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Lauren Testa, Ph.D.

@laurenctesta.bsky.social
538 followers 172 following 381 posts

PhD, Gene Therapy & Vaccines @ Penn. Nonclinical Program Lead, Innovative Genomics Institute, UC Berkeley. #RareDisease patient-scientist interested in genetic therapies, nonclinical development, dogs, and climbing. Go Bills. 🧗‍♀️

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Lauren Testa, Ph.D. @laurenctesta.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
zero women have won a Nobel prize in the past few days. how disappointing
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Lauren Testa, Ph.D. @laurenctesta.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Grateful to the #Marfan Foundation for featuring me in their newest magazine issue (page 12), Connective Issues! Patient advocacy has always been important to me and I'm thrilled I get to continue lending my voice to the community even as my career is expanding beyond connective tissue disorders.
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Lauren Testa, Ph.D. @laurenctesta.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
next time I watch the bills play after today will be IN PERSON for my first ever bills game, GO BILLS
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Lauren Testa, Ph.D. @laurenctesta.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Six months sober today. GO BILLS
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Lauren Testa, Ph.D. @laurenctesta.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
God I love science www.vet.cornell.edu/about-us/new...
vet.cornell.edu
First known cases of feline Marfan syndrome discovered in cat siblings
Researchers at the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine and the Baker Institute of Animal Health have documented the first molecular characterization of Marfan syndrome in domestic cats, ...
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Lauren Testa, Ph.D. @laurenctesta.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
new headshots are in courtesy of the UC Berkeley postdoc association ✨☀️
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Lauren Testa, Ph.D. @laurenctesta.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
echo day happened to coincide with game day, happy to have a healthy aorta for another year, go bills
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Lauren Testa, Ph.D. @laurenctesta.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
So grateful to have my parents visit me in Berkeley this weekend and enjoy a fantastic trip to Yosemite! as a climber I was in heaven! next time I’d love to climb there
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Lauren Testa, Ph.D. @laurenctesta.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
So sad to hear of the passing of Reed Pyeritz, a world renowned expert on #Marfan and other genetic aortic conditions. He was at Penn while I was working on my PhD project on Marfan syndrome and he met with me multiple times to give me advice and direction.
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Lauren Testa, Ph.D. @laurenctesta.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Will probably delete this later because I’m a coward who eventually needs a job but honestly going WHAT THE F in the audience at rare disease day when jay bhattacharya said that MAHA will help the rare disease community was like, the bravest and coolest I’ve been in my life
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Lauren Testa, Ph.D. @laurenctesta.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
heartbreaking on many levels.
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Lauren Testa, Ph.D. @laurenctesta.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
Excited to tune into the #Marfan Foundation conference this week! Looking forward to learning about new translational and clinical research. the focus of my postdoc isn’t connective tissue disorders so it’ll be fun to get immersed back into the field! hopefully I am welcomed back with open arms 😅
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Lauren Testa, Ph.D. @laurenctesta.bsky.social · 14/06/2026
today was my first visit to San Francisco, I cheered on my labmates in their rec soccer game, saw sea lions, and had in n out so it was a very solid day
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Lauren Testa, Ph.D. @laurenctesta.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
having a lot of feelings about the breakthrough drug for pancreatic cancer. I haven’t looked at the data yet. My uncle died of pancreatic cancer one week ago after being diagnosed just three months ago. wish a drug like this had been in time for him. F%#k cancer.
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Lauren Testa, Ph.D. @laurenctesta.bsky.social · 25/05/2026
60 days sober today for the first time since I was 18 🥲 One day I’ll write a book about this challenging time of my life - surrounded by chaos and questioning my career and my integrity daily, all while prioritizing my sobriety. every day reaffirms that sobriety is the best choice for me right now.
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🪾santiago, phd 🐈‍⬛ @santiagokique.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
Dr. Fauci came to Stanford for Medicine grand rounds and shared a few reflections I thought were worth passing on: The first was about Operation Warp Speed and the current state of the NIH. As you’ll recall the first mRNA vax was developed at record speed. Fauci atttributes that success to 4 factors
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Lauren Testa, Ph.D. @laurenctesta.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
Big day today. Doing my PhD on developing #genomeediting #CRISPR therapies for my own #RareDisease and related conditions was the honor of a lifetime. This one is for the #marfan #marfansyndrome community 🩷
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Lauren Testa, Ph.D. @laurenctesta.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
this is the same agency that is being praised for its regulatory flexibility re: gene editing therapies. the good that they’re doing in the editing space shouldn’t make them immune from criticism and should not detract from the ways they’re harming our country’s health
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Lauren Testa, Ph.D. @laurenctesta.bsky.social · 29/04/2026
reminding myself on this fine wednesday morning that the american health insurance system is designed for people like me to give up when trying to get help, so to spite the system I need to not give up!!
