Lara K. Mahal
@glycocode.bsky.social
880 followers 900 following 220 posts
CERC in Glycomics, Director of Glycomics Institute of Alberta(www.glyco-alberta.ca), Professor of Chemistry, Univ. of Alberta. Work on #glycotime with lectin microarrays and discovering new aspects of #miRNA. Opinions are mine (she/her). www.glycocode.org
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Reposted by Lara K. Mahal
But even these don’t arise in a true vacuum. Instead they build upon discoveries, the true value of which often remain unrecognized for years even decades. It’s the scientific ecosystem that enables the forward momentum of science. It can be excruciatingly slow and frustrating but is critical. 2/
Reposted by Lara K. Mahal
This news was very sad to hear.
Pneumonia from any cause is very serious in older individuals. This is why we recommend pneumococcal vaccines for everyone 60 and over and RSV, Flu and COVID vaccines to prevent viral causes of Pneumonia.
R.I.P #DianeKeaton
www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/...
Diane Keaton died of pneumonia, her family confirms, thanking fans for 'love and support'
"Any donations in her memory to a local food bank or an animal shelter would be a wonderful and much appreciated tribute to her," her family said.
www.nbcnews.com
Reposted by Lara K. Mahal
US artist Tracey McCracken Palmer uses wet felting and needle felting techniques to create landscape artworks #WomensArt
Textile pictorial artwork featuring a landscape with purple heather on a hillside with a lone tree at the top under a dramatic sky
Reposted by Lara K. Mahal
AP: Lawmakers in NC ordered a 2023 study on the financial return for degrees across the state's public universities.

It found that 93% produced a positive return, meaning graduates were expected to earn more over their lives than someone without a similar degree.

www.wunc.org/education/20...
Is college worth the cost? Universities work to show the return on investment of a degree
For many young Americans, deciding on college has become a complex choice. Increasingly, a main question is whether a degree is worth its cost. Confidence in higher education has dropped due to high t...
www.wunc.org
Reposted by Lara K. Mahal
I think people adjacent to science (but who now find themselves deciding the fate of US science somehow) undervalue humility, valuing braggadocios hubris instead.
Yes it’s true that some scientific discoveries are complete paradigm changers, and we celebrate these. 1/
🧪#glycotime
Our manuscript describing @riley-research.bsky.social's GlyCounter informatics tool is now in press at Molecular and Cellular Proteomics. Congrats to first-author Katie Kothlow, her first first-author paper!

The manuscript is available here: www.mcponline.org/article/S153...
Reposted by Lara K. Mahal
If you are a scientist and not out in the street Saturday, you are
jeopardizing your own future. Join us! We have power when we band together
And if this bothers you as much as it bothers me, please find the nearest #NoKings protest and join in solidarity.

We are meant to have checks on the power of the president and if Congress and the Court won't do it, the people must: www.nokings.org
Reposted by Lara K. Mahal
Canadian COVID Forecast: Oct 11 - Oct 24, 2025
SEVERE: NL, NS, SK
VERY HIGH: MB, NB, North, PEI
HIGH: CAN, AB, BC, ON, QC
MODERATE: none

About 1 in 95 people in Canada are CURRENTLY infected.
This image shows gauges with the Oct 11 - Oct 24, 2025 Forecast scores for Canada, the provinces, & territories. From left to right:

Canada: HIGH - 8.9
Alberta: HIGH - 7.0
British Columbia: HIGH - 8.4
Manitoba: VERY HIGH - 14.9
New Brunswick: VERY HIGH - 11.3
Newfoundland & Labrador: SEVERE - 17.0
North: VERY HIGH - 12.3
Nova Scotia: SEVERE - 16.3
Ontario: HIGH - 7.5
Prince Edward Island: VERY HIGH - 11.8
Quebec: HIGH - 10.0
Saskatchewan: SEVERE - 17.0

A text box reads: "The COVID Forecast is calculated from 3 equally weighted categories: 1) Current infections and spread; 2) Healthcare system impact; 3) Mortality. Within each category there is one sub-category for trends over the most recent week (Trends) and one sub-category for current parameter values relative to a specified baseline (Current values). Trends and current values are weighted equally when determining the final score for a category. All Forecast input data and sources are available here (https://datastudio.google.com/embed/u/0/reporting/42b886cf-d661-488e-b7d8-5c5836b55ab6/page/p_2yqs028mwc). Past Forecast scores are available in the table below. Forecast scores are grouped into 4 ranges: MODERATE (1 to <5, white), HIGH (6 to <10, yellow), VERY HIGH (10 to <15, orange), SEVERE (>15 red)."
Reposted by Lara K. Mahal
🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉
🧠 The Lipid #Brain Atlas is out now! If you think #lipids are boring and membranes are all the same, prepare to be surprised. Led by @lucafusarbassini.bsky.social with Giovanni D'Angelo's lab, we mapped membrane lipids in the mouse brain at high resolution.
www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...
Reposted by Lara K. Mahal
Please nominate or apply for an RNA Society Award by October 20th!
www.rnasociety.org/awards
Reposted by Lara K. Mahal
Wow, this is an interesting and rather sobering story: the commonly used drug rapamycin turns out in this particular application to be working via a completely different mechanism from its usual one, which no one had predicted.
Never assume that you know all about what any drug molecule is doing in the body - where it's going, what it's binding to. A new example:
Rapamycin's Secrets
www.science.org
Reposted by Lara K. Mahal
🦖 Something HUGE just hatched.

