PhD Candidate @TennessenLab | @IUBiology @IUBloomington | Studying brain metabolism| She's into dancing and Drosophila 💃🏽🎶🎙️👩🏽🔬🔬 @iamshef.bsky.social
Bloomington, Indiana, USA
Joined January 2011
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Beyond thrilled to be organizing "Behind the science stories" workshop at #TAGC24 @GeneticsGSA ! Get ready to peel back the curtains on innovations from @WolfnerLab @ApplewhiteDerek @Planaria1 @SMBurgessLab @NeedhiBhalla labs.
#Drosophila #Zebrafish #Planaria #Celegans
Shefali retweeted
Excited to share my new preprint from the @RutterLab! What sets a cell’s metabolic state? Using MPC1 as a readout in a CRISPR screen, we found that β-catenin regulates metabolic state in liver cancer cells, driving a switch from carbohydrate to fat oxidation. 🧵
Shefali retweeted
Spatial isotope tracing maps compartmentalized nutrient use across the adult fruit fly
Moon, Huang, Blum, New, Park, Chen, Nishida, Pister, Nahid, Hu, Tennessen, Fraenkel, Asara, Davidson, Perrimon
doi: doi.org/10.64898/2026.10.06.…
Shefali retweeted
When I was an undergraduate studying math, I took a few grad level courses. There were a lot of people smarter than me, but there were a couple high school kids in these classes (!) who were terrifyingly smart. I definitely thought to myself: what could I possibly contribute to this field compared to these people? Even though I went on to do a PhD in math, that feeling stuck with me and shaped a lot of my career decisions. So I think it is reasonable to wonder what is going through a young mathematician’s head right now.
I will further say that while math is in some ways a very noble profession, it also glorifies the notion of genius from a very early age, and a lot of self worth is tied up in being some version of the smartest kid in class, able to solve the hardest problem, etc. I suspect that is also a psychological factor underneath a lot of current discussions.
Shefali retweeted
How does tumor educate the innate immune cells? Does this conditioning potentiate metabolic dysfunction? Is this a bidirectional crosstalk? We answer all these Qs:
febs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com…
Congrats to the authors!!
@biopatrika @FEBSJournal @FEBSnews
Shefali retweeted
The most important briefings of the day.
Karl Deisseroth, professor of bioengineering and of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, shares the news of his Nobel Prize with his kids.
Shefali retweeted
“Why should I do a PhD?”
Because your next job requires it.
That’s it.
It’s that simple.
And no, staying in academia isn’t a viable option for everyone, nor should it be.
Do a PhD if your career path requires it.
If you don’t know what you want to do - that’s fine, but don’t do a PhD.
Go get real world experience and come back.
Shefali retweeted
As #NPAW comes to a close, we reflect on what the role of postdoc means for our community.
Postdoctoral researchers occupy a unique position in science—they are no longer students, but rather early career scientists growing into independent investigators.
1/4🧵
Shefali retweeted
Excited to share our new @ScienceAdvances paper! During interphase, centromeres form 3D shells organized by the CENP-A chaperone complex at their core. Led by Hindol Gupta, with the @TakashiAkeraLab , Losada, and Shroff labs.
science.org/doi/10.1126/scia…
Shefali retweeted
Here is a beautiful and important study by Eric Weischaus.
Maternal patterning in early Drosophila embryos: how much information can single maternal gradients supply? journals.biologists.com/dev/…
Shefali retweeted
#AwardHighlight
Congratulations to @rajan_thakur_91 , an alumnus (2011–2018) from Prof. @RPadinjat's lab, on being awarded the 2026 Simons Foundation, @SimonsFdn Fellows-to-Faculty Award for his work on lipid transport proteins in neurodevelopment and autism
Shefali retweeted
Lab's latest and Alessandro's finest... gut muscle makes gut grow and sustains female reproduction
Now online! The sex and reproductive plasticity of intestinal muscles instruct gut size dlvr.it/TTzVqf
Shefali retweeted
Privilege in STEM plays out in insidious and unnoticed ways.
Several of our careers have includes phases of working for no pay, working on meagre stipends made possible because we had no financial responsibilities other than ourself, or the ability to drop money upfront for visas and air tickets only to get reimbursed much later. 🙏
While we cannot 'shed' our privilege, it is important to acknowledge the role of privilege in a science career - upfront, honestly, and with no riders or clauses.
Shefali retweeted
Investing in fundamental science is investing in the future. Read NCBS Director Prof L S Shashidhara's latest article on how sustained support for basic research has shaped India's scientific journey,and why it matters now more than ever 🔗bit.ly/4wO5st1
@IndiasporaForum
Shefali retweeted
I'm thrilled to share that I'm receiving a @SimonsFdn Fellows-to-Faculty Award!
simonsfoundation.org/2026/07…
I'm honored to receive this award as I work toward establishing an independent research program focused on lipid signaling in neurodevelopment and autism.
Shefali retweeted
My lab is moving to Stanford, and we’re looking for an RA and a Postdoc to join us.
The position will focus on ovarian and brain aging in flies. If you’re excited about genetics, aging, and discovery, we’d love to hear from you.
Please email at [email protected]
Shefali retweeted
This week we say goodbye to Archan Chakraborty, who is starting his own lab at Augusta University. Check out his new lab, focused on using flies to understand heart disease! He is actively recruiting new lab members and has NIH funding.
thechakrabortylab.com/
Shefali retweeted
Thrilled to see our work on senescence & metastasis out! We found that chemotherapy increases ovarian cancer metastasis in a paracrine manner via fructose. Dietary fructose is sufficient to increase metastatis. This work has multiple implications related to both chemo and diet.
Online now!✨Cole et al identify fructose as a component of the therapy-induced SASP in senescent ovarian cancer cells and show that it reprograms cancer cells in paracrine, promoting detachment and metastasis @airdlab nature.com/articles/s43587-0…
Shefali retweeted
Super excited to feature our lab's work at #Dros27!
Meet three of our #Dros27 plenary speakers!
🧠 Vanessa Auld
🪰 Nichole Broderick
🧬 Don Fox
From glial biology to host-microbe interactions to genome stability and regeneration, they'll bring exciting science to Philadelphia. 🔗buff.ly/ZlmJahj
