Grateful to everyone who joined our Hill visits this week advocating for stronger support of biomedical research. Your efforts to champion increased NIH funding help drive discovery and improve lives. #SITContheHill @immunegirl.bsky.social @cgtgaithersburg.bsky.social @doctweettweet.bsky.social 🧪

Asmaa Mohamed, PhD, is using engineered T cells to treat ovarian cancers and improve immunotherapies in the @immunegirl.bsky.social Lab. She came to UVA for its collaborative research environment and culture of mentorship. She's also a baker, multi-talented crafter, and history enthusiast!

Heads up to check the new expiration dates on grant opportunities you were planning to write for! For example, the Katz R01 mechanism for New Investigators now expires tomorrow, four days BEFORE the next possible due date.

Do you know an up-and-coming expert in the field of cancer #immunotherapy? Nominate them today for SITC’s Steven A. Rosenberg Scholars Award, one of the society's most prestigious opportunities for early career scientists. Learn more: sitcancer.org/Rosenberg-scholar #SITCForwardFund

Thank you @uvahealth.bsky.social team for the kind writeup about our research and the generous support from the Rodger W. Klein Family Fund at UVA Cancer Center that fuels our forward momentum. Their support has kickstarted our progress to helping patients! giving.uvahealth.com/article/rese...

Rossymar Rivera Colón, a PhD student mentored by @immunegirl.bsky.social, won the 3rd Place and Audience Choice awards at this year's Grad Thesis Slam! Her talk, "Giving T-Cells Their Power Back," used comic book-inspired design to explain how she engineers T cells to fight cancer. Congrats, Ross!

I’m excited to be speaking at #IMMUNOLOGY2025™ on immunotherapy for ovarian cancer & engineered TCR T cells! Join me to explore hurdles facing T cells in solid tumors & the impact on immunotherapy efficacy. Register today! #immunology immunology2025.aai.org/register/ #AAI2025 @sitcancer.bsky.social

Congratulations to all the students who made the finals! Please come and support Rossymar and all the contestants at this year’s grad thesis slam competition!

Join us on 4/22 for our inaugural Paths to Research Advocacy event - the first in a recurring series, where we’ll interviewing experienced research advocates and scientists about their journeys to ovarian cancer research advocacy. Register for this free event through the link in our bio!

There is a forum on the NIH happening right now at the US Capitol, hosted by Senator Tammy Baldwin. You can listen in here (and rewind to the beginning): www.youtube.com/live/JofqSdW...

Be sure to apply for #SITCWIN by Monday March 24. WIN will feature presentations from experienced female leaders, panel discussions allowing participants to ask questions & interact with these leaders, & networking opportunities. #WomenInSTEM www.sitcancer.org/professional...

Hooray!

From Forbes magazine: “NIH Grants Fueled $95 Billion In FY 2024 Economic Activity, Finds New Report“ www.forbes.com/sites/michae...

Oncoimmunology is one of our strengths, reflected by the membership overlap between our Center and the UVA Cancer Center. Three of our members were recently awarded funds by the Cancer Center. Read about the projects here: @justintaylorlab.bsky.social @immunegirl.bsky.social #Immunology #ImmunoSky

From an NIH source re. grant terminations "These searches are pulling in things based on 'other support' sections and biosketches, so science may be held up just because someone mentions that they serve on a DEIA committee, or has a completely different grant that uses a 'problematic' word. (cont)

A recent study found that cervical cancer deaths in young women have plummeted since the introduction of the human papillomavirus vaccine.

For those who don't know the alphabet soup of NIH research grants: T32s, F30s, and F31s are training grants. They support the salary (and tuition, and research expenses) of people who are still completing their training to become researchers. Grad students. Postdocs. Clinical fellows.

This is why all NIH-funded scientists simultaneously trying to diversify their science funding portfolios is not a real solution.

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.

The House will vote soon on a continuing resolution to fund government programs through fiscal year 2025 that proposes a 57% funding cut to the CDMRP! The Ovarian Cancer Research Program is housed within the CDMRP. This cut would significantly disrupt research for ovarian cancer & other diseases.

TODAY IS THE DAY! 🧪☀️⬇️ Join us at the Lincoln Memorial or your local site to Stand Up for Science!

#SITC #WIN 2025 features presentations by experienced female leaders from the #IO field. The program includes panel discussions to ask questions and interact with these leaders and networking opportunities. Apply by March 24, 2025. www.sitcancer.org/professional...

The Trump administration's efforts to slash research funding have US graduate students, postdocs and other early-career scientists fearing for their careers. Some might leave the country -- or abandon research altogether. https://go.nature.com/43ao2zq

Here are some data documenting the funding "pause" pulled from NIH Reporter. Current results (FY25) (Red) are compared with results from FY21 (first year of Biden Administration) and FY24. Note that data from Reporter lag behind release of NoAs by ~1 week. I will be tracking this going forward.

