Ya'el Courtney, PhD
@ScienceYael
Followers
8K
Following
25K
Media
576
Statuses
5K
Jane Coffin Childs Fellow & postdoc in immunology @ Stanford Robinson lab | 2024 Harvard neuro PhD @LehtinenLab • @HHMINews Gilliam ‘21 • 127/100📚 in 2025
Palo Alto, CA
Joined June 2018
🧬 With biomedical PhD applications open now, I often get asked for advice. I created a guide filled with tips from my own journey to Harvard & insights from others. I use it to lead workshops & it’s ready to help you too! ✨ Dive in and share! ⬇️ https://t.co/CZUSewsW2Y
yaelcourtney.com
"Now THAT'S What I Call Getting Into Grad School" is a PhD Application Guide for biomedical graduate programs put together by Ya'el Courtney, a 5th year Neurobiology PhD candidate at Harvard Univer...
9
158
592
Viruses are bad!!!
Washington University researchers link type 1 diabetes to both genes and viruses. Children with high-risk HLA genes and early exposure to coxsackievirus B may face a perfect storm of immune misfires that kill insulin-producing cells. https://t.co/8tbpR9djeV
0
0
17
Traveling for the holidays? Stay well on your way by wearing a high-quality mask like an N95 in crowded indoor spaces like airports and planes. Also wash your hands frequently, cover your cough or sneeze, and avoid traveling if you’re sick. 📲 Learn more: https://t.co/RoiHMSVH92
121
562
2K
It is crazy to me that there is an entirely subculture built around ever-more-esoteric hacks to achieve longevity...but they never, ever, talk about avoiding largely preventable viral infections. Someone explain to me why you never hear Attia or Huberman talking about viruses.
3
2
16
Proud to report that 2025 will be my first year averaging over 7 hours of sleep since I started tracking in 2016 - and I’ll be keeping it that way!!! 2016 < 4hr a night average and have pulled that up by its bootstraps slowly since.
Sleep deprivation is the new smoking. New data across 3,143 US counties (2019-2025) ranks getting <7 hours of sleep as the 3rd strongest predictor of a shorter life, trailing only smoking and obesity. + smoking -0.28 yrs per 1% prevalence + obesity -0.18 yrs per 1% prevalence +
1
0
31
If you want to show your reps you support the articles of impeachment against RFK JR. - click here https://t.co/FDNKfTeeQB
standupforscience.net
RFK Jr. is endangering our families, threatening our health, and destroying our place as the world leader in biomedical research. Impeachment is an extreme option, but Bobby is an extreme threat and...
🚨 Today, I formally introduced articles of impeachment against Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. RFK Jr. has turned his back on science and the safety of the American people. Michiganders cannot take another day of his chaos.
2
3
10
🚨 Today, I formally introduced articles of impeachment against Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. RFK Jr. has turned his back on science and the safety of the American people. Michiganders cannot take another day of his chaos.
15K
5K
31K
Neuro grad students! Applications for the 6th annual - Rising Stars in Neuroscience - due Jan 9! Don’t miss this chance to present research, sharpen science communication skills and connect with peers & faculty. + you’ll get to experience stunning Utah! https://t.co/JBrtOv130j
1
7
14
The most destructive belief in the world is that sleep deprivation produces better results.
410
473
9K
Check out our new review, "The lingering shadow of epidemics: post-acute sequelae across history" by Drs. Christine Miller and @jannamoen. We highlight historical accounts of post-acute infection syndromes (PAIS) through the centuries 👇🏼 #LongCOVID
https://t.co/gCS7nmVKUW
cell.com
The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has drawn global attention to post-acute infection syndromes (PAIS), with millions affected by post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC, or Long COVID). While Long COVID is newly...
37
371
980
“We now have the single most effective intervention against dementia [shingles vaccine] if this was a drug this would be a blockbuster…but since it’s a vaccine I think the public isn’t appreciating the magnitude of this” awesome @StanfordMed Grand Rounds by @EricTopol today.
1
4
54
Long COVID with cognitive impairment (Cog-PASC) shows persistent brain injury, distinct from other subtypes. Key neurodegenerative changes include cortical thinning, iron deposition, elevated damage biomarkers (GFAP/NfL), and altered proteomic signatures. https://t.co/h3fjRW6O9M
23
279
888
Wakefield is a fraud whose lies killed people. Hard to imagine a more worthy subject of vilification,
Time to conduct science with integrity. Time to apologize to Dr. Andrew Wakefield and all the others who were maligned and vilified for simply asking the right questions.
73
38
377
Just look at the degree on that chick (Defense day vs graduation day)
146
507
12K
🧬 With biomedical PhD applications open now, I often get asked for advice. I created a guide filled with tips from my own journey to Harvard & insights from others. I use it to lead workshops & it’s ready to help you too! ✨ Dive in and share! ⬇️ https://t.co/CZUSewsW2Y
yaelcourtney.com
"Now THAT'S What I Call Getting Into Grad School" is a PhD Application Guide for biomedical graduate programs put together by Ya'el Courtney, a 5th year Neurobiology PhD candidate at Harvard Univer...
9
158
592
📢i'm re-sharing my popular #PhD application guide on applying for STEM PhD programs!💡this year's #application cycle is going to be more competitive than ever, so here's some completely FREE advice that has helped over 150k+ people over the past 6 years 😇 https://t.co/a9mALTLzHL
10
169
1K
The core of our paper is that we: • directly visualize apocrine secretion in embryonic + human ChP • show that it delivers defined cargo into CSF • link over-activation of this pathway to changes in CSF and brain development. I believe these contributions stand clearly.
0
0
7
Where it really stings is the jump from “these tools aren’t perfectly specific” to “therefore the main conclusion cannot be supported” and the claim that our novelty is “severely undermined.” That doesn’t reflect what we actually show or what we actually claim.
1
0
7
I have thought carefully & deeply about this work & its limitations. We spell many of them out in detail in the Discussion and Supplement, including the exact pharmacology caveats this comment focuses on. This is also a limitation I fought w/ my PI TO INCLUDE for transparency.
1
0
6
If a chemical raised the risk of MS 32x, schizophrenia 7x, and heart attacks 6x after exposure, it'd be banned. When viruses do it, it’s not just accepted but encouraged. By normalizing infections, we normalize the lifetime risk of neurodegeneration, heart disease, and cancer.
Came across this summary that pulls together some of the recent findings on the links between commonplace (including ostensibly "harmless") pathogens and long-term harm to human health. The war on infectious diseases is far from over!
20
445
1K