Deepa Rajan
@deeparajan.bsky.social
MD/PhD candidate at UCSF researching the intelligence of single cells
research summary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Noq8wtqZKWY
research summary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Noq8wtqZKWY
Pinned
Deepa Rajan
@deeparajan.bsky.social
· Nov 25
How can a single cell learn without a brain or nervous system? We explore this in our new preprint with
@wallaceucsf.bsky.social! We discovered that central features of learning in single cells can be accounted for by a model based on receptor inactivation bit.ly/3CDukfS 🧵 1/n
@wallaceucsf.bsky.social! We discovered that central features of learning in single cells can be accounted for by a model based on receptor inactivation bit.ly/3CDukfS 🧵 1/n
Reposted by Deepa Rajan
Trump minimizes domestic abuse during a talk at the Museum of the Bible: "Things that take place in the home, they call crime ... If a man has a little fight with the wife, they say this was a crime, see?"
September 8, 2025 at 3:44 PM
Trump minimizes domestic abuse during a talk at the Museum of the Bible: "Things that take place in the home, they call crime ... If a man has a little fight with the wife, they say this was a crime, see?"
Reposted by Deepa Rajan
Help us record firefly flashes! 👇🙏
Do you have fireflies in your backyard? Biologist @oritpeleg.bsky.social is collecting data! #emergence docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
Help us Record Firefly Flashes ✨
Firefly flashes are amazing ❤️ During mating season, fireflies gather in groups and flash their species-specific flash pattern. To better understand these communication signals, we developed a method ...
docs.google.com
June 25, 2025 at 9:32 PM
Help us record firefly flashes! 👇🙏
Reposted by Deepa Rajan
Our research on wound resistance in Stentor is live on bioRxiv! Tldr; we squeezed the cells through microfluidic constrictions and the formidable lead author Rajorshi Paul characterized what makes the cells get wounded!
Characterization of cellular wound resistance in the giant ciliate Stentor coeruleus https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.06.23.661154v1
June 25, 2025 at 5:09 PM
Our research on wound resistance in Stentor is live on bioRxiv! Tldr; we squeezed the cells through microfluidic constrictions and the formidable lead author Rajorshi Paul characterized what makes the cells get wounded!
Our paper on single-cell learning is now published in
@currentbiology.bsky.social!
@wallaceucsf.bsky.social
sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
@currentbiology.bsky.social!
@wallaceucsf.bsky.social
sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
June 24, 2025 at 5:13 PM
Our paper on single-cell learning is now published in
@currentbiology.bsky.social!
@wallaceucsf.bsky.social
sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
@currentbiology.bsky.social!
@wallaceucsf.bsky.social
sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
I'm leading a program at the Exploratorium @exploratorium.bsky.social this weekend! Come check out "Mini Microbe Missions", an opportunity for kids (and adults) to do citizen science using the single cell Stentor coeruleus, supported by our Stentor in Every School initiative t.co/VX8r9BHxsJ
April 11, 2025 at 11:49 PM
I'm leading a program at the Exploratorium @exploratorium.bsky.social this weekend! Come check out "Mini Microbe Missions", an opportunity for kids (and adults) to do citizen science using the single cell Stentor coeruleus, supported by our Stentor in Every School initiative t.co/VX8r9BHxsJ
Reposted by Deepa Rajan
Went to a wonderful reunion for the birthday of dear friend and colleague Gerd Blobel yesterday. In the end, it’s funny how all the papers and grants fade away and the main thing you remember are the people.
April 5, 2025 at 1:27 PM
Went to a wonderful reunion for the birthday of dear friend and colleague Gerd Blobel yesterday. In the end, it’s funny how all the papers and grants fade away and the main thing you remember are the people.
Reposted by Deepa Rajan
pete hegseth carrying out his effort to resegregate the military www.military.com/daily-news/2...
