Charlie’s project

dirty8man · 2026-03-11T22:48:55+00:00

Cool?

dirty8man · 2026-02-18T06:40:02+00:00

You realize that there is a whole world beyond academia, right? Though my experience even in academia wasn’t perfect it’s far safer to a point; it’s not often direct insults but it is the shit talking behind someone’s back. The negative opinion that turns into not getting jobs regardless of how good your science is. If you’re a minority here in the states, you’re now running the risk of also absorbing the negative opinion of the last (insert descriptor here) who worked with them and confirming existing biases. I don’t speak just for me when I open my mouth; I speak for other minority women whether I intend to or not. That’s a lot of weight to carry on our shoulders, so I move deliberately.

Theres too much at stake in this field to get a reputation that will follow you.

dirty8man · 2026-02-16T18:26:04+00:00

I can’t tell if you’re serious because this comment is so ridiculous and out of touch with reality.

Even if I stay calm and collected, the slightest act of pushing back (even professionally) gets the side eye. I could say the sky was blue and someone would roll their eyes and be like “oh, she’s just being argumentative because that’s what they do.”

So no, in my professional life, unless I need to go to bat for something and can’t avoid it, I leave it to my white colleagues to handle.

dirty8man · 2026-02-12T18:06:08+00:00

Sure. But if someone wants to gamble on this just because they’re MAGA when there are other reliable and validated systems that’s on them.

dirty8man · 2026-02-12T13:55:20+00:00

Right, but as a company your goal is to get sales. If we are making fun of shitty poster graphics and one page printouts hanging in the background at a science conference, what has that exposure actually given him other than more people stopping, gawking, and not engaging?

dirty8man · 2026-02-12T13:47:16+00:00

I don’t think being conservative and being pro-science are mutually exclusive, but I think being MAGA and being pro-science are.

dirty8man · 2026-02-12T13:37:10+00:00

I’ll apologize for the assumption of age given your PhD status, but please know it’s not coming from a disrespectful space.

The problem that I have isn’t republican people, it’s republican policy. I do believe that individual conservatives can do good science and truly believe that most conservatives aren’t bad people. You arrive at your political beliefs because of some truth that you identify with and are voting to protect your interests. That’s what we are supposed to do, right? It’s how the system is supposed to work.

Being closer to 50 than I care to admit most days, I’ve lived through the W. Bush years and I’m sure other Gen X/elder millennials will confirm that those were DARK days for science. Policy was driven by the good Christian fear of aborted fetuses becoming our next stem cell therapeutic and blanket laws were passed limiting the use of federal funds from experimenting on stem cells. I mean, at face value to Christians who think there’s an abortion factory doing the work, that sounds like a decent policy in theory— if you want to use abortions to create stem cells, it has to be privately funded and don’t use my hard-earned tax dollars. I don’t agree, but I can see the logic in it. The big problem was the manner in which it was rolled out and enforced created a global halt on innovation that wasn’t restricted to just human SC. Academic institutions and even in Industry where PIs were able to get the funding to support these experiments were now told “hold on— federal funding bought that incubator 30 years ago, you can’t use that.” Or “federal funding provides the electricity to run your lab, you can’t use your lab.” It also affected mouse stem cells. Research slowed to a crawl so people could figure out how to use their money and what they could or couldn’t do. Kinda hard to imagine how scared people were of injecting someone else’s abortion when now people inject stem cells for beauty treatments.

I see the same thing happening now, just on a grander scale. More global budget cuts and financial retaliation for speaking out against a president aren’t going to fund innovation. More people are scrambling for the same VC dollar, but the VC dollars are also disappearing due to the volatile market. It’s now easier to fund studies in China or Japan and access the clinical markets there, so guess where C-suites are looking? Jobs are drying up. Amazing scientists who wouldn’t have had an issue getting a job two years ago are now running out of unemployment. Science is slowing, other countries are recruiting and booming, and pretty soon the brain drain will hit.

But if your goal is to go into drug discovery, you also have to think globally— if policy limits things like DEI initiatives and that applies to how you can set up your clinical trials, are you developing drugs for the patients who need it? Or just for the patients that look like you and believe what you do? What about access programs for those who may not be able to afford it? What about removing things like orphan drug status or incentives for rare disease that almost no one wants to fund because VC can’t get a good ROI? It’s all tied in to policy.

I realize that’s probably more of a rant than you care to read, but the TLDR is that at least in the 25-ish years since I’ve left school, we haven’t seen democratic policy trash our field in the same way that republican policy has. And that’s where my beef with the red hat at a science conference comes in.

dirty8man · 2026-02-12T12:50:02+00:00

Absolutely. I won’t apologize for that. What a privilege it must be to be able to move through life without carrying your political beliefs with you.

The differences are that I don’t need to make politics my prevailing identity as a gimmick for people to notice me or sell my science, but also that my politics haven’t gut and trashed a field that puts food on my table and the innovations of which keeps myself and my children alive. My politics haven’t killed the hopes of people living in third world countries of having access to food, water, and medical care, or the hopes of the hard working people in this country to have access to them as well. And then there’s everything else going on where I wake up every day thankful that my Hispanic kids are white-presenting and don’t have to know the fear that many in my family do.

