Lewis Collins
@drlewisac.bsky.social
Biologist - entomology, behaviour, neuroscience, cancer, Evo-devo... There's not a lot I haven't been involved in. Technician demonstrator and researcher looking to rebuild a science community from the ashes of the Twitter dumpster fire.
I thought the Bluetooth logging system on the lab freezer was a waste of money, but on the offer it was cheaper with than without.
Today students told me the alarm was going off but they definitely hadn't had it open too long and I got to show them this
Today students told me the alarm was going off but they definitely hadn't had it open too long and I got to show them this
November 5, 2025 at 12:18 PM
I thought the Bluetooth logging system on the lab freezer was a waste of money, but on the offer it was cheaper with than without.
Today students told me the alarm was going off but they definitely hadn't had it open too long and I got to show them this
Today students told me the alarm was going off but they definitely hadn't had it open too long and I got to show them this
Happy new shiny toy day to me... I mean the department
October 15, 2025 at 7:19 PM
Happy new shiny toy day to me... I mean the department
Yesterday there was a special celebration to (almost finally) close the building where I spent 13 years at Leicester. Famous for DNA fingerprinting, Richard III and countless other discoveries and developments. It was amazing to hear stories from people who were there significantly longer than me
October 12, 2025 at 10:03 AM
Yesterday there was a special celebration to (almost finally) close the building where I spent 13 years at Leicester. Famous for DNA fingerprinting, Richard III and countless other discoveries and developments. It was amazing to hear stories from people who were there significantly longer than me
This is definitely the weirdest form of mimicry. If there's a weirder one please tell me
In what may be one of Earth’s craziest forms of mimicry, researchers in 2023 reported a species of rove beetle that grows a termite puppet on its back to fool real termites into feeding it.
Learn more during #InsectWeek: scim.ag/40mj1S8
Learn more during #InsectWeek: scim.ag/40mj1S8
Beetle grows ‘termite’ on back to steal food
Puppet helps insect trick real termites into feeding it
scim.ag
June 26, 2025 at 6:52 AM
This is definitely the weirdest form of mimicry. If there's a weirder one please tell me
Flashback to 10 years ago when someone foolishly said "Lewis, you're a photographer, you could do a professional looking lab photo"
June 25, 2025 at 10:17 AM
Flashback to 10 years ago when someone foolishly said "Lewis, you're a photographer, you could do a professional looking lab photo"
Some days I'm very happy to be on campus
June 13, 2025 at 1:49 PM
Some days I'm very happy to be on campus
When people think this is just affecting America this is what they're not considering. Flybase is such a crucial resource and its loss could hugely impact fundamental research across the globe
We currently have a call for support that has gone out to European labs, to support FlyBase-UK. We are asking our colleagues from labs in the US and other countries to wait for a similar call to them that will go out in the near future, to support the US sites. We thank you for your patience.
URGENT: FlyBase has lost practically all its funding overnight; even user fees are tied up in denied grant funding. 🤬🤯
Any lab using @flybase.bsky.social please donate using the link in post below.
This incredible community, on whose backs our #Drosophila labs depend, can't be left out to dry.
Any lab using @flybase.bsky.social please donate using the link in post below.
This incredible community, on whose backs our #Drosophila labs depend, can't be left out to dry.
June 4, 2025 at 7:39 PM
When people think this is just affecting America this is what they're not considering. Flybase is such a crucial resource and its loss could hugely impact fundamental research across the globe
A colleague forgot about this plate and left it at 37 degrees for 3 weeks, but it looks glorious. I'm currently testing out a photo box to get more consistent images of Petri dishes and it seemed a good candidate
June 3, 2025 at 5:52 AM
A colleague forgot about this plate and left it at 37 degrees for 3 weeks, but it looks glorious. I'm currently testing out a photo box to get more consistent images of Petri dishes and it seemed a good candidate
Movies you've watched more than 6 times using GIFs.
And I still laugh childishly hard at this scene.
