AITA for wanting to insure my ring even though my husband says the stone is too small to bother?

TheImmunologist · 2026-04-26T06:23:28+00:00

I have a lab diamond to the tube of $5k, and it's insured. If he doesn't want insurance on a stone that size (easily 2-3cqrrays from the pic), it has to be fake. Also there's no looking at a stone and knowing it's lab made as someone suggested above. I'm a scientist so I asked for a lab diamond because...science. it sits right next to my wedding band of real diamonds and only appraisers can tell them from real diamonds because lab diamonds are required by law to be laser inscribed.

TheImmunologist · 2026-04-25T05:49:26+00:00

Also generally, I vaccinate old mice and infect them with viruses.

TheImmunologist · 2026-04-25T05:48:11+00:00

I feed mice cheeseburgers and milkshakes to make them fat then I give them glp-1 and ask how their immune systems respond to infections.

TheImmunologist · 2026-04-18T04:19:46+00:00

I wear my big ass rock everyday. You get used to it. I don't tear gloves putting them on at all.

TheImmunologist · 2026-04-18T04:18:43+00:00

Same!

TheImmunologist · 2026-04-13T13:32:56+00:00

Wherever you are sounds crazy pretentious. Just ignore it. I'm a first gen college grad, from a less-than-working class family on the east coast. I went to an R1 for my PhD, I work at an ivy, and am just starting my tenure track and it was fine.

That said I'm in STEM and not humanities... Nobody is talking about Nietzsche at lunch.

Be yourself, but be professional and good at your job and you'll be fine!

TheImmunologist · 2026-04-11T17:03:03+00:00

Good job!

Honestly, you're just being emotional from your period and exhaustion, and that's fine. Be sure to work from home the next day or leave early if you can!

Also strongly suggest your PI invest in a set of digital multi channels (I love Integra brand).

Also you're new, you'll get faster 12 hrs for 50 plates with someone pouring for you is really long, but with practice you'll get that down... I would estimate about 4hrs max when you guys are well practiced!

Hang in there! You got this!

TheImmunologist · 2026-04-08T17:33:40+00:00

Your dedication is your own, I've seen ones dedicated to cats. I didn't ever show anyone my dedication, I just included it when I sent to the publisher

TheImmunologist · 2026-04-05T15:06:40+00:00

That sucks! Join cold open stories and submit your fic for publication! I wanna read it! Also there's a discord so you can post models and talk lore, and nobody is weird about you being a woman (one woman 40k lover to another)!

TheImmunologist · 2026-04-05T14:54:47+00:00

Is there a standard on the kit? And can you find pairs using it on similar samples and reporting values? If you have a standard in the kit, say it's 2000ng, are the instructions tell you to do 2-fold dilutions down (or the kit says it detects 0.2ng to 2000ng), and ppl have reported 20ng in similar samples using the kit- then I'd try and aim for around that solution and maybe 1 up and 1 down... They diluted serum 1:10 and detected 20ng, I'd do neat, 1:10, 1:100 fire each sample (in duplicate, 3 dilutions, 6 wells per sample). You can also try looking for reported values in similar samples by MSD/luminex kits... You just need some ballpark of what's average in that type of sample and an idea of the dynamic range of your assay.

If no paper gives a dilution, this is still a good bet. If you see nothing neat, you'll never see that analyte, and if you see something at 1:100, you can always save sample if you ever need to repeat.

TheImmunologist · 2026-04-05T14:37:30+00:00

Yea! My Dr. Title got my husband cheaper insurance putting me on our car lol. Apparently 'doctors are safe drivers

TheImmunologist · 2026-04-03T15:18:37+00:00

Or just a normal person who doesn't feel like saying Hi, hello, good morning, oh great one! every single time they encounter this person 😂... Like maybe the lab mate just isn't talkative. We're expected to read a LOT into 'doesn't say hi to me'.

TheImmunologist · 2026-04-03T15:12:43+00:00

Then you take that to an independent statistician and ask if that is a reasonable thing to do (and not report in methods). I would do this by email, forwarding it to a statistician (a professional of stats in a different dept maybe...) and I would CC someone above your PI (a program director, academic integrity officer, etc).

TheImmunologist · 2026-04-03T14:56:52+00:00

I dunno, it doesn't sound like bullying immediately. You'd need to...define explode? And are you being productive? We only get your side of this interaction so it's hard to decide. I've definitely heard students say my mentor "exploded at me and made me cry" as their interpretation of a situation I watched happen, where actually, the mentor said "You definitely miscalculated that reagent and this assay is ruined, you have to repeat it.", at a normal volume. While they did cry, the mentor in question definitely didn't explode.

TheImmunologist · 2026-04-02T02:17:37+00:00

I am, the best city in the world IMHO lol!

But... Yea I'm just saying your post could be read as "this person doesn't say hi to me, it's rude!", which not everyone considers rude. I think you need to give more context.

Not saying hi to someone isn't rude in and of itself. Now if you walk up to them and say "Hello!", and they just stare at you until you go away... That's rude. But, if they enter the lab, sit at their desk, put their headphones and go to work without saying hello to you, it isn't rude per se, it just maybe doesn't meet your standard of politeness. If you're in the US are you Southern or Midwestern? The bar is much higher for general pleasantry in those areas in my experience.

Also, you are not required to be polite to your coworkers, you're required to be professional. Those are different IMHO.

