🚨🧪🧵URGENT INPUT NEEDED: NIH asks input for next strategic plan-including emphasis on non-animal models (NAMs) to replace animals. Per NIH insider, anti-animal responses now outnumber scientists 200-700x. Please please provide input. Deadline: May 26, 11:59 PM ET. grants.nih.gov/news-events/...

This paper holds a special place in my ❤️ The strains used here were generated by one of my 1st undergrad lab members, Ian. Ian was special. He loved contributing. We acknowledged him for assisting a previous project & it was such a point of pride for him. He messaged me *frequently* about it. 1/2

New micropublication! Here, co-1st authors MS student James Avaala & high school student Melissa Palackel validated results generated in our Cell Bio CURE: Yeast Cue1 resists proteotoxic stress. Micropubs are such a rewarding way to involve students at every stage of discovery & dissemination!

Please share widely. The new (simpler) MIRA R35 for Early Stage Investigators (ESI) NOFO is published. First due date is 10/2/2026. files.simpler.grants.gov/opportunitie...

#Hacks vs. AI as explained by #JenStatsky 💻📱

It's funny how we stigmatize being wrong in science. There's nothing better in science than being wrong and getting to change your mind about something. Any day you were wrong is a day you get to learn something new!

Bingo! Do I win a prize now?

Folks, this is why we follow scientists on social media. They’re just built different.

Great coverage from @npr.org on how multiyear funding and the slowdown in notices of funding opportunity are slowly choking science: www.npr.org/2026/05/05/n...

It is a fact of my experience that no written instructions can teach undergrads how to go about developing a research paper. They need to be in a room with me talking to them and explaining how the entire process works while responding to their questions. It’s inefficient AF and that’s the point.

So proud of these amazing Ball State graduates! Katie and Katrina performed undergraduate research in my lab, and I have mentored Angel in an academic capacity, for years. Each has made impactful discoveries and contributions to their communities, and are going to do (even more!) amazing things.

Good profile of @cdelawalla.bsky.social founder of @standupforscience.net www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026... It has been a pleasure (which is a strong statement these days) standing shoulder to shoulder with her and the SUFS team to do what we can. A force of Nature.

2/3

3/3

As we bid farewell to @chubicki.bsky.social on #Survivor50, here's something I was very lucky to capture on Day 2 when visiting the Cila camp: A Dr. Hubicki lecture! I don’t know what’s better: Christian’s description of binary code, or everyone else’s reactions to getting taught math on the beach

Excited to share that my 2025 collection of science-inspired drawings is now live on the Protein Data Bank (PDB) website. Thank you @rcsbpdb.bsky.social! It is free to explore and download. I’d love to hear what you think! pdb101.rcsb.org/sci-art/bezs...

End-of-school-year cellebration with the #RubensteinLab! What a fantastic group of people and students! We paid tribute to our graduating team members, Katrina, Katie, and James (holding stuffed yeast). The other Rubenstein Lab, #BasilAdesso, had even more fun - lots of love and tummy rubs.

Wut

⏰ FINAL HOURS for #Yeast26 early bird rates! Don't miss out on the premier #YeastGenetics meeting! June 13-17 at stunning Asilomar, Pacific Grove, CA: breakthrough research, top scientists, networking & ocean views! 🌊🌊🌊 Register NOW! 🧬 #Yeast 🧪 #Research 🔬 genetics-gsa.org/yeast-2026/

Don't be shy to take on a little two-week side project. These five months will be the most precious three years of your academic journey.

🚨Hear, hear, fellow microbial cell biologists!🚨 🦠 Bacterial and Archaeal Cell Biology will be represented again at this year’s CELL BIO (ASCB-EMBO) meeting! The deadline to be considered for a talk in our Minisymposium is June 9. Help us spread the word! www.ascb.org/cellbio2026/

As a recipient of federal grants from #NIH (for now! 😭) that funds research in my lab, I'd like to sincerely thank American taxpayers on #TaxDay for investing in scientific research that lays the foundation for medical and technological innovation in this country and keeps us ALL safe and healthy

Median survival went from 6 months to 13 months. It may not sound like much, but for metastatic pancreatic cancer, this is big, IMO. We finally have something solid to build on in this field.

The 'reward' for staying in science for 14yr is equipment you bought as a new PI is failing...-80 freezer recommendations? **Old unit was 570L capacity (fits 3 labs, so 4-5 shelves) ideally comes with metal racks (or can be purchased). Also, in this economy, is there an 'old PI' discount? 😅

This tweet is all of us.

