Sam Lord
@samjlord.bsky.social
1.7K followers 1.5K following 51 posts
Cell biology and microscopy researcher in the @MullinsLab at UCSF. I publish as Samuel J. Lord. https://blog.everydayscientist.com/
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Q: What's wrong with these plots?

A: Pooling cell-level measurements across multiple runs conceals experimental reproducibility.

Read more in JCB (with @fritzlaylin.bsky.social @katrinavelle.bsky.social & Dyche Mullins): rupress.org/jcb/article/...
Reposted by Sam Lord
Preprint alert! I’m publishing my last paper from my postdoc work on archaeal cell biology, with @mullinslab.bsky.social, @archaellum.bsky.social, @samjlord.bsky.social, @marleenvw.bsky.social, @arghya93.bsky.social, and more great folks (thread below with more details)
It’s “Washington’s Birthday,” officially.
Reposted by Sam Lord
New actin probe from @veselin-nasufovic.bsky.social et al! SiR-XActin and its variants are more photostable and less perturbative than SiR-actin or FastAct. And it's already available from @spirochrome.com! With some beautiful data from @chillinwithpfn1.bsky.social:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Sam Lord
But the tapeworm text is mocking the raw guy? At least that’s what I’m hoping. I can’t believe that folks would intentionally get parasites.
I have to believe that the original video was done in jest.
Now we’ll get people complaining how it’s inappropriate to send reminders so early in the new year. 🤣
That time of year…
Why shouldn’t we be 10x less concerned now?
How can the dose be an order of magnitude lower than they first estimated, but then have zero change in their conclusion? Shouldn’t their concern about black plastic cookware be 10x lower now??

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
The Study That Called Out Black Plastic Utensils Had a Major Math Error — WIRED
Despite the correction, the study’s authors stand by their conclusions about the risks of certain kitchen utensils.
apple.news
I still miss the tan M&Ms.
Some folks are saying that authors can upload the author versions (not the journal-formatted version) to PMC before the embargo ends. Not sure what’s true.
Yes, that was my question. Seems like some folks are complaining that this is an “unfunded mandate,” but this seems like a free solution. :)
So isn’t that a free solution?
Can’t author just upload to Pubmed Central for free themselves? Or do journal policies forbid that?
What happens if a journal’s policies don’t allow posting before the embargo is up? Is that a thing?
Reposted by Sam Lord
“NIH reiterates that compliance with the Policy does not require the payment of an open access fee to a journal…free pathway to compliance can be achieved by depositing the Author Accepted Manuscript into PubMed Central for public availability upon the Official Date of Publication without embargo.“
Hot off the presses today is the 2024 NIH Public Access Policy. I read it so you don’t have t…Just kidding. You should still read it in full if you do NIH funded research.

grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...

Some highlights in the thread below
NOT-OD-25-047: 2024 NIH Public Access Policy
NIH Funding Opportunities and Notices in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts: 2024 NIH Public Access Policy NOT-OD-25-047. OD
grants.nih.gov
Reposted by Sam Lord
Advances in microscopy mean we can now do more than just observe biology—we can control it. But how far can we really push this in mammalian cells with all their (beautiful but annoying) heterogeneity? 🧪🔬(🧵)
HT1080 cells with various morphologies. DAPI (blue) Phalloidin (grey) GM130 (green).
Speakers, try adjusting gamma on your images (e.g. 0.45) on your slides. Especially for images that are still hard to see after optimizing contrast. #CellBio2024
The #CellBio2024 lanyards:
Attending one of the MBL courses would be a better fit for a PhD. :)
If it is a typical scientific camera, the signal has been linearized by the manufacturer, but one could confirm that in the spec sheet of their particular camera.

The net gamma would be 2.2, because of the computer monitor. The system needs a 0.45 gamma correction to display a linear image again.