Mete Civelek

Ardem Patapoutian's story is not just the American dream, it is the dream of American science. He arrived in Los Angeles in 1986 at age 18 after fleeing war-torn Lebanon. He spent a year writing for an Armenian newspaper and delivering Domino's at night to become eligible for the University of California, where he earned his undergraduate degree and a postdoctoral fellowship in neuroscience. He started a lab at Scripps Research in San Diego with a grant from the National Institutes of Health, discovered the way humans sense touch, and in 2021 won the Nobel Prize. But with the Trump administration slashing spending on science, Dr. Patapoutian's federal grant to develop new approaches to treating pain has been frozen. In late February, he posted on Bluesky that such cuts would damage biomedical research and prompt an exodus of talent from the United States. Within hours, he had an email from China, offering to move his lab to "any city, any university I want," he said, with a guarantee of funding for the next 20 years.

Man comes to the US from Lebanon. Starts out delivering pizzas, becomes a Nobel winning neuroscientist. Trump freezes his funding, he gets an email from China offering to move his lab “any city, any university I want" with guaranteed funding for 20 years.

What are we doing?

Congratulations to my amazing graduate student, Noah Perry, for earning his PhD degree from the University of Virginia Biomedical Engineering Department.

He is an outstanding scientist, colleague, and a mentor. Watching him grow has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my career.

A screen capture of the AIMBE advocacy webpage with 3 advocacy letters outlined in red boxes: STEM Training Pipeline, NIH & NSF Indirect Cost Caps, and FY26 Funding.

🚨 AIMBE is calling on the biomedical research community to take a minute to send our 3 new advocacy letters urging Congress to:

1. Protect the STEM Training Pipeline (e.g., NIH MOSAIC, T32s, MARC, etc.)

2. Oppose Indirect Cost Caps

3. Support Research Funding in FY2026

aimbe.org/advocate/wri...

Trump Administration Slashes Research Into L.G.B.T.Q. Health (Gift Article) More than $800 million in N.I.H. grants canceled as of early May — nearly half of those terminated to date — covered the health of sexual and gender minority groups, The Times found.

The new administration’s Make America Health Again push clearly excludes LGBTQ people.

www.nytimes.com/2025/05/04/h...

Congratulations Brian 👏

I’m really sorry to hear this. The termination notices for grants that address health inequities among marginalized groups have been the most soul crushing.

The 3/14 deadline to finalize the FY2025 budget is fast approaching! ⌛

AIMBE has developed a new advocacy letter (<1 min to send) for the scientific community to urge Congress to support our federal science agencies, including NIH, NSF, FDA, ARPA-H, CDMRP, and more 👇

takeaction.io/aimbe/suppor...

In an alternative universe, every scientist who submits an NIH grant would deliberately use the forbidden words in their applications so that all grant submissions are flagged and this stupid system breaks down.

This is assuming that the current peer review system stays the same.

Well, look at the leadership and staff of that organization 😉

Because they want to politicize the grant awarding process.

During a research in progress meeting, I once heard a senior PI say to a graduate student: “I don’t believe any of this!” How arrogant. I asked “what specifically don’t you believe?” and of course he hemmed and hawed.

Looks like I will be part of a class action lawsuit along with a lot of scientist friends. 👇

Cowards

Every immigrant scientist 👇

HHMI (@hhmi.bsky.social) Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) believes in the power of individuals to advance science through research and science education, making discoveries that benefit humanity.

Is it true that @hhmi.bsky.social abruptly cut funding to the Inclusive Excellence program?

Excited to introduce the HUB and our free inaugural Annual Meeting! Attending this meeting offers an opportunity for $100k pilot grants for faculty! The new innovative program is also great for students and post docs. Register TODAY by clicking the link below:
forms.gle/fdviGSeY1epo...

AIMBE has posted a public statement on the impact of federal policy changes on biomedical research: aimbe.org/advocate/wri...

Above, we have also developed an advocacy letter for members of the medical & biological engineering community to send to their congressional representatives on this matter.

🙋‍♂️

It’s in the Genes: Weight and Metabolism Determined by Genetics More Than Diet A new study finds genetics has a greater impact on metabolism and weight than diet, which could challenge generic dietary recommendations.

Here is a nice write-up about my PhD student Jordan Reed’s latest paper.

news.virginia.edu/content/its-...

Associate Professor no more! I have been promoted to Professor of Genome Sciences at the University of Virginia School of Medicine.

I am grateful to my all my previous and current trainees, my colleagues at @UVA and elsewhere, my letter writers, and my family. 🙏

Congratulations to my wonderful postdoc fellow, Dr Kelsey Watts. She not only received a fundable score on her F32 application but also received the ⁦‪@AHAScience‬⁩ postdoc fellowship. She is co-mentored by ⁦‪@prodriguezmd

HUB

Travel Award Announcement!

@lolaumich.bsky.social and @kellystevens.bsky.social have won an NIH center grant, Humanity Unlocking Biomaterials (the HUB): www.humanityunlockingbiomaterials.org

Of course, this is obvious bigotry from the South Carolina Representative Mace. But leaving that aside, how does one enforce this rule of banning transgender women from using women’s bathrooms? Are they going to ask for sex chromosome tests from everyone who wants to use women’s bathrooms?

Required reading in my lab.

Can you please add me?

🤣

The passionate debate about leaving X and joining bsky among scientists reminds of the left v fully justified debate for grant submissions 😄

The first time I “fixed” cells for immunofluorescence, I put a drop of cells in suspension on a microscope slide and let them dry! And I was surprised they didn’t look like cells when I looked at them under the microscope 🔬

Now, do pangenome 👇