Dr. Brendan "Doesn't-go-to-Ravenholm" Pinto
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drpintothe2nd.bsky.social
Dr. Brendan "Doesn't-go-to-Ravenholm" Pinto
@drpintothe2nd.bsky.social
[he/him]
Judoka/traveler/etc; Staff Scientist at a Place-of-Research && Research Associate at the Milwaukee Public Museum. Gilbert, AZ.
*me when the ACA subsidies lapse*
a cartoon of ralph from the simpsons sits in an orange seat
Alt: a cartoon of ralph from the simpsons sits alone on a bus saying "I'm in danger"
media.tenor.com
November 11, 2025 at 2:54 PM
Big S/O to other folks who generated and shared their high-quality data with us (some published, some not) to help develop our understanding of the tool and framework.
They truly made this work possible! Folks like @tododge.bsky.social @lngray.bsky.social @scarey.bsky.social, to name just a few 🙏🏼🦸‍♂️🦸‍♀️🧬
🚨Preprint🚨

Sex chromosome identification & genome curation from a single individual with SCINKD
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Incredible work led by @drpintothe2nd.bsky.social in collaboration w/ @drsimonegable.bsky.social @stuartvnielsen.bsky.social @tonygamble.bsky.social SE Keating & CH Smith
July 11, 2025 at 6:35 PM
Reposted by Dr. Brendan "Doesn't-go-to-Ravenholm" Pinto
🚨Preprint🚨

Sex chromosome identification & genome curation from a single individual with SCINKD
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Incredible work led by @drpintothe2nd.bsky.social in collaboration w/ @drsimonegable.bsky.social @stuartvnielsen.bsky.social @tonygamble.bsky.social SE Keating & CH Smith
July 11, 2025 at 12:44 PM
Needs to be said:

I've been studying geckos for 10 years now and have so far received a 0% discount on my car insurance.
July 1, 2025 at 6:30 PM
Reposted by Dr. Brendan "Doesn't-go-to-Ravenholm" Pinto
I am thrilled to announce that I will be starting my lab in the Department of Integrative Biology at Michigan State University in January 2026! I will soon be recruiting graduate students and postdocs, so stay tuned and please reach out if you know anybody that might be interested! 🐍🐻🧬
June 7, 2025 at 8:58 PM
Reposted by Dr. Brendan "Doesn't-go-to-Ravenholm" Pinto
Gila monsters! One of the rare venomous reptiles. A peptide in their saliva/venom, exendin-4, is the basis of GLP-1 agonists, like semaglutide, to regulate insulin. We developed the first draft sequence of the Gila monster genome and are working on updating this now with newer technology.
June 3, 2025 at 1:50 PM
Reposted by Dr. Brendan "Doesn't-go-to-Ravenholm" Pinto
Intelligence researcher Robert Sternberg on IQ tests: "Standardized tests, based on modern Western notions of intelligence, are seriously limited and narrow because modern Western notions of intelligence are seriously limited and narrow" link.springer.com/chapter/10.1...
Time Bomb: How the Western Conception of Intelligence Is Taking Down Humanity
During the twentieth century, IQs rose an incredible 30 points—two full standard deviations! Higher IQs may have helped people deal better with computers, cell phones, and other technological in...
link.springer.com
May 28, 2025 at 6:19 AM
Reposted by Dr. Brendan "Doesn't-go-to-Ravenholm" Pinto
Since a Minneapolis police officer murdered George Floyd in 2020, the number of people killed by the police each year has continued to rise — and Black Americans are still killed in disproportionate numbers. Our data reporter explains his findings. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/24/u...
May 24, 2025 at 9:46 PM
The average American has three friends.
May 2, 2025 at 6:31 PM
Reposted by Dr. Brendan "Doesn't-go-to-Ravenholm" Pinto
Deaths from heart disease down 75%, that’s NIH.

Deaths from stroke down 75%, that’s NIH.

HIV/AIDS no longer a death sentence, that’s NIH.

99% of FDA approved drugs in the last decade, that’s NIH.

Please show this video to anyone who doesn’t understand why the NIH is so important.
April 28, 2025 at 5:20 PM
This is what we're up to and couldn't be more excited about it!

Come join the party! 🙂
We will be focusing on new methods to improve identifying genetic variation, collaborating with clinical collaborators on rare disease, building connections with local hospitals to study placenta and developmental origins of disease, and framing it all using comparative vertebrate genomics.
April 28, 2025 at 3:08 PM
Reposted by Dr. Brendan "Doesn't-go-to-Ravenholm" Pinto
In December I accepted a position as a senior investigator at the NIH in the National Human Genome Research Institute & Center for Genomics and Data Science Research.

Bringing the party in the desert to Maryland.

We are hiring postdocs & postbacs!

Please reach out :)
April 28, 2025 at 12:28 PM
Reposted by Dr. Brendan "Doesn't-go-to-Ravenholm" Pinto
Here is a little legless lizard from LA County.

People often ask, how come it’s a lizard and not a snake? It really comes down to genetics, but there are some big hints in its morphology: eyelids that blink, a tail that can detach.

Southern California Legless Lizard - Anniella stebbinsi

#herps 🦎
April 16, 2025 at 11:28 PM
Capitalism will not save us from the problems that it helped create in the first place

We need real solutions to our very real climate and biodiversity crises

Hank makes great points about why what colossal is doing isnt what they publicly claim (and they know it too): youtu.be/Ar0zgedLyTw?...
They Didn't Make Dire Wolves, They Made Something…Else
YouTube video by hankschannel
youtu.be
April 13, 2025 at 11:30 PM
Reposted by Dr. Brendan "Doesn't-go-to-Ravenholm" Pinto
Dire wolves were not close relatives of gray wolves. They last shared a common ancestor more than 5 million years ago. What Colossal has done is make something new and slapped a dire wolf sticker on it, as if an organism equals a hypothetical genome.
Dire Wolves Were Not Really Wolves, New Genetic Clues Reveal
The extinct giant canids were a remarkable example of convergent evolution
www.scientificamerican.com
April 7, 2025 at 2:56 PM
Reposted by Dr. Brendan "Doesn't-go-to-Ravenholm" Pinto
Colossal Bioscience did not revive dire wolves, despite a sensationalist Time Magazine cover story.

Making genetically modified animals that are cosplaying as extinct species is not de-extinction.
Dire wolves were not close relatives of gray wolves. They last shared a common ancestor more than 5 million years ago. What Colossal has done is make something new and slapped a dire wolf sticker on it, as if an organism equals a hypothetical genome.
Dire Wolves Were Not Really Wolves, New Genetic Clues Reveal
The extinct giant canids were a remarkable example of convergent evolution
www.scientificamerican.com
April 7, 2025 at 3:40 PM
I make up a tiny, tiny portion of the HHS contract spending. I still don't know if I'll be cut.

Please don't forget that contract spending includes contract workers. These are the folks who have kept the government going through FTE expansions and reductions. They are important federal workers.
April 3, 2025 at 11:05 PM
Today, G**gle search AI cited my own work to say that a species I study has the wrong number of chromosomes.

Never accept AI vomit as fact.
April 3, 2025 at 9:30 PM
Reposted by Dr. Brendan "Doesn't-go-to-Ravenholm" Pinto
No. Absolutely not.
March 30, 2025 at 5:23 PM
Me: "Unfortunately, today isn't opposite day.."

8 yo: "Oh, dang!"

Me: *whew*

Me: "Yeah, big shame that.."
March 30, 2025 at 4:04 PM
Reposted by Dr. Brendan "Doesn't-go-to-Ravenholm" Pinto
How should federal unions respond to Trump's push to cancel union rights for roughly 700K workers?

Seize today's media spotlight to call on hundreds of thousands of fed workers — & millions of other union members & supporters — to take to the streets on April 5

Then escalate
March 28, 2025 at 3:01 PM
Reposted by Dr. Brendan "Doesn't-go-to-Ravenholm" Pinto
Dear Democratic Members of Congress,

Stop telling me about what he's doing. We can all see it.

Start telling me about what you're doing to stop it!

Signed,

Americans
March 28, 2025 at 3:50 PM
Reposted by Dr. Brendan "Doesn't-go-to-Ravenholm" Pinto
If you're a unionized worker looking to fight back, get in touch with your union as well as @fedworkersunited.bsky.social

www.federalunionists.net/join-us
Federal Unionists Network - Join Us!
Join Us!
www.federalunionists.net
March 28, 2025 at 3:17 AM
Reposted by Dr. Brendan "Doesn't-go-to-Ravenholm" Pinto
We don't actually have to listen and report on what these assholes say. Having billions of dollars does not make your opinions more valuable than anyone else.

In fact we shouldn't listen to your opinion on anything because you are a little dragon hoarding wealth and watching people suffer.
March 27, 2025 at 7:51 PM
Reposted by Dr. Brendan "Doesn't-go-to-Ravenholm" Pinto
thinking of one of abraham lincoln's great quotes this morning:

"As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy. Whatever differs from this, to the extent of the difference, is no democracy."
March 27, 2025 at 2:55 PM