Adventuring in Prague in between RD Meeting! @wertlaboratory.bsky.social

For those interested in open neuroscience learning tools, check out the preprint for “RetINaBox: A hands-on tool for experimental neuroscience" that a couple students in my lab worked on in collaboration with the Trenholm lab: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... 🧠📈 🧪

Save the date! In this @neuronline.sfn.org event, we'll have a social media guru, a university comms officer and yours truly there to speak and answer your Qs about 'why' and 'how' of scicomm, to colleagues and the public. Open to all - just register! neuronline.sfn.org/professional...

Ron Johnson came to MCW a few months ago and told lie after lie about science/medicine because he thinks he can get away with it. Proud of my community for calling him out; wish more would do the same. He’s dangerous and shameful.

Another way the administration is trying to gift America's scientific leadership to China - 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝘀𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝗲𝗻𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗨𝗦 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗶𝘀𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗱𝗲𝗴𝗿𝗲𝗲𝘀. So of course 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘄𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲. Comments accepted until end Sept. Cc: @jeremymberg.bsky.social

TOMORROW at 2:00 pm, Zoom (check CVS Slack for link) Telias Summer Journal Club: Supraja Varadarajan, UT Southwestern Medical Center The Role of Retinorecipient Neuronal Activity in Promoting Retinal Ganglion Cell Axon Regeneration www.cvs.rochester.edu/events/index... @flaumeye.bsky.social

This Friday we are excited to host Julie Semmelhack on the Sussex Vision talk series! Looking forward to seeing many of you there! Tune in here: m.youtube.com/watch?v=Gsqh...

This from @tressiemcphd.bsky.social hit me over the head like a mallet of truth. This is the thing. This is what I’ve been trying to warn people about perfectly crystallized. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/12/o...

A giant YES for @gliangel.bsky.social for this incredible honor. Great news for Angel, the lab, and the greater neuroscience ( neuroscience.berkeley.edu/grad ) and @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social communities. We look forward to being a part of this fantastic community. 🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌

It’s a vision party here in Iowa City! Looking forward to great talks and posters today. I heard they saved the best session for last with @shyamraji.bsky.social, me, @cubical.bsky.social and @clark-lab-retina.bsky.social, and keynote by @sabanlab.bsky.social.

1. There is a “Photoreceptors & Retina Circuitry” nano symposium at @sfn.org this year! 2. I’ll be presenting research from my lab in said nano symposium!

IMPORTANT UPDATE IMPORTANT UPDATE Regarding APHU/ACLU et al. vs. NIH Lawsuit

As rising visa restrictions and rejections block many international students from enrolling at U.S. institutions and dissuade others from applying, neuroscience in many other countries will strengthen—at our expense, writes Joshua Sanes. #neuroskyence www.thetransmitter.org/policy/what-...

It was such a joy to co-organize the 2025 MCW Vision Science Retreat with @aoiplab.bsky.social @joelmiesfeld.bsky.social @minagaffney.bsky.social and Allison Hall. A true testament to the vibrant research community we have!

My office view just got very entertaining.

NBA direction selectivity map

Looking for recommendations for generating transgenic (knock-in) mice!

Ready to take the leap from academia to industry, but have questions on where to begin? Join @arvoinfo.bsky.social's July 30 webinar to discuss everything from application essentials to understanding industry funding plus how to progress in your new area. Register now bit.ly/43z7kKc

In this piece, I argue that monumental achievements by our trainees must be disseminated and celebrated on social media and elsewhere, despite ‘the current climate’. I'll start with a few that I know; please help chime in (self reports are warmly received). www.nature.com/articles/s41...

TIL that one of the books removed from the Armed Forces Library because it "had DEI" in it is Ben Barres' autobiography. Remember that you can buy and should read this book because Ben was badass and an amazing scientist mitpress.mit.edu/978026253954...

The vision students at @medicalcollegeofwi.bsky.social are killing it! Allison Hall (Collery Lab), Brea Brennan (Cooper Lab), Alex Gallo (Miesfeld Lab), Taylor Ray (Scalabrino Lab).

It’s been a weird, unproductive week at the lab and I’m feeling a little down. So here are 10 cool facts about vision:

Proud PI moment! Alifayaz Abdulzahir, a medical student working in my lab, gave a fantastic talk on expansion microscopy for photoreceptor synapses at the Wisconsin Ophthalmology Research Day, a joint program between MCW and University of Wisconsin-Madison.

🖤 On #Juneteenth, we honor the fight for Black freedom — delayed, but never denied. At #BlackInNeuro, we carry that legacy forward by creating space for Black excellence in neuroscience, year-round. ✨ Freedom is a journey — and we’re not done yet. ✊🏾

Heading back from the CSHL Vision course. I attended as a trainee in 2019, which fundamentally changed my career. I’m so honored to have been invited back as a speaker (“adult”) and am so encouraged by all the bright, curious students and postdocs!

