The last time I tried to engage with Jay Bhattacharya in dialogue I ended up on administrative leave. 🤷‍♀️

Have you served on an NIH study section (or thought about serving)? Did you know that that the small perk of being able to submit your own applications after the deadline has largely been revoked? grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...

This is the most astonishing graph of what the Trump regime has done to US science. They have destroyed the federal science workforce across the board. The negative impacts on Americans will be felt for generations, and the US might never be the same again. www.nature.com/immersive/d4...

Tomorrow, Director Bhattacharya is hosting the inaugural "Scientific Freedom" Lecture with Matt Ridley sharing his perspectives on the search for the origin of Covid-19 (and hawking his book on the subject published in 2022). 1/3

Empty promises. That’s all it is.

If you’re mad about delays in funding, do something about it! 🔥🩷 #Sign

In ten days on Mar 26, OMB Director & Project 2025 author Russell Vought celebrates his 50th birthday!! 1/3

Another excellent Substack from Elizabeth Ginexi on a near-stoppage of release of Notices of Funding Opportunity (NOFOs) at NIH and why it matters open.substack.com/pub/elizabet...

My weekly update on NIH funding This includes awards made through 2/27/26 Warning: This thread contains data compiled by a known deranged_activist™. Do not read while operating heavy machinery. 1/9

My colleague @alexwitze.bsky.social joined @scifri.bsky.social today to break down our reporting on how the White House is withholding funds from science agencies. One researcher dials in to say her institution is waiting on $20 million in research funding. Give it a listen ⤵️

Soon, we will be asked to give political talks and try to figure out how much science we can slip in without getting arrested.

The secretary of Miami-Dade County’s GOP started a group chat for conservative students — and within 3 weeks, it was filled with over 400 instances of the N-word, Nazi rhetoric and writings of "dozens of ways of violently killing Black people"

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/...

New and Competitive Renewals Only 803 grants have been made compared to ~2650 in fiscal years 2023 and 2024 through February 20. All institutes and centers (include OD now) have made awards except NIAAA, NLM, NCCIH, and FIC. 3/4

Federal funding for US biomedical research is moribund. Since October 1 2025, NIH is -80% in new grants and -70% in values (total dollars). Labs are closing down and researchers are leaving science. To what end?

One of the many reasons why the NIH and biomedical health research are STILL in trouble. Don’t be fooled into thinking everything in science is ok in 2026. Continue to push back, document & call your congressional representatives! ✊

I had to renegotiate my F99/K00 award twice in 6 months, and on both occasions I asked what specifically “DEI activities” means. I didn’t get clear answers, so I was hopeful the person that directive came from could specify (the NIH Director). I asked the on @whyshoulditrustyou.bsky.social podcast

“Lorth Sim, a Cambodian national, died in ICE custody on Monday, the seventh since the start of the year and nearly the 40th since Trump took office. ICE has not updated its website to reflect this latest detainee death as of the time of this writing.”

@altfda.altgov.info challenged us to list #5Things that each of us Alts think have caused the most damage in our agencies over the past year. Each of the five items is chock full of sub-items…adding up to far more “things.” Here goes.

An international coalition has launched a flotilla in a bid to deliver 'urgently needed' humanitarian aid to Cuba amid an intensifying blockade of the island by the United States

Every Thursday night I live stream nail art. For my first stream of Black History Month I asked chat to choose between 4 Black scientists I’d pre-selected. Chat, in their usual fashion, said “all 4, please”. Hence: Margaret Collins, Kathrine Johnson, Sophie Lutterlough, and Charles Henry Turner.

This is disgusting

I’m not sure we’ve properly addressed how profoundly disturbing it is that America can largely shrug at the stashing of human beings in giant warehouses.

Have I ever mentioned how surreal it is to be an Editor-in-Chief of a journal called Vaccine right now? www.science.org/content/arti... It’s pretty wild, at least by typical academic journal editorial office standards.

