Abraham Palmer

Hold him close, we lost ours two days ago. 😞

A glorious selfie with the official MAHA lanyard seconds after I made it past Secret Service screening.

About that exclusive, "closed-to-press" MAHA summit last week with RFK and JD Vance: I got in.

Here's what I saw. 🧵 🧪

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

during SfN, it was fun to check the hashtag activity for #sfn25 or #sfn2025 here on bluesky, so I wondered how it would compare to twitter. grabbed the number of posts for each day via the API and it seems to be pretty comparable.

(with reposts & replies excluded)

An NIH memo from August 15th entitled "Achieving NIH's Mission: Leveraging Funding Policies"

In August, NIH institute and center directors received this document entitled "Achieving NIH Mission: Leveraging Funding Policies".

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Congratulations to Harriet De Wit, Ph.D., for being awarded the Barbara Fish Memorial Award! ☺️ #ACNP2026

Please click here ➡️tinyurl.com/2ndexz5k to watch the nominator video by Abraham Palmer, Ph.D.

Do you work with rats?

We are genetically predicting behavior, gene expression and other traits in outbred rats. We call it #RATTACA because it’s like the movie GATTACA except it’s not evil. Learn more about how you can use RATTACA at our booth #3925 at #sfn25.

Unprecedented corruption

“Censorship and the suppression of reading materials are rarely about family values and almost always about control.”
— Stephen King

Dear [name redacted], I regret to inform you that you are being affected by a reduction in force (RIF) action. Please find attached a notice memorandum explaining the RIF and next steps. This RIF action does not reflect directly on your service, performance, or conduct. It is being taken solely for the reasons stated in the memorandum. After you receive this notice, you will be placed on administrative leave and will no longer have building access beginning Friday, October 10, unless directed otherwise by your leadership. Additionally, please save this email and its attachments, or forward them to a personal email address, for your records. Leadership at HHS appreciates your service. Sincerely, Tom Nagy

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is executing this Reduction in Force (RIF) to maximize efficiency and funding priorities. This memorandum constitutes a specific notice of a RIF. I regret to inform you that you are being affected by a RIF action. This RIF is necessary to reshape the workforce of HHS. This is your specific notice of the RIF. In accordance with the RIF procedures specified in Chapter 35 of Title 5 of the United States Code and Title 5 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Part 351, and HHS policy, you are being released from your competitive level based on your retention standing. Consequently, you will be separated from the Federal service effective December 8, 2025. In the event you are qualified and have assignment rights to a position that becomes available during the notice period, you will be informed via a specific, subsequent notice. Should the circumstances of the RIF notice change, this notice will be updated.

Reduction in force (RIF, I.e. firing) email and page 1 of the RIF memo.

CDC, this is absolutely illegal and our union (AFGE) will be suing.

afge2883ga.org

The union is asking that you send your RIF notice to: RIF@afge2883ga.org with

Name
CIO/division/branch
FTE status & tenure

BREAKING: Friday night massacre underway at CDC. Doznes of "disease detectives," high-level scientists, entire Washington staff and editors of the MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report) have all been RIFed and received the following notice:

Journalist here

I’m interested in talking to a federal agency scientist who was fired, then rehired. I can keep you anonymous. I’m on Signal ginnyg.04

Reposts are appreciated!

The elimination of USAID is a moral atrocity and all involved made a choice to enable, and then lie about, ending the lives of some of the most vulnerable people in the world.

We aren't on the verge of an authoritarian takeover. We are in the middle of it.

But I worry people don't see the whole scheme. They just pay attention to each new daily outrage. So I went to the Senate floor to explain Trump's plan.

Here's a 🧵of the speech. It's important.

Congrats to the winners! Its notable that Omar Yaghi was a refugee. Refugees and immigrants once again making American science great!

Excited to share this new work from the lab, in collaboration with @jtuscher.bsky.social & Rob Sorge! Here, we used single cell transcriptional profiling to define molecular adaptations induced by chronic pain and opioid experience, which often occur in conjunction.

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Opinion | Six surgeons general: It’s our duty to warn the nation about RFK Jr. We took an oath to declare dangers when we found them. We’re doing that again today.

“Never before have we issued a joint public warning like this. But the profound, immediate and unprecedented threat that Kennedy’s policies and positions pose to the nation’s health cannot be ignored.”

RFK Jr.’s MAHA movement focuses on animal welfare Last week, the National Institutes of Health announced it had secured $87 million for a new research center.

RFK Jr. insanely moves MAHA to end animal testing, with NIH securing $87M for a center shifting to 3D tissue models. An 80% poll backs the phaseout. PETA applauds. A research group warns of risks. Grants can fund the rehoming of lab animals.

The pedestrian and bicycle bridge at the edges of that photo happens to be the site of the worst bicycle accident I’ve ever had. Aug 9, 2013.

a white cat is sitting on a box with the words where written on it . ALT: a white cat is sitting on a box with the words where written on it .

The fiscal year is over.

So how was the NIH appropriation committed?

A long thread with institute by institute results about where the money went.

Does anyone understand how NIMH is using RF1 and UF1s?

He's telling us what he's doing. Using the military to suppress protest. At some point the opposition needs to listen to him and adjust strategy.

Consistent with this, I’ve heard (secondhand) that program officers from NIGMS are telling applicants who got outstanding scores that their R01s that they won’t be funded because they’re not MIRAs.

Yellow roses and city buildings, a classic Portland view from in front of the art museum

The Hawthorne bridge looking downtown, under perfect blue skies

A classic car and old craftsman homes in late summer light on Portland's east side

A woman cycling down a rainbow painted street in front of a condo building on Portland's east side

*banjo picking and sporadic musket fire* dearest martha, the horrors of war-torn portland cannot even be described

Yes, in five years, it would reach equilibrium, where universities were getting the same overhead as before, but it would be a very painful transition.

Trying again: instead of awarding 5 grants that spend all of their year 1 money that year, they award only 1 grant which will only spend a 1/5th of its money that year. So the total overhead collected by universities is 1/5th. (Overhead is only collected when universities submit invoices).

a red wrench is attached to a gear with a red flame coming out of it ALT: a red wrench is attached to a gear with a red flame coming out of it

Another consequence is that although the same amount of money is committed, only 20 or 25% (4 or 5 year grants) of the money will be spent in year 1. Thus the overhead flowing to universities will drop dramatically, even if the overhead rate stays the same.

I believe that is the intended purpose.

A graph showing nearly 500 million dollars of NIH investment in 4-year R01s since July 2025.

Here is a plot of 4-year multi-year funded new R01s for 2015-2025. NIH has made some 4-year R01s late in the fiscal year to invest the last of the appropriation, but what is happening this year is quite different.

I estimate that these new R01s are ~25% of the multi-year funding since July 1.

A word cloud with dominant words "equity", "disparity", "diverse", and similar words.

Here is a word cloud of the words that were missing from the noncompetitive renewal awards but had been present in the parent award.

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Assistant Professor of Psychology - Human Cognition or Cognitive Neuroscience University of California, Davis is hiring. Apply now!

UC Davis is hiring! A tenure-track assistant professor of psychology, in human cognition or cognitive neuroscience #psychjobs recruit.ucdavis.edu/JPF07300

Important to remember that everyone involved in renaming the DoD to the Department of War is afraid to take the subway.