Michelle Franc Ragsac, PhD 🇵🇭🇺🇸
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mragsac.com
Michelle Franc Ragsac, PhD 🇵🇭🇺🇸
@mragsac.com
3.9K followers 690 following 800 posts
👩🏽‍💻 #FilipinoAmerican Postdoc 🧪 at https://amariutalab.org studying #PediatricAsthma • #Bioinformatics PhD, PI: Emma Farley 💻🧬 & #Bioengineering BS, PI: Terry Gaasterland from @ucsandiego.bsky.social ☀️ • #InvisibleDisability 🌻

Personal Account! ✨
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mragsac.com
This "Social Engineering" example is a little crazy -- I do wonder how this training can and should be updated to take the LLM tools into account 🤔 🫠
Screenshot from the University of California Cybersecurity Awareness Training. The screenshot contains a message sent to the user for an exercise to identify social engineering attempts. In the message, "Riley" has sent the following text to the user, named "Gina": "Dear Gina, I read your profile on linked-in, and you caught my eye, and if you don't mind i would love to communicate, and sharing more about me with you, I am interested in communicating more this is me being honest and i hope no offense is taken, I understand the medium is a business networking medium and not a dating or social networking website and I don't intend to use it for one. I will wait for your response soon hopefully, I will send you pictures on my next email. Talk soon, Riley" While this message is probably the Social Engineering example (compared to the other messages with this exercise), it is something reminiscent of other messages I've gotten on Instagram or even LinkedIn itself already ... In those cases, it most definitely wasn't a social engineering attempt however ...
August 27, 2025 at 3:51 PM
mragsac.com
I'm currently taking the @uofcalifornia.bsky.social Cyber Security Awareness Training 👩🏽‍💻 🤖 👾 because my certification is expiring, and there was a segment about phishing emails ... 🤔 🥲

Based on this, it seems that a lot of the emails I get from other academics are potential red flags 🚩🚩🚩
Screenshot from the University of California Cybersecurity Awareness Training where the user was instructed to click on each of the "suspicious" elements of an example phishing email. In this screenshot, the user clicked on the "Date" line of the email and the following message was displayed, "If you receive an email that you would usually get during normal business hours, but it was sent outside of normal business hours, this is a red flag." Coming as an academic, this is amusing as many emails are sent in the wee hours of the morning -- and in this user's experience, usually by tenured faculty members.
August 27, 2025 at 3:32 PM
mragsac.com
My dog does something similar every waking (and sleeping) moment … one day I’ll give her the 8 year notice of unpaid dues that she needs to pay back 😒
The poster’s Shiba Inu, Yuuki, lays on her back without a care in the world in a dimly lit living room. She takes up the majority of the image, with her head upside down towards the foreground and the rest of her body extending into the background. Half of her body is on caramel-colored laminate flooring and the other half of her body is on a beige IKEA rug with some vague floral pattern in dark blue and copper. In the background, close to the dog’s extended foot in the air, is an unplugged white Dyson Air Purifier beside a grey ottoman with spherical wooden balls for feet.
May 23, 2025 at 3:00 PM
mragsac.com
A continuation to this journey: I purchased a SIM from 9esim (www.9esim.com, the 9esim v3 card) to enable ✨ eSIM ✨ functions for my non-eSIM-enabled device 👀

It works well with a random free eSIM that I got to try things out (500 MB)! I get 5G connectivity with AT&T in the San Diego area! 🌐 🤖
A photo of a BigMe Hibreak Pro device opened to the "Mobile Network" Android settings page with the "Singtel" SIM card selected. From the page, the "4G Calling," "Allow 2G," and "Automatically select network" options are all activated. The Preferred Network Type is set to "5G (Recommended)", and "Wi-Fi calling" is set to "Call over Wi-Fi." As for the "Choose network" setting, it is successfully set to "AT&T - Eskimo" despite the device not containing a physical AT&T SIM card and instead a 9esim v3 physical SIM card. In the top right of the photo, there is an iced Vietnamese coffee in the background with ~1/6th of the drink in the picture takers stomach. The coffee is delightfully sweet and will help fuel the rest of her day.
May 1, 2025 at 4:17 PM
mragsac.com
I’ve been using a mobile eInk reader for a few weeks now after being inspired by @okidokiboki.bsky.social! 🥰 It’s been so so helpful in getting me to read instead of doom scrolling on my phone 🥹✨📚

