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Lori O'Brien

@llobrienlab.bsky.social
1.1K followers 1.1K following 81 posts

Dev bio, cell bio, stem cells, regen med, all things kidney. Punk rock and whisky enthusiast. Personal account and opinions. #firstgen

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Lori O'Brien @llobrienlab.bsky.social · 24/04/2026
Always a highlight of the spring. Enjoy watching yours!
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Lori O'Brien @llobrienlab.bsky.social · 24/04/2026
For #FluorescenceFriday, an E10 embryo showing Pax2 localization. #DevelopmentalBiology
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Lori O'Brien @llobrienlab.bsky.social · 24/04/2026
Ours just fledged this past week
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Stephanie Gupton @stephgupton.bsky.social · 18/03/2026
Our first cancer biology preprint is up! TRIM9 switches melanoma cell phenotypes. First author @klukasik.bsky.social has taken the lab into new directions for sure in a fun collaboration with @coronin.bsky.social. We can't wait to hear what you think. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
biorxiv.org
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Lori O'Brien @llobrienlab.bsky.social · 18/03/2026
Congrats!
media.tenor.com
a man in a number 21 jersey is surrounded by other soccer players
ALT: a man in a number 21 jersey is surrounded by other soccer players
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Yarui Diao @yaruidiao.bsky.social · 20/02/2026
Happy to share scHiCAR, an ultra-high throughout (millions of cells), low cost (5 cents/cell including NGS), and trimodal platform for integrated single-cell level analysis of mRNA, open chromatin, and 5-kb resolution looping with ground-truth data the same individual cell.
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I-75 Scientist @flscitriguy.bsky.social · 14/02/2026
A blue Tulip (Sustentacular cell) behind some red (OMP) OSN cell bodies, and some green horizontal basal cells in the olfactory epithelium. Stylized for a science art presentation (easier to find than original).
Fluorescence imaging of the olfactory epithelium. A sustentacular cell transduced by a BFP expressing AAV stands out from all the red labeld olfactory sensory neurons. Random imaging was one of the best parts of the job...
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Lori O'Brien @llobrienlab.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
An old favorite for this #FluorescenceFriday. This "rose" is actually a kidney glomerulus (red, podocytes) and an axon reaching towards it (green).
Kidney microscopy image that looks just like a rose. The glomerulus is red and looks like a ball of petals and a green axon looks like a long stem.
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Lori O'Brien @llobrienlab.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
Going to have to carve some time out for this!
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Lori O'Brien @llobrienlab.bsky.social · 09/02/2026
When your cat is obsessed with #PuppyBowl. As a special needs adoptee herself, she’s a huge advocate.
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Tim Mosca (he/him) @drosophilosophy.bsky.social · 07/02/2026
I am very excited to visit NC State this weekend and give a seminar on Monday! I'll be in Raleigh from Saturday to Tuesday so I'm joyfully accepting all running trail suggestions, dining ideas, cool places to sit and write 6 R01s, and any friends who want to say Hi! gga.ncsu.edu/event/tim-mo...
gga.ncsu.edu
Tim Mosca, Thomas Jefferson University
Office of University Interdisciplinary Programs
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Lori O'Brien @llobrienlab.bsky.social · 06/02/2026
The beauty of the kidney arterial tree for this #FluorescenceFriday. Evans Blue dye labels the vasculature. Image courtesy of postdoc Sarah McLarnon.
Microscopy image of a kidney only showing the highly branched arterial tree in magenta against a black background.
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Kevin Dean @kevin-dean.bsky.social · 05/02/2026
In @elife.bsky.social: A high-resolution, easy-to-build light-sheet microscope for subcellular imaging doi.org/10.7554/eLif...
doi.org
A high-resolution, easy-to-build light-sheet microscope for subcellular imaging
An accessible light-sheet microscope delivers subcellular-resolution, multicolor volumetric, and live-cell imaging, lowering barriers to state-of-the-art performance.
