iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Scott Barolo @sbarolo.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

genAI is rape culture in multiple ways and I need to start saying that more often IRL

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Kara Cerveny @kara-cerveny.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Reed College is an awesome place to teach and do research. Check out this piece about Reed's Beckman Scholars Program. www.reed.edu/newsroom/sto... So excited to see this finally come to fruition and hoping we

reed.edu

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Ginger Hunter @flysci.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

There is a lot of other data in here, looking at the clusters, how individual cells interact with them, & the role of E-cadherin. I’m super proud of Sushmita’s hard work. I’ll be presenting this (& some additional experiments that didn’t quite make the deadline) at ASCB this December!

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Ginger Hunter @flysci.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Second, do they pattern? Sort of! They can definitely do some of the patterning - lateral inhibition seems to be working, but they fail to correctly space their PNS out, which is exactly what we’ve predicted for years using math models.

two dissected and stained fly tissues with cells of the peripheral nervous system visible.

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Ginger Hunter @flysci.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

First, their cytonemes get messed up. And they don’t move very well. This was possibly one of the most difficult experiments I’ve ever asked someone to do and my PhD student did a stellar job.

figure panels showing a diagram of nanofibers on cells and then the micrograph of nanofibers on cells in a fly tissue.

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Ginger Hunter @flysci.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

So we embedded dissected patterning tissues into a calcium-inducible nanofiber gel and asked what happened to their cytonemes, and what happened to their patterning.

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Ginger Hunter @flysci.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

What if we didn’t use genetics (says the fly scientist) but used other, physical, manipulations? What if we could put up molecular jersey barriers to keep cytonemes from interacting or moving normally? Would it lead to tissue perturbations?

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Ginger Hunter @flysci.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Wouldn’t it be cool if we had a more specific way to disrupt cytonemes? (flies don’t have MyoX 🙃 )

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Ginger Hunter @flysci.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

One of the more annoying things about this system is that genetic disruptions of actin cytoskeleton that mess with cytonemes also disrupts events across the whole cell - which is you know, not great if your signaling system requires say, actin-dependent endocytosis (Notch)

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Ginger Hunter @flysci.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Our lab is interested in cell shape, differentiation and tissue patterning. We have been using cytonemes and Notch signaling in the patterning peripheral nervous system of the fly as a model system. We have a lot of questions, here’s one of my favorite addressed in this paper:

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Ginger Hunter @flysci.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

My students: why do we cite 'old' papers from the 1900s? Me: *blinks and hand waves at all this marvelous work*

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Ginger Hunter @flysci.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

following up after another day in the literature: I love when I think of a 'new' experiment and Pat Simpson's group did the experiment in 2002.

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Ginger Hunter @flysci.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

it is possible my main mistake is thinking that I understand anything at all about Notch signaling.

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Ginger Hunter @flysci.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

looove thinking I understand something about Notch signaling and then trying to cite it, only to come to find that it was something I may have imagined all along. or maybe I just can't find the citation! either way I'm sure the reviewers will let us know 🫠

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Ginger Hunter @flysci.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

yep cool Outlook is down and that's just awesome because my job is so much email this is really going to help the backlog thanks

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Ginger Hunter @flysci.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

The quoted piece made me laugh out loud. I know we all have stories, but the only times I've EVER been worried about the potential actions of an upset colleague in 25+ years has been with upset men. I can't think of a single time that a woman made me feel that way.

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Ginger Hunter @flysci.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

Putting 200% effort into your slides/assessments etc doesn't make your class 200% better. You have the credentials to wing it a bit as you need to, in order to balance the demands on your time.

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Ginger Hunter @flysci.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

2. we are also hiring a post-bacc/technician. Job description is also on our lab website. sites.google.com/view/hunterl... Great for someone who wants to get some more research experience before moving on to grad/professional school. No fly experience needed. Please share widely!

sites.google.com

Hunter Lab at Howard - Opportunities

Graduate Student

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Ginger Hunter @flysci.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

We are hiring in two positions! Links to the job description on our lab website here: sites.google.com/view/hunterl... 1. A postdoc (preferably w/ fly experience) to work on Notch signaling in cell morphogenesis. If you know of a recent grad in the DMV, or someone looking to move here, pls share!

sites.google.com

Hunter Lab at Howard - Opportunities

Graduate Student

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Ginger Hunter @flysci.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

I needed this week 🎉 -our Amgen scholar's results were so awesome and weird! - follow up data to her results confirm the weirdness! - a crazy difficult experiment seems to have worked! - Talked to Capitol Hill staffers about funding research! Going to invite our rep to visit.

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Cole @ultraspiracle.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

My first paper is up on bioRxiv! We asked a simple question: why are fruit flies smaller when they grow up in a crowded vial? #Development #Plasticity #Drosophila

Micrographs of two Drosophila melanogaster pupal cases. The left pupal case is slightly larger than the right. The left pupal case is marked uncrowded, and the right is marked crowded. A 1mm line is above the pupal cases for scale. Both are males reared on low nutrition; the left is from a vial with 50 larvae, the right is from a vial with 200 larvae.

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Ginger Hunter @flysci.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Thomas' statement about biology is part of what motivates me to teach our sections on sex determination very clearly and carefully. My goal is that all of my students have a better handle of the topic than this guy

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Eric Topol @erictopol.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

Two of the most important biomedical breakthroughs came from science of the Gila lizard venom (GLP-1s) and yogurt (CRISPR genome editing). "The system that turned that lizard into a medicine is now being dismantled." gift link nytimes.com/2026/06/20/o...

