Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Justine Pinskey, PhD @justinepinskey.bsky.social · Aug 7

Billy Joel plus this cozy corner were the keys to unlock my productivity this morning. Where’s your favorite spot to work?

A table and four chairs nestled in a sunny cafe corner

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Reposted by Justine Pinskey, PhD

Stowers Institute @stowersinstitute.bsky.social · Jul 28

This #MicroscopyMonday is a developing Apple Snail embryo. On the left is the shell, the middle the body & the foot at the bottom. On the right the head with the eye (green circle) & the tentacle bud. (@planaria1.bsky.social lab) #ResearchSky #SciSky

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Reposted by Justine Pinskey, PhD

PLOS Biology @plosbiology.org · Jun 24

From student to researcher, a #career in #science can come with a high price tag. @drcraigmc.bsky.social explores how wealth shapes opportunity in #STEM and proposes structural changes to support #equity and inclusion. 🧪
plos.io/4edGlY4

Too poor to science: How wealth determines who succeeds in STEM

From student to researcher, a career in science can come with a high price tag. This Perspective explores how persistent financial barriers limit who can succeed in science, revealing how wealth shape...

plos.io

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Reposted by Justine Pinskey, PhD

Chris Mah @echinoblog.bsky.social · Jun 24

Big #octocoralFriday news! featuring colleagues from @floridamuseum.bsky.social @corallab.bsky.social @miselab.bsky.social www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/science/worl...

World’s soft coral diversity retains signature of an ancient, vanished sea

It is of vital importance to, on occasion, consider how little we know about the spinning rock we all live on. Take coral reefs, for example. Given how much they’ve been studied, you’d think we’ve lea...

www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu

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Justine Pinskey, PhD @justinepinskey.bsky.social · Jun 24

Sometimes not, but that’s the beauty of it. I save so much time by not fiddling around on the computer until the sketched panels are mostly set!

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Justine Pinskey, PhD @justinepinskey.bsky.social · Jun 24

Yes! I wholeheartedly recommend this method.

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Justine Pinskey, PhD @justinepinskey.bsky.social · Jun 18

On today’s episode of “Things I would like to put in a cryo-electron microscope”… 👀🧪🔬

ᐯIᑕTOᖇ ᑎIᘔET, ᗰᗪ @nizet.bsky.social · Jun 17

STORY ABOUT A BACTERIA GOING VIRAL

Genome of 𝘚𝘶𝘬𝘶𝘯𝘢𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘦𝘶𝘮 𝘮𝘪𝘳𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘦 is so stripped down— just 238,000 bp—that it blurs the line between cell and virus

Encodes just DNA replication, transcription, and translation—no metabolism, no cellular independence

Begs the question: WhAt Is CeLLuLaR LiFe?

Microbe with bizarrely tiny genome may be evolving into a virus

With DNA focused almost entirely on replication, newly discovered organism blurs the line between cells and viruses

www.science.org

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Justine Pinskey, PhD @justinepinskey.bsky.social · Jun 6

Congratulations to Dr. Nandadasa (one of UMass Chan’s rising stars), his research group, and his collaborators! It was such a joy for me to think about cilia and developmental signaling again while helping with this project. Check out the full paper here:
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Justine Pinskey, PhD @justinepinskey.bsky.social · Jun 6

Incredibly, several patient mutations occur exactly on or around this dotted line. Understanding how TMEM67 is split into its two functional forms could explain why its various mutations cause such a wide range of symptoms and provide new directions for therapeutic development.

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Justine Pinskey, PhD @justinepinskey.bsky.social · Jun 6

When TMEM67 is cut at this site, half of the protein goes to the base of the cilium to direct its formation and function. When the protein remains whole, however, it stays at the cell surface to regulate Wnt signaling!

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Justine Pinskey, PhD @justinepinskey.bsky.social · Jun 6

Dr. Nandadasa's team discovered a conserved cut site within TMEM67’s protein sequence – like a dotted line for a pair of molecular scissors (extracellular matrix metalloprotease ADAMTS9 ✂️).

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Justine Pinskey, PhD @justinepinskey.bsky.social · Jun 6

Many proteins “multitask”, simultaneously performing multiple functions within cells. But how exactly do they do this? In a new paper, Dr. Sumeda Nandadasa and his team peer into the secret life of TMEM67, an important protein that regulates both cilia formation and Wnt signaling. 🧪 #cilia

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Reposted by Justine Pinskey, PhD

Carolyn Bertozzi @carolynbertozzi.bskyverified.social · May 11

Lux Capital providing funding opportunities for academic biomedical research aligned with interests 👏

www.luxcapital.com/news/our-hel...

Our Helpline for American Scientists

www.luxcapital.com

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Reposted by Justine Pinskey, PhD

Zebrafish Rock! @zebrafishrock.bsky.social · May 11

High-resolution optical imaging of the meninges within the brain of an adult zebrafish. Credit to @zebrafish007.bsky.social & #WeinsteinLab. #ZebrafishZunday 🧪

Dorsal view of adult zebrafish showing the lymphatic system in the brain and scales. Appearing in three different color combinations.

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Reposted by Justine Pinskey, PhD

Tom Gauld @tomgauld.bsky.social · Apr 28

My latest @newscientist.com cartoon

Title:
SOME GRAMMATICAL VOICES FOR USE IN SCIENTIFIC WRITING

ACTIVE VOICE
e.g.
Our team collected samples and then we tested them.

CLICKBAIT VOICE
e.g.
We collected some samples...
You won't believe what happened next!

