Lori O'Brien
@llobrienlab.bsky.social
Dev bio, cell bio, stem cells, regen med, all things kidney. Punk rock and whisky enthusiast. Personal account and opinions. #firstgen
Pinned
Lori O'Brien
@llobrienlab.bsky.social
· Nov 19
Inaugural post showcasing our imaging and interests in the kidney from development to disease! Looking forward to building a great science community and network here.
Flashback #FluorescenceFriday to some of the first light-sheet imaging we were doing. Video shows the collecting duct system of the developing kidney labeled with a pan-cytokeratin antibody. Courtesy of former talented technician Deanna Hardesty.
November 7, 2025 at 4:43 PM
Flashback #FluorescenceFriday to some of the first light-sheet imaging we were doing. Video shows the collecting duct system of the developing kidney labeled with a pan-cytokeratin antibody. Courtesy of former talented technician Deanna Hardesty.
Reposted by Lori O'Brien
🆕 KidneyCure is committing up to $6 million over three years to help eligible NIH R01 applicants ranked in the top 15% continue their kidney research with a $100K award.
Learn more and explore every KidneyCure opportunity: https://bit.ly/kcgrantsfunding
Learn more and explore every KidneyCure opportunity: https://bit.ly/kcgrantsfunding
October 16, 2025 at 7:01 PM
🆕 KidneyCure is committing up to $6 million over three years to help eligible NIH R01 applicants ranked in the top 15% continue their kidney research with a $100K award.
Learn more and explore every KidneyCure opportunity: https://bit.ly/kcgrantsfunding
Learn more and explore every KidneyCure opportunity: https://bit.ly/kcgrantsfunding
Reposted by Lori O'Brien
We present multi-immersion Oblique Plane microscope (miOPM), a light-sheet platform that can be adapted to a wide range of applications, from sensitive live cell imaging to imaging organs and cleared tissues.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
October 6, 2025 at 5:52 PM
We present multi-immersion Oblique Plane microscope (miOPM), a light-sheet platform that can be adapted to a wide range of applications, from sensitive live cell imaging to imaging organs and cleared tissues.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Sharing this excellent review now out from postdoc Sarah McLarnon! Lots of useful info on 3D imaging, quantification of imaging data, and how this has been applied to the kidney. And since it's #FluorescenceFriday, sharing a figure with our own imaging data!
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
October 3, 2025 at 11:29 PM
Sharing this excellent review now out from postdoc Sarah McLarnon! Lots of useful info on 3D imaging, quantification of imaging data, and how this has been applied to the kidney. And since it's #FluorescenceFriday, sharing a figure with our own imaging data!
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Reposted by Lori O'Brien
For #FluorescenceFriday, RhoA (blue) and the actin cytoskeleton (magenta) are shown in a set of primary microglia 🔬 #Neuroscience #Microscopy
October 3, 2025 at 1:07 PM
For #FluorescenceFriday, RhoA (blue) and the actin cytoskeleton (magenta) are shown in a set of primary microglia 🔬 #Neuroscience #Microscopy
Reposted by Lori O'Brien
My entry for today’s #FluorescenceFriday: a pupal #Drosophila testis with muscles expressing
🔵 lifeact &
🔴 RFP-nls
Honored & grateful to receive an honorable mention at @healthcare.nikon.com Nikon Small World 🌍🔬✨
🔗 www.nikonsmallworld.com/galleries/20...
#NikonSmallWorld #Microscopy #ScienceArt
🔵 lifeact &
🔴 RFP-nls
Honored & grateful to receive an honorable mention at @healthcare.nikon.com Nikon Small World 🌍🔬✨
🔗 www.nikonsmallworld.com/galleries/20...
#NikonSmallWorld #Microscopy #ScienceArt
October 3, 2025 at 9:06 AM
My entry for today’s #FluorescenceFriday: a pupal #Drosophila testis with muscles expressing
🔵 lifeact &
🔴 RFP-nls
Honored & grateful to receive an honorable mention at @healthcare.nikon.com Nikon Small World 🌍🔬✨
🔗 www.nikonsmallworld.com/galleries/20...
