Andrew Su

You might be wondering why we haven't updated outbreak.info for months.

Well, the reason is that GISAID cut our access in January - as they did others. Without telling us.

After a ♾️ back and forth, that is now permanent.

More on that soon - and why GISAID should not be trusted with critical data.

Federal Cuts Become ‘All Consuming’ at Harvard’s Public Health School

I am so proud to work at this place, and prouder still of my friends and colleagues featured in this peace. We are “ground zero” for the assault on science and objective reality now underway. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/21/u...

Research Funding The University will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights. Neither Harvard nor any other private university can allow itself to be taken over by the federal government...

Also noting that I'm super impressed with Harvard's website devoted to this issue -- clear, concise, and impactful. Excellent scientific communication www.harvard.edu/research-fun...

Harvard hit with $2.2 billion funding freeze after rejecting Trump’s demands The administration demanded changes to policies and governance due to allegations of antisemitism, illegal DEI. Harvard called the directives unconstitutional.

I'm very grateful to @harvard.edu for taking a stand today for academic independence. In solidarity and appreciation, I just made a donation. For those who are able to, I hope you consider it too... They need to know that they have community support www.washingtonpost.com/education/20...

Would love to hear an affirmative & persuasive theory from Republicans of how the US can maintain leadership on research, technology & development in a way that does not operate through universities

Because right now I do not see it!

DOGE ends America’s golden age of biomedical research Biomedical research impacts all of us. I became curious about how drugs work after my mom was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis when I was a small boy. She received “gold shots” as treatment, which ...

I’m a biomedical researcher who lost his wife to cancer. Finding cures is personal to me. What’s happening at the NIH is devastating. Here’s my editorial in my hometown newspaper.

www.vindy.com/opinion/edit...

I had two grant proposals up for review in the NIH Bacterial Virulence (BV) study section. It was canceled without notice this morning.
Without those grants, my lab must close within a year.
And so the purge of scientific research in the US continues
🤬
#MicroSky 🦠🧫🧪🧬🔬

The Philadelphia Eagles won the Super Bowl. The Birds are funded by direct costs and indirect costs. Direct costs are players’ salaries. Indirect costs are everything else. Coaches, trainers, workout equipment, footballs, uniforms. Eagles could not have won the superbowl without indirect costs.

NIH indirects case update:

Hearing ongoing now, and I'll try to live tweet some notable exchanges.

Prior to more detailed arguments, Judge Kelley starts off with a few point questions to both sides:

(I'm paraphrasing here)

Federal Register hold makes ‘end run’ around court pause on NIH funding freeze NIH-related updates to the Federal Register, which are required for the scheduling of study sections and advisory councils, are on hold indefinitely, according to an email reviewed by <i>The Transmitt...

I just covered this for @thetransmitter.bsky.social — will keep following! www.thetransmitter.org/funding/fede...

On January 6th, 1995, my (now ex) wife and I boarded a flight from Heathrow to JFK on a one way ticket. We had two suitcases and about $900 in cash - this was everything we owned and we were moving to the US. We thought it was maybe for 2-3 years. I had visited the US once, for a conference, and

also this same org has this super useful infographic, breaking down the difference between direct and indirect (also called Facilities and Administration) costs and what F&A costs can and cannot be used for at a research university or institute

Here's a quantitative illustration of what's happening with NIH funding.

YouTube video by NIH Grants Indirect Costs 101

Here’s Sally Rockey (then deputy director of the office of extramural research) describing indirect costs as career NIH staff do youtu.be/1XvVibv2opQ?...

This is a list of blockbuster drugs in 2024. Guess how many can trace their origins to NIH funded research?
All of them.

There are legit criticisms of IDCs and how they are negotiated, but cutting infrastructural and administrative support to 1/4-1/6 of what it was overnight is a devastating assault on universities and US biomedical research.

a cartoon says hey everybody an old man 's talking while bart simpson looks on ALT: a cartoon says hey everybody an old man 's talking while bart simpson looks on

A Primer on Indirect Cost Rates

American science and medicine has been thrown into chaos and uncertainty over the past week. Here are some stories to get up to speed. 1/12

White House pauses all federal grants, sparking confusion The Trump administration has put a hold on all federal financial grants and loans, affecting tens of billions of dollars in payments.

I think some people hear “grants” and think that without them, scientists and government workers just have less stuff to play with at work. But grants fund salaries for students, academics, researchers, and people who work in all areas of public service.

“Pausing” grants means people don’t eat.

subjective no doubt. But mostly I was just looking for confirmation that I've gotten so many requests recently because I'm such a damn good reviewer. Sigh, apparently not

Just adding two data points. Consortium kickoff meeting for tomorrow was cancelled this morning, but the SRO for a virtual study section Feb 6 says the meeting is still on (for now)

Random question I've always been curious about. Is there some master NIH database of reviewers that contains our full record of reviewing and comments/ratings from the chair or SRO? Or maybe just a block list for people who are not constructive reviewers?

Anyone else hearing that NIH IC’s Advisory Council meetings are being cancelled?

After Sandy Hook, they voted no. Now these senators want new gun laws. After a decade of mass killings and surging AR-15 sales, four current and three former senators recant some or all of their 2013 positions on restricting assault weapons in emotional interviews with T...

wapo.st/3NCPH3K

This summer, a prominent colleague said he believed that male scientists were the subject of discrimination, and later suggested that DEI discussions were not welcome or appropriate topics for scientific meetings. Other colleagues and I wrote this long-overdue response medium.com/@andrewsu/di...

Well, the result is perhaps rather milquetoast, but the lead up prompted some illuminating discussions and hopefully more to come, and that's what I'm counting as a (small) win medium.com/@andrewsu/di...

Here's how you discover a potent new drug vs Covid with 212 scientists/47 organizations/15 countries working together
Open-science, patent free, high-throughput structural biology based design, A.I.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

internship.uoregon.edu/application-...

Both the graduate internship program internship.uoregon.edu and the LAUNCH event www.instagram.com/p/CzXXwFWJlsM/ seem pretty great, worth checking out! 🧬🖥️

LAUNCH your bioinformatics career! An immersive experience designed for prospective students interested in pursuing a masters degree focused in Bioinformatics and Genomics. Feb 2-2, 2024. Meet with Industry Experts and program alumni, explore the Oregon Coast, Make Lifelong Connections, Earn a Scholarship. Apply by: November 28th.

Interested in applying for the Knight Campus Graduate Internship Program Bioinformatics & Genomics track? Apply for LAUNCH:

oregon.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...

This is an immersive program where students from historically marginalized groups in STEM can explore the field of bioinformatics.