A tuxedo cat named Stella licking her lips.
A tabby cat named Bea hiding under a bed.
I enjoy going to conferences and visiting friends on the East Coast but I do a very poor job of adjusting to the time change. It’s nice to be back in LA and getting normal amounts of sleep! And of course, my cats.
I live a 15 min drive from the beach in LA. Next week we might get to 90F or more…in March. 🫠
The Schmitt Lab is at ASBMB! Check out our posters over the next few days!
A flyer advertising Schmitt Lab posters at ASBMB 2026 on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday.
The Schmitt Lab will be at ASBMB 2026! Check out our posters and learn about what the Schmitt Lab has been up to!
A one way MARC ticket.
I’m visiting my PhD advisor today to give a departmental seminar!! One thing I have missed about the east coast: trains with good connections.
Join me for a Natty Boh and crab dip pretzel and check out posters from the Schmitt Lab at ASBMB 2026!
I’m calling my congresspeople about this, but I’ve also started DMing political/news commentators to try to get more than just scientists on BlueSky talking about what is happening with funding for scienxe www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Well, the DOJ has done it: they have filed a lawsuit against the University of California over antisemitism.
The complaint contains some falsehoods. But as someone who teaches and writes about Title VII, I'm equally struck by what the complaint doesn't say.
A few thoughts— 🧵
Screenshot of the Berkeley My Shake app showing a magnitude 3.5 earthquake off the coast of Palos Verdes.
Obligatory Los Angeles earthquake post. I shared my (very brief, light) shaking experience with scientists at Berkeley using the MyShake app.
BREAKING: The Department of Education has ended its directive that attempted to restrict diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in schools nationwide.
This is a victory for academic freedom and education equity.
The Health and Human Services secretary seems as committed to swimming in jeans as he is to destroying the nation’s immune system.
👖 www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...
We’ve been using SAVEMONEY for a while and it works great!!
As a Culver City resident, I would argue the crime is there aren’t enough protected bike lanes. And I can’t decide which bakery to go to tomorrow morning.
My quote of the day
Over and over, nature shows that it's a really tough adversary. That's why it's important that we invest in laboratories, disease detectives, research, mosquito control, the public health system around the world to find, stop, track, prevent health threats.
Tom Frieden
This is a genuinely huge, sweeping victory today for the University of California—or rather, for us, its faculty, acting through our faculty associations, while the UC itself maintained a strict policy of deer-in-headlights silence.
The Trump admin has given up its appeal of a powerful injunction:
📣 First preprint from the TeSlaa lab 📣 We investigated how methyl-rich nutrient, choline, is used in the body and how systemic one-carbon metabolism responds to dietary methyl-donor deficiency.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Rep. Delia Ramirez to DHS officials: "I have as much respect for you as I do for the last white men who put on masks to terrorize communities of color. I have no respect for the inheritors of the Klanhood and the slave patrol. Those activities were criminal and so are yours."
I’m a white lady who grew up in the midwestern United States, lived in urban areas my entire adult life, has never been to Puerto Rico, and I knew that was sugar cane.
I turned on my tv, watched the fantastic concert Benito put on, and turned my TV back off.
Today our paper reporting on our new PINK1 biosensor is out! We are very excited about the future use of this tool to study PINK1 biology. Plasmids are available on Addgene & we are preparing a protocol paper. pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...
Very cool!! Can’t wait to get the plasmid and try it out!!
I have not seen the musical but now I need to!
I have a student in my lab from the UK who has never heard of Groundhog Day. So, we spent the first 10 minutes of group meeting first explaining and then having her watch Punxsutawnwy Phil prognosticate. This student was deeply confused by everything we told her about the groundhog lore.
I called my senators today. Their DC voicemails were not full. It took less than 5 minutes to tell them my thoughts. I encourage everyone else to do so as well.
Haha pretty much
A view from the LAX delta lounge of the Santa Monica mountains and west Los Angeles. The north runway and part of a plane is visible, as well as the Hollywood sign in the far distance. It is a sunny day with minimal clouds.
My family and friends in the Midwest and east coast have been sending me pictures of their dogs and kids playing in the snow and their significant others shoveling snow. I sent them this photo instead, of the view from LAX.
As a someone with a 33 year NIH-funded lab whose grant is supposed to be reviewed this week, shut NIH down if that is what's needed to end ICE terrorism. Innocent lives are more important 🧪
THANK YOU
