Proud to work at UFZ! Thanks so much for supporting our work at the intersection of chemical exposure and brain health. @ufz-cite.bsky.social

Hallo liebe Community! Wie schon letzte Woche kommen auch die Beiträge dieser Woche aus Leipzig. Ich bin Elena, Doktorandin in der mTox-Gruppe am Department für Ökotoxikologie am UFZ Leipzig. Mein Projekt befasst sich mit dem angeborenen Immunsystem und der Darm-Hirn-Achse bei Zebrafischen. 1/4

Wenn ihr unsere Arbeit verfolgen möchten: Folgt unserer Gruppenleiterin auf Bluesky @tamaratal.bsky.social und vernetzt euch mit meinen Kolleg*innen auf LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/renee-owe... www.linkedin.com/in/nadia-her... www.linkedin.com/in/chloe-wra... www.ufz.de/index.php?en...

Excited for Dr. @ilonajaspers.bsky.social talk: "Climate Change Research – Coming Together To Explore Mechanisms of Human Health Effects" (Dept. of Pediatrics, UNC Chapel Hill, USA). 📅 Tuesday, January 20, 1 PM 📍 KUBUS Hall 1A, UFZ

Upcoming Talk by Dr. Katie Paul Friedman @ulresearchinst.bsky.social "Can NAMs close the chemical data gap?" hostet by @tamaratal.bsky.social 📅 27 Jan 2026 | 10:00 CET 📍 UFZ Kubus, Hall 1A Insights on using NAMs for rapid risk values, chemical prioritization & mixture modeling in safety assessment.

Thanks for highlighting this @danielgorelick.bsky.social ♥️. Most US citizens want their air, water, and food to be safe from harmful chemicals. The US EPA Office of Research Development is the scientific engine that ensures chemical safety. ORD should be celebrated, not destroyed!

Scott Glaberman, Chris Frey and I lay out why EPA's Office of Research and Development should be protected, not destroyed. Please share widely. Dismantling EPA’s research office jeopardizes environmental safety, public health, and US competitiveness | PNAS www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

🍿 👀 „They are taking on an influential agricultural and chemicals lobby that has long rebuffed attempts to strengthen restrictions on atrazine and other pesticides, at a time when the Trump administration is rolling back government restrictions on industries, not imposing new ones.“

Public health matters

IMBA is recruiting a Junior Group Leader! Are you interested in starting your own lab, pursuing curiosity-driven basic research in the life sciences? Apply by May 18: imba.science/beagroupleader #hiring #biology #research #groupleader #europe

Check out @enicolay.bsky.social’s amazing #zebrafish image! @zebrafishrock.bsky.social

“How might the narrative about senior women be challenged or changed in order to respect these women who have achieved enough success to earn promotion? How do we stop this generational cycle so that women's wings aren't clipped as soon as they approach the power to soar.”

I and my colleagues, @carpenterlab.bsky.social and Carol Greider, wrote an op-ed for our local media site, @lookoutsantacruz.bsky.social, about the recent cancellations of NIH funded training programs meant to broaden participation in science at UCSC: lookout.co/trumps-escal...

This top line--"nearly 800 NIH grants"--was made possible by every scientist who reported their terminated grant to us. 🙏 Small acts add up, and the country is finally learning the full scope RFK's vandalism. And don't stop now! Report your terminated NIH grant here: forms.gle/FnGLkUtK3M58...

🌍 IP3 Retreat: Healthy Planet 📅 May 7, 2025 | 🕘 9:00–17:00 | 📍 KUBUS Leipzig Last chance to register – deadline until today (April 25)! Join us for a day of science, exchange & inspiration. Agenda & abstracts are now online. Open to all @ufz.de employees 👉 Register here: events.hifis.net/event/2299/

I wrote a thing. I am eternally grateful for my editor, who took the original draft and helped me narrow down my key points into a more effective piece with a broader reach. Also, thanks to the editorial & legal teams, who maintained the message while protecting us in this fraught moment.

In today's Nature: "These cutbacks put the entire US research enterprise at risk. For more than 8 decades, the US has stood unrivalled as the world’s leader in scientific discovery and technological innovation. US universities spin off more than 1,100 science-based start-up companies each year.."

Endangering travel to the US also limits the free exchange of ideas, a crucial component of our academic and research success. This administration is using every conceivable tool to decimate the US’s academic and research enterprise and we will be the poorer for it.

Thirty-eight of 43 experts cut last month from the boards that review the science and research that happens in laboratories at the National Institutes of Health are female, Black or Hispanic, according to an analysis by the chairs of a dozen of the boards.

Harvard has set an example for other higher-ed institutions - rejecting an unlawful and ham-handed attempt to stifle academic freedom, while taking steps to make sure students can benefit from an environment of intellectual inquiry, rigorous debate and mutual respect. Let’s hope others follow suit.

Did somebody say make #PeerReview more fair, more transparent, and more fast? Fast & Fair peer review from @biologyopen.bsky.social journals.biologists.com/bio/pages/fa...

Harvard steps up www.harvard.edu/research-fun...

