Tim Stearns @StearnsLab

Professor and Dean at The Rockefeller University. Cell biologist. Believer in the power of science education. New York, NY Joined November 2010

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Tim Stearns @StearnsLab

2 months ago

There is little new in the world. American Journal of Psychology, 1899. doi.org/10.2307/1412661

Dr. César Marín @cesarmarin203

2 months ago

Very nice paper with a necessary discussion. Also Im glad to see microbiologists taking this step.

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Tim Stearns @StearnsLab

2 months ago

@fordycelab @Ali_SyedRaza @anshulkundaje @AakaashMeduri @davidasinclair 💯

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Suliana Manley 🔬🗜🧫 @SulianaManley

2 months ago

So happy to see this study “in print”, being part of this discovery has been a delight and it’s great to hear different perspectives on it’s implications

Science Magazine @ScienceMagazine

2 months ago

In a new Science study, researchers describe how dynamic and reversible mitochondrial membrane constrictions, called “pearling,” spatially organize mtDNA molecules. The findings reveal a mechanistic link between mitochondrial membrane remodeling and mtDNA biology. 📄:

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Zihan Xu @xu_zxu

2 months ago

PerturbFate is officially out in @Nature today! From chromatin to RNA, we dissect the causal regulatory logic linking genotype to phenotype. Huge thanks to my PhD advisor @junyue_cao @Wei_Zhou_1989, and @RockefellerUniv for providing such an incredible research home!

Rockefeller University @RockefellerUniv

2 months ago

A @Nature study from Rockefeller's @junyue_cao describes a new platform called PerturbFate that reveals how diverse genetic perturbations funnel into shared disease states, a method that could unlock therapeutic targets for complex diseases. 🔗: bit.ly/4thIsRw

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euan ashley @euanashley

2 months ago

New AI paper from us this week. When my student first showed me his initial findings, I really didn’t know what to make of them. I felt that this was an interesting but curious loophole phenomenon that would shortly be closed. I was very wrong. arxiv.org/abs/2603.21687

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Li Zhao @lizzyzhao

3 months ago

We wrote a review on using machine learning to study evolutionary genetics and molecular evolution in Trends in Genetics @TrendsGenetics . It is open access—please read it if you are interested in this topic sciencedirect.com/science/articl…

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Tim Stearns @StearnsLab

3 months ago

Unlocked article link: nytimes.com/2026/03/20/sci…

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Tim Stearns @StearnsLab

3 months ago

David Botstein was one of the giants of genetics and genomics, my mentor, colleague and friend. nytimes.com/2026/03/20/sci…

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Rockefeller University @RockefellerUniv

3 months ago

Most mass spectrometers still analyze molecules one or just a few at a time. Now, a new MultiQ-IT prototype from Rockefeller's Brian Chait described in @ScienceAdvances can cool, trap, filter, and redirect over a billion ions simultaneously. 🔗: bit.ly/47FWUd6

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Tim Stearns @StearnsLab

3 months ago

Excellent example of how AI tools can be engines for learning concepts, not just finding an answer: openai.com/index/new-ways…

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Genetics Society of America @GeneticsGSA

3 months ago

David Botstein, a titan within the scientific community, died last week. GSA mourns his passing and celebrates his legacy. Read more about his significance to our community in this thread ⬇️🧵

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Rockefeller University @RockefellerUniv

3 months ago

Huge congratulations to Gabriella Chua (@BadAtCloning) and Andrea Terceros, 2026 recipients of the Weintraub Award! The award, given by @fredhutch, is considered among the most prestigious prizes for graduate students in the biosciences: bit.ly/4sfaxI9

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Junyue @junyue_cao

3 months ago

New paper alert 🚀 Our organism-wide single-cell ATAC-seq atlas of mammalian aging is now out in @ScienceMagazine, led by our fantastic graduate student @ziyu__lu from @RockefellerUniv! science.org/doi/10.1126/sc…