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Lori O'Brien @llobrienlab.bsky.social · 14/01/2026
Hope so too as I assume the problem will only get worse as deadlines approach. Still no progress with mine.
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Mark Peifer (He, him) @peiferlabunc.bsky.social · 11/01/2026
Great things still happen all around us. Each your UNC Biology's Bob Goldstein and Art's Beth Grabowski co-teach ARTS/BIOL 409, that brings together artists and scientists to explore an intersection of two disciplines. It culminated this year with a remarkable show Friday 1/n
Announcement of the show and a view of last year's crowd
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Lori O'Brien @llobrienlab.bsky.social · 10/01/2026
That’s great news! 🤞
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Lori O'Brien @llobrienlab.bsky.social · 09/01/2026
Ugh, I’m sorry. Not much better here. My request is still somewhere in the ether with an auto reply date of January 20th for resolving issues. 😭
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Lori O'Brien @llobrienlab.bsky.social · 09/01/2026
Pro tip: NEVER log into My NCBI with more than one 3rd party option. It creates a whole new account that can’t be deleted. I apparently did this once with the ORCiD login (as opposed to normal eRA login) and now I can’t link my ORCiD ID to my SciENcv. I have to ask the Help Desk to merge accounts. 🫠
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Kevin Dean @kevin-dean.bsky.social · 02/01/2026
Introducing Cyclically Multiplexed Expansion Microscopy (Cy-ExM): a workflow for 3D nanoscale, high-plex imaging in whole cells. Cryo-preserved ultrastructure + iterative labeling + expansion microscopy → 20 targets in one dataset with ~70 nm lateral resolution. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
biorxiv.org
Unraveling Subcellular Ultrastructure with Cyclically Multiplexed Expansion Microscopy
Despite advances in fluorescence microscopy, spectral overlap and limited resolution hinder the dense mapping of the cellular ultrastructure. To overcome these challenges, we developed Cy-ExM, a high-...
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Lori O'Brien @llobrienlab.bsky.social · 31/12/2025
Thanks so much, Rejji!
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Lori O'Brien @llobrienlab.bsky.social · 31/12/2025
It’s certainly been a year, but I’m incredibly grateful that earlier in 2025 I was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure! Huge thanks to you all for promoting our work here and on the other site, for talk invites, for writing letters of support, and to the lab for all their contributions. 🥂
Image of a developing kidney collecting duct system in yellow with innervating nerve fibers in cyan. Image of a sectioned ganglion with many colors highlighting the cell bodies and nuclei.Image of a developing kidney showing nephron progenitors in yellow and collecting duct system in blue.
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Emily Bruce @brucelab.bsky.social · 19/12/2025
Unfortunately the drop in ESI funding rates is not paired with changes in funding required to get tenure. It’s not just the next three years of our labs at risk, but the rest of our careers. We are also the cohort that started in the COVID pandemic- it’s been nothing but “unprecedented times”…
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Ali Maximilian Erturk @erturklab.bsky.social · 18/12/2025
Most transcriptomics studies sample ~0.001% of a mouse. Which region do we choose? Often: we guess. Meet DISCO-seq 🤗 flipping the order: RNA-preserving clearing → whole-organ/whole-body 3D imaging → pick ROIs in 3D → unbiased scRNA-seq. Preprint: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
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Mark Peifer (He, him) @peiferlabunc.bsky.social · 14/12/2025
In a paper out this month in @jcb.org we present evidence implicating intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs) as key to junctional assembly and function 2/n 🧪 pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41099653/
title, authors and abstract from link
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Ryan Gray @slewzeus.bsky.social · 13/12/2025
Our new work Cilia.io is out on the Rxiv. Ece Atayeter and Jason Ho trained an ML computer vision transformer for detection and quantification of cilia morphology and dynamics. We will provide a GUI soon. Another great collaboration w/ @jbwallingford.bsky.social
cili.io
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Josh Currie @joshcurrie.bsky.social · 05/12/2025
🚨 Preprint Friday! 🚨 Thrilled to highlight this collab with David Brown at Duke @cutitoutdave.bsky.social and Ken Poss at UW Madison/Morgridge @kenposs.bsky.social. By comparing 3(!!) regenerating models we identify a conserved role for Sp-family TFs in appendage regeneration (and more).....🧵
biorxiv.org
Enhancer-directed gene delivery for digit regeneration based on conserved epidermal factors
Limb loss remains a significant clinical challenge, but regenerative medicine approaches such as gene therapy offer a promising strategy to trigger endogenous regeneration programs. Optimal vector con...