Annual @sitcancer.bsky.social crew picture at #TRCCC 2025 @immunegirl.bsky.social @ Michelle Williams and Sarah Gitto

I’m a very #ProudPI this week. Watching Dr. Asmaa Mohamed, Rossymar Rivera, and Yaning Li present updates on their research projects has been a bright spot in the darkness of the past few weeks. Thank you #TRCCC for continuing to highlight trainee voices at the podium!

SITC's FREE virtual Neuro Immuno-Oncology Summit will be an impactful event. Dive into important discussions and learn from an expert lineup of speakers! Thank you Dr. Gartrell and the amazing team behind this program🎉🎉🎉 #medSky #OncSky #neuro

If you are one of the #CDC #HHS #FDA #NIH employees who have learned today that your employment is being abruptly ended, we want to hear from you. @altcdc.bsky.social www.statnews.com/2025/02/14/f...

This is my science jobs feed. Do you have an opening in your Lab or Department? Did you come across a cool job opening? Just type #sciencejobs for post to appear on the feed. #neuroskyence #academicsky #womeninstem #medsky 🧠 🧪 🧬 🪰 🌱 bsky.app/profile/did:...

Dear federal scientists: If you have been affected by the probationary firings and would be willing to speak with Science, please reach out to me by email ([email protected]) or on Signal. We can guarantee annonymity.

1. Today the NIH director issued a new directive slashing overhead rates to 15%. I want to provide some context on what that means and why it matters. grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...

World Cancer Day - a global initiative to raise awareness, improve education and catalyze personal, collective and government action. Together, let’s reimagine a world where millions of preventable cancer deaths are saved and access to life-saving cancer treatment and care is equitable for all.

Happy New Year!

We’re sending an ovarian cancer advocate to the AACR Meeting, April 25-30, 2025, in Chicago. While there, the advocate will participate in the Scientist-Survivor Program, learning about cancer research and interacting with scientists and others. Apply by 2/1/25 through the link in our bio.

#Immunotherapy for women’s malignancies continue to evolve. #SITC’s ACI: A Focus on Women’s Malignancies program provides clinicians with current updates in the use of IO to treat early/late-stage breast cancer. Join Feb. 28. Register: www.sitcancer.org/education/ac... #LearnACI #breastcancer

This is an excellent opportunity for ovarian cancer advocates interested in learning more about cancer research and connecting with scientists. Check it out! @powelldrescher.bsky.social #ScientistSurvivorCollaboration

We were so fortunate this year to have another group of incredible UVA BIMS rotation students spend time in the lab! I feel so lucky to get to work with these amazing colleagues and trainees every day. Shout out to @justintaylorlab.bsky.social for the lively B cell + T cell weekly lab meetings!

Feeling this today.

I’m excited to be a co-organizer this year for the SITC Winter School, where we focus on the core principles of #TumorImmunology & #CancerImmunotherapy. We’ll also be discussing advancements in drug development, biomarkers, & clinical trials. More info here: go.sitcancer.org/3XOCoBh Please join us!

Wishing everyone a joyous and restful holiday season. Happy holidays from the Anderson Lab Team! Big thanks to Christos in the UVA CIC for the professional photo and to Rossymar for her photoshop skills.

Postdocs in Immuno-Oncology: consider this awesome career development opportunity! You get to network with accomplished faculty and rising start peers in preparation for running a research group! Info: irvingcancerimmunologysymposium.com Application link: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

I was honored to share the stage with these brilliant women to discuss how important the advocate voice is to scientific research. Check out the Black Cancer Collaborative and the Powell Drescher Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation for info on how your research could benefit from involving advocates!

Back in 2018, Dr. Yu Cao and I were selected to present in the #SITC Presidential Session. Since the pandemic, every year we are both at the Annual Meeting we take a picture to memorialize "growing up" together in science. Looking forward to continuing to add to our photo montage!

It was an honor to speak alongside Dr. Ana Anderson at the #SITC24 Primer this year and tag-team an introduction to the Cancer Immunity Cycle. If you (or your trainees) want an intro to immunotherapy concepts before doing a deep dive at the Annual Meeting, join us a day early next year!

Another great year at #SITC24! Thank you to the #SITC Early Career Scientist Committee for another amazing year of programming. Excellent conversations at the Meet the Expert Lunch, Grant Writing Workshop, Speed Mentoring & the Networking Event. #SITC25 can't come fast enough!

Another @sitcancer meeting is complete! So much science and so many reunions packed into so few days. Great @sitcancerECS programming, an excellent #Checkpoints show, some comedy and a little bit of magic! #SITC23 was a huge success. Already excited for #SITC24!

It is a privilege to be on this amazing committee (@sitcancerECS) who put so much care into planning helpful programming for our peers. We hope the sessions at #SITC23 were beneficial! Have ideas for future years? Let us know, or join us! @sitcancer

Hi everyone, excited to be here! I’m an early career researcher and just started my independent lab at the University of Virginia (UVA) in April 2023. We are an immunotherapy lab focused on engineering T cell therapies to overcome immune suppression in solid tumors.