Sophie Astrof

Scientists’ role in defending democracy The United States’ democratic leadership, commitment to freedom of expression, and investment in the pursuit of knowledge have long enabled its preeminence in science and technology. Yet today we are ...

My new @science.org editorial on the role of scientists in defending democracy is out today. As authoritarianism takes hold in the US, we must fight for the democratic principles that enable a free society and scientists have a key role. I hope you'll join us.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

DON’T LET RFK Jr. TURN OUR OCEANS OF SCIENCE INTO SWAMPS OF QUACKERY.

Sign and repost the call for impeachment below - The health of our nation depends on it. 👇

#standupforscience
#draintheswamp
#quackquackquack

#ICYMI: Registration is now open for Research!America’s National Health Research Forum, taking place virtually on Sept. 3 and 10, and in person on Sept. 17.

Save your spot! Register here:
events.researchamerica.org/2025forum

#RAForum #HealthResearch #SciPol #EarlyCareer #Science

This is an excellent explainer for why the multi year funding model is going to kill academic science as we know it. Please read!! ☹️

This man is pure evil.

Director Vought: We write to ask you to fully implement the Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, including funds appropriated for the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The continuing resolution supp011s NIH initiatives across a range of critical research areas­cancer, cardiovascular disease, rare pediatric disorders, and more. These vital efforts are not only necessary to Make America Healthy Again, but also have a direct impact on American families, biomedical innovation, our economy, and competing with Communist China. We are concerned by the slow disbursement rate of FY25 NIH funds, as it risks undermining critical research and the thousands of American jobs it supports. Suspension of these appropriated funds - whether formally withheld or functionally delayed - could threaten Americans' ability to access better treatments and limit our nation's leadership in biomedical science. It also risks inadve11ently severing ongoing NIH-funded research prior to actionable results. We share your commitment to ensuring NIH funds are used responsibly and not diverted to ideological or unaccountable programs. We are confident Secretary Kennedy and Director Bhattacharya are well positioned to uphold gold standard research by ensuring that NIH awards are grounded in transparency, scientific merit, and a clear alignment with national interests. Our shared goal is to restore public trust in the NIH precisely because its work is focused on results, accountability, and real-world impact. Withholding or suspending these funds would jeopardize that trust and hinder progress on critical health challenges facing our nation. Ultimately, this is about finding cures and seeing them through to fruition. We respectfully request that you ensure the timely release of all FY25 NIH appropriations in accordance with congressional intent. Doing so will ensure continued momentum in curing disease, supp011ing American innovation, and delivering result…

Sincerely, Katie Boyd Britt John Boozman Shelly Moore Capito Bill Cassidy Susan Collins Lindsey O. Graham David H. McCormick Mitch McConnel Jerry Moran Lisa Murkowski Thom Tillis Todd Young Dan Sullivan Tim Scott

From @aaas.org check-in with Sudip Parikh: a letter by 14 Republican senators urge the Office of Management and Budget to release NIH funding. If this includes your state (AL, ME, WV, SC, KY, KS, AR, PA, NC, IN, AK), Sudip recommends contacting & thanking them for being American science leaders.

A single neuron (white) shown with 5,600 of the axons (blue) that connect to it. The synapses that make these connections are shown in green. The cell body (central core) of the neuron is about 14 micrometers across.

In Science, researchers detail a nanoscale-resolution reconstruction of a millimeter-scale fragment of human cerebral cortex, giving an unprecedented view into the structural organization of brain tissue at the supracellular, cellular, and subcellular levels. #WorldBrainDay scim.ag/3FvpAKy

Does anyone know if NCE are being approved after the rules changed in May? My NCE request is “currently pending leadership release”. Does anyone know what this means? @jeremymberg.bsky.social

Support EPA Staff Now! — STAND UP FOR SCIENCE Your solidarity with the EPA heroes increases the pressure on their Administrator Lee Zeldin.

Now is a good time to sign on in support of the courageous folks at EPA who stood up for all of us.

www.standupforscience.net/epa-declarat...

wonderful opportunity for junior faculty

New approach enables body to engineer its own cells to fight cancer or autoimmunity Injections of mRNA may offer a simpler, cheaper way to build powerful CAR-T cells

New approach enables body to engineer its own cells to fight cancer or autoimmunity | Science | AAAS www.science.org/content/arti... 🧪

Nobel laureate on how Trump's cuts are hurting science Neuroscientist, biologist and 2021 Nobel Prize winner Ardem Patapoutian joined Midday Edition to talk about how the Trump administration's effort to cut back on science spending is impacting researche...

