Congrats on your new job! And welcome back to California!

This is a fabulous paper by Dr. Kristy Zera in my lab. She shows how critical the interaction between VCAM1 on endothelium & VLA4 on immune cells is late after stroke. Blocking either prevents post-stroke cognitive decline & drives mature vessel formation, including pericytes and normal BBB function

Me putting in my two cents about the tremendous importance of NIH’s decades long support for basic science and stroke research.

From Our Neurons to Yours, Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute, Stanford University

Marion Buckwalter, MD, PhD, is a professor of neurology and neurological sciences and of neurosurgery at Stanford medicine, and a deputy director of the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute.

How has stroke research evolved, and where is it headed? In today's episode, physician-scientist @marionbuckwalter.bsky.social shares how decades of scientific discovery shaped what we know about stroke and why continued research is key to future progress.

neuroscience.stanford.edu/news/how-bas...

Great news: NIH postbac program is recruiting again! If your grad school plans were affected by program cutbacks or admissions freezes this year I highly encourage you to apply, this could be a perfect opportunity. Please repost.

www.training.nih.gov/research-tra...

Hi Erik, I’d love to be added!

profiles.stanford.edu/marion-buckw...

Exclusive | Top Vaccine Official Out at FDA In his resignation letter, Dr. Peter Marks cited ‘misinformation and lies’ from Health and Human Services Secretary RFK Jr.

A huge loss at FDA.
Peter Marks originated rhe Operation Warp Speed Covid vaccine idea and has overseen so many essential biotech programs such as genome editing cures www.wsj.com/politics/top...

Nice!! This would be outstanding for science, and also for our state’s economy

At NIH, ‘everyone is on edge’ as they brace for deep cuts and more centralized control As the NIH braces for cuts of up to 5,000 of its 20,000 positions, “people are scrambling and freaking out,” a researcher said.

NIH is likely cutting up to 25% of its workforce this week. NIH staff have substantial expertise, typically PhDs. And they really *believe* in the work. NIH's will not be able to meet its mission w/these cuts. The scientific threat is not just direct funding cuts www.statnews.com/2025/03/14/n...

We are in a biotech space race, cutting off basic science via slashing NIH and NSF funding robs the US of our competitive advantage: early innovation.

Kidnapping an activist and jailing him in the middle of the night is a brazen act of authoritarianism.

Punishing dissent by revoking legal status is a dangerous precedent to set.

A recent report showed that the destruction of just one USAID program, the anti-AIDS PEPFAR initiative, would lead to the deaths of one million people *every year* www.vox.com/future-perfe...

Palo Alto “Stand up for Science” March 7 2025!!

Your dignity honors the bravery of the Ukrainian people.

Be strong, be brave, be fearless.
You are never alone, dear President Zelenskyy.

We will continue working with you for a just and lasting peace.

I currently have two fully-funded PhD opportunities in my lab - both providing a chance to work on the incredible LEAF data set that we have been collecting the last couple of years (220 children followed longitudinally from 10-30 months on measures of attention and early EF). Please share!

This is incredibly stressful to our Alzheimer's community (families and researchers). There are Alzheimer Disease Research Centers that are in limbo now - no council meetings means no notice of awards, means all the research we are doing to slow or prevent this disease is paused indefinitely.

If you wanted to cut waste, fraud, and abuse, you would empower the inspectors general.

If you wanted more waste, fraud, and abuse, you would fire them.

So upsetting - what are you doing to stop this? I’d really like to see some posts about that.

We are here. So infuriating and upsetting.

Well, the news dump for NIH this weekend was a Saturday evening news dump.

We are hearing about scores of talented scientists and staff being fired via email tonight.

"the Department of Veterans Affairs announced the dismissal of more than 1,000 employees who had served for less than two years. That included researchers working on cancer treatment, opioid addiction, prosthetics and burn pit exposure, U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, a Democrat, said Thursday."

In their rush to destroy our government

The Trump administration fired the workers who keep our nukes safe

And-realizing how badly they screwed up

Are trying to rehire them

But can’t-because they don’t know how to get in touch with the fired workers

The incompetence is unprecedented

Thank you, Mike Lauer, for your work. The fact that NIH is still cancelling study sections and Council meetings will hold up, or prevent, new discoveries and cures. This should not be buried.

Folks: I am NOT affiliated with the group that is using my name to support an economic boycott. Please spread this post, if you would.

COVID denial to attacks on NIH and universities now: yes, there is a direct line.

Jay Bhattacharya is a living instantiation of that line. He's the Trump NIH director nominee *because* he denied science to help Republicans. And the same billionaires paid for both. 1/

Executive wants to frame the NIH indirects cut as $4B in savings.

But given that NIH returns $2.5 on every $1 investment, this would actually cost US economy a net $6 BILLION (per year!). Not to mention the human costs of wrecking education and research sectors and the communities they serve.

JUST IN: New York health officials are instructing hospitals to subtype all influenza A-positive samples from hospitalized patients within 24 hours in order to detect any potential human cases of H5N1 bird flu.

Today from Timothy Snyder, author of On Tyranny:

snyder.substack.com/p/the-logic-...

Given the dramatic changes wrought by all these executive orders and the attempted layoff of the federal workforce, with lots of chaotic fallout, I can’t help but think - who does the federal government work for? The people, right? Where are the checks and balances? This is unacceptably reckless.

List of countries with registrations for ISC25

With registrations from 50 countries (and counting!) the 2025 International Stroke Conference is living up to its name.

Join us virtually to network with colleagues with endless combinations of expertise, experience and backgrounds at #ICS25.