#NikonSmallWorld #Microscopy #ScienceArt
🔵 lifeact &
🔴 RFP-nls
Honored & grateful to receive an honorable mention at @healthcare.nikon.com Nikon Small World 🌍🔬✨
🔗 www.nikonsmallworld.com/galleries/20...
#NikonSmallWorld #Microscopy #ScienceArt
For this #FluorescenceFriday, a gorgeous image of an adult mouse kidney labeled with AQP2 and alpha SMA antibodies. AQP2 (green) marks the collecting duct and distal connecting segment while SMA marks the arterial tree. Courtesy of talented postdoc Sarah McLarnon.
September 26, 2025 at 5:51 PM
For this #FluorescenceFriday, a gorgeous image of an adult mouse kidney labeled with AQP2 and alpha SMA antibodies. AQP2 (green) marks the collecting duct and distal connecting segment while SMA marks the arterial tree. Courtesy of talented postdoc Sarah McLarnon.
Rescued these two beauties today, one stuck in the parking garage stairwell and one from inside the house (and rescued from 3 very interested cats)
September 26, 2025 at 1:23 AM
Rescued these two beauties today, one stuck in the parking garage stairwell and one from inside the house (and rescued from 3 very interested cats)
Reposted by Lori O'Brien
Sensory neurons drive pancreatic cancer progression through glutamatergic neuron-cancer pseudo-synapses @cp-cancercell.bsky.social
www.cell.com/cancer-cell/...
www.cell.com/cancer-cell/...
September 25, 2025 at 3:10 PM
Sensory neurons drive pancreatic cancer progression through glutamatergic neuron-cancer pseudo-synapses @cp-cancercell.bsky.social
www.cell.com/cancer-cell/...
www.cell.com/cancer-cell/...
This is me, one of those 211. My A1 R01 renewal would have been funded otherwise, and I was even initially told they planned to fund it. Now very unlikely. No more chances with this one. We had so many good things going-how do we keep moving forward? A question many of us will be asking.
“This isn’t just about 211 missing R01 grants. This is about the 211 PIs (or multi-PI groups) that are not getting a new grant. This is about at least 422-844 non-PI level investigators who are not having their salaries covered.”
Adding up the NIH R01s lost to Multi-Year Funding drugmonkey.wordpress.com/2025/09/09/a...
September 9, 2025 at 10:40 PM
This is me, one of those 211. My A1 R01 renewal would have been funded otherwise, and I was even initially told they planned to fund it. Now very unlikely. No more chances with this one. We had so many good things going-how do we keep moving forward? A question many of us will be asking.
Reposted by Lori O'Brien
How can cells self-organize rapidly into complex patterns during development?
Let’s explore a powerful and underappreciated mechanism: Directed Cell Migration (DCM).
Preprint @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social : doi.org/10.1101/2025...
👇Thread 🧵(1/11)
Let’s explore a powerful and underappreciated mechanism: Directed Cell Migration (DCM).
Preprint @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social : doi.org/10.1101/2025...
👇Thread 🧵(1/11)
July 30, 2025 at 7:00 AM
How can cells self-organize rapidly into complex patterns during development?
Let’s explore a powerful and underappreciated mechanism: Directed Cell Migration (DCM).
Preprint @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social : doi.org/10.1101/2025...
👇Thread 🧵(1/11)
Let’s explore a powerful and underappreciated mechanism: Directed Cell Migration (DCM).
Preprint @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social : doi.org/10.1101/2025...
👇Thread 🧵(1/11)
Intermediate mesoderm isn't the sole contributor to nephrons in zebrafish-new manuscript out showing somites are a source of nephron progenitors! Very cool, dogma challenging study led by Alan Davidson's group. Many fun discussions were had-grateful for the inclusion! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Somites are a source of nephron progenitors in zebrafish - Nature Communications
This study reveals that cells of the zebrafish kidney can originate from the somites, structures traditionally held as precursors to the skeletal muscle, challenging a century-old paradigm and prompti...
www.nature.com
July 29, 2025 at 6:50 PM
Intermediate mesoderm isn't the sole contributor to nephrons in zebrafish-new manuscript out showing somites are a source of nephron progenitors! Very cool, dogma challenging study led by Alan Davidson's group. Many fun discussions were had-grateful for the inclusion! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Lori O'Brien
New, from an anonymous NIH insider: Trump is being pushed to spend more NIH money. The White House is ordering NIH to do multi-year budgets for awards. This budget trick means fewer awards, fewer labs funded, and lower paylines for researchers. 🧵
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/alert-the-...
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/alert-the-...
Alert: The Trump administration is quietly slashing new NIH grant awards, and it's not via the budget
NIH’s sudden move to multiyear grant funding is forcing shocking cuts in the number of grants funded. This is an effective budget cut. It's bad, folks.
donmoynihan.substack.com
July 28, 2025 at 2:21 PM
New, from an anonymous NIH insider: Trump is being pushed to spend more NIH money. The White House is ordering NIH to do multi-year budgets for awards. This budget trick means fewer awards, fewer labs funded, and lower paylines for researchers. 🧵
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/alert-the-...
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/alert-the-...
Reposted by Lori O'Brien
The NIH was healthiest when pay lines were in the 20th percentile range.
We are headed into an environment where pay lines are in the 5% range.
In my entire career, I’ve only had 3 grants that scored better than 5%. And my lab is considered a successful one.
This is going to destroy science.
We are headed into an environment where pay lines are in the 5% range.
In my entire career, I’ve only had 3 grants that scored better than 5%. And my lab is considered a successful one.
This is going to destroy science.
July 28, 2025 at 8:12 PM
The NIH was healthiest when pay lines were in the 20th percentile range.
We are headed into an environment where pay lines are in the 5% range.
In my entire career, I’ve only had 3 grants that scored better than 5%. And my lab is considered a successful one.
This is going to destroy science.
We are headed into an environment where pay lines are in the 5% range.
In my entire career, I’ve only had 3 grants that scored better than 5%. And my lab is considered a successful one.
This is going to destroy science.
Reposted by Lori O'Brien
A beautiful tour through an AAV-PHP.B-GFP-transduced intact cochlea as visualized via lightsheet microscopy after tissue clearing. Magenta is a hair cell marker, yellow is a neuron marker, and green is AAV-GFP (relatively low hair cell transduction rate in this specific sample).
July 24, 2025 at 3:59 PM
A beautiful tour through an AAV-PHP.B-GFP-transduced intact cochlea as visualized via lightsheet microscopy after tissue clearing. Magenta is a hair cell marker, yellow is a neuron marker, and green is AAV-GFP (relatively low hair cell transduction rate in this specific sample).
#FluorescenceFriday! Thanks BPoD!
Comeback Kidney: Mapping the nerves in the developing kidney
📹 Pierre-Emmanuel Y. N’Guetta et al @llobrienlab.bsky.social lab, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in
@cp-cellreports.bsky.social
➡️ bpod.org.uk/archive/2025... with John Ankers
📹 Pierre-Emmanuel Y. N’Guetta et al @llobrienlab.bsky.social lab, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in
@cp-cellreports.bsky.social
➡️ bpod.org.uk/archive/2025... with John Ankers
July 12, 2025 at 1:03 AM
#FluorescenceFriday! Thanks BPoD!
Surprise catch while surf fishing! No baby sharks harmed, was safely released back into the ocean. 🦈
July 2, 2025 at 12:08 PM
Surprise catch while surf fishing! No baby sharks harmed, was safely released back into the ocean. 🦈
For #FluorescenceFriday I'm sharing the fantastic work of postdoc Sarah McLarnon! A follow up to our '23 Development paper where we asked: Does precise vascular patterning matter for function and what happens after ischemic injury? The results were surprising! journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10....
