Professor of Pharmacology, UVASOM. All views personal | I study ion channels and Ca2+ signaling in immunity & tissue homeostasis. RTs may not be endorsements.
Charlottesville, VA
Joined July 2009
- Tweets18.7K
- Following3.6K
- Followers2.1K
- Likes43.8K
Bimal Desai retweeted
You see the excuse of "nepotism" used against Indians all the time but never evidence of it. The little evidence we have is that Indians are less likely to hire co-ethnics than Mexicans, Poles, or Chinese.
Why don't you see this attack against those groups?
Bimal Desai retweeted
In case you needed any evidence that there’s a bubble in AI.
So the hot thing is starting a drug company with no knowledge data patents or experience. But hey they have a computer.
A very very common bio startup idea I've noticed people converging on lately: The Neo Pharma
The Neo Pharma is a startup that develops a pipeline of drugs (agnostic to disease/modality) with an underlying AI system around asset selection, program management, clinical operations, etc. Most common is the idea to use AI to capture and systematize drug hunter expertise
Unlike a biotech, where key innovation lies in the technology, the Neo Pharma is differentiated by its internal operations with AI
The catch for AI/tech people entering bio: You only find out if you're differentiated ENOUGH in 7+ years, based on initial drug portfolio & success rate against regular Pharma (and all the other Neo Pharmas in your cohort)
It's an obvious, ripe idea for biotech in the age of AI given most biotech work happens in email inboxes already (directing overseas labs to do the physical experiments, manufacturing, trials). It's also a bet that AI can shift the underlying economics of drug development
Curious how much in-house AI models will matter for these co's. Is it worth trying to aggregate proprietary data around specific biopharma workflows OR will this aspect be democratized soon enough and execution/capital is the only variable factor?
Bimal Desai retweeted
Let's be very clear. Amy Acton's birth mother hasn't been in her life for 48 years.
So when the birth mother calls Amy a liar, she's calling the 12 year-old child who was raped by her stepfather a liar.
Ramaswamy has reached a new disgusting low, even for Republicans.
Lol - Vivek is primarily losing because he is a dark-skinned Indian on a Republican ticket. He must spend most of his effort convincing the rightoid base to vote for him. Acton, on the other hand, can take the D base for granted and focus on independent swing voters. Every week, Vivek looks pathetic groveling to the conservative base, pleading that he does not worship demons and has read the Bible, etc. He couldn’t even issue a statement on the mass-shooting attempt at the Hindu temple for fear of seeming too close to the Hindu community. His latest attempt emulating Trump’s crass attack ads just convinced independent swing voters to steer clear of him. Game over.
Bimal Desai retweeted
My Claude found a critical zero day vulnerability in the Code of Hammurabi, unnoticed by developers for 3,779 years.
Bimal Desai retweeted
Exclusive: A physician-scientist recommended by NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya to lead the agency’s mental health institute is no longer in the running. Instead, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. favors a researcher who studies treating mental illness with diet. scim.ag/4smMCYF
Bimal Desai retweeted
Hey @JDVance we found someone in Ohio coming for your cats.
Mediaite: Amy Acton’s Mother Was Convicted of Killing Kittens
New information about the criminal history of Donna Arthur, the estranged mother of Ohio Democratic nominee for governor, Amy Acton, is coming to light amid the backlash about her appearance in a Vivek Ramaswamy ad — including her conviction for animal neglect after several kittens in her care died in a hot car
mediaite.com/crime/amy-acton…
Bimal Desai retweeted
Nearly 2 in 3 U.S. adults younger than 30 who plan to vote in midterms say their main motivation is to oppose Trump and his policies, according to a new Harvard Youth Poll.
77% disapprove of Trump's handling of the economy — including about half of young Republicans.
Bimal Desai retweeted
Musk went from a million Tesla owners will be able use their cars as robotaxis in 2020.
To just California and Texas in 2025.
To just a few tiny geofences in 2027.
Tesla is practically admitting that the Tesla you own is never going to have Level 5 unsupervised self-driving.
Elon seems to have surmised that maximizing low-IQ rightoid turnout is the most feasible path to a Paxton win. They may have internal polling data showing that a good chunk of Talarico support in Texas is lukewarm and may not be motivated enough to turn out.
Bimal Desai retweeted
As a connoisseur of racism, I have found no greater joy than discovering other language realms on X where they are truly light years ahead.
