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Roberta Colapietro

@robertacolapie.bsky.social

130 followers 500 following 24 posts

Medical doctor turned PhD student in bioinformatics 👩🏻‍⚕️👩🏻‍🔬👩🏻‍💻 Passionate about... ⏰ chronobiology 🔋 metabolism 📣 science outreach ... and more! Pretending to be an artist in my free time 🎨 (illustrations on Instagram) 👉 https://linktr.ee/robertacolapie

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Reposted by Roberta Colapietro

Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell @kurzgesagt.org · 1d

AI-generated content is flooding the internet, and we're entering a new era of information overload. Watch our latest video to find out how AI slop affects the internet and why kurzgesagt videos will always remain human-made: https://kgs.link/AISlop

In the middle, there is an AI-generated picture of a duck. Below it, there is a human-illustrated Duck, looking at the other duck in shock, and saying "Wtf is this?"

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Reposted by Roberta Colapietro

Irina Bezsonova @irinabezsonova.bsky.social · 5d

This October I’m drawing one molecule a day inspired by proteins in pdb @rcsbpdb.bsky.social

Day 2/31
Prompt WEAVE

N-terminal domain of a Fibrion - a building block of silk fiber produced by silkworms.

Pdb: 3UA0

Next prompt is CROWN and I would love your suggestions!

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Reposted by Roberta Colapietro

Irina Bezsonova @irinabezsonova.bsky.social · 6d

This October I’m drawing one molecule a day inspired by proteins @rcsb.bsky.social

Day 1/31
Prompt MUSTACHE
Pdb 2QZI

Let’s start with something fun:
Mr. Potato head’s ‘stache is made of Androgen Receptor that binds testosterone and helps maintain his male phenotype

Next prompt: WEAVE
suggestions?

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Roberta Colapietro @robertacolapie.bsky.social · 11d

Thanks Lena! I am delight-ochondria to hear that 😍 (though this last pun is a bit of a stretch 😂)

Roberta Colapietro @robertacolapie.bsky.social · 11d

Absolutely amazing 😨🤩

Roberta Colapietro @robertacolapie.bsky.social · 15d

That’s all the #mito news for today! And what better way to wrap up a mitochondria dump than with a mito-drawing I made a while ago? Did you catch all the references? Do you have a favorite mito?
For now, I’ll just say: good nightochondria 😴

#mitochondria #blueskyart #scicomm #WissKomm #scienceart

A cartoon illustration featuring many mitochondria characters, each paired with a pun ending in “-ochondria.” Examples include “fight-ochondria” (two mitochondria boxing), “spy-ochondria” (in disguise with a trench coat) and “night-ochondria” (under the moon and stars).

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Roberta Colapietro @robertacolapie.bsky.social · 15d

I hope this cover art captures the paper’s essence and pays tribute to the true molecular painter here: 𝘊𝘭𝘱𝘱 🧑‍🎨
You can read the paper here 🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s42...

#mitochondria #lipiddroplets #lipids #RNAseq #metabolomics #proteomics #multiomics @cecad.bsky.social @unicologne.bsky.social

2-hydroxyglutarate mediates whitening of brown adipocytes coupled to nuclear softening upon mitochondrial dysfunction - Nature Metabolism

CLPP-deficiency-driven mitochondrial dysfunction in brown adipose tissue leads to the accumulation of d-2-hydroxyglutarate, in turn promoting lipid-droplet enlargement by altering gene expression and epigenetically regulating nuclear stiffness.

www.nature.com

Roberta Colapietro @robertacolapie.bsky.social · 15d

After first seeing the image, I could not help but see a flower, so I shaped the cover art around one. In this version of #vangogh ’s sunflowers, the yellow petals represent healthy mitochondria around a stiff nucleus, while red petals show stressed mitos pressing against a softened nucleus 🌻

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Roberta Colapietro @robertacolapie.bsky.social · 15d

Even cooler: mitochondrial stress also softens the nucleus. You can see it in the image below: on the right, the blue nucleus in cells lacking 𝘊𝘭𝘱𝘱 is dimpled by multiple red mitochondria 🔬

Roberta Colapietro @robertacolapie.bsky.social · 15d

When 𝘊𝘭𝘱𝘱, a key mitochondrial quality-control gene, is knocked out, mitochondria become stressed and send signals to the nucleus via the metabolite 2-hydroxyglutarate (2-HG). Signalling by 2-HG nudges the cell to build bigger #lipid droplets, whitening the BAT ⚪

