Dr. Brittany J. Carr
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drbjcarr.bsky.social
Dr. Brittany J. Carr
@drbjcarr.bsky.social
2.4K followers 1.7K following 1K posts
Assistant Prof @UAlberta. Genetically-modified frogs 🐸, retinal development & degeneration, imaging. She/Her. Views are my own. Canadian 🇨🇦
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drbjcarr.bsky.social
Art class today. The theme was underwater, so I couldnt resist painting my model organism #Xenopus laevis (African clawed frog). This is done in encaustics, which is a mixture of beeswax and resin 🐸 #Art #SciArt 🧪
A painting of a frog floating in blue water. It is surrounded by some green plants and some large blue amd white circles.
November 23, 2025 at 11:21 PM
drbjcarr.bsky.social
Sent hubby a pic of my desk at work and he asked why I had a framed picture of a man. Babe, how much time you got because we're going to get into some LORE 😂

It's a semi-silly but uplifting way to remind myself of how far I've come. Mega props if you know the source. 🧪💅
A picture of a male-presenting person wearing a black shirt and a black toque (beanie). Text on the bottom of the pictures says "I am amazed at myself".
November 17, 2025 at 10:16 PM
drbjcarr.bsky.social
Had a hyperfixation moment today and decided to organize all of my nail polish by color, effect, and brand in excel. Oooh yeah. That's nice. #WomenInSTEM
An image of 3 pie graphs that categorize nail polish. The one on the left categorizes color, the one on the top right effect, and the one on the bottom right brand.
November 6, 2025 at 5:14 AM
drbjcarr.bsky.social
Happy Halloween! Here is a spoooooky cell 👻
#FluorescenceFriday #Retina
An image of an unknown cell type that looks like a little green ghost with blue eyes and mouth.
October 31, 2025 at 8:01 PM
drbjcarr.bsky.social
I feel like I need to purchase this file on the basis of the name alone.
An image of a website showing a round metal file with a blue handle. The name of the file is "POWERFIST Round bastard file"
October 30, 2025 at 9:36 PM
drbjcarr.bsky.social
Thanks Bryan! Nice pic of me. I don't even remember you taking it. Eagerly awaiting the Visionarium pics 😊
A red-headed woman wearing sunglasses, a blue shirt, and a yellow backback. She is smiling at the camera.
October 27, 2025 at 4:33 AM
drbjcarr.bsky.social
Elk tax. This was taken safely from my car. I did not take photos of the ones I ran into on foot.
A cow elk laying in the grass. She looks very healthy.
October 13, 2025 at 2:48 AM
drbjcarr.bsky.social
This beaver swam so close to me as I was sitting on the boardwalk, I was almost worried I was going to have to back away. What a nice encounter though.
The head and nose of a beaver poking out of the water. It's reflection is also visible in the green water.
October 12, 2025 at 3:59 AM
drbjcarr.bsky.social
I dont even remember when, 1 year ago? 2? These people put this abomination on their balcony near a well-used city walking and biking trail.

I thought it was for Halloween, but it's still just there. Existing.
A grainy photo of a strange, mannequin-like naked statue looking over a balcony with a distorted screaming face.
October 11, 2025 at 1:29 AM
drbjcarr.bsky.social
So we just get sent AI spam summaries of our own preprints now? Wtf is BGPT?
A block of text from an email that summarizes my own work in the form of AI, and then provides a link to click.
October 6, 2025 at 2:56 PM
drbjcarr.bsky.social
That's a wrap! My first RD conference as a PI *and* with two graduate students in attendance. Featuring @dianebovenkamp.bsky.social and generous funding from @brightfocus.bsky.social

The BrightFocus Foundation was invaluable in launching my career, and I could not be more grateful!
Three women smiling and standing in front of a scientific poster at a conference. Two women and a man smiling and standing in front of a scientific poster at a conference. Two people, a red haired women and a man, pointing at a logo that says "BrightFocus Foundation" on a poster at a scientific conference.
September 19, 2025 at 8:42 PM
drbjcarr.bsky.social
Went out for sushi, and on my way home, I stumbled upon a live hip hop event. The vibes were great! You're alright Edmonton.

I didn't catch everyone's names, but I did catch Big Tones and Beautiful Beast (excellent hip hop!) and the headliner was Jessa Sky. #yeg
A small stage with a lady on a mic in the background. In the foreground, there are people laughing, dancing with fans, and having fun with friends. A piece of paper with orange text that says, "Be your own biggest cheerleader" with a smiley face. A random person gave this to me while I was enjoying the music. A top down view of the outdoor venue and stage, and a balcony with people enjoying drinks and food under some white umbrellas.
August 29, 2025 at 3:14 AM
drbjcarr.bsky.social
Rainbow retinas! While at @mblscience.bsky.social
I had the opportunity to check out frog and octopus retinas using super neat birefringence microscopy invented by Michael Shribak, with student Jenna Tijerina. The vertebrate inner retina is so optically clear compared to the outer segments! 🧪🐸🐙👀
The cornea and lens of a frog eye. A frog eye with photoreceptor outer segments colored in orange, pink, cyan, purple, and blue. A frog eye with purple and blue outer segments. An octopus eye with rhabdomeric photoreceptors pointing up. The "sparkles" are probaby iridophores, a special type of light-scattering pigment.
August 22, 2025 at 1:02 AM
drbjcarr.bsky.social
Shag carpet or frog photoreceptor outer segments! 🐸🧪

