Gabriela K. Popescu

AAAS Board Member | Past President, Biophysical Society | Scientist and Professor | ExtraVagant Granny
Find me at:

[Gabriela K. Popescu @PopStarLab]

Thrilled to see multi-year work distilled in 5 figs!
https://t.co/9GLa0DoQnt
NEW ketamine site on NMDA receptors with unique properties:
1) nanoM potency
2) distinct from the pore site
3) preference for R(+)-KET
4) lateral membrane access
5 ) acts only on desensitized receptors

[Archaeo - Histories @archeohistories]

Boston, 1712. The midwife hands a baby girl to her mother. Fifteenth child in the Franklin household. They name her Jane...

Seven years later, another baby arrives. A boy. Benjamin. Number seventeen.

Same parents. Same cramped house. Same poverty. Two children who will share almost identical genetic potential. But their lives will split so completely that 250 years later, one name will be on currency and in every history textbook, while the other will be barely a whisper in footnotes.

Jane Franklin married at fifteen. Not for love. For subtraction. One less mouth for her parents to feed. Her husband Edward made saddles, which meant irregular income and a future of counting pennies until her fingers ached. Her brother Benjamin left home around the same time. Learned printing. Moved to Philadelphia. Started climbing.

Jane started something else. Pregnancy. Twelve times in twenty-two years. Her body became a factory of life that kept delivering heartbreak. The babies came, and then they left. Josiah at five years old. Sarah as a toddler. Benjamin at three. Another Jane at seven. The names blur together in colonial death records, assuming there were records at all.

Eleven of her twelve children died before she did.

While Benjamin Franklin sat in London drawing rooms discussing natural philosophy, Jane sat in Boston doing arithmetic that meant survival. Three shillings for rent. Can we afford candles this week? How much soap can I make before my hands crack open?

She wasn't less intelligent than her famous brother. Her letters prove a mind just as sharp, just as curious. She read everything she could find. She understood politics deeply. She thought in complex, elegant sentences.

But intelligence without access is just potential that evaporates. Benjamin got apprenticeship and patronage. Jane got a husband whose mind deteriorated, leaving her as sole provider for a household that kept expanding and collapsing in cycles of birth and death.

She made soap. Took in boarders. Sewed by candlelight until her vision blurred. Became the communication center for the entire Franklin family network, coordinating help and resources, invisible infrastructure that held everything together.

When Benjamin died in 1790, twenty thousand people attended his funeral. France mourned. He'd secured his legacy as a founder, inventor, diplomat. He left Jane a house and income. She was seventy-eight. For the first time in sixty-three years of marriage, she had financial security. She lived four more years before dying quietly in Boston.

Same family. Same intelligence. Wildly different outcomes based entirely on which body they were born into.

📷© Bodoklecksel (Wikimedia Commons) / Die grossen Polarexpeditionen London 1978 (Restored & Colorized)

© Daughters of Time

#archaeohistories

[China Daily @ChinaDaily]

President Xi Jinping stressed on Monday that self-reliance in science and technology is the "key" in building China into a great modern socialist country, on his first fact-finding trip of 2026, the opening year of the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30) period. #XiJinping #习近平 @XisMoments https://t.co/wUNnsjndp4

[Biophysical Society @BiophysicalSoc]

We've got another Student Spotlight for you to check out. Learn about one of our fantastic Student Chapter members today!
Gregory Kyro
https://t.co/Q9gfC5aSqm

[Physics of Life @PhysicsofLifeUK]

Another exciting day ahead at 'Physics of Life 2025'! Highlights include keynote talks by Satyajit Mayor & Otger Campàs (@CampasLab), cutting-edge sessions, lunchtime talks, and a dinner at Pavilions of Harrogate - all whilst the sun shines down on us!

