@SamNScience profile picture
Dr Samantha Nixon @SamNScience

Former arachnophobe now spider advocate. Postdoc @UCSF studying molecular mechanisms of toxin resistance 🐸. PhD in 🕷️ venoms @IMBatUQ #scicomm #womeninSTEM

Joined August 2016
  • Tweets 6,969
  • Following 1,332
  • Followers 2,830
2,016 Photos and videos
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Dr Samantha Nixon@SamNScience
29 Jul 2021
PhD defense: passed! From arachnophobia to certified spider venom scientist! 🕷️ Introducing Dr Nixon! Thank you to my advisors, mentors, collaborators and supporters! @VenomsLab @IMBatUQ @UQ_News @CSIRO @WestpacScholars #WomenInSTEM
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Dr Samantha Nixon retweeted
Mark Blaskovich@mark_blaskovich
May 24
Check out @IMBatUQ researcher @SamNScience featured in this weekend's Australian Weekend Magazine.. turning Nature's venoms into drugs...
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Dr Samantha Nixon retweeted
Raúl González-Pech (@raulgoch.bsky.social)@RaulGoch
11 Jun 2025
Stoke to announce that I will be joining the Dept of Biology @txst this coming Fall semester as an Assistant Professor! Looking for grad students with interests in #Symbiodiniaceae, #corals 🪸, microbial #symbiosis 🦠, comparative #genomics 🧬 and #phylogenomics soon. Reach out!
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Dr Samantha Nixon retweeted
iNaturalist@inaturalist
24 May 2025
Marine Spiders (Desis marina) weave their silk homes in seashells & kelp along New Zealand and New Caledonia's rocky shores. 🧵⤵️ 📷 ltimmo on iNaturalist 📍 New Zealand 🔗: inaturalist.org/observations… #ObservationOfTheDay
A reddish-brown spider with a large body clings to the rocky intertidal.

ALT A reddish-brown spider with a large body clings to the rocky intertidal.

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Dr Samantha Nixon retweeted
Entomological Society of America@EntsocAmerica
21 May 2025
TOMORROW! How can #AI support sustainable insecticide discovery and Physiology, Biochemistry & Toxicology research? Learn more in this May 22 @EsaPbt webinar moderated by @TinitaLozano @arcabrera78 w/ panelists @Edel_PLopez & Yannick Djoumbou Feunang. 🔗buff.ly/ey0GO60
This image includes white text on a blue background that reads "ESA Webinar #ESAPBT Harnessing AI for Sustainable Insecticide Discovery and to Advance Entomology. Thursday, May 22, 2025, 1-2 p.m. ET." The graphic also includes an image of a mantis and the ESA logo.

ALT This image includes white text on a blue background that reads "ESA Webinar #ESAPBT Harnessing AI for Sustainable Insecticide Discovery and to Advance Entomology. Thursday, May 22, 2025, 1-2 p.m. ET." The graphic also includes an image of a mantis and the ESA logo.

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NEJM
@NEJM
13 May 2025
Images in Clinical Medicine: Sea Anemone Sting nej.md/3YCMneq #DermTwitter
A photo of innumerable fine, erythematous, linear lesions in a stellate distribution with central clearing seen on the posterior right thigh

ALT A photo of innumerable fine, erythematous, linear lesions in a stellate distribution with central clearing seen on the posterior right thigh

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Record numbers of whales, dolphins and sea lions being poisoned by toxic algae - we need more research into the domoic acid toxin and it's environmental impacts to avoid this ecological disaster. weather.com/news/climate/new…

Toxic Bloom Killing Sea Life Along California Coast | Weather.com

Rescue centers are overwhelmed as disoriented animals wash ashore, victims of a fast-growing toxin fueled by warming waters and pollution.

weather.com
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Dr Samantha Nixon retweeted
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade 🇦🇺
@dfat
5 May 2025
Putting Australia – and the democracy sausage – on the world map, supporting voters at our embassies, high commissions and consulates in 83 countries. #AusVotes
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Excited to share our latest work in @NatureComms! We show that frog proteins bind and functionally neurotoxins involved in paralytic shellfish poisoning, with exciting potential applications in diagnostics and therapies! nature.com/articles/s41467-0…

Structural basis for saxitoxin congener binding and neutralization by anuran saxiphilins

Nature Communications - Dinoflagellates and cyanobacteria produce saxitoxin (STX) congeners that block voltage-gated sodium channels. Here authors show how amphibians may sequester STX congeners...

