Ardem Patapoutian
@ardemp.bskyverified.social
Scripps Research Professor. HHMI Investigator. Nobel Prize Physiology or Medicine 2021. Opinions are my own and do not reflect those of my employer.
Gaining therapeutic access to the human brain is one of the biggest unsolved problems in biomedical science. Today @nature.com, we uncover a massive influx of immune cells into the human brain during aging, revealing that the brain is more accessible than previously thought. 1/
Somatic mutations reveal the ontogeny of microglia in human aging - Nature
Nature - Somatic mutations reveal the ontogeny of microglia in human aging
nature.com
We can now steer blood vessels with dynamic forces and even re-direct vessels as they're growing! Great MIT News feature on our new paper in PNAS, outlining how a chance encounter with @ardemp.bskyverified.social helped us identify the role of PIEZO1 in this process: news.mit.edu/2026/mit-eng...
I did this. Took 5 minutes.
Julia MV@julialmv.bsky.social · 4w agoIt's the last week to comment on this disastrous proposal. I commented & encourage everyone to add your voice to the 49K others here by end of day July 13th: www.regulations.gov/commenton/OM... If you're not sure what to write, this post has helpful guidance: drruth.substack.com/p/a-guide-to...
New @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social manuscript from the lab. Ryan Pak, who just left the lab and starting his postdoc, developed a new screening strategy to find sensory cation channels using CRISPRa. He shows how easy it is to find TrpA1 (just a positive control here 🙂). biorxiv.org/content/earl...
A novel screening method using CRISPRa and FM 1-43 to identify cation channels
The discovery of sensory ion channels, such as thermosensitive transient receptor potential (TRP) channels and mechanosensitive PIEZOs, have transformed our understanding of mammalian sensory biology....
biorxiv.org
Remarkable!! Would you peer review in 4 days if you got paid ~$300? “Paying reviewers … led to faster first editorial decisions — an average of 5.5 working days, down from nearly 38 for unpaid reviews”
Nature@nature.com · last mo.A biology journal trialled paying their reviewers and found it led to faster first editorial decisions – and increased review quality. go.nature.com/446SaLu
Last thing I did before vacation was submit a public comment on the destructive OMB proposal through @standupforscience.net and e-mail my reps again! Comments close July 13th
Early-career scientists would probably enjoy the better pay that some footballers get. But I wonder how they would react if they woke up one day and learned they had been traded to another lab in a different city or state.
Nature@nature.com · last mo.Sarah Blackford reflects on how early-career scientists and professional football players share similar motivations, pressures and challenges go.nature.com/4wglCL9
For those who don’t follow sports and haven’t really had the opportunity to get to know Canada men’s national football team head coach Jesse Marsch, he is probably one of the few Americans who addressed the insulting “51st state” rhetoric head-on since day one. ❤️🍁🇨🇦TEAM CANADA FOREVER🇨🇦🍁❤️ 1/3 🧵
The top frame is from 2015, when French meteorologists did a “forecast” from a #climate heated August 2050 - a warning on what could possibly happen in 35 years time. Bottom frame: well, it’s happened in barely a decade, only it’s already *much* worse than predicted. It’s a runaway train.
Check out what Trump the deal-maker extraordinaire accomplished: “The United States of America undertakes with regional partners to develop a definitive, mutually agreed plan with at least U.S.D. 300 billion for the reconstruction and economic development of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
@thetransmitter.bsky.social asked what scientific paper has impacted me most. Hal Weintraub's discovery that MyoD alone can convert naive cells into muscle cells seemed like magic. I've been chasing that kind of magic ever since: www.thetransmitter.org/this-paper-c...
This paper changed my life: Learning the molecular rules of cell identity
A 1987 Cell paper inspired Ardem Patapoutian to think about the molecular codes that define neuronal subtypes.
thetransmitter.org
Meeting-free Tuesdays are meant for hard thinking, but….
A special seminar in Marseille, reuniting with two incredible lab alumni: Aziz Moqrich, my first postdoc, and Bertrand Coste, who identified PIEZOs in my lab. The students brought food from their home countries for lunch. How brilliant!
Awesome findings! Congrats to the whole team.
Kara Marshall@karalmarshall.bsky.social · 2mo agoExcited to share a new preprint, led by @yasmeen-hamed.bsky.social! It describes a mechanism and potential therapeutic avenue for treating the aging bladder! Thanks to the amazing collab from the Beyder lab, as well as @valeriavasquez.bsky.social, Lichtarge labs! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Classic case of a delusional narcissist!
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 2mo agoTrump: “I understand Artists are getting ‘the yips’ having to do with their performance on Wednesday, so I am thinking about bringing the Number One Attraction anywhere in the World, the man who gets much larger audiences than Elvis in his prime, and he does so without a guitar, DONALD J. TRUMP”
Microbiologist Jasmine Clark campaigned on her science background--and won. www.science.org/content/arti...
Microbiologist wins Georgia primary for U.S. House seat
Jasmine Clark is set to become the first Black congresswoman with a science Ph.D.
science.org
🚨🧠🔬 Dopamine was discovered over a century ago, and has long been thought to only signal through metabotropic means. In our new preprint, we provide evidence that dopamine can directly signal through the "orphan" GluD ionotropic receptors. More to come! #iGluRs #neuroscience #dopamine #cryoEM
bioRxiv Biophysics@biorxiv-biophys.bsky.social · 3mo agoGluDs are ionotropic dopamine receptors tuned by G-proteins https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.05.10.723887v1
The U.S. government has recently convicted multiple postdocs from China for improper shipments of biological materials. Some see a replay of the 2018 China Initiative. https://scim.ag/4txj2hZ
Chinese postdocs in U.S. hit with a wave of prosecutions and deportations
The U.S. government has recently convicted multiple postdocs for improper shipments of biological materials. Some see a replay of the 2018 China Initiative
scim.ag
The United States is a constitutional federal representative democracy. Or is it?
Ari Berman@ariberman.bsky.social · 3mo agoBreaking: Tennessee Republicans pass new 9-0 gerrymander after SCOTUS destruction of Voting Rights Act eliminating state’s only majority-Black district & last Democratic seat. Splits Memphis, which is 63% Black, into 3 districts to disenfranchise Black voters. Quite literally a return to Jim Crow
Please take a moment to listen to the stories of early career researchers that have been negatively affected by this administration’s unruly decisions. Don’t forget their stories! ✊🩷 youtu.be/SvrAxKGniys?...
Young Scientists Speak Out: Trump Grant Cuts and Chaos
YouTube video by Annika Horne
youtu.be
Excited to see our paper describing a stereotyped receptor map for smell (led by @davidhbrann.bsky.social ) out in the world! See below for short thread with open access link to paper www.nytimes.com/2026/04/29/s...
Scientists Unveil ‘Long Lost’ Map for Smell
nytimes.com
Sharing this screen grab from a friend at NIH (with permission). This is a checklist program officers have to complete before a grant can be awarded. The first question: "Is this grant All Clean/Clear in the NIH Text analysis Tool?" 🧵1/3
Just got the news that Vanessa Ruta, Steve Liberles, and Uli Mueller are all elected to be members of the National Academy of Sciences @nasonline.org. All 3 are incredibly well-deserved. Congrats to all the new members! 🎉
