Omar Quintero-Carmona, PhD

There will be questions! The assignment is to read a cytoskeleton-focused preprint and craft a “reflection” to send to the authors. Like science pen-pals.

Any labs out there looking to hire a postbac/technician? I’ve got a an eager, kind, trustworthy team-player of a student looking for more research experience to prep for PhD programs. He’s been an important member of the Q-lab, presented at ASCB, contributed to a pub, & soon will be submit another.

My undergrad Mechanochemical Cell Biology course will read this this semester.

Open Science & Authentic Research in Undergraduate Education Join the Open Science & Authentic Research in Undergraduate Education Workshop in Philadelphia, PA on December 5, 2025.

The @alleninstitute.org is organizing an "Open Science & Authentic Research in Undergraduate Education" workshop on the Friday before the Cellbio25 meeting in Philadelphia. Check out this link for more information and to apply.

alleninstitute.org/events/open-...

Interview: How a Hearing-Loss Grant Got Cut in the Fight Over DEI “It felt like the floor dropped out,” researcher Uri Manor said after the sudden suspension of his lab’s award.

undark.org/2025/07/11/i...

Has anyone used Metamorph or micromanager where microscope controls were assigned to something like an XBox controller?

When my students do washes for immunostaining, they draw caterpillars on the white board and color in the body segments to keep track of how many washes they’ve done.

This was a fresh box of tips I started using today. :)

This project started in early COVID. At the time I wasn’t sure if we’d ever science again—the world might’ve been ending. I just wanted to give my students something normal during chaotic times, so they quantified images I sent them. TLDR: TRAK//MOM/MIRO interaction kinetics say something important.

Today, ~40 practicing scientists joined a Zoom lab meeting to hear my Mechanochemical Cell Bio undergrads give research progress talks on their quantitative microscopy studies in MYO10 stable knockdown cell lines. I’ve got graduating seniors looking for science jobs. These folks are ready.

Would you use unopened DMEM/F12 media that “expired” November of 2022 and had been in the fridge the whole time?

We also talked a bunch about how FRET and FRAP are acronyms and also verbs to some of us.

It wasn’t making fun of the student. It also wasn’t behind their back. We talked about it as a beauty of living language. It truly was fun to share that moment. For both of us.

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We’re spending some time learning about microtubules, Ran, & spindle assembly in my class this week. A student who pronounces GIF as “Jiff” pronounces GEF ad “Jeff.” I thought that was fun.

@kaylaf2.bsky.social will make a terrific addition to many science teams. She’s got that special kind of curiosity that you need for a successful career in science. DM me for a more detailed recommendation, or trust this GIF of the Doctor…

🚨 Looking for Research Technician Opportunities! 🚨

I’m Kayla Friedman, a 4th-year Biology student at University of Richmond (graduating May 2025), eager to gain research experience before pursuing a PhD.
I’m interested in brain research, cancer, stem cells, and all cell & molecular biology (1/4).

Heartbreaking chats this week with students thinking of giving up on their dreams of getting a PhD. They worry about getting in PhD programs and careers post PhD. My suggestions: don’t be hasty, think broadly incl EU & Canada, & careers beyond traditional academia. What’re you telling your students?

www.bard.edu/departments/...

Improvements in LM (top) and EM (bottom) of our micro-sam model (finetuned) compared to the default SAM model.

After a long journey, Segment Anything for Microscopy is now published in Nature Methods! We significantly improve SAM for interactive and automatic segmentation in light and electron microscopy and build a user-friendly tool.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Here they describe, much more eloquently than I, why what HHMI did is so problematic. “Anticipatory obedience” is the term. I have benefited from HHMI funding and policies, but for that same reason must say: hard to be aspire to be leader of scientific culture, values and excellence while this.

Just a few days left until the application portal closes. We hope to see you in the pool.

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Hey there #cytoskeleton folks. Are there any actin-associated proteins that support the end on end fusion of #actin filaments onto other filaments? I don’t mean polymerization. I mean something more akin to splicing two bits of rope together.

I just contacted my representatives about the nomination of RFK, Jr and the recent executive orders. Here is what I wrote in my email or said to the staffer on the phone:

Hello-

I am writing/calling on several topics:

Applying by 2/3/25 is a small time-investment given the potential positives for your undergraduate classes. An additional upside for participants—
becoming part of a professional network with shared experiences & aspirations. Community support is always important during challenging times.

Hi, Vox reporter here: If you've had a study section, NIH travel, or other NIH-related meeting cancelled (or not), raise your hand! Reply or DM me, and repost for visibility if you're able.

#academicsky @drugmonkey.bsky.social

No apologies needed. Screen didn’t power on, haven’t double checked the lamp yet (was in the middle of teaching a class of 15 students spread across 6 other working scopes), plugged in and tried multiple wall plugs and power cords. I’ve got time to tinker with it tomorrow.

I've got an X-Cite 120 lamp for my microscope and today when I flipped the power switch, nothing happened. No error indicator on the screen, no sound, no nothing. Any suggestions on where to start troubleshooting?

Open Science in Undergraduate Education Symposium Join the Allen Institute for the Open Science in Undergraduate Education Symposium in Seattle, Washington next June. This interactive symposium brings together those working to integrate openly availa...

Educators - Talk and workshop abstracts for the Open Science in Undergraduate Education Symposium are due by Feb. 15.

We're looking for proposal highlighting interesting and impactful ways you have incorporate #OpenScience tools in your classroom.

🔗 alleninstitute.org/events/opens...

🧬 #EduSky

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Suggestions? Comments? Help? (tysm)

patrick star from spongebob squarepants is sitting on a couch with a snail on his head . ALT: patrick star from spongebob squarepants is sitting on a couch with a snail on his head .

If you were to look for changes in gene expression in cells differentiating into neurons related to the microtubule cytoskeleton, what genes would you look to be up-regulated? HDACs? Glutamylases? Detyrosinases? Down-regulated?