“For starters, we need to reverse the cuts that Mr. Trump has made to investments in science and other areas. “ I Just Returned From China. We Are Not Winning. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/10/o...

Nice day for a pre-Super Bowl stroll!

But the impact of MYF will make paylines crater nonetheless.

Nice to see some yeast genetics in a Cell paper, where the authors test models based on single-molecule in vitro analysis. The combination of genetics and biochemistry often addresses questions most effectively. www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

Meanwhile in China…

BREAKING: Over 680 members of the National Academy of Sciences, Medicine, and Engineering have endorsed articles of impeachment against RFK Jr. (1/2 🧵)

My weekly update on NIH funding. This is for all projects. The breakdown for competing and non-competing awards will follow. 1/4

Not good. I don’t understand why dems acquiesced on this.

Bhattacharya, a moment ago: "What you've been seeing in the press is that there have been funding cuts. There haven't been funding cuts. What there has been is a change in agency priorities." Our year in numbers begs to differ www.nature.com/immersive/d4...

Important update: a federal judge has ruled that Russ Vought & OMB were breaking the law & must tell the public exactly how they are spending (or not spending) funds appropriated by Congress. I wrote this law years ago to ensure transparency and accountability.

Help us get the word out!!!

🧬 Meet Sni445, a newly discovered #Yeast ribosome assembly factor! Ynl050c/Sni445 recruits specialized snoRNPs (snR4 & snR45) that guide precise rRNA acetylation during ribosome synthesis. Another piece of the puzzle solved! 🧪 #YeastResearch #SGD www.yeastgenome.org/reference/S1...

We could have 4 JWST’s or a science mission at every planet. The NIH could be funded for two years. Or 1.5 years or so of USAID funding, if it still existed. This is how they’re spending our tax dollars. This is our money.

The Senate should pass all 5 bills to fund cancer research, child care, and more THIS WEEK. Senate Democrats are ready to do just that. Meanwhile, we need to keep negotiating DHS funding to bring sanity and due process to our immigration enforcement. No Republican shutdown.

If you are looking for a distraction, this seems cool. Sticky ends++. If it works as advertised, seems like it could be a game-changer. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

I am excited to offer a postdoctoral research position in my lab in Oxford studying the distribution of small RNAs during plant sexual reproduction. shorturl.at/7Goxt Reposts appreciated! Obligatory cat video to brighten your day. :-)

Read the Save HHS open letter! www.savehhs.org/letter-we-wi...

It's time to identify those 23 people and begin the pressure on them. This administration will not stop, even if the courts order it. That much is clear.

California just joined the World Health Organization. I love it.

Important story from Max Kozlov. Loss without replacement of council members is a serious concerns which could be a huge problem in the future, but this is uncertain.

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.

YES! A step in the right direction. After a horrendous year for science & the #NIH, it is imperative to protect it from political interference. NIH's success is due to decisions based on science, not political ideology. Science does not belong to politicians. 🧪 degette.house.gov/media-center...

🚨 New from me: Grant review at more than half of NIH's institutes could be frozen by the end of the year. That's because crucial NIH grant-review panels are slated to be empty at those institutes by Jan 2027. A wonky bureaucratic problem with big implications. A short 🧵

🧪IMPORTANT! This graphic explains how science all over the US is funded. Congress approved a 2% increase in the #NIH budget for FY 26. Buried in the bill- Shift of ~40% of grants to MYF. This will still result in a 35% DECREASE in the NUMBER of grants funded per yr. Russel Vought is behind this.

🧪 Russel Vought wants to kill the #NIH, in a slow, sneaky way. The NIH appropriations include language that allows multi-year funding of grants. No 40% cut. Yay. No. Allowing multi-year funding allows fewer grants will be funded. This toxic compromise will kill science. We deserve better.

The multi-year NIH funding of grants tagged to 2025 allows Russell Vought to reduce the number of grants funded this year because he insists that a 5 years of $$$ has to be committed. This is bad. We could see a cut in actual grants by 1/3 or more. Spread the word. www.statnews.com/2026/01/16/n...

ABI before AGI

House Appropriations minibus bill funding NIH is out now. - $400M increase - Multiyear funding of new awards capped at 2025 levels. - No line item for BRAIN Initiative text here: docs.house.gov/billsthiswee... Screenshots from Dem summary and Sec 240 (multiyear funding text).

Beautiful day for a ride!

49ers game off to a great start — if you are a Hawks fan…

Explain to Congress how important it is to keep multiyear funding of NIH grants in the funding bill. This protects against Russell Vought's trick, which is to make this year's NIH budget cover multiple years of research in advance. Tell your Congresscritter. US Capitol switchboard: 202-224-3121.

I need to find a better hobby. Any suggestions?

Guess what happens when one country stops investing in universities (at federal and state levels) and another country turns up the investment dial?

Likewise, Congressman Cole from Oklahoma is the chair of the overall House Appropriations committee. If you can, reach out to his office as well. It is noteworthy that OMB is willing to veto a bill over a minor-seeming NIH operational issue. This makes me think this is part of a bigger plan...

Congressman Aderholt from Alabama is the chair and he is apparently willing to help OMB here, adding report language (which is toothless) rather than including this in the law. If you are from Alabama, please contact his office and your Senators and share your thoughts. 2/3

The appropriations bill that includes NIH is being finalized. The Senate bill includes a bipartisan amendment from Senators Capito (WV) and Baldwin (WI) limiting multi-year funding of grants. The House version does not and OMB has issued a veto threat if the House includes such language. 1/3

ASH is urging Congress to finalize FY 2026 appropriations with strong NIH funding. NIH investment drives breakthroughs in hematology while cuts put progress and patients with hematologic conditions at risk. Join us in the #Fight4Hematology: https://ow.ly/EMLZ50XWrLz#Fight4Hematology #ResearchSavesLives #HemeSky

A reminder as Congress finalizes NIH appropriations: the bill must limit multiyear funding (MYF), Vought's way of cutting the NIH budget without cutting the budget. MYF will devastate the research workforce. @safa-science.bsky.social wrote this in July. Still relevant: substack.com/@scienceandf...

Dorks, I know more than 7.2k of you think RFK Jr. needs to go! I’m headed to DC tomorrow to meet with members of Congress about our articles of Impeachment. The more people sign, the louder we can yell. SHARE SHARE SHARE! Standupforscience.net/impeach-rfkjr

JUST IN: Judge Mehta rules that Trump/Russ Vought's termination of environmental grants during the shutdown — targeted solely at states that voted for Kamala Harris — violated the 5th Amendment's Equal Protection clause and orders them restored. www.documentcloud.org/documents/26...

Nice day for a ride!

The number of followers I lost due to this post is a striking example of naan sense mediated decay

Nice view!

Interesting paper in Nature on the genetics of multicellularity in marine yeasts. The senior author was a postdoc on our floor at UCSF :) www.nature.com/articles/s41...

"NIH leadership turmoil adds to politicization concerns" www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

No cavaties! Surprising given all the holiday treats I was forced to eat out of politeness.

Nice day for a ride (to the dentist)!

We are thrilled to share our latest work uncovering the mechanistic basis of target-directed microRNA degradation (TDMD). This work was driven by @jakobfarnung.bsky.social and @elenaslo.bsky.social in a fantastic collaboration with Brenda Schulman's lab. tinyurl.com/E3TDMD (1/5)

President Trump is taking 325 mg of aspirin a day to prevent heart disease. His doctors advise him to take 81 mg. Both are wrong. Here’s why. New edition of Ground Truths, open-access erictopol.substack.com/p/the-lowdow...