Abby Polter
@ampolter.bsky.social
Associate professor in Washington DC. Neuroscientist/mouse psychiatrist
Reposted by Abby Polter
Our latest story in preprint (www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...) and one of my favorites so far. More detailed thread to come. Tldr we show that the distinctive collagen patterning we see in black breast cancer patients is caused by tumor intrinsic signaling and is critical for metastasis 1/3 🧪
November 11, 2025 at 12:49 AM
Our latest story in preprint (www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...) and one of my favorites so far. More detailed thread to come. Tldr we show that the distinctive collagen patterning we see in black breast cancer patients is caused by tumor intrinsic signaling and is critical for metastasis 1/3 🧪
Reposted by Abby Polter
I'm reminded once again that a weak, incompetent opposition party is a hallmark of competitive authoritarianism.
November 10, 2025 at 4:27 AM
I'm reminded once again that a weak, incompetent opposition party is a hallmark of competitive authoritarianism.
Reposted by Abby Polter
“This weight presses on me every day. I am flooded with stories. There are so many I cannot remember them all; cannot keep straight who was gassed, beaten, abducted, or shot. I write to leave a record, to stare at the track of the tornado. I write to leave a warning. I write to call for help.”
Kyle Kingsbury is not a journalist. He is not an op-ed writer.
He is a computer safety researcher.
And he has written one of the most compelling, comprehensive accounts of the ongoing hell in Chicago that you could possibly imagine.
In under 1600 words.
aphyr.com/posts/397-i-...
He is a computer safety researcher.
And he has written one of the most compelling, comprehensive accounts of the ongoing hell in Chicago that you could possibly imagine.
In under 1600 words.
aphyr.com/posts/397-i-...
November 10, 2025 at 1:24 PM
“This weight presses on me every day. I am flooded with stories. There are so many I cannot remember them all; cannot keep straight who was gassed, beaten, abducted, or shot. I write to leave a record, to stare at the track of the tornado. I write to leave a warning. I write to call for help.”
Honestly if you're going to have delusions of grandeur about saving the American Republic, at least have some self respect and have one where you use a sword or a light saber instead of old fashioned across the aisle bipartisanship
November 10, 2025 at 3:24 AM
Honestly if you're going to have delusions of grandeur about saving the American Republic, at least have some self respect and have one where you use a sword or a light saber instead of old fashioned across the aisle bipartisanship
Reposted by Abby Polter
Want a party that actually fights back? Run for office. We’ll help you. runforwhat.net
Run for Something
Find offices you can run for
runforwhat.net
November 10, 2025 at 12:38 AM
Want a party that actually fights back? Run for office. We’ll help you. runforwhat.net
Related, if some tech bro wants to make an *actually* useful AI, they should ask all the ~midcareer women for a list of all the extra below-license tasks that get shoveled on to them and make a robot to do those. (Trust me, those women absolutely have a list)
if only I could outsource my deep thinking and collaborative problem solving to a machine I'd be able to get my pcard reconciled on time
November 8, 2025 at 2:34 PM
Related, if some tech bro wants to make an *actually* useful AI, they should ask all the ~midcareer women for a list of all the extra below-license tasks that get shoveled on to them and make a robot to do those. (Trust me, those women absolutely have a list)
Reposted by Abby Polter
the only "honor" Watson's getting from me is that i've built a lab full of outstanding students who are everything he hated: Black, Indigenous, female, trans, queer, neurodivergent, disabled, immigrant, and beyond.
he might be what the past of our field looks like- but the future looks like my lab.
he might be what the past of our field looks like- but the future looks like my lab.
Hey folks, as news of Watson's demise spreads, please don't set aside his weighty legacy of misogyny and racism. He was truly among the worst of us. www.vox.com/2019/1/15/18...
DNA scientist James Watson has a remarkably long history of sexist, racist public comments
“People say it would be terrible if we made all girls pretty,” he said in 2003. “I think it would be great.”
www.vox.com
November 7, 2025 at 10:34 PM
the only "honor" Watson's getting from me is that i've built a lab full of outstanding students who are everything he hated: Black, Indigenous, female, trans, queer, neurodivergent, disabled, immigrant, and beyond.
he might be what the past of our field looks like- but the future looks like my lab.
he might be what the past of our field looks like- but the future looks like my lab.
Reposted by Abby Polter
This is fascinating because this is such a new field and somehow they are going to hire 100 tenure-track faculty in the next 5 years who specialize in it. And yet when asked to fill spots with faculty of color/women/marginalized groups, administrators often cry about how the pipelines don't exist.
November 7, 2025 at 9:46 PM
This is fascinating because this is such a new field and somehow they are going to hire 100 tenure-track faculty in the next 5 years who specialize in it. And yet when asked to fill spots with faculty of color/women/marginalized groups, administrators often cry about how the pipelines don't exist.
Reposted by Abby Polter
Here's a crazy tool to help you identify gaps in your manuscript: Send it to 2 trusted colleagues to read, meet for one hour with snacks and drinks to discuss. Doing this vs using an LLM is a choice.
November 7, 2025 at 4:02 PM
Here's a crazy tool to help you identify gaps in your manuscript: Send it to 2 trusted colleagues to read, meet for one hour with snacks and drinks to discuss. Doing this vs using an LLM is a choice.
I have measured my life out
in when2meet polls
in when2meet polls
November 7, 2025 at 2:56 PM
I have measured my life out
in when2meet polls
in when2meet polls
Reposted by Abby Polter
Your cat when you're choking to death in your apartment
November 6, 2025 at 9:16 PM
Your cat when you're choking to death in your apartment
Nothing makes me think of Auden's line about a low, dishonest decade than the monstrousness of this man
The world’s first trillionaire initiated a move that has left more than half a million people dead, most of whom are children.
November 7, 2025 at 1:53 PM
Nothing makes me think of Auden's line about a low, dishonest decade than the monstrousness of this man
Not enough people are appreciating this, my greatest work
I am selfish
I am wrong
I am right, I swear I'm right
I swear I knew it all along
I am wrong
I am right, I swear I'm right
I swear I knew it all along
This Is What a Vindicated Iguana Looks Like
www.nytimes.com
November 7, 2025 at 1:56 AM
Not enough people are appreciating this, my greatest work
I am selfish
I am wrong
I am right, I swear I'm right
I swear I knew it all along
I am wrong
I am right, I swear I'm right
I swear I knew it all along
This Is What a Vindicated Iguana Looks Like
www.nytimes.com
November 6, 2025 at 5:29 PM
I am selfish
I am wrong
I am right, I swear I'm right
I swear I knew it all along
I am wrong
I am right, I swear I'm right
I swear I knew it all along
Reposted by Abby Polter
Hope is a fuel. Use it to burn down something terrible.
November 6, 2025 at 2:55 AM
Hope is a fuel. Use it to burn down something terrible.
Reposted by Abby Polter
It’s hard to believe but there was a cartoon about an immigrant mouse and it was seen as totally fine and not controversial and not woke because it was an aspirational and nice thing about America that people could come here and find a better life
November 5, 2025 at 9:08 PM
It’s hard to believe but there was a cartoon about an immigrant mouse and it was seen as totally fine and not controversial and not woke because it was an aspirational and nice thing about America that people could come here and find a better life
This is not on the screening questionnaire but I'm pretty sure this counts as an ACE
November 6, 2025 at 1:55 PM
This is not on the screening questionnaire but I'm pretty sure this counts as an ACE
Reposted by Abby Polter
lol
November 6, 2025 at 4:47 AM
lol
Reposted by Abby Polter
the senate appropriations bill explicitly limits MYF while the congressional budget doesn't. Making sure the language in the senate appropriations bill ends up in the final budget seems like an clear goal tp push our representatives on
November 5, 2025 at 9:29 PM
the senate appropriations bill explicitly limits MYF while the congressional budget doesn't. Making sure the language in the senate appropriations bill ends up in the final budget seems like an clear goal tp push our representatives on
Reposted by Abby Polter
A year ago today, we had a really terrible election night, and because I know how people fall into despair I sat down at 11pm and wondered what I could tell you. I told you:
November 5, 2025 at 6:26 PM
A year ago today, we had a really terrible election night, and because I know how people fall into despair I sat down at 11pm and wondered what I could tell you. I told you:
Reposted by Abby Polter
Bill Ackman gotta be on the third draft of a tweet longer than Middlemarch right now
November 5, 2025 at 2:52 AM
Bill Ackman gotta be on the third draft of a tweet longer than Middlemarch right now
Reposted by Abby Polter
We have friends everywhere
November 5, 2025 at 4:57 AM
We have friends everywhere
Reposted by Abby Polter
A pro-affordability, anti-Trump-corruption message unites the party. Every candidate can run on that, and every candidate can have their own take to fit that to their constituents. There's really no need to find fights to pick when the party agrees on more than it disagrees
Came here to say this, but Jamelle Bouie has this covered. 👇
When the Democratic tent includes candidates like Spanberger and Mamdani, there is no crisis, or fight, for the party. IT’S A COALITION, NOT A POINT ESTIMATE.
When the Democratic tent includes candidates like Spanberger and Mamdani, there is no crisis, or fight, for the party. IT’S A COALITION, NOT A POINT ESTIMATE.
i want to repeat this: mamdani and spanberger have run similar campaigns tailored to their respective electorates and it is maddening to watch political journalists attempt to create some broad contrast where none exist
November 5, 2025 at 2:15 AM
A pro-affordability, anti-Trump-corruption message unites the party. Every candidate can run on that, and every candidate can have their own take to fit that to their constituents. There's really no need to find fights to pick when the party agrees on more than it disagrees
Reposted by Abby Polter
An “all you fascists bound to lose” sort of night
November 5, 2025 at 2:29 AM
An “all you fascists bound to lose” sort of night