For me, this signals the start of fun science at #ARVO ❤️

I will be at ARVO and have a poster 3006 - 0256, May 5th at 1:15. Hope to connect with you all vision people!

Honored to receive the @brightfocus.bsky.social National Glaucoma Research Award! Thank you for supporting my lab's work on developmental glaucomas!

Congratulations to @mfsd2a.bsky.social and co-authors for this fantastic paper showing elevations in intraocular pressure compromises the blood-retina barrier. Incredible work and opens up a whole new investigative line for glaucoma! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

The Vlasits Lab is hiring a technician because our current technician was accepted into a PhD program! This position combines lab management and experiments. If you are interested in gaining experience with #retina research in Chicago, please apply. vlasitslab.org uic.csod.com/ux/ats/caree...

I defended my PhD 10 years ago today. That was the least remarkable thing that happened that day. Sharing something I wrote about it last year. Since then "the horrors persist but so do we." And with dignity.

Resident tissue #macrophages (RTM) are now recognized as integral regulators of tissue physiology, not transient immune sentinels. one fundamental question remains unresolved: why do some populations achieve lifelong self-maintenance, while others are replaced under steady-state conditions? 🧵1/11

Our recent paper picked up by The Ophthalmologist! www.theophthalmologist.com/issues/2026/...

Check out this beautiful new story from @michelcayouette.bsky.social lab!!! We got to play a small part along the way. So thrilled to see this out in the world!

Happy to announce that our latest paper is now out! Have you ever wondered how neural tissues control their size? In this paper, we show that cell division orientation is critical in both the cortex and retina. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

A couple of papers are finally out too. First, Meis factors are (unfortunately) not sufficient to respecify temporal identity in retinal progenitor cells. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

This Diwali I am hoping that the good truly does triumph over all evil, and soon. Happy Diwali to those celebrating!

My department at Emory is a hiring a tenure-track neuroscientist! Anyone who's talked to me in the last 4 years knows I cannot say enough good things about my dept and the neuroscience community here. My colleagues are so wonderfully supportive. Postdocs, please apply! apply.interfolio.com/174371

#FluorescenceFriday Strand and branch pericytes surround the vessels of the retina👁️🔬 color=depth @flaumeye.bsky.social @urneuroscience.bsky.social @cvsuor.bsky.social @uofrbme.bsky.social @urochestersmd.bsky.social

Our latest manuscript is out, and this one tackles the problem of cellular aging in the retina, using comparative multiomic analysis of zebrafish, mouse, and humans. What led us to work on aging after studying development and regeneration? Explainer follows./1 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Excited to share this study! We created a developmental atlas of the anterior segment of the eye and provide crucial molecular information that guides the development of Schlemm’s canal and trabecular meshwork cell subtypes. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Please repost and share

The NIH was healthiest when pay lines were in the 20th percentile range. We are headed into an environment where pay lines are in the 5% range. In my entire career, I’ve only had 3 grants that scored better than 5%. And my lab is considered a successful one. This is going to destroy science.

Paper alert! With co-first authors Nick Tolman and @taiboli.bsky.social , we profile trabecular meshwork cells using single-cell RNA + ATAC seq, identify mitochondrial dysfunction in an early-onset glaucoma model, and use Vitamin B3 to protect against nerve damage. elifesciences.org/reviewed-pre...

Hi all, we got a grant for a cool project that will follow up of our paper published a few months ago (see below). We will explore how light acts as a morphogen to instruct PCP. If you are looking for a postdoc position and interested in this topic, please reach out!

On Sunday I will cycle 50 km to raise money to support research to prevent blindness. If you can, please sponsor me! fightingblindness.akaraisin.com/ui/MOVEFORSI...

In more good new for the lab.. Just heard that we got a grant from The Glaucoma Foundation for our work on early onset glaucomas! Thank you TGF.

Ok, that’s it. Here’s the link again: joinus.cuimc.columbia.edu/participant/.... I know there's a lot of chaos right now, and it’s hard to know which crisis to focus your attention on and where to devote your time/resources. So if you decided to support my lab, I really do appreciate it! 9/9

Just got word that I got the RPB career development award. It feels weird to be happy when science funding is under attack. But one small win, one more day of science (or 4 more years). Thank you, Research to Prevent Blindness foundation.

🚨 Final Reminder! 🚨 Don't miss your chance to share your research at the ISER BrightFocus Glaucoma Meeting 2025! 📅 Abstract Submission Deadline: May 27, 2025 🔗 iserbrightfocusglaucoma.org/abstract-sub... @iser.bsky.social @brightfocus.bsky.social

The pact of the federal govt with universities was not a handout. It was a strategic decision to boost US leadership in technology, defense, and health. And it paid dividends. In tech, internet, in cancer drugs (for example), No other sector has invested in high risk high reward ideas like US govt.

