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Minerva (Mini) Contreras

@minicontreras

Neuroscience PhD candidate at Salk Institute. Mentorship, SciComm, Astrocytes, Plasticity. D-SPAN F99 Fellow

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19.09.2023
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Latest posts by Minerva (Mini) Contreras @minicontreras

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See what @fernjuarez95.bsky.social's thoughts are on what these changes mean for @neurolatine.bsky.social: www.thetransmitter.org/qa/we-still-...

19.05.2025 16:16 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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See what @fleabrained.bsky.social's thoughts are on what these changes mean for @colorsofthebrain.bsky.social: www.thetransmitter.org/qa/we-still-...

19.05.2025 16:09 πŸ‘ 7 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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See what @maribel-patino.bsky.social's thoughts are on what these changes mean for @colorsofthebrain.bsky.social: www.thetransmitter.org/qa/we-still-...

19.05.2025 16:10 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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See what @minicontreras.bsky.social's thoughts are on what these changes mean for @neurolatine.bsky.social: www.thetransmitter.org/qa/we-still-...

19.05.2025 16:15 πŸ‘ 7 πŸ” 5 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Our communities have always been and will continue to be strong

Thank you fr this piece @thetransmitter.bsky.social and Paige Miranda

14.05.2025 15:55 πŸ‘ 8 πŸ” 5 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Is it too early to be excited about this workshop and panel at SfN 2025?!

23.04.2025 18:44 πŸ‘ 7 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

DM if you'd like to be part of our panel! Looking for a few more, if you have experience in communicating science in Spanish or other languages for your community, and believe you have lessons learned that you'd like to share to the audience, let me know!

23.04.2025 16:24 πŸ‘ 12 πŸ” 13 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 2
Get Involved β€” Neuro Latine

Are you in the know!? Sabes lo que hay?!

Recientemente, compartimos nuestra newsletter. Un par de updates y noticias sobre nuestras metas a corto plazo.

Si aΓΊn no estΓ‘s en la lista, puedes unirte aquΓ­ www.neurolatine.org/get-involved

16.04.2025 20:20 πŸ‘ 6 πŸ” 4 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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As federal funders desert mentorship programs for marginalized students, trainee-led initiatives fill the gap Grassroots organizations, led by graduate students and postdoctoral researchers, are stepping up to provide neuroscience career training and guidance for students from marginalized backgroundsβ€”and…

In our first β€œPostdoc perspectives” essay, @fleabrained.bsky.social and @maribel-patino.bsky.social explain how grassroots organizations led by trainees are stepping up to provide career and mentorship guidance for neuroscience students from marginalized backgrounds.

#neuroskyence

bit.ly/4csFx0B

11.04.2025 13:26 πŸ‘ 37 πŸ” 17 πŸ’¬ 3 πŸ“Œ 2

An important point getting overlooked:

When NIH cancels "diversity" grants (e.g., diversity supplements, Fs, Ks, etc), they aren't canceling the grants based on *what* the grant studies.

They're cancelling them based on *who* is doing the research. And that disallowed "who" is anyone not white.

04.04.2025 13:24 πŸ‘ 2849 πŸ” 931 πŸ’¬ 79 πŸ“Œ 34

I’m so sorry

02.04.2025 23:53 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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β€˜A gut punch:’ How U.S. neuroscience trainees are grappling with diversity-based funding flux Ten trainees spoke with The Transmitter about how the precarious state of U.S. federal funding is affecting their research and career plans.

Over the past few weeks, science funding in the U.S. has become shrouded in uncertainty. Ten trainees with diversity-based funding share how the changes are affecting their research and career plans.

By @avaskham.bsky.social @claudia-lopez.bsky.social @callimcflurry.bsky.social

bit.ly/42Wifxr

14.02.2025 20:46 πŸ‘ 104 πŸ” 62 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 9

Thank you @thetransmitter.bsky.social for bringing attention to this.

14.02.2025 21:01 πŸ‘ 16 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
23.01.2025 00:14 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Trump hits NIH with β€˜devastating’ freezes on meetings, travel, communications, and hiring Researchers facing

www.science.org/content/arti...

22.01.2025 23:46 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Thank you to the UC San Diego Mentoring for All initiative for the Mentorship Program Award!

16.01.2025 05:24 πŸ‘ 11 πŸ” 7 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Our global study on the state of trust in scientists is now out in Nature Human Behaviour! πŸ₯³

With a team of 241 researchers, we surveyed 71,922 people in 68 countries, providing the largest dataset on trust in scientists post-pandemic πŸ‘‡πŸ§΅https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-024-02090-5

20.01.2025 10:16 πŸ‘ 908 πŸ” 386 πŸ’¬ 24 πŸ“Œ 52

This is why I want my Academia career to involve policy and advocacy efforts.

27.11.2024 17:08 πŸ‘ 5 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

go.bsky.app/TQdWJr3

19.11.2024 15:52 πŸ‘ 14 πŸ” 7 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0
https://www.loreal.com/en/usa/video-category-page/fwis/catie-profaci/#main-content

Thrilled to share that I was selected as a 2024 L’OrΓ©al USA For Women In Science awardee! So grateful to L’OrΓ©al & AAAS for the research & @storiesofwin.bsky.social funding πŸ§ πŸ’œ & for the opportunity to meet women leaders in sci/gov/business in DC last week!

t.co/E0M8Qj4HlD

16.11.2024 21:04 πŸ‘ 62 πŸ” 7 πŸ’¬ 11 πŸ“Œ 2

Saaame! πŸ˜ŠπŸ™ŒπŸΎ

18.11.2024 05:56 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Glad to see science bluesky is growing.
Quick intro redo, I’m a #Neuro PhD candidate studying #astrocytes and plasticity in Nicola Allen’s lab at the Salk. #D-SPAN fellow planning to wrap up next summer. Interested in studying cell-cell interaction and plasticity in the context of disease.

17.11.2024 18:25 πŸ‘ 60 πŸ” 8 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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I had the honor of delivering the opening Keynote for #NSTA National science teaching conference bringing awareness to the unique challenges students from underprivileged backgrounds face in and out of the classroom.

26.10.2023 16:09 πŸ‘ 9 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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I had the pleasure of chatting with Eric Cross on Amplify’s podcast Science Connections about my research, the power of storytelling in science, being Crash Course host and more! #SciComm

spotify.link/yAyTQ0W8uDb

30.09.2023 00:04 πŸ‘ 6 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Transcriptomics**

28.09.2023 03:51 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Nicola Allen’s Lab at the Salk Institute led by Dr. Labarta-Bajo developed a protocol for purification of astrocyte nuclei for tramscriptomics.

It circumvents the limitations of using specific mouse lines or viral manipulation.

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

27.09.2023 17:40 πŸ‘ 6 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 1

Picard management tip: If you've recently turned into a monster, go take a vacation.

24.09.2023 18:04 πŸ‘ 111 πŸ” 28 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 4
SelecciΓ³n natural: yo vivirΓ©: Crash Course BiologΓ­a #13
SelecciΓ³n natural: yo vivirΓ©: Crash Course BiologΓ­a #13 La selecciΓ³n natural es una de las maneras en que la evoluciΓ³n ocurre. En este episodio de Crash Course BiologΓ­a, aprenderemos cΓ³mo funciona este proceso, qu...

Do you like biology? Hablas espaΓ±ol? Or perhaps, you’d like to practice your Spanish listening?
#SciComm

youtu.be/qZ7Y92MRpno?...

19.09.2023 20:26 πŸ‘ 6 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Yes! The view is amazing, great way to decompress after long experiments 😊

19.09.2023 18:52 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0