Meg Mindlin

@invertebabe

🐙 | Everything you don’t know about Cephalopods 🧬 | Molecular Biologist & Artist 💌 | mmindlinart@gmail.com ⬇️ | Join my sticker club! bio.site/invertebabe

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Meg Mindlin@invertebabe· 12d

If you’re new here, hi I’m Meg! I’m an artist who became a molecular biologist 🥰

NEED TO KNOW MORE?
Follow me and learn molecular biology through the lens of the internet's favorite invertebrate.
I'm an artist who knows what it's like to know nothing, but my curiosity drove me to research.
Now I study RNA editing in cephalopods and use my background to teach the public.
@invertebabe
DYE WOF

Meg Mindlin@invertebabe· 12d

What can we do to support science in times like this? Be a vocal advocate, vote for science, and continue having conversations with your neighbors about science.

WHAT CAN YOU DO?
Talk to your neighbors about what you just learned about octopus ribosomes and the importance of basic science.
Contact your representatives to express your support for federal scientific funding.
Vote in local and state elections for politicians that care about science.
Get involved in your local school board to support scientific learning in classrooms.
Follow science communicators to keep learning new things about our world.
Remain hopeful and filled with joy.
@invertebabe

Meg Mindlin@invertebabe· 12d

This discovery really highlights how important basic science is for advancements in human health. And the important role federal funding plays in basic science.

BASIC SCIENCE
FUELS INNOVATION
Cephalopods are fantastic examples of the importance of basic science, research pursued for improving our knowledge base, not to solve a problem or create a patent.
Without basic science, and the funding to pursue it, we never would have gained the innovative advancements we have.
Nor would we have discovered important information about our own bodies, like how our brain cells communicate or how memories are made and stored (thank cephalopods for those).
Hodgkin & Huxley, 1939
Young, 1964
Buckner, 2007
@invertebabe

NEW INNOVATIONS REQUIRE FUNDING
There's a lot of research and development that needs to occur before octopus ribosomes are helping Alzheimer's patients.
R&D that is typically completed using federal grants. As methods need to be proven successful before companies invest.
But federal funding in the US has taken a substantial hit.
$504m in federal funding for the NIH, and $765m in federal funding for the NSF, has been lost in 2026 alone.
Data from grant-witness.us
@invertebabe

Meg Mindlin@invertebabe· 12d

Turns out octopus ribosomes are weird! But their weirdness could turn into new biomedical innovations. Which isn’t a first for octopuses or squid and cuttlefish

WONKY PROTEINS
CAUSE REAL PROBLEMS
Your ribosomes are tiny factories inside your cells that build proteins from your genetic code.
Like people, sometimes ribosomes make mistakes, which result in wonky proteins.
Wonky proteins tend to stick to each other, forming clumps that can cause havoc inside your body.
Havoc such as cell dysfunction, tissue damage, or neurodegenerative diseases.
@invertebabe

OCTOPUS RIBOSOMES?
SLIGHTLY BROKEN
New research that was published in Current Biology yesterday, shows that octopus ribosomes are distinctly different from everyone else, thanks to a single broken sequence within it's genetic blueprint.
This broken ribosome produces more accurate proteins & therefore less clumps of wonky proteins.
Not only that, but scientists were able to replicate this sequence break in bacteria ribosomes and see the same results they saw with octopuses.
@invertebabe

A PATH TOWARDS
MEDICAL INNOVATIONS
The fact that one single structural change in a ribosome is sufficient at improving accuracy opens up a whole new door for theraputic research.
Modified ribosomes, based off of octopus ribosomes, could be used to produce therapeutic proteins with fewer errors, a real challenge in biopharmaceutical manufacturing.
Or, ease the burden of wonky proteins that tend to accumulate in diseases like Alzheimer's or Parkinson's.
This is where creative scientists shine.
@invertebabe

AN ICONIC HISTORY
This isn't the first time octopuses have contributed to novel innovations.
The first artificial neural network,
Nakajima et al., 2018
soft-robotics,
Rus and Tolley, 2015
camouflage technology,
Pikul et al., 2017
self-healing fabric,
Singhal et al., 2023
self-sealing suction cups,
Kessens & Desai, 2011
medical adhesives,
Lee et al., 2023
swimming robots,
Sfakiotakis et al., 2015 and non-addictive alternatives to opiates
MBL UChicago
are all innovations based off of research on cephalopods (octopus, squid, cuttlefish).
@invertebabe

Meg Mindlin@invertebabe· 12d

Octopuses just paved a new path for biomedical innovations… let me explain 🧪🧬🐙🐡🦑🧵

OCTOPUSES
JUST PAVED
A NEW PATH FOR
BIOMEDICAL INNOVATIONS
Featuring my illustration of the lesser pacific striped octopus
@invertebabe

