Gabriella Veytsel

Today (Tuesday), I'm presenting a poster on a flexible graph database pipeline for data integration, with a small teaser on a completed subsampling tool for phylogenetics, if you want to chat about that instead!

I am also actively searching for post-docs in ecology, epidemiology, and evolution of infectious diseases! Would love to chat :)

Poster #9

Come visit my poster (#84) about wastewater surveillance, cryptic transmission, and epidemic dynamics today from 5:15-7pm! @eeid2025.bsky.social #EEID2025

Help the Humanitarian Research Lab Keep Finding Ukraine’s Abducted Children The Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL) at Yale helps to locate and bring back Ukraine’s children who have been abducted by Russia. But without additional funding,

Russia has abducted thousands of Ukrainian children, plunging families into every parent's worst nightmare.

Now, Trump funding cuts threaten to close a Yale center that helps identify these children and bring them home.

Please consider donating to help continue this work: sph.yale.edu/give-hrl

Welp, there it is. RFK Jr. has removed all 17 members that comprise CDC’s vaccine advisory committee and will make new appointments. I said on PBS News Hour in February that this was a red line for me. www.hhs.gov/press-room/h...

Trump races to fix a big mistake: DOGE fired too many people Across the government, the administration is rehiring federal workers who were forced out or encouraged to resign.

Across the government, the Trump administration is scrambling to rehire many federal employees dismissed under DOGE’s staff-slashing initiatives after wiping out entire offices, in some cases imperiling key services such as weather forecasting and the drug approval process.

Please read and share.

🚨 In a stunningly short-sighted move, HHS just canceled its contract with Moderna to test mRNA vaccines for #H5N1 and other pandemic threats.

When the next big outbreak hits, what’s the plan—bleach again?

This will come back to bite us. Hard.
#BirdFlu #PublicHealth #PandemicPreparedness

A small Montana town grapples with the fallouts from federal worker cuts Science is an economic driver in Hamilton, Mont., thanks to Rocky Mountain Laboratories, a federal research lab. Now, layoffs and funding cuts are having an impact in this town far from Washington.

Science is an economic driver in Hamilton, Mont., thanks to Rocky Mountain Laboratories, a federal research lab. Now, layoffs and funding cuts are having an impact in this town far from Washington.

Trump Administration Halts Harvard’s Ability to Enroll International Students

Any university that thinks this won't be their fate eventually is detached from reality. We work together or we fail apart.

The comment period for this ends in 3 DAYS. Please leave a comment telling them EVERYONE should be able to get covid boosters.
www.regulations.gov/commenton/FD...

Do not treat this as fait accompli. We are winning in courts and public opinion. Nominees are being withdrawn. Congress is shook. Musk is leaving.

Organize. Call. Appeal. Sue. Keep the pressure on your bosses.

Do the same for trans and immigrant rights, public health, and more. Solidarity forever.

Weary from COVID deaths, Hispanic Texans embraced vaccines. It saved their lives. In the deadly summer of 2020, Hispanics in Texas were half of all COVID-19 deaths, spurring many to vaccinate. Today, in a startling flip, Hispanics make up less than a quarter of deaths from the dise...

In the summer of 2020, Hispanics in Texas were half of all COVID-19 deaths. Now they are less than 25% of COVID-19 deaths.

An important deep dive into how Hispanic Texans got vaccinated in record numbers and reduced COVID deaths.
www.texastribune.org/2025/05/01/t...

Exclusive: NIH to end billions of dollars in foreign research grants Move by US biomedical agency jeopardizes thousands of projects on infectious diseases, cancer and more.

NIH is ending billions of dollars in foreign subawards, jeopardizing thousands of projects on infectious diseases, cancer and more.

Unless foreign researchers secure funding directly from NIH by October — a tall order for any researcher — clinical trials abroad and other research will shut down.

Union of Athens Scientists meeting THIS THURSDAY! RT 🗣️🗣️🗣️

So this is very bad. The government does not have the staff to keep its networks & data secure or functional. As a result, the HHS won’t be able to protect sensitive data or carry out its work. Imagine the US without research, emergency response, prevention, regulating medicines, health insurance…

April 14, 2025 VIA ELECTRONIC MAIL Josh Gruenbaum Commissioner of the Federal Acquisition Service General Services Administration Sean R. Keveney Acting General Counsel U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Thomas E. Wheeler Acting General Counsel U.S. Department of Education Dear Messrs. Gruenbaum, Keveney, and Wheeler: We represent Harvard University. We are writing in response to your letter dated April 11, 2025, addressed to Dr. Alan Garber, Harvard’s President, and Penny Pritzker, Senior Fellow of the Harvard Corporation. Harvard is committed to fighting antisemitism and other forms of bigotry in its community. Antisemitism and discrimination of any kind not only are abhorrent and antithetical to Harvard’s values but also threaten its academic mission. To that end, Harvard has made, and will continue to make, lasting and robust structural, policy, and programmatic changes to ensure that the university is a welcoming and supportive learning environment for all students and continues to abide in all respects with federal law across its academic programs and operations, while fostering open inquiry in a pluralistic community free from intimidation and open to challenging orthodoxies, whatever their source. Over the past 15 months, Harvard has undertaken substantial policy and programmatic measures. It has made changes to its campus use policies; adopted new accountability procedures; imposed meaningful discipline for those who violate university policies; enhanced programs designed to address bias and promote ideological diversity and civil discourse; hired staff to support these programs and support students; changed partnerships; dedicated resources to combat hate and bias; and enhanced safety and security measures. As a result, Harvard is in a very different place today from where it was a year ago. These efforts, and additional measures the university will be taking against antisemitism, not only are the right thing to do but also are critical to strength…

recognized by the Supreme Court. The government’s terms also circumvent Harvard’s statutory rights by requiring unsupported and disruptive remedies for alleged harms that the government has not proven through mandatory processes established by Congress and required by law. No less objectionable is the condition, first made explicit in the letter of March 31, 2025, that Harvard accede to these terms or risk the loss of billions of dollars in federal funding critical to vital research and innovation that has saved and improved lives and allowed Harvard to play a central role in making our country’s scientific, medical, and other research communities the standard-bearers for the world. These demands extend not only to Harvard but to separately incorporated and independently operated medical and research hospitals engaging in life-saving work on behalf of their patients. 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. Accordingly, Harvard will not accept the government’s terms as an agreement in principle. Harvard remains open to dialogue about what the university has done, and is planning to do, to improve the experience of every member of its community. But Harvard is not prepared to agree to demands that go beyond the lawful authority of this or any administration. William A. Burck Robert K. Hur Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP 1300 I Street NW Suite 900 Suite 900 Washington, DC 20005 King & Spalding LLP 1700 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20006

BREAKING: On Friday, the federal government issued new demands of Harvard University. The university's lawyers just responded: back off.

This is DEFINITELY the right time to join and support your union. (Also it's ALWAYS the right time).

One by one until someone stands up

Hey, @fetterman.senate.gov, I'm a PA voter, and I desperately do not want to see this happen.

A Federal Lab That Tracked Rising S.T.I.s Has Been Shuttered (Gift Article) The United States can no longer keep tabs on drug-resistant gonorrhea, among other infections, scientists said.

Drug-resistant gonorrhea, a form of the widespread sexually transmitted infection, is considered an urgent health threat worldwide. The US has just lost its ability to detect it.

www.nytimes.com/2025/04/04/h...

Union of athens scientists community meeting. April 17 6pm at little kings

Calling all scientists, researchers, and STEM advocates! Are you ready to step beyond the lab and engage with the political and social issues that affect our work and world? This National Day of Action, the Union of Athens Scientists is hosting a community gathering aimed at building bridges between scientific fields and empowering us to take collective political action. Let’s unite, strategize, and act!

Come Share Your Story Whether it’s climate change, public health, technology, or social justice. Bring your personal journey & experiences to the table Build community Meet fellow scientists and STEM advocates who are passionate about driving political change Engage in Collective action Together, we will explore how we can leverage our expertise to strengthen our collective impact to influence policy and foster change.

Have questions/comments? Contact us at unionofathensscientists@gmail.com Want to join our listserv? Dm us with your name, affiliation, and gmail. Whether you're a seasoned advocate or just beginning to consider the intersection of science and politics, this is the place to make your voice heard and contribute to meaningful change.

We’re back. 🔥🔥 Come join us on the @aaup.bsky.social’s National Day of Action at Little Kings from 6-8pm. Let’s get in good trouble.

If you're in Athens, please boost🗣️🗣️🗣️

List of cdc offices removed.

These are the divisions eliminated in CDC. Apparently the man who claims he’s going to address chronic conditions does not want smoking or miner’s health addressed, or lead poisoning, to name just a few.

Because he’s not really trying to address chronic illness. He just wants to remove vaccines.

This is a disgrace to every American and a bullet to the heart of the culture of research, science, and innovation that has made the US a world-leader in disease, treatment, and prevention.

Journalists: now is the time publicize your Signal handles (again).

Guardian headline which reads: Israel killed 15 Palestinian paramedics and rescue workers one by one, says UN Workers on a mission to help colleagues were buried in mass grave in southern Gaza, says humanitarian office

Five ambulances, a fire truck and a UN vehicle were struck one by one.

The bodies of the first responders were then ditched in a mass grave.

A war crime. Without anything close to the appropriate level of global outrage.

Getting rid of Trump won't solve the problem that the entire Republican Party has gone fully, murderously fascist.

Again, I am appalled that the Trump Administration is doing this in the name of Jews, and I am begging leading Jewish leaders in this country to speak out against this fascism done under our name.

US terminates funding for FAO animal disease, emergencies In response to a request for comment on a New York Times story that the U.S government had terminated funding for programs at the Rome-based United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, an FAO sp...

Sure, let's cut funding to (checks notes) screwworm surveillance and HPAI testing

In 2020, 77 Nobel Laureates wrote a letter to object to the termination of *one* coronavirus research grant. "The decision sets a dangerous precedent," they wrote, as it offered no "justifiable rationale" for "revoking a grant that was awarded based upon scientific merit." Sure as hell did.