Liz Chrastil

The Misuses of the University - Public Books Have the funds that might have trained the next generation of scholars at the nation’s first research university have been blown on ostentatious new buildings?

“Everyone thinks universities have to do what donors want because they pay the bills. But that gets it backward, and not just at Hopkins.”

I highly recommend reading this piece.

www.publicbooks.org/the-misuses-...

A Fatal ICE Shooting Occurred in Texas Months Before Renee Good’s Killing

This case is insane:

ICE shot and killed a citizen last March then *hid it for a year.*

The young man they killed had no criminal history.

All we know about shooting is from internal ICE docs.

We don't know officers' names.

We don't have footage.

www.nytimes.com/2026/02/20/u...

We’re hiring! The Suthana Lab @ Duke is looking for a Research Assistant to join our team studying human memory & real-world 🧠 dynamics using wearable tech & intracranial recordings.

Apply: careers.duke.edu/job/Durham-C...

You can also email suthanalab@duke.edu with CV/questions. Please share!

It shouldn't take having a 5yo to be sick imagining the terror felt by a child still little enough to be held and rocked when scary things happen and by his frantic family members, but I do have a 5yo and thinking of this little guy shoved into a van, a cell, a plane, another van, another cell ...

Recent discoveries on the acquisition of the highest levels of human performance Scientists have long debated the origins of exceptional human achievements. This literature review summarizes recent evidence from multiple domains on the acquisition of world-class performance. We re...

Multidisciplinary training, over time, produces the highest impact people

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

The way to make this matter is for the outrage from the general public to become more of a problem than the Trump Regime's outrage. A thing we know is possible from Jimmy Kimmel.

So far, so good. Keep going.

This afternoon, I was in a meeting with Jay Bhattacharya, and I can confirm this is *exactly* what he both wants and will be doing.

THIS IS NOT HYPERBOLE.

Me and Erica

A rainbow

Daniela with committee: me, Craig Stark, Liz Head

Huge congratulations to my students Erica and Daniela who defended their PhD thesis this week! Plus a rainbow after one of them, seems very fitting for the whole process!

👀 💕 👏🏽 @laurapritschet.bsky.social @chrastil.bsky.social

Lab posters every day in the afternoon sessions

Come see our lab's posters at #SfN2025!
With great work including @alinatu.bsky.social @mjstarrett.bsky.social @aaronbornstein.bsky.social and more!

Judge blocks Trump administration push to fine UCLA $1.2 billion for alleged antisemitism A federal judge late Friday issued a preliminary injunction blocking the Trump administration from imposing a $1.2-billion fine on UCLA for alleged civil rights violations over antisemitism, its recog...

In a major win for UC faculty groups and unions that sued, a federal judge on Friday blocked the Trump from imposing a $1.2-billion fine on UCLA along with stipulations for deep campus changes in exchange for being eligible for federal grants: www.latimes.com/california/s...

Want a party that actually fights back? Run for office. We’ll help you. runforwhat.net

I wonder what it feels like to be so alienated from God and humanity that causing the deaths of over half a million people doesn't wrack your entire body and soul, doesn't tear you apart with grief and horror, doesn't haunt your every waking moment and torment your every minute of sleep.

The Defiant Resistance Speech An American Should Have Given There's power waiting to be claimed by an ambitious political figure who makes this his or her cause.

“Of all the words spoken in opposition to, or aghast at what’s happening in the United States, only one set of remarks has rattled in my head day after day, for going on a month now.”

Compelling and insightful article today from @brianbeutler.bsky.social
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I will be recruiting 🌟PhD students🌟 for my newish lab! If you're interested in learning & memory mechanisms applied to individual, interactive & collective behavior using computational modeling, real-world experiments and fMRI, email me! RTs much appreciated 🙏 rouhanilab.com

I don’t know who needs to hear this but the CDC is being eviscerated right now. America is not going to have any kind of outbreak response capacity after tonight. Americans’ health data is no longer secure. Say goodbye to federal public health in any capacity. It’s a disaster. We won’t recover.

BREAKING: A federal judge has granted a restraining order blocking President Trump's call-up of the National Guard in Portland.

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

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 from one of the 9 universities Trump is attempting to extort right now?

✍️ Sign this petition to defend your university, free speech, and democracy. I signed.

This is a time for courage, not capitulation.
#JustSayNo #Compact 🧪🧠🧬

(context in thread)

ER doc here! This is a lie. Wait times are up because the American healthcare system is an unsustainable business model and a for-profit national healthcare system just doesn’t work. These problems will continue to get worse until we change that system. It literally has nothing to do with immigrants

the president of the united states wants to use the american military to kill american citizens on american soil. that's the whole story!

The NIH has confirmed that it is complying with court orders and re-instating $500 million in frozen research grants to UCLA, Vice Chancellor for Research & Creative Activities Roger Wakimoto wrote today. He says workers “have shown great resilience in this challenging time.”