Meg Mindlin@invertebabe· 13d

Source 🫶

Meg Mindlin@invertebabe· 13d

If you’re new here, hi I’m Meg! I’m an artist who became a molecular biologist

Meg Mindlin@invertebabe· 13d

Octopus ribosomes make more accurate proteins, which helps combat effects of RNA editing

BUT WHY???
Octopuses (and squid and cuttlefish) love to edit the regions of their RNA that code for proteins, way more than any other animal we know of.
In all other animals, this type of RNA editing leads to problems, like wonky proteins.
Turns out the octopus ribosomes are better at reading edited RNA, leading to less wonky proteins that clump together and cause havoc.
Kinda perfect, right?
@invertebabe

DIFFERENT STROKES FOR DIFFERENT FOLKS
Squid love to edit their RNA too, but don't have the broken ribosomes octopuses have.
Instead, their proteasomes, a big beefy structure made of multiple proteins, is working overtime- destroying wonky proteins left and right.
Which maybe mitigates the problems caused by RNA editing, but more research is needed to know for sure.
@invertebabe

Meg Mindlin@invertebabe· 13d

Turns out, octopus ribosomes are distinct from every other animal scientists looked out, even squid!

OCTOPUS RIBOSOMES?
CERTIFIED FREAKY
Within every organism's body, including you, is a genetic blueprint that describes all of your proteins.
Proteins make your body functional.
Like the collagen in your skin or the insulin that regulates your blood sugar, all proteins.
Ribosomes are responsible for reading that blueprint and building your proteins.
New research has just discovered that the ribosomes within octopuses are WEIRD.
@invertebabe

THIS IS A RIBOSOME
2. The protein comes out
Ribosome
1. The genetic blueprint (RNA) goes in
@invertebabe

OCTOPUS RIBOSOMES COME
SLIGHTLY BROKEN
Literally.
There is a sequence break at one site within the ribosome that is only found in octopuses.
Squid, cuttlefish, other molluscs, fish, and humans, do not have this slightly broken ribosome.
A deep-sea octopus, Grimpoteuthis, aka the dumbo octopus, also has a perfectly normal ribosome. Only the shallow water freaks seem to have this.
@invertebabe

BROKEN RIBOSOMES MAKE MORE ACCURATE PROTEINS
Sometimes ribosomes mess up, and the proteins they make are wonky. Wonky proteins like to stick together, clump up, and cause havoc for the rest of your body.
When octopus ribosomes were compared against squid and humans, they produced way less wonky proteins.
Scientists even took it a step further and engineered bacteria ribosomes to have the same broken sequence, producing the same results we see in octopus ribosomes.
@invertebabe

Meg Mindlin@invertebabe· 13d

New research just dropped today that makes octopuses even weirder than they already are… let me explain🧵🧪🐙🐡🦑

OCTOPUSES JUST GOT WEIRDER
Featuring an illustration of a two spot octopus with a blue and purple ribosome behind it

Meg Mindlin@invertebabe· Jul 4

We will not go quietly into the night! We will not vanish without a fight! We're going to live on! We're going to survive!Today, we celebrate our Independence Day!

THE ONLY
INDEPENDENCE DAY
I KNOW IS THE
1996 FILM DIRECTED BY ROLAN EMMERICH THAT STARS WILL SMITH, BILL PULLMAN, AND JEFF GOLDBLUM with the film cover of a spaceship destroying a white building

Meg Mindlin@invertebabe· Jun 30

Okay now bring this one back too 👀

Meg Mindlin@invertebabe· Jun 25

The photo i took of my parents vs the one they took of me 🥲

Photo of a man and woman sitting on an old tree that is sitting on a shoreline. They look adorable and the photo is very well framed

Photo of a man and woman sitting on a tree that is sitting on a shoreline. The photo is poorly framed and out of focus.

Meg Mindlin@invertebabe· Jun 21

If you’re new here, hi!! I’m Meg. A scientist, artist, and science communicator.

HI, I'M MEG!
I'm an artist who became a
molecular biologist.
I use my art to make complex science more engaging for the general
public.
Because anyone can understand anything
with the right tools, support, and curiosity.
@invertebabe

Meg Mindlin@invertebabe· Jun 21

AI art tells your audience you lack empathy and self-reflection by using a tool that stole from millions of people. It will not help us build back trust.

