Martin Borch Jensen

E11 Bio is excited to unveil PRISM technology for mapping brain wiring with simple light microscopes. Today, brain mapping in humans and other mammals is bottlenecked by accurate neuron tracing. PRISM uses molecular ID codes and AI to help neurons trace themselves.

Read more: e11.bio/blog/prism

Field notes: ARDD 2025 An exciting aging conference (w 995 schedule + drinks... thanks CH+DK organizers). Pharma paying attention to longevity like never before. New mega-institute. Clinical trials reading out end of year.

Notes from an excellent aging conference on the @norngroup.bsky.social substack: norngroup.substack.com/p/field-note...

The "reproducibility crisis" in science constantly makes headlines. Repro efforts are often limited. What if you could assess reproducibility of an entire field?

That's what @brunolemaitre.bsky.social et al. have done. Fly immunity is highly replicable & offers lessons for #metascience

A 🧵 1/n

Like the DNA of an organism, the Constitution assembled around itself a vast substrate, of people chasing dreams and stumbling on the way, of physical transformation, of thoughts that bend history.
As complex life arises from simple nutrients, so does a land of opportunity arise from simple ideas.

In 1 month, BEACON has already reported 181 disease events & 381 individual reports.

We're excited to announce that starting June 2nd, BEACON will be sending a free Weekly Disease Event Digest on Mondays to help you stay informed about emerging threats globally. Sign up below!

Drug Hunters: The Improbable Quest to Discover New Medicines Drug Hunters: The Improbable Quest to Discover New Medicines [Kirsch, Donald R., Ogas, Ogi] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Drug Hunters: The Improbable Quest to Discover New Medicines

For anyone who wants to understand how medicines are made, from nature and by design, with historical context and amazing stories, The Drug Hunters is hard to beat: www.amazon.com/dp/162872718...

people get mad at me when I say this but it's a Serious Problem for bluesky's long-term viability that the userbase actively tries to bully people they don't like off here

Hopefully things change here, as my big worry about AI talk on this site is that people are being misled about the capabilities of AI by influencers who are telling them what they want to hear.

AI is not going away, it will impact all of our futures, and it needs more voices shaping its direction.

After consideration, I will post occasionally, but heavily censor what I share compared to other sites.

I tried making the transition, but talking about AI here is just really fraught in ways that are tough to mitigate & make it hard to have good discussions (the point of social!). Maybe it changes

The problem is that Bluesky is still a niche platform at 1.3 Mil active users per day globally. Getting your boss to say yes to making an account and dedicating the time and effort to maintaining it means they need to see positives for that investment. A middle finger isn’t a good return.

This news should instill urgency and remind us to ask ‘why not sooner?’.
@martinbjensen.bsky.social shared a long-term vision for how cures could become abundant, if we believe fast, systematic cure discovery is possible, and build the tools to make it happen.
www.gordian.bio/blog/cures-o...

I think a lot of the people who moved here have strong concerns about politics, which takes place of science talk.

Figure 4 from "How persistent infection overcomes peripheral tolerance mechanisms to cause T cell-mediated autoimmune disease" by Arup Chakraborty

1/ A long standing paradox in my mind (from always seeing immune "strength" or reactivity drawn as a spectrum from immunodeficiency to autoimmunity) was resolved this year at #AAI #Immunology2025. WHY do SO many people have both simultaneously? Each infection brings risk of developing autoimmunity!!

"Understanding an idea meant entangling it so thoroughly with all the other symbols in your mind that it changed the way you thought about everything."

@gregegansf.bsky.social

Why Blog? We are living in extraordinary times.

I've started blogging on substack to provide a bit more depth. Rationale is provided in the first blog. I'm using some great artwork, but I've lost the source, so the great person who created FDA as Humpty Dumpty--please identify yourself!

substack.com/home/post/p-...

New Harvard website is amazing.

How Did Scientists Become the Enemy? | GEN Biotechnology GEN Biotechnology

@hanascientist.bsky.social and I wrote up some thoughts grappling with rising animosity and mistrust of scientists and their institutions. Would love feedback and responses. www.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10....

I'd love to talk about this, already in touch with them about overlapping proposal. martin@norn.group.

We should make some though.

She Worked in a Harvard Lab to Reverse Aging, Until ICE Jailed Her President Trump’s immigration crackdown ensnared Kseniia Petrova, a scientist who fled Russia after protesting its invasion of Ukraine. She fears arrest if she is deported there.

Kseniia Petrova, a Harvard scientist who fled Russia after protesting its invasion of Ukraine, has been captive to the hard-line immigration policies of the Trump administration for nearly eight weeks. She fears arrest if she is deported.

Appreciate everyone pushing science forward in these days.
Marton Meszaros wrote a great primer on what an #aging #biomarker needs to look like, and more importantly what the prerequisite datasets are.
Punchline: We may need to build them out, and should start now.
norn.group/writing/data...

David Attenborough is putting out a new documentary next month, at 99 ❤️

Any scientists want to help with a science communication project? Will reach thousands on TikTok!
Details⬇️

I've created a shareable document with a list of the HHS offices gutted today that I'll be updating as often as possible. Have something to add? Message marisakabas.04 on Signal or email MKwrites4000@proton.me
docs.google.com/document/d/1...

Is it time to start splitting this governance experiment into a test and a control group? I mean, we have 50 states to work with, let's do some real economics and social science here.

Aged well

For me at least: late night sugar craving = want to sleep.

What are some mappings from deleterious cravings to the real need that satisfies the craving?

e. g. When you feel like eating candy, what you actually want is fruit. When you feel like playing videogames, what you actually want is progress and accomplishment. Etc.

📌

I may be tired and a little hoarse, but as I said again and again on the Senate floor, this is a moment where we cannot afford to be silent, when we must speak up.