We have updated our database of funding opportunities for Early-Career Researchers (private foundations, federal, international) We have 456 entries, for which we provide $ amount, deadline, eligibility criteria, etc. Download this massive database here for free: research.jhu.edu/rdt/funding-...

These are my people! 🫶

Our latest manuscript (7 years in the works) tackles the question of how diurnal ground squirrels evolved a cone-dominant retina, in contrast to the ancestral rod-dominant retina retained by virtually all other mammals./1 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Deaths from heart disease down 75%, that’s NIH. Deaths from stroke down 75%, that’s NIH. HIV/AIDS no longer a death sentence, that’s NIH. 99% of FDA approved drugs in the last decade, that’s NIH. Please show this video to anyone who doesn’t understand why the NIH is so important.

Will be at #ARVO next week and would love to catch up, vision science folk! I am also presenting a talk on May 6th on trascriptomics in aging and glaucoma.

Wanna grow organoids to understand human retinal development as a research assistant? Wanna help run the lab as a lab manager? The Johnston lab is hiring a research assistant/lab manager. If you are interested, please apply (also please share!): jobs.jhu.edu/job/Baltimor...

Scientists must explore R&D careers beyond U.S. in current climate. My @insidehighered.com article today outlines approaches to explore global research careers for U.S. trained early-career scientists, particularly international scientists. 1/2 www.insidehighered.com/opinion/care...

Exclusive: Weeks after President Donald Trump’s administration ordered NIH to pull $250 million in biomedical research grants to Columbia University, the agency is freezing all remaining grant money owed to the university until further notice. scim.ag/4if5Rg1

See, if you just cooperate with the administration and comply, it all turns out OK... www.science.org/content/arti...

Spotted Valerie Wallace in this. Need to bring her here to bluesky. Or maybe we move to Canada? @blockintheback.bsky.social @michelcayouette.bsky.social @flyeyelab.bsky.social

Our latest manuscript on glia-to-neuron conversion in retina is out in @elife.bsky.social. We show that AAV-mediated overexpression of Oct4 induces glia-to-bipolar cell conversion in wildtype retina, and that this is greatly enhanced by loss of function of Rbpj. elifesciences.org/reviewed-pre...

📣 Call for @iser.bsky.social Members! Want to take on a leadership role at ISER? We're seeking volunteers for: 🟢 Members • 📣 Comms • 💰 Fundraising • 🌱 Early Career Help shape the future of ISER—get involved! #ISER #Volunteer #Leadership #ScienceCommunity #EarlyCareerResearchers

Just found out NEI science communications Director was among the ones purged by the recent NIH RIF. I personally benefitted from his work - he highlighted our NEI funded Neuron publication when I was on the job market. Every week I enjoyed his NEI research update. Thank you for everything you did.

Director of the Nat'l Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) was summarily dismissed yesterday. So here's your reminder that birth defects kill twice as many American kids as cancer. But there is no St. Jude's for birth defects. Only the NICHD. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Powerful new Washington Post story up... wapo.st/426d9fT (Gift link) 1/n

My lab studies mechanisms of pediatric glaucoma and the development of tissues affected (Schlemm's canal and trabecular meshwork). I am getting creative with fundraising because, well... So if you know someone who might be interested in funding our work: joinus.cuimc.columbia.edu/index.cfm?fu...

On the potential risk of a type of optic neuropathy from GLP-1 drugs. One of several retrospective studies with mixed results jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

@schalleklab.bsky.social : look who I met today and went down the Rochester memory lane!

congratulations to our very own Dr. Preethi Ganapathy on her NEI R01 award to investigate optic nerve head astrocyte sensitivity to glaucomatous insult. www.upstate.edu/news/article...

I needed this laughter today.

As an ESI, I am quite confused by what happens between getting a score and actually getting an NOA. It always seems to be a blackbox for me. Does the PO make recs? Council makes decisions? How does a grant get picked to be funded? @jeremymberg.bsky.social , bluetorial on this please?

Nothing will kill more children than the ongoing decimation of CDC, NIH, and USAID work to lift vaccine uptake in the US and world. Child survival rose 75% in the last 50 years. Vaccines account for 40% of that. Measles vax alone was 60% of the benefit. www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

Wow. "NIH" canceled my co-mentored (with Dave Sulzer) PhD student's F31 funding. His work is on understanding the genetics and neuroscience of language learning disorders. F31 provides no indirect $ to Columbia, just pays his salary. Not that it should matter, but he's an American citizen. W.T.F.