomecoming.com

Science Homecoming

sciencehomecoming.com

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Aaron Straight @astraight.bsky.social · Feb 15

@stanfordbiochem.bsky.social is looking for a communications and faculty affairs manager. See job ad here careersearch.stanford.edu/jobs/communi...

Communications and Faculty Affairs Manager in School of Medicine, Stanford, California, United States

We are seeking a Communications and Faculty Affairs Manager to join our team and lead our efforts to implement, manage, and administer our department....

careersearch.stanford.edu

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