It is official now! I will be joining the The Dept. of Physiology and Membrane Biology at
@UCDavisHealth
starting January 15th, 2021. Excited for this new beginning!
The scores did not MATCH. But it seems I will still be able to renew my grants. One went from ND to 9. Not easy with the pandemic and a lab move across the country. Big thanks to my gang in the lab for their efforts 🙏 Happy Friday!
Please RT: We are seeking to fill a postdoctoral position to study the role of connexin channels in arrhythmias and cardiomyopathies. Experience in biophysics, electrophysiology and/or connexin cell biology is strongly preferred. DM for more information!
Just a reminder, those who spoke out early to prevent genocide were POC progressives who are now targeted by AIPAC and need your support.
@SummerForPA
already won her primary by over 20 points.
@JamaalBowmanNY
is next! Keep supporting them.
Thanks to the diligent reporting of our friends at
@Sludge
, we have updated our graphic for
#NY16
AIPAC plant George Latimer!
According to their FEC filings, AIPAC has given
@LatimerforNY
>$1,300,000 to run against Rep.
@JamaalBowmanNY
!
We need all hands on deck to
#RejectAIPAC
I still don’t feel comfortable talking publicly about my path in academia from a disadvantaged socioeconomic background. But I cannot miss the opportunity to thank my mom for raising me with dignity, self-esteem, and drive 🙏🏽
Sometimes I wonder if I change my name from Jorge Contreras to George Cooper, I may get the 3-5 points impact score reduction that I need to move my grants proposal from percentile 10-15 to percentile 5-10…
#NIH
We reviewed the role of large-pore channels in pain, marking the beginning of a new research journey with
@doctheagrif
. Congrats to
@mfco5m
, who led the work and got his picture on the first page, love it!
@ucd_physiology
Our last day
@MBLScience
. We had a blast teaching in
@MblNeuro
. Huge thanks Mama for helping us with the girls. Couldn’t have done it without you 🥰
Hi followers! To best of my knowledge
@ucd_physiology
is the only Department of Physiology in the US with a bilingual Twitter account (as a note, 39% of California population is Hispanic). Follow it to support representation in science!
Estamos muy entusiasmados de visibilizar al primer estudiante doctoral en nuestro
#FeatureFriday
, José Marquez (
@jmarquezscience
). José es 🇲🇽, decendiente de los Purèpecha.
Our recent work shows that opening of remodeled Cx43 hemichannels, regardless of the type of cardiomyopathy, is sufficient to mediate cardiac stress-induced arrhythmias. Big thanks to
@maurolillog
for leading this work.
#connexins
Muchas gracias, I am really honored. But I have to say that I am the one truly inspired by the journey of the many Latinx and URM students that I know. Many thanks to them for motivating all of us to keep moving forward!
My wife above and beyond 💖. She is also the recipient of the Louis J. Battan Author's Award from the American Meteorology Society (AMS) for her book chapter "The Magnificent Makers: Storm Chasers"
#WomensHistoryMonth
Spotlight: Theanne Griffith (
@doctheagrif
), Assistant Professor at
@UCDavis
, is a neuroscientist and award-winning author of the STEM-themed chapter book series, The Magnificent Makers, and co-writes the non-fiction series, Ada Twist, Scientist: The Why Files.
I am beyond excited to be the guest editor for the first ever special issue on Large-pore channels. Once considered by selective channel folks as mysterious “black holes” (😉) they are now emerging as important regulators in health and disease. Share your work and submit a paper!
🚨CALL FOR PAPERS🚨
We have a new
#CallForPapers
for a
#Specialissue
titled 'Current advances in Large-pore channels: from structure-function to physiology and disease'. It will showcase the newest exciting finds on this ion channel family.
More info👉
.
@maurolillog
,
@DrContrexin
et al show that the opening of lateralized cardiac connexin-43 hemichannels, in the absence of cardiac pathology, is still sufficient to alter cardiac membrane excitability & promote arrhythmias upon β-adrenergic cardiac stress
Have a lot of fun teaching about connexins in cardiac conduction, remodeling and arrhythmias to trainees at The Robert M. Berne Cardiovascular Research Center
@UVACVRC
A big shout out to Dr. AJ Hinton
@phdgprotein86
for organizing the Inaugural Hispanic and Latinx conference
@VUBasicSciences
. He did the same for Juneteenth celebration, highlighting so many URMs in science. Guys, THIS IS TRUE LEADERSHIP! 👏👏👏
#EuroTrip
! Headed to
@IGJC2022
in A Coruña, Spain for
@DrContrexin
and hitting up Germany a couple days later for a meeting on Mechanotransduction and Proprioception at the Munich Center for Neurosciences! First time to Europe for the girls and Abuela 🤗🤗
Our latest research on pannexin-1 channels mediating neuroinflammation has just been published. Great work done by my former PhD student, now, Dr. Joon Ho Seo. Check it out here:
I am so delighted and honored to have been selected as a ✨2024
@SloanFoundation
Research Fellow✨Thanks to my amazing mentors and lab members who made this possible. We are very excited to continue tackling important questions in the fields of sensory and motor neuroscience.