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Lauren Testa, Ph.D. @laurenctesta.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
The #RareDisease community has lost a great advocate. John Hudson was a young man with EB, whose story I learned through the YouTube channel Special Books for Special Kids. Based on the videos I’ve seen, he seemed like a compassionate, resilient person who did so much for the EB community.
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Dr. Mar @boldnewme.bsky.social · 12/04/2026
Look at the women at NASA. They are the ones pushing the boundaries of science, solving problems most people can’t even understand, and carrying this country forward, while our politicians right now posture and stumble through talking points. And they are doing it all with joy.👇
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Lauren Testa, Ph.D. @laurenctesta.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
there seems to be some confusion, I did not do any work during my PhD that has led to the treatment of a child lol. I worked on therapeutic genome editing for hereditary connective tissue disorders, and now like 15 mice who would have had PXE do not because of me, that’s all😭
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Lauren Testa, Ph.D. @laurenctesta.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
day 3 of postdoc: got asked several thought provoking and interesting scientific questions by some very smart trainees. Immediate response was “oh I am definitely not the person to ask about that”, only to realize I literally now am the person to ask about that 😬😬😬
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Lauren Testa, Ph.D. @laurenctesta.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
tag urself I’m the mutation in a single gene that causes one of 5000 human diseases lol
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Lauren Testa, Ph.D. @laurenctesta.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
First day of work!! Got my ID card and my email and scheduled meetings so I’ll call it a win. lucky to be here, honored as always to represent the #RareDisease community 🥲 #CRISPR
Sign above my new desk saying “welcome to the Urnov lab Lauren” with pictures of microscopes and science tools
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Reposted by Lauren Testa, Ph.D.
Sarah McAnulty, Ph.D. @sarahmackattack.bsky.social · 24/03/2026
Okay so why was I the only one in the theater tonight who gasped when Ryan Gosling ran a centrifuge with two tubes in the whole thing, sitting right next to each other? Sorry was I the only scientist in the film society theater tonight??
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Lauren Testa, Ph.D. @laurenctesta.bsky.social · 28/03/2026
showed up to my little apartment in Berkeley to discover it was covered with hundreds of flies 😭 thankfully it was deep cleaned today and it looks great now but I was making SO many TH Morgan/fly genetics jokes for the last 24h 😭 I’m calling apartment “the fly room” for obvious reasons
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Reposted by Lauren Testa, Ph.D.
public health guy @publichealthguy1.bsky.social · 26/03/2026
folks are forgetting jay bhattacharya’s reaction to the CDC attack. says a lot more than his empty words. these lies were cited by the shooter as his motive for firing 500 rounds at CDC staff and killing a police officer
Kennedy's appointees have gone even further. In 2022, the National Institutes of Health's now-Director Jay Bhattacharya appeared on a panel that inaccurately claimed Covid-19 vaccines had killed 20 times as many people as they had saved. The day after the shooting, Bhattacharya went on Steve Bannon's podcast to criticize mRNA vaccines. A few days later, he doubled down in a Washington Post op-ed.
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Lauren Testa, Ph.D. @laurenctesta.bsky.social · 25/03/2026
Today is my last day in Philadelphia after five incredible years. Saying goodbye to my friends over the past week has been heartbreaking. I’ve developed a life I really love here. Here’s hoping I’ll be back some day.
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Lauren Testa, Ph.D. @laurenctesta.bsky.social · 20/03/2026
took 11 hours but WOOHOO
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Lauren Testa, Ph.D. @laurenctesta.bsky.social · 17/03/2026
wake up babe new *inheritance pattern for #MarfanSyndrome* just dropped! SO interesting. Familial #Marfan syndrome with an unaffected parent. The potential for trisomy FBN1 (would aorta and joints be extra strong?!) I love old-school #HumanGenetics. #Genetics pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Novel Generation‐Skipping Inheritance Pattern of Marfan Syndrome Due to FBN1 Insertional Translocation: Diagnostic Utility of FISH and Implications for Genetic Counseling
Marfan syndrome (MFS) is an autosomal dominant connective tissue disorder caused by pathogenic variants in the fibrillin‐1 (FBN1) gene on Chromosome 15q21.1. A 3‐year‐old female presented to the clinic with MFS and a family history of an affected ...
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Lauren Testa, Ph.D. @laurenctesta.bsky.social · 11/03/2026
Now that I am packing up the last of my moving boxes, I am excited to share that I will be joining the @urnov.bsky.social Lab at the CZI-IGI Center for Pediatric CRISPR Cures at UC Berkeley @innovativegenomics.bsky.social as a Postdoc/Team Lead in just a few weeks!
