#ARVO2026 Karaoke was lit last night! I’m so happy to be part of the fun, supportive, silly @medicalcollegeofwi.bsky.social community: we had almost our whole contingent there and ready to sing!

Really reading the literature has always given scientists in training a huge advantage. But these days, it seems like a superpower. So many people skim/AI summarize papers, but then you miss out on so much! It's like reading a description of a Van Gogh painting vs. staring at it for 2h.

horrible. this country’s turn away from science based medicine in the name of “wellness” is killing children and will kill a lot more. www.propublica.org/article/more...

Great scientists make great friends. #arvo2026 @suprajagv.bsky.social @wertlaboratory.bsky.social

PROUD PI! Taylor gave an amazing 1st conference talk, absolute pro. #arvo2026

Why am I sitting through an all male session at ARVO in 2026? So disappointing.

Three generations at #arvo2026!

TODAY (Sunday) come see Tiffany Yee and Ashley Rowe present their research in poster sessions this afternoon! Amazing work with retinal organoids and looking into steroidal sex hormones #ARVO2026 @arvoinfo.bsky.social

It’s @aoiplab.bsky.social, @icanhasmiranda.bsky.social and company at #ARVO2026

Off to #ARVO2026 with @icanhasmiranda.bsky.social and Ross!

New study led by Ning Shen w/ @phruzycki.bsky.social: a genome-wide in vivo CRISPR screen in a retinitis pigmentosa mouse model identifies genes whose loss accelerates photoreceptor death. Overexpressing two, UFD1 and UXT, preserves photoreceptors, retinal function, and vision. 🧵

We’re now at 17 new and competitive renewal R01s from the NEI FY26.

Finally, neurological basis for Trinity’s very orange very dumb behaviors.

Why would I use "AI," I actually know how to fucking write

I’m hiring a research tech to join my lab! Anyone interested can reach out to me for more information. This is a good opportunity for someone looking to expand their research skills prior to graduate school. mcw.wd503.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/Extern...

New paper out in @cp-neuron.bsky.social 🎉 What determines contextual modulation in V1? Why does the visual surround sometimes facilitate and sometimes suppress a neuron's response to its preferred stimulus?

Among the frustrating aspects of the funding situation in the U.S. is that the strategic response is to apply for more grants, with the result that the equilibrium success rate is pushed lower (up to a point). Scientists get less while spending more time writing grants rather than doing science.

Only two competitive grants funded by NEI in FY26 so far.

Milwaukee showed up for #nokings Proud of this community and forever willing to stand up for science, immigrants, education, and democracy.

I defended my PhD 10 years ago today. That was the least remarkable thing that happened that day. Sharing something I wrote about it last year. Since then "the horrors persist but so do we." And with dignity.

🧵 New preprint led by @bingbrunton.bsky.social, @elliottabe.bsky.social, @lawrencehu.bsky.social We gave a worm brain control of a fly body and it walked What did we learn? Nothing, other than deep reinforcement learning is effective We call it the digital sphinx www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

$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

😭😭 grants.nih.gov/news-events/...

Inhibitory neurons are among the most transcriptomically diverse class of neurons in the CNS, with some brain regions having 60+ distinct cell types. Do humans share the same repertoire as rodents? Birds? Fish? 1/13

IMPORTANT---IMPORTANT---IMPORTANT NIH is seeking input for the NIH-wide Strategic Plan. Open to everyone but Registration is Required! Your chance to listen and get your 2 or more cents in. grants.nih.gov/news-events/...

Good news from NIH! Michael Chiang has apparently been reappointed as Director of the National Eye Institute www.nei.nih.gov/about/our-mi...

Yes. Important in the context of the release of the NIH budget bill today. NIH has been dismantled this year, and it’s NOT because of a Congressional budget cut. It’s b/c of Project 2025/Russell Vought reaching into NIH in an unprecedented way and screwing up how it’s run. The budget bill does…

10+ years of vision 👁️research in mice 🐭recasts our ideas about the brain 🧠and sharing data 🧪📈... a brief guide 👇 Thanks to many colleagues and @gtresearch.bsky.social @gt-neuro.bsky.social for connecting us w @us.theconversation.com

Thrilled Scalabrino Lab graduate student Taylor Rau passed her qualifying exam yesterday!

gift article: www.nytimes.com/2025/12/10/s...

This paper on S-cone circuitry in the cone dominant 13-lines ground squirrel is absolutely stunning. I want to spend the rest of my day (week? month?) playing with the interactive data.

New York Times article on science funding with some depressing but familiar curves with interactive graphics. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

At #SfN2025? Come check out the Photoreceptors & Retinal Circuits nanosymposium at 1! I’ve heard all the cool kids will be there and the chair is an absolute rockstar.

Yes. This is another reason why public funding is what we want - why the government should support science with democratic mechanisms of oversight. Public support means not having to beg toxic billionaires for money.

Research in primate brains has been essential for the development of brain-computer interfaces and artificial neural networks. New funding and policy changes put future such advances at risk, write Cory Miller, @movshon.bsky.social and Doris Tsao. #neuroskyence bit.ly/47MXYLH

We’re hiring! Join the Sivyer Lab at The University of Sydney as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Neurodegeneration within the Snow Vision Accelerator, a $50M initiative tackling glaucoma and optic nerve disease. iPSCs, electrophysiology, drug discovery, and gene therapy.

As a new PI, how can anyone distinguish between no NIH funding because I suck or because the U.S. govt sucks? It’s not like I’ve had the opportunity to establish a track record. And now taking away critical feedback that would help develop future grants. Looking real bleak out there.

On the way to #SfN25 and I love to see all the posters in the airport! The yearly neuro migration begins.

NEW: Jenna Norton, an NIH employee who is openly critical of Trump & RFK Jr, has been put on "non-disciplinary" administrative leave. She says the administration is trying to "scare and silence me." An HHS official, asked to comment, called her a radical leftist. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/13/u...

So happy to have had Katherine Wert visit MCW yesterday! The work coming out of her lab is just incredible and hugely impactful.

And importantly, while a few years to settle out might seem no biggie, it sure as heck is a big deal to those PIs who have been on the job for just a few years and are looking at the tenure decision looming ahead.

and there it is. the absolutely massive change in R01s funded multi-year. our perceptions that the new mandate, sorry strong suggestion, has had a dramatic effect on forward funding and therefore success rates is validated.

Happy Halloween from MCW Eye Institute’s resident hawk. I did not leave the remains of my snacks around the building, unlike other hawks I know…

Someone asked me the other day*: How do we replace all the science that’s being lost across the US as NIH, NSF etc are being lawlessly destroyed? The answer is: we cannot. It is impossible. The task now is to defend #NIH and public funding for medical research. 1/ 🧪 #neuroscience

I’m a current mentee and this program has been phenomenal. Happy to chat with anyone interested.

sure, if you enjoy the horrifying limits of human perception

@joann-trejo.bsky.social, @marymunson4.bsky.social and I have a commentary in @natcellbio.nature.com on recent attacks on DEI in biomedical research: "If scientific research, especially biomedical research, is meant to serve everyone, then it requires that everyone has an opportunity to participate"

This is what democracy looks like. #NoKings