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Lori O'Brien @llobrienlab.bsky.social · 22/11/2025
I think this is it. While this isn’t a change for some ICs in terms of percentile cut offs, how are these additional criteria, that were not always taken into account before, going to be balanced? What is their weight in decisions on funding?
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Adam Gracz @graczlab.bsky.social · 19/11/2025
UNC's Center for Molecular Medicine has up to three open-rank positions for faculty conducting research with relevance to gene therapy, including: novel iPSC and animal models of disease and basic cell biology. Join us in beautiful Chapel Hill! Deadline 1/31/26: unc.peopleadmin.com/postings/309...
unc.peopleadmin.com
Open-Rank, Tenure-Track Faculty Positions, Center for Molecular Medicine
The Center for Molecular Medicine in partnership with Departments of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Cell Biology and Physiology, Genetics, Microbiology and Immunology and Pediatrics at the University of...
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Lori O'Brien @llobrienlab.bsky.social · 13/11/2025
Durham, NC about 10 minutes ago
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Lori O'Brien @llobrienlab.bsky.social · 07/11/2025
Flashback #FluorescenceFriday to some of the first light-sheet imaging we were doing. Video shows the collecting duct system of the developing kidney labeled with a pan-cytokeratin antibody. Courtesy of former talented technician Deanna Hardesty.
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ASNKidney @asnkidney.bsky.social · 16/10/2025
🆕 KidneyCure is committing up to $6 million over three years to help eligible NIH R01 applicants ranked in the top 15% continue their kidney research with a $100K award. Learn more and explore every KidneyCure opportunity: bit.ly/kcgrantsfunding
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Lori O'Brien @llobrienlab.bsky.social · 14/10/2025
Yeah, this year is chaos for study sections. Mine was scheduled for last week. We got a email from CSR communications the night before telling us it was postponed and not to join the scheduled meeting.
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Reto Fiolka @retof.bsky.social · 06/10/2025
We present multi-immersion Oblique Plane microscope (miOPM), a light-sheet platform that can be adapted to a wide range of applications, from sensitive live cell imaging to imaging organs and cleared tissues. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
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Lori O'Brien @llobrienlab.bsky.social · 04/10/2025
Sharing this excellent review now out from postdoc Sarah McLarnon! Lots of useful info on 3D imaging, quantification of imaging data, and how this has been applied to the kidney. And since it's #FluorescenceFriday, sharing a figure with our own imaging data! www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Figure from our review paper showing various fluorescence microscopy images of cells and structures of the kidney
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Rachael Ott @rachaelott.bsky.social · 03/10/2025
For #FluorescenceFriday, RhoA (blue) and the actin cytoskeleton (magenta) are shown in a set of primary microglia 🔬 #Neuroscience #Microscopy
RhoA (blue) and the actin cytoskeleton (magenta) are shown in a set of primary microglia.
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Maik Bischoff @maikbischoff.bsky.social · 03/10/2025
My entry for today’s #FluorescenceFriday: a pupal #Drosophila testis with muscles expressing 🔵 lifeact & 🔴 RFP-nls Honored & grateful to receive an honorable mention at @healthcare.nikon.com Nikon Small World 🌍🔬✨ 🔗 www.nikonsmallworld.com/galleries/20... #NikonSmallWorld #Microscopy #ScienceArt
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Lori O'Brien @llobrienlab.bsky.social · 26/09/2025
And a zoomed view of the intricate collecting system.
Zoomed up image of the collecting ducts of an adult mouse kidney. The collecting ducts are labeled with an AQP2 antibody and are green. They look like long green squiggles.
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Lori O'Brien @llobrienlab.bsky.social · 26/09/2025
For this #FluorescenceFriday, a gorgeous image of an adult mouse kidney labeled with AQP2 and alpha SMA antibodies. AQP2 (green) marks the collecting duct and distal connecting segment while SMA marks the arterial tree. Courtesy of talented postdoc Sarah McLarnon.
Image of a fluorescently labeled adult mouse kidney showing AQP2 staining of collecting ducts and connecting segment in green and alpha SMA staining of the arterial tree in magenta. The collecting ducts look like squiggly branches.
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Lori O'Brien @llobrienlab.bsky.social · 26/09/2025
Rescued these two beauties today, one stuck in the parking garage stairwell and one from inside the house (and rescued from 3 very interested cats)
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Waggoner Lab @labwaggoner.bsky.social · 25/09/2025
Sensory neurons drive pancreatic cancer progression through glutamatergic neuron-cancer pseudo-synapses @cp-cancercell.bsky.social www.cell.com/cancer-cell/...
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Lori O'Brien @llobrienlab.bsky.social · 23/09/2025
❤️ I have one too and love it!
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Lori O'Brien @llobrienlab.bsky.social · 10/09/2025
I am very sorry, how incredibly frustrating. From canceled and rescheduled study sections and council meetings, excellent scores being told they would be funded, only to end up here. It certainly has been exhausting.
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Lori O'Brien @llobrienlab.bsky.social · 10/09/2025
Thank you, am trying to cheer myself up by looking at hot off the press cool new data related to this renewal app. 😭
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Lori O'Brien @llobrienlab.bsky.social · 09/09/2025
Thank you and totally agree, too many of us here between canceled grants and new funding models just dropped on us. Hoping there’s a chance for change in FY26 so there’s not more of us in this situation.
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Lori O'Brien @llobrienlab.bsky.social · 09/09/2025
This is me, one of those 211. My A1 R01 renewal would have been funded otherwise, and I was even initially told they planned to fund it. Now very unlikely. No more chances with this one. We had so many good things going-how do we keep moving forward? A question many of us will be asking.
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Dagmar Iber & CoBi @iberd.bsky.social · 30/07/2025
How can cells self-organize rapidly into complex patterns during development? Let’s explore a powerful and underappreciated mechanism: Directed Cell Migration (DCM). Preprint @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social : doi.org/10.1101/2025... 👇Thread 🧵(1/11)
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Lori O'Brien @llobrienlab.bsky.social · 30/07/2025
In the same boat with my R01 competitive renewal. Feeling any hope is now gone.
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Lori O'Brien @llobrienlab.bsky.social · 29/07/2025
They managed to perform somite transplants 😱
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Lori O'Brien @llobrienlab.bsky.social · 29/07/2025
Intermediate mesoderm isn't the sole contributor to nephrons in zebrafish-new manuscript out showing somites are a source of nephron progenitors! Very cool, dogma challenging study led by Alan Davidson's group. Many fun discussions were had-grateful for the inclusion! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Somites are a source of nephron progenitors in zebrafish - Nature Communications
This study reveals that cells of the zebrafish kidney can originate from the somites, structures traditionally held as precursors to the skeletal muscle, challenging a century-old paradigm and prompti...
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Lori O'Brien @llobrienlab.bsky.social · 29/07/2025
@jeremymberg.bsky.social If they can stop or stall the multi year funding from moving forward in FY26, can this 50% multi year strategy still be enforced for the remainder of FY25? Currently have an R01 caught in this limbo for FY25 funding consideration.
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