Marines with Skin Condition Affecting Mostly Black Men Could Now Be Booted Under New Policy
A new Marine Corps policy says troops with a genetic skin condition that can cause pain and scarring from shaving and mainly affects Black men can be separated if the health issue persists.
www.military.com
March 16, 2025 at 11:27 PM
pete hegseth carrying out his effort to resegregate the military www.military.com/daily-news/2...
channeled my inner Joan Baez at the Stand Up for Science protest today
March 8, 2025 at 12:23 AM
channeled my inner Joan Baez at the Stand Up for Science protest today
Reposted by Deepa Rajan
I am so proud to share a major part of my graduate school research, published today in Science, where we use cell-free replication assays and cryo-EM to describe a central mechanism of eukaryotic DNA replication:
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
G-quadruplex–stalled eukaryotic replisome structure reveals helical inchworm DNA translocation
DNA G-quadruplexes (G4s) are non–B-form DNA secondary structures that threaten genome stability by impeding DNA replication. To elucidate how G4s induce replication fork arrest, we characterized fork ...
www.science.org
March 6, 2025 at 7:40 PM
I am so proud to share a major part of my graduate school research, published today in Science, where we use cell-free replication assays and cryo-EM to describe a central mechanism of eukaryotic DNA replication:
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Deepa Rajan
When your kids ask you what you did to save US science in the crisis of ‘25, you will say that you showed up! Please spread the word and join us!!
@standupforscience.bsky.social
@standupforscience.bsky.social
March 3, 2025 at 9:53 PM
When your kids ask you what you did to save US science in the crisis of ‘25, you will say that you showed up! Please spread the word and join us!!
@standupforscience.bsky.social
@standupforscience.bsky.social
Reposted by Deepa Rajan
For those who aren't biologists: This is a biosafety cabinet. Every biomedical research lab in the country has one or more of these bio safety cabinets. They use air flow to protect cells from contamination by bacteria and fungal spores while you are working with them.
February 13, 2025 at 3:18 AM
For those who aren't biologists: This is a biosafety cabinet. Every biomedical research lab in the country has one or more of these bio safety cabinets. They use air flow to protect cells from contamination by bacteria and fungal spores while you are working with them.
Reposted by Deepa Rajan
Today they went nuclear.
Imagine all firefighters were told "You all still have salaries, but as of today the government will no longer pay for building maintenance, firetruck maintenance and repair, hydrant upkeep, or admin assistants."
That's what they're doing to US universities.
Imagine all firefighters were told "You all still have salaries, but as of today the government will no longer pay for building maintenance, firetruck maintenance and repair, hydrant upkeep, or admin assistants."
That's what they're doing to US universities.
8. It is difficult to overstate what a catastrophe this will be for the US research and education systems, particular in biomedical fields.
It is deliberate and wanton devastation entirely out of scale with any concern about DEI activities on campuses.
The goal is destroy US universities.
It is deliberate and wanton devastation entirely out of scale with any concern about DEI activities on campuses.
The goal is destroy US universities.
February 8, 2025 at 12:57 AM
Today they went nuclear.
Imagine all firefighters were told "You all still have salaries, but as of today the government will no longer pay for building maintenance, firetruck maintenance and repair, hydrant upkeep, or admin assistants."
That's what they're doing to US universities.
Imagine all firefighters were told "You all still have salaries, but as of today the government will no longer pay for building maintenance, firetruck maintenance and repair, hydrant upkeep, or admin assistants."
That's what they're doing to US universities.
Reposted by Deepa Rajan
transcription people: are there examples where a transcriptional program gets re-set by cell division?
January 24, 2025 at 7:48 PM
transcription people: are there examples where a transcriptional program gets re-set by cell division?
Reposted by Deepa Rajan
you know what *is* available. TiK ToK by kesha
January 19, 2025 at 4:11 AM
you know what *is* available. TiK ToK by kesha
Reposted by Deepa Rajan
HNY! In case you thought 2025 is the year of the snake, it's actually the year of the SQUID 🦑 Excited to present this new protocol paper from the @brangwynnelab.bsky.social on isolating+transfecting squid primary cells 🧫✨! Check it out here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Squid primary cell culture as a model system and experimental tool
Squid primary cells from various tissues and ages are isolated, maintained in culture, and express exogenous genes. This protocol opens up numerous opportunities in molecular biology, neuroscience, an...