I am honored to be nominated for ASCB Council this year. If you are an ASCB member, please share and vote before April 30th! The amazing @rogerslabucd.bsky.social is also on the ballot!

“first drafts of Results, Discussion, and Introduction should be the trainee’s own work. AI can help with grammar…tightening prose…critiquing the logic of an argument you’ve already made. But the hard part of forming the argument needs to be yours.’ blekhman.substack.com/p/you-need-t...

Four people are now farther from Earth than anyone has ever been, with no ability to talk to anyone back home, for around 40 minutes.

Oh my gd, the Artemis II crew doing a parody of a bad 1980s sitcom intro from in space. Source: www.instagram.com/p/DWwuHPfCZ8Z/

NASA employee: oh hey you guys are back early. Astronaut: *grabs plunger, gets back on rocketship*

I hate writing but love having written. Writing wrecks me every time, but once I've finished, having written a thing lasts a lot longer. My writing process consists mostly of ways to coerce myself into doing the writing.

PIs that already know how to read and digest and write might make use of tools that potentially save *them* time. These tools would short circuit skill development in the untrained and inexperienced

Yeet accomplished

This is a really important paper in an area that is hard to study. I would recommend any student read this preprint to see how confounding issues arise even in clever assays. Internal Ribosome Entry Sites (IRES) are very interesting because they bypass normal translation initiation mechanisms. 1/

But more so, I would have wanted to be the one to correct our own errors or be part of the experiments to challenge our own ideas. We can't fall in love with our models, and doubling down trying to prove a model rather than refute it can lead to mistaken conclusions 12/

I also think that one should always want to be in position of being the sharpest critic of one's own model, with as little emotion as possible. Our models are only useful if they serve the scientific pursuit and it is important that we challenge and test them. 9/

I went back to capture what the astronauts said in full when the clock was stopped at T-10 minutes and they were asked if they were go for launch: This is Victor. We are going for our families. This is Christina. We are going for our teammates. This is Jeremy. We are going for all humanity.

"We are going for all humanity." "Artemis crew is go for launch. Full send." Publicly funded science to explore our universe and our own precious world is a beautiful thing.

NASA is honestly one of the greatest things humans have ever created, the stuff of math and dreams

New season* of Taskmaster starts in less than two weeks and I need everyone to start watching this show so we can all talk about it here, please and thank you (*not series!!)

It’s great to see our latest microPublication go live! Four undergraduate researchers worked with grad student Kat Yamamoto to demonstrate a correlation between fat storage and survival of #Celegans on pathogenic bacteria! Congrats Alan, Grace, Tiffany, and Daniel! #undergradinthelab #proudPI

We're hiring a Research Fellow (postdoc) in cell biology at NTU Singapore. The project sits at the intersection of host-pathogen interactions and ER stress biology: CRISPR screens, infection models, lipid peroxidation, wound healing. Apply or share 👇 ntu.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/Careers/job/...

Interested in the nuclear envelope? Do you reside in the US northeast (or are willing to pay a visit)? Don't miss this year's NENE (northeast nuclear envelope) - a trainee-led regional meeting that brings together scientists at all levels for a day of exciting talks and discussions. June 5th @ Yale

WEHI researchers have led a major global effort to create the first authoritative atlas for E3 ligases, resolving more than 18 years of inconsistencies in the ubiquitin field. Study led by Dr Ngee Kiat ‘Jake’ Chua & Dr Rebecca Feltham in @cellpress.bsky.social www.wehi.edu.au/news/new-enz...

$2.45 billion NIH grant cuts and ~2300 terminated active research grants were DOGE'd in early 2025 Who were most affected? www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.... Early career and women researchers

“Why am I dying when my telomere age is so young?!?!??!?!?!”

David Botstein was one of the giants of genetics and genomics, and my mentor, colleague and friend for more than 40 years. I’m sad that he is gone, but his larger-than-life persona comes through here. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/20/s...

Our Indiana Academy of Science meeting would not be complete without the annual #RubensteinLab skybridge team selfie!

A wonderful day of science at the annual meeting of the IN Academy of Science! #RubensteinLab members Hailey, Sudhee, & Kaikeyi did a fantastic job presenting posters, & James gave an award-winning talk about his thesis work. Very proud of how our team members supported each other.

Congrats to lab undergrad Hailey Barton! Hailey was awarded a BSU Undergrad Student Grant! Hailey studies differential degradation requirements of aberrant ER & Golgi proteins. I’m proud of how she embraced the challenge of writing a proposal. Looking forward to the good work she'll continue to do!