Dr. Sunny Shin

Reporting from @cenmag.bsky.social on the last-minute announcement and eligibility changes to the NSF GRFP program, including a link to the petition to restore eligibility to 2nd year PhD students + more.

Petition:
laurenkuehne.github.io/grfpChanges/

Story:
cen.acs.org/policy/resea...

The NIH ordered me to stop my ‘dangerous’ gain-of-function research. It isn’t dangerous at all Safe gain-of-function research is necessary to identify new treatments for diseases like for tuberculosis — but the NIH has imposed unfounded stops.

Important piece from Sarah Stanley at Berkeley on new NIH definitions that can be construed to arbitrarily halt research that is both safe and important to public health and future cures www.statnews.com/2025/10/06/g... via @statnews.com

Finally, check out AAUP-Penn’s statement that clearly frames the compact as a “threat, not an invitation.”

No to partisan interference in higher education!

@aaup-penn.bsky.social

Statement here👇

Job alert ‼️ UChicago Micro is hiring! Open to tenured/tenure track faculty at all levels in any area of microbiology. Come join our amazing and growing department. apply.interfolio.com/174404

Week 37 Sept 27-Oct 2, 2025 - hold the door

Each Friday, I summarize what is happening to American science & higher ed. 🧪
This was Week 37:
- 9 universities face loyalty oath (“compact”)
- government shutdown - impact on services & fear of further RIFs
- four NIH directors officially fired

& so much more buttondown.com/liminalcreat...

Grateful to @aaup-penn.bsky.social speaking out against the Trump administration’s latest attempt to recruit Penn and other universities to sign on to a government takeover of higher education in exchange for a favored status in receiving federal grants.

aaup-penn.org/statement-by...

Some problems have simple solutions. This new “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” is one. The answer is simply saying no.

Simple does not mean easy. But Brown, Dartmouth, MIT, Vanderbilt, Univ of AZ, UPenn, USC, UT Austin & UVA must understand what they’ll lose if they sign on.

This moment from our latest episode with science writer @edyong209.bsky.social is 🔥

We asked Ed — how do we talk up the benefits of science in the face of government cuts? He told us that's the wrong approach. 🧪

Listen wherever, or watch on Spotify 👇

open.spotify.com/episode/7Evh...

There is time to urge a change to the current #GRFP solicitation ( #NSF 25-547 ): reverse the eligibility restrictions and ensure applicants (including 2nd year PhD students) have a fair chance in the competition.

Feel free to sign and share this open petition:
laurenkuehne.github.io/grfpChanges/

A grant showing the number of projects funded for FY2021 through FY2025. The number for FY2025 lagged behind and did not catch up with 4014 fewer projects funded in FY2025 compared with FY2024.

Here are the results in terms of the number of projects.

The number of funded projects in FY2025 is 4014 fewer than the number for FY2024.

2/3

Very cool findings! Congratulations Avinash and your co-authors!

📢A new effector-triggered immunity role for GBP1! No place for pathogens to hide now that GBP1 can detect extracellular pathogens that hijack the actin cytoskeleton. Surprise*suprise* GBP1 does this independently of LPS! 🧵
biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

NIH pulled off a ‘near miracle.’ Scientists say there’s still a problem. The National Institutes of Health is on track to give away all of its grant money to labs, but research on cancer, aging and diabetes is still being left behind.

New article from the Washington Post

[Gift Link]

wapo.st/4ngFN7u

Congratulations to you and your team!

🚨 Our 4th example of metalloallosteric regulation of kinase activity. Out today in @CellReports with @KJSsci. The ER stress sensor kinase PERK needs copper to work. Without copper, PERK can’t protect cells under stress. cell.com/cell-reports/p…

NIH pulled off a ‘near miracle.’ Scientists say there’s still a problem. The National Institutes of Health is on track to give away all of its grant money to labs, but research on cancer, aging and diabetes is still being left behind.

This miracle happened because civil servants are among the most dedicated, passionate and hardworking people…

IN SPITE OF the Trump administration.

Even with all that work, multiyear funding policies mean a lot of excellent science went unfunded.
www.washingtonpost.com/science/2025...