[Biophysical Society @BiophysicalSoc]

Register now for the Membrane Transport BPS Subgroup’s panel THIS FRIDAY
Biophysics Bridge Builders: Connecting Students & Scholars. This event aims to foster meaningful interactions among biophysicists, researchers, and students from diverse backgrounds https://t.co/onivsfSDGM

[Biophysical Society @BiophysicalSoc]

Seeing Proteins in Action: Activity, Allostery&Assembly meeting on Friday, March 28. Uniting researchers at all career stages to discuss the current challenges in understanding proteins. Networking, discussions, and a workshop. Open to all. https://t.co/SIHYUcgjXO #BiophysicsWeek

[Biophysical Society @BiophysicalSoc]

Tomorrow, join IUPAB for the first ever Future Leaders of Biophysics webinar, sponsored by Springer/Nature! Celebrate the Michèle Auger Award winner and top candidates as they present their research and answer questions. Don’t miss it! https://t.co/YW7nBfr62P

[Gabriela K. Popescu @PopStarLab]

The Science of Storytelling: How Fiction Shapes the Mind | Psychology Today https://t.co/WdWjhn3SxB

[Gabriela K. Popescu @PopStarLab]

@dr_alexharris @MarinaP63 Tx @dr_alexharris ! I moved to @popstarlab.bsky.social! See you there!

[Gabriela K. Popescu @PopStarLab]

https://t.co/9HazV8QZZ6

[Gabriela K. Popescu @PopStarLab]

@MnatsakanyanLab So sorry to .iss this!! Major FOMO! Pls take pix for me!

[WebsEdge Science @WebsEdgeScience]

Discover the groundbreaking work of @DuLuLabs at @NorthwesternU. Watch to see how they're paving the way for the development of targeted drugs with minimized side effects - illuminating the path toward a healthier future for all. @BiophysicalSoc #bps2025 https://t.co/k1Dqx8VWDS

[WebsEdge Science @WebsEdgeScience]

As we welcome you to the City of Angels we're focusing on the blockbusters in the Biophysical world. We hit the #bps2025 convention floor to find out what big things in the Biophysical realm our attendees are most excited about right now! @BiophysicalSoc https://t.co/oNmxFxHADS

[WebsEdge Science @WebsEdgeScience]

Joining us to highlight some of the exciting offerings at the #bps2025 Annual Meeting in LA are 2025 Program Committee Co-Chairs Dr. Chrisopher Yip & Dr Sudha Chakrapani! @BiophysicalSoc @UofTEngDean @Chakrapani_lab @cyclocrossguy https://t.co/x3SuVfKgwV

[WebsEdge Science @WebsEdgeScience]

We begin this exciting week in LA with a look at everything @BiophysicalSoc has accomplished this past year! Joining us now to share the highlights of her term is BPS President, Dr. Gabriela Popescu! @PopStarLab #bps2025 https://t.co/DKv3hK5RGn

[WebsEdge Science @WebsEdgeScience]

A new addition to The @BiophysicalSoc family is The Committee on Sustainability. Committee Chair Emmanual Margeat joins us in studio with more on the role & responsibilities of this new committee. #bps2025 https://t.co/9Mb59ct4Vu

[WebsEdge Science @WebsEdgeScience]

🔬EPISODE 1 of BIOPHYSICAL SOCIETY TV is NOW LIVE!🔬

Welcome to LA & to #bps2025! From scientific breakthroughs to groundbreaking symposia, today we are giving a nod to Tinseltown & highlighting "Blockbusters in Biophysics!" @BiophysicalSoc https://t.co/wmiRqm31Di

[Biophysical Society @BiophysicalSoc]

#BPS2025 Join the Public Affairs Cmte at 2:30 PM to hear from @tammyasu of @BWFUND and Diony Duraes-Santos of @NSERC_CRSNG for a presentation on Sustainability in Scientific Research focus on public & private funding opportunities for sustainable research in biophysics

[Black In Biophysics @BlackInBiophys]

Join us at the #BIBPS Meet and Greet at #BPS2025! 🚨

This networking event will feature a panel with Sharonda Leblanc, @cobarnes27, and Theanne Griffith! 🤩

Scan the QR code below to submit questions to our panelists 👇🏾

🧵 1/3

[Gabriela K. Popescu @PopStarLab]

@RachelleGaudet @jorgeoguerra_ I'm hoping we can catch up at #BPS2025. Follow me @popstarlab.bsky.social