AI ART IS DEVOID OF EMPATHY
Real people's hard work and skills that took them a lifetime to obtain is stolen to create generative Al systems. No artist ever gave permission for this, nor are they compensated.
Why continue to use a system that took advantage of millions of people?
In a time where science needs to build back trust, a lack of reflection on the tools we use and how they were made will not get us there.
To use Al art is to show others you lack empathy and the ability to self-reflect.
@invertebabe

STOP CONFLATING SCIENTIFIC
USES OF AI WITH AI ART
Yes, as scientists we do use Al in our work and there's a lot of tremendous progress that can be made from Al-based models.
But predicting protein structures is not the same thing as making a crappy Al graphic.
Al art being awful can co-exist with Al-based models being good. Our brains can hold more nuisance than that.
You're making us look bad guys
@invertebabe

Meg Mindlin@invertebabe· Jun 21

It’s literally so easy nowadays to make a graphic. Canva is free, accessible, and easy. There’s quite literally no reason to need to use AI art

MAKING GRAPHICS IS EASIER THAN IT'S EVER BEEN
Canva has an enormous library of clip art and graphics to choose from that artists made and were compensated for.
You don't need artistic skills to utilize these tools. A graphic compiled of clip art that doesnt match (if you truly lack an artistic eye) is leagues better than Al art.
Even when science communicators are mostly unpaid and doing this in their free time, creating a Canva graphic is still accessible and fast.
@invertebabe

AI GRAPHICS ARE NOT ENABLING YOU TO REACH MORE PEOPLE
Memes with crappy graphics have reached millions for as long as the internet has been around.
Science and communications is inherently creative. Use the skills you already have.
You will reach the same people with or without Al art. If anything, Al art will only negatively impact you as your audience sees you are so willing to disregard people's valid criticisms of it.
@invertebabe

Meg Mindlin@invertebabe· Jun 21

First off, scientists communicating on social media is all that is necessary to reach people who may never get to interact with a scientist. Full stop.

SCIENTISTS
COMMUNICATING ON SOCIAL MEDIA IS ALL IT TAKES TO REACH PEOPLE WHO MAY NEVER INTERACT WITH A SCIENTIST IN PERSON.
And you don't need Al to do so
@invertebabe

Meg Mindlin@invertebabe· Jun 21

A conversation science communicators need to have about AI art 🧪🐙🐡🧵

WHY THIS ARGUMENT IS FULL OF CRAP
"Al graphics allow me to communicate science to people who may never get to interact with a scientist"
A CONVERSATION
SCIENCE
COMMUNICATORS
NEED TO HAVE
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Meg Mindlin@invertebabe· Jun 20

In case this is the first time I’ve popped up on your feed, hello! I’m Meg, an artist, scientist, and science communicator.

HI, I'M MEG!
I STUDY RNA EDITING IN
CEPHALOPODS
I'm an artist who
changed career paths to pursue this line of
study.
Now I use my background to teach others
about molecular biology and cephalopods.
@invertebabe

SOURCES:
Onthank et al. "Impact of Short- and Long-Term Exposure to Elevated Seawater Pco2 on Metabolic Rate and Hypoxia Tolerance in Octopus Rubescens." Physiology and
Biochemical Zoology. 2021.
Borges et al. "Climate-Change Impacts on Cephalopods."
Integrative and Comparative Biology. 2023.
Iba et al., "Belemnites Originated in the Triassic-A New Look at an Old Group." Geology. 2012.
Peter Ward, "The Cephalopods are coming." Nautilus
Magazine. 2026.
Follow to learn everything you don't know about the internet's favorite invertebrate.
@invertebabe

Meg Mindlin@invertebabe· Jun 20

But the goal isn’t thriving, it’s just surviving.

Illustration of a ruby octopus that says “when times are tough, i dont need to be thriving, i just need to be surviving”

Meg Mindlin@invertebabe· Jun 20

It’s not all sunshine and rainbows and some species will likely go extinct.

REALITY CHECK
Some cephalopod species will likely go extinct and eventually populations will drop as climate change trudges on.
But they have some tricks up their sleeves.
A-to-I RNA editing allows them to acclimate to environmental conditions on the go.
And at the end of the day, their competition just can't keep up, leaving more resources for those that can. That could be enough to come out on top. Especially when we see similarities to the past.
@invertebabe

Meg Mindlin@invertebabe· Jun 20

When we look to the past, we can see a lot of similarities to what we see today

WE'VE BEEN HERE BEFORE
The survivors of the Triassic extinction, the largest mass extinction in our Earth's history, were the cephalopods.
They traverse to the deep and speed-run evolution with their short lifespans and high reproductive rates. Then travel back to the shallows to take over the environment less fortunate animals left behind.
The negative effects we can quantify don't seem to outweigh the
Negative effects from climate change
advantages.
Bottom right corner features a scale where Less competition, More resources, outweighs negative effects from climate change

Meg Mindlin@invertebabe· Jun 20

Octopuses are a bit more resilient to environmental fish than their rivals

AN OCTOPUS HANDLES STRESS
BETTER THAN YOU
When water absorbs lots of atmospheric
CO2, the pH of the water decreases, making it more acidic. This makes it harder for animals to get oxygen, which is reflected in their energy use. Higher the energy use, the more stressed you are.
In the Onthank Lab at Walla Walla
University, ruby octopuses got their oxygen consumption rates measured in conditions that mirror what we expect to see with climate change.
What we see over long-periods of time is that octopuses are good at getting over stress quickly.
@invertebabe

FISH SUCK AT DEALING WITH STRESS
When fish are in the same long-term acidic conditions, their stress levels never recover. They're much more negatively affected by climate change and are being over fished at the same time.
Sometimes, all you need to do is to be better than your biggest rival. Which is exactly where octopuses are finding themselves.
Their competition is tanking, leading to octopus (& cephalopod) populations increasing from the resources left behind.
@invertebabe

Meg Mindlin@invertebabe· Jun 20

First, the bad news.

