Lindsey Avery

So very proud to have been a part of this journey for the UNE College of Osteopathic Medicine, Class of 2024! It’s truly incredible to look back on this experience- teaching in hazmat suits, only interacting with the same cluster of 8 students…it wasn’t until I watched each of you cross that auditorium stage that I realized I had never even seen so many of your shining smiles because they were always hidden behind a mask! 😷 I will always look back on this group with a special endearment and wonder—witnessing each of your evolutions from medical students to Doctors has been an absolute privilege and honor. Congratulations you all—you did it against all odds!

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My fascination with the kidney never fizzles, and neither do my fluorophores🤓

Pictured here is a glomerulus from mouse kidney, stained with antibodies against CGRP (red/pink), one marker for sensory nerve fibers, and a special top secret molecule that is behaving mysteriously in green 🫣.

New year- new research- same LAF 🤓💕

Happy Fluorescence Friday!

Happiness is…..new antibodies!!!
Did you know that when you publish using a antibody, HumanKine cytokine/growth factor, or Chromotek Nanobody, you are eligible to receive a full-size (yes, FULL-size 👏🏻🙌🏻) Proteintech primary antibody of your choice?! (You can also redeem for one 100ul ChromoTek IgG antibody, one 10ul ChromoTek Nanosecondary antibody, or one 10 OR 5ug size HumanKine recombinant protein/cytokine or growth factor?!?!
As the old adage goes (and haunts us all…)… “publish or perish.” Woof. The feeling of swing your research come to fruition in written form IS amazing, but in my experience, I am mostly overcome by overwhelming feelings of relief NOT to have to be knit-picking the final painstaking details of a manuscript. Bottom line- party favors make everything better!!!!! (Not to mention, help you move on to the next paper!)
Off to put these beautiful babies to rest at -20C (Ps- come already in 50% glycerol, so simply spin down (gently) and store right away!)

Infusion Day 1
In my world of relapse is inevitable. Each time it happens, I find myself handling the fear and uncertainty with the tiniest bit more resiliency, but it always hits hard. This time around, i was in the process of finally weaning off immunosuppressants, I was feeling great, managing work and family life etc—I didn’t see it coming. Lucky for me, this also means that I am now FINALLY able to get the IV therapy I need, and have it be covered by insurance. Still, I’m scared. The uncertainty can and will consume me if I let it—- thoughts like: best case scenario, I will be in remission for 6-12 Mo. I try not to go there and focus on the present but It can be hard when the reality of a lifetime of chronic disease management sinks in. In my brain I know this journey will be long and tumultuous. In my heart, I still manage to kindle glimmers of hope that one day, maybe this time or maybe next time, a cure will be possible. Thank you to anyone and everyone who devotes their lives to nephrology and glomerular disease research. The patients you work hard to help are out here, always cheering you on and forever grateful for all of your efforts—successes and failures alike.

Annnnnnd SHE’s BACK!!!!!!
I will post a personal/professional update soon, but in the meantime, I will drop this gem here as a reminder to all of you that when you commit to doing what you love, there is always a way to move forward. Science (and life) can be messy, it gets ugly, and sometimes the downpour of uncertainty can be f*ing relentless…to the point where you feel almost certain that all that you’ve worked so hard for has run it’s course. Don’t give up. There is always one step in the next right direction waiting to be discovered. In the meantime, lean on your people-professional mentors, colleagues, family members/friends/loved ones- they will help remind you of who you are, what you love, and what is most worth fighting for.
This image depicts human pediatric cardiomyocytes (heart muscle cells) from a heart with . Red indicated the cardiomyocyte intercalated discs (N-cadherin) and Cyan marks the cardiac gap junctions (Connexin43). Impaired cellular structures in can prevents these cardiomyocytes from electrically communicating with each other in a way that makes the ventricular heart muscle contract well—this can lead to life-threatening heart rhythms and further progression of disease. Primary antibody’s kindly provided by 💕

Feeling extra grateful for some time away with my lil fam 💗. The sun, sand and salt really do wonders for the soul.
Oh, and a good book too.

I quit my postdoc.

