7/1/22. It’s really weird to wake up today and officially be an Associate Professor with Tenure.
… as a woman
… with a family
… in science
… who failed Cell Bio in college
… 5 yrs after starting my lab
Mind blown. 🤯
20 yrs ago, I failed cell bio in college & was told science was a bad fit for me. 5 yrs later, a grad school said my GPA/GREs weren't good enough for admission. Today, I have my own lab & serve on the same admissions committee that rejected me. If you want it, dig deep & fight.
I am both humbled and thrilled to find out I got promoted to Associate Professor with Tenure! Many thanks for my lab, mentors, and colleagues for their support. I couldn't have done this without you.
!!!Big lab news!!!
Macauley lab is moving to the University of Kentucky!
@ResearchKY
Excited to join the Dept of Physiology. Thanks to
@alan_daugherty
for making this possible!
So grateful for my time at Wake. Looking forward to conquering all things re: brain metabolism! 🧠
Why do people studying metabolism use GAPDH as the "control" for westerns/qPCR/etc? Pssst, if ya modulate glucose, ya might modulate glycolytic protein levels, and it might not be a good control... especially in a disease state....
New paper from the lab! We are the first in the world to collect extracellular vesicles from the brains of live mice w/ in vivo microdialysis.
Female APP/PS1 mice ⬆️ amyloid plaques, ⬇️ plaque associated microglia & ⬇️diverse microglial EV-ISF proteome.
Ever have those days where it looks like your hypothesis is unequivocally true and your data passes the “eyeball test”? Me neither. Until today. Plaques, meet no plaques. Happy 🦄 day to us.
Some days I wonder what I could really do as a PI if I wasn’t worrying about budgets, reimbursement, editorial responsibilities, roof leaks…. Boy I miss just doing science.
Oh my goodness. LACTATE and GLIA!
Radial glia shift rely on aerobic glycolysis and lactate production for neuronal differentiation and vasculature development.
11 yrs ago, coating ELISA plates on a Saturday in the Holtzman lab, one baby in my arms, the other incubating in my belly.
Oh the places we’ll go….
@Momademia
Our paper is out
@JCI_insight
! 1/n 🧵
Key findings:
☑️Elevated blood glucose drives production & aggregation of amyloid-beta in mice.
☑️ Neuronal KATP channels couple metabolism & abeta.
☑️Brain KATP channel expression is altered in human AD brains.
Coming off reviewing grad school applications for two programs at Wake Forest. Here are my PERSONAL opinions on applications in biomedical research if you are prepping for next year .
#academictwitter
#phdlife
A thread:
Y’know who’s amazing? This woman!
@C_M_Carroll
submitted her PhD thesis today. I can’t wait to see her defend next month!
Seriously. A new PI only dreams of finding fantastic students to anchor their lab. Our labs 1st R01 was 100% due to her. Congrats, Caitlin!
@WakeNeuroGrad
RIP my beautiful friend. For 14 yrs, you’ve been my loyal & trusted companion. Always by my side- training for half marathons, epic road trips, hiking, kayaking, swimming, long nights writing grants, even longer nights feeding & soothing babies. I feel lost w/o my “helper” dog.
Best. Email. Ever. 😍
I’m not sure what’s harder these days- doing the work and writing the paper or passing all the formatting hoops to finally get published!
Big thanks to
@ncons95
for helping get this over the finish line!
Wonder how extracellular vesicles (EVs) change, in the brain, in LIVE mice, due to path? So did we!!
@MorganPait
developed a new method for collecting EVs from the brain's interstitial fluid (EV-ISF) & found changes in microglial EV proteome due to Aβ.
Very excited to announce that our
@_BrightFocus
proposal entitled, "KATP channel inhibition as a modifier of tau pathology in Alzheimer’s disease" was selected for funding! We are thrilled to work with the Bright Focus Foundation to complete this work!
Interested in METABOLISM? SLEEP?
