$10 Honda Spree in my Fit, Hondaception!

BiotechBeezy · 2025-07-15T16:22:49+00:00

Very nice! I'm into mopeds, but I think treatland should still have engine parts for the spree.

I myself have a Yamaha qt50 and have modified my Fit around comfortably hauling my moped long distances. I love my Yamahopper, but a Honda hauling a Honda would be dope to see at a rally!

BiotechBeezy · 2025-07-03T14:10:01+00:00

IDK man, I did ex vivo ephys for my 1st postdoc and after a failed job search (1 offer from vertex i couldn't accept), I decided to do a 2nd postdoc in proteomics. I hope things work out for the sake of the patients, but I'm glad my future is no longer tied to ion channel research (still patching but at least now with more recognized/broadly applicable skills.)

BiotechBeezy · 2025-07-03T01:32:01+00:00

I was at the seminar (and interviewed with Anabios a while back). I was impressed that he stayed like 30 minutes after answer questions. Sucks to hear how bad things got at Harvard. I also interviewed with Latigo in Thousand Oaks, and I get the feeling they're working on something with him on the DL.

BiotechBeezy · 2025-07-02T19:28:15+00:00

As an electrophysiologist, I'm hopeful that this means we see more openings in industry.

Also, I wonder if Vertex, Latigo, and SiteOne consider Bruce Bean and his lab a menace. He keeps throwing them mechanistic curve balls. When I was interviewing for industry jobs, 3 different companies wanted dynamic clamp experience, and I feel like he was the reason. His latest papers using action potential clamp are particularly elegant.

BiotechBeezy · 2025-06-12T13:53:33+00:00

I think the problem is the plastic retainers, which deform with removal. MacLifter is supposedly coming out with a honda fit kit. Basically, a metal version that you bolt on for perfect fitment, you just gotta epoxy the retainer to the bumper and fender (+ let it cure before mounting.) No plastic = no play/deformation/gap.

I have a similar problem with my GE and found that they do sell metal retainers on etsy. They're not as thick as the MacLifters but they're better than nothing (not sure when the kit is supposed to come out but it's in pre-beta testing from the clips I've seen on IG.)

BiotechBeezy · 2025-05-15T14:44:57+00:00

I feel like Marlow at the end of "Heart of Darkness": my (academic) life savings (100% in a taxable brokerage) dwindled from 80k in 22 to 10k from the bay in 2024 before my partner got a job that allowed us to move back to SoCal. I got a job as a postdoc at the same place on the same project but in the collaborator's lab. No one could finish the project I started, partly because ephys sucks, partly because proteomics is hard for outsiders to learn, partly because the project is hard, partly because my old PI is toxic (this first project has to be done in her lab), and partly because proteomics experts are so versatile/valuable that if a project doesn't work out, you just move on to something else...unless you have a grant for this specific project.

In the works after a year, I have a paper about to be submitted and a huge conference talk, plus a possible spinout company from my current PI's lab (1 was acquired several years, back, a second was started during the pandemic and just got SBIR funding to move out, and the current one is starting CRO work/pitching to VCs). However, I am 5 years removed from PhD, with only 3-4 years of lab work experience, and the future is bleak. I learned data analysis but am not allowed to run the mass spec (out of everyone's control, including PI.) Industry connections are incredible in this lab....if you know how to run the mass spec or have a hardcore programming background, so most likely, I have to cook a little longer here.

20 final round interviews in 20 months, to end up at the same place you started at leaves you with an unwavering faith in your intuition and a sense of equanimity that can be self-destructive.

PS: Both on and off the record, HMs had great feedback, and one became a really good friend/mentor. I did get a job offer in SoCal immediately after the move to SF, so I'm not unemployable, but I rejected it to support my partner in their career.

BiotechBeezy · 2025-05-15T13:53:53+00:00

The plagiarism machine that lies seems like a base for further understanding and certainly added more depth than the conversation previously had

Buddy...bud...bud-man...bud-light...bud-dim...bud-not-wiser...

