Stephen Decker

Dad | Physiologist | Postdoc @KatsuFunai studying Alport Syndrome (XLAS) | PhD @UMassO2MLab | Mitochondria are my first love | Views are my own, no endorsements

[Stephen Decker @decker_st]

So proud of these two! It's been an exhausting road to get this clinical trial off the ground, but it was great to finally showcase off our pilot work on weight loss/GLP-1 agonists on mitochondrial efficiency! @ACSMNews

[Stephen Decker @decker_st]

I'm grateful to have been awarded the "Outstanding Postdoctoral Scholar" award for @uofunuip! More great things to come in the world of mitochondria, GLP-1 (esp with Elizabeth on my team, who won Outstanding MS Student), and Alport Syndrome!

[Nature Reviews Nephrology @NatRevNeph]

Working together to diagnose rare kidney disease earlier https://t.co/nR4LWh7jjW

[Stephen Decker @decker_st]

@josiezayner 60K in Boston is poverty wages

[Stephen Decker @decker_st]

Chaotic evil in the lab

[Stephen Decker @decker_st]

New preprint! This was the first project I took on when I started my postdoc. It took some twists and turns, but it turned out to be great!
https://t.co/rGn8bUu5N0

[Stephen Decker @decker_st]

My life as a bald person and a dad to a 4-year-old girl in one post: I nicked myself shaving my head this morning and was bleeding. My daughter used up all of the normal Band-Aids, so I had to use one of her mermaid Band-Aids.

[Stephen Decker @decker_st]

When you really need a Colab script to finish but your A100 GPU is running at 79.3/80 GB

[Stephen Decker @decker_st]

@Chrest_brett I have the same qualms with "aging"

I've yet to be convinced that aging, per se, is a problem. Age-related disease is a problem, but healthy aging? Yet to be convinced. Why the fixation to avoid death?

[Stephen Decker @decker_st]

@MitoPsychoBio I'm not convinced that we need to. Why is living an optimal life a necessity?

I think it's great for the people that are able to figure it out, and perhaps it's necessary for people who are athletes/performers/etc. but I don't know why it's so emphasized for the average Joe?

[Stephen Decker @decker_st]

@CAS_ReproLab @MitoPsychoBio Living systems spend their entire existence trying to reverse change, and biological turnover (DNA repair, protein turnover, etc) is likely an attempt to maintain a single entropic state. Homeostasis, by definition, opposes thermodynamic increases in entropy.

[Stephen Decker @decker_st]

@CAS_ReproLab @MitoPsychoBio Sure, it's a tricky (arguably impossible) set of observations to quantify. There are far too many variables to account for.

But I think when it boils down to some philosophical concepts, what truly separates biological life from other universal objects is entropic maintenance

[Stephen Decker @decker_st]

@CAS_ReproLab @MitoPsychoBio This also means that death is the inability to maintain the thermodynamic state required for life, and the energy contained within living systems then must dissipate throughout the universe, in accordance with thermodynamic law

[Stephen Decker @decker_st]

@CAS_ReproLab @MitoPsychoBio The way we measure energy expenditure actually reflects the release of energy from our intact thermodynamic system. Thus, the observation that increased EE negatively correlates with lifespan is actually due to LOSS of entropy within the body

[Stephen Decker @decker_st]

@CAS_ReproLab @MitoPsychoBio In that perspective, what separates life from other objects in the universe is the unique ability to capture and stabilize energy within a contained system.

Or, in other words, life depends on the ability to store energy and resist the distribution of energy

[Stephen Decker @decker_st]

Also my favorite poster companion 💜

@ASNKidney

#ASN #KidneyWeek #AlportSyndrome

[Stephen Decker @decker_st]

"Your claim is denied because congenital disorders aren't covered after age 26"

Oh, because my cleft lip and palate magically took care of themselves once I turned 26. How stupid of me.

[Stephen Decker @decker_st]

Heading out to #KidneyWeek with my faithful travel companion!

I'm so honored to have been awarded a People's Choice Award for the @ASNKidney Basic Science Forum! This will be such an exciting trip!