The new and early career investigator R01 mechanisms were created because
@NIH
knew their funding success rates were low. And
@NIHDirector
knows that funding rates for URM are bad…and yet…this. Disappointing doesn’t come close to describe this decision.
I hope that will do it. No impact scores for this funding mechanism but I am going into the weekend happy AF 🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳 If awarded this will be my first NIH grant 💜💜💜💜
Astrocytic Cx43 hemichannels play a key role in neurotoxicity in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. We are very excited to have participated in this collaborative work with
@purplehaziness
and the Nicholas Magarakis’ lab at
@JohnsHopkins
!
A memorable night at the Cole Dinner Award. Congrats again to Richard Lewis (2021) and Henry Colecraft (2022) awardees. Many thanks to
@moiseenkovabell
and
@Chakrapani_lab
for organizing this amazing event
#BPS2022
Yes, but we also need to understand that there is good representation of immigrants scientists in the US academia. Immigrants are not underrepresented in academia. The difficulties amplify for groups historically excluded and discriminated in America.
Very excited about this! The first symposium in the entire Subgroup’s history to focus on channels permeable to both ions and molecules, also known as large-pore channels. Do not miss it!
#CALHMs
,
#LRRC8
,
#connexins
,
#pannexins
Our speaker line-up is finalized for the 2023 Channels, Receptors, and Transporters Subgroup Symposium at the 67th annual
@BiophysicalSoc
meeting, to be held on Saturday, February 18th in San Diego, CA. Mark your calendars! More news coming soon! Stay Tuned 😎
✨ Author copies arrived ✨
📚 GIVEAWAY time!📚
Entry rules:
1.Follow me
2.Retweet this tweet
3.Bonus entry: tag a friend!
4.Closes 02/04 @ 11:59 pm PST.
2 winners will get a signed copy of RACE THROUGH SPACE! AND 1 lucky teacher will get a class set!
Celebrating a major milestone today! The Griffith Lab’s first manuscript was ✨accepted✨ at
@eLife
today! As a
#NewPI
I do hope that still means something 🤪 Also huge congrats to
@notoriousDRG7
for your 1st first-author publication and getting this across the finish line!
Looking on the bright side of 2021. We very happy with this amazing collaboration with
@BaylissDoug
and
@AdiNarahari
. An important demonstration that caspase-activated pannexin-1 is permeable to large signaling molecules important for inflammation
.
@PabloSGaete1
and I wrote an insight for
@eLife
about the work from Kawate lab abd
@Lab_Furukawa
on the Pannexin-1 structure. It's for broad audience and also comment on commonalities with other large-pore channels. Check it out!
Had a lot of fun in my virtual visit to
@BCMHouston
. Fascinating conversations that went from Norovirus, Schawnn cells to mentors and the Incas, love it! Thank you so much
@christinebeeton
for the invitation (check out her amazing Galapagos and Machu Picchu pics in twitter)
Stoichiometry/arrangements of heteromeric connexin channels solved! So proud of this collaboration with Nelson Barrera's amazing team from CHILE. Their outstanding AFM data/analysis answered a critical question in the field
#connexins
Ella and I started as non-TT faculty in the same dept. at
@Rutgers_NJMS
. We shared struggles and I always admired her optimism and passion for science. I enjoyed seeing her playing piano and singing at the GRCs, specially bolero songs. I am very sad.
Valeria told me I am the Boris Martinac of connexin hemichannels! Indeed, I absolutely love what I'm doing, and I'm confident that I'm on the right path. Here's a pic with my new hero.
#ScienceJourney
#BPS2024
Had an amazing time
@UChicago
! Big thanks to
@AxelRConcepcio1
for the invite. Two talks—one challenging my mind, the other touching my heart. Grateful for the incredible experience!
Large-pore channels are so cool! and for the first time, they will have their own special issue thanks to
@JPhysiol
! Hodgkin and Huxley would be amazed to see these chansporters in action 🧐😎
🚨CALL FOR PAPERS🚨
Our
#CallForPapers
for a
#Specialissue
'Current advances in Large-pore channels: from structure-function to physiology and disease' is open! It will showcase the newest exciting finds on this ion channel family.
More info👉
We got amazing input on our work at the Cardiovascular Research Institute Retreat in
@ucdavis
, the first one we attended since moving from the East Coast. I cannot wait for new exciting collaborations to come! We celebrated with a fun dinner at a hidden gem in Sacramento.
Hey guys, Dr.
@doctheagrif
did it again. Listen to how she rocked this NPR interview, talking about her children books, inclusivity and passion for science. Kids' Books Where Science Is The Adventure
On our way to
@UW
with the family! Mom and Dad are inaugurating their Partners in Science Seminar Series. Thanks for hosting us
@Vivas_ol
and
@casa_tuthill
!