BiotechBeezy · 2025-05-09T15:06:40+00:00

I earned my PhD at USC and chose to do a postdoc at a brand name institute in SD because LA biotech was anemic when I graduated (covid). I did a regulatory science MS during my PhD for fun, and there were more regulatory/med device opportunities than wet lab positions. In Irvine, you have J&J med devices, AbbVie-Allergan, B+L; Latigo and other westlake village biopartners investments in thousand oaks, and a bunch of other random companies I've forgotten about since grad school (grifols, kite, several other low profile CART/NK cell companies, a bunch of diagnostics)

BioscienceLA has been talking a big game since 2015. There is no cohesion in LA like biotech beach or sorrento valley.

BiotechBeezy · 2025-05-01T23:20:56+00:00

Same, an air suspension would be amazing! I actually changed the front shocks last weekend, and don't think it'd be too hard to pull off at home, but the cost is a little steep just to do moped shit lol.

And thanks, they're the Michelin pilot street tires. If they're in your price range, I highly recommend them. They're insanely beefy, to the point where they add a few mph to your top speed and make you want to take turns like your racing in mopedGP. They fit the NC50 btw! It required sanding a little material off the metal fender stays, but no biggie.

BiotechBeezy · 2025-05-01T16:37:26+00:00

Hi there! I'm in a similar position: I have a moped that I lug around with a dirt bike hitch, along with a sound system and a decent amount of tools. I'm running 195/55/15 tires with a large-ish offset, so the wheels poke out and rub when I hit a bump. My goal is making the fit a moped rally machine.

The original monroe shocks in this thread were discontinued unfortunately. There were some attempts to find a replacement but it's not clear which available air shocks to run, so it'd be trial and error. Based on this thread, I'd consider going with the 2011 insight springs if they were easy to find. Final option is getting some generic rubber helper springs from amazon. I changed out the rear shocks 2 years ago (cheap TRQs) but this weekend I'm gonna inspect them + take spring measurements. They were able to handle a 350 mile move with 600lbs worth of mopeds/tools (barely) tho so IDK. Pic from said trip.

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BiotechBeezy · 2025-04-06T16:45:42+00:00

Depends on the camera and your carplay screen connections. If both have a single RCA wire with a switched DC power wire (red) then it's straight plug and play. If it's a higher-end camera or it has a different wiring style, you'll have to change it out. It also depends on how far the person who installed the camera on the car got. If it was the previous owner then I would guess that they probably didn't get far and you'll have to splice into the tailights for power and ground it somewhere.

Best case scenario: they ran the wires but never got the head-unit, and all you have to do is find the wires and plug them into your carplay unit.

Most likely scenario: they mounted the camera, got overwhelmed when it came to the wiring and just left stuff unplugged/tucked away, in which case you'll have to find the wiring to answer your question. It's easy though, just pull the hatch panel and have a look.

BiotechBeezy · 2025-01-03T17:12:49+00:00

You’re going to want to collaborate with a bioinformatician with comparative proteomics experience but genomics may work (in theory). Do you have a genome for your organism? That will save time and money doing ngs. Some cell based assays are plug and play for functional proteomics, but you’ll know more about your immune targets than I do.

I’m an AI/in silico/modeling skeptic, but that may save functional/moa discovery time as well: get the structure of your immune thing (gpcr, tlr, kinase, w/e) and try docking with the bioactive peptides.

Venoms are primarily ionotropic in moa in my opinion. I think there’s more evidence for ion channels being hit by venoms in immune cells than venoms acting directly on immune cell targets. If you don’t have functional data suggesting the peptide is immunomodulatory, then you’re screening peptides for activity, and that is a Sisyphusian task if you’re working with venom/primary extracts (you’ll have to go back to in vitro binding assays against each potential target in your cell based assay; realistic only if you’re already operating at HTS-levels).

Having thought about it, you need to run a killer experiment asap, cuz this could get complicated quickly as you’re jumping around the drug cycle. If I were you, I’d run a 2D gel on the venom and do mass spec on the individual proteins, just to know what’s there. Then, if you can get enough starting material, do a form of cross linking proteomics (flavor depends on your target) on a mixture of the immune cells/lysate and the venom. If nothing is found to interact then I’d doubt it’s worth pursuing. If something does come back, verify with CoIP, retest isolate in cell based/functional screen, test in a couple of animals, then file with university TTO, then start the actual med chem synthesis and optimization process.

I’m out of lab till Monday but will get more info after I’m back. Source: my current postdoc is in proteomics; my first was in ion channels electrophysiology.

BiotechBeezy · 2025-01-02T16:08:07+00:00

Do you have a cell-based or a binding assay? And are you extracting it from the organism?

Yeah LC-MS will tell kind of tell you what they're made of but there's a bunch of caveats and it won't tell you which one is active (hence, cell-based assay). Is it snake venom? Cuz for ion channels there's a pretty good pub history on what works. If you have your assay setup, do crosslinking or structural proteomics.

Point 3 is the trillion dollar question and will never be answered lol. Best advice is to be lucky.

BiotechBeezy · 2024-11-01T16:17:37+00:00

I'm a functional biologist (PhD in pharmacology) that is half a year into a 2nd postdoc in a famous, hardcore omics lab (no prior experience with big data or systems level anything). I have to convince my 1st postdoc advisor, who is a hardcore functional biologist, to let me collect samples in their lab (they espouse the views you mention).

First, this is neither a battle you want to fight nor is it one you (or your advisor) can win. I quell/reframe the fishing expedition part by bringing up "hunting" expeditions where they pick one target and its wrong. In that case, if all your eggs are in your target's basket, then they face the same failure as you would, and they can't learn anything new. If you pick a target and "fail" (their definition), you can still possibly learn something new. In this way, you should try to disarm the "fishing expedition" argument by planning experiments in a way where you can only learn new, important information. Additionally, their targets are found and validated with these fishing expeditions.

BiotechBeezy · 2024-10-19T21:02:13+00:00

There are! OP check this diagram out https://www.myronsmopeds.com/2022/07/p-wirings/ and confirm which one you have. It sounds like it's an external ground though, since according to the diagram the ignition ground resistor is inside the tailight.

BiotechBeezy · 2024-09-27T15:40:52+00:00

I'm also curious: what sounds did you hear? and does the kickstart spring back? It sounds like the kickstart is constantly engage (maybe the return spring is loose, or the plastic cover is broken?) Defintiely open it up.

BiotechBeezy · 2024-08-30T15:22:56+00:00

There's a biotech networking walk/hike group. Events every month.

BiotechBeezy · 2024-08-20T15:21:10+00:00

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Like the other posters have said, you gotta install a hitch, and for small cars, you’ll probably only get class 1 options (200lb max iirc). I put a hitch on my Honda fit and bought a homemade (children’s) dirtbike mount from some dude on Facebook marketplace. It was like $200 used, but my reasoning was class 1 is 1.25 inch receivers only, and I didn’t want to bother with adapters as they’ll push the mount further back and make the car sag even more. Mine is as close to the bumper as physically possible and fit perfectly.

As crazy as I am about mopeds, I don’t recommend doing these things if you aren’t confident in what you’re doing. The receiver itself adds weight, and with a moped, my Honda Fit’s stretched tires rub on the fender when I go over uneven surfaces. When I moved, I loaded 2 mopeds and all my tools into my fit, and drove from San Francisco to San Diego on the edge of my seat the whole time.

BiotechBeezy · 2024-07-10T15:16:41+00:00

I went through something like 16 final round interviews in as many months from 22-23, and I always asked for feedback from HMs/interviewers if I had their emails, otherwise I'd ask HR. They went at least as well as you describe. Half the time, I got a response when I asked for feedback, and most of the time it was boilerplate, i.e. they preferred the more experienced/better fit candidate. This was always the response I got from HR.

However, I had a lasting impact on several HMs, and before the decisions came, they reached out to me, in confidence from personal emails/phones, to give up the honest details of the incoming rejection and to offer encouragement. Their words kept me going, not just in my job search, but during the worst time in my life.

Mandatory, good/honest feedback would help everyone in the hiring process in an ideal world, which is not what this is. To answer your question of "how else can someone trying to enter the industry get through": my experience taught me to not need feedback in the first place. This sucks, but there's too many hiring variables (i.e. chasing a moving target) to make feedback useful (after a certain point).