Huntington’s disease treated successfully for first time in gene therapy trial UCL trialled hours-long surgical procedure to treat disease which causes dementia and paralysis Huntington’s disease, a devastating degenerative illness that runs in families, has been treated successfully for the first time in a breakthrough gene therapy trial. The disease, caused by a single gene defect, steadily kills brain cells leading to dementia, paralysis and ultimately death. Those with a parent with Huntington’s have a 50% chance of developing the disease, which until now has been incurable. Continue reading...

Huntington’s disease treated successfully for first time in gene therapy trial

While I am genuinely concerned for my colleagues who are doctors currently on H1B visas, I acknowledge that I can't make people care about other humans.

But American *should* care about the fact that their ability to get medical care WILL be affected by these visa restrictions.

Asking journalists to sign a pledge not to disclose anything the Pentagon doesn’t want you to see just as Pentagon is:
-sending troops into US cities
-illegally murdering alleged low level drug runners
-possibly preparing to invade Venezuela

This thread.

Free speech to say the things conservatives want to say and hear.

But dare to criticize, simply quote what they say, or state what they do?

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Here are the details of Trump's $1.2-billion call to remake UCLA in a conservative image The Times describes the details, for the first time, of the 28-page proposal the Trump administration has made to remake the UCLA campus.

www.latimes.com/california/s...

Yes come work with us!!

Senior fMRI Technologist and Lab Manager, UNLV Research [R0148627] The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) appreciates your interest in employment. We ask that you keep in mind the following when completing your application: Once you start the application process ...

UNLV's MRI facility is close to completion and we are now searching for an MRI Technologist. Please help me spread the word!

nshe.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/UNLV-E...

#neuroimaging #MRI #neuroscience #psychology

How a Ph.D. is like riding a bike This researcher struggled in grad school—until he embraced it as a time for learning

“You are here to learn to ride a bicycle, not to invent a bicycle.”

"Now, I’m about to establish my own research group. I feel ready to design and invent my own bicycle. I’ll remind my trainees that their job, first and foremost, is to learn how to ride."

www.science.org/content/arti...

Dear President Milliken, Regents, and Governor Newsom, As faculty members of University of California law schools, we endorse Governor Newsom's commitment to resist the Trump Administration's unlawful actions taken against the University of California, Los Angeles. The Governor is on firm legal ground. The Trump Administration's termination and suspension of federal funds has violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in numerous ways. Governor Newsom and the University of California Regents will protect the vital interests not only of Californians but of all Americans if they defend the University of California's rights. The U.S. Department of Justice notified UCLA on July 29, 2025, that it had found that UCLA had "violated its obligations under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964." Chancellor Frenk subsequently announced that "the federal government claims antisemitism and bias as the reasons" for federal grant terminations. UCLA faces losses of at least $584 million, funding that has supported vital research on matters ranging from treatments for pancreatic cancer to advances in online security. The Trump Administration has made no pretense of following the law. Title VI permits a federal agency to terminate funding only if it has found that the particular program receiving that funding has violated the law's non-discrimination provisions. Funding cannot disappear just because the agency's policy or political preferences differ from the institution's. Moreover, the agency can act only after following specific procedural steps. Importantly, Title VI requires a formal administrative hearing—a proceeding much like a trial-before the agency can terminate funding. At the hearing, the agency would have the burden of proving the university's alleged violations of Title VI before an impartial decision-maker. If the agency prevails at the hearing, the university or other interested persons could appea…

factually supported and consistent with civil rights laws. Without the steps Title VI requires, there is no protection against an administration alleging discrimination as a pretext to force compliance with its policy or partisan preferences. Title VI's procedures guarantee the constitutional due process requirement that no person can be deprived of liberty or property without fair notice and opportunity to be heard. They protect the university and its members' academic freedom, an endowment essential to scientific research, intellectual discovery, and open debate. We are deeply committed to the core principle of non-discrimination codified in Title VI and in the Constitution's Equal Protection Clause. The principle that no person may suffer discrimination because of race, color, or national origin protects equality and ensures fairness in political as well as social life. Allegations of discrimination deserve serious and careful consideration and, where established, effective redress. But this enforcement effort must follow the law. We urge Governor Newsom and the UC Regents to continue to stand up for the fundamental principles of the rule of law, due process, and equal protection. A defense of the University of California's rights in court will model respect for these bedrock principles of equality and fairness, and it will ensure that the government honors them. The Trump Administration's failure to abide by the law subverts these principles by denying the University of California a fair opportunity to contest the government's charges of unlawful discrimination before an impartial decisionmaker. It is precisely because we cherish the principles of the Civil Rights Act and the Constitution that we encourage Governor Newsom, the UC Regents, and the University of California to fight back. Through its grantmaking powers, the federal government wields vast influence over social and economic life. If not held to account by the procedural protections enacted by Congres…

🚨 150 University of California law professors (and counting) have now signed this open letter to the UC Regents and other officials, explaining the flagrant illegality of the Trump Administration’s UCLA funding cut offs, and urging the UC to fight back. sites.google.com/view/uclawfa...