$630 billion annually on bombs, tanks and missiles But no money for universal health coverage

We are looking to hire post-docs to work on T cell responses to M. tuberculosis infection using murine and NHP models. If you know T cells and wanna work on the top global infectious killer check us out. BSL3 experience not required. The NIH intramural program in Bethesda MD is an amazing place!

Operation Warp Speed was arguably one of the most successful policy initiatives in recent history, accelerating vaccine delivery that saved millions of lives. It’s remarkable to see some now urging the leaders who backed it to disown the achievement.

As we see ANOTHER huge drop in the cost of curing tuberculosis, I am reminded that 1. drugs are not expensive because they're made of platinum or something, and 2. the fruits of activism are often harvested over many years. Thanks to all the folks who made this happen. www.stoptb.org/news/breakin...

We are hiring! The Dept of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics is looking for faculty at the Assistant or Associate professor level (tenure track). Please consider joining our vibrant microbiology and immunology community at the University of Pittsburgh School of medicine

The Playbook Used to ‘Prove’ Vaccines Cause Autism www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Scientists’ role in defending democracy www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Some positive stories 👇🏾 “Countries with widespread HPV vaccination and regular cervical cancer screenings are already seeing dramatic reductions in cancer rates. They demonstrate that it’s possible to effectively eliminate the disease” @scientificdiscovery.dev ourworldindata.org/hpv-vaccinat...

@bengern.bsky.social et al. show that the early interplay between #neutrophils & CD4 T cells is pivotal in determining #TB pathology, and that depleting neutrophils can improve outcomes even at late timepoints, which has therapeutic relevance rupress.org/jem/article/...

Are vaccines safe? What’s actually in them? In this episode of Science in 5, WHO’s Dr. Kate O’Brien breaks down how vaccines are tested, approved, and monitored even after they reach the public. She also explains what happens if a safety concern is flagged. www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqur...

Every country is warming. Every country is experiencing more extreme weather events because of climate change, mainly caused by burning fossil fuels. www.ShowYourStripes.info Time to #ShowYourStripes and start climate conversations to prompt actions to reduce emissions, personally & collectively.

Meet the antivax whisperer trying to turnaround Britain's child vaccine slump one family at a time. How does she do it? What does she say? Interview with Professor Elizabeth Whittaker: www.thetimes.com/article/26a8...

‪ ‪Wednesday 18 June 2025: Professor Mark Hatherill, SATVI Director, to present seminar titled "A century of TB vaccine development" at Wolfson Pavilion, at the Institute for Infectious Diseases and Molecular Medicine @cidri-africa.bsky.social; @tomscriba.bsky.social idm.uct.ac.za/events/idm-c...

This is a research ethics emergency 🚨 on the scale of those we know from history - the Tuskegee syphilis study, Nazi “scientific”atrocities. The impact on the global clinical research field is immense. Will we (scientists, participants, communities, ethics committees) ever trust funders again?

This graph on UK childhood vaccine uptake from the article (source @ukhsa.bsky.social ) is quite alarming. I wonder how impactful this move with health visitors will be, but I guess vaccine hesitancy is multi factorial, so it's well worth trying multiple strategies. #IDSky #vaccination #MedSky

Cuts have consequences, illustrated. As seen on TV 📺

The remarkable benefit of exercise was just extended to improved survival after cancer in a randomized trial @nejm.org nejm.org/doi/full/10....

Some basic facts about international students, who they are and who they are not Please pass on the message @shashikalb.bsky.social

In today’s newsletter @miamalan looks at why the health department is snubbing the very #HIV same scientists they relied on during #COVID19. mailchi.mp/bhekisisa.or...

I love that over a hundred climate activists - oh no excuse me, Environmental and Natural Resource Economists! - are objecting to the "quiet cancellation of this important leadership initiative & critical public resource," calling it "as shortsighted as it is unlawful." Read more: support-nca.org

🚨 PhD opportunity in Toulouse! Join a dynamic team to study membrane proteins & transporters of therapeutic interest using cryo-EM, enzymology & biophysics. 📅 Deadline: June 19, 2025 🔗 Funded by @frm-officiel.bsky.social #StructuralBiology #MicroSky More details 👇 shorturl.at/OaVMI

Please share broadly. We all need to rise up for #NSF75 thank you @marvimatos.bsky.social for your leadership in the National Science Board. If not now, when?!?! 🧪

The National Institutes of Health's Vaccine Research Center has lost dozens of contractor staff. scim.ag/4dckdNn

It took decades to build America’s research infrastructure It’s destruction is happening in a matter of weeks 🥺😢😔

BCG Revaccination for the Prevention of Mycobacterium tuberculosis Infection | New England Journal of Medicine www.nejm.org/doi/full/10....

