Prakash Lab at Stanford
@prakashlab.bsky.social
Curiosity Driven Science
Thanks Manu for the incredible mentorship and training for the past 6 years!! Scenes from my thesis defense :)
Prakash Lab at Stanford@prakashlab.bsky.social · 2mo agoHip hip hurray - we have a new doctor in the house. Congratulations Dr @cbrannon.bsky.social that was a spectacular defense; so many fun stories all tied together in an hour. Also, the same week Charlotte’s big paper on information bottlenecks in ciliary flocks got accepted in Nature Physics.
"For 5 cents per person per year, the EU can maintain one of the world’s most important climate monitoring systems that impacts our everyday lives and improves resilience to the climate crisis." We must strengthen int'l science in response to Trump budget cuts.🧪 www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Amoc collapse could change Europe’s climate 10x faster than expected. We aren’t ready
The system of ocean current that moves heat in the Atlantic Ocean plays a key role in regulating climate. Today’s monitoring of it may be discontinued
theguardian.com
Exciting end of an amazing conference that covered so much cool physics across the tree of life: closing talk by @prakashlab.bsky.social at #EESMechanobiology.
Congratulations to Gautam Dey (EMBL) and Omaya Dudin (University of Geneva) for being awarded the EMBO Gold Medal 2026 in recognition of their outstanding contributions to the #LifeSciences in Europe! 🧪 https://www.embo.org/press-releases/embo-gold-medal-2026-awarded-to-gautam-dey-and-omaya-dudin/
New article out on #plastics in #fulmars. Thanks to my wonderful Master student & great colleagues in Norway & Iceland, as well as fishers in both countries, we now sit with a lot more knowledge about plastics in #seabirds in the North Atlantic. www.nina.no/english/Abou...
Eight out of ten northern fulmars have plastic in their stomachs
Northern fulmar (Fulmarus glacialis). Photo: Nina Dehnhard/NINA. The northern fulmar (Fulmarus glacialis) is a seabird found across the North Atlantic and Arctic marine regions, including along the N...
nina.no
(1/n) Press release: Thank you Schmidt Ocean Institute for such a remarkable partnership. 2 weeks, 30plus new species, a couple of world’s first at sea. The entire expedition etched in memory - from keeping an angler fish alive for days to mysteries of giants from deep m.youtube.com/watch?si=f10...
Designing the Future 3 | 4K ROV Highlights
YouTube video by Schmidt Ocean Institute
m.youtube.com
Dr. Manu Prakash of @prakashlab.bsky.social at Stanford University watches this midwater tableau fr #DesigningTheFuture3 expedition (filmed at 393m) and asks, "Who's eating whom?" (Read full caption on YouTube to learn more.) youtube.com/shorts/0Ltkk...
Who is eating whom? #designingthefuture3 #midwater
YouTube video by Schmidt Ocean Institute
youtube.com
Why do I see parasites even in the night sky - maybe because of this gigaoicel scan from Octopi: storage.googleapis.com/octopi-malar... Counting malaria parasites is not so different from counting stars in the sky🤔 octopi.cephla.com
When Pixar lamps went on a walk in San Francisco.
Hip hip hurray - we have a new doctor in the house. Congratulations Dr @cbrannon.bsky.social that was a spectacular defense; so many fun stories all tied together in an hour. Also, the same week Charlotte’s big paper on information bottlenecks in ciliary flocks got accepted in Nature Physics.
As many organisms down below in ocean as the stars in our skies. Chance to see them both is “mystical and magical” in every sense of the word. Thanks @schmidtocean.bsky.social - who needs rocket ship if you can meet aliens on our planet. Live stream to join fun www.youtube.com/channel/UC1m...
Watching the @schmidtocean.bsky.social team launch a robot, ROV SuBastian — the #designingthefuture3 science team study the ocean’s midwater in international waters off Brazil. Accelerating species discovery & expanding our genetic library of life on Earth seems a good way to spend one’s time! 🌊
Starry nights. With @burnsajohn.bsky.social @schmidtocean.bsky.social
John Burns@burnsajohn.bsky.social · 4mo agoWhile we're preparing for our eventual ROV dives, @prakashlab.bsky.social and I found the expedition's #firstprotist, an acantharian, by filtering the ship's on board seawater stream 🤩. @schmidtocean.bsky.social #protistsonsky
While we're preparing for our eventual ROV dives, @prakashlab.bsky.social and I found the expedition's #firstprotist, an acantharian, by filtering the ship's on board seawater stream 🤩. @schmidtocean.bsky.social #protistsonsky
here's an antidot against (almost) any kind of anti-intellectualism. no words required, just the video...
STCmicrobeblog@stcmicrobeblog.bsky.social · 4mo ago«Curiosity is the wick in the candle of learning» —W.A. Ward Can you imagine a sweeter reward for a researcher than witnessing a Peruvian girl from Cusco looking at cochinilla and wool through a forldscope for the first time? (on 𝕏 in 2023 by @teamfoldscope.bsky.social, @prakashlab.bsky.social)
(1/n) What if you never had to make your bed? What if your laundry could fold itself? Folding is everywhere around us - but did you know that folding flat sheets are at the ❤️ of diversity of shapes in the animal world - since 500 million years ago. Our latest work: www.youtube.com/watch?v=nudC...
Self-folding laundry
YouTube video by PrakashLab
youtube.com
«Curiosity is the wick in the candle of learning» —W.A. Ward Can you imagine a sweeter reward for a researcher than witnessing a Peruvian girl from Cusco looking at cochinilla and wool through a forldscope for the first time? (on 𝕏 in 2023 by @teamfoldscope.bsky.social, @prakashlab.bsky.social)
I don't think people fully appreciate how apocalyptic things are for US science. I haven't had any new funding since 2024, but I'm still ok since typical grants are for three years. This means next year I will be completely out of funding and will have to fire everyone in the lab. It's not great.
Jeremy Berg@jeremymberg.bsky.social · 5mo agoNSF Update through March 13, 2026 1/2
“.global catastrophe since many incredible programs are not currently being funded. Parasites don’t carry passports. Diseases spread across countries, so being able to survey & address these pathogens in one part of the world benefits public health everywhere.” www.the-scientist.com/a-low-cost-s...
A Low-Cost, Self-Driving Microscope Could Speed Up Infection Diagnostics
Engineer Manu Prakash helped develop a malaria-finding microscope that works in low-resource settings, improving access to sensitive infectious disease diagnostics.
the-scientist.com
🤩to see this behemoth of a story out ! Pushed by @nikobiota.bsky.social & the Amazing @embl.org AML Team (Tina, Michael, Paulina) and in Co. with the Best #science #family you can dream of! This truck was #home, for weeks in a row & in my heart for a lifetime. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
That smile speaks volumes - as always. Congrats Felix Hol (a lab alum) to be selected for TEDFellows class of 2026. From the swamps at Stanford to villages in Madagascar - I have so many memories with Felix - but his joyful laugh is one that rings again and again. Let's go catch some mosquitoes.
How self-driving cars motivated us to build a universal diagnostics platform for malaria/Tb. The arc of technology is unpredictable at best. m.youtube.com/watch?v=gbeg...
Self-driving microscopes
YouTube video by Cephla
m.youtube.com
How self-driving cars motivated us to build a universal diagnostics platform for malaria/Tb. The arc of technology is unpredictable at best. m.youtube.com/watch?v=gbeg...
Self-driving microscopes
YouTube video by Cephla
m.youtube.com
🌎 @prakashlab.bsky.social has developed Octopi, a robotic device that diagnoses malaria in blood smears faster, more accurately & more accessibly. With an open software architecture and powered by AI & battery or solar energy, Octopi is 100x more efficient—and affordable. #Malaria #AI #GlobalHealth
Affordable microscope speeds up malaria diagnosis with AI
The Octopi microscope autonomously analyzes blood samples in minutes, detecting malaria-infected cells among millions. Its creators hope it will accelerate the fight against malaria.
news.stanford.edu
“Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day; teach them to fish and you feed them for a lifetime” With ODION and Octopi, we’re building a platform that lets anyone create AI-powered diagnostics for the diseases that matter most locally. Connect with us if interested at ODION.org
Prakash Lab at Stanford@prakashlab.bsky.social · 6mo ago12 years in the making - we are finally scaling up our “universal diagnostics” platform. m.youtube.com/watch?v=gbeg... Read about the global program here: news.stanford.edu/stories/2026... If you are passionate about bringing cutting edge tools to work for “everyone” - reach out and engage.
12 years in the making - we are finally scaling up our “universal diagnostics” platform. m.youtube.com/watch?v=gbeg... Read about the global program here: news.stanford.edu/stories/2026... If you are passionate about bringing cutting edge tools to work for “everyone” - reach out and engage.
Self-driving microscopes
YouTube video by Cephla
m.youtube.com
Cellular Olympics - now in Knowable magazine! Enjoy this with your favorite Olympic sport! knowablemagazine.org/content/arti...
Microbial Olympics: Super-duper one-celled athletes
They race, they leap, they spin, they shoot. Meet the organisms for whom physical prowess is more than sport — it’s a matter of life and death.
knowablemagazine.org
After all the anticipation - FrugalScience 2026 - a collaborative global collective is LIVE again for 2026 season. www.frugalscience.org Apply - deadline 9th January (midnight)
Frugal Science
frugalscience.org
My first PhD paper with Prakash Lab is out in its final form! Here we uncover the many folded forms of Placozoa and how cilia unfold them. Enjoy the paper and our stop motion summary of this story! www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
PNAS
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans...
pnas.org
Prakash Lab at Stanford@prakashlab.bsky.social · 8mo ago(1/n) What if you never had to make your bed? What if your laundry could fold itself? Folding is everywhere around us - but did you know that folding flat sheets are at the ❤️ of diversity of shapes in the animal world - since 500 million years ago. Our latest work: www.youtube.com/watch?v=nudC...
