16 (! What?) years ago I went to my first ABRCMS and was welcomed and encouraged to pursue my scientific dreams. I met folks that provided direct feedback on my graduate school applications and served a pivotal role in my career. I am honored return and give back again as faculty. #ABRCMS2025

Can a single cell learn? Even without a brain, some microbes show simple forms of cognition. Can this basal cognition be engineered? Check our new paper with @jordiplam.bsky.social on the minimal synthetic circuits & their cognitive limits. @drmichaellevin.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Asking my #DevBio @socdevbio.bsky.social & #Neuroscience @sfn.org colleagues to join me in donating to the ABRCMS conference poster award fund. I am sure there will be 🤩 posters on these topics @ ABRCMS 2025 in Nov, let's make sure there is award $ to recognize their work! abrcms.org/donate/stude...

“What a [sunburned] cell is trying to do is make decisions about whether to live or die based on how damaged the DNA is… but amazingly, it’s the RNA that signals that. That’s the remarkable observation.” — Rachel Green, biologist at Johns Hopkins University. www.quantamagazine.org/rna-is-the-c...

Hiring 4 postdocs — organismal biophysics, soft robotics, frugal Raman diagnostics, or your own bold idea. 3-year funding, $65K+ benefits. GT (Atlanta) now → CU Boulder BioFrontiers Institute in Fall ’26. PDF/details in next post. Tag/share if someone comes to mind. 🧪🪲🪳#livingphysics

New NIH Notice rescinding the no DEI, no Israeli boycott term and condition added to NIH grants (covers the whole university) This is what Williams refused to sign and declined all federal funding. grants.nih.gov/grants/guide... 1/2

All of my NIH grants terminated this afternoon along with those of all of my colleagues including big (and extremely successful) P01 grants.

The Spencer Foundation is offering rapid response bridge funding for those who lost NSF research grants. www.spencer.org/grant_types/...

Hey #RNA world, we are excited to share our RNA design engine #pyFuRNAce - an integrated tool for RNA origami experts and novices alike. Kudos to @monari-luca.bsky.social @floppleton.bsky.social et al! Preprint: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... Try it out at pyfurnace.de Feedback welcome!

BREAKING: NIH planning to prohibit funds going to institutions with DEI initiatives or engage w/ boycotts of Israel, according to internal documents www.statnews.com/2025/04/21/t...

“No government — regardless of which party is in power — should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue,” Alan Garber, Harvard’s president, said about President Trump's demands. nyti.ms/4jzSS9W

Regulation of translation speed by small RNA: slower is better www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

I am thrilled to share this new preprint from our lab! We find (>800!) 30S binding sites in hundreds of 5'UTRs, but also new dynamic steps of translation initiation. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... Congrats to all co-authors at the RNA control of gene expression lab, IBPC CNRS (Thread, 1/6)

www.nytimes.com/2025/04/03/o... Really important piece to share widely. Too many Americans don’t know how severe a threat this Administration poses to our scientific infrastructure, global leadership, and health security

Excited to share our new preprint on an RNA sponge counteracting sibling sRNAs in Caulobacter! Laura Vogt and @mvelascogomariz.bsky.social used RILseq, RNA biochemistry and great commitment to work out this story! www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-6...

They are cutting cancer research. They are cutting cancer research. They can deny it all they want, but they are cutting cancer research. These are the cuts being made the DoD CDMRP cancer funding mechanism www.fightcancer.org/sites/defaul...

NSF grantees and awardees can learn from a *new report* how they might respond to grant changes like termination! 🔬 Like @davidimiller.bsky.social says, prepare now. I helped edit this with the amazing @isaackamola.bsky.social at AAUP and other great colleagues. Posted w/ other CDAF resources here:

Now is a critical time for colleges and universities to coordinate a collective fight to protect our missions and freedom of expression. Please consider signing in solidarity with colleagues at UMass Amherst and other universities targeted by recent threats. sites.google.com/umass.edu/we...

A friend drove two hours today for her breast cancer chemotherapy only to learn it was canceled due to NIH cuts. Clinical trial ended midstream. No treatment, no restart, no plan, no information. Her bro-in-law's chemo was also canceled.

Prof Amy Weeks, a Clinton, Massachusetts native 🫖, explains: funding cuts don’t just hurt labs—they hurt families seeking cures for fatal diseases & kids from Clinton like her who might grow up to find them. @amyweeks.bsky.social www.clintonitem.com/writes-cuts-...

It feels like the resumption of study section posting on the federal registrar, while continuing to block advisory council, was an attempt to quell the news cycle while still keeping funds frozen.

Dear all, Because of your help shining light on this all 15 were reinstated today. This is a huge win for science - When We Fight We Win!!!

New report shows that NIH grants fueled $95 billion in economic activity and 407,782 jobs in 2024. That's not to mention the countless lives that biomedical research has saved. Show me a better investment than that. www.forbes.com/sites/michae...

This is my institution. These are the people I work with making these decisions. The situation is heartbreaking. Public medical schools have no other choice; there is no other source of funding, and everyone in academia is at extreme risk right now.

Susan Gottesman and Gisela Storz, pioneers in regulatory RNA research, reflect on their personal scientific journeys and the evolution of their groundbreaking group research in two compelling articles. Gigi: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... Susan: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... #RNA

Our NIH SEPA program that provides training in synbio to rural students and teachers is on the block. The sepa website is down and funding call has been removed. The SciEd conference has been indefinitely postponed. nihsepa.org

Lots of local events being added! Consider checking these out even if you can’t make it to DC or state capital. Western Mass folks who can’t get to Boston - closer events Friday in Hartford and now in Amherst.

Heartbreaking chats this week with students thinking of giving up on their dreams of getting a PhD. They worry about getting in PhD programs and careers post PhD. My suggestions: don’t be hasty, think broadly incl EU & Canada, & careers beyond traditional academia. What’re you telling your students?

🚨 New #Breakthrough article from @holmqvist-lab.bsky.social: "ProQ prevents mRNA degradation through inhibition of poly(A) polymerase" #RNA #Stability #Degredation #mRNA 📖 Read the full article here: https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkaf103

xkcd with the truth today xkcd.com/3056/

For the people who may be on the fence: Happy to chat about my experience leading KY. Core leadership created a checklist of what to do, which helps keep priorities organized. A lot of us here already are kind and down to help you make it happen. #StandUpForScience

Basic research leads to critical medical advances. We are on the cusp of significant means to improve patient lives. NIH has driven these discoveries. #NIH www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

ATTENTION (PLEASE SHARE) If anyone has or knows of any positions that might be appropriate for the NIH staff members who were terminated, please post the information in this thread. There are lots of talented and accomplished people who may be looking for new opportunities.

the richest man in the world has decided that your kids don't deserve special education programs

My heart is just shattered for NIH as an institution. It represents what, in my view, is best about America: A group of committed people working hard and creatively with one another to achieve important goals to help people across the country and around the world. 12/n

soon enough, the mere presence of black and latino students on campus will be illegal racial discrimination against white students www.insidehighered.com/news/diversi...

I maxed out my credit card, emptied my savings account, and took out a loan to move from Alabama to Bethesda, MD. I don’t even qualify for unemployment since I’ve only worked at NIH for a month. I will be financially and medically devastated. Seeking suggestions for anywhere that’s hiring!!

The rumored intent to fire some or all of the NIH institute and center directors will be tremendously damaging to research that benefits the health of the American people (and people around the world) and to the leadership position that America has held in biomedical research. con'ted 4/n

Today, along with 2,000 other NIH employees, I had to clear out my office 😭 It was truly the honor of my life to work with such incredibly passionate people focused on improving human health. I’ve never experienced a more positive culture where *everyone* cared about their job and serving others.

I am told the cuts include new tenure track investigators (intramural equivalent of assistant professors at an R1 university) people who were hired after an intensely competitive hiring process labs were renovated, supplies equipment bought, staff hired startups easily exceed $1M all wasted now

Tonight! Higher ed workers are mobilizing against myriad political attacks. Want to get involved? Tonight (2/13) at 8pm ET we're hosting a National Strategy Call, during which we will discuss upcoming strategies and actions. Join us! us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

NoA NOTIFICATION REQUEST Re-upping this request now that NIH staff are apparently allowed to make awards. If anyone receives a NoA starting today and continuing forward, please DM me with information about the mechanism and institute or center. THANK YOU I hope to full up my DMs with good news

Penn State has halted submission and *acceptance* of NIH grants pending the resolution of the overhead rate cut. This lost time will never be recovered. The economic cost to Pennsylvania is enormous and the cost to humanity immeasurable.

I really wish scientific societies would recognize that part of their purpose should be to BE a target! That is how you can serve your members.

This framing is their framing, and NYT took the bait. The correct and accurate framing is: “Deep cuts to medical research threatens progress on cancer and heart disease research, costs the economy $80B, and threatens 300,000 jobs across red and blue states”

⚠️ Effective Monday 2/10/25, NIH indirect rate capped at 15%. Applies to existing & future grants. —> Deep budget cuts & program closures coming to a university near you. Is this the break the glass moment for university administrators who have been silent so far about the attack on science?

A statement from the BMA Board Members to the BMA Community and Beyond. Additional alt text to follow due to the character limit.