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Posts by Lara K. Mahal

🧪#glycotime

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How much "loss" do fire departments report annually? Police? The armed forces? Roads? Schools? Solid waste collection? Wastewater treatment? Public health agencies?

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Today I turn 89. I’ve seen this country at its best and its worst, and I know how much community matters. For my birthday, I’m asking you to stand with PFLAG and support the work that’s helped so many in the LGBTQ+ community, including me. give.pflag.org/page/95493/d...

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Be sure to follow @pflag.org, friends. This work matters now more than ever.

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🧪

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Celebrating several recent wins in the Starbird lab! We have a lot of work to do over the the next few months to get some stories out, but the lab has been putting in the work 🎉

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Hey, UC Berkeley chemistry department: C&EN would like to hear from you. DM, or signal Laurel_Oldach.07

(amplification appreciated!)

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On this day in 2019, I witnessed one of the coolest things ever. A lenticular cloud lit-up by a setting sun over the Perito Morena Glacier in Argentina.

2 days ago 11234 1438 284 82
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Where U.S. science has been hit hardest after Trump’s first year The Trump administration has slashed the number of grants from the National Institutes of Health, with far fewer focused on women, cancer and mental health.

Those of us doing research related to women’s health have been hit particularly hard by the govt’s sabotage of the NIH. I spoke to WaPo for this piece, as painful as it was to discuss the reality my lab is facing. www.washingtonpost.com/science/2026...

2 days ago 270 137 7 4

There needs to be a giant billboard in every major American city that touts this. In any other era except this suicidal science administration, this would be a miraculous, wondrous thing.

2 days ago 136 33 1 1
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"She was looking to help people directly, rather than in a laboratory. She was not politically active, didn’t know anyone with AIDS and wasn’t even sure she had ever met anyone who was gay."

3 days ago 101 36 1 1

One of my favorite organelles ever, because it is so enigmatic and beautiful!

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I am so sorry for your loss. Her presence will be missed.

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I'm very sorry to tell you that Dr. Ellen LeMosy passed away after a short illness this past Thursday.

This is her sister. Ellen will be sorely missed.

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A brown rabbit sits in a garden and looks askance at the photographer.

A brown rabbit sits in a garden and looks askance at the photographer.

It’s Friday night.

I’ve done enough this week.

You’ve done enough this week.

You deserve a bunny.

4 days ago 178 29 6 2

When people talk about base pairing, does anyone use Franklin-Watson-Crick in their terminology? #RNAsky #DNAsky #biochemistry

Asking for a friend 😜

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Table 1 from the paper, summary of recent studies, methods, and findings.

Table 1 from the paper, summary of recent studies, methods, and findings.

Are surgeries on women REALLY reimbursed at 30% lower rates than equivalent surgeries on men? Yep that's the conclusion of our new paper, and the discrimination impacts physician training and safety for patients. Check out the paper (& LMK if you need full text).

journals.lww.com/greenjournal...

4 days ago 49 36 2 6

Great metaphor! 🚢

4 days ago 11 2 1 0

We have some fresh and cool #glycotime 🧪 on the impact of including glycosylation explicitly in de novo binder design. Filtering the results of a recent open competition for novel binders to the Nipah Virus Glycoptrotein (NiV-G) with ReGlyco improves the pipeline efficiency significantly ⬇️

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This black-and-white photograph captures Marie Maynard Daly (1921–2003), the trailblazing American biochemist who became the first Black woman to earn a Ph.D. in chemistry in the United States (Columbia University, 1947), at work in her laboratory. Centered in the frame, Daly leans slightly forward with quiet intensity, her gaze directed downward in deep concentration at the scientific glassware she holds with practiced precision: a slender glass pipette in her right hand and a small test tube or vial in her left, as if carefully transferring a liquid during an experiment. She wears a crisp white lab coat unbuttoned at the front, revealing a dark dress or skirt beneath and a boldly contrasting scarf tied neatly at her neck; her short, wavy dark hair is neatly styled, and a pen peeks from her coat pocket. The mid-20th-century laboratory setting envelops her with authentic period detail—white tiled walls, wooden cabinets with glass doors stacked high with books and papers, a cluttered wooden desk, a tall stool, a visible refrigerator, scattered beakers and equipment on the bench, and even a fire extinguisher mounted on the wall—creating a sense of purposeful, hands-on scientific discovery. The composition places Daly as the clear focal point, her figure framed by the ordered chaos of research tools and notes, conveying a mood of focused dedication, intellectual rigor, and quiet empowerment. This historic image endures as a powerful symbol of Daly’s groundbreaking legacy: her pioneering studies on cholesterol’s role in heart disease, protein synthesis, and nucleic acids helped shape modern biochemistry, while her lifelong advocacy opened doors for women and people of color in STEM fields.