Plasmidsaurus now offers RNA sequencing for gene expression analysis:
• As fast as 3 day turnaround
• $50/sample for academia, $80 for industry
• Up to ~10M unique transcript 3’ end reads per sample
• Interactive results

Explore Plasmidsaurus RNA-Seq today.
Reposted by Lara K. Mahal
Just on time for my intro lecture on #glycotime in 3D ⤵️🎉

The first successful human transplant of a kidney converted from blood type A to universal type O used special enzymes developed by the team led by Prof Stephen Withers and Prof Jayachandran Kizhakkedathu at UBC

news.ubc.ca/2025/10/univ...
UBC enzyme technology clears first human test toward universal donor organs for transplantation - UBC News
UBC-developed enzymes successfully converted a kidney to universal type O for transplant, marking a major step toward faster, more compatible organ donations.
news.ubc.ca
Reposted by Lara K. Mahal
I put this to the test with Copilot and yeah, I think it's fair to say that it struggled with the structure of caffeine
A Co-pilot created drawing of a molecule that is definitely not caffeine
Reposted by Lara K. Mahal
my latest investigation for @consumerreports.org is based on months of reporting and 60+ lab tests of leading protein supplements

we found that most protein powders and shakes have more lead in one serving than our experts say is safe to have in a day (🧵)

www.consumerreports.org/lead/protein...
Protein Powders and Shakes Contain High Levels of Lead - Consumer Reports
CR tests of 23 popular protein powders and shakes found that most contain high levels of lead.
www.consumerreports.org
Reposted by Lara K. Mahal
Oversized lab coats held in place with elastic bands, Frankenstein creations made by stitching two lab coats together or leaving the lab altogether. These have been the options for pregnant women in the lab. @geniuslabgear.bsky.social now wants to change this with the launch of a maternity lab coat.
Maternity lab coat aims to close a gap in PPE market and end unsafe practices
Genius Lab Gear wants to stop trend of pregnant women creating Frankenstein lab coats with a tailored and adjustable lab coat
www.chemistryworld.com
Reposted by Lara K. Mahal
There needs to be more coverage of this in the news. I have read so many stories bout this on Facebook, first hand stories of the terror of that storm, and very little coverage n media.
www.facebook.com/100000960660...
Screenshot of a Facebook post. Photo is an elderly woman holding a child on her ap on a couch with flood water around them. Both are wearing jackets inside. Text says: This was after our 1st drift.. staying put for awhile. Our 3rd and final drift was terrifying. House moving fast then we started spinning in circles. While we were spinning in circles my oldest daughter was just staring at me while I held onto my younger two. Kipnuk doesn't look like kipnuk anymore, like more than 3/4 of the homes displaced, power poles fallen. It smells like stove oil outside. Contaminated
Reposted by Lara K. Mahal
Who was Ada Lovelace? What were her greatest achievements? This ‘infoposter’ describes Lovelace’s achievements and describes why she’s thought of as the world’s first computer programmer.
findingada.com/resou... #ALD25
Reposted by Lara K. Mahal
Sharing #womenInSTEM portraits and bios for #AdaLovelaceDay #ald25 #histsci 🧪🐡👩‍🔬
Happy birthday to Millie Dresselhaus (née Spiewak; 1930-2017). She was a professor of physics & electrical engineering at MIT, known as the Queen of Carbon Science. 🧪🐡👩🏼‍🔬🎢

In my #linocut I've shown her in front of a carbon nanotube. She was recognized for her work on graphite, graphite intercalation🧵
My linocut portrait of Millie Dresselhaus in white sweater, red blazer, and C for carbon necklace, with the structure of a carbon nanotube behind her, in red, silver and black ink.
Reposted by Lara K. Mahal
‘Economics Nobel prize won by researchers who showed how science boosts growth’ by @philipcball.bsky.social in @nature.com www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Screenshot that reads:

The award "underlies the importance in investing in science for innovation and long-term economic growth", says economist Diane Coyle of the University of Cambridge. "It's great to see the Nobel prize recognize the importance of this topic," adds innovation policy researcher Richard Jones of the University of Manchester, UK. "It's important that economists understand the conditions that lead to technological progress," he adds. The winners, says Coyle, "have long been on people's list of potential candidates".
Reposted by Lara K. Mahal
My quote of the day

Nancy Hopkins et al., A Study on the Status of Women Faculty in Science at MIT (1999)
They found that discrimination consists of a pattern of powerful but unrecognized assumptions and attitudes that work systematically against women faculty even in the light of obvious good will. Like many discoveries, at first it is startling and unexpected. Once you "get it", it seems almost obvious.
🧪
Now streaming 🎬 the official video for Black In Micro Week 2025 🦠 Watch the full version here or online (link in bio). Countdown: T-minus 2 DAYS, Pre-Register and Donate today: linktr.ee/BlackInMicro

Thank you to KathASK Films for providing the video
Black in Micro Week 2025
YouTube video by KathASK Films
youtu.be