We are thrilled to announce the 2026 Zara Weinberg Leading Edge Fellows! 40 remarkable postdocs pursuing transformative research in biological/biomedical sciences. This is the 7th Leading Edge cohort and we are so excited to welcome them! www.leadingedgesymposium.org/fellows/

Really lucky to have this group of new PIs to traverse academia together. Continuing the legacy of the tight knit, collaborative, and kind retina neurobiology community. #RetNeuroSRC @annaintegrated.bsky.social @juanonyme.bsky.social

OMB proposed policies may dramatically affect federal funding of research/related activities. @arvoinfo.bsky.social believes such decisions should be based on expertise, peer review and scientific merit. We urge the #VisionResearch community to oppose these changes. Learn how: https://bit.ly/4udtFa1

About as strong a statement as we've seen from AAAS over the course of this presidency. A good barometer for how seriously they're taking the OMB rule.

It's my half birthday which is also #worldbikeday The last time my family owned a car was in 2017. We live in the Chicago suburbs with 2 kids, before that we lived in a small town in Germany. One can't be #carless everywhere. It takes effort. But for us, the pros vastly outweigh the cons.

If you're wondering *how* to speak as a united front, @standupforscience.net is here for you. fight2win.standupforscience.net is where to go, @cdelawalla.bsky.social is rallying the troops bsky.app/profile/cdel...

Please read this thread and write a comment!!! Agencies have to read and take seriosuly these comments. The comments matter. Also, call your reps. www.regulations.gov/document/OMB...

While regulations.gov incorrectly lists this action as "closed for comments", you can submit your comments directly here: www.regulations.gov/commenton/OM... My response is below, but don't feel that you need to draft anything nearly so long-winded. A short statement will also be very helpful.

tl,dr; Scientists no longer allowed to use federal funding to publish, attend meetings, or talk to the public. They cannot collaborate internationally. Grants can be cancelled for any reason, at any time, political appointees have a final say over what gets funded, and who gets funded.

Interesting side note, the 2p microscopes Peter gave us turned out to be the prototypes for the Sutter MOM, which Peter built with Denk and Euler in Heidelberg to do retina calcium imaging. Learned this from Rick Ayer (of Sutter) when he stopped by the lab once. www.nature.com/articles/nat...

We received the sad news that my emeritus colleague Peter Detwiler passed away at his home in Prague last week. nbio.uw.edu/people/entry... Peter was an amazing scientist, builder, and artist, who was always very modest about his accomplishments. And he was very kind. A quick example...

Today at 12 PM ET, join Stand Up for Science for our Virtual & Accessible May Day Rally! Join the movement to fight for our science, defend our workers, and protect our future. Register now at the link in our bio or here: zurl.co/fm0Hc (1/2🧵)

Happy Bike Month to all who observe.

"Too many scientists are willing to collaborate with Trumpism in the mistaken assumption that obedience will save their own necks." www.thenation.com/article/soci...

From photoreceptors to visual processing — #Webvision is your open-access deep dive into how we see. Now hosted at our Department, continuing its mission to make vision science accessible to all. Start exploring → www.webvision.pitt.edu#Webvision #Ophthalmology #Neuroscience

Job posting closes tomorrow! Join us.

𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘵𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘩𝘺𝘱𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘷𝘪𝘳𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘳𝘶𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘣? 𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗻𝘁 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗻𝗼𝘄! 🎉 📄 Paper: doi.org/10.64898/202... 💻 Colab notebook: colab.research.google.com/drive/1k9411... 🗂️ Code: github.com/yongrong-qiu... (1/🧵)

In the spirit 👻 of Freaky Friday 🎃, here is a beautiful yet eery video of zebrafish retina development showing horizontal cells (🔵) finding their way out of the crowded amacrine (🟠) layer to settle beneath the photoreceptors. Happy #Halloween! 🎥: PhD student Rae Wong from the @nordenlab.bsky.social

The Vlasits Lab is hiring a technician because our current technician was accepted into a PhD program! This position combines lab management and experiments. If you are interested in gaining experience with #retina research in Chicago, please apply. vlasitslab.org uic.csod.com/ux/ats/caree...

NIH is not okay. @nytimes.com highlights how grant-making & ability to obligate funding is at risk from staff shortages and time consuming screening processes designed to censor research to align with the administration's political ideology. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/22/s... Some highlights:

The Vlasits Lab is hiring a technician because our current technician was accepted into a PhD program! This position combines lab management and experiments. If you are interested in gaining experience with #retina research in Chicago, please apply. vlasitslab.org uic.csod.com/ux/ats/caree...

Science is good. We should fund it.

