Ya'el Courtney, PhD

🧬 With biomedical PhD applications open now, I often get asked for advice. I created a guide filled with tips from my own journey to Harvard & insights from others. I use it to lead workshops & it’s ready to help you too! ✨ Dive in and share! ⬇️ 
yaelcourtney.com/phdapplication…

@baym Hm Greek would have me believe that biological sciences are indeed the “study of life” sciences One of the sillier things in this report

What on earth does "agencies should prioritize foundational research in the biological sciences over the life sciences" mean?

@rhymeswithvery This list is not comprehensive! Our works on a wide range of diseases, the few listed are only representative:

@ScienceYael Can you say why ME isn't included in this list?

We're hiring! My lab at Stanford is looking for a research assistant to study how EBV drives autoimmune disease. Full details in the image. Apply by Fri 7/31, link in reply. Please share!

@je_mclaughlin No. Once infected, it remains in your body the rest of your life. Often dormant, not always.

Apply here: careersearch.stanford.edu/hcmUI/Candidat…

@ImmunoFever @surf4children @J_Immunol I’m seeing a population of hybrid looking gamma delta /ILC2 IL-17a T cells tracking with post treatment Lyme disease patient symptom burden - especially depression

@surf4children @J_Immunol Extremely important!!! We have to be characterizing who is skewing il17 or il23 or Il4/13!!!! That changes everything about our baseline assumptions of how the response will go

Researchers identified a chronic critical illness after trauma is not driven by classic immunosuppression but is driven by an IL-17–skewed immune program and ineffective pathogen control. Learn more about how this could help patients: ow.ly/tpO050ZnO22.

@ValeBodi This is well aligned with what I’m testing in lab :) exciting data to come soon!

@ScienceYael You had ME at HHVs 😆 Btw I just posted this Volume 24, Issue 11P584-588 November 2003 Infection of autoreactive B lymphocytes with EBV, causing chronic autoimmune diseases cell.com/trends/immunol…

had an AMAZING time at the International Herpesvirus Meeting—my first virology conference! Montréal is lovely, the field welcoming, & the science top tier. But the real highlight was the Herpetic Legion Concert! #IHW2026 🦠🎸

HHMI released the official 2027 Gilliam Fellowship details, and a lot changed. Deadline's earlier this cycle: Oct 27. Int'l & MD-PhD students now eligible. Stipend up to 50K. New postdoc pathway adds up to 7 yrs of support. No Journal names!!!! yaelcourtney.com/resources-and-…

@brimmingvessel Idk kinda looking forward to my repetitive days this month for audiobook listening

when i was 16 first working in a research lab, learning how to pipette, taking water samples — i thought wow, this is so meditative, you mean if i keep pursuing this path i’ll get to do highly paid manual labor? (i feel quite differently 10 years later)

@drklausner @NIHDirector_Jay 👏👏👏

Sorry @NIHDirector_Jay but doing away with a competitive merit-based system is anti-science and antithetical to the American way. Science by politics is not good science. The U.S. science enterprise was the most successful producer of new cures and discoveries in the past 75 years than the past 7500. You are taking us back to the Stone Age when science was decided by the strongest men, not the smartest.

@InVitroFuture @buaalicious Nice!!! Seems sustainable and therefore great!

@ScienceYael @buaalicious We have a dinky gym downstairs in our building, which is very nice. I'm no bodybuilder but I've set my daily move goal so that biking to work and back leaves me 30 minutes of freeweights or treadmill to do, after 2yo goes to bed and before I was going to shower anyway

Genuinely want to know how people who don’t work remotely incorporate gym in their daily routine. You have to put aside a minimum of 1.5 - 2 hours for a proper gym session (commute included), how does that even work with a 9 to 5 where you have to cook dinner every night too.

The most effective biohacking tool in the world is avoiding viral infections. Viruses increase the probability of all diseases and death magnitudes of order.

missed 25 min of my 45 min first wedding dance lesson for this sample. now running it in lab at 8pm. thankful for a fiancé who understands lmaooo. #postdocmaxxing

@ThosVarley @LauraMiers Maybe he’ll be different 🙏

@LauraMiers I've written about this synergies.substack.com/p/longevity-in…

I scrolled through the replies to Bryan Johnson reporting his autoimmune disease usually found in the elderly. Many are telling him it’s from Covid. If he ignores it all, we will know he’s a grifting lost cause. He could help change the official Covid narrative if he wanted to.

Huge thank you to CDC Division of Laboratory Sciences Science Education Committee for inviting me to give a seminar today! Had a great time sharing some of my work optimizing methods for EBV detection.

Scientists: you can comment on the OMB rule before it's final, and a good comment makes a difference. SNAP + @protctdemocracy are teaching you how. Wed 6/17, 5:30 PM ET. Free. Registration link below!