“That collective effort — part self-defense, part civic awakening — may explain why Machado’s Nobel Peace Prize has resonated beyond her polarizing figure” www.caracaschronicles.com/2025/10/14/m...

The Nobel Peace Committee sent a clear message to someone else in awarding the Prize to Ms. Machado: ”But democracy is also in retreat internationally. Democracy – understood as the right to freely express one’s opinion, …is the foundation of peace both within countries and between countries.” 👏

“The Nobel Peace Prize for 2025 goes to a brave and committed champion of peace – to a woman who keeps the flame of democracy burning amid a growing darkness.” www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace...

Exciting finding of Piezo1 being upregulated in RBCs and plays a role in sickling of those cells. Loved this paper!

This study was a collaborative effort across multiple groups, led by our first graduate student, Dr. Luis Octavio Romero, in partnership with graduate student Manisha Bade. 3/3

PIEZO1 is abnormally overactive in sickle red blood cells (humans and mice). In mice, an EPA-enriched diet normalized PIEZO1 and reduced hemolysis, hypoxia-induced sickling, and downstream inflammation, suggesting a potential dietary strategy to support people living with sickle cell disease. 2/3

Our new PNAS paper "Enhanced PIEZO1 function contributes to the pathogenesis of sickle cell disease" is out: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... 1/3

“Elections don’t matter anymore. They’re just for show. We decide who wins before the first ballots are even printed. You think power changes hands because of a vote?” www.caracaschronicles.com/2025/07/15/c...

🧵(4/4) 🇺🇸This Independence Day, practice your patriotism by supporting these brave civil servants: EPA: act.standupforscience.net/forms/epa-ad... NIH: act.standupforscience.net/forms/add-na... Our legacy is built on the premise that the populist many CAN overcome the tyrannical few. Keep it going.

I’m so honored to be selected as both a 2025 McKnight Scholar and 2025 HHMI Freeman Hrabowski Scholar. And I couldn’t be prouder to share these honors with awesome @ucdavis.bsky.social colleagues 💙💛💙💛 health.ucdavis.edu/news/headlin...

I spoke with Jade Hindmon, host of @kpbssandiego.bsky.social Midday Edition, about the consequences of the current administration’s cuts to science funding. Please share to help spread the word and raise awareness. www.kpbs.org/podcasts/kpb...

Highlighting this new paper NOT by my lab, but by Andres Vidal-Gadea's lab: doi.org/10.7554/eLif... #Celegans - more to say on this later 🧪

Today I had the honor of speaking in front of nearly 3000 people today at the Woodland #NoKings rally. WE FEAR NO KING BECAUSE WE DONT HAVE ONE ✊🏾✊🏾✊🏾✊🏾 let’s gooooooo

Join @votesaveamerica.crooked.com, @hrc.org and @immdef.bsky.social as they join together for a rally in D.C. on Friday, June 6th at 5pm ET to protest the unlawful disappearance of Andry Romero and many, many others like him who have been stripped of due process. 🔗 votesaveamerica.com/andry

"Women are PIs on 58% of the canceled grants, although they are PIs on only 34% of all active NSF grants. Similarly, Blacks are PIs on 17% of the terminated grants, although they make only 4% of the total pool. Hispanic PIs and those with disabilities were twice as likely to lose a grant."

The man at left separated the mother and baby at right. The mother is now in Venezuela. Baby daughter, in foster care in the US, exact location unknown. Dad? He's in CECOT prison without trial — because he had tattoos.

The president is recommending a 40% cut to next year’s NIH budget. This would be disastrous for our nation’s health and economy. Please contact your representatives, especially if they are Republicans, and tell them why this cannot happen. An easy option: 5calls.org

Huge congratulations to the always amazing, truly brilliant @clairelepichon.bsky.social who just received TENURE from our NIH intramural program.

co-author @dimacd.bsky.social pointed out that the link was truncated in my post. Hope this works: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

An example of what we in the NIH Intramural program can accomplish. Excited to share our latest paper in close collaboration with Nick Ryba's group. We examined how inflammation transforms representation in somatosensory neurons to cause pain. Lots of surprises here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Bravo, Kara! We desperately need scientists finding creative ways to connect with the public, explaining how science works and why it matters. Take @karalmarshall.bsky.social up on her offer, grab those slides, and find an audience that needs to hear this! #proudmentor

Gave a talk at my parents’ retirement community to describe how science is done, and what is at stake. There was a ton of interest, and anyone can do this. Get the word out about how science affects everyone. I’m happy to share slides with anyone who asks- just get in touch! youtu.be/BY_SFgi-Cig

Local elections matter! Now more than ever

Booker: Do you think we got the right to vote for women because a bunch of men on the House floor got together and said “on the count of three, women get the right to vote..” That’s not how it happened… Change doesn’t come from Washington. It comes to Washington.

