Potential long-term effects of measles infection in kids:

- Immune amnesia
- Permanent neurological disorder
- Brain damage
- Autoimmune disorder
- Hearing and vision loss

A common cancer at an uncommon age The etiology of early-onset colorectal cancer needs to be understood to tackle rising incidence

Early-onset colorectal cancer is expected to become the leading cause of #cancer death in ages 20 to 49 in the U.S. by 2030.

Research is urgently needed to better detect and treat patients, argues this #SciencePerspective: scim.ag/4h1TYcQ #ColorectalCancerAwarenessMonth

Francis Collins, the NIH Director for 12 years, led the Human Genome Project and other NIH efforts for 32 years, resigned today. Key words from his resignation letter
www.nytimes.com/2025/03/01/u...

Protein codes promote selective subcellular compartmentalization Cells have evolved mechanisms to distribute ~10 billion protein molecules to subcellular compartments where diverse proteins involved in shared functions must assemble. Here, we demonstrate that prote...

AI model deciphers the code in proteins that tells them where to go

"Whitehead Institute and CSAIL researchers created a machine-learning model to predict and generate protein localization, with implications for understanding and remedying disease."

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

scPRINT: pre-training on 50 million cells allows robust gene network predictions | bioRxiv

www.biorxiv.org/content/10....

Dysfunctional CD11c−CD21− extrafollicular memory B cells are enriched in the periphery and tumors of patients with cancer Tumor-associated extrafollicular B cells are phenotypically, locationally, and functionally distinct from germinal center–dependent memory B cells.

A new finding of dysfunctional memory B cells that can underly a person's immune response to cancer and represent a target for immunotherapy
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

A range of features identified from sparse autoencoders trained on different layers on ESM2-650M

This might be the best paper on applying sparse autoencoders to protein language models. The authors identify how neural networks trained on amino acid sequences "discover" different features, some specific to individual protein families, other for substructures

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

This study identifies inconsistent evaluation practices of large language models (LLMs) in health care, finding a lack of standardized frameworks and limited use of real patient data.

ja.ma/40WLHSt

#MedSky

ChromoGen: Diffusion model predicts single-cell chromatin conformations The generative AI technique dubbed ChromoGen predicts chromatin structures from DNA sequence and its accessibility.

AlphaFold (the archetype): genAI to predict 3D protein structure from amino acid sequence
New ChromoGen: genAI to predict 3D genome structure from DNA sequence
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

I just have to go back to my own life 10 years ago and remember that I wished so much for my life to be the way it is now. 💚

Scientist says, annotate your code because six months is plenty of time to forget your own logic.

Our local library system uses CloudLibrary. It’s free; all you need is a digital library card, which can be obtained online.

On a more fun note:

🖤 20% of scientists have tattoos

🌙 68% prefer to work late at night

🎸 45% play a musical instrument or sing

📺 2% say they were drawn to the filed because of TV shows

☕️ 43% prefer coffee (vs 23% tea)

🎶 64% listen to music while in the lab

Amazing 🤩

DYK only 6% of scientists identify as Republican (55% D, 32% Ind)

<3% of scientists deny human-caused climate change

51% believe in god/higher power

5% are vaccine skeptics

2% believe in creationism/intelligent design

35% oppose nuclear energy

7% oppose stem cell research

Where do you stand?

I’m curious how you keep it updated with your current fridge inventory

Bioinformatics Methods for Transcriptomics -- looks like a great course www.coursera.org/learn/bioinformatics-met...

Super late Women in Science Wednesday!

Dorothy Hodgkin: British chemist who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1964 for her work in determining the structures of important biochemical substances using X-ray crystallography, including penicillin, vitamin B12, and insulin

Scientist says: Don’t stack wet glassware on top of dry glassware 🧪

Research idea: Cognitive Benefits of Prolonged Rage Posting

Individuals engage in continuous, high-frequency rage-posting for 4 yrs

Hypothesis: Sustained rage-posting for extended periods enhances verbal creativity, emotional resilience, problem-solving skills. Also improves thumb dexterity

Feelings of inadequacy, low self-esteem, or alienation can push individuals to seek validation from extremist groups. The ideology provides them with a sense of purpose & superiority.

Education, exposure to diversity, and addressing underlying insecurities can be key in reducing extremist beliefs.

I like to sleep 🧫 🧪

#senesence #sciencejoke #sciencesky #isthatevenathing

Note that this study made rigorous adjustments for confounding factors like BMI, smoking, exercise, and socioeconomic status. And used repeat dietary measures to minimize errors.

However, focused exclusively on women, predominantly of European ancestry

No direct data on calcium supplements, though other studies support their protective role

Whole grains, breakfast cereals, fruits, fiber, carbohydrates, vitamin C, folate also inversely associated with CRC risk, but these associations were weaker/ partly explained by confounding lifestyle factors

Protective factors:
Calcium: 17% ⬇️ risk per 300 mg/day increase
Dairy products: 14% ⬇️ risk per 200 g/day increase.

Calcium’s role likely due to binding bile acids and free fatty acids in the colon, reducing their carcinogenic potential

Dairy products protective largely due to calcium content

Alcohol was positively associated with CRC risk: A 15% higher risk per 20 g/day increase in alcohol consumption.

Red and processed meat: A 8% higher risk per 30 g/day increase.

Study investigated the associations between 97 dietary factors & the risk of colorectal cancer (CRC). Analyzed dietary intake data from a cohort of 542,778 women from the Million Woman study & followed up with them for an average 16.6 yrs, during which 12,251 incident cases of CRC were identified.

One of my main goals for this account is to make science accessible to everyone. I aim to break down primary research & explain it in ways that are easy to understand, without clickbait headlines or biased interpretations.

So let’s get started with this…

#sciencemadeclear #scienceforeveryone

The only ones that will have a chance are will be those that can get music rights

The fact that it started with dancing, music, fun, being weird, being yourself… then evolved into something where the rest of us could talk about anything, while still being fun and weird. Also, trends. They make people feel like they can participate/be involved