Elysse
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elyssegs.bsky.social
Elysse
@elyssegs.bsky.social
940 followers 840 following 240 posts
Postdoc studying pathogenesis and evolution of RNA viruses

STEM outreach nonprofit: STEMOutreachCollective.org

(They/them or none)
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elyssegs.bsky.social
23 years ago, I dropped out of high school after sophomore year because I was bullied for being queer, & was suicidal. Yesterday, I served as the 2025 PhD speaker for the Stanford School of Medicine graduation. This was not my dream, because I had no dreams. Now I’m almost 40 & full of hope. 🎓 🦠🧪🔬🧬
A smiling nonbinary person, wearing a leopard print jumpsuit under doctoral regalia (graduation tam and gown), stands in front of a lawn with the Stanford University oval (main campus) in the background.
June 15, 2025 at 3:15 PM
elyssegs.bsky.social
Important thesis defense prep:
A photo of a laptop with the screen open to PowerPoint. The slide has a photo of Dolly Parton’s head surrounded my magenta, because the user is using the “remove background” function.
May 27, 2025 at 6:31 PM
elyssegs.bsky.social
Is there anything more heartwarming than receiving email updates from past students? Got this today from a student who took my Intro to Biology class at a local community college while looking for a new career.

The power of accessible education is truly incredible.
#academicsky #academiasky
A screenshot of an email in white text on a black background that reads “hi professor elysse! Hope you are doing well!! I wanted to share some exciting news with you. I got my RN license and today is my first day as a NICU nurse! Thank you for your support and being a great role model!” The sender’s name has been removed to protect their privacy.
May 19, 2025 at 3:48 PM
elyssegs.bsky.social
It’s FISH Friday over here… 🧪🧫🧬🦠
Human lung epithelial cells showing nuclei stained blue (with DAPI) with RNA in the cytoplasm (showing as fluorescent magenta thanks to a special Alexa Fluor 546 probe).
May 9, 2025 at 11:45 PM
elyssegs.bsky.social
Not saying a peep?
What’s this email from earlier this week…
April 5, 2025 at 4:44 AM
elyssegs.bsky.social
So insanely proud of my 2nd summer intern, Gabby, who completed the Stanford Summer Research Program today with her final seminar talk. She is incredible! She’s a rising junior at Johns Hopkins, studying abroad at Oxford this Fall, and a future MD/PhD! Cannot wait to witness what she ends up doing!
A young scientist stands at a lectern giving a talk about SARS-CoV-2 (on the left of the image), in front of a projected slide of the viral structure (on the right of the image).
August 15, 2024 at 10:19 PM
elyssegs.bsky.social
Insanely proud of summer intern Maya, who gave her final seminar talk today! She is a community college student and is transferring to Santa Clara in the Fall. She is an incredible scientist. Keep an eye out for her in the future, she is going to do big things in ecology and evolution fields! 🥹
A student stands at a podium on the left of the image as she presents a blue title slide on a large screen, on the right of the image. Audience members sit in the foreground.
August 8, 2024 at 10:18 PM
elyssegs.bsky.social
My only concern about #ASV2024 is that I saw less than 1% of attendees wearing masks. Yes, vaccines work, but harm reduction helps even more. It’s an accessibility issue. #lovevirology
A scientist with an orange Mohawk and glasses takes a selfie wearing a mask in front of an ASV conference screen.
June 28, 2024 at 1:46 PM
elyssegs.bsky.social
A friend took this picture of me during the Q&A portion of my talk today at #ASV2024, and it genuinely brought me to tears. I am so happy! That smile says “I love what I do and I’m enjoying this meeting so much!” This week has been a blast so far. I wish I could show this picture to younger me. 🥹
A nonbinary scientist with an orange Mohawk, wearing a black and white striped tshirt and a black suit, standing in front of a tan conference hall wall holding a microphone and smiling.
June 27, 2024 at 2:30 AM
elyssegs.bsky.social
If you’re using the #ASV2024 conference app, here’s a little thing to remind you to check out my talk.
Purple and black banner with polka dots that announces a presentation at the American Society of Virology (ASV) symposium by speaker Elysse Grossi-Soyster. Talk details: title: “Roles for RNA virus-derived circular RNAs during viral infection”. Section: w37, talk 9. June 26, 2024 from 4-4:15pm EST.
June 19, 2024 at 9:48 PM
elyssegs.bsky.social
If you’re wondering how I decided to announce my pending debut on the postdoc market at the upcoming @amersocvirology.bsky.social conference, the answer is: potato portrait.
A photo of a PowerPoint slide section including a cartoon of a person with a word bubble that says “I’ll be on the postdoc market this fall! I’d love to meet you!”
June 15, 2024 at 3:02 AM
elyssegs.bsky.social
And even though everyone goes back to normal life, every day feels less normal, yet more isolating…
Vincent Price in a scene from the 1964 film Last Man on Earth. Vincent, center of photo, walks down some stairs past a few dead people, as if it’s totally normal.
June 12, 2024 at 4:36 AM