iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Mara Duncan @mcduncanlab.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

But I agree with Mark reaching out earlier doesn’t hurt unless you sign with a lesser lab early because better labs are on hold.

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Mara Duncan @mcduncanlab.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

We’re seeing this increasing with grad students placing after their 1st year. Labs are waiting till the absolute last minute because they’ve got to place one person before accepting someone new or waiting to hear if fundable score is funded.

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Mara Duncan @mcduncanlab.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Even 20 yrs ago some ppl said they needed to plan a year in advance for a postdoc in their lab others said they wanted just few months in advance. My guess is shorter timeframe allows more certainty about who will have left and what will be funded so is increasingly common in today’s reality.

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Ishier Raote @ishier.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Membrane Trafficking Seminar series returns this week with two exciting talks exploring GTPase regulation and the making of lysosomes! Join @felixmendu.bsky.social @franbottanelli.bsky.social and me for an afternoon of fun cell biology. For more details: felixcampelo.wixsite.com/membranetraf...

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Taniel @taniel.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Voter registration deadlines are SUNDAY in Alaska, Rhode Island, South Carolina. And MONDAY in: Arizona, Arkansas Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Ohio, Tennessee, and *Texas*. If you live in these states, verify your registration now, literally.

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Mara Duncan @mcduncanlab.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

fun function unknow—-actually I also kind of hate it, be some fun genes now have functions.

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Mara Duncan @mcduncanlab.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

After they master the basics, if they want they can start working on a project. Work study puts a little bit of money as a motivation for students to keep coming to lab while learning the basics.

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Mara Duncan @mcduncanlab.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Someone doing work study spends 1-2 semesters learning where everything is and what everything is because they are helping with lab maintenance, this usually starts with dishwater then media then doing simple support eg genotyping.

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Mara Duncan @mcduncanlab.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Through trial and error I found that students who had done lab prep in my lab had a much better research experience than someone who had to learn everything from the bottom up while still feeling pressure to get results.

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Mara Duncan @mcduncanlab.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

I second the advice to go through work study. I stopped taking students who have not worked in my lab to do research. And I recommend this to all of our new faculty.

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Mara Duncan @mcduncanlab.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Two days ago we were hanging out in a wine bar on the river front in Porto and the lady next to us told us to watch this dog who'd just walked into the bar. Apparently this dog comes to the bar every day and barks until he gets a thin slice of jamon.

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Mara Duncan @mcduncanlab.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

I mean the cardboard boxes would be mouse condos within the week, but I’m not sure partical board shelves would be any better.

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Mara Duncan @mcduncanlab.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

A submitted grant has some chance, and maybe more than you think it does. There are a lot of people posting 'my 6th percent didn't get funded', and yeah that sucks, but some of those people have other funds which I know is coming into the decision making at the PO level.

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Mara Duncan @mcduncanlab.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Things kept me motivated. 1) I always, always walk away from finishing a new grant with better ideas of what to work on while I wait on grant review. 2) When you go for tenure or bridge funding, that evidence of having submitted things does weigh in. 3) Hope. An unsubmitted grant is never funded.

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Mara Duncan @mcduncanlab.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

What's that thing that they say signals the end of a society--things stop getting fixed. Huron River Drive was supposed to be fixed months ago, but they have done absolutely nothing.

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Mara Duncan @mcduncanlab.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Depending on your risk tolerance, Huron River Drive is ok by bike right now. Since the road is closed where the hill is failing, traffic is pretty light on the rest of the road. I figure what are the chances of the hill failing completely while I'm biking across that section.

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Mara Duncan @mcduncanlab.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

They posted an update-and they finally put something on their website. I think it's gonna be closed for a looooong time. They're worried about sinkhole forming at the culverts. www.a2gov.org/parks-and-re...

a2gov.org

Gallup Park | City of Ann Arbor

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Mara Duncan @mcduncanlab.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

On Friday, I apparently biked through when it was closed. I hit the barricade near the fishing pond because they had not yet barricaded near the dam. I have no idea what the public safety hazard is. I thought it was maybe a risk of flooding, but that should be over.