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. 🧵

Our PhD student Kennedy Orwa, who studies applications of AI to health care, was hastily deported today to Kenya along with his 13-year-old son without opportunity to speak to legal counsel. King 5 reports that he held a valid visa that was rescinded without explanation.

Contrary to increasingly popular belief, there are, in fact, still things computers can’t do - as @sifu.tweety.fish reminds us:

what if running the global economy on the liquefacted corpses of ancient beings somehow cursed us?

BREAKING: In response to huge cuts in Trump's budget request, NSF is shuttering its SBE directorate. Staff will be transferred to other parts of the agency and "grants that align with Administration priorities" will be maintained. That & more w/ @maxkozlov.bsky.social & @edwrdchen.bsky.social

“Flexible rhythm perception underpins human music, dance & speech. We show that bees form robust abstract rhythm representations. Results suggest an insect brain can encode & generalize arbitrary complex temporal patterns, pointing to deep evolutionary roots for domain‐general rhythm cognition.”😲 🐝🧪

HOLY CRAP! @nasaspaceflight.com @wxfront.bsky.social

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

These machines fight traffic. Our @thebikinglawyer.bsky.social billboard is live.

850 Tomahawk missiles could be $3,060,000,000... That is 3 billion sixty million US dollars. That is 1224 5 year biomedical research grants. Literally, over 6 millennia of biomedical research.

after much deliberation and giving AI the benefit of the doubt, Wikipedia editors have had enough of AI slop. New policy bans LLM generated content, periodt www.404media.co/wikipedia-ba...

NSF Update through March 13, 2026 1/2

New @annualreviews.bsky.social #neuroscience article 👁️🧠: bionicvisionlab.org/publications... w/ @crisniell.bsky.social, @michaelgoard.bsky.social, @spencerlaveresmith.bsky.social Grateful to be part of this collaboration & learn from such a sharp group while rethinking vision in natural settings!

NO KINGS 3 VIRTUAL RALLY Organized by Stand Up for Science Protect Our Health, Defend Our Democracy An accessible and inclusive rally for everyone, everywhere. March 28th, 12:30 - 2:00pm CT followed by live stream of flagship Twin Cities event Details coming soon #NoKings #NoKings3 #VirtualRally

$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

Wondering why NIH and NSF aren't making new grants? We explain what's happening at OMB. www.science.org/content/arti...

The budget bill this year does NOT mean things will go back to normal. I cannot say that hard enough: There is no reason to sit back now, the attack will continue. Ask others at NIH or who recently left (ask them in person); people at NIH know.

Russell Vought is breaking apart the National Center for Atmospheric Research, which has led advances in whether and climate science. Some of its components will transfer to private companies, part of larger efforts to privatize science. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/13/c...

🚨 Our lab is hiring postdoctoral fellows in two different areas of research: (1) mitochondrial biology and (2) reproductive science. Postings are below, and you can visit bombawarczaklab.com to learn more about what we do! Repro: apply.interfolio.com/183045 Mito: apply.interfolio.com/183230

Beat rising gas prices with this one weird trick.

'Stand Up For Science' moving from protest day to political player | STAT

Chicago getting ready to stand up for Science!

NEW: The bad news about international-student enrollments at American colleges just got worse. An exclusive @chronicle.com analysis of just-released State Department data shows new visa issuances in the summer of 2025 dropped by more than a third. www.chronicle.com/article/the-...

Fun to see @standupforscience.bsky.social on local news here in Chicago last night! If you squint you can see me speaking at least year's rally. I'll be up there again today, Federal Plaza at 1PM! STAND UP FOR SCIENCE

TODAY. Take Back our Science Rally. Don't take this administration's assault on science sitting down. Get to a rally: fight2win.standupforscience.... #StandUpForScience #March7 #Rally #science #savescience

You had questions about the Take Back our Science Rally, and we have answers! If you have more, drop them in the comments. We'll keep posting more as they roll in. See you March 7th! standupforscience.net/march7 (1/11🧵) #science #standupforscience #rally #March7

HEY YOU!!! There's research WE NEED to PROTECT! How you ask? We are rallying NATIONWIDE on SATURDAY, MARCH 7TH to SAVE SCIENCE, PROTECT HEALTH, and DEFEND DEMOCRACY! Join us by visiting standupforscience.net/march7 to find your local rally, volunteer, host a local rally, or host a pop-up protest!

#chicago Come out this Saturday 1pm at Federal Plaza to Stand Up for Science! Bring your friends! Bring your kids! Being your bench mates! @standupforscience.bsky.social We've got a righteous lineup of speakers, it's going to be 🔥🔥🔥 Spread the word!