When you’re presenting but the audience hyper fixates on a detail: - Look, the moon is so big and bright tonight! - Stars!! - Yes, those are the stars, but do you see the moon? It’s huge! - Stars!!! - Yes, lovely, stars, but do you see the moon? (Both) - Staaaaaaars!!

Oh my goodness I’m sticking to Bluesky the rest of my weekend.

Oooh the vitriol from all the bots over the other side for a post I made on H1Bs.

(Before I drown myself discussing H1Bs on the bad place) Does anyone know of a working promoter for tracking microglia?

There is a traditional Portuguese ballad I sing to the babies. I’ve been singing to rock them to sleep since they were born. I sang it to the girls, and now to the boys. Today, when I interrupted the song, thinking he was asleep, one of the twins completed it. Sleepless nights: worth it.

UAB by night. This city has grown on me :)

My 20 month twins are holding Brandon Sanderson’s The Way of Kings, while pointing at the letters and singing their ABC song. I guess we start where we start and that is that.

Here’s some numbers: we submitted over 15 grants this year, two of them are pending, the rest were rejected at multiple levels. All of them sting. But we adapt and overcome right? It’s worth celebrating 15 submissions. And next year will be better. Maaaaybe.

I got a huge hug and a “I’m so proud of you” today. That is it, that is enough.

“Sometimes when you’re different You just need a different song” … “So imagine that that lovely moon Is playing just for you. Everything makes music If you really want it to.” “Giraffes can’t dance” Giles Andrede Guy Parker-Rees

Let me share my greatest handicap in science: we just got some really, really cool neuroimmune data for ALS. And I really want to share it. Which hurts my competitiveness. At the end of the day, who needs bragging rights? If someone else solves ALS, I will be very, very happy.

I walk out of the bedroom with a pink shirt. Twin #2 says no. Ok, fine. I walk out of the bedroom with a blue shirt. Twin #2 emphatically says no. What? I walk out the bedroom with a gray shirt. Twin #2 jumps enthusiastically. I bring all three options. No, no, yes. Everyone is a critic.

Today was a lot. That is all. Cool data incoming though! :)

Just finished watching Steven Universe with the girls. Freaking brilliant cartoon.

My department at Dartmouth Medical School is hiring a tenure-track Assistant Professor. We are looking broadly for a biochemist or cell biologist. Please share this add! apply.interfolio.com/171438 @dartmouthbcb.bsky.social @futurepislack.bsky.social

Ok, so my spouse went to the K-pop sing along event (she needs a break more than I do), and I was supposed to hang out with the twins. I thought I would come with them to the bookstore, read/ buy some books, play in the kids area, have fun. They have been sleeping for two hours.

Hey, being in a bookstore surrounded by a ton of books is giving me choice anxiety :P any recommendations? Any field/type!

While browsing Barnes and Noble, I found a (teeny tiny) science section. With Cosmos. 7yo loves spaces but is too young for Sagan. But I can’t wait until she isn’t (I was 13). Cosmos is why I do science. It’s not just space: “The cosmos is all that is, or ever was, or ever will be.”

Going to the movies with the girls. No, I don’t know all the songs (but know enough), but will try to sing along anyway.

We went trick or treating. The twin babies were so excited, so happy, and oh man did they crash so hard.

Ok, so I swear I was staying home to work, but the twins told me they loved me for the first time, so I’m just going to sit here with a stupid grin on my face for a little while.

Don’t mind us, we’re just muscle cells contracting in response to some neurons. (Gcamp6m in sensorimotor organoids)

Ok, so we’ve been trying copilot enterprise - mostly for coding. It’s like speaking to a really really smart goldfish (I know, it’s not true). Amazing answers, 0 attention span.

9yo is learning “Alouette” on the piano and the show Evil completely ruined that song for me :P

Hey, anyone with experience in biotechs and spin offs, and … stuff.. let me know tips and hints :)

Ok, how does one go about in starting a biotech? (We have a screenable platform that would be gold to look at. Or at least some other form of shiny material)

Quick question: if two twin babies hug and kiss each other is it an early sign of narcissism?