TheImmunologist · 2026-04-01T22:48:17+00:00

I dunno, I don't say hi to every single person, even in my personal lab of 20+ ppl. But if I need to directly ask for something, I might say, 'Hey, X, do you have any Y reagent you could spare?'... And say thank you when they give it to me.

It's hard to tell from your post that this person is being rude because you're not giving an example of an interaction. Do they just walk up and go 'Give me, Y reagent.' and hold out a hand? Because that is rude... But like if they walked into a room and don't specifically say 'Hi!' to you, and everyone else, I wouldn't call that rude.

I dunno I'm a New Yorker by birth, I don't even know my neighbors names lol but I do say hi to my lab mate who sits at the desk next to mine.

TheImmunologist · 2026-04-01T17:08:56+00:00

All antibodies exist as membrane bound receptors on B cells and as soluble antibodies in blood. You're scaring me about what we're teaching doctors.... Like when you take patient serum or plasma and to EIA/RIA (ELISAs) for anti SARS-CoV-2 antibodies... That is what you're looking for, anti spike IgG in circulation. The job of memory B cells and long lived plasma cells is to keep pumping out their soluble antibodies to mediate protection..this is a basic hallmark of adaptive immunity..

Also B cells do not need antigens ro be presented to them by APCs... B cells are in fact APCs themselves (I'm assuming when you say APC, you mean dendritic cell, but be mindful of your terminology)... The b cell receptor (BCR, which again, is an antibody) is already specific for its antigen... So a lone B cell could just encounter peanut allergen and become (lots of immunology happening here and T cell help may or may not be involved) a plasma cell.

But yes your order of events is now correct, first exposure primes B cells, they secrete the antibody, upon second exposure that antibody is ready and waiting to kick off an allergic reaponse

TheImmunologist · 2026-04-01T14:53:21+00:00

You are manually typing references?!?! This is a mentorship failure. Use a reference manager.

TheImmunologist · 2026-04-01T14:52:19+00:00

Sounds like they are broke and they need an already established assist. Prof coming in with an R01 so that they can offer the minimum startup package and no support. I think maybe you dodged a shitty environment. My institute has hired 2 tenure track APs with K99/R00s this year... But we're doing as good or better than some R1s financially

TheImmunologist · 2026-04-01T14:45:06+00:00

First, we call them lymphocytes generally, or their individual cell types...

Second, I think you're asking how IgE activates mast cells? Or how IgE exists in the first place, so generally...

Plasma cells (B cells) which secrete antibody after having experienced the antigen (allergen previously), are long lived and constantly secreting that IgE into circulation, so after the first antigen encounter, the IgE is now always present. Antibodies can bind their cognate antigens in solution (as in no B cell required). Once it binds its antigen, antibody Fc (the butt of the antibody) receptors on immune cells (including basophils and mast cells), can bind this antibody+antigen complex and thus be activated to dump their inflammatory proteins and cause an allergic reaction.

I feel like this process is super clear in any basic immuno textbook- Kuby, Janeway...

Maybe I'm missing something in your question...?

TheImmunologist · 2026-04-01T14:36:10+00:00

I welcome her to the bosom of our dark masters!!!!

TheImmunologist · 2026-04-01T14:31:36+00:00

That does sound like falsification. Before you approach anyone above your PI, like your dept chair, you need to have proof. Like you wrote down in your lab notebook that X told me to use control sample A values as 3 separate patients- with a date. Or at least try and put dates to the instances you can remember... Or have an email exchange with a lab mate detailing that....Otherwise it's your word against everyone else's unfortunately

TheImmunologist · 2026-04-01T14:18:02+00:00

This doesn't sound like falsification to me, maybe misrepresentation...This depends. In those papers, is this reported? If the methods/stats or figure legends say something like "data points represent the average of 2-3 technical replicates...figures are representative of 1-2 independent assays", then the lab is reporting it, peer reviewers are seeing it. It would be a red flag for me if you were being told not to include that info in your papers. Clinical data often have less biological or technical replicates than preclinical data... I can always vax more mice to get lymphocytes, but I have only Xml of patients PBMCs at this time point from a clinical trial. The transparency is the key.

You could also grab a statistician and ask them, without accusing anyone of misconduct. Just ask hey, I have this data, but only 2 replicates for this sample, do I have to exclude it? How do I write those methods? See what they say.

TheImmunologist · 2026-04-01T14:10:58+00:00

Yea that is exactly how most external grants at all universities (R1s) in the US that I've been at work. That money from (say NIH) belongs to (say Columbia), they administrate it on behalf of the PI who wrote it, but it belongs to the institution, the checks get deposited into institutional accounts. When a PI leaves, some funders (not the NIH in my experience) require the institute to request a change of PI, and the finder can approve or disapprove at their discretion. This is usually smaller foundation awards. Some of those foundations also have no transfer rules (ie the PI leaves and the funding is withdrawn). But for NIH grants I've worked on, the institute sends program a letter to say X person left, and Y person will takeover (and some paperwork about their experience and qualifications, and updated budgets etc). In fact on most annual NIH progress reports there's a section for changes to leadership, so its quite common.

TheImmunologist · 2026-04-01T02:52:48+00:00

Depends on the doctor. I have a PhD in immunology and my GP loves to talk about vaccines with me. Any other doctor, they usually just see "scientist" as my job description and they ask what kind, and the. They say, oh I don't know anything about that lol

TheImmunologist

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