I’ve also been using @thestorygraph.com to track books & participate in buddy reads with friends! 🙌🏽✨
Someone’s left hand holds out the BigMe HiBreak Pro device opened to one of the first few pages of, “The Apothecary Diaries: Volume 8.” As it is sufficiently bright, the backlight of the device is not turned on. In the background, there are two green Smiski figurines beside a fake plant on an office window sill. It is sunny outside and the sky is bright blue. The author of this posts wishes to be spending her time reading for leisure outside versus being indoors and doing work as a slave to capitalism, though at least her work is helping the common good as a biomedical researcher.
April 28, 2025 at 5:29 PM
mragsac.com
Finally, there might be rallies in your area (e.g., Fighting Oligarchy berniesanders.com/oligarchy/ with @aoc.bsky.social & @sanders.senate.gov, or others--check out www.mobilize.us) ✊🏽✨

If you do go to any rallies, remember to protect yourself #SciSky: www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-... 🧪!
Image from a Scientfic American article titled "Protection from Head to Toe" that was included in an article on how to protect oneself during protests. There is a man in the center of the image with lines pointing to several aspects of his outfit: (1) Shatterproof goggles such as those used for skiing or swimming can shield the eyes from tear gas, pepper spray, and other threats. Protesters should avoid wearing contact lenses. (2) A backpack holds supplies such as water, which can be used both to stay hydrated and to rinse off pepper spray. (3) In addition to switching phones to airplane mode, those hoping to avoid surveillence technology should turn off Bluetooth and WiFi, as well as the location services for individual apps. (4) Earplugs may decrease the sound of acoustic weapons slightly, by about 20 to 30 decibels. (5) Wearing a mask can protect both the face and respiratory system from chemical irritants. It also helps reduce the spread of COVID-19. Plus, it makes facial-recognition technology less effective. (6) Long sleeves and pants can protect the skin from irritants such as tear gas and pepper spray.
March 31, 2025 at 5:52 PM
mragsac.com
@tsagov.bsky.social, this is ridiculous! 😡 We’re now barring individuals with opinions against the current administration from entering the country and confiscating their belongings? 🫣 😵‍💫

Sharing with #SciSky 🧪 for more visibility! Peep the alt-text of the screenshot! 🫠
A screenshot from the article reads: « J’ai appris avec préoccupation qu’un chercheur français », en mission pour le Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS), « qui se rendait à une conférence près de Houston s’est vu interdire l’entrée sur le territoire américain avant d’en être expulsé », a affirmé le ministre de l’enseignement supérieur et de la recherche, Philippe Baptiste, dans une déclaration transmise à l’Agence France-Presse (AFP). « Cette mesure aurait été prise par les autorités américaines parce que le téléphone de ce chercheur contenait des échanges avec des collègues et des relations amicales dans lesquels il exprimait une opinion personnelle sur la politique menée par l’administration Trump en matière de recherche », a-t-il ajouté. Which translates to English as: "I learned with concern that a French researcher on assignment for the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) who was traveling to a conference near Houston was denied entry to the United States before being expelled," said the Minister of Higher Education and Research, Philippe Baptiste, in a statement sent to Agence France-Presse (AFP). "This measure was apparently taken by the American authorities because the researcher's phone contained conversations with colleagues and friends in which he expressed a personal opinion on the Trump administration's research policy," he added.
March 19, 2025 at 8:11 PM
mragsac.com
There’s also another flyer for the event happening at @sandiegocounty.bsky.social City Hall Downtown! 🌊🏄🏽‍♀️🤩
A poster featuring the Statue of Liberty on the left-hand side of the poster, along with the banner, “Stand Up for Science” at the very top. There’s also a navy blue crest with the text, “50 50 1 San Diego.” The poster also has the date for the Stand Up for Science rally as, “This Friday, 3/7/2025, at San Diego City Hall then Waterfront Park.” There is also the schedule listed on the flyer: Gather at City Hall at 2:00 PM, Press Conference at 2:30 PM, March to Waterfront Park (0.9 miles) at 3:00 PM, and finally, a Rally at Waterfront Park at 4:00 PM.
March 6, 2025 at 1:05 AM
mragsac.com
Here is the flyer for the rally at @ucsandiego.bsky.social! I highly encourage everybody in the campus community to attend ✨🙌🏽

@ucsdhealth.bsky.social @ucsdmedschool.bsky.social @ucsdhealthsci.bsky.social @jchi-ucsd.bsky.social @ucnewsroom.bsky.social 💪🏽
A poster featuring the Statue of Liberty on the left-hand side of the image and a red banner at the top with STAND UP FOR SCIENCE 2025 in all capital letters. Beneath the banner has the date of the rally as March 7, 2025 and location as Washington, DC and Nationwide at UCSD. There is another smaller banner stating SCIENCE IS FOR EVERYONE in all capital letters. At the bottom of the flyer, there is the information for the rally at UCSD: UCSD Rally 12 PM Noon at Geisel Library/Silent Tree.
March 6, 2025 at 1:00 AM
mragsac.com
Inspired by @cpsc.gov, I checked my Alt-Text rating on dame.is/ratingalttext! 😤 ✨ I got 95.24% 🏆 ✨