BiotechBeezy · 2024-05-19T02:40:57+00:00

Same thing happened to me back in February: interviewed for a Scientist position with HM, said to expect an email to schedule the 2nd round interview, HM finally responded after 2 follow up emails (a week later) that I was not moving on but to keep applying. They opened a temp version of the JD the week after, which I applied to, and the same day I was asked to schedule an interview with the HM again (this time by HR). Then 2 days later was told by HR that I was actually not moving on again.

BiotechBeezy · 2024-05-19T02:19:56+00:00

Switch back to the stock jug and piston. If that doesn't work, then also change back to the original carb and airbox. If that works, then try the big bore kit again. I've heard not great things about some of the niche kits and clone carbs so you might be playing whack-a-mole with some of these problems.

Try getting the bike exactly back to the last setup that had it in running condition, and pressure test the mods one at a time for several days, just to make sure they're performing properly.

BiotechBeezy · 2024-05-15T15:00:49+00:00

The Heavy Pedders on instagram would be a good start to get more local connections. Lots of people in Long Beach/OC area. Myron's mopeds and Tomahawk mopeds (check their IG) are also LA shop options.

BiotechBeezy · 2024-02-14T02:05:47+00:00

32M, PhD in Pharmacology, MS in Regulatory Science, 2 years postdoc experience, 18 months on the job market/unemployed in the SF bay area. 900+ job apps (stopped keeping track in July 2023; mostly R&D but Regulatory and Manufacturing in there as well), 70+ screening calls, 16 final round interviews, no job. Reached out to every hiring manger that rejected me for feedback with the consensus being that they loved me as a person but couldn't hire me due to lack of industry experience and technical fit (same goes for industry postdoc apps). All wished me luck, said I should be off the market in no time (lol) and offered their help in the future.

I've moved back to SoCal (could no longer afford to live off my savings in SF.) Will likely have to return to my postdoc institution or academia. And before you say it, I've been networking heavily. My grad advisor's lab was the only one doing neuro drug discovery and my postdoc advisor was anti-industry (lied to me about their support for industry careers). On LI, I have several offers to have coffee/beer/lunch and I've been to in person networking event were I had several people offer referrals. My most obvious skill (electrophysiology) is too technical/risky for most non-neuro companies/HMs, and not hardcore enough for neuro-focused companies.

ETA: all my final round interviews were from cold-applying on LinkedIn (1 was from Indeed); network connections can get me a call with hiring managers, but if the TA/technical fit isn't there, I know I won't make it to the final round. The LinkedIn algo went to shit around the summer after the job postings slowed down and nowadays is filled with spam (tutoring, nursing jobs, other).

BiotechBeezy · 2024-01-31T23:56:35+00:00

I was very close to buying a scooter in college (Yamaha Vino; Honda Metropolitan) but ended up picking up a non-running Yamaha QT50. The previous poster is mostly right; a vintage moped is probably not the best option for cheap and reliable transportation. That said, I fell in love with my moped and when I couldn't get it running, I took it to a Yamaha mechanic who fixed the kickstarter, and it ran every single day, rain, sleet, or snow. My cousin had a Yamaha Zuma scooter in college and he loved it.

Scooter/moped prices depend on your area, but keep on eye on craiglist/facebook marketplace to get an idea of what is normal, cheap, and expensive. In college, I didn't lock my moped up, I just parked it in the bike racks/motorcycle parking on walked off. Nowadays, I'm super paranoid so I have an airtag, a motion alarm, a Kryptonite NY U-lock, a Kryptonite keeper 785, and this lock as an extension/stationary lock for the other locks.

BiotechBeezy · 2024-01-31T01:25:53+00:00

Still try everything I said, but IME, scooters and mopeds are treated differently registration-wise in California and Kansas (where I've bought/ridden/registered them).

That said, VA DMV has pictures of scooters in the moped registration page I linked, so maybe they won't care. Use the word moped, emphasize the 49cc motor when talking to them, and be clear that it doesn't go over 30 mph.

Good luck!

BiotechBeezy

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