Representation Matters, ESPECIALLY now. Huge shoutouts to Gelila Petros & Alex Washington (UNC PREP alumni), @drstarbird.bsky.social, Wiley, Hutch, and the entire committee! We did it! (Yes, there’s actually a couple more Atlas projects in progress 🤪🤭🤫)

I am SO incredibly excited to announce the launch of a global list of Inspiring Black Scientists. You can use this list to nominate and connect with researchers. Please share and join us in highlighting these outstanding scientists for #BlackHistoryMonth and beyond! www.wiley.com/en-us/resear...

The arrests of Don Lemon and Georgia Fort underscore the gravity of this moment. This has never happened before in our history. We shouldn't pretend it's normal. More reason for us to hold the line and demand a DHS budget that stops funding lawlessness.

32 others died at the hands of ICE in 2025. Do not forget them. 2025 was ICE’s deadliest year in two decades. Here are the 32 people who died in custody www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...

hitting the streets

New: @cortezmasto.senate.gov is a no on the DHS funding bill.

An ICU nurse at the VA!! 🤬

Alex Pretti was a colleague at the VA. We hired him to recruit for our trial. He became an ICU nurse- I lover working with him. He was a good kind person who lived to help and these fuckers executed him. White. Hot. Rage.

I did not have this on my bingo card 🧡 Dozens of clergy protesting in the Minneapolis Target corporate HQ singing ’We Shall Not Be Moved’ (four part harmony, no less!) bsky.app/profile/isai...

Okay sorry one more shot:

Clergy are being arrested in Minnesota for peacefully protesting - 1/23/2026

A year ago, I was at WHO, Geneva, when the US government announced their intent to withdraw It’s now done. With devastating consequences to WHO, the USA, and the entire world. An entirely self inflicted disaster www.reuters.com/business/hea...

NIH budget bill out today. It’s the result of heavy negotiations in Congress over past month+. 🧪 Big pic: NIH budget now is abt more than funding. It’s abt restraining the technical ways NIH is being broken by Proj 2025. And the restraints in the bill are tepid 🤷‍♂️ Also: watch ICE/DHS budget. 🧵1/

The language on multiyear funding (MYF) is ineffective. Final bill anchors MYF to 2025 instead of 2024. This means MYF will likely continue at the same rate we saw last year, where NCI's payline from ~10% to 4%. This is incredibly harmful to the US research workforce - especially early career.

Trump v Anderson was wrongly decided. Trump was ineligible. We can read the plain text of the Constitution. “No person shall hold any office … who, having previously taken an oath to support the Constitution of the United States shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion…” 1/

"We again call on Congress to reassert its constitutional power. Congress must hold the Administration accountable for its unlawful, violent, and deadly actions. If you fail to do so, people will continue to die at the hands of ICE." scienceandfreedomalliance.substack.com/p/statement-...

According to Podcast Jay, he can silence anyone or anything as long as he calls it “DEI.” It’s his magic censorship phrase.

“To this day, grants continue to be ‘realigned’ with administration priorities, a clear form of ideological coercion.”

Rank-and-file Democrats are starting to make serious noise about using the threat of a government shutdown to force substantive changes at ICE.

Meanwhile near where they killed Renee Good ICE was terrorizing a high school — and now Minneapolis has canceled school for the week. None of this is about safety. A lawless regime with no guardrails.

The US should not be allowed to host any international competitions in any sport until we stop doing this. This includes the Olympics.

And he even bolded it…the blatant arrogance of these people 🤨

🌅Morning! 💉Trump & RFK Jr often host press events at which they spout damaging BS about vaccines, Tylenol, etc; why are powerful physicians, like Drs Makary & Bhattacharya, standing by their sides nodding obsequiously? @jonshaffer.bsky.social & I say MDs should RESIST💪 www.bmj.com/content/392/...

Children will die with RFK Jr.'s new vaccine recommendations. We're NOT doing the "experts disagree" game. The US vaccine schedule was painstakingly constructed through a deep & thorough process by experts with unquestionable expertise. This is policy by fiat. It is pre-meditated murder. 1/

Canadian officials are correct, and it’s truly a tragedy.