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Genetics Society of America @genetics-gsa.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

You told us connection matters, and at #Dros27, great conversations are just steps away (10 minutes max from the venue). Grab a meal at Reading Terminal Market, stroll to Philadelphia City Hall, or connect over coffee at local favorites. Philly locals—where should attendees go?

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Faine Greenwood @faineg.com · 12/05/2026

I have bought so so so many books on the basis of Bluesky.

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I-75 Scientist @flscitriguy.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

Please share widely. The new (simpler) MIRA R35 for Early Stage Investigators (ESI) NOFO is published. First due date is 10/2/2026. files.simpler.grants.gov/opportunitie...

files.simpler.grants.gov

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American Society for Cell Biology @ascbiology.bsky.social · 16/04/2026

From MBoC… Now accepting submissions for the Cell Biology of the Nervous System special issue. Share your research on nervous system cell biology with the community: www.molbiolcell.org/nervous-system

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Democrats @democrats.org · 04/04/2026

Virginia: Vote YES! Early voting is open for the next two weeks until Saturday, April 18. As Trump and Republicans try to rig the midterms in their favor, you have the chance to stop them. Make your plan to vote early or on Election Day, April 21, at IWillVote.com.

Graphic promoting voting in Virginia with the text "VOTE YES for fair elections." Features the Virginia State Capitol, a cardinal, and dogwood flowers. Additional text: "Early voting is open until Saturday, April 18" and "Make your plan to vote at IWillVote.com."

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Nancy Parmalee @nparmalee.bsky.social · 13/03/2026

Gift link. NYT article about the fallout in one Harvard lab from the vandalism to the NIH. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/13/u...

nytimes.com

His Harvard Lab Was Thriving. Then Came the Cuts.

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Drug Monkey @drugmonkey.bsky.social · 02/03/2026

$300 Million in jet planes lost to a fuckup. That’s 83 five year NIH R01 grants burned in minutes due to error, aka poor execution of this unnecessary war which serves only to make the world more dangerous.

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amy brown 👻 @amybrown.xyz · 10/02/2026

always so funny to me when people are like “how am I supposed to explain Gay to my kids?” my kid asks me way harder shit all the time. “why did they build the road this way? why are some people bad?” I don’t know. please ask me about Gay

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Chrystal Starbird @drstarbird.bsky.social · 05/02/2026

I am SO incredibly excited to announce the launch of a global list of Inspiring Black Scientists. You can use this list to nominate and connect with researchers. Please share and join us in highlighting these outstanding scientists for #BlackHistoryMonth and beyond! www.wiley.com/en-us/resear...

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Denis Wirtz @deniswirtz.bsky.social · 03/02/2026

Both chambers of Congress have now passed the FY26 minibus with NIH provisions. The President will sign. (1) $48.7 billion for NIH (2) Full IDC recovery (3) No more multi-year funding (4) No NIH reorganization, maintaining the current IC structure.

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flymuscles @flymuscles.bsky.social · 26/01/2026

#Drosophil. Does anyone know who hosts the flyfos GFP tagged library now? We need some constructs but I cant find where they are. doi.org/10.7554/eLif...

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Free DC @freedcproject.bsky.social · 25/01/2026

HAPPENING NOW: A massive crowd is gathered in freezing temperatures outside ICE headquarters in DC to demand ICE OUT OF ALL COMMUNITIES NOW.

An office building lit up in the dark with a crowd of people holding signs in front of it.

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Ginger Hunter @flysci.bsky.social · 22/01/2026

Science requires human interaction. I owe it to my students to help them learn how to ask their questions, to feel uncomfortable, and to work with other real human beings to solve problems? To learn what it means to tackle new ideas, to challenge themselves and succeed.

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Ginger Hunter @flysci.bsky.social · 22/01/2026

Our textbook rep (who is genuinely a nice guy) popped in yesterday to ask if I'd activated the AI chatbot "TA" for the students. short answer: scowl, and no. long answer: what are we even doing here? Do my students/families pay tuition for a chatbot?

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Aparna Nair @disabilitystor1.bsky.social · 28/12/2025

Maybe, if you're not actually in university classrooms, teaching students in the age of gAI, perhaps you might want to stop and listen when people actually in those classrooms raise concerns about what they are seeing; and not just dismiss us as luddites, or boomers, or cruel profs playing cops

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molly taft @mollytaft.com · 18/12/2025

EXCLUSIVE: the Working Families Party is putting out a recruitment call for people opposed to data centers in their communities to run for local office the recruitment effort comes just 2 days after Bernie Sanders called for a moratorium on data center construction

wired.com

Opposed to Data Centers? The Working Families Party Wants You to Run for Office

The influential progressive third party announced Thursday that it was putting out a recruitment call for candidates specifically opposed to data centers.

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Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 16/12/2025

In my case, this painstaking labor in the process through which the science gets done. Science isn't measuring stuff in a lab. It's thinking deeply, extracting the heart of idea from the soup of thoughts running through my mind, molding it, and finding a way to communicate that idea to others.

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Theresa Kim, PhD, MS @tyk314.net · 15/12/2025

The #NIH IRP Summer (paid!) Internship Program for 2026 has opened its application portal. This opportunity is open to US Citizens who are college students (including rising first-years), postbaccalaureate, and graduate students, including medical and dental. The deadline is 2026/02/18!

dceg.cancer.gov

Become a Summer Intern in DCEG

DCEG offers a summer research internship in cancer epidemiology, biostatistics, or genetics fo college, postbaccalaureate masters-level students, and graduate students, including medical and dental st...

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