O. Kerscher
@yeastlife.bsky.social
SUMO in stress tolerance and protein quality control | lab life | yeast genetics | undergraduate research | backyard nature | opinions my own
Reposted by O. Kerscher
Motivational video for #MigrationMovieMonday. A persistent 4T1 breast cancer cell squeezing itself through a tight constriction despite undergoing repetitive nuclear envelope rupture. Credit: Kristen Nedza @weillinstitute.bsky.social
November 25, 2025 at 1:36 AM
Motivational video for #MigrationMovieMonday. A persistent 4T1 breast cancer cell squeezing itself through a tight constriction despite undergoing repetitive nuclear envelope rupture. Credit: Kristen Nedza @weillinstitute.bsky.social
Asking a student over text to send a picture of where I can find the minipreps in her freezer box:
November 21, 2025 at 6:31 PM
Asking a student over text to send a picture of where I can find the minipreps in her freezer box:
Reposted by O. Kerscher
Model organisms, in particular non-mammalian model organisms, such as yeast, Caenorhabditis elegans, #Drosophila and zebrafish, have long stood at the centre of biological discovery www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reaffirming the value of model organisms in training scientific minds - Nature Cell Biology
As biomedical research prioritizes human models and translational promise, classic model organisms are increasingly dismissed. Here we argue that they have a lasting value, both in enabling discovery and in cultivating scientific thinking, by training researchers in systems reasoning, integrative thinking and independent inquiry.
www.nature.com
October 11, 2025 at 8:03 AM
Model organisms, in particular non-mammalian model organisms, such as yeast, Caenorhabditis elegans, #Drosophila and zebrafish, have long stood at the centre of biological discovery www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by O. Kerscher
My first ever non-peer reviewed science-related piece. Together with Howard Wolinsky and Holger Breithaupt @embopress.org
It's about how scientists critical of de-extinction are targeted by dark PR tactics: www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....
It's about how scientists critical of de-extinction are targeted by dark PR tactics: www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....
Scientists targeted by dark PR tactics: Several academic scientists critical of de-extinction projects have become the targets of anonymous smear articles and weaponized copyright infringement claims:...
EMBO Press is an editorially independent publishing platform for the development of EMBO scientific publications.
www.embopress.org
October 3, 2025 at 8:45 AM
My first ever non-peer reviewed science-related piece. Together with Howard Wolinsky and Holger Breithaupt @embopress.org
It's about how scientists critical of de-extinction are targeted by dark PR tactics: www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....
It's about how scientists critical of de-extinction are targeted by dark PR tactics: www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....
🚨 We’re hiring! William & Mary Biology is seeking a **tenure-track Assistant Professor in Immunology** . Join our vibrant department in beautiful Williamsburg, VA — **amazing students, strong Master’s program, and a balanced teaching load**. pls share 👉 jobs.sciencecareers.org/job/674976/a...
Assistant Professor of Biology (Comparative Immunology)
Job Requisition: JR100791 Assistant Professor of Biology (Comparative Immunology) (Open) Job Posting Title: Assistant Professor of Biology (Comparative Immunology) Department: CC00098 WM001 | PROV | B...
williammary.wd12.myworkdayjobs.com
September 27, 2025 at 1:46 PM
🚨 We’re hiring! William & Mary Biology is seeking a **tenure-track Assistant Professor in Immunology** . Join our vibrant department in beautiful Williamsburg, VA — **amazing students, strong Master’s program, and a balanced teaching load**. pls share 👉 jobs.sciencecareers.org/job/674976/a...
Amazing!!!
I get that the news cycle is packed right now, but I just heard from a colleague at the Smithsonian that this is fully a GIANT SQUID BEING EATEN BY A SPERM WHALE and it’s possibly the first ever confirmed video according to a friend at NOAA
10 YEAR OLD ME IS LOSING HER MIND (a thread 🧵)
10 YEAR OLD ME IS LOSING HER MIND (a thread 🧵)
September 24, 2025 at 11:11 PM
Amazing!!!
September 14, 2025 at 12:39 AM
There’s a glitch in the matrix!
