Dr. Sarah Thomas

White House stalls release of approved US science budgets The US Congress rejected sweeping cuts to science agencies. But the NIH, the NSF and NASA have had their spending slowed.

www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Call your reps

If you are wondering what words the all-male Congress found so "blasphemous" that they felt compelled to literally scrape them off the monument, they were: ''Woman, first denied a soul, then called mindless, now arisen, declared herself an entity to be reckoned.''

This is very disturbing. It certainly feels like the rumors that the Trump Administration is trying to destroy the NIH from within—partly by having all funding decisions made by Trump appointees—are true. This is a 5-alarm fire for biomedical science in this country.

Exclusive: key NIH review panels due to lose all members by the end of 2026 Thirteen of the agency’s advisory councils, which must review grant applications before funding is awarded, are on track to have no voting members.

🚨 New from me: Grant review at more than half of NIH's institutes could be frozen by the end of the year.

That's because crucial NIH grant-review panels are slated to be empty at those institutes by Jan 2027.

A wonky bureaucratic problem with big implications.

A short 🧵

A disaster for the U.S. and the world that will have long term ramifications

Lots going on but don’t lose track of the Trump attacks on biomedical research and cancer cures.

@jeremymberg.bsky.social posted a leaked #NIH memo today. I want to highlight a few scary parts.

They’re about taking power from scientists and experts and giving it to the president’s hacks. 1/ 🧪

A bad thing is unfolding at NIH this week: It looks like the Trump administration is trying to replace key civil servant scientific leaders, the Institute Directors, with political hires. These directors control the NIH budget, tens of billions.

A bit of a video explainer here: 1/ 🧪

Thanks for the heads up! I added a reply with the link

Link: doi.org/10.31234/osf...

👇 Our latest preprint, currently under review, and the first paper from my NIDA K23 study! 🧠

7 basic science discoveries that changed the world Ozempic, MRI machines and flat screen televisions all emerged out of fundamental research decades earlier — the very types of study being slashed by the US government.

Ozempic, MRI machines and flat screen televisions all emerged out of fundamental research decades earlier — the very types of study being slashed by the US government

go.nature.com/47hn0n5

Today my @nytimes.com colleagues and I are launching a new series called Lost Science. We interview US scientists who can no longer discover something new about our world, thanks to this year‘s cuts. Here is my first interview with a scientist who studied bees and fires. Gift link: nyti.ms/3IWXbiE

Task and resting state fMRI modelling of brain-behavior relationships in developmental cohorts Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data are often used to inform individual differences in cognitive, behavioral, and psychiatric phenotypes. These so-called “brain-behavior” association stu...

In this review, @lucinauddin.bsky.social and Hugh Garavan examine how task and resting-state fMRI can reveal brain-behavior relationships in youth, highlighting current controversies and challenges, outlining solutions, and proposing future directions in developmental neuroscience research.

NEW: $8M for Bradley Hospital’s dedicated mental health professionals to boost research & strengthen services.

This federal grant will help build a new facility to improve pediatric psychiatric research & make it easier to access top-notch services in one centralized, modern facility.

Sign the IMPEACH RFK Citizens' Petition to Congress — STAND UP FOR SCIENCE Join with us to sign our Citizens' Petition to the US Congress to choose the people over Trump and Impeach RFK Jr Now!

Sign the petition to call for the removal of RFK, Jr.

www.standupforscience.net/rfk-impeachm...

you are a lab head, this affects you; if you are a student, this threatens your future The NIH grant system was already hyper- competitive before Trump. This policy will make it brutal. Without immediate resistance from the research community, this policy will go forward with devastating consequences for US science. What can you do? • Contact your Congressional representatives. It is best to show up in person. Explain and tell them to oppose this forward funding mandate. Share this article if it helps! Tell them to protect NIH funding. • For researchers: Make noise within your institution. Ask your research office what they re doing to push back. Talk to your program officers. Demand transparency. • Tell your local press that Trump is destroying US medical research, and find local activist groups to reach out to. • There are many engaged citizens across the country affected by cancer, or Alzheimer's, that want more information from scientists to help them advocate to their elected officials and to the press. Offer to talk to them, and help them do

this ends with a description of what YOU can do.

Please get involved now.
Everyone can take one of these actions.

We’re heading in to Day 2 of our pre-college summer course at Brown 🧬 🧠 Conducting Research at the Forefront of Science: Mental Health, Policy, and Social Implications of Cannabis Use in the U.S.

It’s always a blast teaching with @sarahathomasphd.bsky.social

Right back at you!! 🪴 💚

So important! Please contact your Republican senators, especially Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Sen. Katie Britt (R-AL), and Sen. Dave McCormick (R-PA). 🙏 amplify!

Thank you so much!!

I am hiring a clinical research assistant for a project on adolescent cannabis use that will use MRI 🧠 and behavioral tasks 🎮 More information is available in the link below, and applicants can send a CV and cover letter to me. Please share—thank you!

tinyurl.com/msn8h2ce

Bloomingdale’s at Chestnut Hill

I am hiring a clinical research assistant for a project on adolescent cannabis use that will use MRI 🧠 and behavioral tasks 🎮 More information is available in the link below, and applicants can send a CV and cover letter to me. Please share—thank you!

tinyurl.com/msn8h2ce

Here's the NIH's proposed budget - from $48 billion to $27 billion. NIAID, current ~$7 billion cut to ~$4.2 billion.

The proposed 15% cap on indirect costs remains.

Again, these budgets are passed, and our leadership in science, technology, and innovation is gone.

www.hhs.gov/sites/defaul...

The original deadline for comments of May 23 has been extended to June 7 in response to requests from the public for more time to weigh in, an OMB spokesperson told STAT.

4/n

Please comment. The Administration is trying to turn the NIH IC Directors and program staff roles into political appointees that serve at the whim of the President. Imagine if each change in administration brought sweeping changes in professional NIH staff across your favorite ICs.

If you do in fact want Covid boosters for yourself or anyone, you can submit public comment to the FDA here: www.regulations.gov/commenton/FD...

🚨 A new rule would let career scientists like NSF/NIH program officers be replaced by political appointees

Already 14,000+ public comments, deadline is Friday

📣 Comments can be short. Courts consider them—and scientists with NSF/NIH experience are especially impactful

Speak up! shorturl.at/WKuBj

I hope this isn’t true. We all need to contact our elected officials and get them to do more to support research right now

A Path Forward to Save American Bio-Medical Research Over the past four months I’ve spoken to dozens of biomedical researchers...

A Path Forward to Save American Bio-Medical Research talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/a-pat...