Deshica Dechamma

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[Deshica Dechamma @deshicat]

This is so cool! 🧬

Xbox ANZ and Cure Cancer, partnering with Dr. Arutha Kulasinghe from The University of Queensland, have unveiled three custom Xbox Series X consoles inspired by Dr. Kulasinghe’s award-winning cancer research.

[Parimal @Fintech03]

Congratulations to Henri B. Kagan and Kenso Soai for the 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, "for the discovery of non-linear effects and autocatalysis in asymmetric organic synthesis."

And this story has a boy from Pune in it....

Kagan's half began in 1986. He showed that a catalyst carrying only a small excess of one handedness can produce a product with a much larger excess. The small imbalance does not stay small.

Soai's half came in 1995: a reaction that makes more of itself, and prefers its own mirror image. By 2003 he reported a version that produced only one hand.

A tiny imbalance, amplified until one mirror image dominates. Extraordinary, and for about 25 years the machinery behind it resisted explanation. Many models were proposed. None stuck.

Then a boy from Pune decided the unexplained part was the only part worth doing.

Soumitra Athavale grew up in Pune, studied chemistry and biology at IISER Pune, and went to the University of Illinois in 2014 for a PhD in molecular and cell biology.

But he could not let the Soai mystery go. So he started cold emailing organic chemistry profs, asking to work on this one puzzle. Professor Scott Denmark met him, said yes, and found the money.

In 2020, Athavale was 1st author of the Nature Chemistry paper with Adam Simon, Kendall Houk and Denmark that gave the reaction the structural picture that stuck: a homochiral tetrameric catalyst, working almost like an enzyme, explaining the amplification the field had chased for a quarter century.

Denmark says students like Soumitra come along once or twice in an academic career.

The man who found the reaction is Japanese. The man who helped explain it was born in Pune.

Congratulations again to Kagan and Soai. And here is to Soumitra Athavale, the Indian who went looking for the mystery everyone else had learned to live with.

[Peter H. Diamandis, MD @PeterDiamandis]

AlphaFold went from zero to 240 million protein structures in five years, with researchers using it submitting 50% more validated structures than other methods. Few tools in history have reshaped a field this fast.

[Eric Topol @EricTopol]

Why fundamental research is fundamental to progress, seeding major breakthroughs
Editorial @Nature this week
And 7 basic science discoveries that changed the world
https://t.co/0YrKabc7ff
https://t.co/SM11QSJhWz

[Deshica Dechamma @deshicat]

That said, it’s not a universal solution. Spatial transcriptomics excels in complex tissues where context matters, like the brain, but may be overkill for simpler samples where bulk sequencing suffices. Knowing when to leverage it, is key to impactful research.🔬

[Deshica Dechamma @deshicat]

Registration link: https://t.co/yilxmwab8U

Ever since I was introduced to the captivating world of cortical neuron migration, I’ve been hooked—a process that shapes who we are!

[Deshica Dechamma @deshicat]

This technology tells stories that traditional methods miss, offering a window into the dynamic processes shaping our nervous system.

[Deshica Dechamma @deshicat]

@grok These are pretty common books, do you also analyse profiles and suggest books?

[Deshica Dechamma @deshicat]

Happy world book day!!! Have you tried taking book suggestions from @grok yet?

#booktwt #readers #BookX #WorldBookDay

[Deshica Dechamma @deshicat]

What else? #menandwomen

[TheLiverDoc™ @theliverdoc]

A good way to start the day? A healthy breakfast.

No doubt. But Herbalife has no role in it.

Herbalife is a multilevel marketing pyramid scheme company which manufactures low quality mixed protein made from pea and soy and includes other dangerous botanicals, all the while charging consumers like they're selling Swarovski diamonds.

There are far more, better protein supplements in the market that consumers can spend money on, definitely not Herbalife...

Because Herbalife products are also, infamously associated with the highest documented liver injury and liver failure cases in the world among all protein supplements. No other BS company has even come close to what Herbalife products have achieved when it comes to harming consumers.

Ronaldo may or may not know this, but his breakfast definitely DOES NOT involve Herbalife products and this is just a paid (I wonder how much!) promotion for the company...

Because even the people you place high on a high pedestal are sometimes deprived of ethics and morality when it comes to healthcare and health literacy when money talks.