Taken during the visual neuroscience course @mblscience.bsky.social
An image of frog rod photoreceptor outer segments. They look round and soft, like a shag carpet.
August 15, 2025 at 12:15 AM
drbjcarr.bsky.social
And frogs!
August 10, 2025 at 10:01 PM
drbjcarr.bsky.social
Toured the National Xenopus Resource @mblscience.bsky.social today, and I'm pleased to report that the #Xenopus genus definitely comprises 100% charming little weirdos 🐸
A close up image of a Xenopus frog.
August 5, 2025 at 10:30 PM
drbjcarr.bsky.social
Had the fun and privilege of imaging the eye from a bobtail squid. None of my vertebrate markers worked (as expected), but got some nice images nonetheless :) 🦑🧪
The simple retina and optic lobe of a bobtail squid eye and brain. Orange = wheat germ agglutinin, magenta = Hoechst nuclear stain, cyan = tubulin
July 31, 2025 at 1:26 AM
drbjcarr.bsky.social
Some banger cassettes from the free garbage pile today. #management #science 🧪
An image of two white cassette tapes. One says, "Power. How to get it". The other says, "Turning Marginal Employees Into Productive Employees". An image of cassette tapes. They are titled, "Getting to Yes", "You can if you think you can", "Coping with difficult people", and "Intuitive Memory Guide".
July 10, 2025 at 1:21 AM
drbjcarr.bsky.social
Having to sit at a cryostat by resting my leg on the lower shelf of a table is peak ergonomics (/s obvs). Long legs are a blessing and a curse, but mostly a curse when it comes to cryosectioning😅
🧪 #microscopy
July 6, 2025 at 9:06 PM
drbjcarr.bsky.social
Just returned from Iceland. It is a stunningly beautiful and magical place.
The inside of an ice cave, dripping with water. There is a stark difference between blue compressed glacier ice in the bottom left corner, compared to a large dark hole in the ice that is infiltrated with volcanic ash. Looking up at the sun from the inside of a large moss-covered gorge. There is dripping water and a waterfall running through the rocks. A large, turquoise blue waterfall set in a deep gorge amongst deep green grass. There is a large bridge spanning the waterfall with two tiny people on the bridge. A view of a basket that carries people about 240 m from the top to the bottom of a volcano. It has bright lights facing downwards and the view is from the bottom of the inside of a volcano looking up towards the chute. According to National Geographic (2014), this is the only volcano in the world where people can enter the old magma chamber and observe the walls. Usually, volcanos collapse in on themselves when they have erupted. The walls are brightly colored because of the scorching (black), and minerals such as iron (red) and sulfur (yellow).
June 16, 2025 at 11:11 PM
drbjcarr.bsky.social
I'm always late for #FluorescenceFriday but here are some images of a double-null that we trialed for the first time. I don't think photoreceptors are supposed to be in the brain 🧪🐸👀🧠
An image of a highly mutated tadpole head. It has long narrow eyes and photoreceptors where it's brain should be. Another highly mutant sibling. Photoreceptor outer segments are growing where the optic nerve should be. They are also in the brain, which should be an empty space.
May 31, 2025 at 2:21 AM
drbjcarr.bsky.social
If you see this, post the most recent photo of yourself from your camera roll. No cheating!

July 2024 💀
A woman with red and dark brown hair weating aviator sunglasses. She is standing in front of tall grasses.
May 7, 2025 at 1:05 AM
drbjcarr.bsky.social
Spriiiiiiing is coming 🌷
A photo of a green bud from a tree. Spring is on its way.
April 30, 2025 at 11:37 PM
drbjcarr.bsky.social
We got almost a foot of new snow in the past 48 hrs. The perfect time to go snowshoeing.
A snowy trail in the woods. Snowy woods. A large aspen and pine tree covered in snow beside a snowy walking trail. Snow covered birch and pine trees.
March 30, 2025 at 12:04 AM
drbjcarr.bsky.social
It's been a while. Have a micrograph of the anterior portion of a mouse eye. I'm not waiting for #FluorescenceFriday. 🧪🔬
An image of the anterior segment of a mouse eye. The blue/green structure on the right side is the retina, the dark pink structure in the top left corner is the lens, the bright pink stripey line across the bottom is the cornea, and the convoluted squiggly tissue blue/pink tissue near the middle is the ciliary body/iris.
March 24, 2025 at 11:04 PM