THE BAD NEWS
As a scientist, we're always quick to point out harsh realities of complex questions.
Octopuses (and squid and cuttlefish) are severely impacted by warmer and more acidic waters. Development, reproduction, survivability, are all negatively affected.
It's easy to see nothing but doom and gloom.
But my study species, Octopus rubescens, gives me a little hope.
@invertebabe

Meg Mindlin@invertebabe· Jun 20

Will octopuses be the champions of climate change? Time for a nuanced conversation 🧵🧪🐙🐡

WILL OCTOPUSES BE THE CHAMPIONS
OF CLIMATE CHANGE?
@invertebabe

Illustration of a ruby octopus, octopus rubescens in the corner

Meg Mindlin@invertebabe· Jun 19

If you don’t know who I am, hi!!! I study RNA editing in cephalopods and am also an artist who does science communication. I love getting people interested in molecular biology using cephalopods, an animal everyone is already curious about

SOURCES:
Trade-off between Transcriptome Plasticity and Genome Evolution in Cephalopods Liscovitch-Brauer et al. 2017.
Cell.
Genome and transcriptome mechanisms driving cephalopod evolution. Albertin et al. 2022. Nature Communications.
Temperature-dependent RNA editing in octopus extensively recodes the neural proteome. Birk et al. 2023.
Cell.
A Role for A-to-I RNA Editing in Temperature Adaptation.
Sandra C. Garrett and Joshua J. C.Rosenthal. 2012.
Physiology.
Follow to learn everything you don't know about the internet's favorite invertebrate.
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@invertebabe

Meg Mindlin@invertebabe· Jun 19

This is a double edged sword tho as these advantages come with a cost

OCTOPUSES CAN'T MAKE AS MANY DNA MUTATIONS, WHICH STUNTS THEIR EVOLUTION.
ADAR requires double stranded RNA (dRNA). In order for a mutation to occur, that dRNA needs to be broken.
That is not happening. The dsRNA is preserved and DNA mutations are sparse between individuals and between species.
This has a substantial global effect on genome evolution for octopuses, squid, and cuttlefish.
At the bottom is an illustration of an octopus and a squid and the octopus says “are we screwed” and the squid says “yolo”

Meg Mindlin@invertebabe· Jun 19

So why do octopus, squid, and cuttlefish do SO MUCH RNA editing in comparison to everyone else?

WHY IS SO MUCH RNA EDITING OCCURING IN OCTOPUSES?
Evolution has decided it's advantageous!
Making functional changes to your proteins that can occur in 24 hours, stick around, and are responsive to environmental changes is quite a flex.
Featuring a illustration of a octopus, that highlights their head, where their brain is and where most editing happens. Which the DNA in there is gonna be edited by Adar Which leads to slightly modified protein function

A MENU OF PROTEIN OPTIONS TO PICK AND CHOOSE FROM
Edited and unedited proteins stick around and can be turned on and off as needed.
A tool that is extremely helpful for environmental acclimation in an ever changing ocean.
But there's a cost...
Featuring an illustration of an octopus looking at a protein menu and trying to decide which protein they want

Meg Mindlin@invertebabe· Jun 19

Octopuses, squid, and cuttlefish edit their RNA but so does everyone else!

THE SAME WAY HUMANS CAN!
MEET THE ENZYME ADAR:
Formally known as Adenosine Deaminase
Acting on RNA.
Humans and all other organisms have this enzyme that facilitates RNA editing.
Cause it turns out, everyone edits their RNA! In humans, this editing is really important for preventing unwanted immune responses.
So why are octopuses so special?
@invertebabe

BECAUSE OF WHERE THE EDITS ARE BEING MADE
Strand of DNA highlight a Coding region, Non-coding region, Coding region
Only some areas are made into proteins, the VIPs that make your body run and function.
In octopus, squid, and cuttlefish, 100,000+ sites occur in these regions. In all other animals, this happens very rarely.
@invertebabe

Meg Mindlin@invertebabe· Jun 19

How can an octopus edit their RNA? An introduction to A-to-I RNA editing in coleoid cephalopods (octopus, squid, cuttlefish) 🧪🐙🐡🧵