Sahana Balasubramanian

PhD Candidate @somgradpitt I Studying cardiomyocyte organization and adhesion in the @Kwiatkowskilab I she/her

[Mushtaq Bilal, PhD @MushtaqBilalPhD]

> be Katalin Karikó
> be born in Hungary in 1955, daughter of a butcher
> grow up in a small town with no running water
> get a PhD in biochemistry from University of Szeged in 1982
> get blackmailed by the Hungarian secret police
> lose all funding for your lab in 1985
> decide to go abroad
> get invited by American biochemist Robert Suhadolnik at Temple University
> sell your car, hide money (£900) in daughter's teddy bear
> leave for America
> change money on the black market
> join Temple as a postdoctoral researcher
> run RNA trials on AIDS patients
> accept a job at Johns Hopkins in 1988
> get reported to immigration by Suhadolnik for being in the US illegaly
> see Johns Hopkins withdraw their offer
> can't get any job because of Suhadolnik's influence
> work on mRNA
> get a job at Penn in 1989
> get on track to become a tenured full professor
> submit your first mRNA grant in 1990
> get rejected
> apply again
> get rejected again
> watch mRNA research become irrelevant
> get demoted by Penn in 1995
> get taken off the track to full professor
> never get tenure
> decide to stay at Penn
> continue working on mRNA
> meet immunologist Drew Weissman in 1997
> get Weissman's help to continue your research
> write a ground-breaking paper with Weissman
> submit it to Nature
> get rejected
> submit it to Science journal
> get rejected
> submit it to Immunity journal
> get accepted, but no one notices
> continue working on mRNA
> file patents, watch Penn sell the license to a lab-supply company
> get a call from Moderna, tell them patents not available now
> get to know Moderna's $240M deal with AstraZeneca
> realize there is nothing much for you at Penn
> join a small German company BioNTech in 2013
> continue working on mRNA
> see COVID pandemic breakout
> see your research on mRNA become the basis for COVID vaccine
> see the vaccine save millions of lifes
> win Nobel Prize in Medicine

[Kourtidis Lab @AntoniKourtidis]

What an amazing moment this always is. Such a privilege to hood @ScienceAlyssa who recently graduated from the lab and already sailing into the biomedical world. Congratulations Dr. Risner once more for an incredible journey! @musc_cgs

[Dr. Catharine Young @DrCatharineY]

“Do what scares you. The path of least resistance isn’t usually the path that will give the most back to the world” - Christina Koch

[J Cell Science @J_Cell_Sci]

Xiaofei Li, Adam Kwiatkowski, Glenn Radice and colleagues discover that vinculin Y822 phosphorylation regulates adhesion remodelling during cardiomyocyte maturation.
https://t.co/oEnfS6Okpd

[Rockefeller U. Press @RockUPress]

.@JCellBiol's new collection examines the mechanical properties and interactions that shape the fundamental operations and structures of cells. Delve into diverse mechanical properties of membranes, organelles and other structures within & among cells 👉 https://t.co/ga3FS2yXXJ

[Brisa Palikuqi @BrisaPalikuqi]

NAVIGATING FACULTY JOB MARKET: VIRTUAL SERIES! See flyer attached (and thread below) for more info + to register/attend.

JOIN US to get valuable insights and tips! (please retweet + share)

[Sahana Balasubramanian @sahanab93]

@AntoniKourtidis Congratulations!! Mechanosensitive RNAi machinery sounds exciting!

[Gerry Hammond @gerryhammond]

For all you #lipidtime enthusiasts looking for a higher sensitivity phosphatidic acid biosensor, @c_wecks ’s new preprint will be Nirvana!

https://t.co/sHCDjphlFo

[Journal of Cell Biology @JCellBiol]

Last October, cell biology lost one of its brightest stars, Bill Weis. Bill was a masterful biochemist and structural biologist who made landmark contributions to a remarkable number of fields. An obituary from Mark Peifer @peiferlabunc and Alexander Dunn: https://t.co/yN3duTw2FP

[Sahana Balasubramanian @sahanab93]

@AntoniKourtidis @ScienceAlyssa @musc_cgs @MUSCddrcc @MUSC_COM Congratulations!!

[Sahana Balasubramanian @sahanab93]

@AntoniKourtidis Congratulations!

[Kwiatkowski Lab @KwiatkowskiLab]

Bill was a brilliant scientist, an exceptional colleague, and a wonderful mentor. It was a privilege to know him and work with him. A terrible loss. RIP.

[Sahana Balasubramanian @sahanab93]

@AntoniKourtidis @ScienceAlyssa @ASCBiology Congratulations!!

[Priya Raja @sripriyaraja1]

My co-first author paper is online now @NAR_Open! I am so proud of this work. Grateful to my co-authors, Sunbok, Vera, @matt_schaich , @CBI_Pitt , @BenVanHouten2 ! Check it out here: https://t.co/re32z0rl7z