Mark Herman

(2) K99/R00 PIs whose eligibility would have ended in 2025 are granted an extension through 02 or 03 2026. K99/R00 PIs whose eligibility would have ended in January-March 2026 are granted an extension through June/July 2026. These extensions will be automatically granted.

🧵Good news out of #NIH today.
(1) NIH is extending #ESI and #K99/R00 eligibility to accommodate researchers whose eligibility would have ended during the previous shutdown. Take a look at NOT-OD-26-020. If your ESI status would have ended in 2025, you get an automatic extension through 2026/03/31.

Greg Abbott halts H-1B visas at Texas universities, agencies The governor said public universities and state agencies may not seek new visas without permission through the end of the 2027 legislative session.

www.texastribune.org/2026/01/26/t...

Stir Bar

Magnetic sensitivity of cryptochrome 4 from a migratory songbird - Nature Cryptochrome 4 from the night-migratory European robin displays magnetically sensitive photochemistry in vitro, in which four successive flavin–tryptophan radical pairs generate magnetic-field effects...

Just to simplify what we think happens:
Blue light hits pigments in the retina of migratory birds that become 'little magnets' that respond to magnetic fields as light & dark patterns on their visual field.

In gamer terms, it's a 'compass on their HUD', merged in with visual data.

“Malign Foreign Talent Recruitment Program Prohibition:

Effective January 25, 2026, individuals who are a current party to a Malign Foreign Talent Recruitment Program (MFTRP) are not eligible to serve as a senior/key person on an NIH grant or cooperative agreement.”
grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...

Diverse combination of factors associated with the development of diabetic kidney disease among data-driven diabetes subtypes: analysis of the J-DREAMS registry - Diabetologia Aims/hypothesis Available methods for predicting the onset and progression of diabetic kidney disease (DKD) and end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) are not yet ready for clinical application. We used a Ja...

Ahlqvist's machine learning-based #diabetes classification predicts onset of diabetic end-stage kidney disease at an early stage of diabetes, allowing clinicians to tailor intervention and prevention strategies to individual clusters
link.springer.com/article/10.1... 🔓

Confirmation of the new triage line at 65-70% of proposals. Introduction of a new “competitive but ND” class to permit exception pay pickups.

Accumulation of succinate suppresses de novo purine synthesis through succinylation-mediated control of the mitochondrial folate cycle The de novo purine synthesis pathway is fundamental for nucleotide production, yet the role of mitochondrial metabolism in modulating this process rem…

Excited to share our latest work out today in @cp-molcell.bsky.social, revealing a molecular link between succinate dehydrogenase and purine synthesis, connecting two fundamental metabolic pathways. Huge congratulations to the first author, Mushtaq Nengroo! www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
!

redquack: Transfer 'REDCap' Data to Database Transfer 'REDCap' (Research Electronic Data Capture) data to a database, specifically optimized for 'DuckDB'. Processes data in chunks to handle large datasets without exceeding available memory.…

redquack cran.r-project.org/web/packages... #Rstats pkg to transfer REDCap data to a database, specifically optimized for DuckDB

Exposure to sugar rationing in first 1000 days after conception and long term cardiovascular outcomes: natural experiment study Objective To examine whether exposure to sugar rationing during early life is associated with a reduction in the risk of cardiovascular outcomes in adulthood. Design Natural experiment study. Settin...

Exposure to sugar early in life: a natural experiment among >63,000 @uk_biobank participants: rationing of sugar was associated with less cardiovascular risk in adulthood www.bmj.com/content/391/...

Semaglutide and cardiovascular outcomes by baseline and changes in adiposity measurements: a prespecified analysis of the SELECT trial The cardioprotective effects of semaglutide were independent of baseline adiposity and weight loss and had only a small association with waist circumference, suggesting some mechanisms for benefit bey...

The benefit of Ozempic (semaglutide) for protection from major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) is independent of weight loss magnitude and baseline adiposity, likely related to the GLP-1 anti-inflammatory effect
thelancet.com/journals/lan...

Effect of sweeteners and sweetness enhancers on weight management and gut microbiota composition in individuals with overweight or obesity: the SWEET study - Nature Metabolism The SWEET project is a multicenter, randomized, controlled trial that shows that long-term consumption of sweeteners and sweetness enhancers improves body weight control and elicits beneficial gut microbiota changes in adults with overweight or obesity.

Sweetening the diet with artificial sweeteners reveals in a clinical trial that prolonged consumption of S&SEs in a healthy diet is a safe strategy for #obesity management #weightloss #microbiota www.nature.com/articles/s42...

Dissecting the impact of transcription factor dose on cell reprogramming heterogeneity using scTF-seq - Nature Genetics This study introduces single-cell transcription factor (TF) sequencing, a single-cell barcoded and doxycycline-inducible TF overexpression approach that reveals dose-sensitive functional classes of TFs and cellular heterogeneity by mapping TF dose-dependent transcriptomic changes during the reprogramming of mouse embryonic multipotent stromal cells.

