Alex Alexiev, PhD

After years of hard work with an awesome team, our study on how an environmental chemical affects the gut-brain axis was published as the cover for a special issue of Toxics! mdpi.com/2305-6304/13/1

@ZJAyres This is just one part of the PhD skillset, but if you struggle with reading, for some reason "Bionic reading" tends to help a lot of neurodivergent people comprehend/read better: oxfordlearning.com/what-is-bionic… Also behavioral/cognitive therapies/having an ADHD coach can help.

Our newest paper is out! "The zebrafish gut microbiomeinfluences benzo[a]pyrenedevelopmental neurobehavioraltoxicity" rdcu.be/dL0oB

So many skills are transferable from living in an immigrant household to being a scientist...today, it's writing while surrounded by chaos. 😅 There just wasn't room for private, quiet space in the tiny apartments we used to live in.

Last paper of my PhD is finally out!! I'm so relieved. Sadly in a closed access journal, so who knows if I'll even have access myself once their temporary link dies, since my institution no longer subscribes to Elsevier. 🤡

Bucket list item achieved! 🦠

Come see me at my poster at #ESA2023 on Monday next week 5-6:30 pm. I'll be talking about my work on how a ubiquitous environmental toxicant affects the gut microbiome and behavior in zebrafish over MULTIPLE generations! ᗦ↞◃

My latest nerd purchase is also relevant to my love of ecology: a woodland dragon with tiny mushroom caps on its tail. 💜🍄

@davidacoil That's awesome! Good luck to her!

@AlexForScience We are in Eugene for the weekend. Watching daughter compete in a track meet tomorrow. You're not far!

Every time I'm in Oregon, I am reminded how much I hate having gas pumped for me.

My partner came back from Omega Mart in Las Vegas and he brought me exactly what I wanted.

Excited for Jo Handelsman's talk today at Oregon State's Microbiology department! We're so lucky to be able to host her!

@davidacoil I feel ya...that was definitely my struggle trying to write for funding doing wildlife related research. sometimes I just want to KNOW, but definitely see why parks and wildlife folks need actionable studies like, yesterday.

One of the hardest changes in moving from pure research into public health has been how often I'm asked "will the the data be actionable?". Sometimes we just want to know things! :) And besides... sometimes the data gives us new questions to ask.

@hollingsfsdf the word gnar is starting to lose all meaning bro. but keep shredding that gnar.

chatGPT is great in small doses

WORTH IT THOUGH - we found some cool interactions and only scratched the surface on how boreal toad microbes interact with Bd. I wish I could dig into every rabbit hole but alas. This paper brought to you by sweat, puke, and a supportive lab group and advisor! (4/4)

...also had to hold my breath grabbing the plates because they'd make me hurl. Normally the smells are fun, but not this time! Our lab tech and an undergrad saved me a thousand times by autoclaving and passaging plates. (3/4)

Let me tell you a story about this paper. I collected data at night because it was the most reliable time for plate reader access due to covid and I wanted the measurements to be at the same exact time of day on the dot. (1/4) journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/sp…

BREAKING: 48K University of Calfornia TAs, postdocs & other student workers just walked off the job. It's the largest strike in the US since 2019. Many UC workers earn < $24k/yr. A PhD student I spoke to said they donate blood plasma to make ends meet. washingtonpost.com/business/2022/…

It's officially happened...I need to use the Pythagorean theorem for an analysis. Somewhere, my high school math teacher is feeling vindicated.