Kimberly Beatty
Chemical Biologist. Loves probes, hates TB.
- Reposted by Kimberly Beatty“If the person is a U.S. citizen or otherwise lawfully in the United States, that individual will be free to go after the brief encounter.” Justice Brett Kavanaugh www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24p...
- Reposted by Kimberly BeattyBen Franklin: "In 1736, I lost one of my sons, a fine boy of four years old, by the small-pox, taken in the common way. I long regretted bitterly, and still regret that I had not given it to him by inoculation. This I mention for the sake of parents who omit that operation..."
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- It makes me feel sick that Machado gave her Nobel Peace Prize to Trump. The idea that a powerful, old, rich man would feel comfortable accepting her prize speaks volumes.
- I am grateful for the selective amnesia that allows me to forget how absolutely miserable and sick the common cold can make me.
- My family did not suffer food insecurity during the prolonged shutdown in Fall 2025. But the reverberations persist for all of us. **I have zero confidence that Congress can govern.**
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- 17 kids have died of the flu this season. To date. Vaccinations save lives.
- Reposted by Kimberly BeattySonia almost got measles while pregnant. Her country has now lost its measles elimination status. "I received my MMR booster on September 27, 2010, having no idea my husband would fall terrifyingly ill and be hospitalized with measles only one year later." www.voicesforvaccines.org/how-close-me...
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- Reposted by Kimberly BeattyExcited to share our first collaborative paper of the year- a review on the emerging roles of lipids in flavivirus infection, now published in @cp-trendsmicrobiol.bsky.social. Congrats to Judah (postdoc) for spearheading the work! @ohsunews.bsky.social www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
- Reposted by Kimberly BeattyLetter of resignation from @jennifer-troyer.bsky.social former Dir of Extramural Ops at NHGRI "The NIH is not only no longer the organization that I love but is now an organization that I can no longer be a part of and retain my integrity and self-respect." www.linkedin.com/posts/jennif... 1/6
- 5y ago, on Jan.6, a violent mob, encouraged by Trump, tried to overthrow our government & subvert the will of the American people. Today I honor Capitol Police Officer Caroline Edwards, who was wounded & fought bravely to protect our government. Thank you, Edwards, for your bravery & service.
- Graduate school application season... TIP 4 Don't talk about location, hobbies, and free time amenities in response to the question "Why did you apply to this program?" Your answer should be scholarly and specific to the program/university.
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- Reposted by Kimberly BeattyHappy new year! I've so enjoyed the end-of-year lists of people's favorite papers from 2025, so I made a list of 16 #lipidtime studies from 2025 that I found interesting. Here they are in no particular order (please add more if you would like!), and here's to much more exciting science in 2026! 🧪
- Graduate school application season: Tip #3 In the current funding climate, find a program with 3-4 people you would be happy to complete your thesis with. Changes at the NIH have created instability. Minimize your risk.
- Happy New Year! I enter 2026 with the optimistic assumption that nothing could be worse than the Trump-driven 2025 disaster.
- Graduation school application season... TIP #2. Consider teaching & coursework requirements. These vary widely by program & aren't always clear from the webpage. OHSU requires no teaching, while some state schools require 1+ years. Similarly, will you have to take a heavy courseload?
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- Reposted by Kimberly BeattyOk here it is - out of 44 FDA approvals this year, 31 are small molecules (70%), 26 of those are oral drugs (84%), 22 of them are chiral (71%). This is the largest number and percentage of chiral FDA approved molecules in a single year. Fitusiran is not a small molecule, bonus.
- @compoundchem.com My 3.9 year old wanted me to read this to her last night. She thought the title was hilarious. She made up her own subtitle: "Why does honey make your toots smell?" I admit, I was stumped.
- Beautiful blue sky winter day here in Portland, OR
- Today I am grateful for Maurice Hilleman. Dr. Hilleman developed >40 vaccines, including safe & effective vaccines for measles, mumps, rubella, hepatitis A and B, and chickenpox. Eight of his vaccines are still used today. His work has saved millions of lives and prevented so much suffering.
- I had chickenpox as a little kid. It was MISERABLE. I itched everywhere and felt just awful. I wouldn't wish this on anyone (except maybe RFK, Jr.). Vaccinations save lives.
- If everyone in New York City got chickenpox, there would be about 20,000 hospitalizations. Even in healthy children, chickenpox can be severe. www.voicesforvaccines.org/vaccine-info...
- Graduation school application season... TIP #1. IT IS AN INTERVIEW Candidates: If you are invited to meet with the program and professors, it is an INTERVIEW. You should treat it like one. Prepare, impress, be professional, energetic, curious.
- Heartbreaking. The flu is dangerous- not always, but it can be.
- "I can promise I'll never miss another flu vaccine again." You don't have to learn this lesson the hard way. www.voicesforvaccines.org/well-never-m...
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- New work from my team, identifying drug targets in M. abscessus. Pre-print posted here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
- Absolutely wonderful talks at the 2025 Chemical Biology & Physiology meeting in Portland, Oregon. And, wow, blue skies too!
- 1,475 pertussis (whooping cough) cases have been reported this year in Oregon (according to OHA). Highest numbers since 1950s. This can be a very serious illness for infants. Please-- vaccinate! If you interact with babies, you should make sure you are up to date.
- Pacific Northwest winter beauty.
- My advice: Look at what was recommended by the CDC and WHO pre-Trump. Up until 2025, facts, data, and scientific research mattered to US leaders. There have been no breakthroughs in 2025 that warrant the changes and utter nonsensical recommendations coming from unqualified Trump cronies.
- Mycobacteria Researchers: Please include unique identifiers for your protein of interest (POI) in publications. For example, I think BlaC is interesting. But, to make it clear what "BlaC" is, I should provide the locus ID (Rv2068c) AND/OR the Uniprot ID: P9WKD3. I am on a mission now.