September 2, 2025 at 9:55 PM
There’s a glitch in the matrix!
Freddie was pondering the meaning of flies.
August 26, 2025 at 2:21 AM
Freddie was pondering the meaning of flies.
Fearless predators!
August 12, 2025 at 1:49 PM
Fearless predators!
It is a bird, it is a fish, no! It is a Sea Robin! #surffishing #catchandrelease
August 9, 2025 at 1:10 PM
It is a bird, it is a fish, no! It is a Sea Robin! #surffishing #catchandrelease
Here is an end-of-the summer beach picture I took as some weather is rolling in.
August 6, 2025 at 12:37 AM
Here is an end-of-the summer beach picture I took as some weather is rolling in.
August 2, 2025 at 12:23 AM
If there is ever a worthier repost!
July 15, 2025 at 11:14 PM
If there is ever a worthier repost!
Reposted by O. Kerscher
Hidden prompts in articles to fool #AI reviewers! It'sbrilliant, it's resistance and it's self-defense! It shows the massively wealthy publishing companies that cutting corners is bad for #science! They could use their wealth to pay independent reviewers.... 🧪
www.theregister.com/AMP/2025/07/...
www.theregister.com/AMP/2025/07/...
Scholars sneaking phrases into papers to fool AI reviewers
: Using prompt injections to play a Jedi mind trick on LLMs
www.theregister.com
July 10, 2025 at 6:47 AM
Hidden prompts in articles to fool #AI reviewers! It'sbrilliant, it's resistance and it's self-defense! It shows the massively wealthy publishing companies that cutting corners is bad for #science! They could use their wealth to pay independent reviewers.... 🧪
www.theregister.com/AMP/2025/07/...
www.theregister.com/AMP/2025/07/...
Today in ridiculously priced items from scientific vendors: weighing paper 3x3 in for analytical balances $126 per pack of 500!
July 9, 2025 at 3:10 PM
Today in ridiculously priced items from scientific vendors: weighing paper 3x3 in for analytical balances $126 per pack of 500!
Franklin W. Stahl, 95, Dies; Helped Create a ‘Beautiful’ DNA Experiment www.nytimes.com/2025/07/07/s...?
Franklin W. Stahl, 95, Dies; Helped Create a ‘Beautiful’ DNA Experiment
www.nytimes.com
July 8, 2025 at 11:46 AM
Franklin W. Stahl, 95, Dies; Helped Create a ‘Beautiful’ DNA Experiment www.nytimes.com/2025/07/07/s...?
E-sports nonsense even on my bananas!
June 20, 2025 at 4:24 PM
E-sports nonsense even on my bananas!
Reposted by O. Kerscher
I do not like AI in Slack
I do not like AI on Mac
I do not like AI in Zoom
I don’t want AI in my room
I do not want ChatGPT —
please stop, AI, and leave me be!
I don’t want AI here, or there;
I don’t want AI anywhere!
(… okay, okay — had to Seuss it, sorry 😇)
I do not like AI on Mac
I do not like AI in Zoom
I don’t want AI in my room
I do not want ChatGPT —
please stop, AI, and leave me be!
I don’t want AI here, or there;
I don’t want AI anywhere!
(… okay, okay — had to Seuss it, sorry 😇)
I do not want AI in Slack. I do not want AI in Google. I do not want AI on Facebook. I do not want AI in documents or spreadsheets. I do not want AI in Adobe Acrobat. I do not want AI in Zoom. I do not want AI on news sites. I do not want AI in the patient portal for my doctor's office. I do not wan
June 17, 2025 at 9:42 PM
I do not like AI in Slack
I do not like AI on Mac
I do not like AI in Zoom
I don’t want AI in my room
I do not want ChatGPT —
please stop, AI, and leave me be!
I don’t want AI here, or there;
I don’t want AI anywhere!
(… okay, okay — had to Seuss it, sorry 😇)
I do not like AI on Mac
I do not like AI in Zoom
I don’t want AI in my room
I do not want ChatGPT —
please stop, AI, and leave me be!
I don’t want AI here, or there;
I don’t want AI anywhere!
