Lindsey R. F. Backman

My best friend from childhood visited my lab with her kids today. One of her sons asked if lava is ever involved in my experiments… I disappointedly had to say no… not yet 😂🫠

Woke up to a note I had apparently written on my phone in the middle of the night that just said “think about solubility”. I do know what I was trying to troubleshoot, but I love that my subconscious self thought that was an important, helpful note. Maybe I’ll just “think about solubility” today.

Nobel laureate on how Trump's cuts are hurting science Neuroscientist, biologist and 2021 Nobel Prize winner Ardem Patapoutian joined Midday Edition to talk about how the Trump administration's effort to cut back on science spending is impacting researche...

www.kpbs.org/podcasts/kpb...

But actually, the new way to evade federal hyperfocus on all bacterial research… we’re not studying microorganisms, we’re studying natµre… much less scary, you’re onto something

CHEMISTS
We experiment, muse, observe interactions
(...and constantly work to achieve a reaction!).

POETS
We experiment, muse, observe interactions
(...and constantly work to achieve a reaction!).

I urge others to similarly support our patriots at NIH who use their training and talents to improve human health and position the US as the world’s leader in biomedical discovery, innovation and technology development 🙏

As a structural biologist starting her independent lab, this is an exciting rite of passage 🤩

A colleague said something today that really conveyed how I was feeling… they expressed how, not only does everything feel so overwhelming right now, but even the moments that would typically be celebrated and give us motivation and purpose, feel too heavy at this moment. These are bizarre times.

This is scary.
Especially that someone who does not know the meaning of habeus corpus or due process is allowed to wield so much power.
These are not ‘the best people’.

Do people in the same household share strains when they have the same species?

How many cells transmit when a strain is shared?
Can strain composition be dynamic when species composition is stable?

We answer these and related questions for the facial skin microbiome in our latest paper.

🧵[1/10]

Congratulations Yukiko. So well deserved.

PUBLIC: Governor DeSantis from Parkland/FSU Students Governor DeSantis, We are students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and Florida State University. Two campuses terrorized by deadly shootings. Two communities forever shaped by a crisis your...

At least 28 Florida State University students experienced their *second* mass shooting last week - they were at Parkland.

They've written an open letter to Ron DeSantis against campus carry and attempts to lower the gun purchase age and for a stronger safe storage law and mental health services.

Spending the weekend in Cape Cod with my parents, but we found a way to be part of today’s #HandsOff protests! Provicetown’s official rally isn’t until Monday, but we joined a small but passionate group today at their town hall.

@drennanlab.bsky.social how has it been 3 years?! 😭

I defended my PhD thesis 3 years ago… it’s surreal to now be leading my own academic team. Times in science are bizarre and hard… the bacterial chemistry we’re studying is also bizarre, yet fun. I’m grateful to sometimes escape the stress of the world by focusing on how cool nature and microbes are.

Fred Greene was very kind to me when I started my faculty position at MIT Chemistry in 1999. He made me feel welcome and I will always appreciate that.

Before and after… Time for a spring haircut for our unique chihuahua/poodle/yorkie mutt, Lumo ❤️🌸🌼🌱

Job opportunity in SF to work at a small startup with the first PhD graduate of the Lieberman Lab!

I am right there with you Krystle - the cancellation of MOSAIC started me crying in my office. Programs that support young scientists in the US are all being cancelled. It is heartbreaking.

Today marks 2 years since I got my lab space. Being a new PI isn't easy, especially during these times... but my lab has grown, I've written many grants, and we've had some of the most exciting discoveries of my life that we are only on the cusp of exploring. Times are hard, but we are persisting.

You look at science (or at least talk of it) as some sort of demoralizing invention of man, something apart from real life, and which must be cautiously guarded and kept separate from everyday existence. But science and everyday life cannot and should not be separated.

Rosalind Franklin (to father)

1. Another Friday afternoon massacre of sorts:

NIH just rescinded its Scientific Integrity Policy.

h/t @lizborkowski.bsky.social

Our 28-yr U-RISE/MARC NIH grant that has served over 500 students and made us one of the top institutions producing African American students who go on to receive MD/PhDs in the United States was just cancelled yesterday. What a unnecessary and tragic end to such an impactful program...

Congrats!!! Super cool results! 🥳

Nitric Oxide Inhibition of Glycyl Radical Enzymes and Their Activases Innate immune response cells produce high concentrations of the free radical nitric oxide (NO) in response to pathogen infection. The antimicrobial properties of NO include nonspecific damage to essen...

This is finally out!!! Nitric oxide (NO) irreversibly inhibits glycyl radical and radical SAM enzymes associated with anaerobic central metabolism relevant to numerous human pathogens.
pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/... 1/n

The commentary I needed right now 😂😂

As unbelievably brazen and bizarre #Signalgate revealing US classified information is, I wonder how many academics feel a grudging kinship with some folks in the group based on their multiple academic experiences in 'reply-all' disasters...

"Please take me off this email thread." indeed.

Big day for the Backman lab! First student to submit a thesis from my lab. Annie Class, an undergrad student in the Harvard MCB program, submitted a beautiful senior thesis today. I’m so proud of all her hard work studying metalloprotrins associated with metabolic bacterial microcompartments. 👩🏻‍🔬🔬🦠