PASSIVE VOICE
e.g.
Samples were collected and tested.

HAIKU VOICE
e.g.
Quiet science lab.
Workers arrive with samples.
The testing begins.

PASSIVE-AGGRESSIVE VOICE
e.g. We did all the collecting and testing.
No need to thank us.
Just doing our job.

CONSPIRACY VOICE
e.g.
Mysterious "Samples" were harvested and covertly "tested" by so-called scientists.

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Justine Pinskey, PhD @justinepinskey.bsky.social · Apr 26

Gorgeous shot! I thought this was a painting at first!

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Reposted by Justine Pinskey, PhD

Rachael Ott @rachaelott.bsky.social · Apr 25

For #FluorescenceFriday, a GFP reporter shows nuclei (fire) nestled between lots of lipid droplets in this set of adipocytes 🔬 #Microscopy #CellBiology

Nuclei (fire) and lipid droplets (black; seen by negative staining) are shown in adipocytes.

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Reposted by Justine Pinskey, PhD

Maik Bischoff @maikbischoff.bsky.social · Apr 25

#CellMigration 𝐢𝐧 𝐯𝐢𝐯𝐨!
Excited to share this video on #FluorescenceFriday 🌈
Today as a GIF to circumvent video compression 😅!

Migratory Nascent Myotubes on #Drosophila Testes. Marker: Lifeact-eGFP. Scope: 980 Airyscan (@zeiss-microscopy.bsky.social)

#cellbio #sciart #devbio #science #microscopy

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Justine Pinskey, PhD @justinepinskey.bsky.social · Apr 26

You mean more than 6 times back to back in a single day because your parents weren’t home and you had nothing better to do… right?

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Reposted by Justine Pinskey, PhD

Virginia Schutte @vgwschutte.bsky.social · Apr 23

Just updated the #SciComm community directory on my website! www.virginiaschutte.com/scicomm-comm...

I added a "meet IRL" section that includes @capscicomm.org and 5 groups for folks around England, those lucky ducks

Want me to add a place you hang out? LMK who to get sharing permission from!

Where to find science communication and STEM communities | Virginia Schutte

Where you can find SciComm and identity-based STEM communities online.

www.virginiaschutte.com

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Reposted by Justine Pinskey, PhD

Mark Peifer (He, him) @peiferlabunc.bsky.social · Apr 23

What an incredibly good idea! At UNC alone PhD students come from hundreds of hometowns across the nation. If you're a scientist help your home community see the value of your work & the importance of supporting the next generation of scientists by bring it home to them. Happy to share an example RT

Cornell Advancing Science and Policy Club (ASAP) @cornellasap.bsky.social · Apr 21

Federal research cuts impact local economies, and stall progress.

Publish an opinion piece in your hometown paper on June 16th to SPREAD THE WORD about how scientific research contributes to the everyday health and wealth of the general public.

#McClintockLetters

blogs.cornell.edu/asap/events-...

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Reposted by Justine Pinskey, PhD

Crystal Rogers, PhD @rogerslabucd.bsky.social · Apr 23

Please join us next Monday for this webinar where @ecbrooks96.bsky.social will be talking about a very cool story (with gorgeous images) about the role of cilia in craniofacial development! @isdb.bsky.social @diffjournal.bsky.social

Evan C. Brooks, Ph.D. @ecbrooks96.bsky.social · Mar 17

Excited to be the inaugural speaker for this new seminar series from @diffjournal.bsky.social. I’ll be presenting on work from my PhD thesis focused on the role of cilia in lower jaw development.

Thanks to Loydie Jerome-Majewska, @rogerslabucd.bsky.social, and @uribelab.bsky.social for the invite!

Differentiation Journal @diffjournal.bsky.social · Mar 17

Join us for Biological Differentiation Across the Scales, a free virtual seminar series from Differentiation. Hear from authors and the editors-in-chief as they discuss key research. Stay at the forefront of biological differentiation—register now: www.isdifferentiation.org/Events/Semin... #devbio

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Justine Pinskey, PhD @justinepinskey.bsky.social · Apr 23

Also Luddite!? C’mon NYT!

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Reposted by Justine Pinskey, PhD

Mill_lab @cilialab.bsky.social · Apr 21

🧪TOMORROW 15:00 BST 22/04/2025🧪: gather round for the latest in #cilia & #centrosome research including curious #kinases, co-translational assembly, cilia in #meiosis & spermatogenesis, AND complexes controlling ciliary content from the field's rising talent! Free & open to all... just register!

Mill_lab @cilialab.bsky.social · Apr 15

A week until our 51st @bscb-official.bsky.social @gensocuk.bsky.social @ukcilianetwork.bsky.social UK Cilia and Centrosome Network e-symposium: 15/04/2025 15:00-17:15 BST. Still not registered for the series- join us here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/bscb-genso... Free and open to all! /1

BSCB GenSoc UK Cilia and Centrosome Network e-Symposia Series

www.eventbrite.co.uk

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Reposted by Justine Pinskey, PhD

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

Only 29 slots left out of 200--register now!

Mark Peifer (He, him) @peiferlabunc.bsky.social · Dec 18

Cell and developmental biologists: as you start looking at conferences in 2025, consider joining us at the 2025 Cell Contact & Adhesion GRC. We've assembled a strong and diverse program of speakers at the cutting-edge of science in our field 1/n Please repost
www.grc.org/cell-contact...

Poster for the meeting including speaker list and location

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