"Talent is universal, access must be designed, and excellence must be intentional!"

Inspiration talk by Donita Brady at #ASBMB2026. Donita has worked tirelessly to bring access to Penn and beyond. Congrats on winning the Ruth Kirschtein Award!

Pedro Saavedra of Northeastern (@northeasternu.bsky.social), Kat Barnett of UMich (@umich.edu), Kasia Groburz of Sanford Burnham Prebys (@sbpdiscovery.bsky.social), Cornelius Taabazuing of UPenn (@upenn.edu), Charlie Evavold of Ragon Institute (@ragoninstitute.bsky.social) & Harvard Medical School (@harvardmed.bsky.social), and Jianbin Ruan of UConn (@uconnhealth.bsky.social)

Our Cell Death in Immunity and Inflammation session was phenomenal today at #ASBMB2026.

A pleasure to co-organize this with Cornelius Taabazuing @taabaman.bsky.social.

@ragoninstitute.bsky.social @upenn.edu

Jianbin Ruan, @katbarnett.bsky.social, Kasia Groburz, & @pedrosvdr.bsky.social

Ten Black Scientists That Science Teachers Should Know About Help your students see the possibilities of careers in STEM fields by providing them with diverse role models.

STEM Black History Fact 27/28

Dr. William Montague Cobb was a founder of modern physical anthropology and used anatomy to counter scientific racism.
www.pbs.org/education/bl...

Poster of the 2026 CSHA meeting on Bacterial Infection & Host Defense.

Please join us for the Cold Spring Harbor Asia @cshlnews.bsky.social meeting on Bacterial Infection & Host Defense this May 11-15 in Suzhou, China! We have a fantastic lineup of speakers. Abstract deadline is March 6. Hope to see you there!

Congratulations to Kahlilia Morris-Blanco (@pennepigenetics.bsky.social), @taabaman.bsky.social (BioBio) & @ralphwhiteiii.bsky.social (@penncbio.bsky.social) on being featured in @wiley.com's Index of Inspiring Black Scientists! tinyurl.com/2s4bkyfs

Index of Inspiring Black Scientists | Wiley The Inspiring Black Scientists Index is a curated database celebrating diverse contributions to science. Join us in promoting education and collaboration.

If you've ever wondered if there's anybody who could be a potential mentor to you, now there is an index to help you find mentors with similar interests.
www.wiley.com/research/ind...

In complementary work, the Boucher lab also found that CASP4/5 directly cleave CASP3/7, and specificity is engendered mainly by the exosite. Check out thier beautiful biochemistry below.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Human non-canonical inflammasomes activate CASP3 to limit intracellular Salmonella replication in macrophages. Inflammasomes are multiprotein signaling platforms that activate inflammatory caspases to induce pyroptosis. In humans, canonical inflammasomes activate CASP1, which cleaves the pore-forming protein g...

Check out our latest work led by two talented postdocs, Madhura @mkulkarni.bsky.social and Chris. We find that CASP4/5 can cleave and activate CASP3/7, acting as initiators of both pyroptosis and apoptosis. Notably, both are needed for full pathogen defense!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Making Sense of It All Hi! I’m Liz Neeley and I’m glad you’re here. Making Sense of It All is an outlet for my work at Liminal, which focuses on sensemaking in a noisy and complicated world. I built Liminal as an antidote t...

I just subscribed to Making Sense of It All!

buttondown.com/liminalcreat...

Excited to see this out in @science.org today!! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Class I histone deacetylases catalyze lysine lactylation Metabolism and post-translational modifications (PTMs) are intrinsically linked and the number of identified metabolites that can covalently modify proteins continues to increase. This metabolism/PTM ...

Two new preprints online today!

One with @dremilygoldberg.bsky.social on lysine lactylation
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Another with @taabaman.bsky.social on new peptide tools to study caspases www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

A practical guide to graduate school interviewing for historically excluded individuals | American Journal of Physiology-Heart and Circulatory Physiology

If you're preparing for graduate school interviews, here's a resource to help you prepare.

journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10....

Manuscript submitted! Kudos to the smart, hardworking trainees that made this gift possible for the holidays! I truly appreciate you all. 🎉🥂🥳

It was great to finally met Dr. @taabaman.bsky.social in person. Your science and commitment to education will continue making an impact. #CellBio2024

Please help us welcome the newest postdoc to join the Taabazuing lab. We are all immigrants in the lab, but Ashutosh is our first international student hailing from India.

Feeling recharged after our department retreat in the Poconos last weekend. Huge congrats to our postdoc Madhura for winning the poster prize! We also welcomed the latest postdoc to join the lab, Ashutosh.

The Serine Protease DPP9 and the Redox Sensor KEAP1 Form a Mutually Inhibitory Complex Synthetic inhibitors of the serine protease DPP9 activate the related NLRP1 and CARD8 inflammasomes and stimulate powerful innate immune responses. Thus, it seems plausible that a biomolecule similarl...

Check out our lab's latest paper describing a mutually inhibitory complex between DPP9 and KEAP1
www.jbc.org/article/S002...

Best Lab Manager Award Proteintech is offering a $1000 award for the most outstanding lab manager.

I'm SO thankful for my amazing lab! Out of over 350 global entries, my lab manager is in the finals for lab manager of the year award 2024. Help me show my appreciation by voting for Bohdana Discher for this year's award. Vote daily until December 1st. Thanks!

www.ptglab.com/news/company...

All letters of recommendations have been submitted so the only thing left to do now is write our next paper. Hoping to give the lab a submission gift for Christmas.

OK, #immunology Bluesky LFG!

If, like me, you're trying to reconstruct the vibrant scientific network we had at the other place, these starter packs are a great start:

go.bsky.app/2bqX3T7
go.bsky.app/PY5tCas
go.bsky.app/FmERUoD
go.bsky.app/AjNpW2h
go.bsky.app/SinqoJU
go.bsky.app/DmphBCT

👋🏾 Please add me as well.

Haha, right back at you! Hope to connect in person soon.

Hi all! My name is Cornelius, and I'm an assistant professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics @pennmedicine.bsky.social @upenn.bsky.social. My lab is interested in host-pathogen interactions with a focus on how the host responds to infections. I'm passionate about mentoring, too!

Please add me. Thanks!

go.bsky.app/2bqX3T7 - please send me your @bsky.app handles to include in this growing community.