Andy McMillan
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mcawmcmillan.bsky.social
Andy McMillan
@mcawmcmillan.bsky.social
140 followers 410 following 140 posts
I teach college biochemistry, with a personal interest in evolution of enzyme activity and protein structure. Interested in other general nerdery especially TTRPG. He/him
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mcawmcmillan.bsky.social
Here you are www.smbc-comics.com/comic/aaaah
First panel of comic 2 men talking. First says “anyway I couldn’t believe it when I saw the news” second replies “that’s because the article you read is false and here is the evidence it is false”. Two panels of first person looking at a tablet saying nothing. Panel with the first person saying “well even so the fact I couldn’t believe believe it says something about the current state of affairs. Second person begins screaming. Two panels of the screaming increasing in size and face becoming more exaggerated. Linked comic continues with one more panel of escalating screaming followed by first person asking if everything is all right and second person responding with “ SORRY, I MEANT TO SAY GEE WHIZ WHAT AN INTERESTING WAY OF THINKING.”
October 30, 2025 at 12:59 AM
mcawmcmillan.bsky.social
Sergeant wants to introduce himself
A mostly black dog with brown legs and white and brown snout on stairs poking his head between bars of railing
October 27, 2025 at 8:26 PM
mcawmcmillan.bsky.social
Tough decision in #MinCup25 today. The spectroscopist in me sees two cool looking UV fluorescent options but the organic chemist pulls to the hydrocarbon
Six hexagons in a ring to form a seventh central hexagon. Bonds are alternating single and double bonds Photo of rock on left under white light with white crystals that are bright blue in photo on the right under UV light Photo on left under white light that is pale red mixed with other portions that are white. On right is rock under UV light that is now bright pink and blueish green
September 20, 2025 at 1:09 PM
mcawmcmillan.bsky.social
Detailed view of each
Close up view of Banshee miniature. Humanoid mech with gun in place of left hand and smaller guns in waist. Left shoulder has a black missile launcher Close up view of Yen Lo Wang miniature. Mech with large gun as right arm and a clawed left hand. Head has a prominent silver crest Close up view of Atlas miniature. Mech with a skull like head that I I messed up a little in painting detail. Large gun in waist and missile launcher. Armor has silver trim on shoulders and knees. Close view of Dervish miniature. Mech with missile launchers on each side of chest and two blocky weapons in place of hands
September 1, 2025 at 5:55 PM
mcawmcmillan.bsky.social
Made some time last night to paint some #Battletech minis for the first time in a while. Painted up my Yen-Lo-Wang as from Kai Allard Liao in the Lyran Guard along with others to fill out a lance
Set of 4 plastic mech minis at stage of first coat of white paint Same minis now with left half painted blue Minis with metallic details added Final version of set of minis posed on a model rock terrain
September 1, 2025 at 5:55 PM
mcawmcmillan.bsky.social
First match of #MinCup25 - being a biologist most of my votes usually come down to “that’s a cool looking rock” and pectolite wins out today
A rock covered in light green colored spherical crystals
September 1, 2025 at 1:19 PM
mcawmcmillan.bsky.social
Just got back from celebrating my grandma’s 100th birthday
Photo of my grandma wrapped in a blanket eating birthday cake Photo of my grandma when she was 2 with two sisters on the family farm Photo of my grandma when she 13 standing behind two sisters and between her mom and dad. Family is in front of trees in the yard of their house
August 25, 2025 at 2:13 AM
mcawmcmillan.bsky.social
I literally was giving a brief intro to how we can use modeling of structures to my biochem class today and that short intro was framed around it being good as a first step to focus more experiments. To say we can skip testing for approval of new drugs is wildly misguided gizmodo.com/rfk-jr-says-...
"We are at the cutting edge of Al," Kennedy said. "We're implementing it in all of our departments. At FDA, we're accelerating drug approvals so that you don't need to use primates or even animal models. You can do the drug approvals very, very quickly with AI."
July 2, 2025 at 3:43 AM
mcawmcmillan.bsky.social
On the Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservation, in an especially remote stretch of Montana, Jason Belcourt said he believed the Chippewa-Cree Tribe was finally getting closer to providing nutritious, local food to every tribal member in need. He expects the tribe’s USDA funding for local food purchases to run out within weeks. The funding — $400,000 in the past several years — helped the tribe buy beef and produce from local ranchers and farmers. The money supplied roughly 250 households on a reservation where the nearest supermarket is about 20 miles away. “We wanted to make sure that we didn’t turn away anybody,” Belcourt said. “There are families that go without meals; there are kids that go without meals.” The tribe also used the money to help harvest bison from the tribe’s herd, which Belcourt said has “done wonders, not only in terms of the food value.” The harvests became community events where younger tribal members learned how their ancestors butchered and used the buffalo. A sense of tribal identity was being restored, he said. “There’s a lot of cultural sharing. There’s a lot of remembrance from the old timers of what their grandparents told them and how to use the buffalo,” Belcourt said. “And, believe it or not, there’s some healing that’s going on.” The harvests will continue, Belcourt said. But it’s unclear how he will make up for the loss of $150,000 in funding that the USDA previously awarded the tribe for local food purchases over the next year.
May 30, 2025 at 4:29 PM
mcawmcmillan.bsky.social

For people in the Denver area, our department will be offering a boot camp on LC/MS/MS operation and maintenance over on 2/22 and 3/1. We'll also be doing another one in the fall focusing on GC/MS. More details in the attached flyer. To register email che@msudenver.edu, subject INSTRUMENT #ChemSky
Introduction to LC-MS/MS Pre-requisite: Organic Chemistry 1 Liquid Chromatography with Tandem Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) is widely used in chemical industries, including toxicology, environmental contaminants analysis, and beer analysis. In this two day workshop, participants will be offered eight hours of hands-on experience to learn how to operate troubleshoot and perform routine maintenance on an LC-MS/MS. By the end of the course participants will be able to follow a standard operating procedure, create a sequence to run samples and perform basic data analysis. Participants will troubleshoot chromatography problems and other common LC-MS/MS errors and discover how those errors can be minimized with proper maintenance. This workshop will give participants the knowledge and experience needed to be more confident analysts in the wide-ranging applications for LC-MS/MS. Introduction to GC-MS Pre-requisite: General Chemistry 1 Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) is widely used in chemical industries, including toxicology, environmental contaminants analysis, and pharmaceuticals. In this two-day workshop participants will be offered eight hours of hands-on experience to learn how to operate, troubleshoot and perform routine maintenance on a GC-MS. By the end of the course, participants will be able to follow a standard operating procedure create a sequence to run samples and perform basic data analysis. Participants will troubleshoot chromatography problems and other common GC-MS errors and discover how those errors can be minimized with proper maintenance. This workshop will give participants the knowledge and experience needed to be more confident analysts in the wide-ranging applications for GC-MS. REGISTRATION INFORMATION: Intro to LC-MS/MS: 2/22 & 3/1 9am-1pm Intro to GC-MS: Fall 2025 Cost: $595 per course Duration: 8 hours 2 Saturdays Benefit: Personal mentoring by practicing professional To register please email che@msudenver.edu, subject: INSTRUMENT
January 23, 2025 at 7:42 PM
mcawmcmillan.bsky.social
Have this on my back. It’s my initials in single letter code with arrows on Trp related to my PhD work in fluorescence - dotted arrow for the dipole of the excited state. Solid arrows for electrons being transferred to backbone atoms that were main mechanism affecting how bright the light emission
Tattoo of amino acids alanine tryptophan and methionine. Dotted line crosses ring of trp and two small curved arrows point to backbone atoms
November 17, 2024 at 5:56 PM
mcawmcmillan.bsky.social
I just noticed that one (and only one) of the teaching lab computers has been accumulating cat drawings on lab tape #ITeachChem
Photo of computer monitor with multiple pieces of tape stuck on it with doodles of cat faces in different drawing styles suggesting this has been the work several people
November 13, 2024 at 11:06 PM
mcawmcmillan.bsky.social
If you see this, post a picture taken in the mountains.

Think this was the hike a couple weeks before my PhD defense. Suppose it was a sign of my advisor's opinion of the state of things that he suggested we take a day off in the middle of the week to go hiking together.
Photo of person on a hiking trail at the top of ridge with moutain range in the background
October 28, 2024 at 4:01 AM
mcawmcmillan.bsky.social
Wishing good health to Curie. Here’s my pup on the left hanging out with my brother’s while I was out of town for a training workshop
Two dogs laying next to each other on a large dog bed
October 15, 2024 at 1:24 PM
mcawmcmillan.bsky.social
I didn't realize this was a thing that the youths stopped doing (And I think that the Simpsons was my thought to reference with this feeling is probably also a sign of me not being "with it" as much now)
image from the Simpsons with flashback to Homer and Barney in college and Grandpa Simpson telling them "I used to be 'with it.' But then they changed what 'it' was."
October 9, 2024 at 2:36 AM
mcawmcmillan.bsky.social
Didn’t see this perspective coming up in other people’s answers but if thinking of reaction mechanisms I’m thinking of element symbol and valence electrons like this
Line and letter showing generic carboxylic acid with dots on oxygen double bonded to carbon and arrow from dots leading to generic molecule HB labeled as an acid
September 12, 2024 at 2:08 AM
mcawmcmillan.bsky.social
Depends on scale I’m considering but if just ask me what I picture as an atom it would be the individual spheres in molecules like this. Probably learned in high school, definitely was using in college. But this became dominant view from space filling view of protein structure in grad school
Structure of ethanol shown with spherical atoms. Large grey and red spheres touching each other. Red sphere has small white bump. Grey sphere has two small bumps (with third hidden from view )
September 12, 2024 at 2:01 AM
mcawmcmillan.bsky.social
Sergeant reading your posts
Black white and brown dog sitting on a couch looking at the photographer as if judging
June 8, 2024 at 1:30 PM
mcawmcmillan.bsky.social
For people that might have forgotten/not heard of, Mark Driscoll that is being recommended here is this guy en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Dr...
In the summer of 2014, Driscoll faced public criticism and formal complaints from Mars Hill staff members and congregants due to alleged abusive behavior. 191 In August 2014, the board of Acts 29 Network removed him from its membership and urged him to step down from ministry. 111|201 On October 14, 2014, Driscoll resigned from Mars Hill Church. 21|22, Within three months of Driscoll's resignation, Mars Hill Church was dissolved leaving each church campus to either close or become autonomous. 23]
June 5, 2024 at 1:38 PM
mcawmcmillan.bsky.social
This seems to be my guy’s favorite position for a nap lately
A black dog wedged between my leg and the back of a couch with his head laying across my leg
January 8, 2024 at 9:47 PM