When I was doing my postdoc there was an experiment I would have loved to do. We couldn’t. I moved on to industry, it was in my mind. Became a core director, it was in my mind. Became an assistant professor and it was in my mind. We just did it.

Ok, say there is a disease that affects various cell types, and we model it on a dish. We can profile the transcriptome, and try to reverse the expression profile. Has anyone done this with AI? I feel like current screening approaches (specific phenotypes in only one/two cell types ) are lacking.

Me: Ok, I know a little R and a little Python and (blergh) a little ImageJ JavaScript. That’s it for now! R script: Now run this in Perl!

We’ve developed a really cool model of human diabetic neuropathy with demyelination, and have now gotten data showing we can prevent it. Opinions welcomed: - we’re doing small drug screens - trying to find funding (where??) - anyone interested in collaborating?

TT faculty job opening in #Neuroscience! We are looking for a colleague to join us in our fantastic Biology Department and Neuroscience Program at Brandeis. We are a group of *very* collaborative, supportive, and productive scientists (& humans!) so please apply academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/30961

Yeah, no this was absolutely fine, taking care of four children while trying to get some work done. My spouse is a superhero.

Buddy!

I’m taking care of the little ones while spouse recovers. I notice they are hungry (because they told me they wanted eggs). I make them scrambled eggs. How do they tell me they want more? They point at the stove and shoo me, all while repeating “egg, egg.”

Spouse just had (minor) surgery. I took the girls to school, and then came over to pick her up. And let me tell you: whoever thought it was a good idea to have the hospital garage (they validate) not having an elevator should just… It’s no joke going down stairs with a double stroller.

I broke my glasses. So sad.

Spouse: Oh the neighbor was so nice, she gave each of them a little stuffy! It’s a piggy, a rooster, a bat, and a chameleon! Me: Oh that’s so sweet! 7yo: Yes! Mine is named Strut! Me: They have names? Cool! Let me see… are.. these beanie babies? We may need to return them. (We don’t need to.)

7yo: How can I tell if a singer is a girl or a boy? Me: Remember the hormones we discussed the other day? 7yo (nods). Me: Well, boys have some hormones when they are 12-15 years that make them have lower voices. 7yo: So when boys watch horror movies their voices become lower? Me: Wh..at?

Me: “I’m never using microdissection skills again. Not very useful in the real world.” Crying 7yo: “Dad I got a splinter!!”

Another grant we didn’t get. Sigh.

To PIs: how do you know when it’s time to write a grant? I’ve been doing a ton of “we’re going to do this and this and it will be awesome” grants but the preliminary data aren’t always quite there yet. It’s hard to balance the urge to write a grant with the feeling that we should wait a bit more.

“It brings me joy to have piano lessons.” 7yo

Hey mycologists, what’s this nonsense? One of the kids touched it and, although most mushrooms are only harmful if ingested, I kinda wanna know. They seem cool.

Any idea what this is? I’m kind of worried that the babies will grab them thinking they are blueberries.

7yo (about the babies): I would give them everything. I can’t hear them cry, and I can’t tell them no. -Do you know what a tyrant is? -No. -Someone who does only as they please. -Ok. -Do you know the difference between a prince and a tyrant? -No. -The people who can tell them “no.”

Playing songs on speakers. My running playlist comes up: techno syndrome (don’t look at me that way the song rocks). 9yo just screams:

Ok, ok, so hear me out, bulk RNAseq on these ALS organoids is giving out some cool stuff, which we’re now validating with sc-RNAseq. Cool, cool stuff.

I arrived after work today and sat on the couch with one of the twins, who was reading. Spouse asks where he is: “Oh, he’s with me, we’re just here, cuddling.” And I kid you not, he looks at me lovingly, hugs me and cuddles next to me. These boys will be breaking hearts. And I get it. I get it.

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