Megan Radyk, Ph.D.

@joann-trejo.bsky.social, @marymunson4.bsky.social and I have a commentary in @natcellbio.nature.com on recent attacks on DEI in biomedical research: "If scientific research, especially biomedical research, is meant to serve everyone, then it requires that everyone has an opportunity to participate"

A Population-Based Study of Measles, Mumps, and Rubella Vaccination and Autism | NEJM It has been suggested that vaccination against measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) is a cause of autism. We conducted a retrospective cohort study of all children born in Denmark from January 1991 th...

Many studies have shown that there is no relationship between MMR vaccine and the development of autism. Here are two of the best.

This one followed every single child born in Denmark from 1991 through 1998 (n=537,303). There was no association.

Serious scholars have examined what happens when we change the number of H1-B visas issued.

Cities that get more H1-B immigrants subsequently see the wages of natives *rise* substantially.

Skilled immigrants bring new ideas, fill labor shortages and make us all more productive.

Tumor nutrient stress gives rise to a drug tolerant cell state in pancreatic cancer Cytotoxic chemotherapy remains the standard-of-care treatment for patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). However, chemotherapy only has modest effects at improving patient survival due...

Super excited to share our new preprint from @cssheehan.bsky.social on how the tumor microenvironment causes drug resistance in pancreatic cancer: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Rewiring of cortical glucose metabolism fuels human brain cancer growth - Nature The cortex fuels essential physiological processes with glucose-derived carbon, while gliomas fuel their aggressiveness by rerouting glucose carbon pathways and scavenging alternative carbon sources s...

New discovery from our team defining how human brain cancers rewire the metabolism of the normal brain published this week @nature.com and led by stellar postdoc Drew Scott (comentored by @lyssiotislab.bsky.social and currently on job market with a K99/R00). www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Dartmouth is hiring! Come be my colleague. Biochemistry and Cell Biology is accepting applications for a tenure-track Assistant Professor position. Join us in New Hampshire for great science, nice people, and beautiful scenery ⛰️ apply.interfolio.com/171438

Underrepresented minority faculty in the USA face a double standard in promotion and tenure decisions - Nature Human Behaviour Masters-Waage et al. report that underrepresented minority (URM) faculty in the USA face barriers in the promotion and tenure process, receiving more negative votes and fewer unanimous positive decisi...

The paper highlights actionable steps to help improve these double standards, including more RESEARCH RELATED LANGUAGE in P &T letters for Black, Hispanic and Indigenous women to improve their outcomes.

The secret to Baltimore's extraordinary year This April, Baltimore saw five homicides.

1. We interrupt this programming for some LEGITIMATELY GOOD NEWS

Violent crime in Baltimore has PLUMMETED to historic lows

How did the city do it?

Baltimore adopted a comprehensive set of "woke" policies, treating violence as a public health issue

I previously reported that DOGE has been intimately involved in grant cut decisions at NIH.

Indeed: Brad Smith, a leading DOGE figure, sent acting director Memoli a list of 18 notices of funding opportunities to take down. 25 minutes later, Memoli recommended all 18 be taken down.

Just in: NIH staff have been instructed to REINSTATE these ~900 grants to comply with the court order, per sources. This comes after staff were also directed to cease any further terminations.

You can see the lists grants to be reinstated in my post below.

The Onion NYT ad. The headline of the editorial says “CONGRESS, NOW MORE THAN EVER OUR NATION NEEDS YOUR COWARDICE”

EXCLUSIVE — The Onion has a full-page ad in today’s NYT featuring part of an editorial calling out congressional fecklessness towards Trump. They also sent a copy of their latest issue to every lawmaker.

My report, with an excerpt from the full editorial: www.thehandbasket.co/p/exclusive-...

The cover of The Lancet with this quote from our commentary: "If we in academic medicine give in to the campaigns against diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility, the consequences will include resegregation and fewer opportunities for marginalised groups."

Holy smokes! Our article is on the cover of The Lancet!!!!!!!!!! Nbd 💅

Here is the official posting for a faculty job in Pharmacology and Therapeutics at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center! Feel free to DM or email with questions.
roswellpark.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/Ext-RP...

A chart showing cancelled NIH grants

“I would like to cure brain cancer. I think that's not particularly controversial.” Be that as it may, the NIH terminated that scientist's grant. Here's a huge survey of the 2,500 grants that NIH has killed or delayed...so far. Gift link: nyti.ms/43Jz1yJ

If you burn down a forest, you don't miss out on lumber for just that season. You have to replant all the trees, nurture them, and wait for them to grow.

