Thiago Carvalho @cyrilpedia@social.cleverlibre.org

Great #opportunity to submit a #proposal for a session at the #ScienceSummit at the UN General Assembly:
https://sciencesummitunga.com/call-for-sessions-proposals/

🔬🧪🧑‍🔬🔬🧪👩‍💻🔬🧪🧑‍🔬🔬🧪👩‍💻
Deadline: June 12, 2023

#UNGA78

@cyrilpedia @NicoleCRust I totally agree with this as an issue. In general, there is a worrying trend that today's academic grants want to achieve *all* the things: not just cool research projects, but more/better communication &outreach, be translational, pursue open science, achieve gender equality... All of these goals are worthwhile, but expecting every scientist/project to achieve everything at once is misguided. Having targeted programs addressing these could be much more impactful.

Herd- or group-think in drug development:

"Large companies are the biggest contributors to this phenomenon, with an estimated 68% of the portfolios of the top 10 companies going after targets with a significant amount of herding. And one of the reasons mentioned for this is the increasing number of combination therapies (especially in oncology), where organizations want their own drug candidates in that mix, rather than relying on having their new drug dosed with somebody else’s."

https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/thundering-herd

From Oliver Sacks, "River of Consciousness".

#Books #Bookshelf #BookClub #consciousness #SciComm #readerlife #bookstodon

@cyrilpedia
Thanks - I look forward to listening.

It is tricky. So much of the science ethos is "figure it out". We aren't taught to teach, but we do, etc. The investment required to do SciComm well is underestimated (and the ability to do it is undervalued). But it's also a good thing and should be incentivized. I guess that's the solution - incentivizes (as opposed to requirements) are probably the way to go here.

📣 New on my blog:

Re-opening the discussion on mRNA decay inside P-bodies💥

#mRNA #mRNADegradation #Pbodies #phototoxicity

@biorxivpreprint

https://greenfluorescentblog.wordpress.com/2023/05/04/re-opening-the-discussion-on-mrna-decay-inside-p-bodies/

#lymphoma #cancer #MEDMASTODON
@majorajay #lymsm

Pembrolizumab
(pem-broh-LIH-zoo-mab)

... an immune checkpoint inhibitor that binds to the protein PD-1 on the surface of certain immune cells called T cells, which keeps cancer cells from suppressing the immune system.

in Relapsed or Refractory Primary Mediastinal Large B-Cell Lymphoma: Final Analysis

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37130017/

On the art of nonfiction, David Shenk.

This article and its 3 challenges to writing nonfiction resonates with me. As a scientist, it also highlights the difference between scientific practice versus science writing of other types (with a surprising insight for science).

The second challenge is the one that both scientists and science writers do a lot of: figuring out how to navigate complex information. It's the core of the job, whether you are doing science or writing about it.

The first challenge is the one that most scientist don't do much of: storytelling science. For the scientists that want to do it, that's great. But it's also really hard. While tremendously valuable to the whole, I'm not sure it turns individuals into better scientists; it's a different (valuable!) thing. Of the 3 challenges, this one differentiates science writers vs scientists, I think. (The analog in science would be the experiments and such).

The third challenge is the one that is less obvious: Stepping back from the trees to view the forest from 10,000 feet to get a fresh perspective. I agree with Shenk that most scientists don't do it. It's one I'd like to see more scientists engage in; I suspect it would lead to better science.

#writing #nonfiction

https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2009/11/on-the-art-of-non-fiction/30107/

O diretor da Human Rights Watch disse que "as informações sobre pessoas detidas por protestos pacíficos contra a coroação [do rei] são incrivelmente alarmantes" e que "isto é algo que se esperaria ver em Moscovo, não em Londres".

🐦🔗: https://n.respublicae.eu/joseggusmao/status/1654921572249923586

I wrote about RSV vaccines in my #NatureMedicine column in February.
Very good news this week with the FDA approval of GSK's RSV vaccine for adults 60 and over - it's the first approved RSV vaccine.

https://edition.cnn.com/2023/05/03/health/first-rsv-vaccine-approved/index.html

Several other candidate RSV vaccines are at a late stage of development, including mRNA based vaccines. The next big thing to watch for are those seeking to protect newborns and infants by maternal immunisation.

#RSV #Vaccine #RespiratoryVirus #drugdevelopment #Pharma #Immunology

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41591-023-00017-7

'We now provide compelling evidence that in hypoxic conditions, an autocrine IL-24/IL-24-receptor signaling/STAT3 loop is induced, which then sustains the HIF1α-mediated expression of epidermal IL-24. In turn, IL-24 acts in an autocrine and paracrine fashion to coordinate re-epithelialization, re-vascularization, dermal fibroblast proliferation, and collagen deposition to restore the damaged tissue to homeostasis.'
Liu, @mucida, Fuchs et al

#WoundHealing #Immunology #Cytokine #InnateImmunity

https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(23)00328-8

@mucida The paper also has a very interesting evolutionary scenario

"Unbiased phylogenetic analyses indicated that this family and its receptors28 share greater sequence/structure homology to IFN and IFN-receptors than other cytokines/cytokine-receptors (Figures S1A and S1B; Table S3). Notably, the heterodimeric receptor subunits of the IFN and IL-10 families also sub-clustered, suggestive of a common ancestral heterodimeric receptor specific to these two families (Figure S1B). In contrast to IFNs, however, the IL-10 cytokine family has not been as clearly linked to pathogens/danger signals. This raises the tantalizing possibility that, during evolution, these pathways may have bifurcated from a common ancestor to cope with the increasing diversity of pathogens and injuries."

https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(23)00328-8

Inspired by Kate Raworth's Doughnut Economics, Anne Urai and Clare Kelly imagine an ‘academic doughnut’ for rethinking academia for climate action.

🎧 Listen in the #eLifePodcast
https://elifesciences.org/podcast/episode86?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=organic

Variation is key to the SARS-CoV-2 ‘waves’
-a new blog piece by me. If you like, please amplify by reposting.
https://virologydownunder.com/variation-is-key-to-the-sars-cov-2-waves/

Excess deaths align with COVID-19.
-a second blog from me, and I in one day! Please tell me re-postmboost this if you read and enjoyed.
https://virologydownunder.com/excess-deaths-align-with-covid-19/