JoeThornton

My first first-author paper is out! It was an amazing collaborative effort with a lot of amazing people including @ArvindSPillai1 and @JoeThorntonLab. Please read if you like things involving evolution and biochemistry. pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pn…

If a univ. increases stipend by 15k per year with no compensation to labs, it also gives itself a big raise in overhead costs (~10k per year per student), which it takes from our grants, too. Does it really cost the university more to administer a higher stipend?

Scientists at universities that have raised graduate student stipends: What have your administrations done to mitigate the costs to lab budgets so that the science itself doesn’t have to be curtailed? Examples of best practices would be appreciated.

@skryazhi @UCSanDiego I have been told that Caltech reduced the tuition they charge to lab budgets to compensate for increased stipends. (But this has not been independently verified.) See: lh3.googleusercontent.com/u/2/drive-view…

@JoeThorntonLab Very curious to hear what other universities have done. @UCSanDiego has done nothing long-term. Our graduate program has shrunk immediately after the strike + workload for exiting graduate students increased. Multiple labs that I know stopped accepting PhD students.

I am looking for *two* postdocs to join my lab at @VT_Biology next summer/fall. We work on the molecular basis of coloration and toxicity in poison-dart frogs. Please RT!! Job ad: tinyurl.com/mt28bdky Application link: tinyurl.com/3xs7tp23

@pastramimachine If you were helping to craft a statement for your department community, what would you want to say?

@pastramimachine region.... Please contact our offices if you need support or assistance during this difficult time." It includes info about State Dept. travel advisory and contacts for student wellness.

@pastramimachine has extended support to students affiliated with the region who may be directly affected. We recognize that the loss of life, casualties and escalating conflict bring pain and distress for those in our community, especially those with family members or other loved ones in the...

Yeonwoo's second chapter introduces a new, improved method to dissect the genetic architecture of proteins - including the extent of epistasis - from deep mutational scans. The findings are very surprising. Stay tuned for the paper very soon. We are very proud of you, Yeonwoo!

In his first chapter, Yeonwoo discovered epistatic drift: the effects of most mutations wander gradually, randomly, and neutrally from their initial effects as proteins amass substitutions across long evolutionary timescales. bit.ly/42D9lkt

We are thrilled to congratulate our very own Yeonwoo Park @whatdoidohaha for winning UChicago's Best Dissertation Award across the entire Biological Sciences Division.

Congratulations, Carlos! (And to all the awardees. This will be a great symposium.)

@3rdreviewer @WTF_R_species Here it is.

@WTF_R_species Yes, that must explain it. Mutation must be the source of adaptive radiation!

We had human-neanderthal introgression--so where's the adaptive radiation I was promised?

@jbouie @MaryCatJude Yeah, free breakfast for school children = terrorism, apparently.

@MaryCatJude the black panthers were a terrorist group, apparently!

yeah sully we can balance them out with thinkers with a more nuanced perspective on black America, like charles “used to burn crosses” murray

My lab works on the evolution of the proteins that enable microbial life. We resurrect ancient proteins and study their properties. If that sounds interesting to you, apply here - we are recruiting!

@mashaals @ccg_unam Fantastic! Is the syllabus available?

I’m proud and happy to announce that I taught a semester long course on the History of race, evolution and genetics at @ccg_unam to advanced undergraduates. It was an equally rewarding experience for me and for the students.

@jgschraiber @srikosuri But universities don't have to take on the role of capitalists. Their function is to produce and disseminate knowledge and beauty and to build the capacity of society and its citizens. Students could be treated as partners in that enterprise, not as labor for amassing wealth.

@srikosuri @JoeThorntonLab I mean yeah, capital and labor are always pitted against each other

Quick fix: Universities stop charging overhead on grad student stipends paid on government grants. Every student can then get an immediate 50-70% raise — revenue-neutral for PIs, science, and society.