I HIGHLY encourage everybody, including #SciSky 🧪 #MedSky 🩺 🏥 and #BioSky 💻 🧬 🔬 🧫 people, to consider adding more Alt-Text to posts! 🙌🏽 Adding the Bluesky reminder in settings makes it super easy! 💪🏽
Screenshot from the website https://dame.is/ratingalttext rating the Bluesky Account @mragsac.com on their ability to add Alt-Text to photos posted to their account. Out of 524 posts analyzed, 21 contain images, 7 are replies, and 20 have Alt-Text present. The website rated this Bluesky account as a 95.24%, scoring in the top green-colored zone of the meter. It is unknown what the cutoffs are for the other categories, being Red, Orange, Yellow, then Green. There’s a hyperlink at the bottom stating, “Change your Bluesky Alt-Text settings” and another hyperlink, “Discover more tools: @cred.blue”
January 24, 2025 at 3:42 PM
mragsac.com
Combining Tempo Move workouts with Classpass sessions has been helpful in staying active despite #ChronicPain flareups! 😤🌻 #Fibromyalgia

My goal this year is to continue using @gentler.app and be in my green zone for most of the year! 2024 was rougher than 2023, but we can get back on track! 🧘🏽‍♀️🏋🏽‍♀️🏃🏽‍♀️✨
A screenshot from the Gentler Streak application on iOS shows that the user was active 123 out of 365 days of the year. There is a graphic showing black outlined white dots where the user had active activity and light blue dots where the user wasn’t active. There is also a statement where the user logged 135 physical activities during the year of 2024!
January 5, 2025 at 4:21 PM
mragsac.com
Since it’s been chilly (not too cold as we’re in San Diego ☀️), my #ShibaInu 🐕 Yuuki has been hanging out with her humans a little bit more 🥹✨

… Mostly because she wants to beg for the holiday snacks and treats we’ve been having 🎄🎁🍪🍰 Not because she’s usually affectionate 🥲😭
A Shiba Inu with white and pale cream fur looks into the camera. She’s laying down in the center of the frame in between a white plush blanket with black diamond outlines on the left-hand side and the back of a white leather couch on the right-hand side. The dog’s fur is quite plush, and there are tufts ready to pluck for her winter blow-out on her chest. There’s a blurred brown, mid-century modern piano keyboard in the background, along with a brown wooden bookcase.
December 30, 2024 at 1:37 AM
mragsac.com
On Friday, I hosted a dinner party for folx that were still in San Diego 👯 (including those stuck because of the fog delays at the airport 🛬)! Sharing some of the food pictures here 🥘✨

All in all, dinner was a success! 🙌🏽 I was also glad to be able to practice cooking for friends 🥹💕
There are an assortment of oven roasted vegetables on top of a warm bed of beige-colored ricotta miso. The vegetables include carrots, sun dried tomatoes, zucchini, and mushrooms—there’s also a drizzle of hot honey on top of the entire mixture! The contrast in color between the reds and oranges of the vegetables against the beige-colored ricotta makes the dish pop! There are bite-sized pieces of soy-marinated pork belly alongside a large, leafy green bed of lettuce on a ceramic plate. The brown, caramelized pork belly is as tight-packed as it can be on the plate, with the pieces beside each other as if they were all still sticking together. A few pieces are turned upwards to expose the beautifully juicy interior. In the bottom right corner of the picture, you can see some carrots, zucchini, and mushrooms sticking out from another plate beside this one. There is a grilled pompano on a ceramic dinner plate with some parchment paper underneath. The fish’s head is situated towards you, with the eye and mouth still visible. There are brown scorch marks on the skin of the fish from the fire, along with green onions littering the surface. A knife and fork sit on the plate in the background, blurred, as the focus remains on the fish’s roasted body. There are multitudes of stir fried shrimp in a dark grey pot with silver handles. The color is bright orange, with little specks of green onions littered amongst the cooked shrimp. While the shrimp have their heads and tails on, they’re cleaned of their shells for easier eating. A white serving spoon rests on the right-hand side of the pot, waiting for the next person to take their serving.
December 24, 2024 at 3:28 PM
mragsac.com
I haven’t posted a dog picture in a while, so here’s a photo of my #ShibaInu 🐕 — I’ve been asking her to get up for her morning walk, but she is absolutely ignoring anything I have to say that involves going outside 🥲😔