Sources:

[1] Herbalife agrees to pay over $122M to resolve fraud and corruption: https://t.co/IDWlpJRCsK [2] Federal Trade Commission sense third payment to people who lost money via Herbalife pyramid scheme: https://t.co/CVUMvkNYVq [3] Herbalife pays $123M in bribery fine in China: https://t.co/LwsJUIv0iF [4] Herbalife liver toxicity (> 50 cases) from LiverTox: https://t.co/XpBmReRDRc [5] Herbalife Supplements and Liver Toxicity: https://t.co/ZFakoVLi1l [7] Herbalife removes paper on death due to Herbalife through legal threats: https://t.co/GMqHugVgIi [6] Slimming to the Death: https://t.co/YBReOKq2IO

[Deshica Dechamma @deshicat]

😂😂 #NobelPrize2024

[Michael Okun @MichaelOkun]

Does the brain change during pregnancy? You bet it does. How about doing 26 MRI scans on a single person pre-conception to 2 years post-partum. WOW! Laura Pritschet and colleagues nailed it with their new paper in @NatureNeuro.
Key Points:
- The authors point out that pregnancy is a period of profound hormonal and physiological changes.
- The authors did something incredible by mapping neuroanatomical changes in an individual from preconception through two years postpartum.
- Boom! There were pronounced decreases in gray matter volume and cortical thickness.
- There were increases in white matter microstructural integrity, ventricle volume and cerebrospinal fluid.
- There were few regions untouched by the 'transition to motherhood.'
My take: This study shows us how a single brain in a single person can be a powerful resource when scanned serially over time. This method is hard to pull off, however what it has the potential to teach us about neuroscience is mind-blowing. Though this paper is only a single subject, the data provides a comprehensive map of the human brain across gestation. It will be interesting to add to the dataset, so we can understand changes across multiple persons and multiple conditions. The convergence of evidence is revealing that pregnancy as associated with dramatic neuroplasticity. How about a shout out to this 38-year-old woman who underwent 26 MRI scans along with blood draws from 3 weeks preconception through 2 years postpartum!
https://t.co/LEnPHzKCcl #pregnancy #brain @ndosenbach @andreashorn_ @EMiddlebrooksMD

[Ministry of Education @EduMinOfIndia]

Smt. Sunita Gupta, from Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, Dhamangawn, Dindori, Madhya Pradesh, has transformed Mathematics learning into a joyful experience by leveraging technology through animated videos and creating low-cost teaching aids. Her effective use of digital platforms like DIKSHA and SWAYAM, along with her development of e-content and video scripts, has made complex mathematical concepts accessible. During the COVID pandemic, her YouTube channel provided essential educational support. Her core area of appreciation is making complex mathematical concepts accessible to all learners. She is being honoured with the National Award for Teachers 2024 for her outstanding contributions to education and nation-building. #nationalteachersawards2024

@rashtrapatibhvn @narendramodi @PMOIndia @dpradhanbjp @jayantrld @DrSukantaBJP @MIB_India @PIB_India @mygovindia @airnewsalerts @DDNewslive @PIBBhopal

[Deshica Dechamma @deshicat]

@MAG2ART Will be my phone wallpaper, thanks :)

[Niko McCarty. @NikoMcCarty]

The whole notion of "Write, Read, Edit" as some great driver of progress in biology is incredibly misguided.

Yes, DNA sequencing and synthesis costs have fallen rapidly. What have we gotten for it?

The vast majority of strains we make don't work, because we don't understand the underlying biology. Scale is still a major issue, too. And just as the Human Genome Project failed to live up to its grandiose expectations, the same is true of many claims made today about cheap genome sequencing.

Tools to study and manipulate DNA are one small part of the path toward biological superabundance. DNA is not some master blueprint of the cell, and controlling that DNA will not solve all cellular problems. We also need tools to delicately control protein complexes, intercellular signaling, cellular delivery, and more systems-level operations.

And then there are the training issues. It's still way too difficult for students to enter biotechnology as a career. Very few undergraduate programs have curriculums for biotechnology (in the U.S.) Companies still gatekeep people who don't have a Ph.D. The timelines here are way too long.

Better tools to read, write, and edit DNA will not lead to biological superabundance. DNA sequencing is absurdly cheap already (fractions of a penny for 1 million bases). So is DNA synthesis. These don't seem like the relevant bottlenecks to be talking about, and yet I hear it all the time in essays, podcasts, and so on.

If we want to actually accelerate progress in biotechnology, then we need to understand the cell, build models to drastically shrink engineering timelines, and solve the training bottlenecks. That is the route to a $20 trillion+ bioeconomy.

[Hockey India @TheHockeyIndia]

𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐁𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐳𝐞 𝐌𝐞𝐝𝐚𝐥 𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐚⁣!

Consecutive bronze medals for team India, we defeat Spain in the Bronze Medal match.

Full-Time:
India 🇮🇳 2️⃣ - 1️⃣ 🇪🇸 Spain

Harmanpreet Singh 30' (PC) 33' (PC)

Marc Miralles 18' (PS)

#Hockey #HockeyIndia #IndiaKaGame #WinItForSreejesh #Paris2024 #INDvsESP