Just like in skiing, sometimes even the perfect conditions, opportunities in life don’t work out and you find yourself face-down stuck in a hole.
Earlier this week I quit my job. The truth is, I’ve been miserable for most of the time since I started last June, but those circumstances continued to escalate until I reached my tolerance threshold earlier this week. I knew that things weren’t going well, but in a moment of clarity, I realized that no matter what I gave, it would never be enough. The harder and longer I worked, the more sacrifices I made, the more miserable I became, until I no longer recognized the haggard, self-conscious, burnt out and depressed person looking back at me in the mirror. What’s worse, my ability to be present as a spouse and mother have co tinier to decline, despite all of my very best efforts.
So here I am again, stepping away from an opportunity I thought would be a dream come true, that turned out to be nothing close to what I imagined. It’s been a serious loss to grieve, and the fear and uncertainty of what will come next is terrifying. I have been reminded that when I relinquish every part of myself to make someone else happy or to meet some arbitrary expectation, when I lose myself to the system, the toxicity of the culture, it’s only a matter of time before the situation implodes.
What I’m taking away from this experience (so far) is that for the first time in a long time, I was able to recognize that a compatibility failure is not my fault, nor does it mean that any hope of a professional future is lost. Nope. For the first time, I am taking control and making the change on my terms, with hopes of moving onwards and upwards in the most professional, least-dramatic way possible.

The part that hurts the most is the loss of the science. The hopes and dreams I had imagined for what I would help contribute to the Alport Syndrome and CKD research community have been put on pause. While I know that I will continue my work as a scientist and contribute to kidney research whenever and wherever I can, it is unclear to what capacity I will be able to continue this right now, and that cuts pretty deep.

NO achievement, NO milestone, NO ounce of character is handed to anyone…that Sh*t has been earned and it rarely looks pretty. So, true to LAF form, here I am lying on the ground in a puddle of my own sweat, ready to pass out after having completed my 500th ride . My body has been through a lot the past couple of years, and the number of times I have had to late cancel due to blood pressure issues, etc has been FAR higher than I ever could have imagined I would able to tolerate, but I still made it here today (even after driving to the wrong studio at 5:59am 🤪 hah!).
This milestone was an emotional one for me, as it comes after a long period of struggle and setbacks, an even longer string of disappointments feeling let down when my body would t give what I wanted it to give. So, from this sweaty, beautiful floor today, I share a reminder that showing up, yes, showing up, means something…being consistent, however small the steps, gets you places you need or want to go.
Sending out a HUGE Thank you and all the instructors at Jibe for helping carrying me through these last few years. I needed, and really depended on your ongoing support and encouragement more than I think you’ll ever know. I’ve discovered a new Lindsey inside and she’s slowly making her way back out into the world, one small step at a time.

Happy Halloween from The Mushroom kingdom!

Currently listening 💕

Lost Women of Science For every Marie Curie or Rosalind Franklin whose story has been told, hundreds of female scientists remain unknown to the public at large. In this series, we illuminate the lives and work of a diverse array of groundbreaking scientists who, because of time, place and gender, have gone largely unreco...

Vulnerability….,The most TERRIFYING of human experiences that also happens to hold within it, the potential for the greatest leaps in emotional connection. Whether it is learning and nurturing something within yourself, and/or sharing something scary with another person, vulnerability is a known route to establishing a greater and deeper connection with yourself or another.
This past weekend my very best childhood friend married the love of her life, and I wanted more than anything to give her a gift that reflected the love, admiration, gratitude and beauty of this lifelong friendship we have continued to nurture. For the past 6 months or so, I took top secret voice lessons (only my therapist knew!) so I could attempt to sing a song to my friend in her wedding day. I took voice lessons and did a good amount of performing as a kid, but eventually became far too shy to continue. Convinced this decisions was a result of other interests, I gave up singing until this past April, when I began a serious journey to rediscover myself following an intense period of disease, and academic pursuit. Although this journey began as a gift for someone else, I quickly discovered the gift of healing it gave back to me.
By definition, vulnerability requires the risk and exposure of revealing something you hold close to your heart. More often than not, at least in my experience the risks that come along with being vulnerable are equally, if not even more frightening than anything we are able to imagine as a potential benefit or positive outcome resulting from this sort of raw exposure. .

Today begins the first day of my retirement from a “one night only”singing career, but it will always remain an experience I remember as one of the most intense but also most incredibly rewarding journeys to add to my lifelong bucketlist 😂.