US TOO!👇
1) We describe the relationship between ISF glucose & lactate based on intrinsic oscillations, diurnal rhythms, & sleep/wake cycles.
2) We explored how hyper- & hypo-glycemia change brain metabolism, neuronal activity, & sleep.🧵1/N
This is the elephant in the room. Yes let’s pay postdocs & students more!!! 💯 But how? Budgets are slashed on R01s, NIA paylines just tanked. Where does the $ come from? And if $ goes to salaries, what’s the cost to the science?
Unis have to support salaries for PIs & trainees.
NIH suggests to increase postdoc salaries👍🏻R01 Modular budgets are still capted at 250k per year👎🏻
PIs are responsible for a big chunck of their own salaries👎🏻 Lab supply prices skyrock👎🏻
So are we supposed to hire postdocs and provide no supplies to do experiments?🤷
Happy Friday to us!
Our paper is accepted! 🤩🤩
"A novel method for collecting hippocampal interstitial fluid extracellular vesicles reveals sex dependent changes in microglial EV proteome in response to Abeta pathology"
Big congrats to
@MorganPait
& collaborator Gagan Deep!
Glucose, lactate, KATP channels, Abeta- on my! Another labor of love from my lab!
Started as my K01 work w/
@holtzman4
, then continued by my fantastic postdoc, Dr. John Grizzanti.
A 🧵about the role of neuronal KATP channels in Alzheimer's disease.
"Bullying is a means for mediocre scientists to rise to the top. Some star academics reached their position because they are bullies, not in spite of it." - Excellent piece about bullying in academia (and really any other professional environment).
I am beyond THRILLED to brag about my dear friend and colleague
@karchlab
who was just promoted to Associate Professor with tenure
@wustl
@WUSTLdbbs
!!! So well deserved. I love to see awesome science ladies absolutely crushing it!
It’s all about lactate!!! 😍
“Lactate oxidation, not glycolysis, occurs at a comparable pace with the tricarboxylic acid cycle (TCA), supporting lactate as the primary fuel. “
How to have a socially distanced 10th BDay:
1) Build 8 ft sling shot
2) Bake & individually wrap 49 cupcakes, 11 Rice Krispie treats, 15 brownie balls. Safety first.
3) Invite neighbors to catch treats
4) Sling shot 75 treats down block to awaiting children
5) Laugh. A lot.
R01 submitted!!! Couldn’t decide between a celebratory beer, bike ride, cathartic cry, or sleep... then I saw lobster. And with a side of tuna. And an avocado. Now comes 🚲 🍺 😴
#lobsterdogsFTW
@JessicaLTami
Failed Cell Biology in college. F on transcript (more Cs then I can remember) and every fellowship I ever applied for dinged me for it. Eventually, I was awarded F31, F32, K01, and just landed a fundable score on an R01. 🤞🤞 Don't give up. You got this. Grit>2Cs.
The Macauley Lab turned 4 years old today!
It’s so rewarding to see the growth and accomplishments of my team. Forever grateful for their hard work and truly giddy for all the stories we’re ready to tell!
Bring on the manuscript submissions!
I am absolutely THRILLED to announce that
@MorganPait
received the NOGA for her F31 entitled, "Dissecting the role of hippocampal exosomes in Alzheimer's disease pathogenesis".
Congratulations, Morgan, on all your hard work!!!
#proudPI
@wakeforestmed
@WakeIPP
@WakeGeriatrics
What a couple weeks. So thankful to the MDs & nurses in the Yale ICU who cared for my dad. End of life decisions are so challenging. Grateful they treated him w/ dignity & honored his wishes.
Love you, Dad. Hopefully you’re on a lake somewhere in your trusted unwinder.