And I still laugh childishly hard at this scene.
April 26, 2025 at 9:07 PM
Movies you've watched more than 6 times using GIFs.
And I still laugh childishly hard at this scene.
And I still laugh childishly hard at this scene.
I may be late for the day, but the truth is the same every day. To my friends, colleagues, students, people passing me in the corridor who have something to say: you are safe with me
Happy Trans Day of Visibility to all you wonderful lovely people! 🏳️⚧️
Thank you for sharing as much of yourselves as you are comfortable sharing; all our lives are richer for it ❤️
Thank you for sharing as much of yourselves as you are comfortable sharing; all our lives are richer for it ❤️
April 1, 2025 at 10:29 PM
I may be late for the day, but the truth is the same every day. To my friends, colleagues, students, people passing me in the corridor who have something to say: you are safe with me
Very glad to have been involved in this, not least because it meant I got to play with some of our newest and shiniest equipment still cooling down from its installation.
Pleased to share this work out now in @SciReports linking Duchenne muscular dystrophy gene expression to survival outcomes in head and neck cancer. www.nature.com/articles/s41... @drleemachado.bsky.social @drlewisac.bsky.social
Duchenne muscular dystrophy gene product expression is associated with survival in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma - Scientific Reports
Scientific Reports - Duchenne muscular dystrophy gene product expression is associated with survival in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma
www.nature.com
March 28, 2025 at 1:07 PM
Very glad to have been involved in this, not least because it meant I got to play with some of our newest and shiniest equipment still cooling down from its installation.
I think the most depressing thing about seeing equipment this old is assuming it must be from the 1960s/70s and discovering it was made in the early 2000s.
"Why don't you buy a new centrifuge"
Because everyone knows that any appliances in that shade of yellow will outlive you and your entire family, look at it
Because everyone knows that any appliances in that shade of yellow will outlive you and your entire family, look at it
March 20, 2025 at 8:07 PM
I think the most depressing thing about seeing equipment this old is assuming it must be from the 1960s/70s and discovering it was made in the early 2000s.
At 17 I decided to study biology at university and my disappointed chemistry and physics teachers all mocked me for picking "cut and stick science".
Now I'm 40, have a biology doctorate and I'm sitting in the lab sticking pictures of gels into my lab book.
You win this round other scientists...
Now I'm 40, have a biology doctorate and I'm sitting in the lab sticking pictures of gels into my lab book.
You win this round other scientists...
March 18, 2025 at 11:23 AM
At 17 I decided to study biology at university and my disappointed chemistry and physics teachers all mocked me for picking "cut and stick science".
Now I'm 40, have a biology doctorate and I'm sitting in the lab sticking pictures of gels into my lab book.
You win this round other scientists...
Now I'm 40, have a biology doctorate and I'm sitting in the lab sticking pictures of gels into my lab book.
You win this round other scientists...
Reposted by Lewis Collins
Post-doc opportunity in neurogenetics. Wellcome funded, to investigate molecular switch between brain plasticity and degeneration. In beautiful University of Birmingham campus, lively city, UK. Drosophila, behaviour, imaging. International lab.
Application deadline 19 March.
#Drosophila
#post-doc
Application deadline 19 March.
#Drosophila
#post-doc
February 15, 2025 at 1:49 PM
Post-doc opportunity in neurogenetics. Wellcome funded, to investigate molecular switch between brain plasticity and degeneration. In beautiful University of Birmingham campus, lively city, UK. Drosophila, behaviour, imaging. International lab.
Application deadline 19 March.
#Drosophila
#post-doc
Application deadline 19 March.
#Drosophila
#post-doc
Shiny new lab storage. I'm so happy
January 28, 2025 at 8:35 PM
Shiny new lab storage. I'm so happy
When you're a sensible adult... A sensible, mature adult responsible for staff, students and cutting edge research. And then you're confronted with the task of naming your robot vacuum cleaner during setup and your brain panics and can think only of this
January 15, 2025 at 11:04 PM
When you're a sensible adult... A sensible, mature adult responsible for staff, students and cutting edge research. And then you're confronted with the task of naming your robot vacuum cleaner during setup and your brain panics and can think only of this
I bought 16 pipettes and now have 16 pipette repair tools. They stack in a very satisfying manner
January 15, 2025 at 11:45 AM
I bought 16 pipettes and now have 16 pipette repair tools. They stack in a very satisfying manner
Reposted by Lewis Collins
Do you know a UK-based wheelchair user who works in a lab and would be willing to user-test our prototype of what is believed to be the first-ever lab coat adapted for wheelchair users?
Please share far & wide! Interest form: forms.office.com/e/66FhcQjqRT
More info: www.ucl.ac.uk/ucl-east/new...
Please share far & wide! Interest form: forms.office.com/e/66FhcQjqRT
More info: www.ucl.ac.uk/ucl-east/new...
January 7, 2025 at 2:52 PM
Do you know a UK-based wheelchair user who works in a lab and would be willing to user-test our prototype of what is believed to be the first-ever lab coat adapted for wheelchair users?
Please share far & wide! Interest form: forms.office.com/e/66FhcQjqRT
More info: www.ucl.ac.uk/ucl-east/new...
Please share far & wide! Interest form: forms.office.com/e/66FhcQjqRT
More info: www.ucl.ac.uk/ucl-east/new...
Reposted by Lewis Collins
Researcher: "We let the data speak for itself."
Earlier that day:
Earlier that day:
January 2, 2025 at 3:31 PM
Researcher: "We let the data speak for itself."
Earlier that day:
Earlier that day:
Started writing a student talk on planning safety and ethics into research projects brilliantly based around everything that happens in Jurassic park... Then I started wondering how many would have seen it and understand the references. Then I cried a little bit
December 5, 2024 at 11:21 AM
Started writing a student talk on planning safety and ethics into research projects brilliantly based around everything that happens in Jurassic park... Then I started wondering how many would have seen it and understand the references. Then I cried a little bit
Many new and exciting projects and plans coming our way!
Exciting day! We are delighted to be partnering with Copner Biotech #3Dbioprinter to bioprint cell scaffolds and microdroplets, 3D cultures here we come! @drlewisac.bsky.social @drleemachado.bsky.social
November 27, 2024 at 1:45 PM
Many new and exciting projects and plans coming our way!
Writing references for students and colleagues:
"They're amazing, such a diverse array of skills and problem solving abilities, a real star for the future, magnificent to work with, a credit to the profession"
Writing my @advancehe.bsky.social context statement:
"They're amazing, such a diverse array of skills and problem solving abilities, a real star for the future, magnificent to work with, a credit to the profession"
Writing my @advancehe.bsky.social context statement:
a man says just do what i do in front of a map of the world
ALT: a man says just do what i do in front of a map of the world
media.tenor.com
November 26, 2024 at 11:29 AM
Writing references for students and colleagues:
"They're amazing, such a diverse array of skills and problem solving abilities, a real star for the future, magnificent to work with, a credit to the profession"
Writing my @advancehe.bsky.social context statement:
"They're amazing, such a diverse array of skills and problem solving abilities, a real star for the future, magnificent to work with, a credit to the profession"
Writing my @advancehe.bsky.social context statement:
University of Northampton enter a pioneering partnership with British rail to provide new facilities for the swimming team.
November 26, 2024 at 10:31 AM
University of Northampton enter a pioneering partnership with British rail to provide new facilities for the swimming team.
Owing to current conditions, the Waterside Campus is being renamed to the water campus
November 25, 2024 at 9:58 AM
Owing to current conditions, the Waterside Campus is being renamed to the water campus
classic IBM 386 running DOS and windows 3.1. I should stress I was very young to have a first computer, honest
November 24, 2024 at 1:07 PM
classic IBM 386 running DOS and windows 3.1. I should stress I was very young to have a first computer, honest