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Crystal Rogers, PhD

@rogerslabucd.bsky.social

4.8K followers 1.4K following 800 posts

Principal investigator of a cell and #DevBio research lab at UC Davis School of Vet. Med. Co-Editor In Chief of @diffjournal.bsky.social. Posts are my own. https://www.crystalrogersphd.com ORCID: 0000-0002-9549-1089

www.crystalrogersphd.com

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Crystal Rogers, PhD @rogerslabucd.bsky.social · Nov 9

Who am I if I’m not a #DevelopmentalBiologist? A (long) thread. Today on my re-introduction to BlueSky, I would like to tell you how I got here. I am a #FirstGen college attendee and graduate. I was raised in a single-parent household. We struggled financially when I was growing up. 1/

A picture of Dr. Crystal Rogers from UC Davis pointing to an I Voted sticker.

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Crystal Rogers, PhD @rogerslabucd.bsky.social · 20h

It is so cool to be able to see things like this (#DevBio) in real life and share it with students. 🤩

A 5-day old chicken embryo above a yolk. The vasculature and yolk remain in tact.

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Crystal Rogers, PhD @rogerslabucd.bsky.social · 1d

One of the major benefits to adapting a class to include your own research? It sure makes the lab portion more fun!! I’m happy to bring #DevBio, evo devo, and comparative anatomy to our pre-vet and pre-med undergrads @ucdavis.bsky.social!

A woman giving thumbs up in front of a lab classroom

A woman standing over an axolotl staging chart

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Crystal Rogers, PhD @rogerslabucd.bsky.social · 2d

They are SO cool! 🤩

Crystal Rogers, PhD @rogerslabucd.bsky.social · 3d

These creatures are amazing. 🤩

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Crystal Rogers, PhD @rogerslabucd.bsky.social · 3d

I just rescued the largest dragonfly from the pool that I’ve ever seen. It’s easily 4-5 inches long! He’s 2x-3x the size of our normal dragonflies (see second pic with all rescues). 😃

A large green dragonfly on a wooden dowel

Three dragonflies on a pool net. Only 2 survived.

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Crystal Rogers, PhD @rogerslabucd.bsky.social · 3d

I’m not really feeling all right at all either. I have no idea how to function like nothing is happening. 😢 But in that moment- with her little face staring at me (teeth everywhere) it made me smile.

Crystal Rogers, PhD @rogerslabucd.bsky.social · 3d

Saturday night! I’m feeling all right with this pup’s face in my sight! Anyway- back to work reviewing stuff and hoping that NIH and the rest of the government open eventually. 🤓

A brown English bulldog with teeth that are just everywhere standing on a tile floor and begging for food

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Crystal Rogers, PhD @rogerslabucd.bsky.social · 6d

I’m so bummed to have miss this but teaching duties conflicted. So glad my student was able to attend! 🤩

Crystal Rogers, PhD @rogerslabucd.bsky.social · 8d

Effective and empathetic scientific communication is so critical right now. We had an interactive workshop at the #2025ICDB led by @rebeccacalisi.bsky.social and Dr. Kevin Alicea-Torres and facilitated by @spiraldoc.bsky.social and myself- and we practiced this. Please check out our perspective!

Alex Eve @amjeve.bsky.social · 8d

An incredibly important article and increasingly relevant in modern political climates. Thank you to @rogerslabucd.bsky.social and colleagues for writing this for @dev-journal.bsky.social

"Speaking up can feel like walking a tightrope strung between conflict and silence."

#TruthMatters

Speaking science in a fractured world: making truth land when facts alone cannot

ABSTRACT. Scientific misinformation is a defining challenge of our time. As public trust in science declines and falsehoods spread faster than facts, the scientific community must rethink its role in ...

doi.org

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Crystal Rogers, PhD @rogerslabucd.bsky.social · 8d

Roxie is not keen on her toys trying to bite her back! 💀

Crystal Rogers, PhD @rogerslabucd.bsky.social · 8d

Tis the season! Please enjoy pics and video of my bully bullying a skull and getting bullied back. 😂

A bulldog sniffing a skull on a tile floor

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Crystal Rogers, PhD @rogerslabucd.bsky.social · 10d

Same Roxie, same. 🫩

A brown bulldog laying flat on the walkway enjoying the sunshine

Crystal Rogers, PhD @rogerslabucd.bsky.social · 12d

Oh no!! This sucks. 💔

Crystal Rogers, PhD @rogerslabucd.bsky.social · 13d

The look she gave me when I was eating something and not sharing it while sitting behind her… 😂

A brown bulldog turning around and staring at the camera. The dog is aware that someone behind her is eating and not sharing

A brown bulldog turning around to stare at someone eating. Her bottom teeth are all out and she is very concerned that there is no food for her to eat.

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Crystal Rogers, PhD @rogerslabucd.bsky.social · 14d

Agree! Quail embryos are close in size to chickens and peafowl even with egg size differences. Yolk is an indicator of how big they will get! Size differentials start at about 3 days of dev. and expand exponentially. Length of incubation differs too (16 d <20 d <28 d < 46 d for ostrich)!

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Crystal Rogers, PhD @rogerslabucd.bsky.social · 14d

Look at that gorgeous bird!!! 😍

Crystal Rogers, PhD @rogerslabucd.bsky.social · 14d

We have the big orchard rats too but they usually only come around when our oranges are ripe. I don’t want to know if they are around more often so thank you for the reminder! I might skip the trail cam. 😂😭

Crystal Rogers, PhD @rogerslabucd.bsky.social · 14d

This is so cool!! If I wasn’t afraid of attracting rats and violent squirrels (both rampant in West Davis because of the orchards) I would get one of these too!! 🤩😍

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Crystal Rogers, PhD @rogerslabucd.bsky.social · 15d

I was thinking of getting a trail cam for our suburban “fence highway” to check out our night visitors (squirrels, cats, possums, raccoons and ?) but haven’t done it yet! Such a fun idea. 🤩

Crystal Rogers, PhD @rogerslabucd.bsky.social · 15d

I bought a hummingbird feeder with a camera and put it up this morning and… 🥹❤️

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Crystal Rogers, PhD @rogerslabucd.bsky.social · 17d

When we had bird feeders we had the same issue! The squirrels are like circus acrobats! 😂

Crystal Rogers, PhD @rogerslabucd.bsky.social · 17d

The flies are horrible around here with the cows/horses/agriculture! I was so excited about being able to sit in the yard without getting attacked. Now the possum has thwarted my efforts. 🤣😭

Crystal Rogers, PhD @rogerslabucd.bsky.social · 17d

I’m just hoping that the smell of our dog in the yard will keep the possum away from the other fly bags that are further from the fence… 😬

Crystal Rogers, PhD @rogerslabucd.bsky.social · 17d

He did! The video! I’ve never seen a possum behave like that and it was a sight. He was so excited he came back 4 times over the night to snack. 😂

Crystal Rogers, PhD @rogerslabucd.bsky.social · 18d

I was woken up by the Ring camera last night when we had a little visitor… A possum climbed down our fence and broke open a smelly fly trap bag (🤢) to eat the tasty flies and left us with a stinky mess… 😣

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