Congratulations to Dr. Chris Cousins and Gilliam fellow @hhmi-science.bsky.social on his successful defense! Learned a lot about PNW salamanders and how local geography shaped their evolution.

Accidental outfit matching too!!

Fell asleep on public transit today

Dissertation is pretty much done (!!) Doing some fun refining the discussion tonight and I'm spiraling cause of how little we know about how neurons keep doing their job over decades :)))))

Plugging in the writing method that saved me from writer's block: jsomers.net/blog/the-mcp...

Is it weird to say my half marathon training helped me prepare for this?

Dissertation writing is tedious but it’s a weird silver lining amongst…well, everything going on.

Having Latin culture on FULL display quite literally makes me wanna cry. #SuperBowl

Feeling patriotic today 🇵🇷 🇵🇷 🇵🇷

Portland Art Museum is free this weekend for their re-opening!

Final hours of my 20’s 😳

Maybe it’s the relentless downpour of tragic news but this one hit me very, very hard.

This is the facility that I and many others have been protesting. We’ve been hit, thrown, gassed, and shot with pepper bullets but none of that holds a candle to what is being done to people *in* the actual facility. Read this thread. Don’t look away. Keep your eyes and the pressure on Broadview.

No one tells you that the last year of the PhD is when you accumulate the strangest side quests.

LFG!!!!!

@ohsunews.bsky.social @ohsubrain.bsky.social @volluminstitute.bsky.social Congrats to Tony and his PI, Dr. Murthy!

Brewing our Loopapalooza Pale Ale at Steel String Brewery! @dphansti.bsky.social Loopapalooza will have a science research-inspired label. It showcases the work we do in genome organization! Soon, @sciforgood.bsky.social will be launching this initiative at 11 pilots across the country 🍻 cheers!

Business idea: Reductress (or The Onion) styled satire calendar but for snarky remarks on academia

Are you or were you participating in a medical study that has been affected by federal funding cuts? Our reporters want to hear from you. You can share your experience by: ✉️ Emailing [email protected] ☎️ Calling 301-388-5405 📱 Sending a message on Signal to 917-512-0201

Best friends since our post-bacc days in 2019. Now 5th years in our program and we’re joking about defending around the same time and working at the same company post-PhD 😂

My biggest takeaway from #BIO2025 regarding job applications is that it’s truly who you know, not what you know.

On Friday, June 20, Teva Bracha will present his Dissertation Defense: "Pten regulates the development of stereotyped dendritic architectures" at 1pm in Vollum's M1441. #OHSUResearch cc: @kevinmawright.bsky.social

Greetings from all over the state of Jalisco, Mexico 🇲🇽

Visiting family in 🇲🇽 The food offsets the fact that we’re in a heatwave right now ❤️😭

Check out the lab’s latest preprint!

So cool, just put in my order!

🚨 Cool new project alert 🚨 WE- you, me, everyone- need to work together to get important science messages out to people. 4 artists & 3 scientists collab'd on these posters. We hope YOU will put them out in your community. Each poster comes w/info about each topic. Get 'em Squidfacts.bigcartel.com

BREAKING: NSF has frozen all grant funding, as of yesterday. It's unclear when they will resume funding awards, or why the pause has been put in place. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Finally got some good, reassuring news this morning. A glimmer of support and hope and one less thing to worry about.

Some retinal #SciArt

Any one know of a directory of science artists? Hoping to commission someone for a neuroscience beer label 👀

Excuse me while I mention this essay non-stop. This is a must-read for every biologist: jsomers.net/i-should-hav...

I need a "Cunk on Life" spinoff except Philomena interviews biomedical scientists

Applying to STEM grad programs? 🎓 Sign ups are ✨OPEN✨ for #GSMI2025! 🤩 The GSMI program supports applicants through 1-on-1 mentorship, fee waivers, professional development, and community building! Applications accepted on a ROLLING basis until 5/31! cientificolatino.com/gsmi MORE INFO in 🧵 1/

Crushed my annual WIP while running on minimal hours of sleep. Finally got data that have been waiting two years to get. Celebrating in the best way possible with Salvadorian food 🙂‍↕️

UMASS IS RESCINDING ALL GRAD POSITIONS FOR THIS YEAR

"As she has expressed her disappointment over potentially losing her dream job, some members of her mostly conservative family have unfriended her on social media. Others are giving her the silent treatment. Nearly all favor such cuts even if she’s a victim of them."

Yeah we’re ready #standupforscience2025

A friend included this anti-acknowledgement section on her PhD thesis. She also added the proposition: “Systematic bullying and undermining of girls and women in STEM starts early on and is the reason why they do not stay in science and related fields.” Absurd we still need to go through this 🧪👩‍🔬

I want to do a project where I go a little deeper on scientific papers that get picked up in the news. If you see anything that might be a good candidate, hit me up!

Next week, I'll have a chance to question the nominee for NIH director, Dr. Bhattacharya, during the Senate HELP hearing as federal research faces drastic cuts. What do you want me to ask?

Look at this leader. Lift her up.

After 3 surgeries, a blood clot, infection & being hospitalized for over a week, the moment I was discharged I rushed to the airport so I could get on a plane to DC & vote NO on Republicans’ disastrous budget plan. Rep. Pettersen traveled from Colorado with her newborn son so she could vote NO. 🧵

For Oregon folks! Rally in Salem from 12-4pm on March 7th. Coincidentally I have a department talk to give but alas…

Devastated to hear PhD admissions are being reduced due to scientific funding cuts. Getting into grad school has been getting more and more difficult. These applicants are fantastic and have worked so hard to get here.

People who voted Trump who are feeling pissed off right now about broken promises are an organizing opportunity, not a gloating opportunity

Roger Stone is promoting Prospera, a “Freedom City” (per Stone) in Honduras backed by Peter Thiel, Marc Andreessen (who once tweeted that “anti-colonialism has been economically catastrophic for the Indian people…”) & Balaji Srinivasan (author of The Network State: How to Build a New Country). 1/