Terrible. Second year PhD students are getting shafted. If they were going to do this they should have announced it last year with enough time for the then-first years to apply. Obviously they didn’t know then that this was going to happen. 😭

This means individuals in the following statuses at the time of application are eligible: Undergraduate in the final (senior) year of a bachelor’s degree program Bachelor’s degree-holder with NO enrollment in a graduate degree program (non-degree graduate coursework allowed) Individual enrolled in a joint bachelor’s-master’s degree program with at least three undergraduate years completed First-year graduate student in their first graduate degree program with less than one academic year completed in the degree program (according to institution’s academic calendar) Individuals enrolled in joint bachelor’s-master’s degree programs are considered graduate students. For GRFP, joint bachelor’s-master’s degrees are defined as degrees concurrently pursued and awarded. Not be a current NSF employee. Applications that do not meet eligibility requirements will be returned without review as being ineligible for a fellowship.

Announcing such a major change to NSF GRFP this late in the cycle is incredibly cruel. 2nd yr students (mine included) have been working so hard on their proposals despite ongoing uncertainty. They are driven and passionate about being outstanding scientists and helping those coming up behind them.

I received this award as a second year student, and it was transformative and a big part of the reason I persisted. They are making things harder just for no reason.

I remember the days when we recognized that STEM fields were a worthy national investment 🤦🏾‍♀️

NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP)

Continuing efforts to hurt the research pipeline, the very late NSF GFRP solicitation no longer allows 2nd year PhD students to apply. Lots of these students chose not to apply last year because they were told they would have a better change once in their thesis lab www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...

Please share with anyone who cares about NSF support for graduate students and take 30 seconds to sign and leave a comment.

The deadline for the 2025 Graduate Research Fellowship Program is about one month away and literally no one can apply. #NSFGRFP

jasonjwilliamsny.github.io/grfp2025/

The NSF GRFP is now limited to undergrads and first-year grads The solicitation for the 2025 submission dates for the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program is out, with the first deadline of November 10 for life-sciences disciplines. The big news is that el…

The NSF GRFP is now limited to undergrads and first-year grads drugmonkey.wordpress.com/2025/09/26/t...

Join us this Sept 30 for a #HispanicHeritageMonth celebration with trainees + faculty + industry pros for an enriching discussion + happy hour! Co-hosted by @Penn_SACNAS @PennCDB + our partners @wistar.org @inspirecommunity.bsky.social

One of the things that makes @unbreaking.org such a wildly different project is that we update our pages continuously. Our goal is to help you maintain a current handle on where things stand. Here's this week's 🧵 on the food safety front:

Contact View of the University of Oregon campus from nearby Hendricks Park Lab Address:322 Pacific Hall5289 University of OregonEugene, OR 97403 Lab Phone:541-346-1537 Joining the lab Lab Manager: We are c…

🚨Job alert!🚨

We are looking for a new lab manager to join our group at the University of Oregon! Applicants with experience in microbiology, evolutionary genetics, or protein biochemistry are especially encouraged to apply. See the link below for more information: barberlab.org/contact/

Congrats to Lucy Shapiro, a pioneering microbiologist, for winning the 2025 Lasker-Koshland Award. So deserving!

laskerfoundation.org/winners/pion...

Congratulations Victor
and Elisabet!

Pleased to share and briefly highlight our new manuscript just published 𝘑𝘊𝘐 𝘐𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 (a short🧵)

"A STING-adjuvanted outer membrane vesicle nanoparticle vaccine protects against lethal 𝘗𝘴𝘦𝘶𝘥𝘰𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘦𝘳𝘶𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘰𝘴𝘢 pneumonia"

🔗 doi.org/10.1172/jci....

Congratulations Ivan and team on this exciting new study!

Epigenetic silencing of interleukin-10 by host-derived oxidized phospholipids supports a lethal inflammatory response to infections Phagocytes initiate immunity to invading microorganisms by detecting pathogen-associated molecular patterns via pattern recognition receptors. Pathoge…

💥 #ImmunometabolismPower! Excited to have this officially out @cp-immunity.bsky.social 💥 We show that pathogens induce the host to produce oxidized lipids which rewire the #metabolism of #macrophages, causing #epigenetic modifications which dampen anti-inflammatory IL-10, exacerbating #inflammation!