Timothy Vu

Happy to announce that I defended my PhD last week! Thanks to my PI @NehaPKamat for guiding me to the finish line. I'm going to spend the next few months accomplishing another dream of traveling the world while I consult on the side. First stop, Oslo! #phdone

Imagine if your cells had their own Iron Man suits. We could supercharge our cells to have new and enhanced functions with nanotechnology. I wanted to explore this idea of cellular wearables as a different form of biohacking. open.substack.com/pub/synapticdu…

Will people soon just be covered in wearables? My colleague Haleigh Eppler discusses wearables and their impact in healthcare and daily life. synapticduo.substack.com/p/somebodys-wa…

I'm starting a Substack with my friend! Check out my first post on using smell for medical diagnostics. synapticduo.substack.com/p/could-we-mak…

@parmita I'm in SF and currently a postdoc in the biotech field. Would love to meet up and chat about what your company is doing and your vision.

Larry Ellison just said what we have been striving to make happen, in the White House. We are collectively manifesting a reality so crucial. If you’re in SF, and you’re in biotech or interested in supporting this mission, I would love to meet in the coming weeks. The next OpenAI is not building LLMs. The next Google is not building a search engine. What we are doing is unique. That’s why it’s hard. We are going to make it happen. Or die trying.

@RhysLindmark @agupta @ycombinator Oh cool and congrats! Would love to pick your brain about your experience at Ginkgo while you're here in SF.

@agupta @ycombinator cc @TheTimVu

Some exciting news — I’ll be joining @ycombinator as a visiting partner for the Winter 2025 batch! Excited to be back in the YC community, working with the next generation of startups. 1/ ( 🧵)

It's a crazy world in academia. What people will do for that CNS publication. And the problems with the academic visa culture.

@RhysLindmark @CJHandmer @alexsaraki That's definitely an @alexsaraki question.

@CJHandmer cc @alexsaraki @TheTimVu y'all might have instincts here

18 months later, still no good answer or understanding of this question. Can anyone provide a good answer? Phenomenologically, mice age faster because evolution selected them to, with small body size, high predation, etc. But that doesn't answer the question of why some cell in a mouse, which doesn't even know it's a mouse, ages 50 times faster. Why?

@SGRodriques If you fold quietly, you can raise again at another company and waste more cash.

I think the standard biotech PR strategy is dumb: 1. Launch with an exceptional team and a huge pot of cash. 2. No public updates for ~3-4 years. 3. Fold quietly. Seems hugely harmful to science and careers of the founders+employees. Public outputs are important.

Back onto Twitter (never X) because I got shown this graph from @RhysLindmark that I need to be advertising myself more.

@graciouswoodsy Parche is a gluten free Columbian restaurant. Think they got something GF bread-like

@graciouswoodsy I'm part of an Easy Bay hiking group if you want an invite!

@graciouswoodsy The trapz

@spaceghost That's an in person convo

@graciouswoodsy Hi mom!

@graciouswoodsy I'm so awful with names... Sad because it makes me seem uninterested but I just can't remember names unless I write it down.

@instagram my friend's account got disabled after her phone got stolen and she can't get back in and Customer Service isn't getting back. Can you please get back to us?

@avnibarman_ Oh I'd love to see an example

Every day before I get out of bed, I cold message two new people that I admire. It never takes me more than 5 minutes. I've been doing this every morning for years, and it has gotten me: - 4 internships - my first full time PM job - my first investor in my business - a self-made female billionaire to fly me out to her office for a private meeting - 3 new best friends - an invitation to an exclusive founder retreat sponsored by Nike - and my first five-figure brand deal! Curious to see what a cold message like this looks like? DM me and I’ll send it to you!

@PhD_Genie A masochist

Complete this sentence: Having a PhD doesn't necessarily mean that you are smart. But it does mean that you are ______________

@ja_steinkuehler is one of my favorite researchers I've ever worked with. Great opportunity. Reach out or spread!

So many questions. Why didn't you park in the hotel lot? If your car wasn't there, why would you need to look at the security footage? How did you find your car so quickly during that phone call? Did you even check the neighborhood the breakdown? I'll never know... Off to Denver!

Well my partner and I finish eating our breakfast (not good) and pack our car when we see her on the phone walking away from the hotel... So she's on foot now... As we're about to leave she rolls up in her car in the parking lot! Terrible park job of course. 7/n

Life update: this morning in a KC hotel, I woke up to a woman in the lobby crying and yelling hysterically. She's screaming "my car is stolen! He stole my car!" I peak out the window and see my car is still there and ok, so now it's fun and games. 1/n