(… okay, okay — had to Seuss it, sorry 😇)
Nature reclaiming this excavator along the Chickahominy river, VA.
June 15, 2025 at 9:36 PM
Nature reclaiming this excavator along the Chickahominy river, VA.
Reposted by O. Kerscher
#BethesdaDeclaration @standupforscience.bsky.social
I decided to share the opportunity to sign the support letter for the Bethesda Declaration with my entire email list for our family holiday letter.
I learned some important lessons.
1/n
I decided to share the opportunity to sign the support letter for the Bethesda Declaration with my entire email list for our family holiday letter.
I learned some important lessons.
1/n
June 15, 2025 at 1:54 PM
#BethesdaDeclaration @standupforscience.bsky.social
I decided to share the opportunity to sign the support letter for the Bethesda Declaration with my entire email list for our family holiday letter.
I learned some important lessons.
1/n
I decided to share the opportunity to sign the support letter for the Bethesda Declaration with my entire email list for our family holiday letter.
I learned some important lessons.
1/n
Reposted by O. Kerscher
Microtubules do more than move chromosomes—they help clean up cellular messes too. 🧹 Eric Rubenstein of Ball State University shows Kar3 and Vik1 are key to protein quality control via ER-associated degradation.
📖 www.molbiolcell.org/doi/10.1091/... #ASCB #CellBiology #ERAD #Proteostasis
📖 www.molbiolcell.org/doi/10.1091/... #ASCB #CellBiology #ERAD #Proteostasis
June 12, 2025 at 2:52 PM
Microtubules do more than move chromosomes—they help clean up cellular messes too. 🧹 Eric Rubenstein of Ball State University shows Kar3 and Vik1 are key to protein quality control via ER-associated degradation.
📖 www.molbiolcell.org/doi/10.1091/... #ASCB #CellBiology #ERAD #Proteostasis
📖 www.molbiolcell.org/doi/10.1091/... #ASCB #CellBiology #ERAD #Proteostasis
Reposted by O. Kerscher
An analysis shows that NIH grant awards supported 407,782 jobs and $94.58 bn in new economic activity nationwide, the largest figure in the history of the report, w/ an ROI of $2.56 for every $1 in awards.
Deep cuts to NIH funding will contribute to a recession.
www.forbes.com/sites/michae... 🧪🔬
Deep cuts to NIH funding will contribute to a recession.
www.forbes.com/sites/michae... 🧪🔬
NIH Grants Fueled $95 Billion In FY 2024 Economic Activity, Finds New Report
National Institutes of Health grants generated almost $95 billion in economic activity nationwide in FY 2024 according to a new report by United for Medical Research.
www.forbes.com
June 8, 2025 at 8:33 PM
An analysis shows that NIH grant awards supported 407,782 jobs and $94.58 bn in new economic activity nationwide, the largest figure in the history of the report, w/ an ROI of $2.56 for every $1 in awards.
Deep cuts to NIH funding will contribute to a recession.
www.forbes.com/sites/michae... 🧪🔬
Deep cuts to NIH funding will contribute to a recession.
www.forbes.com/sites/michae... 🧪🔬
Reposted by O. Kerscher
Reposted by O. Kerscher
Reminder: Nobel-prize winning PCR (1983), used in basically all genetic tech today, was only possible because of extremophile bacterium discovered in 1964 in Yellowstone funded by a small ~$80k NSF grant with no obvious application at the time. #science 🧪
www.richmondscientific.com/how-a-discov...
www.richmondscientific.com/how-a-discov...
How a discovery in Yellowstone National Park led to the development of PCR - Richmond Scientific
A discovery in Yellowstone National Park led to the development of PCR, the gold-standard COVID-19 tests used to fight the global pandemic.
www.richmondscientific.com
June 8, 2025 at 9:09 PM
Reminder: Nobel-prize winning PCR (1983), used in basically all genetic tech today, was only possible because of extremophile bacterium discovered in 1964 in Yellowstone funded by a small ~$80k NSF grant with no obvious application at the time. #science 🧪
www.richmondscientific.com/how-a-discov...
www.richmondscientific.com/how-a-discov...