@YNHH
10 yrs ago today, my water broke in the middle of lab in a rather heroic fashion, scaring the daylights out of both me & my PI, as I scrambled to finish an experiment before maternity leave. Spoiler: the paper can wait but shockingly my daughter couldn’t. Best surprise ever. 🥰
Overheard from morning carpool:
9yo neighbor: Friday’s are so easy. We get spelling tests with bonus points for hard words.
My 8yo daughter: Like what words? Microscope? Army crawl? Microglia?
I have nothing left to teach my children. I’ve peaked as a parent.
Day 10,
#ArtAdventCalendar
: Himalayan Blue poppy, watercolor.
Painted from a photo my father in law took while traveling in France. Thinking of him and my mother in law today. 💕
You know what’s fantastic? When your Chair puts up the list of 2020 faculty promotions for your Geriatrics Section and it’s composed of alllllll LADIES!!!!!! Amazing women scientists no less!!!! 😍😍
@wakeforestmed
@WakeGeriatrics
@WakeADC
Beaming with gratitude and hope. Thanks to
@pfizer
for the hard work to develop this life saving vaccine. Thanks to
@wakeforestmed
@wakehealth
for the quick roll out to vaccinate. First dose and I’m feeling great. 💪🏻👍🏻
I didn’t get any awards this week, publish any papers, get any grants, or accomplish anything spectacular… so I did the next best thing and made my house SPOOKTACULAR! 👻 🎃
Dad jokes, they get me every time.
In case you’re in need of something silly….👇🏻👇🏻
Being a PI mom typically means dropping all the balls in a heroic fashion- eg, home at 8pm, missed dinner, way behind on SS reviews due to covid. But then, your amazing 11yo shows you the speech she wrote for her 5th grade graduation & despite it all, you’re doing ok.
@Momademia
3 days, 57 pavers, 11 gallons of paint, 2 plumbers, 1 floor guy, and the Kentucky house is starting to look a bit more like “our home”.
We, however, are exhausted... 😴
@rrambach
WashU neurologist David Holtzman has received the August M. Watanabe Prize in Translational Research from
@IndianaCTSI
for his work uncovering the causes of
#Alzheimers
and translating an understanding of its basic biology into potential therapies.
What a day!
Tremendous honor to hood my 1st PhDs
@C_M_Carroll
&
@MorganPait
and Master student extraordinaire
@rirmen59
!🥳
Humbled to receive the Faculty Excellence Award at Commencement. Honored to be nominated by my mentees.
Grateful to share it w/ my family. 🥹
So excited! Macauley Lab’s latest uploaded to biorxiv tonight!
Big congrats to
@ncons95
on getting his first 1st author pub out the door!!
Stay tuned if you like glycolytic flux, sleep, arousal, and KATP channels…
Wow. Summary statements are a special kinda “ouch”. Nothing like being called “unproductive” for taking 5 yrs to build a research program, in a pandemic, while getting R01++ funding, investing in trainees, b/c the number of senior author pubs is lower than what we’d all like.
Hit the pause button on science for a moment to engage the other half of my brain... Day 1,
#ArtAdventCalendar
: Painting of my girls in Francis Park, St Louis, MO.
Thanks so much to
@LJohnsonLab
for hosting me at University of Kentucky! A fantastic couple days talking metabolism, glia, and all things Alzheimer’s disease.
Nothing better than great science and a ton of laughs. Thanks
@Morganti_Lab
@UKY_Sunlab
Until next time!
M: Mom, can I lift with you?
Me: yes, always yes.
Mom wipes single tear from her eye and realizes amongst the mayhem of home-academia, she’s doing something right. 😢
@Momademia
Cheers to the small wins. 🎉
Interested in metabolism, aging, cognitive impairment, and Alzheimer's disease? We are launching a new research topic through Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience. Check it out. 👇👇👇
Editors: Raymond Chuen-Chung Chang, Tao Ma, Shannon Macauley
Been in my science teacher hubby’s classroom a million times. Always loved that his walls are covered w/ pictures of diverse scientists & world leaders.
