I found a copycat Din Tai Fung cucumber salad recipe, and this might be the best thing I have ever made.

Happy First Day of Winter Quarter to all who celebrate, iClicker crashed multiple times!

Why the humanities and social sciences matter: I bought a book on the Monroe Doctrine written by a history professor to help me better understand and contextualize this moment. My home library is littered with books on history and cultural moments to help me better understand this current moment.

Earlier this year, at an intersection, a man driving the car next to me rolled down his window and asked if he could cut in front of me at the traffic light because he was running late to an appointment. He then chatted with me for the rest of the red light. I hope that guy is doing well.

I have listened to all of Rosalía’s new album and Jade’s debut album today and it was a good day.

As a woman with a PhD & living on my own, I am every day thankful for the women who came before me. Women who fought for my ability to have a credit card, go to school, vote, make my own medical decisions, have my job, and importantly, have the choice to decide what I want my life to be.

Here are the people and institutions that gave me hope in 2025. 1/ www.thenation.com/article/soci...

I don’t really have a lot of elegant words to talk about what is happening at this press conference

I spend a lot of time thinking, talking, and writing about how cells spatially regulate signaling and metabolism, particularly at the single cell and organelle level. This is really exciting work about proton gradients inside organelles!

Come to my talk on generative AI for biosensor design on Friday!

Made it to Pacifichem and checked out posters with @jasonzxzhang.bsky.social! My talk on the Schmitt Lab’s recent biosensor work is on Wednesday!

NEW: 9 ex-DOJ lawyers who resigned from antisemitism investigations into UCLA and other UC campuses say they were pressured to find UC guilty of violations in a rushed and politically motivated process. One called it a "fraudulent and sham investigation." www.latimes.com/california/s...

Headed to Pacifichem! I’m looking forward to a couple days of genetically encodable tools and of course enjoying Oahu!

Happy Holidays from the Schmitt Lab

I cooked dinner for the lab…and immediately remembered why I usually get dinner catered.

Plasmids for PINK1-SPARK are now available on Addgene! Find them here: www.addgene.org/browse/artic...

I am once again asking graduate schools to use a common application.

After spending 1.5 hr driving my sister < 5 miles to LAX I am convinced of two things: 1. I will continue to not travel for Thanksgiving; 2. We need to demand better public transit to LAX. If I dropped my sister off at the transit station, the bus would have been stuck in traffic. People Mover Now!

WE JUST KEEP WINNING. (UC President's Postdoctoral Fellowship Program RESTORED!!!!)

ICE never left L.A. The military did but they aren't the ones terrorizing the city. Please don't ignore L.A.

🔬New Preprint Alert 🔬 How is AMPK regulated by oxidative stress? We use functional imaging to uncover spatial regulation of AMPK activity during oxidative stress by LKB1 & CaMKK2. Combining imaging with proteomics & metabolomics, we find AMPK works to promote the cellular redox response.

To be clear, Senator Schiff, this is a victory of the faculty associations and unions at the UC, including the UCLA faculty association. The administration of the UC had nothing to do with this or the restoration of funds. This is a fight the faculty have won.

My parent’s dog is game day ready.

Chuck Schumer Helps Pull Democrats Back From Brink Of Courage

It’s been “time to put up or shut up” for a while. If you feel strongly about something, do something about it that is within your capabilities to do. This weekend I called some senators and donated financially to my local foodbank. And I’ll probably make some more phone calls tomorrow.

I was a UC PPFP fellow when I was a postdoc at UCSD. This program is invaluable--aside from support for two years of my postdoc, I received excellent mentoring from faculty at the UCs. This fellowship set me up for success and gave me a cohort of fellow postdocs who are now UC faculty. 1/2

A devastating set of decisions on the part of UC leadership to withdraw support from our nationally recognized postdoc program that prioritizes research excellence combined with addressing our university public service mission. www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty...

All those votes are people who, like you, believe in democracy and the constitution. Remember you are not alone. Keep on fighting for what is right.

Today I supported Feeding America, which works with a nationwide network of food banks to provide meals to people in need. I encourage you to support organizations like Feeding America. We’ve got to look out for and help each other! www.feedingamerica.org

🧵

The Good Samaritan, by Joseph Highmore, 1744, 📸 by @patricksmith04

❤️ LA

While SNAP benefits during the government shutdown are being litigated, I encourage you, if you can, do donate to your local food bank or organizations help to feed the hungry. I’ve donated to two local food banks in my area, & plan on donating again in the next few days. www.npr.org/2025/10/30/n...

Today this overpass featured someone in a penguin costume dancing and encouraging everyone to vote next week. Check if there’s an election in your city or state next week, and make your voice heard!

I have donated money to two local food banks serving my community. If you can, I encourage you to help your community.

I’ve been regularly volunteering at a food bank for about a year and please, if you want to help, consider donating cash. For $3, they can provide 15 meals and what they can do with the money you might spend on a few cans can be converted to vastly more in fresh fruit, vegetables, dairy, or meat.

UPDATE: Following court order, UC has posted the UCLA settlement proposal on its website: ucop.edu/communicatio...

Just some girlies trying to get these grants finished. And prep for class tomorrow.

I decided to switch from Spotify to Tidal, and I'm already a fan of Tidal. Aside from lossless audio quality (which, to be fair, Spotify has now) the app-generated playlists are more diverse and introducing me to artists I've never heard of.

We're updating our lab website which means...lab photo day!

My uncle attended the No Kings protest outside the NIH. Both MD senators attended. I’m so thankful to everyone who has consistently stood up for the NIH.

Caturday meets No Kings day.

🎀 New from the lab 🎀 We used the SPARK design for kinase biosensors to develop a PINK1 biosensor, PINK1-SPARK. We used PINK1-SPARK to measure PINK1 activity in multiple cell types & when using HaloTag, for multiplexing! Plasmids coming soon, check out the preprint: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Congrats to Ph.D. candidates Mai Abdusamad - Torres lab, Jadyn Malone - Petrovic lab, Katarina Cohen & Jack Scully - @schmittwitt.bsky.social & Teagan Dean - Schmitt lab & @tarateslaa.bsky.social on receiving UCLA Health JCCC 2025 Fellowship Awards! www.chemistry.ucla.edu/news/ucla-he...

Breaking news: MIT’s president turned down the Trump administration’s offer of priority access for federal funding, publicly releasing a letter that emphasized the elite university’s values.

There’s a phrase, “a broken clock is right twice a day” that I think we should all keep in mind.

Alright fam. Let’s get these grants written.

Six of the nine Nobel Prize winners this year work in the U.S. Three of the six were born outside the U.S., which is the pattern most years. No country has benefited more from welcoming immigrants from around the world. www.nobelprize.org