Dan Starr

They look confused.

Trump is withholding $300M in science funding from UCLA based on antisemitism & inviting UCLA to “resolve this matter,” presumably by giving Trump control of the university.

Having worked hard to stop antisemitism at UCLA & other UCs, I’ll say the following about this pretextual, fascist move:🧵

Happy to share the latest work from the lab, led by @mudgal17.bsky.social‬, in collaboration with the Weis lab @ethzurich.bsky.social.
How do nuclear membranes fuse during NPC assembly? We answer this question in our latest work, where we identify a new mechanism for membrane fusion… (1/13)

Fay: Cuts to research funding risk the collapse of U.S. science and technology I started as an assistant professor of molecular biology at the University of Wyoming in 2001.

Thanks to @isakoditomassi.bsky.social and the McClintock Letters Initiative who motivated me to submit this.

I stick to Capital Public Radio for this very reason. Also, traffic isn’t as bad here!

While our whole field has been experiencing undeserved turmoil, a few of us have been fortunate enough to receive positive news on funding. This link describes positions that are now open in the Fay Lab. Perhaps some who’ve been displaced can find a home with us. 1/2
drive.google.com/file/d/1XuDO...

Health Care: Jonathan Gruber A key founding father of Obamacare on what comes next

Fascinating piece from Paul Krugman with Jonathan Gruber with a powerful argument for public funding of science.

paulkrugman.substack.com/p/health-car...

1/n

What Mr. Ramirez Taught Me July Fourth means community.

I’m thinking about him today. I hope he’d be proud of me. I hope my sense of citizenship has lived up to his.

Happy Fourth.

/thread

Full essay here for easier sharing: charlotteclymer.substack.com/p/what-mr-ra...

Incredible plenary presentation by Starr-Luxton Lab student @xiangyiding.bsky.social at the International Worm Meeting! Who knew C. elegans cytoplasm has the viscosity of strawberry jam? 🍓 So proud! #Worm2025 #frontierscience @danstarrucdavis.bsky.social

Ellen Gregory, @gwgl.bsky.social‬, & @danstarrucdavis.bsky.social‬ show how heterochromatin helps cell nuclei migrate through tight spaces in #Celegans! Learn more in #GENETICS about the process of heterochromatin anchoring to the nuclear periphery that supports nuclei squeezing: buff.ly/kZttVdX

Thank you so much! It was such a joy to see Xiangyi's transformation through the MBL program. Looking forward to the blog post - and thanks for highlighting how these summer courses shape the next generation of scientists!

It was awesome! 3700. In Woodland!

Today I had the honor of speaking in front of nearly 3000 people today at the Woodland #NoKings rally. WE FEAR NO KING BECAUSE WE DONT HAVE ONE ✊🏾✊🏾✊🏾✊🏾 let’s gooooooo

@doctheagrif.bsky.social on fire 🔥 in Woodland today

Federal investment in UC research Federal funds are the university’s single most important source of support for research, accounting for more than half of UC’s total research awards. Many of California’s leading industries grew from UC research, including biotechnology, computing, semiconductors, telecommunications and agriculture. Providing health care at UC University of California Health (UC Health) is one of the nation’s largest public academic health systems, serving as a critical part of the California safety net. UC trains approximately 36% of the medical residents in California

The university of California is a powerhouse of innovation, healthcare, and social mobility for California and the US.

Celebration of PREP@UC Davis We hosted the 2024-2025 PREP@UC Davis research symposium today and wrapped a celebration of our alumni.So proud of them all. Open the .pdf and you'll see why!2024-25_PREP_retrospective.pdf

We hosted the 2024-2025 PREP@UC Davis research symposium today and added on a celebration of our alumni.

Eight cohorts and "The most important thing I've done in my career. " -- @danstarrucdavis.bsky.social

They are the future of our science. prep.ucdavis.edu/news/celebra...

There is a lot of chatter about how the proposed budget hurts research at our Universities. But there are other horrors. The maximum Pell Grant is proposed to be cut by $1,685 per student (23%) and Federal Work Study by 80%. This will hurt the working class, not the Ivy elites. 1/n

Boston Has Worms (The Good Kind) Inside the world of C. elegans worms and the scientists who know them best.

“I was starting to think that these worms have a way of bringing out the best in humans—generosity, cooperation, and an unbridled curiosity about life. But these days, the worm people are worried.”

Just another example of why we need to protect government funding. Private philanthropy and industry will never make up for what the government does.

Nuclear deformability depends on H3K9-methylated heterochromatin anchorage to the nuclear periphery in Caenorhabditis elegans - PubMed Nuclei adjust their deformability while migrating through constrictions to enable structural changes and maintain nuclear integrity. The effect of heterochromatin anchored at the nucleoplasmic face of...

🧵 1/8: Excited to share our new paper on how heterochromatin (tightly packed DNA) helps cell nuclei migrate through tight spaces in #Celegans! Published in @genetics_asa #CellBiology #NuclearMigration pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40335054/ Congrats @danstarrucdavis.bsky.social and 1st author Ellen!

Two articles in the latest issue of Genetics

It’s a great day to publish in Genetics!!

Yes! And also to all the university staff at offices of research working just as hard trying to figure out all the changing rules!

Snail Researcher Wins UC Davis Award for Innovation and Creative Vision Developmental biologist Alice Accorsi, an assistant professor in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, is the recipient of the 2025 UC Davis Early Career Faculty Award for Creativity and I...

Congrats to my fabulous colleague @accorsi-alice.bsky.social !! biology.ucdavis.edu/news/snail-r...

Congratulations!!

It was an amazing afternoon! So much energy and so much cool science!

Congratulations from Davis! Wooot!

Congratulations! Well deserved!!!

Congratulations to Dr. Jonathan Amezquita! Jonathan Amezquita (PREP@UCD 2018 cohort) just presented his exit seminar at the University of Washington, with Dan, Carole, and mentor JoAnne Engebrecht watching on zoom. Beautifully executed and an ...

The administration can terminate PREP but the alumni are resilient. I just watched a beautiful PhD thesis defense from a PREP alumnus! Congratulations Dr. Amezquita!!! prep.ucdavis.edu/news/congrat...

Resegregation? It’s all infuriating.

I had a wonderful visit to Ohio State Biophysics yesterday. I heard so much amazing science and the students are awesome. In these times, a day devoted to science can restore a bit of faith and recharge me. This is a great place to study if you get a chance. Thank you everyone at OSU biophysics!