Fast & Fair peer review made it to the European Zebrafish PI meeting in Paris. Ran into one of our reviewers @simoesfilipa.bsky.social used her honorarium to buy new shoes. Zebrafish research never looked so good. 📄 bit.ly/4iZ30st bit.ly/fastandfair @biologists.bsky.social @biologyopen.bsky.social

Nightmare scenario. „On Feb. 16, customs officials detained her at Logan International Airport in Boston for failing to declare samples of frog embryos she had carried from France at the request of her boss at Harvard.“ www.nytimes.com/2025/04/11/s...

„So, I ask you: How do you feel? How do you feel as we fall behind in global scientific progress? As economic uncertainty grows? As the health of your families and communities is put at risk? I know I feel outrage, and I hope others recognize what’s at stake and feel the urgency to support science.“

Great article by @nobelprize.bsky.social laureate @ardemp.bskyverified.social outlining the health, economic and national security benefits of US biomedical research, and the devastation of government efforts to destroy our leading edge. www.cnn.com/2025/04/09/h...

So lovely to host Jess Plavicki at UFZ today where we learned about how TCDD exposure disrupts neurovasculature development. This image represents the Brown-to-UFZ pipeline - Here’s hoping I get to work with many more Plavicki trainees in the future 👾. @ufz-cite.bsky.social @plavickilab.bsky.social

Good tutorial on how measles infections work, fortunately all of this is avoidable. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Our daughter, a life-long NC resident and a Tarheel born and bred is one of those whose ballot was challenged. This is a shocking example of using the courts to overturn valid elections

“a 400-year-old institution should be making decisions with a time horizon of centuries, not news cycles. Making a principled stand now…is the single best thing Harvard could do to earn its continued place as a symbol of genuine excellence” www.bostonglobe.com/2025/04/04/o...

Maybe it's a good time to remind everyone that 40% of US Nobel Prize winners are immigrants. America benefits when we welcome global talent. When we block international scientists, we diminish our own future www.forbes.com/sites/stuart...

NIH’ers and all HHS people: Remember, if they put you on admin leave today that’s not a firing, not until a legal RIF is completed. We are going to fight this.

This doesn't look good, folks www.nature.com/articles/d41...

If you are sitting back thinking your research won't be targeted, you're wrong. This isn't being done in a "logical" way: any area of research could be next. 2/n

Just received the email that my recent appointment to a BSC, which was supposed to be until June 2029, was terminated effective immediately.

International researchers whose research with the U.S. has been curtailed, canceled or withdrawn due to Trump administration requirements or actions Specific Trump administration decisions that create isolation for US scientists and what consequences growing isolation has

Hi, do I know anyone willing to go on the record for Politico about: How the Trump administration’s actions are isolating the U.S. from climate or other science collaboration and what are the potential consequences International researchers hesitant to partner with, or travel to the U.S. for work

I was 100% sure this headline was from the Onion. www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...

“We scholars cannot let the government hold our work hostage. Science funding is being withheld in retaliation for protected free speech. We are passionate about science and its benefits to society, but we fear more what will happen if we do not help defend everyone’s fundamental rights.”

Nervous system of a five-day-old zebrafish larva. Credit to Dr. Nathan Martin of @plavickilab.bsky.social. #ZebrafishZunday 🧪

Bravo, Society for Behavioral Neuroendocrinology! Thank you to the members who crafted this important statement. @drglitterbear.bsky.social sbn.org/news/news/wh...

Today I lost an NIH grant training clinicians to do research about intimate partner violence with perinatal women. More women are murdered in the perinatal period than die of obstetric complications. I didn't just lose a grant. We lost an entire cohort of people building careers to prevent that.

Day 2 Today we are staying on the topic of #PFAS which are industrial chemicals that contaminate humans and the environment. Because legacy PFAS such as PFOA or PFOS have been banned, new alternatives have emerged.

Das Team um @tamaratal.bsky.social forscht zu den Auswirkungen von PFAS am @ufz.de. Warum PFAS so gefährlich sind und Zebrafische sich zum Screening eignen, erfahrt ihr in dem spannend Laborpraxis-Artikel: www.laborpraxis.vogel.de/toxikologisc...

Day 1 #PFAS are industrial chemicals that contaminate humans and the environment. One type of PFAS, called PFOA, was banned in 2020 because of its toxic effects. Despite the ban, it is still found in most living organisms along with complex mixtures of structurally similar PFAS.

My feed is full of people posting about innovative US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) science in lieu of attending the single largest international toxicology meeting (Society of Toxicology (SOT)), held this week in Orlando, because all Agency travel was blocked by the new administrator.

We are recruiting! Do you know butterflies? Are you living around Leipzig, and feel like joining our efforts to expand butterfly monitoring in urban and rural settings? See our assistant position offer: recruitingapp-5128.de.umantis.com/Vacancies/31...

Come join Sant Squad at #sot2025 in Orlando next week! Ashley and Jenielle are both presenting posters on their ongoing projects. Our newest member, Katelyn, is presenting on her dissertation research from the Colacino and Dolinoy labs at UMich. @sotoxicology.bsky.social

In fiscal year 2024, the report found, NIH awarded more than $36.9 billion to researchers, supporting more than 408,000 jobs and generating over $94.5 billion in new economic activity nationwide. news.harvard.edu/gazette/stor...