Brendan Harley
@profharley.bsky.social
3K followers 2.8K following 320 posts
#blacklivesmatter | #translivesmatter | 🍉 Harvard & MIT trained bioengineer Professor @ U. Illinois & Cancer Center at Illinois health | society | Imagination & discovery Partner @kateclancy.bsky.social | runner | dad | nerd
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profharley.bsky.social
George Floyd. Breonna Taylor. Ahmaud Arbery. Deeply ingrained, systemic racism is responsible for an incalculable loss & horrific suffering in our communities. I must do better. Listening, amplifying, celebrating, supporting, fighting. #BlackLivesMatter
Reposted by Brendan Harley
tressiemcphd.bsky.social
The real news in this is the first sentence. “It is not exactly clear what UNC plans to use the faculty workload report for…”

I would argue that it is very clear. I have, in fact, argued that it is very clear.
profharley.bsky.social
#BMES2025

I love sitting in the conference hall watching trainees rehearse their talks. Sitting in alcoves or off to the side. Watching the next generation *work* at their craft & practice how they want to engage their audience is a constant reminder of the good the next generation will bring.
profharley.bsky.social
Check out the fantastic #harleylab research at #bmes2025! See you in San Diego
Harley lab BMES presentation schedule
Reposted by Brendan Harley
jamellebouie.net
thank you brett kavanaugh!
dlknowles.bsky.social
Good reporting on the South Shore raid from South Side weekly here.

Confirms one thing I was told but didn't put in my own piece because I didn't have a second source and it seemed too insane: border agents segregated arrested residents by race

southsideweekly.com/federal-agen...
Federal Agents Storm South Shore Building, Detaining Families and Children
Families were woken by flashbangs and helicopters as hundreds of federal agents raided their homes. Days later, neighbors are still searching for the missing.
southsideweekly.com
profharley.bsky.social
Two days! See you all Wednesday! #bmes2025
profharley.bsky.social
#BMES2025 is next week. I'm looking forward to great science 🧪 & colleagues.

Please check out this off-site reception Wed 10/8! There are many events, but please join us (the whole time or even for 20min). Free food & drinks. Short walk from Conv Center. 🏳️‍⚧️🌈

Please share & DM me for the location!
Flyer announcing lgbtqia+ reception
profharley.bsky.social
Also... is that ICE guy wearing Vans?
profharley.bsky.social
Me: "Illinois is a 2-party consent state. Not sure how you get around wearing them in a place of work, much less an educational space"

Also Me: STARES DIRECTLY AT MY BOSS
profharley.bsky.social
Go get your vaccine, please!
luckytran.com
You’ll now be able to get an updated coronavirus shot in every state without a prescription, according to the American Pharmacists Association.

CVS and Walgreens have stated you won’t need to attest to any underlying conditions and the questions will be removed from their online booking system.
Reposted by Brendan Harley
choo.bsky.social
“The Empire is strong because it recognizes the value in all our people. Including you, Dinios Kol. And when the Empire is weak, it is often because a powerful few have denied us the abundance of our people.”

The Tainted Cup, by Robert Bennett

Art has so much truth for us in every era.
Reposted by Brendan Harley
newseye.bsky.social
NEW: Extraordinary scenes in Amsterdam this afternoon (Sunday, Oct 5).

An estimated 250,000 bring the city to a standstill; people all wearing red to show solidarity with Palestine 🇵🇸

(🎥 Ahmed Zantac)
profharley.bsky.social
Cool collaborative effort. Great work started by ex-PhDs Dr Raul Sun Han Chang and Dr Kyle TImmer and led to the end by current grad student Genesis Rios Adorno

Plus many thanks to funding from #NIH #NIAMS
profharley.bsky.social
This gave us flexibility for initial enzymatic crosslinking so we could incorporate aminated gelatin into a biomaterial interface for rotator cuff repair.

We also control ratio of amines and carboxylic acid groups for a secondary crosslinking rxn to separate fabrication and mechanical tuning.
profharley.bsky.social
TLDR: Many of us use thiolation rxns to crosslink gelatin hydrogels. A challenge is that gelatin natively has lots of carboxylic acid groups but only a small fraction of amines that can be thiolated. So we used an amination process to increasingly convert carboxylic acid to amines.
Reposted by Brendan Harley
profharley.bsky.social
#BMES2025 is next week. I'm looking forward to great science 🧪 & colleagues.

Please check out this off-site reception Wed 10/8! There are many events, but please join us (the whole time or even for 20min). Free food & drinks. Short walk from Conv Center. 🏳️‍⚧️🌈

Please share & DM me for the location!
Flyer announcing lgbtqia+ reception
Reposted by Brendan Harley
mollyjongfast.bsky.social
The Democrats need to empower messengers that the establishment is scared of, people who don’t delight megadonors. Democrats need to stake their claims on a set of strong beliefs, and see if Americans will follow. They need to stop being lawyerly and timid.
profharley.bsky.social
#BMES2025 is next week. I'm looking forward to great science 🧪 & colleagues.

Please check out this off-site reception Wed 10/8! There are many events, but please join us (the whole time or even for 20min). Free food & drinks. Short walk from Conv Center. 🏳️‍⚧️🌈

Please share & DM me for the location!
Flyer announcing lgbtqia+ reception
Reposted by Brendan Harley
Reposted by Brendan Harley
jessicacalarco.com
"This is extortion, plain and simple.... The only solution is solidarity and collective action against this effort at federal control over higher education."

A sobering analysis of the illegality of the administration's "compact" and its stakes for higher ed. 🎁🔗

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/o...
Opinion | Trump’s ‘Compact’ With Universities Is Just Extortion
www.nytimes.com
Reposted by Brendan Harley
karenattiah.bsky.social
I wrote this piece about 7th anniversary of Jamal Khashoggi's murder.

On the costs of speaking the truth in today's world.

And how Jamal's memory still stalks Saudi Arabia--- and the Washington Post.

open.substack.com/pub/karenatt...
Jamal Khashoggi, the Washington Post, and the Cost of Speaking Out
As Saudi Arabia hosts comedians and courts gamers, the silenced voice of Jamal Khashoggi still echoes.
open.substack.com
Reposted by Brendan Harley
ryanenos.bsky.social
Somebody actually sat down and wrote these two sentences, one after another. www.washingtonexaminer.com/wp-content/u...
Reposted by Brendan Harley
laurahelmuth.bsky.social
Update on "Who Goes Nazi"
"MAGA appeals to people who need to feel special, who need enemies to blame, who need simple answers to complex problems. It attracts those who mistake confidence for competence, who confuse being loud with being right, who think that admitting uncertainty is weakness."
Reposted by Brendan Harley
socalstephanie.bsky.social
“Just stay still and take it, it’ll be over soon and if you fight back, it’ll be 10 times worse” is the most disturbing response I can imagine.
atrupar.com
Rep. Carlos Gimenez defends Trump's racist AI videos: "You're gonna see more of these things happen, and so people need to develop a little bit thicker skin ... if you complain about it you're just going to get more of it"