Please share with anyone who cares about NSF support for graduate students and take 30 seconds to sign and leave a comment. The deadline for the 2025 Graduate Research Fellowship Program is about one month away and literally no one can apply. #NSFGRFP jasonjwilliamsny.github.io/grfp2025/

There's a wrong way and a right way to report this

We unequivocally had the greatest cohort of graduate students of all time and space 😘

Yesterday the president demanded that evidence about Covid vaccines be shown to the public. Today @apoorvanyt.bsky.social & I run through some of the studies made public over the past 4+ years that show that the vaccines work. Gift link: nyti.ms/46k17Tq

Our paper on the evolution of MUC19 in humans, Neanderthals, and Denisovans is finally out today in Science! This has been a six-year effort by 13 authors to weave together 3 separate but related evolutionary stories around this one gene (more on thread 🧵). www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

I get it, rabbits with tentacles on their face are freaky! But this isn't a "And so it begins" moment. Actually, this is where the HPV vaccine came from. Here's an excerpt from my book "A Planet of Viruses" that explains it. www.wfsb.com/2025/08/09/r... & gizmodo.com/rabbits-with...

These are the most challenging times for early-career scientists and engineers. My team is doing its bit to help by maintaining and even expanding our database of funding opportunities for early-career researchers. We found 437 of them. Download it freely here: research.jhu.edu/rdt/funding-...

Our paper showing that variation in transcription factor binding sites underlies the majority of additive genetic variance for phenotypic variation in maize is finally out! Sadly they didn't use our suggested cover image below (made by the inimitable Andi Kur). www.nature.com/articles/s41...

I received my S15 NoA for the @sptlabtech.bsky.social firefly+ housed in SGT! 🎉 This little bug will streamline miniaturized preps to stretch tightening budgets

In my small corner of biology, I’m constantly reassured by how frequently we confirm main findings. And then when differences do show up, they very rarely end up being fraud, but instead tell us something important about differences in experimental design.

This acquisition will bring together two pioneering companies with a shared vision: to make single cell analysis more powerful, affordable and accessible to researchers worldwide. Learn more: bit.ly/4mAWAS8

Research led by Duke's Virginia Byers Kraus, MD, PhD, shows that key proteins in the ankles are similar to those used by salamanders to regenerate severed limbs and might hold the key to a new therapeutic approach for joint disease. ➡️ corporate.dukehealth.org/news/ankles-... #AcademicSky #MedSky

"NIH has ..implemented a new policy requiring that at least one-half of the remaining funds for competing research project grants (RPGs) in FY 2025 be used to upfront fund RPG competing awards. Upfront funding provides the funding for all years of the approved project period .. from one fiscal year"

Scenes from a science crisis: a selection of recent developments 🧵1/6

Genome Sciences is looking for a Director of Departmental Computing. This is a rare opportunity for someone interested in leading our excellent IT team, building and maintaining computational infrastructure, and working closely with our faculty and labs uwhires.admin.washington.edu/ENG/candidat...

11/10 social media work by the Durham Bulls

After ruling the NIH grant terminations illegal, Judge Young ended the hearing with an eye-opening speech. “This represents racial discrimination, and discrimination against America’s LGBTQ community. That's what this is. I would be blind not to call it out. My duty is to call it out. And I do so.”

Look folks, I know pangenomes are cool. But for the love of whatever, could you please PLEASE stop using the phrase "soft core" to describe genes that are present in most but not all individuals in your pangenome?

i personally do not think the administration is actually prepared for what happens if they are facing mass protests in every major city in the country

RFK Jr.‘s extreme anti-vax views — and his related conflicts of interest — were a huge problem during his confirmation process. So he promised not to change the vaccine advisory panel. Today, he fired every single expert on that panel. It's a public health disaster.

"We are speaking on behalf of hundreds of NIH staff who are standing up together to say: WE DISSENT. I am so scared about doing this but I am trying to be brave for my kids because it's only gonna get harder to speak up." Thank you to Dr. Jenna Norton and NIH scientists for your courage!

Our Revio is named Barb after Barbara McLintock whom I’m convinced would’ve been super excited about long reads

I’m very happy to share our latest ABRF - Genomics ResearchGroup study “The impact of PCR duplication on RNAseq data generated using NovaSeq 6000, NovaSeq X, AVITI, and G4 sequencers,” is now published in Genome Biology! genomebiology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10....