I spoke with Jade Hindmon, host of @kpbssandiego.bsky.social Midday Edition, about the consequences of the current administration’s cuts to science funding. Please share to help spread the word and raise awareness.
www.kpbs.org/podcasts/kpb...

mScarlet3-H (aka mYongHong) is on the cover of Nature Methods! All plasmids are available for free from WeKwikGene wekwikgene.wllsb.edu.cn/publications...

Why you should join a watch party for the first Vera C. Rubin images The Vera C. Rubin Observatory is releasing its first images on 23 June, showing us galaxies as we’ve never seen them before. Here’s how you can join a party to see those shots in full definition

The Vera C. Rubin Observatory is releasing its first images on 23 June, showing us galaxies as we’ve never seen them before. Here’s how you can join a watch party to see those shots in full definition.

Students (Master's/PhD), do not miss this fantastic Developmental Biology course of @sorbonne-universite.fr and @institutcurie.bsky.social - It is FREE and open to international students, however, room and board + travel are not included.

training.institut-curie.org/courses/deve...

ADD YOUR NAME: Sign the Open Letter in Support of NIH Staff Join the courageous and committed National Institutes of Health (NIH) public servants by adding your name now.

Amazing news - the support letter to the #BethesdaDeclaration has over 10,000 signatures from scientists, Nobel Laureates, clinical trial participants, and ordinary people who care about supporting science and curing diseases.

It's not too late for you to add your name!

I signed this letter and I urge all my colleagues to do the same. I am very impressed by the bravery of the NIH staff who put their names to this. We should stand behind them. It's the least we can do.

Kong, W., Loison, O., Chavadimane Shivakumar, P., Chan, E. H., Saadaoui, M., Collinet, C., Lenne, P. F., & Clément, R. (2019). Experimental validation of force inference in epithelia from cell to tissue scale. Scientific reports, 9(1), 14647. #EpithelialMechanics
buff.ly/tLICFiu

What do we see when looking at cells under the microscope? 👉Some are bigger than others, some are elongated and align with the neighbors & others seem to move. Cool, right? But wouldn't it be cooler to quantify these observations?

I'm @juliaeckert.bsky.social. Let's explore some analysis software!‬

He's right. "Nothing short of devastating"
By @holdenthorp.bsky.social @science.org
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

A cartoon showing various activity at an airport, including an extorted luxury jet, an exploding X rocket, a ketamine enthusiast wheeling a barrow of money to his plane, many ICE officers -- some taking people to an El Salvador plane, another with a zip-tied child being blocked by a federal judge -- scientists boarding a plane to Europe, a medical self-educator covered with pox, and more. All the people are represented by various animals. The story is made in the style of a Richard Starry children's book. Alt text borrowed from Mastodon..

“A Busy, Busy Day at the Airport”

By Ruben Bolling

Genius. Click in.

URGENT: FlyBase has lost practically all its funding overnight; even user fees are tied up in denied grant funding. 🤬🤯

Any lab using @flybase.bsky.social please donate using the link in post below.

This incredible community, on whose backs our #Drosophila labs depend, can't be left out to dry.

Drosophila Genetic Database The Drosophila Genetic Database, FlyBase, is on the brink of collapse due to the sudden termination of the FlyBase NIH grant, which includes salaries for 5 literature curators based at the University ...

Flybase lost all of the NIH support overnight - it is a disaster for the community. Please consider donating. I just did! www.philanthropy.cam.ac.uk/give-to-camb...

The U.S. Lit a Beacon for Science. Under Trump, Scientists Fear It’s Dimming

Talked to @KateZernike at @nytimes about my journey and the current moment for scientists in the U.S.

“Ardem Patapoutian’s story is not just the American dream, it is the dream of American science.”

Read the article here. No subscription required:

www.nytimes.com/2025/06/03/u...

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.

Flybase is in trouble and needs emergency support. #Celegans community I know we have a friendly feud but maybe consider a donation to honor a fly colleague/mentor?

Just published, expansion in situ genome sequencing, where you can sequence DNA while still inside the cell, mapping its organization relative to proteins and other markers, with the help of expansion microscopy! Led by @jbuenrostro.bksy.social. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Teeth first evolved as sensory tissue in the armored exoskeletons of ancient fish, fossil scans find Anyone who has ever squirmed through a dental cleaning can tell you how sensitive teeth can be. This sensitivity gives important feedback about temperature, pressure—and yes, pain—as we bite and chew ...

New paper from the lab: Our teeth arose as sensory organs on the outside of the body of ancient jawless fish.!! Congrats to Yara Haridy and the team!
Background and video: phys.org/news/2025-05...
Open Access Paper: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
News and Views: www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Poppies growing in New York City.

The party of freedom and liberty is installing conformity czars to adjudicate compliance to the party’s definition of valid scientific inquiry.

Land of the free…