The hidden danger of Biorender (& the death of scientific illustration) A short thread 🧵

🧪hey all, a friend and colleague, @maddoxfornc.bsky.social, is running for Congress in North Carolina. He is a scientist, professor, and parent, perspectives that are especially important right now. I hope you will support his run for Congress. Find out more here: www.maddoxforcongress.com/about/

Playing around with how to represent volume in #Snouty light sheet data. Here is a dividing hiPSC with endogenously tagged histone in all three orthogonal projections. Bluer is further away. If anything, it distracts from politics.

'Innovation does not occur in a vacuum. It requires raw materials: the findings of basic research. We are currently burning through a stockpile of knowledge accumulated during a more enlightened era of public investment, while allocating insufficient resources for replenishing it.'

Some first raw (not deskewed) data of live human induced pluripotent stem cells from #Snouty now ready for some serious live imaging. Light sheet moving at a 38-degree angle through the cell layer; coverslip is on the bottom.

I’m heartened to see this.

Finally having some time to play with ‘Snouty’ again. Thanks a million once more @tanner-fadero.bsky.social and @amsikking.bsky.social

Vaccine samples from the 1880s in Louis Pasteur’s laboratory in Arbois … Vaccines work!

Bluetorial: Non-Competitive Renewal (Continuation) Awards Normally, multiyear NIH grants are paid with awards each year, pending administratively reviewed progress reports. “NIH” has been slow in making these awards. This has led to $1.83 B being withheld from institutions through February 2025.

Got stentor … thanks @wallaceucsf.bsky.social

At the North Bay Science Discovery Day today in Santa Rosa

Crowd is forming in SF #standupforscience

WHERE WILL YOU BE ON MARCH 7TH!? Head to www.standupforscience2025.org/local-event-information/ or the link in our bio to find your closest event—or add one if you're hosting one! #standupforscience2025

“The idea is that the public has the right to know who’s giving advice to the federal government and when they’re meeting,” said Jeremy Berg, a genetic scientist who has overseen NIH funding in the past. 1/3 [I am a genetic scientist in the sense that I have genes, but I am a biochemist]

New York Times article now up on Federal Register stuff. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/21/s... 1/n

Myths vs. Facts regarding federal cuts to f&a (indirect) costs on NIH grants... 🧪 medsky 🛟😷 sociology idsky ucop.edu/communicatio...

I can’t believe this is happening: grants awarded by the NIH cannot be funded for the foreseeable future because of a hold on submissions to the Federal Register, where such public notices about upcoming meetings are required by law to be posted www.thetransmitter.org/funding/fede...

"At NIH, offices involved in reviewing and administering grants to researchers outside the agency, such as at universities and medical centers, were hit hard, one staffer with knowledge of the situation said." www.npr.org/sections/sho...

No! Only study sections already announced in the federal register have resumed. Nothing has been posted by the NIH to the federal register since Jan 21. I am finding it wild how many professors don't know this. Please spread this info to your Universities!

Thanks to all of the NIHers and their friends who reached out to me. I am still here (DM me or Signal jeremymberg.78) I still have a very incomplete picture but based on what I have been told, the damage to NIH and to many wonderful people who work(ed) there is/was impossible for me to imagine 1/n

Internal NIH guidance updated yesterday. Just canceling stuff each day from here on out I guess, pending new guidance. Killing science off both slowly and incredibly rapidly.

Evergreen cartoon

For those who aren't biologists: This is a biosafety cabinet. Every biomedical research lab in the country has one or more of these bio safety cabinets. They use air flow to protect cells from contamination by bacteria and fungal spores while you are working with them.

YEEEEEAAAAAAAHHHH! Grants look like they should resume being issued. popular.info/p/breaking-n...

The combined budgets of USAID, EPA, NSF, NASA and NIH make up 2.5% of the federal budget. That equates to $1 a day per family. That's all we are spending to cure diseases, have health advances, basic science, the environment, and foreign aid that helps people who are suffering around the world […]

Temporary restraining order to halt NIH F&A cuts … will it make a long term difference? static1.squarespace.com/static/65d93...

Many people, including academics, don't understand what F&A is for. Please share to help. 1) Translate to "overhead" in common business accounting: 60% IDC => 60/160 = 37.5% overhead (low!) 2) Infographic explaining what it's for, linked here: www.cogr.edu/sites/defaul...

Please join my cell biology colleagues and CALL Congress. emails are not as impactful. Here is a simple sample script

Made some slides for scientists to talk about what's been happening & what we should do next. There are probably many people better qualified than me to talk about these issues. If that's you, please, please, please consider holding some virtual advocacy training sessions for researchers this week.

Today they went nuclear. Imagine all firefighters were told "You all still have salaries, but as of today the government will no longer pay for building maintenance, firetruck maintenance and repair, hydrant upkeep, or admin assistants." That's what they're doing to US universities.

Remember, through all the noise and tumult. This is what it is about. (image: street artist in Washington DC).

On changes to #NIH indirect rates, there is a law in place that prohibits NIH from making such changes without the approval of Congress. See Division D, Title II Section 224 of The Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024 (Public Law No: 118-47) grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...

Your Action Is Needed! Congress needs to hear from scientists. Call your representatives to oppose funding freezes and restrictions on research. Find contact info at govtrack.us and make your voice heard today! #SciencePolicy www.ascb.org/science-poli...

Important read. www.science.org/content/blog...

Pubmed just went offline …

Hard pass. www.sfgate.com/food/article...

ELON IS A NAZI

Tornado warning at 5:50 am this morning in San Francisco (over now) … never a dull moment

Highlighting our recent paper on how we think doublecortin (green) contributes to growth cone biomechanics in developing neurons for #FluorescenceFriday www.cell.com/current-biol...

Been dragged to the fan expo with my son today … guess better than writing grants

Hi #SciSky🧪... I have a question. I recently dabbled in some RNAseq (not really my thing) and noticed that genes showing the largest fold change are of course ones that are very low expression but are (likely) not relevant hits. How to people correct for total expression level in RNAseq data? TX.

'Crimson Star' 3 wavelengths of July 2023 data from Solar Dynamics Observatory is repaired, processed, blended & graded to rgb with music by Chris Zabriskie. Edited from 40 minute 4k original. Credit: SDO / NASA / AIA / Seán Doran

Ever wondered which of the new green fluorescent proteins you should use for live cell microscopy? 🧪 Maybe there is an answer: biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

No videos here ... yet. So, here is a cute AlphaFold2 model of the mEmerald labelled nanocages that we used to determine that there are ~120 DCX molecules bound per µm growth cone microtubule🧪 doi.org/10.1101/2024...