Matt Sikora

There is not enough lobular breast cancer research, IMO, so I'm thrilled to see this radiation review by @mjsikora.bsky.social and co-authors!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

#bcsm

I rarely am poking around in tissue culture these days, but was showing some cells to the family of one of our summer students this afternoon.

Apparently I left the microscope light on.

I'll let you guess what kind of shit I'm getting in the lab Teams chat right now.

It's super gold open-est access at the prestigious publication Cell Nature Science, obviously

I doubt that there is a single family in America that hasn’t benefitted directly from the NIH.

Hell yeah, keep the pressure on.

If you live in one of these states, call your Senators, thank them, and remind them that there are related issues where their states and the nation needs their support and willingness to stand up.

I could not be more excited to finally announce that my lab will be moving to The Wistar Institute in Philadelphia in early September! While this is somewhat of a homecoming for me, it is a new adventure for the 6 lab members moving with me! More details to come about new roles and opportunities!

NIH staff are being required to fully fund ~ 50% of their grants. This means that all 4 years of an award will be paid out of this appropriation. This will help them get the appropriated funds spent, but will mean they can only fund (1/2 + 1/4*1/2) = 5/8 has many grants as they would have otherwise.

Final CBO score of the "big beautiful bill" is out

Largest Medicaid cuts ever - in fact, at least 4 times the size of the previous largest; $894-$990 bn cut

Kicks 10 million off health insurance

Largest SNAP cuts ever, $197 bn cut

Still increases the deficit by $3.4 trillion from huge tax cuts

I’m no political strategist but if Trump wants to distract us from the Epstein Files, he could try fully funding NIH, EPA, NASA, NOAA, NSF, USDA, USGS, etc. We’d be so shocked that we won’t stop talking about it for months.

Online voting on Governor Polis’ $28.5M Capitol pedestrian bridge project closes at midnight Monday. I appreciate that he included my commentary opposing the project on his online survey page. www.co150walkway.com/feedback

“there is evidence that the use of AI tools has enabled Principal Investigators to submit more than 40 distinct applications in a single application submission round” would love to see this evidence grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...

Even an early round of triage for 25-50% of less competitive applications would be excellent and a likely very reasonable task for such a professionalized review.

Anything to reduce review burden would benefit the rest of the ecosystem!

Grant review needs to be part of this discussion, particularly with more submissions for tighter pay lines. Eg can we leverage LOI phases better so that 20 reviewers aren't reading 60 applications in full, burning hundreds of hours to make one award?

Cool lightning presentation from Outstanding Abstract Awardee Emily Zboril (Harrell Lab @vcumassey.bsky.social ) on the agonist activity of the anti estrogen lasofoxifene in bone, shows protective activity and blocks bone loss while suppressing tumor growth.

#ENDO2025

My favorite talk of #Endo2025 is @liisagalea.bsky.social but also the entire sex differences session full of things we know but for some reason have ignored: females are different than males. Not more complex. Not more dynamic. Different. It’s not sexist to use funds to study this; it’s necessary.

Beautiful talk from Dr Camilla Hughes @pennstateuniv.bsky.social on NR5A1/SF1 in regulating follicle development in the ovary. Impt role in micro environmental structure and serial steps of follicle maturation. #ENDO2025

www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

In-depth analysis of transcriptomes in ovarian cortical follicles from children and adults reveals interfollicular heterogeneity - PubMed The ovarian cortical reserve of follicles is vital for fertility. Some medical treatments are toxic to follicles, leading to premature ovarian insufficiency. Ovarian tissue cryopreservation is an esta...

Dr. Ilmatar Rooda @ki.se shows really lovely integration of single-cell & spatial transcriptomics to define + map cellular subpopulations of cells within ovary, eg refining types of stromal cells and types of oocytes and how composition changes over age. #ENDO2025

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39168975/

Another gem - including multiple target NIH institutes with a grant submission is not super helpful. Primary assignment is exactly that, and a secondary choice can only fund grants, even well scored, with special funds in very short supply. Try to make sure it goes to the right home. #ENDO2025

#ENDO2025 - workshop with NIH program officers this morning, interesting gem that the timing of your application vs timing of Fed budget changes funding decision timelines. Councils in fall often do not yet have a budget, and are very conservative w decisions until winter/spring.

YouTube video by Peter Weatherall The Endocrine System Song by Peter Weatherall

@endocrinesociety.bsky.social #ENDO2025 rocking out to this beauty: youtu.be/KsBgcEvihS8?...

Matt Taves at the podium

Congrats to Early Investigator Awardee Dr. Matt Taves! Continuing a recent tradition of @nrimpact.bsky.social members on the next gen star stage 💫
@endocrinesociety.bsky.social

Dequina Nicholas at the podium.

Huge congrats to Early Investigator Awardee @quinascience.bsky.social! So pleased that someone so dedicated to @endocrinesociety.bsky.social is being recognized as a star in our field. #ENDO2025

Superstar TCDCC co-chairs ran a smooth and awesome program for #ECF2025. And kudos to Nadia Barghouthi as program chair. @endocrinesociety.bsky.social @endocrinenews.bsky.social
#ENDO2025

Matt Sikora and Inga Harbuz-Miller with a placard word bubble that says "Trainee today, trailblazer tomorrow".

After a day with our Early Career Forum attendees yesterday, Inga Harbuz-Miller and I realize that we're still trainees at heart ❤️

#ENDO2025
Credit @lmfendo.bsky.social for the photo and pose 😆

Photo of promotional displays, with a picture from the ENDO2024 poster session

Photo of the video banner over the registration booths, includes a photo from ENDO2024 of a group of faculty from the NR IMPACT group

If you're wondering, yes, @endocrinesociety.bsky.social will use your pictures for promo material 😂 #ENDO2025

Pretty cool to have @nrimpact.bsky.social folks featured:
@profriggins.bsky.social
@zmadake2.bsky.social
@ayeshashafi.bsky.social
@cittellylab.bsky.social
Drs Cordoba-Chacon & Treviño

#ENDO2025 kicks off today with a call to action from society prez Dr. Newell-Price, for US-based members to contact their Congresspeople in support of NIH.

Proud of @endocrinesociety.bsky.social for not shying away from the challenges we face.

secure.everyaction.com/PK0t2cj5NUyh...

My amazing colleague @loriraetzman.bsky.social the 2025 Endoctrine Society Laureate Awardee for distinguished service. #ENDO2025 @endocrinesociety.bsky.social

Ohhh, good point. 😅

We think the field is ripe for prospective studies on XRT in ILC to really define treatment benefit, especially for partial breast XRT, to build concrete treatment guidelines, and to explore combinations with anti-estrogens and new ideas like PARPi.

Open access PDF: rdcu.be/evF4L

6/6

Co-regulator activity of Mediator of DNA Damage Checkpoint 1 (MDC1) is associated with DNA repair dysfunction and PARP inhibitor sensitivity in lobular carcinoma of the breast Invasive lobular carcinoma of the breast (ILC) is typically estrogen receptor α (ER)-positive and presents with biomarkers of anti-estrogen sensitive disease, yet patients with ILC face particularly p...

These data though parallel our basic research in ILC that suggests that there is indeed an underlying defect in DNA repair in high-risk ILC - ILC don't look BRCA-like at all, yet behave like a BRCA-mutant cancer and are responsive to PARPi: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

5/n