Sneha Rao
@sneharao.bsky.social
Dev Bio PhD candidate in @oweinerlab.bsky.social at UCSF. Embryos, microscopy, developmental mechanics.
Leader of @spgatucsf.bsky.social. Advocating for #SciPol & #SciComm training for all grad students!
🎻 🧶 📚
Leader of @spgatucsf.bsky.social. Advocating for #SciPol & #SciComm training for all grad students!
🎻 🧶 📚
Reposted by Sneha Rao
Thrilled to announce the launch of my lab
@cri-utsw.bsky.social at UTSW this January!
We will explore how cells sense and respond to mechanical forces, focusing on membrane mechanics to reveal how tension and signaling work together to shape cell behavior.
@cri-utsw.bsky.social at UTSW this January!
We will explore how cells sense and respond to mechanical forces, focusing on membrane mechanics to reveal how tension and signaling work together to shape cell behavior.
We're growing! Our newest Investigator @henrydebelly.bsky.social will join the CRI Tissue #Regeneration Program in January 2026. Learn more about Henry ➡️ cri.utsw.edu/faculty/henr... and 📌apply to research in his lab cri.utsw.edu/careers
October 16, 2025 at 10:00 PM
Thrilled to announce the launch of my lab
@cri-utsw.bsky.social at UTSW this January!
We will explore how cells sense and respond to mechanical forces, focusing on membrane mechanics to reveal how tension and signaling work together to shape cell behavior.
@cri-utsw.bsky.social at UTSW this January!
We will explore how cells sense and respond to mechanical forces, focusing on membrane mechanics to reveal how tension and signaling work together to shape cell behavior.
Reposted by Sneha Rao
October 12, 2025 at 9:25 AM
Thanks @mildobserver.bsky.social for taking the time to chat with me, superstar @erinmorrow.bsky.social & others. Our convo was inspired by the McClintock Letters, run by @cornellasap.bsky.social & @snapcoalition.bsky.social, w/ the mission of reconnecting scientists with their hometown communities.
What happens when science funding disappears?
At UCSF and the SF VA, labs are laying off staff, trials are paused, and patients are left waiting.
Our new Civic episode breaks down how federal cuts — and now a shutdown — are reshaping science in the Bay Area.
🎧
At UCSF and the SF VA, labs are laying off staff, trials are paused, and patients are left waiting.
Our new Civic episode breaks down how federal cuts — and now a shutdown — are reshaping science in the Bay Area.
🎧
Effects of Research Funding Cuts Ripple Through San Francisco Labs, Clinics and Lives - San Francisco Public Press
Federal funding cuts to medical research and new rules for grants are dismantling projects at the University of California, San Francisco, and the San Francisco Veterans Administration Medical…
www.sfpublicpress.org
October 10, 2025 at 12:04 AM
Thanks @mildobserver.bsky.social for taking the time to chat with me, superstar @erinmorrow.bsky.social & others. Our convo was inspired by the McClintock Letters, run by @cornellasap.bsky.social & @snapcoalition.bsky.social, w/ the mission of reconnecting scientists with their hometown communities.
Reposted by Sneha Rao
“I will miss the creativity of teaching.”
On #WorldTeachersDay, check out this #ScienceWorkingLife essay from a retired professor emeritus on how she challenged students to think beyond facts—and how she learned to teach like a scientist. https://scim.ag/4nvwosR
On #WorldTeachersDay, check out this #ScienceWorkingLife essay from a retired professor emeritus on how she challenged students to think beyond facts—and how she learned to teach like a scientist. https://scim.ag/4nvwosR
October 5, 2025 at 6:49 PM
“I will miss the creativity of teaching.”
On #WorldTeachersDay, check out this #ScienceWorkingLife essay from a retired professor emeritus on how she challenged students to think beyond facts—and how she learned to teach like a scientist. https://scim.ag/4nvwosR
On #WorldTeachersDay, check out this #ScienceWorkingLife essay from a retired professor emeritus on how she challenged students to think beyond facts—and how she learned to teach like a scientist. https://scim.ag/4nvwosR
Dialogue is so important in science engagement.
“Our responsibility is … to speak with humility, to listen with care, and to earn the trust of those we hope to reach… To change what people believe, we must first understand why they believe it and what purpose that belief serves in their lives.”
“Our responsibility is … to speak with humility, to listen with care, and to earn the trust of those we hope to reach… To change what people believe, we must first understand why they believe it and what purpose that belief serves in their lives.”
An incredibly important article and increasingly relevant in modern political climates. Thank you to @rogerslabucd.bsky.social and colleagues for writing this for @dev-journal.bsky.social
"Speaking up can feel like walking a tightrope strung between conflict and silence."
#TruthMatters
"Speaking up can feel like walking a tightrope strung between conflict and silence."
#TruthMatters
Speaking science in a fractured world: making truth land when facts alone cannot
ABSTRACT. Scientific misinformation is a defining challenge of our time. As public trust in science declines and falsehoods spread faster than facts, the scientific community must rethink its role in ...
doi.org
September 30, 2025 at 11:50 PM
Dialogue is so important in science engagement.
“Our responsibility is … to speak with humility, to listen with care, and to earn the trust of those we hope to reach… To change what people believe, we must first understand why they believe it and what purpose that belief serves in their lives.”
“Our responsibility is … to speak with humility, to listen with care, and to earn the trust of those we hope to reach… To change what people believe, we must first understand why they believe it and what purpose that belief serves in their lives.”
The best group!!! Now is a great time to join us if you’re interested in learning about how to engage in advocacy and policy as a scientist!
SPG hosted our annual Welcome Picnic last week - what an energizing start to the new year! Our group brainstorm/jam board of policy issues and ideas shows a teaser of some of our upcoming events… 👀
Watch this space to check out the new initiatives our members cook up this year!
Watch this space to check out the new initiatives our members cook up this year!
September 30, 2025 at 4:18 PM
The best group!!! Now is a great time to join us if you’re interested in learning about how to engage in advocacy and policy as a scientist!
Reposted by Sneha Rao
Very lucky to be at UCSF with such great microscopy facilities. These instruments are definitely pushing the limits of what we thought feasible in live imaging! Excited to keep exploring how these single cells organize and secrete such precise morphologies.
If you've ever wanted to know what the actin filaments on the scales in a developing moth wing look like in 3D, here you go!
Kyle DeMarr from @mullinslab.bsky.social acquired these beautiful data on the single objective light sheet at the UCSF Center for Advanced Light Microscopy.
#snouty
Kyle DeMarr from @mullinslab.bsky.social acquired these beautiful data on the single objective light sheet at the UCSF Center for Advanced Light Microscopy.
#snouty
July 26, 2025 at 7:35 PM
Very lucky to be at UCSF with such great microscopy facilities. These instruments are definitely pushing the limits of what we thought feasible in live imaging! Excited to keep exploring how these single cells organize and secrete such precise morphologies.
Reposted by Sneha Rao
Science is under unprecedented threat in the US, and we need to speak out to save it.
If you are an early-career researcher, please consider signing our open letter calling to preserve the future of American science: tinyurl.com/mcclintockle....
Our futures, and our country's future, depend on it.
If you are an early-career researcher, please consider signing our open letter calling to preserve the future of American science: tinyurl.com/mcclintockle....
Our futures, and our country's future, depend on it.
Open Letter: A Call to Preserve the Future of American Science
The Scientist Network for Advancing Policy (SNAP) invites early-career scientists (e.g., student, post-bacc, PhD candidate, post-doctoral researcher, early-career faculty) in the United States to join...
forms.gle
June 10, 2025 at 4:10 PM
Science is under unprecedented threat in the US, and we need to speak out to save it.
If you are an early-career researcher, please consider signing our open letter calling to preserve the future of American science: tinyurl.com/mcclintockle....
Our futures, and our country's future, depend on it.
If you are an early-career researcher, please consider signing our open letter calling to preserve the future of American science: tinyurl.com/mcclintockle....
Our futures, and our country's future, depend on it.
Reposted by Sneha Rao
We all know scientists who are also musicians In fact, one of my favorites just dropped a new album last month. I was surprised me, though, since she died over 800 years ago. Turns out she might also be the first woman to ever write about developmental biology. 🧵 1/16
June 11, 2025 at 1:34 AM
We all know scientists who are also musicians In fact, one of my favorites just dropped a new album last month. I was surprised me, though, since she died over 800 years ago. Turns out she might also be the first woman to ever write about developmental biology. 🧵 1/16
Reposted by Sneha Rao
There's still time to write a McClintock Letter in support of federal funding of research!
Interested and don't know where to start?
Join this workshop tomorrow, June 6th, at 12 ET ☀️
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
Interested and don't know where to start?
Join this workshop tomorrow, June 6th, at 12 ET ☀️
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
June 5, 2025 at 7:21 PM
There's still time to write a McClintock Letter in support of federal funding of research!
Interested and don't know where to start?
Join this workshop tomorrow, June 6th, at 12 ET ☀️
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
Interested and don't know where to start?
Join this workshop tomorrow, June 6th, at 12 ET ☀️
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
Reposted by Sneha Rao
As citizens concerned about the future #STEM #workforce, we want to hear stories and impacts of #federal #funding cuts on early career #scientists. Take the surveys by June 6! @scienceforgood.bsky.social @jpflores.rbind.io
Impacts survey: bit.ly/3Z1aFPj
Stories survey: bit.ly/3Sghx7R
#savescience
Impacts survey: bit.ly/3Z1aFPj
Stories survey: bit.ly/3Sghx7R
#savescience
May 24, 2025 at 2:51 AM
As citizens concerned about the future #STEM #workforce, we want to hear stories and impacts of #federal #funding cuts on early career #scientists. Take the surveys by June 6! @scienceforgood.bsky.social @jpflores.rbind.io
Impacts survey: bit.ly/3Z1aFPj
Stories survey: bit.ly/3Sghx7R
#savescience
Impacts survey: bit.ly/3Z1aFPj
Stories survey: bit.ly/3Sghx7R
#savescience
Reposted by Sneha Rao
Excellent article, big thnx #McClintockLetters collaborators @mjarnett.bsky.social @bdavisbio.bsky.social @erinmorrow.bsky.social @jpflores.rbind.io @emmalovesscience.bsky.social @kassstem.bsky.social @sneharao.bsky.social @eselland.bsky.social @rosemalb.bsky.social @viv-cc.bsky.social + others
🆕From me in @forbes.com: NSF, NIH Funding Cuts Spur Student-Led Science Communication Campaign
@cornellasap.bsky.social's McClintock letter campaign aims to help federallyfunded students and early career researchers share their work in local media.
www.forbes.com/sites/shalin...
#scipol #scicomm
@cornellasap.bsky.social's McClintock letter campaign aims to help federallyfunded students and early career researchers share their work in local media.
www.forbes.com/sites/shalin...
#scipol #scicomm
NSF, NIH Funding Cuts Spur Student-Led Science Communication Campaign
In the wake of funding cuts from the Trump administration, Cornell University students and early career researchers are turning to local media to make their voices heard.
www.forbes.com
May 22, 2025 at 6:07 PM
Excellent article, big thnx #McClintockLetters collaborators @mjarnett.bsky.social @bdavisbio.bsky.social @erinmorrow.bsky.social @jpflores.rbind.io @emmalovesscience.bsky.social @kassstem.bsky.social @sneharao.bsky.social @eselland.bsky.social @rosemalb.bsky.social @viv-cc.bsky.social + others
Reposted by Sneha Rao
🚨📣 New preprint alert!
Excited to share my new postdoc work on direct force and mechanical properties measurements in live embryos!
A great team effort with A. Chamolly (theory), under the supervision of F. Corson and @jeromegros.bsky.social
📄 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
#devbio #mechanics
Excited to share my new postdoc work on direct force and mechanical properties measurements in live embryos!
A great team effort with A. Chamolly (theory), under the supervision of F. Corson and @jeromegros.bsky.social
📄 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
#devbio #mechanics
Direct measurements of active forces and material properties unveil the active mechanics of early embryogenesis
Despite progress in probing tissue mechanics, direct long-term measurements in live embryonic epithelia are lacking. This limits our understanding of amniote embryonic morphogenesis, which takes place...
www.biorxiv.org
May 12, 2025 at 2:01 PM
🚨📣 New preprint alert!
Excited to share my new postdoc work on direct force and mechanical properties measurements in live embryos!
A great team effort with A. Chamolly (theory), under the supervision of F. Corson and @jeromegros.bsky.social
📄 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
#devbio #mechanics
Excited to share my new postdoc work on direct force and mechanical properties measurements in live embryos!
A great team effort with A. Chamolly (theory), under the supervision of F. Corson and @jeromegros.bsky.social
📄 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
#devbio #mechanics
Reposted by Sneha Rao
🧪 Ranking member Lofgren and 11 other House dems sent a fiery 7-page letter to acting NSF director today
"The cancelation of these awards suggests instead that NSF is willing to apply political censorship of awards under direction from President Trump and the DOGE teenagers"
Share widely #SaveNSF
"The cancelation of these awards suggests instead that NSF is willing to apply political censorship of awards under direction from President Trump and the DOGE teenagers"
Share widely #SaveNSF
democrats-science.house.gov
May 9, 2025 at 1:00 AM
🧪 Ranking member Lofgren and 11 other House dems sent a fiery 7-page letter to acting NSF director today
"The cancelation of these awards suggests instead that NSF is willing to apply political censorship of awards under direction from President Trump and the DOGE teenagers"
Share widely #SaveNSF
"The cancelation of these awards suggests instead that NSF is willing to apply political censorship of awards under direction from President Trump and the DOGE teenagers"
Share widely #SaveNSF
Reposted by Sneha Rao
Are you interested in writing for the McClintock Letters, but aren't sure where to start?
Join us for an Op-Ed workshop led by author and NYT reporter and editor Clay Risen @risenc.bsky.social this Wednesday, May 7th at 4pm ET. Register here to attend on Zoom: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
Join us for an Op-Ed workshop led by author and NYT reporter and editor Clay Risen @risenc.bsky.social this Wednesday, May 7th at 4pm ET. Register here to attend on Zoom: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
May 5, 2025 at 10:48 PM
Are you interested in writing for the McClintock Letters, but aren't sure where to start?
Join us for an Op-Ed workshop led by author and NYT reporter and editor Clay Risen @risenc.bsky.social this Wednesday, May 7th at 4pm ET. Register here to attend on Zoom: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
Join us for an Op-Ed workshop led by author and NYT reporter and editor Clay Risen @risenc.bsky.social this Wednesday, May 7th at 4pm ET. Register here to attend on Zoom: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
So important to stay in touch with our local and hometown communities - write for the #McClintockLetters and be part of this incredible grassroots initiative!
📣 Federally funded scientists!
Now more than ever before, it is critical that we bridge the gap btw scientists & the community to rebuild trust & address misinformation. Join the national #McClintockLetters movement to #DefendResearch, improve #SciComm, & share your scientific story! ⤵️
Now more than ever before, it is critical that we bridge the gap btw scientists & the community to rebuild trust & address misinformation. Join the national #McClintockLetters movement to #DefendResearch, improve #SciComm, & share your scientific story! ⤵️
May 5, 2025 at 4:55 PM
So important to stay in touch with our local and hometown communities - write for the #McClintockLetters and be part of this incredible grassroots initiative!
Reposted by Sneha Rao
😱 A very hungry #PacManoid ate the original post 🍬🍬🍬
Here’s the 🧵 on our latest in @cp-cellstemcell.bsky.social again!
Gastruloids w/ a sweet tooth better model natural embryos: doi.org/10.1016/j.st...
Spearheaded by @cryaaa.bsky.social & Alba Villaronga-Luque @mpi-cbg.de @poldresden.bsky.social
Here’s the 🧵 on our latest in @cp-cellstemcell.bsky.social again!
Gastruloids w/ a sweet tooth better model natural embryos: doi.org/10.1016/j.st...
Spearheaded by @cryaaa.bsky.social & Alba Villaronga-Luque @mpi-cbg.de @poldresden.bsky.social
April 19, 2025 at 8:49 AM
😱 A very hungry #PacManoid ate the original post 🍬🍬🍬
Here’s the 🧵 on our latest in @cp-cellstemcell.bsky.social again!
Gastruloids w/ a sweet tooth better model natural embryos: doi.org/10.1016/j.st...
Spearheaded by @cryaaa.bsky.social & Alba Villaronga-Luque @mpi-cbg.de @poldresden.bsky.social
Here’s the 🧵 on our latest in @cp-cellstemcell.bsky.social again!
Gastruloids w/ a sweet tooth better model natural embryos: doi.org/10.1016/j.st...
Spearheaded by @cryaaa.bsky.social & Alba Villaronga-Luque @mpi-cbg.de @poldresden.bsky.social
Energizing day at @aaas.org #CASE2025, representing UCSF w @aasencor.bsky.social, Yanilka Soto-Muñiz & Kai Trepka!
“Relationships are built in teaspoons & lost in buckets” - AAAS CEO Sudip Parikh’s advice to show up consistently in your community to affect grassroots change.
#MakingOurCASE #SciPol
“Relationships are built in teaspoons & lost in buckets” - AAAS CEO Sudip Parikh’s advice to show up consistently in your community to affect grassroots change.
#MakingOurCASE #SciPol
April 7, 2025 at 10:42 PM
Energizing day at @aaas.org #CASE2025, representing UCSF w @aasencor.bsky.social, Yanilka Soto-Muñiz & Kai Trepka!
“Relationships are built in teaspoons & lost in buckets” - AAAS CEO Sudip Parikh’s advice to show up consistently in your community to affect grassroots change.
#MakingOurCASE #SciPol
“Relationships are built in teaspoons & lost in buckets” - AAAS CEO Sudip Parikh’s advice to show up consistently in your community to affect grassroots change.
#MakingOurCASE #SciPol