This black-and-white photograph captures Marie Maynard Daly (1921–2003), the trailblazing American biochemist who became the first Black woman to earn a Ph.D. in chemistry in the United States (Columbia University, 1947), at work in her laboratory. Centered in the frame, Daly leans slightly forward with quiet intensity, her gaze directed downward in deep concentration at the scientific glassware she holds with practiced precision: a slender glass pipette in her right hand and a small test tube or vial in her left, as if carefully transferring a liquid during an experiment. She wears a crisp white lab coat unbuttoned at the front, revealing a dark dress or skirt beneath and a boldly contrasting scarf tied neatly at her neck; her short, wavy dark hair is neatly styled, and a pen peeks from her coat pocket. The mid-20th-century laboratory setting envelops her with authentic period detail—white tiled walls, wooden cabinets with glass doors stacked high with books and papers, a cluttered wooden desk, a tall stool, a visible refrigerator, scattered beakers and equipment on the bench, and even a fire extinguisher mounted on the wall—creating a sense of purposeful, hands-on scientific discovery. The composition places Daly as the clear focal point, her figure framed by the ordered chaos of research tools and notes, conveying a mood of focused dedication, intellectual rigor, and quiet empowerment. This historic image endures as a powerful symbol of Daly’s groundbreaking legacy: her pioneering studies on cholesterol’s role in heart disease, protein synthesis, and nucleic acids helped shape modern biochemistry, while her lifelong advocacy opened doors for women and people of color in STEM fields.

Biochemist Marie M. Daly (b. #OTD in 1921) was the first Black woman to earn a Ph.D. in #chemistry in the US (Columbia 1947).

Overcoming the dual hurdles of racial & gender bias, her pioneering studies included cholesterol’s role in heart disease, protein synthesis, and nucleic acids. #WomenInSTEM

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As American's file taxes on #TaxDay, I am one of those who benefits. #NIH has funded our lab's discovery based research for 34 years. We contributed to understanding how cells chose fate & shape tissues and organs, & work in our field gave insights into colorectal cancer and cancer metastasis 1/n

6 days ago 34 12 1 2

As a recipient of federal grants from #NIH (for now! 😭) that funds research in my lab, I'd like to sincerely thank American taxpayers on #TaxDay for investing in scientific research that lays the foundation for medical and technological innovation in this country and keeps us ALL safe and healthy

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New research highlights strong benefits of HPV vaccines beyond cervical cancer

In a new study, the HPV vaccine resulted in a 46% reduction in HPV-related cancers in vaccinated males. Including head and neck, esophageal, anal, and penile cancers. Vaccinate your boys and girls against HPV.
The vaccine prevents cancer.
www.cidrap.umn.edu/human-papill...

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Acetaminophen Exposure During Pregnancy and the Risk of Autism in Offspring This cohort study evaluates the potential association between prenatal acetaminophen exposure and risk of autism in Danish national registers.

In another massive data set of more than 1.5 million children ‌born between 1997 and 2022, the use of Tylenol during pregnancy was NOT associated with autism, even after accounting for ​individual risk factors. Autism was diagnosed in 1.8% of children exposed to Tylenol and 3% of the unexposed group.

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Scientists invented a fake disease. AI told people it was real Bixonimania doesn’t exist except in a clutch of obviously bogus academic papers. So why did AI chatbots warn people about this fictional illness?

Bloody hell. Researchers invented a disease, published two fake papers to see if LLM’s would ingest them and kick them up as fact — and then it broke containment and all the major AI’s bought in. Information pollution.

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

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This profile of star science education researcher Brian Donovan, who worked to reform systematic teaching of "genetic essentialism" (which undergirds racism), is terrific.

Even better, his work itself: empirical studies of curriculum interventions that work. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

1 week ago 13 12 0 1
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Fluoride in drinking water has no effect on IQ or brain function, long-term study shows The new research is the first to measure community water fluoridation exposure during childhood and any potential impact on cognition up to age 80.

Fluoride in drinking water has no effect on IQ or brain function, a long-term study shows.

The new research is the first to measure community water fluoridation exposure during childhood and any potential impact on cognition up to age 80.

The results contradict RFK Jr. statements.

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