Braxton Jamison

Postdoc @BRIseattle. Studying regulatory T cell function. Exploring the PNW.

[Andrew Akbashev @Andrew_Akbashev]

Fear of retaliation in academia goes well beyond our workplace.

During the Lindau meeting, Kurt Wüthrich (Nobel prize for NMR) argued against the meeting’s focus on diversity and even mentioned that discrimination against men is real. Here, I would just cite the statistics that says it all: only 60 women become Nobel Laureates, compared to 892 men.

Now, I want to draw your attention how Science describes a comment from one researcher:

- Another attendee who asked not to be identified over FEAR of damaging his career, tells Science he looked forward to the meeting for the peer networking opportunities: "I also want to learn some life lessons from these excellent laureates about navigating a research career and how to be a responsible scientist. We’re not discriminating against white men — we’re criticizing the system, but they take it very personally.”

As you see, this attendee didn’t say anything that can damage his career.

He didn’t say anything bad about his advisors, funding agencies, department, etc.

He just said he is against the system that doesn’t help women in #science become equally represented.

And yet there is fear. Real fear of getting retaliated against.

Unfortunately, this dark side of academia is so common that many people think it’s a norm.

This is not about one specific researcher. This is about all of us, the scientists and educators:

Academia is a place where people are afraid of saying any statement in public that someone may find questionable or system-damaging. Even one on one, VERY few people are ready to discuss issues in academia.

Scientists are not afraid to discuss science! But we become paralyzed when the topic is about academic environment.

There is a tiny faction of researchers who are not afraid.

Yet the vast majority stay in total silence. Many seem afraid of their own shadow.

Please, BE brave!

Don't just focus on your own research in your labs. Take a stand.

Remember, your words hold power. They help reshape the system.

#AcademicChatter #AcademicTwitter

[NIH @NIH]

#NIH is seeking input on challenges affecting retention in the postdoctoral trainee community. Better understanding of these challenges will help NIH support competitiveness & innovation within biomedical research & its workforce. RFI deadline is 4/14: https://t.co/Fq9DUSsZJ3

[Adrian Liston @LabListon]

For anyone doing #flowcytometry, would you like to have a new protocol that reduces your #antibody costs by ~10-fold and also gives you higher quality data, with better signal-to-noise ratio?

Yes? Then read work by @olivertburton and @CarlyEWhyte. 1/6

https://t.co/7UN2OMhvcE

[Lucy Walker Lab UCL @LucyWalkerlab]

Delighted to share our work on new immunotherapy approaches for #autoimmune diseases. Therapies that target CD28 costimulation impair Treg as well as pathogenic T cells, but it may be possible to avoid this by co-provision of IL-2. 1/6
@NatureComms
https://t.co/gj2qGj2TuE

[Braxton Jamison @JamisonBraxton]

@LucyWalkerlab @NatureComms Congrats! Looks like a really promising combo therapy.

[Read Jackson Rising @JPHilllllll]

Musk firing half of the workers at Twitter while complaining that the woke left is ruining the platform is the perfect summary of the current conservatives movement. Get power, make things worse, play the victim.

[Read Jackson Rising @JPHilllllll]

I used to live on the same block as an NYPD precinct, and I want to share a little bit about that block now that I've moved away, because nothing shows so clearly how our money is going to all the wrong places.

So here's a little thread.

[Braxton Jamison @JamisonBraxton]

@globalimmuno @LucyWalkerlab Great talk Lucy! Does costimulation blockade via anti-CD80/CD86 or CTLA-4 Ig have a differential effect on reducing T conventional cell proliferation/function in SLOs vs in the target organ during autoimmunity? #globalimmuno

[Elliot Hershberg @ElliotHershberg]

The postdoc shortage has been a point of wide discussion recently 🧬

What is *actually* happening? Where are all of the postdocs going?

[Braxton Jamison @JamisonBraxton]

@Jeff_Mold It’s still unclear whether CTLA-4 actually signals so in terms of anti-CTLA-4 directly activating conventional CD4s or CD8s i think the jury is still out. It’s gotta be acting on Treg either by blocking their ability to strip CD80/CD86 from APCs or by depleting them.

[Braxton Jamison @JamisonBraxton]

@globalimmuno Hello just a heads up the incorrect talk was uploaded. The same talk from last week was uploaded instead of Steve’s talk. Would you be able to fix this? Thanks!

[Siara Rouzer, PhD @SiaraRouzer]

Trainees: "I finished analyzing & graphing my new data! Wanna see?"

PI in the office: "Absolutely!"
PI out of the office: "Absolutely!"
PI on sabbatical: "Absolutely!"
PI at 2am on a Sunday morning: "Absolutely!"

[Balazs Lab @BalazsLab]

Our paper describing the importance of boosters for Omicron neutralization is now peer-reviewed and published online @CellCellPress! Many thanks again to @wilfredo_nk,@kstdenis29,@AHoelzemer,@EvanCLam
,@vivek_naranbhai,@ragoninstitute for all the effort! https://t.co/PSjNUZzKd0

[Brad Krajina @BradKrajina]

"Macrophage picnic." An illustration I created to represent the idea of a macrophage. Macrophages are cells in the immune system that consume foreign organisms, such as bacteria and viruses, through a process known as phagocytosis. #SciArt

[Adam B. Hill, M.D. @Adamhill1212]

I love this reminder.

[Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez @AOC]

What we are witnessing is a system functioning as designed and protecting those it was designed for.

My heart still breaks for the communities and families whose grief now compounds, and the countless others who will be denied and deprived in similar scenes across the country.

[Institute for Protein Design @UWproteindesign]

(1/8) Today we share the structures of protein complexes from nearly every core process in eukaryotic biology — from DNA repair to membrane trafficking.

https://t.co/mmocOSqeRn

This work builds on breakthroughs in coevolution & deep learning (#Alphafold, #RoseTTAFold).

[Braxton Jamison @JamisonBraxton]

While the field of CAR and TCR engineered Tregs is still in it’s infancy it’s exciting that some of these products will be entering the clinic in the next 1-2 years!

[Nature Biotechnology @NatureBiotech]

Treg engineers take aim at autoimmunity - @ElieDolgin https://t.co/ME97UkZVIV

[Michael Harriot @michaelharriot]

The Coronavirus is a virus
COVID-19 is a disease
Vaccines fight diseases
Vaccines won’t prevent viruses from going in your mouth
If a virus goes in your mouth, you might test positive for the virus
This is the entire purpose of taking a vaccine

Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk

[jseattle @jseattle]

When you park in front of a hydrant on Capitol Hill https://t.co/RapY12z7g2