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Mara Duncan @mcduncanlab.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Oh they have it on facebook and say that they've seen posts about it on social media and nextdoor.🤷 Also people on the facebook post have commented they've just gone right through with no issue.

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Mara Duncan @mcduncanlab.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Yeah. I've asked for an update and the response is if the barricade is up the trail is closed. I tried to explain that's a really unsuitable method to communicate to people who commute via that route.

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Reposted by Mara Duncan

Agathe Chaigne @agathechaigne.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Does anyone (ideally local to the Netherlands) have a His-Ub plasmid? High cheese reward.

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Mara Duncan @mcduncanlab.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

I recall that codon optimization can be detrimental as the transcript is made too fast for folding to catch up.

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International Zebrafish Society @izfs.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

US Zebrafish PIs: Your input is critical! An NIH R24 grant has been obtained to develop 60 small epitope tag knock-in genes as a resource for the zebrafish community. Please submit your input by Sep 18: upenn.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_... #EpitopeTag #ZebrafishResource #ZebrafishSurvey

upenn.co1.qualtrics.com

Qualtrics Survey | Qualtrics Experience Management

The most powerful, simple and trusted way to gather experience data. Start your journey to experience management and try a free account today.

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Mara Duncan @mcduncanlab.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Ooh so sneaky. I'm going to a small conference as a speaker. I just got an e-mail informing me that my entire trip was going to be sponsored click on the encrypted link to enter my details. I'm 99% certain that the conference has no speaker budget, plus I registered with my non-work e-mail.

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Mara Duncan @mcduncanlab.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Map of the outage region. My guess is they are worried about flooding.

A map of a closed bike trail sandwiched between the Huron river and a big pond.

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Mara Duncan @mcduncanlab.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Well this sounds totally suspicious. Apparently the entire B to B trail is closed from Gallup to the dam. No alternative route is provided. However, the construction on Huron River is paused so Huron River drive is closed to cars but navigable by bike, I guess that's my alternative route.

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Mara Duncan @mcduncanlab.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Heads up AA folks. The B to B trail is blocked by portable barriers just east of the fishing pond in Gallup park. There does not appear to be any hazard that warrants closing the trail either to the east or west of the barrier (in other words you can just go around it).

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Mara Duncan @mcduncanlab.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

start with fifth season It‘s what got me reading fantasy again after like 25 year.

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Mara Duncan @mcduncanlab.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Silver maple is ok, but not great for mushrooms. The crinkly bark makes it prone to getting invaded by other fungi, or drying out and losing it's bark which is bad for the mushroom growing.

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Mara Duncan @mcduncanlab.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

What type of tree? Might be able to make mushroom logs out of it. Seems like the perfect width branch.

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Mara Duncan @mcduncanlab.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Yeah, about to bike home. Hoping nothing fell in on the route I take.

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Reposted by Mara Duncan

Terry McGlynn @hormiga.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

I'm only a few days into being an AAAS Policy Fellow, but if any of tweeps here are interested in applying, I'm glad to share about my application experience and what it's been like so far. Only 2% if my cohort are "senior" (>15 years post-PhD), but it's a great opportunity for experienced faculty!

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Mara Duncan @mcduncanlab.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

I've had two people come through my lab one postdoc and one graduate student who simply could not get with the program. The postdoc I let go at the end of the first year, the PhD student was a struggle but they eventually got their one paper and PhD.

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Mara Duncan @mcduncanlab.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

There is a small of time investment in my part when someone starts working for me to get them onboard with the digital system and the level of detail I want, and the data storage scheme. But that investment pays off!!

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Mara Duncan @mcduncanlab.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Yeah, my digital conversion happened half-way through my postdoc. As a lab head, having the digital notebooks has been such a time saver for me. I can fairly easily find the data and protocols from almost anyone who worked in my lab.

