Kevin Davies

We went to the rehung National Gallery. This painting, from around 1460, could easily have been painted for the cover of a 70s British prog-rock album.

"The State of CRISPR & Genome Editing" virtual summit starts today at 11 am ET/8 am PT.
FIVE hours of great talks including:
- Feng Zhang
- Fyodor Urnov
- Nicole Gaudelli & Alexis Komor
- Neville Sanjana
- Julie Makani & Johnny Mahlangu
- and Beth Shapiro
Registration free: bit.ly/CRISPR25

Seems a good time to invite Sen Britt to watch an NIH review panel (aka study section) analyze piles of grants over several days to identify the <10% that win funding. Applications that scientists spent months preparing, whose peers spent weeks poring through in advance of review mtg at NIH.

N.I.H. Workers Denounce Trump’s ‘Harmful’ Health Policies (Gift Article) In a scathing public letter, employees of the National Institutes of Health accused the administration of undermining the agency’s work and endangering people’s health.

N.I.H. Workers Denounce Trump’s ‘Harmful’ Health Policies. Gift link: nyti.ms/4kxstdt

Cell and Gene Therapy Leaders Tell FDA: “Believe in American Solutions” Leaders from the world of cell and gene therapy shared their personal stories and policy recommendations in an extraordinary roundtable conducted by the FDA in front of its recently-appointed top offi...

“Believe in America solutions” — Highlights from today’s extraordinary FDA roundtable, featuring almost two dozen cell and gene therapy leaders and patient advocates presenting to the new FDA/HHS leadership — RFK, Bhattacharya, Oz, Makary and Prasad:
www.genengnews.com/topics/genom...

Former!

Good name for a band…

FDA Roundtable on Cell and Gene Therapy Captioning Link: https://bit.ly/4dQaNaz

Livestream of @fda.gov roundtable on cell and gene therapy - starts 9 am ET:
www.youtube.com/live/0qDhRtn...

First Personalized CRISPR Gene Editing Therapy Patient Baby KJ Discharged Three hundred and seven days after he was first admitted to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), KJ Muldoon went home after being treated.

”I’m overwhelmed to see the pictures of KJ at home, with his family…Somehow that hits harder.. it just increases my determination to find ways to do the same for as many kids as possible.”
- @kiranmusunuru.bsky.social

Story @grinsteinj.bsky.social

www.insideprecisionmedicine.com/topics/preci...

Medical Research Funding — Unbreaking How the administration is breaking the government, and what that means for all of us.

I urge everyone to read Unbreaking’s new page on everything the govt is doing to destroy & diminish medical research funding.

It’s the best thing I’ve read on this topic: @lizneeley.bsky.social & co have such done an incredible job.

unbreaking.org/issues/medic...

US supercomputer named after Nobel laureate Jennifer Doudna to power AI and scientific research A new supercomputer named after a winner of the Nobel Prize in chemistry will help power artificial intelligence technology and scientific discoveries from a perch in the hills above the University of...

US supercomputer named after Nobel laureate Jennifer Doudna @jenniferdoudna.bsky.social @innovativegenomics.bsky.social to power AI and scientific research
apnews.com/article/nvid...

The CRISPR Journal has published a series of 18 Perspectives from a wide array of authors to accompany the Global Observatory for Genome Editing summit this week:
www.liebertpub.com/toc/crispr/0/0

Here is the closing statement:
www.summit.global-observatory.org/statement/

Excellent story from @faylinphd.bsky.social on the hot news from #ASGCT2025 — @kiranmusunuru.bsky.social and colleagues tailor the world’s first bespoke gene editor to treat KJ, an infant with an ultra-rare genetic disease, heralding a new era in precision med.
www.genengnews.com/topics/genom...

Natalie Portman To Play Pioneering DNA Scientist Rosalind Franklin In ‘Photograph 51’ For Director Tom Hooper & FilmNation — Cannes Market Hot Project Oscar winner Natalie Portman is set to star in Photograph 51 for The King's Speech director Tom Hooper.

Natalie Portman To Play Pioneering DNA Scientist Rosalind Franklin In ‘Photograph 51’ For Director Tom Hooper & FilmNation @deadline.com
deadline.com/2025/05/nata...

This means that the $200 genome has now gone up to $210 in price. And you can only have #TwoDolls.

Tanzania and South Africa will participate in "The State of CRISPR & Genome Edoting" virtual summit on 11 June 2025.

Registration
webinars.liebertpub.com/e/the-state-...

@kevinadavies.bsky.social

Join GEN on June 11 for:
"The State of CRISPR & Genome Editing" virtual summit.
Guests include:
Feng Zhang, @urnov.bsky.social , @juliemakani.bsky.social
@nevillesanjana.bsky.social; Alexis Komor & Nicole Gaudelli,
and Beth Shapiro
Registration is free!
webinars.liebertpub.com/e/the-state-...

Giving away translations of some of my books — please get in touch if interest:

- Breakthrough (1995) 🇬🇧
- Cracking the Genome (2001) 🇯🇵🇵🇹🇪🇸🇳🇱🇨🇿🇩🇪🇸🇪🇮🇹🇸🇦
- The $1,000 Genome (2010) 🇰🇷🇧🇷
- Editing Humanity (2020) 🇰🇷🇷🇺🇯🇵🇮🇹

NIH Grant Cuts Aren't Saving Money. They're Wasting It. The Trump administration says the canceled funding is about cost efficiency, but data shows that the opposite is happening.

Read the full piece here (gift link): www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

It's there -- writing and editing :)

The George R.R. Martin among the co-authors on the latest ⁦‪@colossal‬⁩ preprint —
“On the ancestry and evolution of the extinct dire wolf”
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Calling out colossal baloney on supposed dire wolf de-extinction - The Niche Professor discusses hype by Colossal Biosciences on their supposed dire wolf de-extinction, which is harmful to science.

Calling out colossal baloney on supposed dire wolf de-extinction ipscell.com/2025/04/call... #stemcells #stemcell Colossal Biosciences blew it by hyping this

Biologist whose innovation saved the life of British teenager wins $3m Breakthrough prize Prof David Liu is among the winners of 2025’s ‘Oscars of science’, with honours also going to researchers for landmark work on multiple sclerosis, particle physics and ‘skinny jabs’

“To me, slashing funding and people from science in the United States is like burning your seed corn. It’s not even eating your seed corn. It’s just destroying it,”
www.theguardian.com/science/2025...

A Second Child Dies of Measles in Texas It is the second confirmed measles death in the U.S. in a decade. If the outbreak continues at the current pace, the nation may lose its “elimination” status.

www.nytimes.com/2025/04/06/h...

YouTube video by Gentle Giant Gentle Giant – Free Hand (2025 Dan Bornemark Mix) | Playing the Fool: The Complete Live Experience

What’s the German word for when you recorded a song from BBC Radio on a mix tape and played it to death and then you hear the stunning remaster 50 years later?!
youtube.com/watch?v=uk_x...

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...

RFK Jr. forces out Peter Marks, FDA’s top vaccine scientist Marks, an architect of Operation Warp Speed, warned that a recent measles outbreak shows how confidence in science and public health is being “undermined.”

Breaking: RFK Jr. has forced out PETER MARKS, the nation’s top vaccine regulator.

In his resignation letter, obtained by the Post, Marks said he was willing to work with RFK Jr on his vaccine concerns — but said Kennedy wishes “subservient confirmation of his misinformation and lies.”

Please join us for our next GEN virtual summit on April 23:
THE STATE OF MULTIOMICS & NGS
Guests include:
- Francis Collins
- Jacob Thaysen (CEO Illumina)
- Clive Brown (formerly @nanoporetech.com)
- Cecilia Lindskog
- Sarah Teichmann
Registration is free!!!

The Global Observatory for Genome Editing announces a major international summit (May 21-23) in Cambridge, MA:
global-observatory.org

a person is waving their hand in front of a sign that says " please help me " Alt: a person is waving their hand in front of a sign that says " please help me "

ScienceSky I'm putting up a signal. I'm working on a new series of Horrible Science for Children's BBC. We would love to chat to experts about their favourite science facts for kids. I'm looking to chat to chemists first as well as some peeps who know their human biology.