Buck Samuel 🪱🦠🧬🔬

Are you an early-career biologist or ecologist who would benefit from an invited seminar? Would you like to come to UMaine next fall or spring to give a talk? Leave a brief comment with some info about what you do. I'm co-hosting our seminar series again, and am filling out our rosters.

Could I be added too? My lab studies natural microbiome of wild Celegans.

For the life of me, I cannot fathom the rationale for any of this. Utter wanton destruction of one of the best research ecosystems in the world.

Well, none of us may ever get funded again but in the meantime, here's some new science!

Led by recent PhD Anjali Pandey w/ex-UG Maya Katz. Here we identify an asymmetric molecular mechanism that underlies symmetric context-dependent sensory plasticity in the AWC olfactory neuron pair in C. elegans

Tomorrow SCOTUS quietly decides if Trump administration can illegally cut grants tied to DEIA. This and today's bombshell announcing no new NIH grants is an orchestrated assault. We need to scream from rooftops.

14 Republican senators urge White House to release delayed NIH funds Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.) is leading the letter making the ask of OMB director Russ Vought.

“Withholding or suspending these funds would jeopardize that trust and hinder progress on critical health challenges facing our nation. Ultimately, this is about finding cures and seeing them through to fruition.”

www.politico.com/news/2025/07...

Non-antibiotics disrupt colonization resistance against enteropathogens - Nature Non-antibiotic drugs from a wide range of therapeutic classes can alter the ability of gut commensals to resist invasion by enteropathogens, a previously underappreciated side effect of such drugs.

Seeing this published is even better than eating sweets! I am so happy and proud of whole @lisamaierlab.bsky.social, especially Lisa and @jdlcz.bsky.social who walked the funny/exciting/rocky road with me until the very end. Check it out!
#science #microbiome #health

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Future of NIH in the hands of five senators.

Write to them if you are in
PA -McCormick
WV - Moore Capito
ME - Collins
AL - Britt
LA - Cassidy

Found: a human gut microbe that makes cancer therapy more effective in mice Cancer therapies called checkpoint inhibitor drugs, which ratchet up the immune system, work better when this bacterium is around.

A potent bacterium in the human gut can supercharge the effects of some cancer drugs in mice — and researchers are now planning a clinical trial to test whether it could do the same in people. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

The 2025 Outstanding Contributions to ISCB Award—Dr Lucia Peixoto Every year, the International Society for Computational Biology (ISCB) presents the Outstanding Contributions to ISCB Award in recognition of a society mem

It's an honor to be recognized for advocating for what you believe "that everyone belongs in computational biology and that all ideas are valued equally, recognizing that diversity of thought and background drives scientific excellence" doi.org/10.1093/bioi...

Today’s basic science is tomorrow’s game-changing invention. Trump’s cuts threaten both. - The Boston Globe Thirty years is often how long science takes to mature from a cool discovery to something that is life-changing. But researchers worry those discoveries are about to come to a screeching halt.

New Boston Globe story about NIH funding and its impacts

www.bostonglobe.com/2025/07/14/b...

1/n

Exclusive: NIH to dismiss dozens of grant reviewers to align with Trump priorities The move would undo years of work, leaving advisory councils understaffed, and without the full expertise needed for reviews.

"NIH [.. is] instructed to nominate replacements that are aligned with the priorities of the administration of US President Donald Trump — and have been warned that political appointees might still override their suggestions and hand-pick alternative reviewers".

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Thrilled to share the first preprint from my group! Prevotella are predominant but understudied members of the respiratory microbiome. They have a reputation for being hard to work with, but understanding them is likely important for understanding how they contribute to respiratory health. 🧫🔬

Dear all, PLEASE add comments on the importance of model organism research at this link:

NASA is more than rockets and moonwalks. NASA is behind much of our everyday technology. From space discovery, to Air Jordans, to CAT scans, NASA has played a role. We get it all on less than a penny of every federal dollar. Now their science may be gutted by 50%.
#NASADidThat

Why We Still Need Animal Research in a World of AI and Organoids The portrayal of uncaring scientists without any thought for the animals being used in their research is far from the truth.

While I’m a big fan of new technologies that help us study human biology…there’s still no replacement for animal research! See my article in Gen News. www.genengnews.com/topics/trans...

Home stretch for #McClintockLetters! #Scientists, there's still time to participate.

Reach out if you need a hand with getting published or edits or your pitch!