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Mara Duncan @mcduncanlab.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Great use of my favorite organism Saccharomyces cerevisiae to reveal fundamental features of cell biology and protein functions with important implications for human health! I'm looking forward to future developments in understanding the non-transport roles of this transporter family.

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Mara Duncan @mcduncanlab.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Very cool story from the Sardana lab strongly suggesting that cystinosin, which is best known for it's roles in getting small molecules out of the lysosome, almost certainly has roles outside of the lysosome and that important for the pathological consequences of mutations. A great read!!

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Mara Duncan @mcduncanlab.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

If you saw how many people run their labs, you would know why. I'm shocked that even today how many labs don't use digital notebooks. A pub circa 2009/2010, I bet 70-80% of the time the protocol was hand written in someone's notebook. Good luck finding that and transcribing it accurately.

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Molly Schumer @mollyschumer.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Help needed! Does anyone know of a lab that has glass (pigmentless) guppies? We are interested in getting them for a project

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Mara Duncan @mcduncanlab.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

🧪I'm fed up with the Mr. Frosty (TM) brand cell freezer. I can't get them open and then they make a fricking mess when they are warming up after use. Do people use the foam ones? Do they work?

A foam freezing vessel labeled corning cool something.

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FlyBase @flybase.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

As you may know, NIH abruptly terminated funding to FlyBase curators based in the United Kingdom. Please help us retain these curators and thereby enable ongoing curation of bibliographic, genetic and phenotypic data by contributing annually (tinyurl.com/4jw65mbb). Thank you. #FlyBase

tinyurl.com

FlyBase:Contribute to FlyBase - FlyBase Wiki

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Cassandra Hayne @cassandrahayne.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

The Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at #UChicago is looking for a new junior faculty member to join us. If you or someone you know would be a good fit, please apply or encourage them to apply! apply.interfolio.com/191981

apply.interfolio.com

Apply - Interfolio {{$ctrl.$state.data.pageTitle}} - Apply - Interfolio

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Garcia-Mata Lab @rhopower.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

TOLEDO CellulART. Registration deadline this Friday if you want to be considered for a short talk! Same deadline for the image competition by @ibidicells.bsky.social . Send us your best picture! Remember, registration is always FREE.

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Mara Duncan @mcduncanlab.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

>1.25 kg. Wish there was an edit featur.

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Reposted by Mara Duncan

Mike Wiser @drmikewiser.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Michigan peeps: CVS is now scheduling updated Covid shots. (I haven't checked out other pharmacies, but I bet they are too).

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Mara Duncan @mcduncanlab.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Mushroom season is finally here. Our golden oyster logs petered out last year so it’s been a long mushroom free summer. Got >55 shiitakes 1.25

Me holding a 3ft log covered in small mushrooms.

A pile of mushrooms two held aloft about the size of an adults palm.

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Reposted by Mara Duncan

Sarah McAnulty, Ph.D. @sarahmackattack.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Alright everybody, time to text the teachers in your life. The fall semester is open at SkypeAScientist and we are ready to match classrooms, scout troops, library groups, and more with scientists! Tell the educators in your life, and send them to SkypeAScientist.com

A frog uses its comically long tongue to catch a fleeing fly and the words say “send this to a teacher” pointing right. Then under the tongue it says “Skype a scientist matches classrooms with scientists for free Q&As” and there’s a little pond scene with lily pads and spatterdock flowers and a rock with a snail on it and a salamander with the words get a match at Skype scientist.com

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Reposted by Mara Duncan

MRC-LMB Cell Biology Division @cellbiol-mrclmb.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Great tribute to the discovery by Barbara Pearce of clathrin, the first protein found to act in membrane traffic, along with her mentoring and support of the pioneers (many of whom were other women) who revealed the workings of this key player in cellular function.

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