At yesterday’s University of Michigan Regents meeting, I was promoted to full professor, effective July 1. 🎆 Full professor is the highest rank in US academia. 26% of faculty are full. Among those, 4% are Black; 2% BW. Started my PhD 20 years ago this fall. What a journey! A fantastic voyage.

as someone who lives nextdoor to both supportive housing and public housing, i need people to understand that the best locations for both are going to be the central neighborhoods in a metropolitan area, where there is easy and reliable access to services and jobs.

NIH is allowing us to recruit postbacs and postdocs again. Please reach out if you are interested in working with us! Ad: genomeinformatics.github.io/jobs2025/

Last call—hiring for my lab moving to UCLA!

RFK Jr has already shown that he considers autistic Americans to be much less worthy of existence. Now he is planning a big database of autistic individuals in the US, never mind that this is a gross violation of privacy laws. Recall that a similar effort was carried out in 1930’s Germany.

Thinking about devastating cuts to NSF: US gov-funded science has been the engine upon which most of the tech wealth was generated. But the oligarchs (currently hoarding much of that $) think it’s their own brilliance & not the accident of standing close to the scientific engine that made them rich.

My thesis work on active machine learning to model regulatory DNA is now out in Cell Systems! We answer the question: When you can synthesize any DNA sequence you want, how do you decide which ones are worth testing? www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

A much needed celebration of science 🧬

The Human Genome Project cost taxpayers $3 Billion. Two decades on, it has generated a staggering return on investment of $1 Trillion, with benefits in medicine, agriculture, energy, the environment, & more. If you want to boost the economy, funding science is one of the best things you could do.

Your regular reminder that NSF grants built the internet and helped the U.S. dominate tech.

Donald Trump spent $23M on golf (up to mid march). Over 56 days, he spent $410k of our tax dollars each day at his own clubs. That is one 3-year NSF grant per day. Waste and abuse, my ass. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Does this mean we get reimbursed for three month seaside vacations?

Scientists must push back against the threat of rising white nationalism and the dangerous and pseudoscientific ideas of eugenics https://go.nature.com/4jGqiUc

This is your regular reminder that executive orders are not royal decrees. Because America has no king.

History always has a lesson.

ICE officers are now reportedly required to meet arrest quotas each day, from a few hundred to between 1,200 and 1,500 nationwide. Jonathan Blitzer reports on the mystery of the agency’s unidentifiable arrests.

The first posy in a thimble I made, to lift my mood during the pandemic. The flowers are all real. When humans look at plants (even on a screen as here) we recover from stress 60% more quickly & the relaxation response is triggered in our brains. Zoom in if you're strung out🌿

Steve Kerr wore a Harvard basketball shirt after the Warriors’ win tonight: “Yes, this is me supporting Harvard. Way to go. Way to stand up to the bully.”

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.

"We will never use this agency to censor scientists who disagree. If scientists are censored, we can't have excellent science." -NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya. 9 days ago on Fox and Friends.

The problem with most machine-based random number generators is that they’re not TRULY random, so if you need genuine randomness it is sometimes necessary to link your code to an external random process like a physical noise source or the current rate of US tariffs on a given country.

A project five years in the making, we've now published complete "T2T" genomes for six additional ape species! It turns out that finishing (and analyzing) six genomes is slightly more work than one... doi.org/10.1038/s415...

This is the thing about academia being so "woke" w/conservatives driven out. I've spent so much time over the last few of years talking about how race is a social construct, not biological. The % of colleagues that cannot or will not accept this fact...😬 They elevate him bc they agree with him.

"Why don't you buy a new centrifuge" Because everyone knows that any appliances in that shade of yellow will outlive you and your entire family, look at it

I miss when the biggest controversy about mRNA was whether it correlated with protein or not.

ABRF is pleased to present the Robert A. Welch Outstanding Research Group/Committee Member of the Year Award to Molly Zeller, Univ. of Wisconsin – Madison. Molly was nominated by several peers for her valuable contributions & leadership to ABRF Committees, and the DNA Sequencing Research Group.