BREAKING: Supreme Court temporarily blocks removal of Venezuelan migrants under the Alien Enemies Act

Please read this. My daughter is profoundly affected by Angelman Syndrome. She cannot speak or walk and needs assistance with every aspect of daily living. She is also phenomenal. She is loved by her family and friends. She brings joy to any room she is in. She loves fiercely and is loyal. /1

La alarmante declaración de la senadora republicana Lisa Murkowski sobre el gobierno de Trump: "Todos tenemos miedo" www.bbc.com/mundo/articl...

Scoop: DOGE now controls how grant opportunities get posted across government. DOGE engineer removed users’ permissions to post to Grants-dot-gov without telling them. Now requests flow thru DOGE-controlled mailbox. with @carolynyjohnson.bsky.social + @hannahnatanson.bsky.social

Say it with us: “constitutional crisis”

“Look how many people are women; look at how many people are non-White. Is there any way to attribute this to something other than race and gender? And then when you look at the numbers and the chances it could be any reason other than race and gender?” super grateful that this is being reported

My story about @kevinh-phd.bsky.social, nutrition and metabolism scientist at N.I.H., who felt compelled to take early retirement after experiencing censorship of his work under the new administration. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/16/w...

Last one for Tax Day – NOAA 🌊 The average U.S. taxpayer contributes $21/year to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 💡 NOAA turns science into safety — for coasts, communities, & the climate. It helps safeguard lives, property, and ecosystems from rising seas and extreme weather.

Tax Day - round 3 - NIH 🩻🧠🧬 🧬 The average U.S. taxpayer contributes $105/year to NIH, helping fund: • Cancer & rare disease breakthroughs • Pandemic preparedness • Children’s health • Medical tech innovation • Mental health science & more NIH powers the science behind the healthcare we rely on.

Tax Day next up: NSF! 🛰️ $40 a year. That’s what the average U.S. taxpayer pays annually to fund the National Science Foundation. 💡 Science isn’t luxury - it’s infrastructure. From disaster prediction to cybersecurity to the tech in your phone, NSF powers the systems that keep society running.

when rfk makes america healthy again, the children afflicted by sickle cell will just be sent to the labor camps…err…work farms where they can recover

Nearly half of CDC's developmental disabilities and birth defects center is now off the job Secy Kennedy's layoffs included entire team working on sickle cell disease www.cbsnews.com/news/cdc-cut...

Published an op-ed for @cnn.com: “Nobel laureate: I owe America my success. Today, its scientific future is in danger.” A personal reflection on what’s at stake as science funding gets slashed. I’d be grateful if you could amplify both in and beyond the science world. www.cnn.com/2025/04/09/h...

Republicans used to say “undocumented immigrants don’t pay taxes.” Now the IRS is handing their tax data to DHS… So which is it? Seems like you’d have to pay taxes to even have tax data…

I commend the American Academy of Pediatrics for fighting the good fight, but it is sad that they need to be doing this in 2025 for diseases we had previously eliminated through vaccination. These diseases are resurgence because a subset of society is insistent on rejecting the science of vaccines.

HANDS OFF ✊🏾🇺🇸✊🏾

An important legal victory: a judge held Trump’s termination of humanitarian protected status for Venezuelans was likely illegal. Because of the leadership of the NTPSA and brave individuals, 350,000 people have the right to work and live without fear of deportation. The fight continues.

“a significant portion of the 238 had no criminal records not in Venezuela nor in the United States and much less in El Salvador". www.bbc.com/news/article...

We are seeking to hire a lab tech, this is an HHMI funded position, please share the job posting: hhmi.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/Extern...

Folks, very bad news for #LongCOVID. Deep breath. 29 awarded grants to do with COVID and Long COVID have been rescinded by NIH. 🧪 www.science.org/content/arti...

⚡️FIGHT THE OLIGARCHY RALLY ⚡️ STARTING TOMORROW. Nevada. Arizona. Colorado. You, me, and Bernie. Dem and GOP districts. ❤️💙 See you there 💪🏽🌞

“la venezolana que reconoció a su hijo entre los deportados a El Salvador por orden de Trump” www.bbc.com/mundo/articl...

These are e most important #s for the Dems. They should be tracking all local media and influencers in these states and reposting it everywhere The economic pain tariffs can indlict on red states need to be talked about more than anything else right now. It will flip voters.

Immigrants allegedly getting disappeared by Trump based on accusations that they are gang members without any due process, under an act that hadn’t been used since Japanese internment camps. 👇🏽🧵 This is what @RepTimBurchett is blindly defending. x.com/l_toczylowsk...