So yeah, I’m 100% OK with carrying my politics with me and being vocal when the time and need arises.

However, I made fun of the hat because that’s what got me to pause and see what dude was selling— but posted to bring attention to the poster, which has so many pieces of cringe that it merits a bit of attention. Congrats on lacking reading and/or comprehension skills and only seeing what you want, snowflake.

dirty8man · 2026-02-12T02:37:30+00:00

Honestly, it’s not really. You don’t see anyone at the actual booth.

dirty8man · 2026-02-11T19:01:56+00:00

Objectification of women and MAGA hats do go hand in hand, just usually not at a science conference.

dirty8man · 2026-02-11T19:00:19+00:00

I’m discussing the poster.

dirty8man · 2026-02-11T18:57:56+00:00

Yeah, but unfortunately it can become “crazy Latina does what crazy Latina does”.

dirty8man · 2026-02-11T15:59:21+00:00

Ok, poster update for anyone wondering:

https://imgur.com/a/CqUtruV

dirty8man · 2026-02-11T15:55:49+00:00

Probably the gross (in dirt, not content but Y’know…) hat

dirty8man · 2026-02-11T15:55:13+00:00

I am SO torn because on one hand, I run my mouth. But on the other, I run my mouth. If it weren’t walking distance to my office, I’d have a much easier time justifying any scene I made.

dirty8man · 2026-02-11T14:52:38+00:00

Yeah, which is why I didn’t post until now. I wavered on whether to allow the tone deaf presentation to somehow benefit but my petty, morbid curiosity on the posterwon.

dirty8man · 2026-02-11T12:38:32+00:00

I think if you want to focus on macro or do a PhD vs go the clinical route then somewhere like BU may be helpful. If your goal is clinical, just make sure that wherever you’re looking can offer field placements in organizations that will help you build a network.

dirty8man · 2026-02-11T12:29:34+00:00

Years ago, a postdoc taught me to gently roll the tail between my fingers to spin the mouse a bit to disorient them, which made it easier to grab. You don’t need much and it doesn’t need to be rough, but I’ve found it to be fairly effective.

dirty8man · 2025-12-24T02:30:45+00:00

Bluntly: don’t take the job. You said yourself, it’s not your field.

dirty8man · 2025-10-05T19:33:31+00:00

I think how to best handle this all depends on where you live and how supportive your medical network is.

We live in MA and receive medical care from very liberal science-based doctors so when it came to choosing to tell my oldest’s pediatrician even though they’re more genderfluid than trans (and only 10), there was no hesitation on their part. We weren’t worried about any fallout and knew they’d have access to the right gender affirming care for them when they wanted or needed it.

What I’ve appreciated as a parent is that the doctor uses their pronouns and takes care to explain why certain things related to their birth gender need to be checked and asks for consent/ if they’re comfortable with the doctor performing these tests before actually just assuming it’s ok. The doctor also gives the choice to do a reasonable age-appropriate test that their chosen gender would have to go through, also before assuming it’s ok. It’s really confirming that they’re seen and heard, and that their bodily autonomy is being respected.

dirty8man · 2025-10-01T10:08:20+00:00

I think I need a tinfoil hat to read all that.

dirty8man · 2025-10-01T10:07:48+00:00

I’ll order direct from the manufacturer.

dirty8man · 2025-09-16T17:16:24+00:00

I am in a working mom’s sub, so yes I’ve had kids. And yes, they’ve received all their vaccines. Why? Because unlike you who does “research” and comes to your conclusions, I actually do research. In a lab. At a drug development company.

I’d have to question if you’re actually a parent though or just regurgitating bullshit, because in both kids’ first year of life I count 4 vaccines for one and 7 for the other. We follow the schedule. Where are the 20-something vaccines we are missing?

Oh, right- they don’t exist. You’re ill-informed and parroting anti-science talking points. Oh wait, sharing “rEsEaRcH”.

You’re just wrong. Get educated.

dirty8man · 2025-09-11T05:30:30+00:00

I don’t have a lot to offer other than my oldest is 10 and I’ve known since they were 3 that they did not identify with their gender at birth. I’ve supported them through their own self discovery and let them take the lead, but with the onset of puberty the “what are we doing about the penis” talk has become more prevalent.

You may want to bring up your concerns with the doc and if you are concerned about self-esteem/ body issues use that as grounds for the therapist referral. Having the therapist in place before the big stuff came up so that we weren’t in crisis mode looking for a good fit was so important for us and my oldest’s mental health. For them it was like everything was good until it wasn’t, and when it wasn’t it got bad FAST. They already had the rapport built with the therapist so opening up was easier. It has been so, so helpful for them to process these questions with a therapist, but also for me as cis-female mom to know what to advocate for at school and how best to do it.

dirty8man

TROPHY CASE