Behold the great meme war between the Turks 🇹🇷 and Chinese 🇨🇳 which has been brewing now for 3 days!
It began with a small Turkish account posting a meme of a cat wearing a straw hat + slitty eyes + wispy moustache. A Chinese user then replied with a meme of Patrick Star from SpongeBob parachuting next to the Turkish flag, with a caption along the lines of “I heard the Turkish flag was designed like this, is that true? Both were from small anonymous accounts but now has been viewed by several millions.
Turks took it as mockery of a national symbol and all hell breaks lose.
The broader historical and cultural pile-on on both sides were equally impressive in its deep knowledge of Ottoman / Chinese history, along with very creative vulgarity. I read one Chinese tweet calling Turkey the fleshlight of the entire world. Both sides insulted each other as “might as well be Indians.” Then it got super testy when it ventured into Turkestan/Xinjiang/Uyghur territory, and soon out came digs about the Turkish lira, China virus and other general nationalist trash talk.
The next stage was the free speech Olympics. Turks started posting images of Xi Jinping and daring Chinese users to criticize him to prove that China is “free.” Chinese replies often flipped it to “you criticize Xi but none of you dare criticize Muhammad.” When no Chinese account could criticize Xi, the Turks concluded they were all bots.
The latest stage has been the international expansion.
Japan + Taiwan + Azerbaijan + Spain lined up with Turks against China.
Japanese accounts were the most visible contingent. Taiwan joined the Turkish side for obvious reasons. Azerbaijan was in Turkic solidarity mode. South Korea and Spain too for reasons which are not clear to me.
Iran + Greece + India + Egypt joined up with the Chinese against Turkey.
I saw an Iranian account openly telling the Chinese to keep going and “discipline the Turks” because the Ottoman/Persian rivalry runs deep still. Greece obviously went against the Turks and as for India, who knows. Could’ve gone either way but they chose the Chinese.
The whole thing, while viscous and passionate at times, has strangely left me with the warm fuzzies. Imagine how much more boring life would’ve been without @X’s auto-translate feature
Bimal Desai retweeted
Guy who has complained about George Soros for years has given 4x more than George Soros ever gave in a single cycle, the largest amount spent on a single election by an individual in history
Bimal Desai retweeted
However, let's recognize @elonmusk's bravery. Meddling in Europen politics and attacking the EU itself when you want regulatory privileges and frequency permissions is a bold business strategy.
More reporting suggesting that Musk does indeed have his finger on Starshield's operability. Quite a lot of power for a ketamine-addicted trillionaire in bed with hostile foreign regimes. You might even say this endangers U.S. national security. wsj.com/world/trump-called-m…
Bimal Desai retweeted
土耳其的哈士奇形象怎么来的呢？
2015年土耳其把俄罗斯战机击落，惹恼了俄罗斯。
但是土耳其人还义愤填膺的去俄罗斯大使馆游行，
结果认错地方，把荷兰大使馆给砸了，荷兰人不乐意了。
土耳其人继续叫嚣，上街焚烧荷兰国旗，却把法国的国旗给烧了。
为了转移矛盾，土耳其把矛头指向了新疆，上街反华游行。
结果把一群韩国游客当成中国人给打了，这还不解气，还跑到泰国领事馆，把越南国旗当成中国国旗给烧了。
韩国人不乐意了，抗议。土耳其人电视台指着韩国总统文在寅和伊万卡的握手照片说这两个人在科威特杀害了一个菲律宾29岁保姆。
😂
Bimal Desai retweeted
Not the only reason. Chinese VCs invest in very early stage companies. Where as many US VCs will not look at a company until it is at DC or Ph 1, Chinese VCs will write small checks to founders with just an idea.
China has gotten ahead of the US in biotechnology, largely by making their clinical trial system more effective. I covered this in a @nytimes article.
Now, American patients are travelling there to have access to drugs they can't access at home. It's high time the US woke up and implemented much needed reforms.
This is likely the highest inflation-adjusted amount an oligarch has spent influencing US elections. It may be backfiring as more people realize Elon's desperation to skew them to the right. Both Trump and Elon are essentially on the ballot, and neither grasps how much the majority of Americans loathe them.
Bimal Desai retweeted
NEW AD: Have you seen these anti-Talarico attack ads?
Elon Musk paid for nearly all of them.
The world's first trillionaire knows if he drags the most corrupt politician in Texas across the finish line, Ken Paxton will owe him everything.
@ElonMusk: Texas is not for sale.