Roberta Colapietro @robertacolapie.bsky.social · 15d

Harshita's paper broadens our understanding of how damaged #mitochondria make brown adipose tissue (BAT) “whiten,” a process observed in conditions such as obesity and aging 🧓🏽

Roberta Colapietro @robertacolapie.bsky.social · 15d

Remember Harshita from the previous thread? She’s not just my science-slam buddy. She’s also the first author of a recent paper I tried to design the cover art for. The cover didn’t get accepted, but it may deserve a spot in #blueskyart 🎨
More in the thread below 👇

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Roberta Colapietro @robertacolapie.bsky.social · 15d

I’m really cringing rewatching the video, but I’ll share it anyway. Not just for your Schadenfreude, but also for feedback: what messages stand out? Anything we could’ve communicated better in 10 minutes? 🔗 youtu.be/-FFBiwrFrwg

#scienceslam #science #Forschung #Wissenschaft #Wisskomm #slam #mito

Mitochondria | Science Slam mit Harshita Kaul & Roberta Colapietro

YouTube video by Science-Slam.com

youtu.be

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Roberta Colapietro @robertacolapie.bsky.social · 15d

I stress 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘩𝘰𝘸 because preparing for this slam pushed me to finally read 'Power, Sex, Suicide' by Nick Lane. That book made me realize how the origin of mitochondria is way more complex than simply “one bacterium swallowing another.” Highly recommend ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Cover of the book "Power, Sex, Suicide" by Nick Lane.

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Roberta Colapietro @robertacolapie.bsky.social · 15d

First #mito -related news of the day: the video of my latest #scienceslam is out! I did it with my former lab neighbour Harshita. We tried to introduce the audience to the mitochondrial theory of aging by acting as two bacteria that 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘩𝘰𝘸 came together to form a eukaryotic cell 👯

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Roberta Colapietro @robertacolapie.bsky.social · 15d

⚠️ Mitochondria dump today ⚠️
Over the past month I’ve received some mito-related news. Since I haven’t shared them yet on Blue̶̶n̶̶a̶̶t̶̶i̶̶v̶̶e̶sky (#academicdadjoke), brace yourself for some mitochondria content today 🔜

Reposted by Roberta Colapietro

Penne Amiche della Scienza @penneamiche.bsky.social · Jul 2

🎉 Iscrizioni aperte!
Sei una persona che fa ricerca e ti piacerebbe incontrare studenti e studentesse in tutta Italia?
È il momento giusto: sono aperte le iscrizioni al progetto Penne 2025/26!
📩 Come? Compila il form qui 👉 forms.gle/tAWtfxmcJptf...
Unisciti a noi!

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Roberta Colapietro @robertacolapie.bsky.social · Jul 2

Ich hab den Link meinen Freunden in Köln weitergeleitet 🤩 ein paar haben gefragt, ob du das in Zukunft auch auf Englisch machst 🥹

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Reposted by Roberta Colapietro

Lisa Buchauer @libuchauer.bsky.social · Jul 2

We are currently recruiting a bioinformatics/computational biology postdoc to join the infrastructure project of a newly funded large research consortium (SFB-TRR) on Circadian Medicine between Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin and Universität zu Lübeck ⌚ ⏰ ⏱️ 🕰️ !

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Roberta Colapietro @robertacolapie.bsky.social · Jun 26

And the absolute winner 👑

First 3 words that come to your mind when you think about a scientist?

Evolutionary - chemist - SECURE JOB
(We should tell this child the truth…)

Roberta Colapietro @robertacolapie.bsky.social · Jun 26

First 3 words that come to your mind when you think about a scientist?

Happy - angry - intelligent
(That emotional arc? 🤩🤬 Very real)

Good - ugly - funny
(Who needs beauty as long as you are good and funny?)

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Roberta Colapietro @robertacolapie.bsky.social · Jun 26

First 3 words that come to your mind when you think about science?

Experiment - does not work - works
(Flawless summary of the scientific process. Not sure about the last one though.)

Roberta Colapietro @robertacolapie.bsky.social · Jun 26

Complete the sentence “If I were a scientist…”

“…I would go on holiday”
(Relatable 🏖️)

Roberta Colapietro @robertacolapie.bsky.social · Jun 26

Just went through the forms that the kids filled out before our science workshop last Saturday. Had to share some of their gems 👇🏻

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Roberta Colapietro @robertacolapie.bsky.social · Jun 22

Big thanks to @taniodraws.bsky.social, Marta, Elena, Camilla, Eleonora and Stefan for bringing their experiments to the workshop, and also to Michael and Elisa for coming to support us 💪
If you’re an Italian-speaking scientist in Germany and would like to get involved, feel free to reach out 📩

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