Our PNASNews paper on ghost sharks got a mention on the The Late Show last night! I truly never thought I'd see the word 'tenaculum' along with Helodus palaeo-art get the Colbert treatment! 🤩

Hectic but fulfilling week: - I was selected to give an oral presentation at Prion2025 in Brazil 🇧🇷 -Presented at UC San Diego Neurosciences and had a fantastic discussion on future projects 👨🏻‍🔬 -Submitted my latest first-author paper📝 Hopefully, next week is as eventful and fulfilling!

The application for ENLACE 2026 is now open!  Join us for the informational sessions listed here.

The strides for CJD event and the CJD Foundation are vital for supporting families, funding researchers, and raising physician awareness. I was glad to join Drs. Sigurdson and Rajic to discuss our research and progress in treatment at the #Strides4CJD in San Diego. #cureCJD

🦖 Something HUGE just hatched. Plasmidsaurus now offers RNA sequencing for gene expression analysis with: • As fast as 3 day turnaround • $50/sample for academia, $80 for industry • Up to ~10M unique transcript 3’ end reads per sample • Interactive results that let you

I’m looking for additional ways of funding research - what we do (neurodegeneration in human models) is really expensive, and as cool as the results are, we need the funding to keep it going. Any ideas? Thanks hive mind!

UC PPFP application deadline: November 1

I am so excited to announce that 2025 Pre-SFN “Giant Synapse Symposium” will take place at UCSD on Nov 14. Please join us for an exciting meeting with the latest breakthroughs in synaptic neurobiology. Registration is free but required for logistics. web.cvent.com/event/fac89654…

Lovely quote I heard from a fellow PhD today “The only thing I hate more than being forced to learn new things is teaching them...” 😱😱 #somepeople

After a long trip and several delayed flights, I finally arrived in Rio 🇧🇷 for Prion2025. Looking forward to presenting my work and learn from the leaders in the field!

I had a great time attending my first prion conference Prion2025. I was honored to be selected to present my work, and it has been an amazing experience meeting other researchers and developing collaborations!

Papers like this which demonstrate that alpha synuclein can act potently as prions, are exactly why you need to have proportionate safety measures in labs doing this kind of work. If you work on this and don’t have safety measures ask why! Great paper btw. nature.com/articles/s4158…

Sometimes you get reviews so bad that you know they can only have been human generated

This is the reference letter I aim to get from my advisors 😂😂😂

My latest obsession is listening to #ShellGame. A podcast about creating a company using AI agents. Yet, I find myself sharing Evan Ratliff utter dislike for Kyle. Shocking how AI can trigger such a human emotion 🙃🙃

2025 has been a true roller coaster 🎢, from the lowest lows to the highest heights. But one constant remains, the elevator to my lab at UC San Diego breaks down at least once a month. At this point, I'm convinced it's a university's initiative to keep its scientists in shape 😅

New updates from NIH to tackle application backlogs: -Meetings cut to one day; only the top 30-35% are discussed. -Top third and middle third (competitive but NOT discussed) will both be considered for funding. -Scores released in 3 days; simplified Summary Statements later. #NIH

Shop for your holiday gifts and support the HIV Institute at the same time! 🛍️ Every time you make a purchase through iGive, a percentage goes directly to fund HIV research and support programs — at no extra cost to you! Sign up at ow.ly/YLes50XLKlX