June 20, 2025 at 8:06 PM
For #FluorescenceFriday I'm sharing the fantastic work of postdoc Sarah McLarnon! A follow up to our '23 Development paper where we asked: Does precise vascular patterning matter for function and what happens after ischemic injury? The results were surprising! journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10....
Evening visitor to the feeder showing off the ruby throat 😍
May 18, 2025 at 12:24 PM
Evening visitor to the feeder showing off the ruby throat 😍
Check out the latest from Alan Davidson’s lab (of zf kidney regeneration fame) showing somites contribute to making nephrons in zebrafish. GESTALT, Cre lineage tracing, and zf somite transplants 😱. Love a good story that challenges dogma. Great discussions were had!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Somites are a source of nephron progenitors in zebrafish
For over a century it has been believed that the vertebrate kidney arises exclusively from the intermediate mesoderm. Here, we overturn this paradigm by demonstrating that some nephrons, the functiona...
www.biorxiv.org
April 30, 2025 at 12:17 AM
Check out the latest from Alan Davidson’s lab (of zf kidney regeneration fame) showing somites contribute to making nephrons in zebrafish. GESTALT, Cre lineage tracing, and zf somite transplants 😱. Love a good story that challenges dogma. Great discussions were had!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Lori O'Brien
WATCH: Elephants at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park react to Monday's 5.2 magnitude earthquake that shook San Diego County. The elephants formed an "alert circle" meant to protect the young and the entire herd from any threats, according to the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance.
April 14, 2025 at 10:46 PM
WATCH: Elephants at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park react to Monday's 5.2 magnitude earthquake that shook San Diego County. The elephants formed an "alert circle" meant to protect the young and the entire herd from any threats, according to the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance.
Reposted by Lori O'Brien
Finally out! Brittney Voigt et al show the shared role of Inppl1a expansion of notochord vacuolated cells and also for hypertrophy of chondorcytes and bone lengthening. @currentbiology.bsky.social www.cell.com/current-biol...
Cell expansion for notochord mechanics and endochondral bone lengthening in zebrafish depends on the 5′-inositol phosphatase Inppl1a
Voigt et al. show that the 5′-inositol phosphatase gene inppl1a drives notochord expansion
independent of vacuole fusion. Defects in notochord expansion are exacerbated by locomotion,
causing more sev...
www.cell.com
April 9, 2025 at 3:49 PM
Finally out! Brittney Voigt et al show the shared role of Inppl1a expansion of notochord vacuolated cells and also for hypertrophy of chondorcytes and bone lengthening. @currentbiology.bsky.social www.cell.com/current-biol...
Reposted by Lori O'Brien
20 minutes ago here in Venetie, Alaska, the skies erupted in a beautiful auroral substorm. Here is just one of many real-time videos I recorded during the show to give you a sense of how fast and dynamic the aurora can move.
March 23, 2025 at 8:24 AM
20 minutes ago here in Venetie, Alaska, the skies erupted in a beautiful auroral substorm. Here is just one of many real-time videos I recorded during the show to give you a sense of how fast and dynamic the aurora can move.
Reposted by Lori O'Brien
A friend drove two hours today for her breast cancer chemotherapy only to learn it was canceled due to NIH cuts. Clinical trial ended midstream. No treatment, no restart, no plan, no information. Her bro-in-law's chemo was also canceled.
March 20, 2025 at 8:24 PM
A friend drove two hours today for her breast cancer chemotherapy only to learn it was canceled due to NIH cuts. Clinical trial ended midstream. No treatment, no restart, no plan, no information. Her bro-in-law's chemo was also canceled.
Reposted by Lori O'Brien
When you've been in the cell culture hood all day and finally get to take off your gloves:
March 6, 2025 at 8:21 PM
When you've been in the cell culture hood all day and finally get to take off your gloves: