Dr. Sara Thomasy (she/hers)

Marie Burns delivers a fantastic talk on the role of microglia and monocytes in retinal degeneration @ucdavis.bsky.social. An amazing way to start the day with #visionscience.

My lab’s major NIH grant was among those blocked in the attack on UCLA. Because our lab website discusses inclusivity? Because this grant had a diversity-based supplement? Simply because I work at UCLA? Who knows. Feeling a strange mix of unsurprised, furious, and numb.

Hidden lake

Glacier fed creek with a beautiful turquoise color

Going to the sun road

Glacier NP was spectacular - #43 for Char and #31 for Sierra. #workLifeBalance

A sign that says university of Iowa main campus

Hello University of Iowa vision research/science peeps!

ARVO Foundation Collaborative Research Fellowship recipient Uloma Ubani-Ukoma B. Pharm, MSc, PhD and ARVO Foundation Chair Rafal Farjo, PhD, FARVO

You could be the next recipient of an @arvoinfo.bsky.social Foundation recognition award, #research grant or fellowship! Explore the opportunities available for eye and #vision researchers/clinicians in every career stage. Applications/nominations open Aug. 1. bit.ly/2KbaOtL

I can plug vision scientists who want to work in Australia into an amazing research effort there out of Sydney.

Lemme know and perhaps we can help make something spectacular happen there.

Promotional image for the EyeFind Research Grant Program by ARVO Foundation for Eye Research, featuring a person in lab attire holding a sample, with text about funding for eye tissue research and a QR code to apply.

Beat the May 31 deadline! Apply today for an @arvoinfo.bsky.social Foundation EyeFind Research Grant. You could receive up to $5000 in funding, supported by @brightfocus.bsky.social, for human eye tissue samples from eye banks to use in research projects. Submit now: bit.ly/2pl548Q #VisionResearch

👨‍🔬 Enric Pérez (@enricpparets.bsky.social) presented his amazing work "Advanced #imaging for visualizing the functional circuitry of #retinas in visual disorders therapies" at #ARVO2025 🔬👁️

Birds have a membrane on their eye ("nictitating membrane") that acts like a third eyelid, helping protect their eye and keep it clear while allowing them to see.

Sometimes you can catch it in photos-- it makes the eye look milky. See the membrane in this photo (versus the previous one)?

🪶

An abstract image of patterned glass casting shadows upon the support beams holding the glass ceiling up.

ARVO 2025 #ARVO2025
bryanwjones.com/2025/05/arvo...

List of speakers for symposium: “25 Years of Seeing ‘Stuff’—Advances and Challenges in Material Perception”

Kick off #VSS2025 with our symposium “25 Years of Seeing ‘Stuff’—Advances and Challenges in Material Perception” in Talk Room 2 on Friday morning 10:30am – 12:30pm.
We have a great lineup of speakers who will share deep insights and fun demos! 👀🧠🌊
@vssmtg.bsky.social #neuroskyence #visionscience

Right back at you - I have learned so much from how you mentor your trainees. It is so wonderful that Raneesh brought us together!

So proud of Raneesh - one step closer to Dr. Dr. Ramarapu!

A PhD student successfully defended his qualifying exam at UC Davis and is holding a bottle of champagne.

A PhD student successfully defended his qualifying exam at UC Davis and doing cheers with his mentors and peers.

Congratulations to Raneesh Ramarapu on passing his qualifying exam! He is our newest PhD candidate and is co-mentored by the awesome @sarathomasy.bsky.social and me! He passed with flying colors! 🤩🎉

Two individuals discussing a poster presentation at the 2025 MIT Outstanding Poster Competition

Congratulations to the 16 winners of the @arvoinfo.bsky.social MIT Outstanding Poster Award Competition held during #ARVO2025. These MIT First Authors were selected from the top-five scored poster abstracts from each Scientific Section and Cross-sectional Group. bit.ly/3RUIMVl
#VisionResearch

I missed the National Eye Institute from #ARVO2025.

It was weird - though understandable, given the current US governmental crackdown on research. THAT is much weirder.

Seven people at dinner having champagne to celebrate many good things that have happened over the past year

Group selfie of 11 people on a lab tour

Three people at lunch

Catching up - 29 years of friendship

Spending the weekend frantically catching up on everything after #ARVO2025, but still thinking about all of the science - and grateful for the time with friends, colleagues, and mentors from around the world

It was a wonderful #ARVO2025 - a few of my favorite memories! I am so proud of the exceptional job our COVSL trainees did presenting their work. @bcleonard #visionscience

Check out the corneal immune populations in a🐁 model of evaporative dry eye disease by @ucdavisvetmed comparative #Ophthalmology resident Dr. Erinn Mills and her mentor @bcleonard. @arvoinfo.bsky.social

Avril Daly presenting her work at ARVO 2025. Avril is standing in front of her poster, which is on a poster board. She is presenting her work to another person. Underneath the image is #ARVO2025 and the Retina International logo.

Dr Nabin Paudel in front of his work at ARVO 2025. Nabin is standing in front of his poster, which is on a poster board. Underneath the image is #ARVO2025 and the Retina International logo

Productive day for us @arvoinfo.bsky.social - our CEO @avrilbdaly.bsky.social presented her work on #GA and Dr @nabinpaudel.bsky.social will present on Tuesday. At ARVO? Come find us to chat more about our work: ℹ️ www.linkedin.com/posts/retina... #ARVO2025 #ARVO #EyeResearch #Ophthalmology

Dr. Ana Ripolles-Garcia is presenting some gorgeous work on normative FPF data in 🐒. #ARVO2025 #glaucoma

Poster sessions now from @bcleonard on a murine dry eye model and @ucdavisvetmed ophthalmology resident Brett Story on gene therapy in a sheep model of Tay-Sachs disease. @ARVOinfo #ARVO2025

Come hear a great presentation from UCDavis DVM-PhD student Raneesh Ramarapu on the role of tubulins in corneal development at 10 in Ballroom C! @rogerslabucd.bsky.social @ARVOinfo #ARVO2025

A critical read about how to advocate for the use of animals in research.

Uche and Jaeguk rocked their poster presentations. It is so gratifying to see how far these amazing scientists have come! 🥳🤩

The Retinal Development session at #ARVO2025 is just gorgeous. Adam Almeida gave a truly fantastic talk! 🤩

COVSL is representing today discussing the advantages and disadvantages of 🐒 and 🐁 models of autosomal dominant optic atrophy @ARVOinfo! See Drs. Jaeguk Lim and Uche Nlebedum present their posters at the 3:15 session. #arvo2025 #visionscience @bcleonard12.bsky.social

Sunrise rainbow! What a beautiful morning. 😍

As a diversity grant dies, young scientists fear it will haunt their careers The Trump administration defunded the National Institute of Health's MOSAIC grant program, which launched the careers of scientists from diverse backgrounds.

"The grant was created by the first Trump administration to foster a new generation of diverse scientists in biomedical research, then defunded in the second Trump administration's ongoing purge of diversity, equity, and inclusion programs."

www.wxxinews.org/2025-04-28/a...

Screenshot of email stating "The subaward and the associated amounts listed above will need to be removed from the current and future year awards, and any other amounts budgeted for activities related to the Hong Kong research must also be removed. No rebudgeting of these funds is permitted, and no involvement or collaboration with researchers in Hong Kong or China is permitted in connection with the activities of this award, regardless of whether any funds are transferred," with the "no involvement" clause highlighted.

I received a surprising and disturbing request from NIH on Friday. They wrote to cancel a subaward to Hong Kong on one of my grants. (This was disturbing but not surprising.) They also ordered us not to interact with our collaborators in Hong Kong on any work under the award: