Julian Meeks
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meeksandmilds.bsky.social
Julian Meeks
@meeksandmilds.bsky.social
1.1K followers 1.2K following 260 posts
Associate Prof at Univ of Rochester. Twin Parent. Spouse of rockstar physician-scientist. Time for anything else? Ha! Views are my own.
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meeksandmilds.bsky.social
Happy Halloween from a dad of twin 11-year olds!
A jack-o-lantern (dark with orange glow from within) carved with a large, jagged-toothed grin and eyes that form a "67" - which means nothing at all but will cause kids to make a juggling motion and say "six-sevvven"
October 31, 2025 at 5:09 PM
meeksandmilds.bsky.social
Pumpkins 2025
Picture of 4 pumpkins glowing on a front porch. The second picture shows a zoom-in view of a pumpkin with a jagged tooth mouth and eyes made from the numbers 6 - 7
October 26, 2025 at 10:48 PM
meeksandmilds.bsky.social
The northern flickers are busy this evening!
A color photograph of a Northern Flicker bird (black spot on chest, red crest on neck) as it feeds on the ground in a field of grass.
September 3, 2025 at 9:29 PM
meeksandmilds.bsky.social
This was me earlier this week:
It is a scary time to be a biomedical researcher in this country. The part of the NIH that funds cancer research (the National Cancer Institute) has sent communication to scientists across the country indicating that the NIH Leaders (dominated by new Trump appointees) plan to make changes to the way NIH funds research labs that will effectively reduce the "payline" for new and renewing grants to the 4th percentile (it used to be around 8th-9th percentile). What does this mean? What is a percentile in this context? It means that only 4% of grants submitted will be funded. Out of 100 grants, ONLY 4 WILL RECEIVE ANY MONEY AT ALL. 96 will get nothing for their months of effort preparing the application. These grant applications aren't like dropping your name in a hat. Each of them includes 60+ pages of detailed descriptions of available resources, personnel, hypotheses to test, technologies to develop, potential benefits to our knowledge of the body and health... This isn't like taking a standardized exam where there are 100 multiple choice questions and everyone who gets 97 or better gets funded. It's an exam that is so hard almost nobody every gets a "100" and only the top 4 scores out of every 100 grants submitted will be funded. That's it.
July 25, 2025 at 10:05 PM
meeksandmilds.bsky.social
Had a wonderful meal to celebrate the end of rotations for Jean and Joanne. The pho was amazing and it was a beautiful sunny day in Rochester so we were able to enjoy the neighborhood while walking off the calories :-)
#URochesterResearch @urneuroscience.bsky.social
A group of 11 scientists around a long table prepare for a lab lunch meal together to celebrate the end of research rotations for two students. They all appear reasonably happy, especially the goofy Principal Investigator taking the group selfie.
June 3, 2025 at 10:00 PM
meeksandmilds.bsky.social
Same #Strangebird @strangebirdbeer.com
May 26, 2025 at 9:20 PM
meeksandmilds.bsky.social
Getting ready to celebrate the hard work and dedication of Bryan Crum, the first PhD student to graduate from the lab after the move to @urochestersmd.bsky.social!

Congrats Bryan and all graduates!
Several faculty members in regalia standing in front of bleachers preparing for commencement exercises at University of Rochester.
May 16, 2025 at 12:49 PM
meeksandmilds.bsky.social
Look what I rescued from the pool this morning! #StarNosedMole
A star-nosed mole lying on its back on a stone patio. A star-nosed mole in a grass and clover patch
May 7, 2025 at 9:26 PM
meeksandmilds.bsky.social
Hello from #AChemS2025! Enjoying a wonderful meal and conversation with the amazing Ricardo Araneda (at sunset)!
Selfie of two conference-going men at a table in front of Palm trees and a yellow-orange sunset.
April 24, 2025 at 1:59 AM
meeksandmilds.bsky.social
I am doing Friday homemade pizza, alas no outdoor oven at this time.

By the way I make thin-crust pizza and pre-bake my crust.
A middle aged white man with his business casual attire still on holds a 16-ounce can of beer (Rohrbach Cosmic Krush New England IPA) in front of a pizza crust pre-baking in an indoor oven).
March 14, 2025 at 10:30 PM
meeksandmilds.bsky.social
Good morning from a backyard hawk! Cooper's Hawk maybe?
Picture of a hawk on a tree branch in front of a gray morning sky.
February 27, 2025 at 12:25 PM
meeksandmilds.bsky.social
Backyard visitor on a snowy day in suburban Rochester.
Picture of an adult white-tailed deer on a snowy backyard
February 16, 2025 at 7:12 PM
meeksandmilds.bsky.social
Post from another (for-profit) platform that includes friends and family that are currently happy (if not gleeful) at the pain and suffering I, my family, and the people that work in academic research and teaching currently face:
February 9, 2025 at 4:28 AM
meeksandmilds.bsky.social
Talked to my mom this morning, who will forever have my back, and she is so sad and angry at what is happening.

In her mom-wisdom, she reminded me that doing things other than worrying and planning can be restorative and help get through the toughest times.

So I drew a picture of our dog:
A pencil sketch of a dog looking straight towards the viewer.
February 2, 2025 at 1:54 AM
meeksandmilds.bsky.social
Pretty scene this morning. Trying to shake off some gloomy and store up some energy.
Photograph of a snowy backyard with a treehouse in the distance, and a shepherd's hook and patio furniture in the foreground.
February 1, 2025 at 3:20 PM
meeksandmilds.bsky.social
Just send a round of e-mails to people working within our government that support our country through their knowledge, wisdom, and expertise. They make a huge impact on our research community and our country as a whole!

If you haven't already, consider taking a few minutes to do the same!
E-mail to "Dr ---" expressing thanks to the individual for: serving the citizens of our country, and for their knowledge, wisdom, and expertise. helping researchers and trainees navigate their careers, and understand the processes in place to fund biomedical research
January 30, 2025 at 4:49 PM
meeksandmilds.bsky.social
I am a terrible artist, but have thoughts like this frequently. No doubt inspired by @xkcd.com :
Three poorly drawn cartoons of ships divided in half, with stick figure rowers on the left in blue, and rowers on the right in red. Some purple stick figures near the middle. The ship on the left is labeled "Design" and there are equal numbers of oars on each side, with the steering wheel is controlled by a red stick figure, and a brown trace indicates the ship's path as a squiggly line going mostly forward (upward on the drawing). The ship in the middle is labeled "User Error" and has equal numbers of red, blue, and purple stick figures on each side, but the number of red oars on the right side is increased, and the number of blue oars on the left side is decreased. The squiggly line is moving only toward the right side (with more oars). On the right is a panel labeled "Catastrophic Failure". In this panel, the right side has equal numbers of red stick figures to the number of blue and purple figures, but the red figures have put a yellow crown on the figure at the steering wheel, and they have taken cannons to shoot away blue oars on the left, leaving gaping holes in the hull. Multiple blue stick figures and a purple stick figure are in the water. The squiggly line ends in a poorly drawn skull and crossbones.
January 28, 2025 at 4:03 PM
meeksandmilds.bsky.social
Also: this was seen at an entrypoint to my building:
A flyer posted with tape to a clear glass window with information related to disruption of NIH funding, and warning that this will cause a loss of jobs in the community. At the end is an appeal to contact congresspeople via a link to https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member
January 28, 2025 at 3:21 PM
meeksandmilds.bsky.social
My work-from-home office mate is exhausted:
A multicolor dog sleeps on his side clutching a chew toy he has destroyed.
December 13, 2024 at 2:47 PM
meeksandmilds.bsky.social
September 5, 2024 at 1:12 AM
meeksandmilds.bsky.social
September 5, 2024 at 1:12 AM
meeksandmilds.bsky.social
September 5, 2024 at 1:11 AM
meeksandmilds.bsky.social
New "fun with Gemini." This time: image generation. Watch the algorithm struggle with itself. Am I asking it to do something it can do, or not? Is text the medium or images? How do you make text in an image? Also, trying my best Ted Lasso impression for the AI that wants so badly to please!
September 5, 2024 at 1:10 AM
meeksandmilds.bsky.social
First impressions with Google Gemini AI chatbot. It does not know what information it has access to. Its pre-programmed responses to questions about its training set are in conflict with the results it provides. Should be fun to see how this evolves.
August 24, 2024 at 8:46 PM
meeksandmilds.bsky.social
Celebratory meal at Sodam Korean in ROC. Jinxin (2nd from left) got a career transition R21, and the rest of the lab (Varun, Kevin, Mike left-to-right from Jinxin) got the NOA for an R01 on chemosensory plasticity! Excellent food and a PI in a good mood! Missing Bryan; will make it up to him later!
Five male humans sit around a table with partially eaten appetizers at a Korean restaurant. They are celebrating good news. Selfie taken by a guy with a happy/goofy grin on the left-hand side.
February 9, 2024 at 7:29 PM