Are you living in or are from #Wyoming? Write to your local paper to share your science: tinyurl.com/McClintockLettersInitiative

Dr. Sarah Heilbronner — Stories of WiN uses cutting-edge neuroanatomical and neuroimaging techniques to decipher the wiring diagram of the primate brain

New profile! Dr. Sarah Heilbronner (@srheilbronner.bsky.social‬) uses cutting-edge neuroanatomical and neuroimaging techniques to decipher the wiring diagram of the primate brain. Follow the link below to learn more!

www.storiesofwin.org/profiles/202...

#StoriesOfWiN #WomenInNeuroscience

For sure!

So you were destined to land in Boston then … ;)

Or could be my bias, as I associate Sweet Caroline with Fenway.

It’s almost like a significant fraction of the attendees cycled through the northeast during their training… :)

Every living NASA science chief unites in opposition to unprecedented… The entire past leadership of NASA’s science activities have released a joint statement condemning the proposed 47% cuts proposed to the agency’s science…

Today, *every* living prior leader of NASA's science directorate have released a joint letter condemning the proposed cuts to NASA science. These individuals every administration from Reagan to Biden, and all believe these cuts are insanely destructive: www.planetary.org/press-releas...

Protect transgender scientists Transgender and gender nonconforming (TGnC) people are a primary target of the Trump administration. Multiple executive orders seek to erase TGnC protections; mandate denial of gender identity; and ba...

A letter from scientists to the community: Protect transgender scientists.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

A map of the US with the states the republican senators are from marked in red and states the democratic senators are from marked in blue: Senator Susan Collins (Republican - Maine) Senator Mitch McConnell(Republican - Kentucky) Senator Lisa Murkowski(Republican - Alaska) Senator Lindsey Graham(Republican - South Carolina) Senator Jerry Moran(Republican - Kansas) Senator John Hoeven(Republican - North Dakota) Senator John Boozman(Republican - Arkansas) Senator Shelley Moore Capito(Republican - West Virginia) Senator John Kennedy(Republican - Louisiana) Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith(Republican - Mississippi) Senator Bill Hagerty(Republican - Tennessee) Senator Katie Britt(Republican - Alabama) Senator Markwayne Mullin(Republican - Oklahoma) Senator Deb Fischer(Republican - Nebraska) Senator Mike Rounds(Republican - South Dakota) Patty Murray(Democrat - Washington) Richard Durbin(Democrat - Illinois) Jack Reed(Democrat - Rhode Island) Jeanne Shaheen(Democrat - New Hampshire) Jeff Merkley(Democrat - Oregon) Christopher Coons(Democrat - Delaware) Brian Schatz(Democrat - Hawaii) Tammy Baldwin(Democrat - Wisconsin) Chris Murphy(Democrat - Connecticut) Chris Van Hollen(Democrat - Maryland) Martin Heinrich(Democrat - New Mexico) Gary Peters(Democrat - Michigan) Kirsten Gillibrand(Democrat - New York) Jon Ossoff(Democrat - Georgia)

Are you from one of these states? Then we need your help to save American science!

The Senate Appropriations Committee will be marking up the President's Budget Request for science on Wednesday. People have been saying the proposed cuts "decimated" US science, but that's wrong: they are apocalyptic

Amazing as always Worm Show at #worm25 last week! Such a great community to be a part of and was so great to catch up with so many friends and colleagues!

#Celegans forever! 🧪 🪱 🧬

Exciting Senior Scientist 👩‍🔬 👨‍🔬 role available in my research group 🧠 🦠 - Closing date Tuesday 5th August 2025.

Please Share

@apcmicrobiomeirel.bsky.social @anatneuroucc.bsky.social
Full details here
my.corehr.com/pls/uccrecru...

Parade with axolotls

Parade with praying mantis

Parade with 76 American flag

Parade with lady liberties

July 4th parade in Woods Hole today was a celebration of freedom, life, liberty and happiness through science!

Many @mblscience.bsky.social groups represented— so fun! May have missed #Celegans, but flies, squid, and axolotls well represented. 🧪

We are looking forward to the Worm Meeting 2027 and thank
Suhong Xu(Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China),
Kavita Babu (Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India), and
Erik Andersen (Johns Hopkins
University Baltimore, USA)
for organising. #worm25

Congratulations to all the #worm25 Poster Award Winners and Honorable Mentions!