Alex Bisson
@archaeon-alex.bsky.social
🇧🇷🇺🇸Evolutionary Cell Mechanobiology of Archaea. Assistant Professor at Brandeis University. Standing tall on the shoulders of tiny (salty) bugs.
bissonlab.com
bissonlab.com
Same!
But I do like your style better tbh. I'm too clumsy to draw on real paper.
But I do like your style better tbh. I'm too clumsy to draw on real paper.
October 24, 2025 at 8:00 PM
Same!
But I do like your style better tbh. I'm too clumsy to draw on real paper.
But I do like your style better tbh. I'm too clumsy to draw on real paper.
It is exciting to see how biophysics, cell biology, and systems biology are co-evolving as a field. Tech allows fast orthogonal data collection across conditions, moving away from "genetic pathway <-> function" and phenotypes alone can connect genes/proteins to mechanism (4/4)
August 24, 2025 at 12:48 PM
It is exciting to see how biophysics, cell biology, and systems biology are co-evolving as a field. Tech allows fast orthogonal data collection across conditions, moving away from "genetic pathway <-> function" and phenotypes alone can connect genes/proteins to mechanism (4/4)
Changed the biochemistry (pH, salt, substrate...)? Mechanics (osmolarity, electrical/magnetic field...)? Developmental program? Yeah, you are likely changing all the other outputs and shifting "bottlenecks". That's part of the "noisy" natural selection process (3/4)
August 24, 2025 at 12:48 PM
Changed the biochemistry (pH, salt, substrate...)? Mechanics (osmolarity, electrical/magnetic field...)? Developmental program? Yeah, you are likely changing all the other outputs and shifting "bottlenecks". That's part of the "noisy" natural selection process (3/4)
Cell wall synthesis? Turgor fluctuations (periplasm and cytoplasm)? Membrane tension? Assembly of the cytokinetic ring? FtsZ treadmilling itself? The answer is: it does not matter because these are moving pieces, and physiological conditions are coupled with cell mechanics (2/4)
August 24, 2025 at 12:48 PM
Cell wall synthesis? Turgor fluctuations (periplasm and cytoplasm)? Membrane tension? Assembly of the cytokinetic ring? FtsZ treadmilling itself? The answer is: it does not matter because these are moving pieces, and physiological conditions are coupled with cell mechanics (2/4)
(cont 2c) hope I didn't give the impression that I am against experts. I prefer not to be an expert myself, and it isn't the only way to stimulate reproducible science (maybe there is no model in these terms). That doesn't mean I don't value them. :)
[6/6]
[6/6]
July 14, 2025 at 1:02 PM
(cont 2c) hope I didn't give the impression that I am against experts. I prefer not to be an expert myself, and it isn't the only way to stimulate reproducible science (maybe there is no model in these terms). That doesn't mean I don't value them. :)
[6/6]
[6/6]
(cont 2b) We have to adopt not only research topics, but also philosophical approaches to scientific training. We do need experts, but a research community made up of experts will result in a building made of 500-year-old technology.
[5/6]
[5/6]
July 14, 2025 at 1:02 PM
(cont 2b) We have to adopt not only research topics, but also philosophical approaches to scientific training. We do need experts, but a research community made up of experts will result in a building made of 500-year-old technology.
[5/6]
[5/6]
(cont 2a) Does that mean that's the way we should focus academic research? I strongly disagree. And I disagree that it makes science more reproducible (based on my previous arguments). I argue the opposite: institutions should avoid standardization of research training.
[4/6]
[4/6]
July 14, 2025 at 1:02 PM
(cont 2a) Does that mean that's the way we should focus academic research? I strongly disagree. And I disagree that it makes science more reproducible (based on my previous arguments). I argue the opposite: institutions should avoid standardization of research training.
[4/6]
[4/6]
2) There are many ways of doing good science and training outstanding scientists. I love experts and their passion for their topic. I learn tons from them, and they make it possible for people like me (mainly cross-disciplinary problem solvers) to have a job
[3/6]
[3/6]
July 14, 2025 at 1:02 PM
2) There are many ways of doing good science and training outstanding scientists. I love experts and their passion for their topic. I learn tons from them, and they make it possible for people like me (mainly cross-disciplinary problem solvers) to have a job
[3/6]
[3/6]
(cont 1) We have so many papers today, and information travels faster, so it's become easier to spot them. It's like saying Western Blots are prone to data falsification. It's just easier to find them because so many papers use them. So we need to be careful with spurious correlations.
[2/6]
[2/6]
July 14, 2025 at 1:02 PM
(cont 1) We have so many papers today, and information travels faster, so it's become easier to spot them. It's like saying Western Blots are prone to data falsification. It's just easier to find them because so many papers use them. So we need to be careful with spurious correlations.
[2/6]
[2/6]