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Prachee Avasthi @PracheeAC

4 months ago

Ok so I tried out the tool on an area where I’m an expert where I already have very strong knowledge of the literature and understanding of the prevailing wisdom of the field. I also input a dataset I generated and analyzed myself (literally with my hands) so I knew the methodology backwards and forwards. Quick aside to define some terms: nearly all of your cells have an antenna, a cilium, that does two way communication to sense and transmit signals and its length has everything to do with its function. Hundreds of genes are involved in the formation, maintenance, and function of this antenna. When they’re mutated, you get a whole host of multi-symptom disorders from blindness to sterility to developmental disorders to kidney disease and and and and …. The mechanisms that affect cilium length/function are therefore of great translational interest. The dataset I generated (like 15+ years ago) was a chemical screen of 1280 FDA approved drugs with known targets to identify mechanisms affecting cilium length and function. The hypothesis it generated with the greatest surprisal score was an interesting one. The prior was indeed a vague opinion I held, that on the basis of existing research, there was a potential mechanistic tie between cilium resorption and autotomy (self-severing in response to stress). Think shrinking vs. severing. Various studies showed the activities occur in tandem or in sequence. And number of cellular processes involve both. The two activities can be independent and separable but the relationship is unclear and suggestive. The tool suggested due to insufficient evidence (not statistically significant) of enrichment of shortening drugs among severing set and vice versa that the data don’t support a shared mechanism. And there’s relatively little overlap between the compounds that result in both outcomes. So despite the suggestive evidence of a link, these specific data don’t support it. So what do I think about this conclusion? A hypothesis presumed to be true for which the null based on the data cannot be rejected. As always with AI, I’m not using it to replace my thinking but it’s making me think differently and more deeply. About the prior evidence too. And indeed even the evidence of shared mechanism in shrinking and severing are vaguely suggestive but not clearly demonstrated. But also the lack of mutual enrichment given the bias in the library and relatively small N is certainly no nail in the coffin. So interpretation of imperfect data via other imperfect data is well…imperfect. But this exercise is immensely useful and it has meaningfully changed my perspective. The lab experiments I’d propose to tease it apart are different. And I wouldn’t just throw up my hands and be opinionated about the parsimonious model based on what’s known (objectively little) but would instead be more precise in the perception of likelihoods in my mind. Once again, I implore scientists to not live or die by the specific outputs of these models and tools but enjoy the absolute richness of the experience of being given a jet pack. That we get to live in this technological moment as scientists is hard to fully appreciate. Making scientists better and ask harder questions previously not sufficiently explored IS making science better even if it doesn’t yet replace us.

Prachee Avasthi @PracheeAC

4 months ago

Let’s go! This from @allen_ai is the coolest thing I’ve seen in a while. Instead of automating the human scientist approach to hypothesize the glaring thing prior information points to, this is an automated discovery tool that measures how much an LLM’s prior belief about a

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Ryan K. Louie, MD, PhD @ryanlouie

4 months ago

This was from 7 years ago, but it continues to be one of my favorite posts of all time. Thank you @StearnsLab for your very kind support always!

Tim Stearns @StearnsLab

7 years ago

@ManuelTHERY @MadS100tist @AnnCavanaugh327 And there is this patent, from @ryanlouie, when he was a grad student at Stanford: “Metallic Nanowires Cast from Microtubule Lumens” I was on his thesis committee, and it was a crazy side project. patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/ef/48/03/1be9e…

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Itai Yanai @ItaiYanai

5 months ago

NYC Postdocs! Interesting in using comedy in the creative scientific process? NYC Postdoc Night Science will have its first 2026 meeting on Feb. 11 at @NYULH_postdocs. I'll lead this with the amazing stand-up comedian Sarah Adelman! Free registration: docs.google.com/forms/d/11SztT…

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Tim Stearns @StearnsLab

5 months ago

@Archaeon_Alex Best wishes for a great start at Indiana, Alex! I look forward to hearing about your Great Salt Lake project. The microbialites are so interesting!

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Tim Stearns @StearnsLab

5 months ago

@KoenenMascha @ScienceMagazine @LeducqCardioBAT @ar_dilorenzo @Revson_Fdn Beautiful work @KoenenMascha !

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Rockefeller University @RockefellerUniv

5 months ago

A study in @ScienceMagazine from Paul Cohen's lab, led by @KoenenMascha, demonstrates how beige fat directly influences blood pressure. The findings offer a new target for treating vascular disease and could lead to more precise therapies for hypertension: rockefeller.edu/news/38906-how…

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Christophe Leterrier @christlet

5 months ago

🚨The Neurocyto lab is branching out in our latest preprint! We used tubulin microinjection to visualize microtubule turnover in developing neurons, demonstrating the presence of in-lattice repair and stabilization in the nascent axon. Check below 🧵1/9 biorxiv.org/content/10.648…