🧵1/ Excited to share our new paper introducing a new #singlecell assay: scTF-seq, a high-throughput single-cell approach to explore how transcription factor (TF) dose shapes cell identity and reprogramming outcomes. 🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s41... Big congrats to the entire team @EPFL & @SIAT_China

Two individuals, one in a lab coat and gloves, working together in a laboratory setting.

Person standing by a window with arms crossed, reflecting on a glass surface next to them.

A new study from Duke, led by Jonathan Campbell, PhD, reveals that pancreatic alpha cells do more than produce glucagon — they also generate GLP-1, a hormone that boosts insulin and regulates blood sugar.

🔗 Read more: https://medschool.duke.edu/news/alpha-cells-moonlight-secret-glp-1-factories

Reminder starting in October NIH NOFOs won’t be posted in the Guide for grants and contracts.

Tips on how to search for opportunities & set up a subscription for custom searches here: grants.nih.gov/news-events/...

Baylor @bcmhouston.bsky.social and associated institutions awarded grant to establish the Houston #Nutrition and #Obesity #Research Center @markhermanmd.bsky.social www.bcm.edu/news/baylor-...

Ethanol ingestion via frugivory in wild chimpanzees Natural daily consumption of dietary alcohol by chimpanzees suggests human attraction to alcohol may come from our ancestral diet.

Apparently, chimpanzees consume equivalent of 1-2 standard alcoholic drinks per day in the wild via fermented fruit!! (h/t Nick Villarino)
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

N-acetylaspartate from fat cells regulates postprandial body temperature - Nature Metabolism Aspartoacylase expression in white adipose tissue regulates circulating levels of N-acetylaspartate, which in turn modulates plasma pyrimidine levels and regulates postprandial body temperature.

RESEARCH | 🧪
@jessicab-felix.bsky.social , S Hartig et al
@bcmfromthelabs.bsky.social

N-acetylaspartate from fat cells regulates postprandial body temperature

Thrilled to share the second half of my PhD work here!

We show how data on expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) relates to the structure of gene regulatory networks (GRN). Much of the GRN / eQTL picture is unmapped, but what we do have says a lot… (1/)

doi.org/10.1101/2025...

In my experience, reviewers are already acutely aware of paylines and score thresholds, and most do take ESI/NI status into account. I’m less sure about point 3. Even with that awareness and the best intentions, this will be terrible all around, for applicants and reviewers alike.

Honestly, I’m not sure. That’s why I asked. I’d really like to hear what you think reviewers should actually be doing.

What does “review accordingly” actually mean in practice—and how would that differ from the way grants are typically reviewed?

If most study section members just “bury their heads in the sand,” as you say, what do you think they should be doing instead?

Characterised members of the human SLC25 mitochondrial family. Members of the mitochondrial carriers are shown in rainbow (blue to red) cartoon and surface representations with their primary substrates shown in sphere representations to scale. Only one paralogue is shown.

Our review on the peculiar properties of mitochondrial carriers of the SLC25 family out: portlandpress.com/biochemj/art...

TMC Broadens Support of Houston Start-Ups with the Launch of Innovation Labs @ TMC - Texas Medical Center (Houston) – Texas Medical Center (TMC), the largest medical complex in the world, today announced the launch of Innovation Labs @ TMC – a state-of-the-art 34,000 square feet laboratory and life scienc...

www.tmc.edu/press-releas...

An underrated form of social media is European travel bloggers coming inexplicably to Houston and then attempting to walk across 12 lane highways only to discover that there are no sidewalks or any other ways to get to any destination on foot once you get outside the city center.

DiabetesBio DiabetesBio co-hosts Darleen Sandoval (University of Colorado), Kirk Habegger (University of Alabama-Birmingham), and Kevin Williams (UT Southwestern) interview authors of editor-selected biomedical r...

New #DiabetesBio

Featuring!

1. Adipose fibrosis

2. GCKR & PNPLA3 in liver metabolism

3. Spotlight on Dr. Barbara Kahn (2025 Renold Award)

🎙️Libsyn: shorturl.at/DPEs3

▶️ YouTube: shorturl.at/K40c1

🎧 Spotify: shorturl.at/slyKl

🍏 Apple Podcasts: shorturl.at/wT3j0

A figure showing the changes from baseline in systolic blood pressure (SBP), plasma aldosterone–renin ratio (ARR), and serum potassium level for each patient.

In 15 patients with primary aldosteronism, baxdrostat (a second-generation, nonimidazole aldosterone synthase inhibitor) resolved or reduced the severity of hypertension, excessive aldosterone production, and hypokalemia. Full SPARK study results: nej.md/40Js1kz

#ENDO2025

#gastrosky #medsky #immunology