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Innovative Genomics Institute @innovativegenomics.bsky.social · 28/02/2026
We're collaborating with the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Network to create the Center for Pediatric #CRISPR cures, which will bring personalized genomic medicines to children with rare diseases. Learn more ow.ly/X60p50YnzgT #RareDiseaseDay
Taylor Hudson (front) works on a laptop in the IGI lab, with colleagues Kevin Briseno and Aysel Ogul
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Lauren Testa, Ph.D. @laurenctesta.bsky.social · 27/02/2026
easiest way to boost my mood is to call me Dr Lauren Testa, btw 😂 Thanks to all for your kind words about my talk. I felt so supported by the #RareDisease community today. #RDDNIH
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Reposted by Lauren Testa, Ph.D.
Eric Topol @erictopol.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
This week's cover @thelancet.com
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Lauren Testa, Ph.D. @laurenctesta.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
Emotions have been running high lately. Yesterday was my last day in the Musunuru Lab, and saying goodbye to my labmates and friends was heartbreaking. Our group is full of so many kind, brilliant scientists who made me a better scientist and person.
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Gregg Gonsalves @gregggonsalves.bsky.social · 23/02/2026
This piece by @jeneeninterlandi.bsky.social is one for the ages. The damage Donald Trump (under the guidance of Russell Vought) has done to biomedical research is profound and will be long-lasting. It is a national tragedy to be measured in the sick and the dead. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/23/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | The Human Cost of Trump’s War on Science
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Lauren Testa, Ph.D. @laurenctesta.bsky.social · 23/02/2026
Update, my #RDDNIH talk is now at 2:20PM instead of 10:50AM this Friday, Feb 27! Live-streamed and in-person. Looking forward to it! #RareDisease #Marfan #CRISPR
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Lauren Testa, Ph.D. @laurenctesta.bsky.social · 23/02/2026
as a #raredisease patient and as a biomedical scientist whose salary depends on NIH funding, i do not agree with 99.99% of the folks at HHS. but the plausible mechanism pathway announced today is a promising first step toward meaningful therapies for devastating genetic diseases.
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Lauren Testa, Ph.D. @laurenctesta.bsky.social · 18/02/2026
excited to be giving a Rare Story at 10:50am at #RDDNIH! I don’t get to publicly speak about what it’s like to be a #RareDisease patient working on genetic therapies very often so I’m quite excited!
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Lauren Testa, Ph.D. @laurenctesta.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
hola from paradise 🩷✨
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Micah @rincewind.run · 11/02/2026
the rollout of the mRNA vaccines was one of the greatest public health triumphs in history and the end result has been the all-around triumph of the antivax movement and I will never get over it
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Lauren Testa, Ph.D. @laurenctesta.bsky.social · 07/02/2026
For both #RareDisease month and #MarfanSyndrome awareness month, I thought I'd share this article I wrote for the @ahajournals.bsky.social about being a patient-scientist working on developing genetic therapies for my condition and related conditions.
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Lauren Testa, Ph.D. @laurenctesta.bsky.social · 07/02/2026
happy Marfan awareness month from me and my now partial weight bearing left knee almost stuck the move though, but my leg completely crumpled in the fall
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BK. Titanji @boghuma.bsky.social · 28/01/2026
The scale of the loss is unimaginable. www.science.org/content/arti...
science.org
U.S. government has lost more than 10,000 STEM Ph.D.s since Trump took office
A Science analysis reveals how many were fired, retired, or quit across 14 agencies
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Molly Ploofkins @mollyploofkins.bsky.social · 26/01/2026
Alex Pretti’s coworkers take a moment of silence this morning
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Lauren Testa, Ph.D. @laurenctesta.bsky.social · 25/01/2026
This is my favorite part of my #PhD defense presentation, my acknowledgement to NIH where I started my scientific career. I am proud of myself for using my platform to speak out about the tragedy of science in this country. @standupforscience.bsky.social
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Lauren Testa, Ph.D. @laurenctesta.bsky.social · 24/01/2026
Yesterday was perfect. My whole community came out to support me, and as I looked around at my closest friends and family during our four course dinner, I asked myself over and over “how did I get so lucky?” Dr. Lauren Catherine Testa, Ph.D.
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Lauren Testa, Ph.D. @laurenctesta.bsky.social · 23/01/2026
I'm going to be sharing several projects tomorrow, including some unpublished Marfan work I did early on in my PhD. I learned a lot from the project, but therapeutically it didn't pan out how I'd hoped. At first I was almost embarrassed to publicly share a project like this but you know what?
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Lauren Testa, Ph.D. @laurenctesta.bsky.social · 22/01/2026
it’s HAPPENING
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