Her ears are twitching whenever I mention her name, so I know she’s awake 🙄🫠
A Shiba Inu sleeps on a round beige-colored donut dog bed with a plush red snowflake blanket. The dog’s front legs are stretched fully while her face is smushed into the red blanket—from this angle, the Shiba looks much larger than she usually does because of her plush fur.
December 18, 2024 at 3:38 PM
mragsac.com
Made my Home Screen look like a ✨ NookPhone 📱 from #AnimalCrossingNewHorizons #ACNH ☺️

You can find the icon pack on Gumroad (okpng.gumroad.com) and they were made for personal use by okpng.carrd.co! 🤩💖
Screenshot of the user’s Home Screen on their cellphone. The icons for various applications have muted colors and cute iconography similar to the Animal Crossing: New Horizons video game. There’s a quote at the top in the same dialogue font and styling as the video game displayed via the WidgetSmith mobile application: “And remember bad times… are just times that are bad…” Other applications from left to right and top to bottom include: Calendar, Zotero, Libby, Books, and Wallet. There is another widget box containing clocks for the following cities: San Diego, California; New York City, New York; London, England; and Manila, Philippines. On the bottom app dock, there is an icon for a telephone is green, an app folder containing miscellaneous SNS applications, an icon of a globe for the mobile browser, and another app folder for various transportation applications. The Home Screen background is a dark blue sky with stars in the background with real-colored waves on the bottom. A screenshot of the SNS application drawer from the user’s Home Screen titled, “Messaging.” Similar to the first photo, this photo also has icons with a muted color scheme. There are icons labeled for WhatsApp in lime green, Messages in lime green, Email with a brown envelope over a teal background; Facebook Messenger in navy blue; Instagram in muted pink; Bluesky in muted violet; Discord in lavender; Facebook in blue; and Reddit in orange.
December 4, 2024 at 5:21 AM
mragsac.com
Deleted my previous message since you don’t have DMs enabled! Here’s an extremely, extremely crude sketch that I whipped up? 🥲

Something like stamps but they’re all designs of different disciplines that people can use to adorn their notebooks, laptops, etc! 🥹✨ And multiple would fit together?
There are two sketches featured in a screenshot taken from the Procreate application. Both are sketches of stamps that have different designs—the one on the left has “NEURO” written in all capital letters alongside a crude drawing of a brain in dark maroon lines. On the right, there is “Marine” spelled out in cursive with a very ugly drawing of some animal underneath—the artist intended it to be a dolphin but at best it looks like a blob with a dot for an eye. There are arrows pointing to the stamp outline with the text, “Stamps all the same,” as well as an arrow pointing to one of the designs within the stamp stating, “Designs based on different specialties in biology, etc.” The author’s handwriting is messy, akin to a hand written doctor’s prescription.
December 2, 2024 at 6:15 PM
mragsac.com
Saw this floating around (Thanks @rogerslabucd.bsky.social and @clarencemah.me!) and did it for my page 👀

🗣️ Call me the “The Academic Explorer” 🏫✏️🗺️🧭🔭✨💖 (I don’t know what that means but it isn’t negative, I guess? 🫠)
The post contains an all-text screenshot with a profile analysis for mragsac.bsky.social of the top topics posted about on the account. The first category on the list is for “Cultural Identity” measured at 85%: “Michelle’s posts often reflect her experiences as a Filipino-American, providing both comfort and insight, like a warm bowl of adobo during a rainy day—filling and cozy!” Unfortunately, Michelle is VERY disappointed that this is not sinigang or arroz caldo or tinola as she doesn’t eat adobo on rainy days. The second category is for “Academic Life” at 90%: “With papers and publications flashing through her feed, her academic dedication feels like an episode of Grey’s Anatomy—full of drama, crises, and the occasional lab mishap.” Michelle finds the description interesting—Why Grey’s Anatomy? Who’s McDreamy here? McSteamy? And the last category pictured is for “Community Engagement” at 88%: “he uses her platform to elevate underrepresented voices in STEM, making her a community lighthouse in a sea of online chaos—guiding those lost in the storm to safe harbor. While flattering, Michelle thinks there is still more she can and should do to help with this effort. There are definitely others in the space who are doing a lot—especially out of the science communicators!
December 1, 2024 at 5:20 PM
mragsac.com
We went to the FC #Barcelona game yesterday against Las Palmas and our seats (€69 each!) were upgraded to the 2nd row 😳🤩
Photo taken from the corner of the Estadi Olímpic de Montjuïc as a field-side spectator before a soccer match. There are thousands of people in the stands and stadium security preventing onlookers from hopping the small fence onto the green soccer field.
December 1, 2024 at 11:25 AM
mragsac.com
We’ve been in Barcelona the past few days 🇪🇸 and my parents have been shocked by the number of Filipinos 🇵🇭 we’ve run into 😳 At times, we’ve been speaking more Tagalog to other people than survival Catalan and Spanish… 😅

It’s definitely made my parents more comfortable with traveling though! ☺️✨
An LED sign spelling out the word “Barcelona” can be seen spelled out with thin, red LED strip lights. There are two other street lamps illuminating the photograph taken at night, with several other LED lights in the background shaped into cylindrical-like structures.
November 30, 2024 at 7:15 AM
mragsac.com
Thanks for the birthday wishes! ✨ As a gift to himself, my dad is looking forward to rereading one of the #SciFi classics 🕵🏽‍♀️ (one that he made me read growing up) 🤖
The picture is of the book, “The Caves of Steel,” by Isaac Asimov, the 1991 Bantam edition. On the cover, there are two men with their backs towards each other, the man in the foreground wearing a trench coat and holding a gun. The man behind him is facing a futuristic city while wearing a blue suit. The city has a red floating vehicle speeding in a tube in the background.
November 26, 2024 at 2:23 AM
mragsac.com
Came outside to see my dog, Yuuki the #ShibaInu, completely relaxed in her favorite area of the house 💤 🐕 (Err… Outside, technically)
The photograph was taken in a backyard patio area with a sectional sofa and coffee table covered up with a patio cover. There are shoes scattered towards the bottom of the photo beside a dog bed. There is a Shiba Inu on the dog bed laying with her belly facing towards the sky—she appears to be sleeping. Towards the back are plants that desperately need more water than their owners are giving them.
November 17, 2024 at 11:19 PM
mragsac.com
We eat, cook, and host food parties in my house ✨ It was a thing we started in graduate school that just carried on as a way to hang out with friends!
The photo contains a picture of Filipino lumpia on a platter that were freshly fried—they’re a golden brown color and each one is approximately one palm length long and three fingers wide. Several people sit around a crowded dining table topped with an assortment of fillings for Vietnamese spring rolls. Some of the offerings include marinated pan-fried tofu, green onions, fresh mint, cucumber, pork belly, carrots, pickled radish, shrimp, lettuce, and cucumbers. All of the fillings are vibrant and people are stuffing their faces of the food they assembled themselves! A platter contains freshly fried Japanese vegetable tempura, including sweet potatoes, mushrooms, and zucchini. The plate is neatly organized but overflowing of the slices of thinly battered goods. This photo contains a Shiba Inu with her head inside a Chobani yogurt container sitting on the ground. The dog is desperately trying to lick the remains of the yogurt in the container while somebody with black pants watches in the background, though you can’t see their face.
November 16, 2024 at 11:15 PM
mragsac.com
I went to the Munich Documentation Museum 🇩🇪 and the exhibit was particularly sombering since things felt parallel to current events …

The last sentence in this photo [see alt text] was particularly impactful: “… The Weimar Republic failed because people didn’t expose extremism vigorously enough.”
The photo contains a panel from the Documentation Center in Munich, Germany 🇩🇪 , a museum focusing on the history and consequences of the Nazi Regime. The English translation of the panel is titled “The Path to Power — Democracy Can Fail” and contains the following reflection in the last paragraph: “The Nazi Party's path to power was not an inevitable, triumphant march. The defensive measures of the state and civilian resistance never came together to form an effective counter-force. The Weimar Republic failed because people didn’t expose extremism vigorously enough.”
November 16, 2024 at 4:08 AM
mragsac.com
I don’t know why my #ShibaInu 🐕 does this, but sometimes she likes to wedge herself between me and the back of the couch like a snake 🐍

There’s also a small puddle of drool under her nose 💦
There is a Shiba Inu in the picture wedged between her owner and the back of a white leather sofa. You cannot hear it, but she’s softly snoring while the owner reads a paper on polygenic risk prediction on her MacBook Pro on her lap.
November 16, 2024 at 12:57 AM
mragsac.com
Also, wanted to give you the heads up that your profile is listed as “Invalid Handle”!
A BlueSky profile is shown via screenshot, but the name of the user and the handle are both listed as “Invalid Handle”
November 14, 2024 at 2:42 PM