Emma J Chory
@chorye
Assistant professor @Duke, guerilla knitter, pipettor of small volumes of liquid. Biologist masquerading as engineer, or the other way around.
Happy Sunday to all! This morning, we are excited to share Chase’s work developing a simple, scalable method to assemble 100s-1000s of custom genes from oligo pools using standard lab tools! (Small 🧵 below)
:snaps: :snaps: :snaps: Just loved this, @erika_alden_d! We’re obsessed with better ways to track & share science. This ELN+LIMS built in Notion + Airtable is usable, readable, and full of real stats & insights. and it's pretty!
An AI-ready lab notebook for life science doesn't need to be complex or expensive. At @Pioneer__Labs, we use a lab management system built entirely with generic software tools. It's simple, cheap, and easy to modify. See our now how-to post ⬇️
Amazing talk by @chorye about directed evolution, robotics and automation. Also very interesting links for education #SEED2025
A phenomenal interview with the scientist we owe multiple fields of science to. Thank you David for such phenomenal work and for communicating the importance of public funding with such clarity and purpose. Everyone should take 10 minutes to watch this.
I discuss the urgent crisis from the loss of federal support of science in the US and recent clinical gene editing breakthroughs with @WalterIsaacson & @amanpour on @AmanpourCoPBS, airing on @PBS tonight at 11 pm ET, and on @cnni earlier today. Pls share! youtube.com/watch?v=8YhJM6…
I discuss the urgent crisis from the loss of federal support of science in the US and recent clinical gene editing breakthroughs with @WalterIsaacson & @amanpour on @AmanpourCoPBS, airing on @PBS tonight at 11 pm ET, and on @cnni earlier today. Pls share! youtube.com/watch?v=8YhJM6…
Happy to share the peer-reviewed and updated version of our work on OrthoRep-driven evolution of aaRSs for genetic code expansion with unnatural amino acids. Congrats to @yuichi_furuhata, a true master bioengineer, on leading this excellent work! nature.com/articles/s4146…
The NIH notified me yesterday that there is currently no policy that supports applying for a R00 that is associated with a terminated K99. So now, both the postdoc K99 (Harvard, $250k) and the R00 (non-Harvard institution TBD, $750) are BOTH effectively terminated.
Harvard notified me today that this K99 grant is terminated.
Just checkin’ the till here, @BostonGlobe, but I think you missed a few thousand. Per my last count, @HarvardU has 13 affiliated hospitals, 2000+ PhD students and over 5000 postdocs.
The Trump administration has moved to terminate scores of research grants at Harvard University and its medical school, imperiling scores of research projects and potentially upending the futures of dozens of young scientists. trib.al/jdPxQh1
Harvard notified me today that this K99 grant is terminated.
I’m overjoyed to announce that my K99/R00 proposal has been funded by @NIHAging as of today!! I am very excited about the project which is a collaboration with @LehtinenLab to study the blood-CSF barrier with new analytical tools I’ve developed in the @GygiLab. Feeling grateful!!
For anyone still not taking this seriously, this is what defcon 1 looks like re: the end of America as a scientific superpower. Heartbroken for our Harvard colleagues and for the world to lose these discoveries.
Yesterday, the NIH R35 “Outstanding Investigator” grant to fund scientists in my lab studying antibiotic resistance was terminated for reasons not related to the content of the science, or any actions taken by me or members of my lab
How are folks handling NIH’s no foreign subawards policy? Anyone working with consortia (e.g. Human @ProteinAtlas, Sweden), this is a big issue—some orgs are the only source for rare reagents/proteins, sold at cost. Curious what implications this has + how ppl plan to navigate.
Last week, I had the pleasure of visiting the @DukeU Center for Biomolecular and Tissue Engineering to discuss our latest work using AI to accelerate antibiotic discovery. Thank you @pranamanam, @chorye, @SophieVincoff, and more!
Counterpoint: Physics-derived modeling has dramatically improved clinical trial success rates and efficiency. QSP is one of the most sought after skill sets and highest paying job tracks in pharma right now.
I used to feel "physics is the mother of all sciences, yay," but more and more I think that physics-derived concepts have actively harmed other fields (biology, finance, CS) and are holding them back.
Read: OpenAI raised $40B in one round—i.e., the entire NIH budget.
OpenAI raises $40B at $300B post-money valuation tcrn.ch/4ci1YWi
Writing can move ideas forward, even if everything else feels stuck. Tips for efficient collaborative writing and reference management in Google Docs, via @chorye 🔽
Things I wish more people knew about doing science in the US (thread):
When you offer to finish an experiment for your grad student and say “leave me instructions like I’m in kindergarten”…