Greg Folkers

CDC: Global Summary of Recent Human Cases of H5N1 Bird Flu

bit.ly/3UeDvsQ

HealthGap: Gilead’s Regulatory Delays Block Access to Lenacapavir for PrEP 

bit.ly/3UMmoi8

WSJ: With RFK Jr. on Their Side, Parents Feel Emboldened to Question Vaccines

on.wsj.com/4la8PnD

Bloomberg: FDA Chief Says He Wants Gene Therapy Head Prasad to Return

bloom.bg/45hs3BI

Issues in S&T: The Real Returns on NIH’s Intramural Research By Jeffrey Alexander, Rossana Zetina-Beale

bit.ly/40R4MoP

Scientific Societies File Supreme Court Amicus Brief in Support of NIH Grantees

bit.ly/45d9Y9j

American Society for Cell Biology newsletter piece about the grant termination lawsuit and SCOTUS.

www.ascb.org/society-news...

Leading Scientific Societies File Amicus Brief With U.S. Supreme Court in Support of NIH Grant Recipients Washington, DC – August 4, 2025 – On Friday, August 1, the American Society for Microbiology (ASM), the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB), the American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB), and the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) jointly filed an expanded amicus brief with the Supreme Court of the United States in American Public Health Association v. NIH. As some of the nation’s largest and most respected scientific societies, the amici submit this brief to emphasize the urgent need to safeguard federal research investments, protect early-career scientists, and uphold the integrity of the nation’s science ecosystem. The four leading life science organizations originally filed an amicus brief in the case on May 2, urging the court to find recent executive actions that led to the termination of NIH grants supporting early-career scientists—such as the Maximizing Opportunities for Scientific and Academic Independent Careers (MOSAIC) program—unlawful and to compel NIH to restore funding swiftly. MOSAIC grants support scientists from a wide range of backgrounds in transitioning to research careers. Today’s updated filing focuses specifically on the immediate and irreparable harm caused by the grant terminations and asks the Court to deny the government’s request for a stay pending approval. The updated brief includes new evidence and perspectives drawn from peer-reviewed articles and commentary published in recent months, which underscore the devastating consequences these grant cancellations have already had across the scientific community. Together, ASBMB, ASCB, ASM, and FASEB represent more than 150,000 biological and biomedical researchers whose work drives innovation, improves public health, and fuels the U.S. economy. Their members have long supported and participated in programs like MOSAIC, w…

While many institutions are capitulating to Trump, my favorite scientific societies are fighting back. Aug 1 @ascbiology.bsky.social, @asm.org, @asbmb.bsky.social, & @faseborg.bsky.social jointly filed an expanded amicus brief with the Supreme Court in American Public Health Association v. NIH 1/n

Director Bhattacharya takes no action to fix the damage done to NIH. Instead, he gaslights NIH staff.

HuffPost : RFK Jr.'s Stunning Claim About Black People And Vaccines Sparks Concern From Medical Experts

by Jillian Wilson

“Blacks need fewer antigens.” 🤔

▶️https://bit.ly/3GTYVbK

Jay Battacharya bit.ly/3J1noMG :

"At @NIH, we want a culture where people can discuss and disagree about ideas without trying to destroy the person for having those ideas...."

irony is not dead, say the RIF'ed and adminstrative-leaved workers who have felt the Trump regime's wrath

wow

Devex: Deep dive: The unraveling of USAID

By Elissa Miolene

bit.ly/3J0t5KS

Lancet HIV: UNAIDS cuts leave enormous gap in global HIV response

bit.ly/4mxLi13

POLITICO Pulse: Experts’ bird flu warning

politi.co/4lbYRCc

H5n1

Lancet HIV: Lenacapavir will not end the HIV epidemic in the current US political climate

Steven A John et al

bit.ly/4lTu8uE

Headline from Harvard Crimson: "Harvard President Garber Tells Faculty He Is Not Considering a $500 Million Deal With Trump."

Text of story: Harvard prez Garber says report of a deal "was apparently leaked to the press by White House officials." NYT ran with it as a story.

Important details from this story:

1) Yet another news-break by student journalists (this time @theharvardcrimson.bsky.social) www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...

2) Harvard saying "see you in court," not "let's make a deal."

3) Per Garber, WH/MAGA leaked news of a "deal." NYT then ran with it.

OFID: Ebola virus disease: uniquely challenging amongst the viral hemorrhagic fevers -- M Jeremiah Matson Daniel S Chertow, Vincent J Munster

nice review

bit.ly/4fgghMo

npj Vaccines: How Rwanda mounted a research response with an investigational vaccine just ten days into a Marburg outbreak
🇷🇼🇷🇼🇷🇼🇷🇼
Sabin Nsanzimana et al

go.nature.com/3HhlGX0

CNN: HHS further constrains certain vaccine advisers to the CDC, limiting their input in evidence reviews

cnn.it/45bYJfW

The NIH Funding Wars Today on TAP: Are Republican senators more loyal to Trump, or to their home-state economies?

American Prospect/Robert Kuttner: The NIH Funding Wars bit.ly/4oqDdgn

Mercury News: Bay Area medical school professor resigns from leading role in Trump administration after right-wing conspiracy theorist calls him ‘leftist saboteur’

bit.ly/47c4UmI

New CBO Analysis Shows Trump Cuts to R&D Programs Will Harm the U.S. Economy

bit.ly/3HePtzE

Boston Globe: ‘Great news but a weird twist.’ After the NIH moved to restore hundreds of grants, researchers remain in limbo.

bit.ly/4lbS2jZ

Nature: mRNA vaccines for HIV trigger strong immune response in people

go.nature.com/4lYrJPn

Not the time to cancel HIV vaccine research, incl mRNA approaches!

The events of 2/28/2025 were especially shameful

The related SCOTUS brief filed 1 August is here bit.ly/4le7P1N

lots of good arguments/lawyering in these briefs

When the FDA Commissioner goes on TV to elevate an unverified anecdote about a "friend's parent" dying from a COVID vaccine—while ignoring safety data from 1M+ people published 48 hours earlier—we have an institutional problem. This misleading rhetoric is deeply irresponsible. 🧵

Blaze: NIH scrubs Biden-era COVID origin narrative from website following Blaze News reporting

bit.ly/3H8hPf2

🤔

IDSA: Senate appropriations bill boosts ID funding, falls short on workforce needs

bit.ly/4mhAsvU

Science needs dissent: NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya on COVID, autism, and climate change "I want to make sure that I always leave open the possibility that I'm wrong," says Trump's director of the National Institutes of Health.

Reason: Science Needs Dissent: NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya on COVID, Autism, and Climate Change

bit.ly/4oiKIFO

Advocate: Court blocks termination of LGBTQ-related @NIH health research grants

bit.ly/4fs8qf2