Why isn’t reverse engineering feasible? Because a genome guides building of a body through networks of gene activity, interacting with other intrinsic & external factors (some of which are stochastic) via developmental cascades, as captured in this nice image from @wiringthebrain.bsky.social.‬ 8/n

whenever I see a convo about what is wrong with NIH peer review, I want to know how many grants the participants in the convo have written, how many grants they have gotten funded and whether they have participated in study section 🤔 #SorryNotSorry

I'm literally reviewing NIH grants today (essentially for free, in my spare time). Where along with other experts, I help decide which proposals are the best. Maybe Sen. Britt should learn more about how NIH grant review works?

"Ending a $5 million research study when it is 80% complete does not save $1 million, it wastes $4 million." Exactly this.

I think it's important to continuously reiterate that federal science funding grants in the US (and elsewhere) are made because the government, with the input of panels of independent experts, have concluded that the work being done is IN THE INTEREST OF THE NATION.

If you weren't angry enough already, here are the rates of non-competitive renewals through May. 4008 Non-competitive renewals were due to be funded in May. The total funded was 99! Some is due to terminations, but most is due to slow grant making due to DOGE review and other impediments. 1/2

Know any great developmental neurobiologists looking for a post doc position? Are you looking for an adventure with cerebral organoids in New York City? We are looking for an enthusiastic new team member! Feel free to DM or email me 🧪 🧠 🍎 #science #neurodev #neurobiology #neuroscience #devbio

Bluesky has made it easier to add alt text, but some still struggle with HOW to write alt text. Sighted users who don't rely on alt text might feel overwhelmed. They might have questions on what details to include, or how to get started. This post from Veronica Lewis is a great resource.

Today, it's the eugenics-bros in particular who are pushing me over the edge... But they're very much in line with general trends of stupid arrogant rich fucks having too much influence and too little moral substance

#JNeurosci: Relota et al. studied wide-field vertical cells in the superior colliculus of mice and how they respond to different visual cues, specifically in the context of movement. @umich.edu‬ vist.ly/3n5v54w

👁️ Rod photoreceptors (your eye's light sensors) need more than sugar to survive. A new study shows they rely on glutamine to stay healthy. This Insight Article explains the research and how this opens new doors for therapies to slow retinal degeneration. buff.ly/vAHuvsF

"Our calculations suggest that the proposed budgetary cuts to the NIH will create a social cost that is 16 times greater than the savings that the administration is attempting to achieve." jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

We are also raising money to support undergrads at UCSF this summer! Help me, @neuronush.bsky.social and @quexarce.bsky.social buy ice cream and pizza for our little community of undergraduate researchers! 20% of sales for the rest of the month will go towards our programs!!!

NEW ASSIGNMENT...NEW ASSIGNMENT...NEW ASSIGNMENT If you have not commented, DO SO BEFORE JUNE 7th After you have commented (and if you commented before), inform 5 COLLEAGUES, FRIENDS, FAMILY MEMBERS, ETC. and get them to consider commenting as well before June 7th. 3/n

I am a big believe of doing your own research and checking facts and sources. BUT THE BIG PROBLEM IS THAT A POST FROM SOME DUDE ON THE INTERNET SHOULD NOT BE WEIGHTED THE SAME AS INFORMATION FROM SOMEONE WHO HAS SPENT DECADES STUDYING AN ISSUE.

Sooooo… ICE now has a bigger budget than the NIH which funds almost all of the biomedical research in America. This is precisely where the priorities of this administration lie.

Notice on extension of ESI status for NIH grant applications. grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...

REMINDER.....REMINDER......REMINDER 3 DAYS LEFT TO COMMENT ON SCHEDULE F 1/n

Please double check the expiration date on any NOFO you are applying do. They are updated on the form, (Expiration date) with a link to the notice, but other aspects aren't edited.

“Vision Science Team Building” not pictured: Just Dance competition @joelmiesfeld.bsky.social

I work in grants. From my POV, the solution is not to compete for crumbs, but to put that effort into banding together across institutions to stand up for research. We need to yell at politicians and make sure Americans know what they’ll lose if university research ends.

Using new review criteria as an excuse to early expire grants seems sus. Love finding out an early career grant I’ve been working on expires 3 days before the due date. grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...

This. And wasted time working on applications to mechanisms that get canceled doesn’t count toward promotion/tenure either…

Bernie Sanders' office has put out a report this morning on Trump's NIH cuts: "Trump officials effectively cut $2.7 billion in [NIH] funding in the first three months of 2025 – including a 31 percent cut to cancer research through March, compared to the same timeframe last year."

A huge congratulations to Alex Gallo for a fantastic poster presentation today at #ARVO2025 !