Brandon Emanuel León

Read about what the Scientist Network for Advancing Policy has been up to and how we support early-career scientists in policy advocacy and community engagement efforts!

I have been trying to get this published as an op-ed, but I am going to post it here since I think it is timely in light of the "consent" extortion events.

Deafening Quiet from the Scientific Establishment

jeremymberg.github.io/jeremyberg.g...

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Opinion | Trump’s ‘Compact’ With Universities Is Just Extortion

Hear! effing Hear!

[Gift link]

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/o...

Trump attacks 9 universities: Sign the alumni petition to defend your school now Are you an alum outraged by Trump's attacks on universities? Defend your school now by signing this alumni petition in support of these 9 universities as well as campus communities across America.

Are you an alum outraged by Trump's attacks on universities? Defend your school now by signing this alumni petition in support of these 9 universities as well as campus communities across America. alumni.controlshift.app/petitions/tr...

#VascularCalcification

#Glutaminase1 (GLS1)-derived Glutamate drives #SmoothMuscleCell #Osteogenesis via NMDAR (▶️Ca2+/β-at), not AMPAR, mGlu

Both GLS1 & NMDAR ⏫in 👤calcified arteries #CKD

BPTES (GLS1i)⏬🐭arterial calcification (VitD3)

#AdvSci 2025
advanced.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

With boost to NIH budget, Senate panel rejects Trump’s plan to slash agency Republicans on spending committee push back against proposed reorganization and overhead cuts

The National Institutes of Health’s budget, and structure, would be preserved under a Senate bill for the 2026 fiscal year.

Some potential policy requests you could make:

1️⃣ NO cuts to NIH budget for next year

2️⃣ Protective measures to ensure appropriated funds are spent as intended (see post below)

3️⃣ Any changes to multi-year funding must come with increased temporary $ support from Congress

Remodeling of the immune-metabolic landscape triggered by long-term high-altitude exposure https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.07.21.665899v1

Mast cells regulate the brain-dura interface and CSF dynamics Dural mast cells control cerebrospinal fluid dynamics at critical brain-dura interfaces, specifically arachnoid cuff exit points. Their activation limits pathogen brain entry via histamine-induced vas...

Mast cells regulate the brain-dura interface and CSF dynamics @cellpress.bsky.social www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

Dynamic extracellular interactions with AMPA receptors https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.07.11.664166v1

So important

Please add me!

Astrocyte-secreted cues promote neural maturation and augment activity in human forebrain organoids | Nature Communications Brain organoids have been proposed as suitable human brain model candidates for a variety of applications. However, the lack of appropriate maturation limits the transferability of such functional tools. Here, we present a method to facilitate neuronal maturation by integrating astrocyte-secreted factors into hPSC-derived 2D and 3D neural culture systems. We demonstrate that protein- and nutrient-enriched astrocyte-conditioned medium (ACM) accelerates neuronal differentiation with enlarged neuronal layer and the overproduction of deep-layer cortical neurons. We captured the elevated changes in the functional activity of neuronal networks within ACM-treated organoids using comprehensive electrophysiological recordings. Furthermore, astrocyte-secreted cues can induce lipid droplet accumulation in neural cultures, offering protective effects in neural differentiation to withstand cellular stress. Together, these data indicate the potential of astrocyte secretions to promote neural maturat

Astrocyte cues boost neuron maturity in forebrain organoids, thanks to protein and nutrient-rich medium. From 2D to 3D cultures, neurons mature faster! PMID:40122897, Nat Commun 2025, @NatureComms https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-58295-3 #Medsky #Pharmsky #RNA #ASHG #ESHG 🧪

Former Prep scholar. I wouldn’t be the scientist I am without those 2 years I spent in my former lab. I feel bad for those will lost out on the experience

An in-depth survey of immunosuppressive myeloid cell heterogeneity in GBM Brandon Emanuel León, Defne Bayik; An in-depth survey of immunosuppressive myeloid cell heterogeneity in GBM, Neuro-Oncology, , noaf080, https://doi.org/10

Lookin for a good read in between experiments? Check out the commentary article in @neuroonc.bsky.social @dbayik.bsky.social and I wrote on an insightful study on myeloid cells in gliomas 🙂‍↔️ link here: academic.oup.com/neuro-oncolo...

Congratulations @brandonleon95.bsky.social for getting selected to represent University of Miami Miller School of Medicine at the 2025 CASE Workshop organized by AAAS! Can't wait to see what you will achieve in #SciPol #MakingOurCASE 💪

We have had IMSD and MARC grants at UCSC for 50 YEARS (someone checked on this and let me know)! These are not NEW programs, these are structured, long lasting programs that have existed for decades, experienced bipartisan support and in turn, enabled scholarship that demonstrates their value! 🧪

Celebrating lab’s 2nd anniversary with the first successful QE from @j-mitchell.bsky.social 🥂🍾🎊! Congrats! Cheers to an amazing lab @orianateran.bsky.social @pathaka.bsky.social @brandonleon95.bsky.social along with the partner lab
@dionysioswatson.bsky.social
@iremkaraman.bsky.social

🙌🏻

Family reunion 🦦🦦

Thank you! Hopefully our work will produce something to alleviate everyone’s fears

@orianateran.bsky.social investigates T cell exhaustion and metabolism
@pathaka.bsky.social studies the basis of sex differences in immune response
@brandonleon95.bsky.social interrogates cancer-astrocyte communication
@j-mitchell.bsky.social studies cellular reprogramming by mitochondria transfer

I would like to introduce our lab at the University of Miami, Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center to our new followers. We are interested in studying tumor-microenvironment interactions in brain tumors. Some ongoing projects that are led by an amazing group of talented researchers include👇

Would love to be added