The science and research budget cuts happening now are wanton, senseless arson. Recovery, if it ever happens, will take generations.

A word cloud made from flagged terms in terminated NIH grant proposals. The most prominent words in large font include “trans,” “diverse,” “diversity,” “minority,” “sex,” “expression,” “mental health,” “gender,” and “women.” Other visible terms include “LGBTQ,” “racial,” “underrepresented,” “disability,” “barriers,” “black,” “equity,” “health equity,” “vaccine,” “bias,” and “intersectionality.” The word cloud highlights terms related to identity, inclusion, and marginalized communities.

HAPPY PRIDE 🏳️‍🌈

Under Trump, research using terms like “Trans,” “LGBTQ,” & “Gender identity” is being defunded. These terms reflect real people who deserve science that includes them.

Stand with us to protect LGBTQ+ science from political erasure.
grant-watch.us/nih-data.html
@rcmedphys.bsky.social

A pride flag made with lizards.

We are everywhere. We are inevitable. Even if we are silenced and suppressed, we will always be.

a man holding a piece of paper in front of a sign that says extra extra read all about it Alt: a man holding a piece of paper in front of a sign that says extra extra read all about it

Extra! Extra! Read all about it!Our study from the White Lab is online today! Thank you to all that made the story & my postdoc time phenomenal
Forest White
Roger Davis
Jess Spinelli
@mvhlab.bsky.social @alextoker.bsky.social
@mitkochinstitute.bsky.social
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

As a diversity grant dies, young scientists fear it will haunt their careers The Trump administration defunded the National Institute of Health's MOSAIC grant program, which launched the careers of scientists from diverse backgrounds.

I & other MOSAIC scholars spoke on the impact of the termination of our awards with the cancellation of the MOSAIC program. I also want to emphasize that our awards were based on our scientific merit, in addition to our past & future service to broaden participation in research.🧪🧠👩‍🔬 shorturl.at/R8UYV

Honored to be in the club with researchers whose work is deemed “not in alignment” w/ this administration’s “new priorities.” I know these grant losses hurt - esp to junior scholars and the staff employed them - and, I genuinely believe, we can be proud we were doing something they are scared of.

Beyond grateful to share that my main PhD thesis project, Targeting PIKfyve-driven lipid metabolism in pancreatic cancer (@lyssiotislab.bsky.social + Arul Chinnaiyan lab), has just been published in @nature.com!

It was even more recently than you think—just in December the National Academies published a report chastising the NIH for not giving enough attention to women’s health. They called for the creation of an institute and an additional $16B in funding.

Instead, we’re losing almost everything.

I’m hearing that some MOSAIC fellows are not only losing their grants (and for some in the postdoc phase their livelihoods), but also that their LRPs are now being cancelled. To have this population of scientists be targeted in such a manner should be unacceptable to everyone 😤

Haven’t heard of the Atlas of Inspiring Hispanic/Latinx Scientists?

Check it out here!

(And keep an eye for two new Atlases we’re creating 👀👀👀)

www.fredhutch.org/en/about/abo...

A Pacific yew tree. It has needles for leaves and very red berries pictured here in the tree

I got a chemo drug today, taxol, named after its plant Taxus brevifolia, or the pacific yew tree. It was used by Native Americans for various medicinal purposes. western scientists in the 20th century isolated its chemical compound and in 1990 it was approved as a cancer drug in 1993 1/

Finally an article focused on these grant losses that scientists from underrepresented backgrounds EARNED, including my own grant (MOSAIC K99/R00). Generations of scientists from these groups will disappear. Will those with less to lose and from more privileged backgrounds advocate for us?

From the labrats community on Reddit Explore this post and more from the labrats community

This is such a loss for science.

www.reddit.com/r/labrats/co...

NIH MOSAIC program’s termination is a massive loss for the next generation of scientists, threatening the research workforce’s future and human health. We remain committed to supporting MOSAIC Scholars with critical resources for the remainder of the award and beyond. Full statement: buff.ly/TSMrvXq

It’s #KidLitArtPostcard day! 🙌

Today I thought it would be fun to share my latest picturebook, “Miss Betti, What is This?” about a changemaker who transformed the Detroit Public School lunch program. It’s near and dear to my heart and available for preorder!

See more of my work at kristenuroda.com

YouTube video by Why Should I Trust You? St. Louis Health Director to Sec. Kennedy: "This Won't Make America Healthy Again"

This is Dr Mati from the St Louis DOH. She told me cuts have eliminated a nutrition program for lower-income kids in St. Louis. She is pleading with @SecKennedy to reverse course. She believes in MAHA and says this is the opposite of that. www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcwD...