Thiago Carvalho @cyrilpedia@qoto.org
I've worked on all of science, from B cells to T cells.
https://fellowsherpa.com
Joined Nov 2022
Thiago Carvalho
boosted
On explanations in brain research:
A thread of the same idea comes up again and again in brain research. It's the notion that identifying the biological details (such as the brain areas/circuits or neurotransmitters) associated with some brain function (like seeing or fear or memory) is not a complete explanation of how the brain gives rise to that function (even if you can demonstrate the links are causal). To paraphrase:
Mountcastle: Where is not how https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674661882
Marr: How is not what or why http://mechanism.ucsd.edu/teaching/f18/David_Marr_Vision_A_Computational_Investigation_into_the_Human_Representation_and_Processing_of_Visual_Information.chapter1.pdf
@MatteoCarandini: Links from circuits to behavior are a "bridge too far" https://www.nature.com/articles/nn.3043
Krakauer et al: Describing that is not understanding how https://www.cell.com/neuron/pdf/S0896-6273(16)31040-6.pdf
Poppel: Understanding brain maps does not formulate "what about" the brain gives rise to "what about" behavior https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3498052/
Any other explicit references to add to this list? @Iris, @knutson_brain, Anyone?
Also, I imagine that some form of the opposite idea must also be percolating: the notion that 'algorithmic' descriptions of the type used to build AI will be insufficient to do things like treat brain dysfunction (where we arguably need to know more about the biology to, e.g., create drugs). Any explicit references of that idea? @albertcardona @schoppik, @cyrilpedia, Anyone?
Thiago Carvalho
boosted
What kind of biologist should you be?
I adore this charming - and pretty accurate - chart by @rosemarymosco to help make the decision.
'The consequence is widespread global harm to people's health, wellbeing, and livelihoods—an estimated one in ten people who develop long COVID stop working, resulting in extensive economic losses. In 2021, we called for a coordinated research and health-care agenda to tackle this new medical challenge. However, progress has been excruciatingly slow due to lack of attention and resources.'
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(23)00493-2/fulltext
Thiago Carvalho
boosted
polishCLR: A Nextflow Workflow for Polishing PacBio CLR Genome Assemblies https://doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evad020 #science #evolution #biology #genome #SciComm #evolgen_paper
Disappointing, this one - I was hoping it had some raiding and pillaging in England and getting away origin:
"11. SCOTLAND AND SCOT-FREE
Scot-free is an alteration of shot-free, where shot was a charge or share of a payment. It was a lucky thing to get out of a meal or a night at the tavern shot-free. It later came to mean escaping without injury, and came to be pronounced as scot instead of shot."
Thiago Carvalho
boosted
RT @RoliRoberts
Lucinid clams - #endosymbionts use environmental sulphide for #chemosynthesis. But some #symbiont proteins (sulphide-binding DsrC, metabolism-shunting GAPDH) are found in distant tissues, including haemolymph... how? @jillpeterplan #EESSymbiosis
Thiago Carvalho
boosted
Our Andrea Sottoriva (Head of HT Computational Biology Research Centre) and colleagues from #ICRLondon analyzed >10k tumors and 356 metastases to develop a computer algorithm that identifies the probability of a patient's response to #cancer immunotherapy.
Published in @Nature@mstdn.social @naturegenet
@nature@sciencemastodon.com
#tumors #lifesciences #science #sciencemastodon #humantechnopole #datascience #computationalbiology #biology #ai
Thiago Carvalho
boosted
#PlantScience research summaries!
https://plantae.org/plant-science-research-weekly-march-10-2023/
Salt-tolerant crops, time to deliver;
Blushing hungry plants;
Burning lignin, cues for smoke signals;
Temperature sensing in plants;
Role of H2A.Z in thermomorphogenesis;
H3.3(K27A) ->over-lignification in Arabidopsis;
EIN/EIL1 affect FLC via histone demethylase;
siRNAs -> YUP -> pigmentation in Mimulus;
Warm-adapted species in soil seed banks;
Bioengineered “pikobodies” confer plant disease resistance.
Mental health RFI at the NIH
https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-MH-23-175.html
This is pretty cool:
'Here, we link PIEZO-mediated mechanotransduction to NLRP3 inflammasome activation. Yoda1, a PIEZO1 agonist, dramatically lowers the threshold for NLRP3 inflammasome activation. PIEZO-mediated stiffness-sensing increases NLRP3-dependent inflammatory responses. Activation of PIEZO1 triggers calcium influx, which activates KCNN4, a calcium-activated potassium channel, to evoke potassium efflux promoting NLRP3 inflammasome activation.'
Meanwhile, at Radiolab
“We’re like a rat king, but a nice rat king,” Nasser volunteered. “Our tails have been tied together through fate and circumstance and we all have to scurry in the same direction.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/07/arts/radiolab-new-hosts-lulu-miller-latif-nasser.html
Thiago Carvalho
boosted
Origin stories:
"I asked (Bert Vogelstein & Ken Kinzler), 'What prompted you to hire a naive undergraduate from Australia?'
I'd put on my CV 'hobbies: bushwalking', which is hiking in Australian.
They said that they were so intrigued by someone who bushwalked that they needed to meet me."
Tracy Bryan, co-discoverer of ALT, a classic @embojournal paper, on the #EMBOPodcast
"Ópera de Manaos (Brasil). ¿Un aria de Verdi en el corazón de la selva? Pues sí. Manaos es la ciudad más grande del Amazonas, un incongruente reducto de urbanización en medio de la jungla. Su famoso teatro de la ópera se inauguró en 1986, en pleno auge del caucho en la región, y simboliza la opulencia que en su día tuvo esta urbe brasileña. Los artesanos y la mayor parte de los materiales utilizados (mármol y vidrio italianos y hierro escocés) llegaron de Europa; la madera es brasileña, pero se talló en Portugal. La carretera de la entrada se hizo de goma para silenciar los vehículos que llegaran tarde a la función. El Festival de la Ópera del Amazonas dura tres semanas entre abril y mayo y lleva el 'bel canto' a las profundidades de la Amazonia."
Thiago Carvalho
boosted
This was an interesting read: how can lab members contribute positively to the lab environment?
Tenure track positions open at FMI (Basel)
https://www.fmi.ch/education-careers/positions/jobdetails.html?jobID=289
'Since the beginning of 2022, more than 50 million poultry birds in the United States, and a similar number in Europe, have either died of the disease or been killed in efforts to stem its spread. Can bird flu be stopped, and if yes, how?'
'A single dose of doxycycline taken within 72 hours of unprotected sex dramatically cuts the risk of a bacterial S.T.I., studies have found. The approach seems most effective for preventing chlamydia and syphilis, and slightly less so for preventing gonorrhea.'
Great fun discussing classic immunology papers with @marcdionne's class at Imperial yesterday - but very happy to be doing it in person next week!
Thiago Carvalho
boosted
Under the lantern in Dresden, Germany 1935. Sotto al lampione.
Photo: Richard Peter. #BlackAndWhitePhotography
Thiago Carvalho
boosted
Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla maxed out campaign contributions to Dr. Oz ahead of midterm elections https://www.statnews.com/2023/03/09/pfizer-bourla-dr-oz/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=mastodon&utm_campaign=mastodon_organic
I've worked on all of science, from B cells to T cells.
https://fellowsherpa.com
Joined Nov 2022