#Tuberculosis prevention and care relies heavily on international donor funding in many settings. In our latest preprint, we examine the potential impact of reductions in international donor funding for #TB - by the US and by other major donor countries. 1/8 www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...

We were asked for more details on our study @lancetmicrobe.bsky.social. Sadly, unable to stratify by age, sex or TB disease severity. Lower IL-6 signalling protects from TB, but to work out how, need better phenotyping & IL-6 blocking interventions #TBSky #IDSky #ImmunoSky @gushamilton.bsky.social

I don't get how anyone can possibly be okay with ending the WHI. This study has accrued decades of data from 42000 women and it is still going. It helps to address critical research gaps that have been allowed to go unfilled because of durable misogyny and provides invaluable insight into aging.

Interested in the magnitude of US NIH funding for biomedical research in South Africa? It’s been very significant indeed with major advances and enormous impact! But, also highlights the potential (astronomical) impact of targeting South Africa in NIH funding cuts! bhekisisa.org/health-news-...

Wonderful to see these excellent results from a large, multi-country evaluation of tongue swabs for TB diagnosis! Diagnostic accuracy of swab-based molecular tests for tuberculosis using novel near point-of-care platforms: A multi-country evaluation www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...

Reducing high blood pressure substantially lowers the risk of dementia and cognitive impairment without dementia, according to the results of a clinical trial published in Nature Medicine. go.nature.com/44z6kGy #medsky 🧪

Really nice visualisation of a lagged health outcome over decades (in contrast to the delays over days/weeks we typically see for acute infectious diseases like COVID)

Very happy to share our latest publication evaluating not 1, but 2 fingerstick blood screening tests for TB: Cepheid 3 gene test and a 3 protein test using lateral flow technology. Coming soon: evaluation in children and household contracts. Stay tuned... academic.oup.com/cid/advance-...

These kinds of cuts are taking place when #TB rates are rising, including in the US. They dovetail with USAID cuts to #TB programs.

WHO launches an update on the consolidated guidelines to diagnose #tuberculosis createsend.com/t/d-CCE83795...

I’ve just received my final, delayed payment for work done for #USAID. Sadly, this is me shaking USAID’s hand for the final time to say “Thank you, we achieved so much together.

Our latest publication reporting results of a phase 2a trial of the live, attenuated MTBVAC TB vaccine candidate in adults, including those with prior Mtb infection (IGRA+). www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Dr Munyaradzi Musvosvi speaks about the Titan Vaccine Research Project which will allow selection of most promising TB vaccine candidates. This work is supported by the South African mRNA Vaccine Consortium & funded by @samrcza.bsky.social @tomscriba.bsky.social www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwPM...

Immunopathology of TB: SATVI researchers discuss a groundbreaking study which investigates the role of lymph nodes in the context of mycobacterium tuberculosis infection and disease. The study was funded by a grant from @wellcomeleap.bsky.social a program of youtu.be/8_gCOAfWUpw

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.

NEW: Entire scientific fields have been wiped out by the nearly 800 grants cancelled at NIH, finds a @nature.com analysis of the unprecedented cuts. About half of all 2024 NIH projects related to LGBT+ health or vaccine hesitancy — gone. See the other topics and US states hardest hit here:

The cancellation of PEPFAR funding to South Africa could cause between 150,000 and 295,000 additional HIV infections by the end of 2028, a new study shows. Read groundup.org.za/article/us-f... by Jesse Copelyn

A new dam on the Klabava River south of Prague to protect critical habitat hit bureaucratic delays…but a colony of beavers took things into their own paws, building a series of dams in the same locations the engineers had planned, creating a wetland that saved the Czech govt 1.2M euros. Read more:

The nonprofit organization Climate Trace monitors 300 satellites and 30,000 sensors to identify “the specific amounts of pollution coming from every significant greenhouse gas emissions source in the world climatetrace.org

I too have been dismissed from NIAID Board of Scientific Counselors along with 3 other women and a non-white man

Tuberculosis is not going away. If the cutting edge research goes away, #TB will rage on. Harvard is being targeted including the TB Immunology contract and that trickles down to all of us working on these studies. Progress will be halted. And TB will flourish. www.bostonglobe.com/2025/04/08/m...

New pre-print modelling impact of US funding cuts on HIV, #TB, MCH and family planning. We estimate impact of termination of US funding to NTPs via #USAID & The Global Fund may lead to 2.2 (1.5-2.9) million excess TB deaths between 2025 and 2040, reversing over a decade of progress. bit.ly/4lowp18

This is well written and makes me so sad for the future of science in America. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

The science is clear 👇🏾

Vaccines have granted families in wealthy countries the luxury of forgetting what measles, polio, rubella, and other preventable diseases are like. We're looking at how many millions of lives vaccines have saved. Read the full story: https://go.nature.com/42Aj3Y8