Inflammation, steroid weight gain, stress, hormones….
My physical self has really taken a beating, in addition to my emotional self these past few years. As HARD as I have tried to prioritize nutritious eating and movement, the weight kept piling on until I reached the weight I was at when In the hospital giving birth to James. It didn’t feel good, at all. As if my professional confidence wasn’t already being challenged, my confidence in my body image (which was already terrible) basically vanished and I found myself avoiding nearly all socialization because I couldn’t bare for people to see me—even my platform here suffered because I just could not bare to look at pictures of myself—everything felt so out of control—the harder I tried, the more weight I gained. This picture was taken as the wedding shower of a close friend, where I had to re-introduce myself to people I’ve known for over a decade because they didn’t recognize me. I kept it together, but only just barely.
This is the year of recovery for me- both emotionally and physically. For the first time in almost 3 years, I received blood work back that was entirely normal, and urine that had, wait for it, no detectable protein in it.
A full year later, and with the help of a functional medicine practitioner, I am finally getting close to being free of steroids, have finally been able to loose some weight, and am slowly but surely, regaining my strength.
Gratitude doesn’t begin to cover it.
My life is still being lived a day at a time, for the most part, but each one of those days is a day I cherish, growing closer and closer to feeling well.

Big milestone for my big, brave, beautiful boy. So proud of you my not-so-littlest love bug 🐛

My most precious baby boy…is about to be a…KINDERGARTENER. Apparently, with this comes the ability to select one’s own backpack (two pockets “in case of extra projects”), and decide not to have pictures taken anymore, which is also ok. in conclusion, if you need me, I’ll be ugly crying and following the bus to school.

Science x Saturdays

Many thanks to for inspiring James (cough…and me) to (re)discover our love of pony beads, neon pink, and all the science puns!

Hi, I’m Dr. Fitzsimons!!’🥰💕💗.

This has been SUCH a long time coming. Part of the reason I’ve not posted in almost 2 months (wow!) is because I wasn’t sure where to start, what to say, or how to say it. Soooo much preparation (both academic and emotional) goes into the final steps of finishing a PhD. So much so, that even the whirlwind culmination of the defense, holding your bound/printed dissertation, and receiving that signed degree still doesn’t seem to make it sink in…I AM A DOCTOR!!!!! Wait….me? Yeah…

This reality check comes in waves, transient moments of objectivity when my brain understands that I have completed this task. Emotionally, on the other hand, I am only beginning to realize all of the turmoil, discomfort, shame and insecurity I stuffed away, deep down inside, for soooo many years. Like those spontaneous waves of pride and realization, I’ve also experienced INTENSE periods of sadness, relief, exhaustion, and recall of some really painful memories. I think it is going to take me a while to recover from this. While I don’t advocate for stuffing away your trauma, I also recognize that sometimes you just have to survive—your job, your family, your child and even your own well-being depend on your ability to delegate and reprioritize emotional injury in lieu of meeting a short term goal—-or in my case—finishing a goal that has taken me sooooo much longer than “average,” to meet.

For those of you just entering grad school or considering this path, don’t be deterred. I am not sharing this to scare you—after all, everyone’s journey is different! I’m sharing my story as an example of just how possible it is to achieve something big like this, even when all odds are against you. For those of you in the midst of this or even approaching the end, pace yourselves, SAFEGUARD as much as you can of your mental health and selfcare. Let this also serve as a testament that any big dream worth achieving will demand any and every resource available to you- logistically, intellectually and emotionally. Protecting some of what you give may lengthen the journey, but ultimately, these boundaries are what ensure your success in the long run.
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Woo hoo!

Hedgehog Morphogens Act as Growth Factors Critical to Pre- and Postnatal Cardiac Development and Maturation: How Primary Cilia Mediate Their Signal Transduction Primary cilia are crucial for normal cardiac organogenesis via the formation of cyto-architectural, anatomical, and physiological boundaries in the developing heart and outflow tract. These tiny, plasma membrane-bound organelles function in a sensory-integrative capacity, interpreting both the intra...

Yes, there is a DOCTOR in the house!!!!!
(And now there are 2 🥰)
Best Mothers Day Yet. Love you mom.

Happy Easter!
With love from the cutest, most coordinated gentlemen I know 😍🥰