nature.com
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Proud to have been a part of a huge collaborative team with Sandra Zakrzewska, @ZhouChenUCSF, @ElectrosomeUCSF, Du Bois lab, Tod Leighfield, @martafilizola and many others! Shout out to @sophionbio for patch clamp instruments critical for the study! Go team Saxiphilin! 🐸
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Dr Samantha Nixon retweeted
Dr. Rebecca (Becca) Tarvin 🐸 ☠️ 🐍 💚🪰@frogsicles
16 Apr 2025
This Saturday, the California National Geographic Explorer's Hub is putting on an event in collaboration with @SportsBasement and @NerdNiteSF! There will be >20 lightning talks about all sorts of things! Click here to learn more and RSVP: sites.google.com/view/wonder…
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California: sea lion attack on teenager raises fears of toxic algae poisoning theguardian.com/us-news/2025…

California: sea lion attack on teenager raises fears of toxic algae poisoning

Animals affected by domoic acid are known to exhibit erratic behavior and poisonings are becoming frequent

theguardian.com
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Dr Samantha Nixon retweeted
The Fulbright Program
@FulbrightPrgrm
2 Apr 2025
Applications for the Fulbright Program are now open for academic year 2026-2027!🌐 Apply to Fulbright to advance your research, build networks, and be part of a lifechanging international exchange experience. Begin your #Fulbright journey today by applying to the U.S. Scholar Program at fulbrightscholars.org/ or the U.S. Student Program at us.fulbrightonline.org/
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Domoic acid causing more and more of these incidents. 'Demonic' sea lion reports spark concerns about toxic algae on California coast - ABC News via @ABC - abcnews.go.com/US/demonic-se…

'Demonic' sea lion reports spark concerns about toxic algae on California coast

Sea lions on the California coast are displaying strange behavior likely due to a harmful algae bloom impacting the region, according to marine researchers.

abcnews.com
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Dr Samantha Nixon retweeted
Timothy Stephens@timstep1383
17 Jan 2025
Congratulations to our international team for publishing this wonderful paper about how microalgae and microbes interact at Yellowstone National Park to maintain stable ecosystems (academic.oup.com/ismecommun/…). @DebashB @CouchMicroscopy @Th_Mock @chc_evobio @jgi @apmweber @ISMEComms

Temporal dynamics in a red alga dominated geothermal feature in Yellowstone National Park

Abstract. Alga-dominated geothermal spring communities in Yellowstone National Park (YNP), USA, have been the focus of many studies, however, relatively li

academic.oup.com
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RT @institutpasteur: The Institut Pasteur is leaving X. Due to serious issues observed since its acquisition by Elon Musk, the Institut Pas…
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Dr Samantha Nixon retweeted
Institute for Molecular Bioscience@IMBatUQ
5 Dec 2024
Dr @ScientistShah and Dr @Clara_J_Jiang found women with a high genetic risk of developing depression are more likely to develop heart disease, by analysing genetic & health data from more than 300,000 people. 🔗 Read more: bit.ly/3OFZ7ve
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Dr Samantha Nixon retweeted
ScienceGovAu
@ScienceGovAu
5 Dec 2024
There’s still 11 days left to nominate an inspiring #scientist or #innovator. Each of the winners of the 5 science and innovation prizes receive between $50,000-250,000, a medallion, lapel pin and an award certificate. Ready to nominate? 👉 spklr.io/6014I3Lp #PMPrizes
Image of 2024 recipients of Science and innovation prizes. Text says 'Nominate an inspiring scientist or innovator. The Prime Minister's prizes for science'

ALT Image of 2024 recipients of Science and innovation prizes. Text says 'Nominate an inspiring scientist or innovator. The Prime Minister's prizes for science'
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Dr Samantha Nixon retweeted
Colin McCarthy
@US_Stormwatch
5 Dec 2024
BREAKING: TSUNAMI WARNING (highlighted in red) issued for Northern California coastline and southern Oregon, including the Bay Area coast.
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Dr Samantha Nixon retweeted
British Society for Parasitology@BSPparasitology
5 Dec 2024
🚨 @GordonConf in Tropical Infectious Diseases 2025 - Lucca, Italy 2025 - 1-2 Feb '25: Gordon Research Seminar specifically for ECRs! More details at: tinyurl.com/27ucssd - 2-7 Feb '25: Full conference on Tackling Tropical Infectious Diseases: tinyurl.com/4rz33u9f
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Dr Samantha Nixon retweeted
Estella Newcombe@estellaan
27 Nov 2024
We did this crazy project where we tried to see if proteins could interact with their mirror image ligand. Seems impossible when proteins need to form 3D structures to interact. But what about if the interaction remains disordered??? nature.com/articles/s41586-0…

Stereochemistry in the disorder–order continuum of protein interactions

Nature - Studies on protein–protein interactions using proteins containing d- or l-amino acids show that stereoselectivity of binding varies with the degree of disorder within the complex.

nature.com
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