In Research News: study by Gaete et al. () describes a novel quantitative assay combining fluorescence microscopy & electrophysiology, which reveals that transport of small molecules through CALHM1 and connexin channels is saturable
I feel so thankful for my family and life. This sentiment amplifies 1000X when I see families (from ALL sides) suffering from terror and war.
#BeThankful
#BeCompassionate
#BeHuman
Outside the lab, Jorge enjoys quality family time at Lake Tahoe, exploring NorCal, fine wines, and fresh oysters.🌄🍷 Camping? Not quite there yet (apologies to
@doctheagrif
)!" 😬🏕️😆 (6/7)
Are connexins and CALHM1 molecule transporters? Check out our recent preprint where we found saturability for molecular transport in these channels using a very simple technique. Much more than odd/big holes!! Check our poster at
#BPS
bioRxiv viewer
Good morning San Francisco! Getting some oranges from this tree before heading to
#BPS2022
and the CRT subgroup session. Looking forward to see you all!
Had a great time visiting the Dept. of Physiology at
@uarizona
. My host, Jose Ek Vitorin, celebrated Hispanic Heritage Month with a “Cochinita” and habanero salsa 🌶🌶 my DRG TRPV1+ neurons are regrowing axons today!
I am delighted to announce that I have been promoted to Associate Professor with Tenure, effective July 1st. Many thanks to my lab (current and past members) and all those who supported my promotion!!!
#academia
Sending all the luck to mommy (
@doctheagrif
) for her exciting research presentations on proprioception this week at
@Penn
and
@Harvard
! Plus, a third and tougher gig at an elementary school in Boston. You've got this! 💪🍀
#MomPower
Wow, so many important messages. The one that I love: It is not important that kids have not yet developed a passion, but it is important that they have opportunities to figure out what their passion is.
At
@ucd_physiology
,
@Rutgers_NJMS
and other scientific institutions, I have friends and colleagues from Ukraine and Russia. I know these must be hard times for them. Just want to say that we love you guys and are lucky to have you in our scientific community.
I've been using my Twitter account to raise awareness about genocide. Previously, I used for science and to celebrate my wife's achievements. Today, she successfully presented her stem books for kids to over 300 classroom sponsored by General Motors, reaching thousands of kids.
After the stress of submitting my Freeman Hrabowski app, it was so rejuvenating to do a virtual STEM/author event for
@FirstBook
in collaboration with
@GM
. I got the chance to speak with 300+ classrooms from across the nation including Puerto Rico 🤩 they had great questions!
📢 For the first time in
#Spain
, the
@IGJC2022
will take place in
#ACoru
ña!
For five days, international researchers in the gap junction community will be in
@palexco
, enjoying our culture besides working meetings and conferences.
#IGJC2022
#VisitCoruna
I understand it's still a pre-print, but picture yourself as a full professor struggling with a scientific question since your PhD thesis. A short thread 🧵1/5
Check out our exciting new lab pre-print. Connexin hemichannels: The hybrid channel/transporter game-changers! A groundbreaking work in the large-pore channel field led by
@PabloSGaete1
in collaboration with the incredible Luo lab,
@lyna_yunluo
and
@deepaknextprez
🔬✨
Hi everyone, I just wanted to share an important lab achievement. We have obtained our first electrophysiological recording of connexin channel activity in
@DrContrexin
lab. This is the first step for upcoming exciting experiments. Thanks Jose Ek Vitorin!
@jquanscience
#teamwork
I ♥️ Biophysics! It has been instrumental for us in unraveling a long-standing physiological mystery in the field of
@IGJC2022
and
@IGJC2024
. Check our latest lab pre-print and don’t forget to download the 14 supplementary figures and Table!
Que se quede el infinito sin estrellas
O que pierda el ancho mar su immensidad
Pero el negro de tus ojos que no muera
Y el canela de tu piel se quede igual
I work hard and A LOT and decided to treat myself to my own personal photo shoot so I could get some updated headshots. 10/10 recommend!
#ThisIsWhatAScientistLooksLike
So excited to finally share this work - structure of Cx46/50 gap junction intercellular channels in a dynamic lipid environment, resolved at 1.9 Å by
#CryoEM
! With some MD-simulation to make it dance ;) Check it out on BioRxiv:
Many Black and other URM postdocs and early PIs, despite their merits, get labeled as 'DEI hiring.' Sadly, there are also those eager to see one of them fail just to scrutinize the entire group.
#RepresentationMatters
I was called a DEI recruit to my face.
(Not at Harvard; I would leave immediately)
At NIH. My 2nd week in my postdoc.
By another postdoc who TECHNICALLY, while not racially diverse, characterized as “DEI” too.
In my head, I was like baby we are in the same boat 😂