Spied for the 1st time today that he cropped me into the “history of women in science” poster.
All the feels.
@rrambach
11 yrs ago today, I thought I absolutely had to finish that last experiment for a paper prior to maternity leave. My daughter had other plans.
BTW- wanna know what makes a lab full of dudes super uncomfortable? Amniotic fluid.
This is fascinating.
“For every 50% reduction in Aβ42/Aβ40, there was a 2-fold increase in risk of epilepsy (adjusted subhazard ratio 2.30, 95% CI 1.27–4.17).”
Interesting to consider how anti—beta abs will play into this.
Made it home from Cali to kiss kiddos good night✅ Submitted grant with 54 minutes to spare ✅ Finalized proposal due tomorrow... and within page limit no less ✅ Time for a beer? ✅✅
Giddy for my new T! Not only does it support
#blackinneuro
but it’s made by talented students from my alma mata
@wustl
. As a former Neuro retreat organizer and MC, this is the best tshirt I’ve seen to date!!
So proud of
@rirmen59
who rocked her talk on “Tau pathology alters sleep & metabolism”. Not only is she one of the most talented Master’s students I’ve had the pleasure to mentor, she just got accepted into Wash U’s PhD program in Neuroscience!
Way to go, Riley!
@WakeNeuroGrad
“Scientists should embrace their humanity rather than pretending that they are a bunch of automatons who instantly reach perfectly objective conclusions.”
I love this. Scientists are humans. Science is never perfect. Give space to evolve.
Can a rigorous scientist have a moment to believe in magic? Lost a friend to cancer, MIL diagnosed w/ breast cancer, dad septic in hospital, all this week. Kinda need to believe my darling E is drumming up rainbows, fairies, and pixie dust to bring us all good fortune in 2021.
Tonight an adult called by 10yo daughter fat.
The daughter that will change the world.
The daughter whose eyes light up a room, whose warmth & magic is indescribable.
The daughter who is strong AF.
To that person I say fuck you.
To society I say 1000x fuck you. Do better.
Our work investigating the role of vascular KATP channel activity in Alzheimer’s disease is on biorxiv!
This labor of love 6+ years started while I was a postdoc w/
@holtzmand
@wustl
and continued in my own lab
@wakeforest
.
A thread 1/n
The Macauley Lab turns 3 years old today! Proud of all we’ve accomplished. Such gratitude to
@MorganPait
@C_M_Carroll
@smd_phd
Khadijah Winkey, Dave Rubinow, Andy Snipes, for all their hard work in lab. Thankful to my
@wakeforestmed
colleagues for collaboration and support!
Alcohol Consumption Linked to Acceleration of Alzheimer’s Disease
Even modest consumption of alcohol can accelerate brain atrophy and increase amyloid plaque formation. The findings reveal alcohol consumption can accelerate Alzheimer's disease
Very excited for our collaborative work with
@jlweiner1
entitled "Ethanol exposure alters Alzheimer's-related pathology, behavior, and metabolism in APP/PS1 mice" to be online! Congrats to co-1st authors
@smd_phd
and
@gironda_stephen
!! Most later!
The more I mentor, the more I appreciate the basics:
1) show up
2) be consistent
3) be responsive
4) be passionate
5) know your "why"
The rest is gravy.
Finally finished a little congratulatory “doodle” for my PhD student
@MorganPait
! So proud of all she accomplished during her time in lab.
Can’t wait to hood her and
@C_M_Carroll
today!!! 👏 🥳
EVs on the brain, watercolor, pen & ink.
Yknow the best way to celebrate the last day of your postdoc??? PAPER ACCEPTED!!!!!
Congrats to
@smd_phd
& co first author
@gironda_stephen
! Great collab w/
@jlweiner1
studying alcohol use disorder & Alzheimer’s disease!
@WakeIPP
@WakeNeuroGrad
Actual footage of me this am👇🏻