Natalie, PhD
@current-hypothesis.bsky.social
740 followers 710 following 850 posts
Probably some kind of doctor
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current-hypothesis.bsky.social
I have a raging fever so now's a great time for that Bsky intro I've procrastinated on:

Hi! I'm Natalie, and I'm a PhD in synthetic biology. I build biotech startups and help others build them. I love to cook, bake, forage, hike, backpack, and autocross. Also, mentally compose essays I never write.
current-hypothesis.bsky.social
...where do people think the spelling correction and autocomplete when typing in their phone comes from... ಠ⁠︵⁠ಠ
current-hypothesis.bsky.social
Oh I meant getting the PI to read your manuscript bit! 😂 Mine didn't get to revising our last manuscript until nearly a year after I finished...and I was backpacking in Asia.

Though it sounds like Fred Ramsdell IS living his best life in retirement and I'm quite jelly.
current-hypothesis.bsky.social
Somehow applies, even when you saw them in the office yesterday and they were asking about the results for experiments XYZ.
current-hypothesis.bsky.social
I can confirm the veracity of this statement.
luckytran.com
when you try and get your PhD advisor to review your manuscript 😂
Nobel committee unable to reach prize winner who is ‘living his best life’ hiking off grid

Fred Ramsdell was among those honoured with a 2025 Nobel Prize in Medicine but might not know because he is somewhere in Idaho and uncontactable
current-hypothesis.bsky.social
We need to find a journal editor that will publish this
current-hypothesis.bsky.social
Undergrad and grad #chemistry students, Merck now has applications open for 2026 internships and co-ops in their Future Talent Program!

Includes discovery, process, chembio,
and computational roles.

One of the directors compiled a list here: www.linkedin.com/pos...

#chemsky
#internship #co #chemistry #merck #merckchemistry #futuretalentprogram #ftp2026 | Nunzio Sciammetta
Merck is hiring 2026 interns & co‑ops across Chemistry disciplines (organic synthesis, enabling technologies, analytical, computational modeling, chemoinformatics, chemical biology, and more) into the Future Talent Program. Below are links to current openings. Please review the job descriptions carefully and apply to the role that best matches your scientific interests and skills. Quick tips: tailor your resume/cover letter to the specific role, highlight relevant techniques/projects, scientific interests, coursework, and hands‑on practical skills, and apply early. Discovery and Process Chemistry Intern: https://lnkd.in/e32PwK7b Discovery and Process Chemistry Co-op: https://lnkd.in/epy5cDSU Chemical Biology Intern: https://lnkd.in/ejE46Qid Protein & Structural Chemistry: https://lnkd.in/eJfaG9Ti Computational Modeling & Informatics: https://lnkd.in/eWsEx2x2 Discovery Sample Management Analytical Chemistry intern: https://lnkd.in/epqm58ea Discovery Sample Management Automation intern: https://lnkd.in/ePwvueYQ DPTM Operations Intern: https://lnkd.in/eVxqtz-2 Chemical Engineering Research & Development Intern: https://lnkd.in/eAae4i2K Chemical Biotechnologies Intern: https://lnkd.in/eUpyuewv Chemical Biotechnologies Co-Op: https://lnkd.in/e4JgtGC2 Data Rich Experimentation Intern: https://lnkd.in/epwNDnG8 Analytical Research & Development Intern: https://lnkd.in/e3rhrNVM Analytical Research & Development Co-Op: https://lnkd.in/e49Gupg8 #internship #co‑op #chemistry #Merck #MerckChemistry #FutureTalentProgram #FTP2026
www.linkedin.com
Reposted by Natalie, PhD
chasingmicrobes.bsky.social
The rhetoric we see daily is dangerous. The world has seen it before. It is what our parents/grandparents/ great-grandparents warned us about.
The previous "War Department" made films about it.
My only wish is all Americans could watch it and remember.

As they warned– "Don't be a sucker"

Video:
The online portal to the records held at the National Archives, and information about those records.
catalog.archives.gov
Reposted by Natalie, PhD
jomcinerney.bsky.social
OK, here it is. Come work with me at the University of Liverpool making ALL THE AI models from ALL THE prokaryote pangenome data. Heck, we will make models from ALL the pangenomes, even eukaryotes!!! (link below👇) 1/4
current-hypothesis.bsky.social
Biosecurity used to be something we worried about mostly for state actors and well-resourced orgs (e.g., Aum Shinrikyo).

But new protein design technologies and LLMs do seem to be lowering that bar. It's good to see industry policies filling the void but not sure how long this will work...
current-hypothesis.bsky.social
So this exists, and I'm somehow only 1 month late in knowing about it.
iss-piss-tracker.bsky.social
🧵 FAQ:

Q: What even is this?
This account tracks the live level of the urine tank on the International Space Station.

Q: So it's, like, real? Live? Right now?
Yes.
current-hypothesis.bsky.social
To be fair, the first idiot probably had at least some plausible degree of ignorance about the cave's fatality. Unlike the last one.
current-hypothesis.bsky.social
Oh, that will probably go poorly.

It's not an exact apples to apples comparison, but this happened in biotech 2018-2021. PE/late stage VC pushed preclinical biotechs onto public markets, supposedly to cash out funds. Later, most of these biotechs' valuations collapsed to 1/10 the value or worse.
current-hypothesis.bsky.social
Ok, yes, this makes WAY more sense than "all capital is actually going to OpenAI."
current-hypothesis.bsky.social
I've been told by older entrepreneurs that #2 happened during the 2008 financial crisis and it was a giant disaster for startups.

Basically VCs called their LPs for capital to invest, and the LPs just said no, and it all fell apart.
current-hypothesis.bsky.social
Two ways, off the top of my head:

1) a lot of startups with specialized AI apps call chatGPT/claude/etc on backend. Poof, their goes their operating capability

2) If/when the bubble bursts, funding might dry up entirely for not just tech, but all startups. Like, capital calls will be refused.
current-hypothesis.bsky.social
I tried clicking through to the newsletter and was deterred by the long word count, but did read the part around the quote and think it's rhetorical, though the bolded sentence at the end is what made me go "wait what."

And yes, OpenAI going down can DEFINITELY still a lot of damage to tech.
current-hypothesis.bsky.social
I'm supposed to be asleep, so I searched for the clipped part and tried to read around that for context.

It looks like it is in support of my thinking - OpenAI is spending way too fast and can't meet expectations. I don't think Sakoda's quote is meant in the context of the whole VC ecosystem.
current-hypothesis.bsky.social
For one, many VCs would not consider OpenAI/Anthropic as investments because they are non in-thesis. They are in the wrong stage, wrong industry, not aligned with investor expertise.

Second: 'VCs running out of money' doesn't make much sense. They would just raise more in a new fund.
current-hypothesis.bsky.social
Hi, sorry to drop in here unasked but I don't think this makes sense. I work in bio/tech startups.

I think Sakoda is criticizing concentration of investment in OpenAI and Anthropic, and their tremendous burn rate.

Not "so much VC funding is allocated to them that VCs will literally run out of $."
current-hypothesis.bsky.social
I work in startups (in tech and bio) and maybe I'm missing context but this doesn't make sense.

Most VCs (by individual shops, not sure about dollars) aren't invested in OpenAI and for many it wouldn't be in thesis.

The snippet seems to be more calling out egregious capital burn rate of OpenAI?
Reposted by Natalie, PhD
post-doc-club.bsky.social
Great news!
JSTOR now have a free account with an Independent Researcher category. You can access 100 documents per month

www.jstor.org/action/showL...