In the early years of my PhD I remember being asked if we'd ever treat or cure diseases like HIV or Huntington's. I remember saying maybe, but not knowing if I believed. Seeing research pay off as real impact on human lives is - incredible. www.bbc.com/news/article... www.bbc.com/news/article...

Wow now that was an earthquake! Never been shaken awake before

Rust 1.90.0 is out! blog.rust-lang.org/2025/09/18/R... Major features: * lld as the default linker on x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu * cargo workspace publishing support built into cargo * more const context APIs, and stabilization of new useful APIs

Wonderful to see our paper on the #organelle signatures of #neurons and #astrocytes out in final form - congratulations, Shannon Rhoads and team!🎉 t.co/BPxKlbU6Ou

Most neurodevelopmental disorders are caused by having 1 functional gene copy. Using SCN2A, we show that upregulating the functional copy rescues neuronal phenotypes. Amazing work with @neurobender.bsky.social led by Serena Tamura, Andrew Nelson, Perry Spratt & others. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Microglia-astrocyte crosstalk regulates synapse remodeling via Wnt signaling @cellcellpress.bsky.social @travisfaust.bsky.social www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

Biology Department xkcd.com/3140/

David Baltimore, Nobel-Winning Molecular Biologist, Dies at 87 www.nytimes.com/2025/09/07/s...

Getting a breathtaking view of the Golden Gate Bridge! Perfect conditions this weekend.

Thanks Nat Neuro for posting about our recent paper! This project goes to show that you can have a really wacky idea and occasionally biology will throw you a bone and it will actually work!

I love this cover art so much!

Astrocytes are connected by gap junctions in large, plastic networks that link brain regions not connected by neurons, a new preprint shows. By @callimcflurry.bsky.social #neuroskyence www.thetransmitter.org/astrocytes/a...

Ever wanted to do a CRISPR screen directly in the mammalian brain? While perturbing thousands of genes in parallel? All while targeting specific cell types? Check out our latest paper describing CrAAVe-seq, a powerful new functional genomics tool for massively parallel neuroscience research

This is an airyscan confocal movie of mitochondria (white) moving around in a mouse astrocyte. Actin filaments are in orange and microtubules are in blue.

Cool astrocyte paper!

Good grief, the US National Cancer Institute projects it will fund only one in 25 RO1 grant applications in 2026. This is massively defunding cancer research. Despicable vandalism. www.cancer.gov/grants-train...

Tenure-track faculty search of the UCSF Biochemistry & Biophysics Department is open for applications! We are looking for creative, innovative scientists asking fundamental questions in any area of biology. Join our vibrant, collaborative, and supportive community! aprecruit.ucsf.edu/JPF05702

Astrocytes connect specific brain regions through plastic gap junctional networks https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.07.18.665573v1

Pooled #CRISPR screens are a staple of functional genomics in mammalian cells. Yet somehow in the best genetic model™ no equivalent system was available. Until now! The @perrimonlab.bsky.social lab now presents efficient pooled CRISPR screening in #Drosophila cells. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Still the ggoat

Today I learned that ultracentrifuge rotors expire?? And need to be repurchased periodically? These things still feel brand new and should last decades...

At times like these it's important to remember the 3 branches of science

Online now:

www.alz.org/news/2025/ke...

"to run a contest that you end up not funding as a private organization at this time is… both extremely wasteful of these people’s time, and just devastating in terms of morale." I spoke with @aniloza.bsky.social at STAT today about HHMI's decision not to fund this round of Hanna Gray applicants.

The mutation responsible for orange coloration in domestic cats has been identified! This effect in ARHGAP36, an X-linked gene, explains why male cats are more likely to be orange. 🧪 www.cell.com/current-biol...

My ongoing request: If your NSF or NIH grant was terminated--whether at Harvard or elsewhere--please report it here. NSF: grant-watch.us/submit-nsf.h... NIH: grant-watch.us/submit-nih.h... Our trackers are actively used in lawsuits and are often the only record that terminations ever occurred.

Not sure how it made it through the Semifinal 1, but I'm so glad it did! #Eurovision www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MS_...

Thrilled to announce that my lab is now open at Ohio State! We study astrocytes as gene therapy targets for brain repair after ischemic stroke and in vascular dementia, developing new viral tools along the way. If you're interesting in joining or collaborating, please reach out! gleichmanlab.com

🧬The interactive RNA sequencing resource from the Daneman Lab is now live!🧬 Built by Ben Gastfriend, this user-friendly tool lets you explore gene expression changes across multiple conditions! Check it out here: danemanlab.shinyapps.io/bbbtranscrip...

New opportunity for Bay Area undergrads to gain computational neuroscience exposure and training! I’m teaming up with @neuronush.bsky.social to offer this to students in our communities 💕🧠🧪 Please share with any students who might be interested! Tiny.cc/ucsfcompneuro

Huge opportunity for postdocs gearing up for an academic job search, hosted by @stanford-chemh.bsky.social @berkeleymcb.bsky.social and UCSF!

New preprint evaluating the recent claim of epigenetically regulated immune memory in astrocytes. We believe this finding was likely artifactual, resulting from immune cell contamination & cell type mis-annotation across multiple transcriptomics experiments:

All the little cells are making faces at me

Congratulations Dr. @parkergrosjean.bsky.social! 🎓🎉🎉🎉 Thank you for your contributions to the Kampmann lab & UCSF - combining AI/ML with functional genomics to uncover regulators of neuronal activity. We are missing you already - but excited for your next adventures at @insitro.bsky.social!

Real consequences to Trump. Dr. Marc Ruel, one of the world's top heart surgeons, was set to move from Ottawa to San Francisco this year. He backed out because of the political situation here and the mistreatment of Canada by Trump through tariffs and annexation www.kqed.org/news/1203279...

There are days in life that shake you. I’m shattered 💔 to share that I just found out that the US Government terminated my 2024 NIH Director’s Early Independence Award (~$2 million), threatening my long-promised assistant professor job at Columbia University & academic career... 1/🧵

Fresh off the press! We found that degeneration in one retina causes astrocytes to respond retinotopically across *both* hemispheres of the brain. Perhaps astrocytes across the CNS are able to coordinate their responses more than we anticipated... www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Innovation Investigator Awards at Arc Institute Faculty at Stanford, UC Berkeley, and UCSF: Apply by 3/15 to receive $1M in unrestricted funding over 5 years to pursue your boldest ideas in immunology, neurobiology, or machine learning. Join our community of researchers: shorturl.at/p56KG

Joined thousands of my fellow scientists today for #standupforscience at SF City Hall! Amazing speeches — it’s got us all fired up and ready to take action! ⚡️🧬🧪

Honored and grateful to receive the 2025 Bowes Biomedical Investigator Award - along with my friend, colleague and collaborator @annamolofskylab.bsky.social 😊🎉🎉🎉 www.ucsf.edu/news/2025/02...

Excited for our iAssembloid work, led by @emmyli.bsky.social to be featured on the cover of today's issue of @cp-neuron.bsky.social

Eight years ago we marched for science. This time the stakes are much bigger!

White matter (WM) #astrocytes differ significantly from grey matter (GM) astrocytes, with WM astrocytes in the forebrain exhibiting unique proliferation capacity 🧪🧠 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Which universities have the most retracted articles - and the highest retraction rates? For @nature.com, here's a first-of-its-kind analysis of retractions by institutions. Full details in the story. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Congratulations Dr. Olivia Teter! 🎓🎉🎉🎉 Thank you for your many contributions to the Kampmann lab - scientifically and socially. We will miss you lots. All the best for your next adventure at Calico!

Every lab meeting

Pls sign and share!