Melanie Pearson

This photo is making the rounds on social media and some have asked if it's legit.

It is.

As the curator of a new exhibit on U-M medical history that opens this weekend, I wanted to share a link showing that it was taken by a LIFE magazine photographer: www.life.com/animals/anim...
#IDsky

Really looking forward to this Oct 14 UTI Hour online to learn more about veterinary UTIs! utiga.org/upcoming #UTIsky

I may be American, but I’ll never be the Gestapo.

16 photos taken from the same place overlooking a small lake, showing seasons, weather, and wildlife.

A screencap of the montage

An archivist from my local library asked to include the photos as the local history collection. So, I’m stunned and delighted to share this! 3/end aadl.org/taxonomy/ter...

Recently I shared a montage of 16 photos that I chose to showcase the beauty and variety of this location. People kept encouraging me to share to bigger audiences 2/

I normally post to this account for scientific reasons, but I’m excited to share something more personal. I’ve been taking photos from the same spot for a few years. 1/

Postdoc position (please re-post)
A funded postdoctoral position, will open in 2026 to study aspects of Neisseria gonorrhoeae pathogenesis, antigenic variation, genetics, or physiology.
If interested in more information, please contact Hank Seifert
h-seifert@northwestern.edu
#MicroSky

👏👏👏 👏👏

As national medical, scientific, public health and patient organizations, we call for the resignation of HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to ensure the health of the American people. Read our statement: asm.org/press-releas...

The practical upshot is that justice delayed is justice denied; or to be more precise, a lab which had to fire all of its researchers and halt work on groundbreaking research isn't going to be able to ever restore itself to the same position it would have been without a multi-year pause in funding.

Are the mRNA vaccines incredible? YES!

Are the mRNA vaccines perfect? No.

Have the mRNA vaccines saved millions of lives? YES!

Can we make the mRNA vaccines even better? YES!

Can we use mRNA vaccine technology to prevent and treat many other diseases? YES!

Fund mRNA research!

Koala sleeping in a tree

Veterinary #UTIs don't just happen to companion animals.

A study in the 1980s found urinary tract infections were the cause of death in up to 30% of female koalas!*

Our Oct 14 (12EDT, 1600UTC) #UTIhour can help explain how 🐨 infections can impact 🧍‍♀️too

*(PMID: 6887434)

Mark your calendars for the next #UTIHour on Oct 14th focusing on veterinary #UTI

New publication from our lab, featuring Dr. Santosh Paudel’s work offers a refined cost-effective approach to study bacterial growth rates during infection @globaluti.bsky.social #UTIsky

Adopt A Station - Rescue Public Media Help preserve independent journalism and community programming across America by adopting a public media station. Congress has voted to rescind public media's funding.

Just saw this shared. You can see which stations stand to lose more than 50% of their funding adoptastation.org

Mysterious lifeform discovered on Great Lakes ship The crew of a scientific research vessel discovered a strange black goo clinging to their ship. Perplexed, they sent a sample to microbial biologists for analysis, who found DNA.

I really want to know what that Duluth lab found! www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2...

Tomorrow!

I am both a professional microbiologist and a hobbyist gardener and I’m just finding out about mosquito dunks!

In case you are wondering what it's like for scientists now, every person I saw at the ASM conference asked others in a deeply serious voice "But how are you really?" I thought it was just me, but no, everyone is asking everyone this!

If you burn down a forest, you don't miss out on lumber for just that season. You have to replant all the trees, nurture them, and wait for them to grow.

The science and research budget cuts happening now are wanton, senseless arson. Recovery, if it ever happens, will take generations.

Senator Durbin noted that some (I believe Republican Senators) had indicated the US had been doing more than its share of biomedical research and it was time for other countries take a turn.

I felt I had to interrupt to respond...

NIH killed grants on orders from Elon Musk’s DOGE Court documents and internal correspondence show the cost-cutting force has broad control over the world’s largest public biomedical funder.

Who's calling the shots at NIH?

Sworn testimonies and internal e-mails reveal for the first time the breadth of DOGE's control over the world's largest public biomedical funder.

DOGE has provided lists of hundreds of grants to cut, and DOGE is now reviewing ALL NIH awards before they're released

The NIH Director continues to misunderstand (or mischaracterize) the extent to which research is being gutted. I appreciate this program officer for speaking up.

Revenge of the COVID Contrarians They’re angry at the public-health establishment. Now they’re in control of it.

Last year, Ben Mazer wrote this piece about the revenge of the Covid contrarians all now ensconced as leaders of public health, science & healthcare. but they’re a whole lot of fellow travelers among the liberal establishment who should take some of the blame. 1/ www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...

Most Americans use federal science information on a weekly basis, a new poll finds Most Americans frequently use federal science information. But few are concerned that cuts to federal science spending could affect their access to such information, a new poll finds.

Most Americans frequently use federal science information. But few are concerned that cuts to federal science spending could affect their access to such information, a new poll finds.

‘It’s been a tough period’: NIH’s new director speaks with Science Jay Bhattacharya discusses staff morale, grant cuts, and “rumors”

This report of interview with new NIH Director Jayanta Bhattacharya from @jocelynkaiser.bsky.social reveals a real $hit show...

www.science.org/content/arti...

1/n

Bezos plans to sell ~$4.8 billion of Amazon stock. That's only 2.5% of his holdings in the company.

That sale roughly equals the proposed ~50% cut to NSF.

IOW, with modest endowment-level growth of Amazon, Bezos could fund the entire NSF shortfall into perpetuity.

www.cnbc.com/2025/05/02/j...

I got hit by some rather sudden and extreme financial hardship so if anyone is in need of remote wetlab contract research, strictly BSL1, do let me know. Currently scrambling for gigs.

Plant, Bacterial, Archaeal Non-model Bioeng
Custom Lab Hardware
Turn Key Genetic Design

Please repost for reach 💚

It’s a mess inside NIH right now, and the staff needs public support and help. The top of NIH has been lopped off, with almost all senior leadership, from former acting director Larry Tabak to head of HR Julie Berko, removed via forced retirements or RIFs. Thousands of staff, from grants program officials to fellows to scientists, have been removed via possibly illegal means, and are not working. Morale is uneven. In a personal conversation earlier this week, one senior employee said to me “NIH is dead right now. Unless things change dramatically soon, NIH is finished as a funder of high-quality science.” Scientists go through a lot of rejection in a career, and so they are resilient. Thanks to that resilience, some NIH’ers are keeping hold of the mission of supporting US science, staying positive, and rolling with the punches. But there are widespread fears the agency is in a state of collapse.

Final point here: this post is from an anonymous NIH employee, and it feels critical to raise these voices precisely because the Trump administration has silenced credible NIH officials and their leadership is not representing them.
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/the-nih-bu...