- Bhattacharya, Kennedy, and Memoli will need to use some clever math to disguise all of the excess deaths in American children from vaccine-preventable disease. 100% preventable deaths, from measles, whooping cough, hepatitis, and other.⚰️
- Reposted by Kimberly BeattyThe decision by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to downgrade its recommendations to protect infants from hepatitis B is a dangerous move that will harm children. Click here to read AAP's full statement: bit.ly/3Y9ZQJT
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- Reposted by Kimberly BeattyIf you or someone you know is looking for a post-doctoral position working on mycobacterial envelope biology, please get in touch. I am recruiting here at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario, Canada.
- I spent the weekend enjoying the beautiful Oregon coast.
- My niece made a model of calcium for 8th grade science. I am confused... but I like the way it looks.
- The MAHA Health Summit had goody bags that included mouth tape. LOL. Really? A freebie that tapes your mouth shut?
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- PSA: NIH study section members Keep a hard copy back-up of your online written reviews. Don't learn the hard way.
- Reposted by Kimberly BeattyThrilled to announce publication of the crystallography children’s book illustrated by undergraduate Justine Wong! You can buy it here for $15: meitneriumpress.com 50% of profits will support undergrad education at the Cal Poly Pomona Crystallography Co-op. #chemsky #chemchat
- Enjoying this article this morning👇 The role of colony morphotype in shaping gene essentiality in Mycobacteroides abscessus | PNAS www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
- I absolutely agree with this view published by @madhupai.bsky.social: www.statnews.com/2025/11/12/c... All children have the right to vaccinations and NO child should die of measles, whooping cough, chicken pox, or any other vaccine preventable disease.
- Absolutely 👇 It is a moral failure to allow children to get seriously ill and die of vaccine-preventable diseases.
- Access to vaccines is not a privilege — it is a human right. In @statnews.com today, Stefan Peterson and I write about using a human rights-based approach to deal with vaccine denialism and the return of measles, whooping cough and diphtheria www.statnews.com/2025/11/12/c...
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- I am sorry that the US is such a bad neighbor.
- Reposted by Kimberly BeattyRFK Jr's response to someone collapsing nearby him was to haul ass out of the room as quickly as possible
- I showed my daughter my latest TLC results (lipid analysis in mycobacteria). I explained how the "fats" are separated. Then we did a little experiment so she could understand. So many skittles eaten before breakfast...
- The US awards the Medal of Honor "to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians, and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of valor." Curious fact. Only 1 woman (of 3547) has been awarded it: Mary Edwards Walker. And the US tried to take hers back.
- I am up-to-date on all my vaccines. Flu, COVID, measles, pertussis. Thank you scientists for making safe and effective vaccines that save lives!
- Happy Halloween! Annual department pumpkin carving contest. The Portland Protest Frog was a clear favorite.
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- Reposted by Kimberly BeattyHAPPENING NOW: Portland Police Commander Franz Schoening testifies that federal officers on Oct. 18 barraged protesters with crowd control munitions — not because of any violence but because another federal officer accidentally shot tear gas onto the roof of the ICE facility.
- Fake eyelashes are a form of self-oppression. It is enough of a burden to use black paint to color in my eyelashes... I am not going to glue fake hair to my eyelids.
- Is the AWS outage impacting ERA Commons and Login.gov? Thx.
- What "war zone"? Picture taken today (Oct. 17 2025) at the Japanese Garden in Portland, Oregon.
- Reposted by Kimberly Beatty📢 Applications are open for the 4th installment of our ChemTools conference. We'll explore: 🧪 Platforms & tools for analyzing cell/tissue networks ⚡ Methods to perturb biological networks 🔍 Applications that yield new insights 🛏️ Lodging + meals covered ➡️ Apply by Dec 5: janelia.news/CHM26
- UC Berkeley got five Nobel prizes for absolutely top-notch work. How many did the White House get? 🦗🦗🦗
- View of "war ravaged" Portland, with Mount St. Helens in the background. Taken from my department's break room.
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- Spot on advice from humorous columnist Adam Rubin. Welcome to your Ph.D.! Now choose a lab | Science | AAAS www.science.org/content/arti...
- Thank you MIT! MIT is a world-renowned center for research and innovation. They value scientific merit and freedom. They will not be coerced to sign "the compact". orgchart.mit.edu/letters/rega...
- Reposted by Kimberly BeattyThe following is REAL footage from Portland, 2025. Viewer discretion is advised.
- My family had purple cauliflower for dinner. The cooking water turned purple (because of anthocyanine). Then... I amazed my family with how the purple water acts as a pH indicator. Ta-dah! Check out the pretty colors!
- I am hosting Christoph Grundner (Seattle Children's) today for a seminar. Excited to hear about his latest work. I really enjoyed this paper from 2023 where he showed that >80% of the M. tuberculosis proteome is phosphorylated. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
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- Reposted by Kimberly BeattyImportant piece from Sarah Stanley at Berkeley on new NIH definitions that can be construed to arbitrarily halt research that is both safe and important to public health and future cures www.statnews.com/2025/10/06/g... via @statnews.com
- Reposted by Kimberly Beatty📣 Calling 2nd-year grad students and their mentors: You just abruptly lost the ability to apply for the NSF grad research fellowship. Join ~900 others (and growing!) in signing @omfishient.bsky.social's petition to reverse that. [Or reshare this petition if you're not directly impacted]
- Reposted by Kimberly BeattyRFK Jr.’s claim that Tylenol causes autism has no backing Genetic factors are far more likely to influence a child’s later diagnosis. cen.acs.org/policy/RFK-J... #chemsky 🧪
- Another horrible act by Trump: www.npr.org/2025/09/19/g...