www.biorxiv.org
January 14, 2025 at 3:07 AM
HNY! In case you thought 2025 is the year of the snake, it's actually the year of the SQUID 🦑 Excited to present this new protocol paper from the @brangwynnelab.bsky.social on isolating+transfecting squid primary cells 🧫✨! Check it out here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
after a week in Chicago for the Biological Systems that Learn workshop @nitmb.bsky.social, I've been traveling back to SF via train over ~55 hours. Today is Day 3 on Amtrak for me and I've never experienced more scenic backdrops for working on a manuscript
January 13, 2025 at 12:54 AM
after a week in Chicago for the Biological Systems that Learn workshop @nitmb.bsky.social, I've been traveling back to SF via train over ~55 hours. Today is Day 3 on Amtrak for me and I've never experienced more scenic backdrops for working on a manuscript
Reposted by Deepa Rajan
love learning about the neurobiology of the two genders (lordosis and aggression) 🫠
January 7, 2025 at 8:59 PM
love learning about the neurobiology of the two genders (lordosis and aggression) 🫠
Reposted by Deepa Rajan
Mitochondria consist of networks of cylindrical tubes, right? Not necessarily! - in our new preprint, @gavsturm.bsky.social investigates how mitochondria transiently adopt a beads-on-a-string morphology
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
December 23, 2024 at 5:49 PM
Mitochondria consist of networks of cylindrical tubes, right? Not necessarily! - in our new preprint, @gavsturm.bsky.social investigates how mitochondria transiently adopt a beads-on-a-string morphology
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Deepa Rajan
Delighted to share our new preprint on the cell biology and genome of Stentor pyriformis, a giant ciliate that maintains Chlorella endosymbionts in surface-associated microtubule baskets.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
December 21, 2024 at 8:26 PM
Delighted to share our new preprint on the cell biology and genome of Stentor pyriformis, a giant ciliate that maintains Chlorella endosymbionts in surface-associated microtubule baskets.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
check out my new dispatch article with
@wallaceucsf.bsky.social in @currentbiology.bsky.social
about cellular cognition! www.cell.com/current-biol...
@wallaceucsf.bsky.social in @currentbiology.bsky.social
about cellular cognition! www.cell.com/current-biol...
December 21, 2024 at 2:09 AM
check out my new dispatch article with
@wallaceucsf.bsky.social in @currentbiology.bsky.social
about cellular cognition! www.cell.com/current-biol...
@wallaceucsf.bsky.social in @currentbiology.bsky.social
about cellular cognition! www.cell.com/current-biol...
Reposted by Deepa Rajan
If you are at ASCB and you missed the poster by @DeepaRajan about the molecular substrates of memory in the single cell Stentor, its not too late - you can see her talk tomorrow (Tue Dec 17) at 5:35 pm in Ballroom 20A
December 17, 2024 at 6:49 AM
If you are at ASCB and you missed the poster by @DeepaRajan about the molecular substrates of memory in the single cell Stentor, its not too late - you can see her talk tomorrow (Tue Dec 17) at 5:35 pm in Ballroom 20A
If you're at #ASCB2024 and want to learn more about my research on learning in single cells, please come to my talk "Probing the molecular substrates of memory in the single cell Stentor coeruleus" at 5:35 pm today!
How can a single cell learn without a brain or nervous system? We explore this in our new preprint with
@wallaceucsf.bsky.social! We discovered that central features of learning in single cells can be accounted for by a model based on receptor inactivation bit.ly/3CDukfS 🧵 1/n
@wallaceucsf.bsky.social! We discovered that central features of learning in single cells can be accounted for by a model based on receptor inactivation bit.ly/3CDukfS 🧵 1/n
December 17, 2024 at 6:15 PM
If you're at #ASCB2024 and want to learn more about my research on learning in single cells, please come to my talk "Probing the molecular substrates of memory in the single cell Stentor coeruleus" at 5:35 pm today!
Reposted by Deepa Rajan
not yet published, already taught at the College de France by @thomaslecuit.bsky.social
December 17, 2024 at 10:40 AM
not yet published, already taught at the College de France by @thomaslecuit.bsky.social
Reposted by Deepa Rajan
A corollary is that remembering is the privilege of an empty life -- the bar drained of people renders even whispers audible, but who wants to go to that bar? I'd rather surrender remembering to the stupendous blare of life. Forgetting is living!
December 8, 2024 at 12:56 AM
A corollary is that remembering is the privilege of an empty life -- the bar drained of people renders even whispers audible, but who wants to go to that bar? I'd rather surrender remembering to the stupendous blare of life. Forgetting is living!