Quigly Dragotakes

Recently upgraded my Cryptococcus capsule measuring script and repackaged it as a single install file that does NOT require matlab. Still need to manually check the result images to ensure accuracy but between me and my undergrad we made 94k measurements with minimal effort.

Long wait but worth it for this coffee raccoon #ASMicrobe

@Danfqsmith I think its an anti-theft dye pack for clothes and it's obviously there to stop people from stealing the tree

Any idea what this is attached to a tree??

@caipcoelho @fungalhyphae @MRCcmm @DrMukaremera @BallouLab Alright, I think it's good to go at least for testing. Let me know if you run into issues, or features you wish where included. You can download the installer from this repo: github.com/quigly555/QCA

@dragotakes @fungalhyphae @MRCcmm @DrMukaremera @BallouLab

Recently upgraded my Cryptococcus capsule measuring script and repackaged it as a single install file that does NOT require matlab. Still need to manually check the result images to ensure accuracy but between me and my undergrad we made 94k measurements with minimal effort.

@fungalhyphae @MRCcmm @caipcoelho @DrMukaremera @BallouLab Yeah of course, and I could always use feedback / suggestions. There are a couple things I need to finish before uploading, maybe a day or two. Carolina is probably familiar with the old version and this one is very similar to use, should be straightforward.

@dragotakes Monumental man! I gave up on this task 6months ago matching up the ROI IDs. Thank you! Would we be able to use this @MRCcmm ? We’d love to road test! @caipcoelho @DrMukaremera @BallouLab

@fungalhyphae Both! It spits out both a copy of the image with the circles drawn on it so you can make sure they look right and an excel sheet with the compiled information of each detected cell. If it only detects a capsule the right half of the columns will be empty so easy to filter out

@dragotakes Does this do cell body and capsule size? Or is it ‘total’ cell diameter?

Who you calling Pinhead?

Updated the bot a little bit so now the image preview includes the whole paper since it wasn't clear to start with that the bot makes a full paper, not just an abstract. Will next try adding figure AI and better cohesion between sections.

The main message in this paper is that Cryptococcus neoformans releases proteins inside macrophages that modify host cell function. Getting this story out took almost a decade and was the work of many. @caipcoelho @dragotakes @Danfqsmith @marclrodrigues

@MarioPrime Easy pick, no way I'm voting for Mark Zucusberg

Kream Krunch made his first appearance in 2017's competition, but couldn't cut through the field. The stage is much bigger now though, and he's a #2 seed in 2022. But can he fend off a BIG threat in Zucus? Two hours! Vote!

ROUND 1, GAME 3: Kream Krunch vs. Zucus (See pics below.)

Looks like science is still safe though

Finally approved for the DALLE art AI, got some things I want to try but of course I had to start with a rigorous test of its ability. Thus, I present: "An oil painting of a minion marrying garfield" I regret it immediately, but am impressed an AI could generate this on its own

@JorgeAmich Thanks for the interest! Mechanism is definitely my next focus, there must be some really cool interactions between yeast and host to coordinate the whole process. And absolutely, I think naming it after myself was one of my best jokes.

In any case, stochastic or not, it's very interesting that the hostile environment triggers Dragotcytosis Next, finding out the Crypto mechanism? Btw, it must be really cool having such a process called after you, right?

Dragotcytosis of C. neoformans is stochastic, because it's (fungal) activated upon phagolysosome acidification, which is assumed random. A hostile environment seems the trigger It's a really good and interesting study, congrats @dragotakes, but 👇 journals.plos.org/plospathogens/…

Not sure why one replicate of condition 1 is so weird, maybe flocculation, but my benchtop growth curve machine finally fully works!

Figured out the power issue but I may have switched a couple sensor wires when replacing a board so I'm not sure if the well designations are accurate and can't compare conditions yet (will fix monday). Regardless, all 12 sensors appear to work fine over a 50 hour growth curve.

Mk I of new pet project to make small/cheap growth curve reader. Test curve looks good, next step to test precision/replicability. Total cost < $200 though I think that can be reduced and size of p1000 tip box. Just stick it on an shaker in an incubator when you need to use it.

@danquinnsmith Do you think the faded one is just an older less accurate map from the days the drink is harkening back to? Everything looks a little wonky in it.

What is going on with this map? Kinda like the idea of two Floridas though - one for Floridians and one for tourists 🤔