Sadie Wignall

The FASEB Cytoskeletal Systems meeting has been a fantastic conference! The cytoskeleton community is doing such cutting edge and inspiring research. I was happy to share the work from our lab and I’ll be going home with a ton of new ideas! The organizers did an excellent job. 🤩

Juhi Narula and Sarah Wignall (@sadiewignall.bsky.social) identify a new role for the conserved kinase PLK-1 in suppressing centrosome maturation in oocytes, which surprisingly is opposite to its role in mitosis. rupress.org/jcb/article/...

#CellCycle #Genetics #Cytoskeleton #Development

New paper from my lab published today in JCB - congratulations to first author and graduate student/recent PhD Juhi Narula on this beautiful story!

Worried Northwestern lab directors describe ‘bleak’ atmosphere in wake of Trump research funding freeze The Trump administration’s freezing of $790 million in federal research funding for Northwestern University has left concerned lab directors without key grants and forced the university to spend mi…

I helped explain to the Chicago Tribune the enourmous and irrational damage the NIH funding freeze is causing at Northwestern. “You’re at risk of losing an entire next generation of scientists" "it’s terrifying; it’s completely senseless." www.chicagotribune.com/2025/06/07/w...

Funding freeze at Northwestern from Emma Mairson at
grant-watch.us. Data from USAspending. Normally, ~$70 M per month. Now, bupkis.

Northwestern is keeping research moving and must be spending ~$40 M per month. Clearly not sustainable for too long.

Keep in mind: these are AWARDED grants, with Notice of Awards. The federal government is not honoring existing contracts with this university, refusing to reimburse for costs charge on awarded grants.

All of NIH funding to Northwestern University is frozen. This pause includes noncompeting approved funding, new and competing grants with fundable scores. No reimbursements for money already spent have been received since March. This situation is rarely reported so please Please get the word out!

There is no replacement (yet) for animal models in medical research The NIH is “reducing animal use in research.” But there is no replacement for animal models.

It is beyond disturbing when the NIH and HHS Directors do not understand that animal models are essential in research

www.statnews.com/2025/05/19/a...

NIH's work saves lives—& Trump is gutting it.

Straight from D.C. I headed to Seattle Children's to hear from researchers & patients alike about the importance of NIH funding—it's not just about lines in a budget, it's about lifesaving discoveries.

We ALL need to speak up to save it.

NIH, NSF, NASA, NEA, NEH

If it funds thought it’s under attack

If you haven’t called your congressperson to advocate for NIH, today’s the day.

It has been a busy time for IBiS! With the Lane-Petersen Happy Hour on the 11th, a CV/Resume workshop from Dr. Aubrey Korenta of the Career Center last Tuesday, and DRiLS Speaker Dr. Markita Landry visiting us last Thursday, we’ve had lots of learning, fun, and community building!

Canceling awarded research grants isn’t something universities can fix with endowments. Most endowment funds are legally restricted and can't be used freely. When the government terminates a research grant, it kills a scientific project that peer scientists already evaluated as valuable.

RFK Jr.’s lies about autism are disgraceful — and I won't share them to spread misinformation.

He consistently undermines public health and reinforces dangerous myths.

In Illinois, we stand with those with autism, and I’ll keep fighting for inclusion, science, and the truth.

A beeswarm chart of canceled NIH grants showing the years into each project when the funding was pulled. Each dot represents a terminated grant and is colored by the number of publications associated with the project: none, one to four or five or more. The grants are separated into thee rows based on the award type (R01, U01, U54). RO1 research projects had the most terminations, which occurred at all stages of research, from the project onset to 7+ years in. Most grants were canceled short of the 4-5 year lifespan of a typical grant, and 40% of R01s had no publications at the time of termination. Projects that had been active for longer had more publications, suggesting that more findings are disseminated in the later stages of these grants.

In terminating hundreds of NIH grants, the Trump administration dumped years of investment down the drain. In my latest @opinion.bloomberg.com column, we analyzed the cancelled projects & talked to scientists to understand just how much the public loses out. It's a lot: tinyurl.com/bdey86su

I was listening to the excellent interview with President Eisgruber from Princeton on The Daily podcast.

Some key points:

Interviewer: You said “Once you make concessions once, it’s hard not to make them again.” So I’d like to know, did what Columbia did make your job harder…?”

1/n

of all the things the administration is doing, i am a little mystified by this effort to completely destroy the science, technology and medical research sector in the united states

Make no mistake about it: Trump's reported decision to freeze funding at Northwestern University will put life-saving cures and critical research at risk.

This freeze won't protect the Jewish students Trump claims to defend, it will instead undermine their academic endeavors.

What a day. What a country! 💪

View from a window in a high rise office building looking down on Chicago's Daley Plaza and streets, all completely filled with people at rally

This is Chicago. We filled Daley Plaza. We filled the streets. We rallied and marched in the name of democracy, human rights, civil rights, people's livelihoods, people's lives, our planet, peace and justice in our country and around the world. #HandsOff @indivisible.org

The people are awake. The people are angry. And the people are organized. 📍 Chicago, Illinois #HANDSOFF

Today was proof - the fighting spirit is alive and it’s beautiful.
Each sign, all the voices said the same thing loud and clear - #Handsoff our #democracy

We’re just getting started!

#chicago #usa #event #protest #50501Chicago #april5 #werise #trump #elonmusk #rights #peace #love

It's midnight in Washington, and in case you're catching up...

So far tonight, Republicans have blocked amendments that would:

– Remove tariffs hurting families
– Protect disaster response and recovery
- Secure Social Security benefits
- Preserve federal lands

(Thread 🧵)

Opinion | The Uncertain Fate of the Young American Scientist Young researchers are choosing between staying in science and staying in the United States.

Yesterday's announcement canceling MARC, PREP, IMSD & IRACDA finally broke me. Spent most of the morning in my office crying. I think I'd been clinging to a glimmer of hope, but as an IRACDA alum,watching the the scale of loss for young scientists was heartbreaking. 🧪
www.nytimes.com/2025/04/03/o...

Hands Off! Donald Trump and Elon Musk think this country belongs to them. They're taking everything they can get their hands on and daring the world to stop them. On Saturday, April 5th, we're taking to the…

Reminder: have you checked the location of your nearest #HandsOff event this Saturday?

handsoff2025.com

Excited to post our new preprint on how MOS/MAPK signaling impacts the egg transcriptome! Great collaboration with Britt Goods and lab!

“America shouldn’t take scientific progress in medicine, artificial intelligence, energy and more for granted. If the youngest, brightest minds aren’t soon reassured that the US can support their work — and that scientific inquiry will be protected from political interference — they will walk away.”

Banning DEI Is Catastrophic for U.S. Science (opinion) An attack on DEI is an attack on science itself, Joseph L. Graves Jr., Stacy C. Farina, Parvin Shahrestani, Vaughn S. Cooper and Gilda A. Barabino write.

Banning diversity, equity, and inclusion - say it out loud - is catastrophic for US science. It attacks the core of the inclusive strengths of 🇺🇸 science - red or blue, rich or poor - despite the long road ahead. Thank you @stacyfarina.bsky.social for leading!
www.insidehighered.com/opinion/view...

To anyone living in a state that doesn't respect you for who you love or who you are: Illinois has a place for you.

You are seen, you are celebrated, you are protected, and you are welcome here in our state.

If you'd like the statistics on how much NIH funding supports your specific Congressional district, you can get that info here: report.nih.gov/award/index....

This may be especially important if your representative is Republican 🧪