Stephanie Pangas, PhD

A small polymerase ribozyme that can synthesize itself and its complementary strand The emergence of a chemical system capable of self-replication and evolution is a critical event in the origin of life. RNA polymerase ribozymes can replicate RNA, but their large size and structural ...

How could a simple self-replicating system emerge at the origins of life? RNA polymerase ribozymes can replicate RNA, but existing ones are so large that their self-replication seems impossible. Could they be smaller?

Excited to share our latest work in @science.org on a new small polymerase.
1/n

Deadline Approaching: Kaiser-Goldberg Research Fellowship | Apply for this award that funds a 10–12 week summer program for one selected student annually to work in an Endocrine Society member's laboratory. Applications are due Friday, February 27: https://bit.ly/4ssaGJb

Pub of the Month! 💜📰

Kicking off January 2026 by celebrating outstanding research in Science Advances, featuring Dr. Yu-Ying Chen’s recent publication from Dr. Humphry Yao’s group at NIEHS.

Cheers to discovery! 🔬✨

#WinRS #WomenInReproductiveSciences

Reproduction | Oxford Academic Reproduction

New Year, New Chapter for the @srfsocietyuk.bsky.social journal, Reproduction. Greg Johnson (Texas A&M) and I bring some Texas flair as new co-Editors-in-Chief, with our new publisher, Oxford University Press. January issue is out! #science #research #stem #academia academic.oup.com/reproduction...

7 mo old Spanish black tom turkey named Sundance

Happy Thanksgiving. Sundance is not on the menu.

Pub of the Month! 📄💜

This month’s feature: “Comparative analysis of human and mouse ovaries across age” from the Laird Laboratory @ucsanfrancisco.bsky.social

Celebrating the research (and researchers!) moving science forward. 🔬🥼✨

#ReproRocks #WinRS #NewPublication #Research #SSR #Science

🚨ONE MONTH AWAY🚨 #womeninstem #reprorocks @ssrepro.bsky.social

7 basic science discoveries that changed the world Ozempic, MRI machines and flat screen televisions all emerged out of fundamental research decades earlier — the very types of study being slashed by the US government.

Ozempic, MRI machines and flat screen televisions all emerged out of fundamental research decades earlier — the very types of study being slashed by the US government

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Such an icon. I had the pleasure of attending her lecture once- it was beyond inspiring.

Even the dog was excited!
#fishing
#bass

RIP, Robert Redford.

Raising a pair of turkeys has been fun this summer. This is Sundance, my male Black Spanish heritage 🦃

In ovaries collected from mice and nonhuman primates (NHPs), MNGC penetrance increases with reproductive age (left panel). Transcriptomic profiling of MNGCs reveals the top gene categories as degradation, energy production, and immune processes (right panel top left section). Further, MNGCs are closely associated with T-cells (right panel top right section). Additional transcriptomic analysis segregates MNGCs from macrophages and stromal cells. While stromal cells serve as controls and do not overlap with macrophages or MNGCs, macrophages and MNGCs share expression of macrophage marker F4/80. However, the authors identify Gpnmb as a unique, putative marker of ovarian MNGCs (right panel bottom section). Created in BioRender

Reproductive #aging is associated with declining #fertility and increasing #inflammation. @spangas.bsky.social &co explore a @plosbiology.org study that uses cutting-edge tech to characterize the role of multinucleated giant cells in #ovarian aging 🧪 Paper: plos.io/3T84WE0 Primer: plos.io/3HXKN1b

Science + babysitting

Something new at the house! 🐝🐝🍯

feed one crow
suddenly
it’s a murder

#DailyHaikuPrompt
#Haiku

Lovely end to to a successful Section I @mblscience.bsky.social Frontiers in Reproduction Course, Woods Hole. Good luck section 2 Director @schindlerlab.bsky.social

Domestic pig on porch

Sometimes you find the weirdest things on your doorbell camera. This was mine last night.

YouTube video by Steve Lawson Kara Marshall PHD-History of Science in America - Trilogy at Tehaleh 04/27/25

Gave a talk at my parents’ retirement community to describe how science is done, and what is at stake. There was a ton of interest, and anyone can do this. Get the word out about how science affects everyone. I’m happy to share slides with anyone who asks- just get in touch! youtu.be/BY_SFgi-Cig

Just watched this last night!

I think it’s being replaced with a #, “not significant but looks different to me”

The cutest jumping spider came to say hi today in the garden ❤️

Pipevine swallowtail caterpillar on pipevine in zone 9

The pipevine swallowtail tail cats are also here!

Group Photo of the 100+ attendees of the Texas Forum of Reproductive Sciences, hosted by Baylor College of Medicine

30th Anniversary of the Texas Forum for Reproductive Sciences, Houston TX, April 10-11 hosted by Baylor College of Medicine.
Keynote speakers, Drs Mariana Giasetti (Baylor Univ) and Rama Kommagani, )Baylor College of Medicine)

Monarch caterpillar on milkweed in Texas zone 9

First monarch cats this spring #monarch #texas #zone9

ASMR timeline cleanse. Ginger eating celery.

Some of those folks are white - NIH had a broad diversity definition because the goal was to create opportunities for many URs - this includes women in math & engineering, people with disabilities, those from rural communities, folks who came from poverty, 1st gen college students, & others.

NIH termination notices arrived today for our Postbaccalaurate Education (PREP) and Initiative for Maximizing Student Development (IMSD) grants. Students trained from these grants for over 26 years and have gone on to outstanding careers in biomedical science. So many future careers in jeopardy.

How Trump cuts are stunting the growth of Baylor's medical school Baylor College of Medicine's uncertainty over health research funding is prompting the school to scale back research and reduce its incoming class size.

Baylor College of Medicine's uncertainty over health research funding is prompting the school to scale back research and reduce its incoming class size.
trib.al/0iKhLwa